Ed Wallace walks from the living-room-like central meeting space in the lobby of the West Des Moines Chamber of Commerce’s new West Glen office into his glass-lined and therefore fairly transparent office.

The office suite replaces the somewhat cramped offices at City Hall. It’s a new office and a new regime. Wallace took over as president and CEO the last week of August, replacing Dave Schwartz, who left to direct the YMCA of Greater Des Moines.

“We’ve definitely been enjoying a kind of renewal here and have a lot of foot traffic and people patronizing the shops when they come to see us,” said Wallace, who arrives after a nearly 6-year stint working as the deputy director at Iowa Workforce Development. 

Wallace joins the chamber as West Des Moines prepares for huge development south of the Raccoon River that will include new Microsoft server buildings, continued growth around Jordan Creek Town Center, and the coming Solheim Cup women’s golf tournament. He plans to continue the chamber’s busy schedule of receptions and panel discussions to support networking and education.

We asked Wallace about his plans for the West Des Moines chamber.

You are from Iowa City. Have you been in Iowa all along? 
I spent a number of years working for Sen. Charles Grassley and the Senate Finance Committee. I met my wife out there. She was doing a fellowship at Georgetown University. Now she teaches over here at St. Francis of Assisi, and we are parishioners there.

When did you return to Iowa?
We moved back in 2004 and I worked for U.S. Attorney Matt Whitaker as his press secretary. From 2007 to 2011 I was president of the Iowa Taxpayers Association. That’s a nonpartisan, white-paper group. In 2011, I was appointed deputy director of Iowa Workforce Development. I served there just short of six years. 

How did you make that connection? Did you apply or were you recruited?
A little bit of both. I knew many of the board members from my days at the Iowa Taxpayers Association. And I knew Dave had a great opportunity at the YMCA. He had made this a very attractive position. 

What are some of your characteristics that make you a good choice for this job? 
One of the things I really enjoy doing is interfacing with business owners but also folks who lead large organizations. I am comfortable in both settings. I am fine in the C-suite and I’m also fine in a storefront scenario. The West Des Moines chamber has both. We have a wonderful group of investors that make up our President’s Circle, which includes our largest corporate members. But we also have a good number of folks who have five, 10, 15 employees. Those folks, too, are vitally important to our success as a chamber. 

How do you see the importance of small businesses to overall employment?
One of the things I look at is: Do the people we are interfacing with have upward mobility? For the small-business owner, that means being able to expand goods and services. I ask if there is upward mobility, whether it is a large organization or a small business. How can I help you expand your products and services? How can I raise the favorable exposure for your company?

How do you that?
Chambers do more than you can possibly imagine. The social media presence continues to grow. We will continue to expand on Twitter and Instagram. … It’s about interfacing to network to take the goods and services to a global perspective, not just a local perspective. That is not your father’s— or mother’s — chamber of commerce. 

You don’t give out low-interest loans. How do you help?
I understand workforce development. I understand what it is like for folks to try to find talent. Additionally, I understand state and local tax policy. Those things drive many decisions on whether someone will add a second location or expand. 

Did you find anything that needs to be fixed?
Not at all. I look at it as a chance to take the success to new heights.