Faculty and Board

Paul Bateson is the General Manager of Economic Gardening at the Edward Lowe Foundation.  He is responsible for the program’s overall management and strategic growth, including operations, marketing, outreach, training and certification. He also provides strategic direction and support to other programs in the foundation’s entrepreneurship division.  Previously Bateson served as program manager at the University of Missouri-Extension where he coordinated the state’s Economic Gardening program for second-stage companies and helped faculty and community-based entrepreneurs commercialize new technologies.

Laurence Beliel is the Director of Business Retention and Expansion for the Ponca City Development Authority.  He has 20+ years of industry experience. He is a Six Sigma Black belt, an ISO Auditor, an experienced Lean Manufacturing implementer and is proficient in many industry-focused quality disciplines.

 

Dawn Bell is a Project Manager for the City of Lee's Summit, Development Services Department. She assists developers through the city legislative process, incentive process, and administrative approval process, all the way to project completion.

 

Jessica Craig is the Executive Director for Economic Development Sedalia-Pettis County in Missouri.  She has over 15 years experience in local, regional and statewide economic and workforce development.

 

Mark Dawson is the District Community Affairs Manager for the Southeast and East Districts for KCP&L. His service territory consists of over 120 communities and he is involved in economic development, government affairs, and community relations for the communities he works with. During his career, he has held management or staff positions for rural organizations, countywide organizations and in fast-growth suburban areas. Mr. Dawson serves on the Missouri Department of Economic Development Certified Sites Advisory Board.

 

Courtney Dunbar has 15 years of combined career experiences in economic development and project funding. In her current role as Economic Development Leader with Olsson Associates in Omaha, she is actively engaged in industrial site planning, community planning, economic analysis and identification of project funding options. She leads Olsson’s Industrial Site Consulting Team and manages the process of comprehensive real estate site assessment, targeted analysis, due diligence and master planning of primary development tracts throughout the Midwest.

 

Joe Fiala is the Community Development Director at South Dakota Governor's Office of Economic Development.  He is responsible for conducting analytical research, overseeing databases, and coordinating industry studies that the office uses for various requests for information, proposals and website content. His office also supplies the statistics and research used in department publications.  Mr. Fiala works directly with communities across the state to ensure economic development readiness and assist them in moving their communities forward.

 

Jim Gossett is the Chief Executive Officer for Iowa's Raccoon Valley Electric Cooperative.  He has over 20 years of economic development experience in rural business retention, expansion and recruitment.  

 

Barb Hake is a former business recruitment operations manager for the Kansas Department of Commerce.  She has worked in business recruitment and expansion for 15 years and has coordinated successful projects with key names such as Farmers Insurance, Quintiles, Kiewit Power, Interstate Bakeries, Royal Caribbean and Capital One.  She is a Certified Economic Developer (CEcD) through the International Economic Development Council and an Economic Development Finance Professional through the National Development Council.

 

Sallie Hemenway is the Director of the Division of Business and Community Services (BCS) in the Missouri Department of Economic Development.  Ms. Hemenway received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a major in Marketing from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 1981. She was provided a Fannie Mae fellowship and attended the State and Local Executives Program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. She attained her Professional Economic and Community Developer status (CEcD) from the International Economic Development Council and has also received the National Development Council Housing Finance Professional certification.