Episode 193
How Mid-Sized Markets Win: The Topeka Story with Molly Howey
October 6th, 2025
28 mins 25 secs
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About this Episode
In this episode of the Econ Dev Show, Dane Carlson sits down with Molly Howey, CEO of the Greater Topeka Partnership, to discuss how Topeka is redefining what is possible for mid-sized U.S. cities.
Molly shares how uniting economic development, downtown revitalization, tourism, and the chamber under one strategic umbrella helped the city align its vision and accelerate growth. From transforming a once-quiet airfield into a future industrial hub, to building momentum in the Animal Health Corridor and nurturing homegrown startups, Molly reveals the creative thinking and community grit driving Topeka forward.
Her story offers powerful lessons for any economic developer aiming to build sustainable, people-centered progress in their community.
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Ten Actionable Takeaways for Economic Developers
- Build coalitions that outlast personalities. Lasting economic momentum comes from strong systems, not single champions. Create structures that unite business, government, and community voices under shared priorities that continue beyond individual leaders.
- Treat your community as your product. Successful economic developers are storytellers and brand builders. Invest in placemaking, amenities, and perception as deliberately as you do in incentive packages and infrastructure.
- Leverage what already works. Identify your city's natural strengths--industry clusters, geographic advantages, or workforce skills--and double down on them. Sustainable growth often comes from amplifying existing assets, not chasing trends.
- Make collaboration your default setting. Align chambers, tourism groups, and EDOs so they speak with one voice. Shared data, messaging, and strategy save resources and multiply your impact.
- Blend local grit with global reach. Topeka's partnership with Plug and Play shows how even smaller markets can attract international innovation by thinking globally while staying true to local identity.
- Focus on people as much as projects. Workforce, childcare, housing, and livability are no longer "supporting factors" but central pillars of competitiveness. Put people at the center of every initiative.
- Tell your story relentlessly. Economic development is half execution and half narrative. Share wins, celebrate progress, and communicate constantly to reshape how residents and outsiders view your community.
- Simplify your strategy to amplify impact. Broad plans can dilute focus. Concentrate on a few bold goals that your team and partners can rally around, and measure success through consistent, visible progress.
- Encourage entrepreneurship as a civic value. Support for small businesses, startups, and innovation hubs builds resilience and broadens economic opportunity across every layer of the local economy.
- Keep learning, listening, and adapting. The best economic developers are curious. Study other regions, borrow ideas shamelessly, invite new perspectives, and stay flexible as industries and demographics evolve.