Heling reflects on his time with SCEPI

Team building seen as highlight of last six years
By: 
Lee Pulaski
City Editor

SHAWANO — When someone asks Dennis Heling what his crowning achievement is during the time he was with Shawano County Economic Progress Inc., he’ll cite the way communities are working together on economic development.

Heling looked back on his six-plus years as the chief economic development officer for SCEPI on Friday during an open house at the Shawano Country Chamber of Commerce, where the SCEPI offices are also located. He said that municipalities and the county are cooperating better to bring industries and jobs into the area.

“I think we were able to build a great working relationship with the municipalities, the county and the city of Shawano,” Heling said. “This allowed us to work with everything from municipal organizations to businesses, and we were able to drive projects home like Belmark, Nueske’s renovation, the Reinhart project — all of those projects that really required a team effort to get accomplished.”

There have been some challenges in the job for Heling, most notably in trying to help businesses get workers.

“We’re seeing a maturing of the region, and I think that’s a definite challenge,” Heling said. “For businesses, it was a challenge having workers for their businesses on all levels, not just entry-level but even the higher-level positions.”

Heling said it was time for him to step back and let someone else continue the work that he’s carried on. Who that will be is still unknown, as SCEPI’s board of directors offered the job to someone and was rejected.

“From the organization’s standpoint, it’s best to build a little more capacity for the organization,” Heling said.

Heling plans to “pursue other avenues” in retirement. One of those is increasing his involvement in Junior Achievement, an organization that goes into the schools and teaches work-readiness and financial skills.

Heling added that he’ll still be helping with a couple of SCEPI projects that are well into development, although he didn’t specify what those projects are, other than they involve the city of Shawano and its administrator, Eddie Sheppard.

lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com