James Chung, president of the research and strategy analytics firm Reach Advisors, is scheduled to be the speaker for the September Tomorrow Plan speaker series, where he will use data specific to Des Moines to diagnose the region’s economy, altered by the coronavirus pandemic. Chung’s presentation is scheduled for Sept. 23 on the virtual platform Zoom. He is scheduled to speak from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m., followed by a question and answer session. Chung is expected to discuss how the Greater Des Moines region is overachieving amid the pandemic, a hurting economy and a growing awareness of racial inequities. According to a news release, Chung’s research leads to several challenging questions he will pose to local leaders, including how much of a competitive advantage has Greater Des Moines retained and has it changed; what helped it recover from the last recession and could those strategies work again; and can the regional economy become more equitable? The speaker series is an implementation strategy of the Des Moines Area Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Tomorrow Plan, an initiative for the sustainable development of Greater Des Moines over the next 40 years. You can register for the Sept. 23 meeting here.