New MCEDF Director Sees County’s Potential For Growth, Development

Potential. Opportunity – two words Marco Floreani used several times while discussing his vision for business growth and economic development in Mills County.

“There is potential here,” the new executive director of the Mills County Economic Development Foundation (MCEDF) said during an interview last week. “There’s a lot of opportunity and a lot of support here. I found out quickly that the county wants to grow and grow the right way. It wants to be sustainable.

“My first impression is that the county is a real gem. I think it’s beautiful. You’ve got the hills, stunning farmland with great infrastructure - a major interstate and major highway and great rail.”

An Omaha native and graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Floreani comes to Mills County with a background in community planning and economic development. He spent two years in Grand Island, Neb., working as the city’s community development administrator and more than five years with the Greater Omaha Economic Partnership, a multi-county component of the Greater Omaha Chamber.

“I really loved it,” Floreani said of his job in Omaha.  “The economic development, trying to bring jobs to a community, growing the assets of the community and just being a general resource for community and business growth. It’s something I find very rewarding.”

Floreani said he’s familiar with Mills County and its economic development potential because of his work with the Greater Omaha Economic Partnership.

“What was great about that job is that it’s regional so I got to know a lot of the region, which Mills is a part of,” he said. “I knew what was on the other side of the river and always thought there was a lot of potential.”

Mills County has many assets when it comes to attracting potential businesses to the community, Floreani said, including location, labor force, quality of life, infrastructure and natural resources.

“There’s not another county in the Greater Omaha Partnership that has the kind of natural resources that Mills County has. That’s huge,” he said. “So many people want to do outdoor recreation. We’ll continue to make the county a destination for tourism as well as a destination for things like weddings.”

As executive director of the MCEDF, Floreani said his emphasis will be “attracting new companies to the region, helping existing companies grow and retain what they have and helping entrepreneurs and people who want to have a business get started.”

Floreani said agri-technology, niche food production, logistics (the movement of goods), light manufacturing, clean technology and tourism are the types of economic development and business opportunities he envisions for Mills County.
Although, a major focus of Mills County’s recent economic development efforts have been along Interstate 29 and the I-29/Highway 34 interchange, Floreani stressed that the foundation serves all of Mills County.

“We’re going to look for horizontal growth all across the county – not just focus on the I-29/Highway 34 corridor,” he said.

Floreani is aware of the impact last year’s catastrophic flooding and this year’s COVID-19 pandemic have had on Mills County businesses, but he believes the community’s reaction to the events is an indicator of the community’s character.

“The way the community stepped up to help each out showed resiliency,” he said. “We’re going to try to get that momentum back that we had here before the flood.”

Floreani added that he’s looking forward to both the challenges and opportunities he’ll encounter as the foundation’s executive director.

“What I really like about this position is my background in community planning and economic development - you kind of get to wear both hats in this role and that to me is really exciting,” he said.  “I love doing both.”

 

The Opinion-Tribune

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