Hollie Askey named Executive Director ofWarren County Economic Development Corporation

Hollie Askey has been named the new Executive Director of the Warren County Economic Development Corporation.

Askey, 37, has been serving as interim director for three months and has worked for WCEDC since 2011. She replaces Jason White, who previously accepted a job at the Greater Oshkosh Economic Development Corp.

She said the county is currently very focused on filling in business park projects in Indianola, Carlisle and Norwalk.

"All three of our major cities have businesses and retail parks that need a lot of growth and development within them," Askey said. "They are developed and they have the infrastructure so now they need the businesses to locate there."

She said two of the cities - Indianola and Carlisle - are also working on building hotels with restaurants, which is another priority.

Askey said she's also hard at work because the county's three largest communities have been put a short list for very large industrial and/or data center type projects. One of those will need a very large parcel, up to 125 acres of land, she said.

"We're working very hard with the state and the Greater Des Moines Partnership on those leads because all of the sudden Warren County and the communities within are on top of the list for some of these leads," Askey said. "And that's never been the case. So we're trying really hard to be competitive there."

Askey said there have been other changes within the WCEDC.

Rachel Gocken, formerly communications and program manager for WCEDC, will fill Askey's old position as operations manager.

"She will be taking on more projects and she will focus a lot on programming," Askey said.

She said WCEDC will also be hiring a third person to take over Gocken's former duties.

The position will probably be part-time at first, Askey said, and will include administrative and marketing work.