Johnna Reeder Kleymeyer is ready to start working with regional leaders to tackle issues generated by the rapid growth of the Colorado Springs area — surging housing costs, a labor shortage and traffic congestion.
She starts Monday at the Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC, working alongside retiring CEO Dirk Draper for about two weeks before taking over the top job Jan. 1. She has spent the past 2½ years as a management and leadership consultant after spending more than 20 years in economic development, corporate communications and government affairs in her native Tennessee and Ohio, mostly in Cincinnati, a metro area more than twice the size of Colorado Springs.
"I wanted this job because of the opportunity. I like to be part of a winner and Colorado Springs is a growing region. I have worked in rural communities and major metro areas. All of these brought me to Colorado Springs at just the right time," Reeder Kleymeyer said. "I have built my career on regionalism and seeing El Paso County and Colorado Springs work so closely together is intriguing to me. I want to be part of a team that helps solve our growing pains."
Julie Calvert, CEO of the Cincinnati Convention and Visitors Bureau, called Reeder Kleymeyer "a transformative leader who is passionate about the community where she lives and works. She is a leader who gets involved and cares. When she is involved, she gets things done. She also has the gift to grow people to make them their best selves, but isn't the kind of person who tells you what you want to hear. She encourages people to lean in and hear more."
Reeder Kleymeyer said she took the job "looking for a greater quality of life, in addition to a quality of career. I grew up in a much smaller area than Greater Cincinnati and welcome the challenge to grow the Colorado Springs (area). I sought the opportunity to be in a mid-size, fast-growing region where I could greater influence change and make a difference in the community. I am an avid outdoors person and gain peace from nature so the West was calling and I answered. I have loved my time in Cincinnati. But it just cannot compete with the Colorado Springs mountain views."
Brian Hodgett, vice president of government and community affairs for Proctor & Gamble, who worked with Reeder-Kleymeyer to spin off the economic development arm of the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber into a separate organization she later headed, described her as "a force of nature with a strong personality — when she walks into a room, you know it. She is someone who leaders of both large and small companies see as someone they respect and could talk to."
Reeder Kleymeyer described the chamber's application and interview process — a field of 170 candidates — as one of the most thorough of which she had been a part. She plans to spend her first year as CEO listening and learning about the chamber's legislative agenda and what local businesses need to continue recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Economic prosperity is the cornerstone for any chamber or economic development organization and I have no plans to alter that vision and mission — to be the No. 1 region to do business," Reeder Kleymeyer said. "Colorado Springs is not unique in its challenges. If you are going to have problems, these are good ones to have. Any thriving region will face housing affordability, traffic congestion and labor shortage issues. I've worked in communities that would love the national attention Colorado Springs enjoys for its outdoor lifestyle and strong military presence."
Candace McGraw, CEO of the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, describes Reeder Kleymeyer as a "strong leader and consensus builder who brings others along with her but makes sure they make it to the destination. She is a natural collaborator and connector who is one of those people who understand the power of working together, using their people skills to drive to a positive result."
Reeder Kleymeyer grew up in rural northwestern Tennessee before getting her degree in communications from University of Memphis. She returned to her hometown, Union City, to work for the Obion County Chamber of Commerce, hoping to make a difference in the 30,000-person county before heading the downtown development organization in Jackson, Tenn., about 85 miles northeast of Memphis and several times the size of Obion County.
After six years in those two areas, Reeder Kleymeyer moved with her family to Cincinnati, where finding a job in her 20s proved difficult because she had no network of business contacts or friends. She was eventually hired to head government affairs for Kentucky at the United Way of Greater Cincinnati.
"United Way gave me a chance and allowed me to cut my teeth in government affairs, designing legislation on early childhood education and other issues. I fell in love with the work," she said.
However, love doesn't pay the bills, so Reeder Kleymeyer took a second job selling makeup at Dillard's. After nearly three years, she was ready to move into a higher-paying job in the corporate world, handling community affairs, charitable giving and government affairs for Citibank in Ohio and Kentucky.
Citibank was a major donor to United Way and had more than 3,000 employees in the Cincinnati area, and the job taught her the importance of corporate citizenship. She also learned that nonprofits needed to be operated "like a business to show a return on investment for those who were investing" in the organization — in her case, the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber.
"Having sat on that side of the table helped me to understand the value we need to bring to our members," Reeder Kleymeyer said. An early mentor also told her she had more to learn — she needed to understand the business side of the company if she was going to advance to the C suite, so she headed off to graduate school for two years while still working full-time to get a master's degree in business administration.
She stayed at Citibank for nearly five years before moving to grocery giant Kroger to head its national communications operations for labor contracts. She stayed there about a year before taking a communications post with Duke Energy for Kentucky and Ohio, where she wrote press releases, speeches and presentations for the company's president. After 1½ years, she was promoted to vice president of community relations, government affairs and economic development for the same two states.
"I got a better understanding of customer relations, such as having the utility bill correct and the lights on. It helped me to understand what the customer needs," Reeder Kleymeyer said. "If I hadn't had the previous experience (in government affairs), I never would have gotten that opportunity to make the company's case about reliability and cost. It also allowed me to go deeper into the technical side of economic development."
While at Duke Energy, she served on the board of the chamber at the same time some business leaders wanted to split the group's economic development arm into a separate organization. She played a pivotal role in that effort and was hired to be the first president and CEO of the newly formed nonprofit, the Regional Economic Development Initiative (REDI) Cincinnati, helping attract, keep and foster expansion of businesses with a staff of 25 and a $6 million annual budget. The Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC has a $4.1 million annual budget.
"We had a lot of success — we were the No. 1 performing area in Ohio for four consecutive years and were chosen by Site Selection magazine as one of the top five regions to do business. We created more than 25,00 jobs" in the nearly five years she spent with the group, Reeder Kleymeyer said. During that time she helped the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport land service from Southwest Airlines, the North American hub for Amazon's Prime Air unit and more than 175 other projects that produced billions of dollars of investment.
"Everybody likes to cut a ribbon for a new company, but our most important client is the one that is already here," Reeder Kleymeyer said. "Most of your (economic development) wins come from expansions by existing businesses, rather than from attracting new companies. Helping existing companies generally makes up 80% of your project wins, so helping existing companies with their work force, infrastructure and location needs is the first priority."
Reeder Kelyemeyer left REDI after five years, having accomplished all her goals and seeking more flexibility in her schedule. During the past three years, she served as interim dean of the business school at Northern Kentucky University, was executive vice president of Cincinnati-based health care software company AssureCare and was a member of the board of directors of Delta Dental of Kentucky while also operating her consulting business.
"When I left my first job, I wanted to move to a bigger place. I have worked for Fortune 500 companies, nonprofits and economic development organizations. Every opportunity has given me the skills I needed for the next opportunity, all culminating in this opportunity in Colorado Springs," Reeder Kleymeyer said. "The mountains are what intrigued me (about the job), but once I met the people and felt (their) hospitality, I was sold."
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