Boyken Announces Resignation to Start New Business

The Phelps County Development Corporation will be seeking a new executive director in 2016 to lead economic development efforts as the organization forges ahead with a recently renewed LB840 sales tax and a 134-acre business and industry park that awaits new or expanding businesses.

Monica Boyken, who has led PCDC for eight years, announced in October to the PCDC board of directors that she would resign in 2016.

“I let the board of directors know that I wanted to live out my life-long dream of owning my own business,” Boyken said.

Boyken, a South Dakota native, has spent most of her career in community and economic development and helping others start their own businesses, and now it’s her turn.

“While I don’t specifically know what my product or service will be at this point, I do know my customers will be small businesses and/or rural communities,” she said. “That’s where my heart is.”

Boyken said the foundation has been set for PCDC to really take off through her work the past eight years

“Today, we have a product to sell with the Iron Horse Business and Industry Park, a streamlined communications and operational systems, valuable programs like the high-demand jobs scholarship program and the Business in Motion Network, and funding mechanisms to sustain these and the other bold initiatives of the PCDC board,” Boyken said.

“I wanted to make certain that the organization was set up for success when I departed,” Boyken said of her decision to let the board know her intentions early on. “The goal in my mind is to have a seamless transition between executive directors and as little disruption as possible.”

PCDC Board President Fred Diedrichsen said the board has appreciated Boyken’s strengths in strategic and financial planning and organization. He is appreciative of her willingness to help with transitioning to a new director.

“We really feel fortunate because that doesn’t happen often that you get a transition period of any time,” Diedrichsen said. “This way, we have more time to find the right person. We don’t have to have a mad dash.”

With direction from a senior economic development consultant, the PCDC board recently began discussing the characteristics and qualifications it will be seeking in the next executive director. The board has assembled a search committee, whose members will finalize the criteria and then conduct a national search while encouraging any qualified local candidates at the same time.

By Kristine Jacobson, for PCDC