Meet Tim Holvorson, Vice President of Economic Development & Entrepreneurship with the Overland Park Chamber of Commerce and MAEDC Board Member for Kansas Since 2011

How long have you been a member of MAEDC?

2011

Tell us about yourself! How long have you been on the Mid-America EDC board?

I started on January 1, 2019. I’ve worked in chamber and economic development since 1995 in Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, and North Carolina. I got involved because I saw the difference economic development could make in improving lives and the quality of life in my hometown and surrounding areas  that the farm economy had crushed in the mid-1980s. When I’m not working, I stay very busy as a single parent working on my house or yard, but beyond that, I can usually be found near a baseball diamond watching my son play. That’s my happy place.  

Tell us about the Overland Park Chamber and your role there.

I’ve had evolving roles here and previously focused more on recruitment and retention and, more recently, on the workforce.  We’ve expanded our team and outreach, and I’m shifting to working more with individual existing businesses and entrepreneurs and how we can primarily help those two audiences with some project work as well.

What are your economic development specialties?

I don’t know that I have one per se. I am a generalist who is particularly good at working one-on-one with businesses to solve their individual problems.  Nothing makes me happier than knowing we made a difference and helped a company solve a problem they were struggling with.

What are your favorite places and things to do in your community?

We’ve built an excellent quality of life for our residents.  Others can say it, but we can back it up with the latest rankings, having regularly appeared in the top 10 of Money Magazine, WalletHub, NerdWallet, Niche, and many more lists in recent years. And for hidden gems – our region has some top-notch museums that rival many in much larger cities.  We also have an ever-growing food scene that many who came to the Best Practices conference were able to enjoy.