Gene Meyer, who has been at the helm of the Greater Des Moines Partnership for the past seven years, is optimistic about the future of Central Iowa, even though he no longer will be directly involved moving forward.

Meyer, 71, is retiring at the end of this year as president of the organization that represents 24 affiliate chambers of commerce. His departure was officially announced last summer as part of a realignment of leadership within the organization where current CEO Jay Byers will take on the consolidated role of president and CEO in 2021.

Meyer’s retirement comes as two other leaders at the Partnership retire. Mary Bontrager, executive vice president of talent development, and David Maahs, executive vice president of economic development, also are moving on after the end of the year. Look for a companion story about their retirements in Wednesday’s Business Record AM Daily.

During his time at the Partnership, Meyer has seen tremendous growth in the region, which has led to what the former West Des Moines mayor and school board member said has been the metro area’s greatest achievement.

“We no longer have to explain where Greater Des Moines is and what Greater Des Moines has become,” said Meyer, who came to the Partnership after 40 years with the Iowa Department of Public Safety. “Greater Des Moines has its own identity. People know what Des Moines is about.”

Whether it be the region’s quality of life, its business community, its diverse housing, or its vibrant nightlife and arts and culture scene, Des Moines has formed its unique identify, said Meyer, who joined the partnership in 2011 as vice president of strategic initiatives, moving into the president role after Martha Willits retired as CEO and president in 2012.

“Back in 2012, it was like we’re somewhere between Omaha, Minneapolis, Chicago and Kansas City,” Meyer said. “Our identity has now been established.”

Building that unique identity was a planned, purposeful effort, he said, and was the result of regional cooperation.

“That regional plan, working together as a region [and realizing] that if something good happened in Bondurant, it was good for West Des Moines, or what happened in Ankeny was good for Des Moines,” Meyer said.

But it took a concerted effort to achieve that level of regional collaboration, he said.

“It goes on every day, and we’ve been successful at it, but not without a great deal of effort,” Meyer said.

He said he informed the Partnership board in 2019 that this would be his final year with the organization. Unfortunately, he said, 2020 hasn’t panned out the way he had hoped.

“It started out like it was supposed to, but then as we all know that fateful day in March arrived and things changed,” he said. “We’ve had to pivot in a lot of ways and there are a number of things I would have liked to have done and people I would have liked to have spent time with in person. I was looking forward to my final annual trip to Washington, D.C.; things like that just aren’t occurring. All these in-person experiences that I was looking forward to have changed.”

Meyer acknowledged that because of the changes 2020 has brought, his departure from the Partnership is a little bittersweet.

“I wish all these things had been in person,” he said. “[Things] aren’t in person. You can’t replace that with a Zoom meeting.”

He said watching the community grow and the successes achieved by organizations and businesses in the region during his tenure at the Partnership has personally been very satisfying.

Meyer served as mayor of West Des Moines from 1997 to 2006, when “there was no Mills Civic Parkway, there was no Jordan Creek mall. A lot of things happened during that time.” He served on the West Des Moines school board from 1988 to 1997.

Meyer said he hopes to stay involved in various organizations after he retires. He also plans to be more involved in the lives of his children and grandchildren.

“My wife and I as grandma and grandpa look forward to the freedom to do more of that, and my golf game needs vast improvement, so I will probably do more of that,” said Meyer, who said he will continue to be a big fan of Iowa State University athletics.

Meyer said he also plans on being busy maintaining the acreage where he lives, which includes a pond and a wooded area.

Asked if he has any parting advice for Byers and others at the Partnership, Meyer’s response was simple.

“Keep doing what you’re doing,” he said. “What you’re doing has a proven successful track record.”

Meyer said the Partnership staff needs to continue looking for trends and ways to improve and be forward-thinking.

“Keep working together as a region as you have successfully done in the past and I think we’ll be just fine,” he said.

Byers said working with Meyer turned out “even better than I ever could have imagined.”

“Gene could have retired early and nobody would have questioned it,” said Byers, who was named CEO at the same time Meyer was elevated to president. “Instead, he decided to serve our region tirelessly during a time when we have seen tremendous growth and momentum. Our region is stronger because of Gene.”

As Meyer prepares for his next journey, he reflected on his career in public service and his family.

“I’ve been blessed,” he said. “I’ve certainly gotten more than I’ve given. I’ve got a great wife, three great kids, four great grandkids, all successful in their own right. I guess it doesn’t get any better than that.”