This month’s special guest is David Leezer, Vice President of Business Attraction for the Wichita Falls (TX) Chamber of Commerce. He began this role in December of 2019 and is the senior executive overseeing recruitment and attraction. His primary duties are development and execution of all recruitment strategies, management of site and building database, site consultant relationship maintenance, industry recruitment and assist in creation of social media postings on all business attraction efforts.
Prior, Leezer was the Director of Economic Development for the City of St. Charles, Missouri. The Economic Development Department was the city’s primary marketing and development arm and he transformed it into the most innovated economic development organizations in the St. Louis region.
During his tenure, the city experienced over $350 million of investment and saw marked improvement in its marketing, retention and recruitment programs. He created department’s first ever strategic plan and the led the city in acquiring its Accredited Economic Development Organization (AEDO) designation in 2014 and reaccreditation in 2017.
Before St. Charles, Leezer managed economic development collaborative efforts for the St. Louis County (MO) Economic Development Council – the predecessor to the St. Louis Partnership – and worked as Director of Economic Development for St. Charles County (MO). Additionally, he served as a Business Development Executive with Central Illinois Public Service, an Illinois based electric and natural gas utility, which eventually became part of the Ameren Corporation.
He is an adjunct professor for Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville teaching classes in Strategic Planning, Economic Development, Needs Assessment, Livability, Crisis Management and Government/Non-Profit Technology.
David achieved the status of a Certified Economic Developer (CEcD) in 1992 and was awarded the designation of Fellow Member (FM) in 2014. He was formerly the Chair of the IEDC Sustainability Committee and is Past Chair of its AEDO Committee. He has been a member of the IEDC Board since 2019.
