Adam Accola hired as Greater Dunn County Economic Development director
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Adam Accola
By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — Adam Accola has been hired as the new economic development director in Dunn County.
Accola’s position as the director of Greater Dunn County Economic Development is the result of a partnership among the Dunn County Economic Development Corporation, the Greater Menomonie Development Corporation, Dunn County, the City of Menomonie, UW-Stout and the Stout Technology Park, Accola said at the Dunn County Board’s September 18 meeting.
Accola, who is originally from Mondovi and graduated from UW-Eau Claire in 2016, formerly worked as the community manager at The Coven Eau Claire; as the former office manager and assistant manager at the Pablo Center at the Confluence; and was the former assistant director of Costa Rican Healthcare Studies at Central America Study Abroad CASA.
The Coven Eau Claire is a co-working space that the Pablo Group put in downtown Eau Claire, Accola told the county board.
According to The Coven’s website, “our vibrant and energetic workspace is tailored to cater to all your professional needs, with dedicated desks and private offices for focused work, conference rooms for dynamic meetings and phone booths for uninterrupted conversations.”
Part of the job involved making an inventory of available resources to which entrepreneurs could be referred, and that network was extended across the state, Accola said.
The network included identifying resources in Madison and Milwaukee and making sure those resources were available to the Chippewa Valley, because sometimes the southern part of the state seems to forget that there is a northern part of the state, he said.
In 2021, Accola worked on developing Startup Chippewa Valley week to support area entrepreneurs.
According to a news story on WQOW, during the most recent Startup Chippewa Valley Week, events were scheduled in Menomonie, Altoona, Chippewa Falls and Eau Claire.
Workshops included pitch competitions, financial classes, legal issues that startup businesses might deal with, and opportunities for business owners to meet and network.
“I am honored and excited to be the director of development for Greater Dunn County Economic Development,” Accola said, noting that the six entities by which he is employed represent a “unique partnership.”
Four pillars
There are four pillars of economic development that will be of benefit to Dunn County, Accola said.
The first pillar is attracting businesses and investment in businesses, he said.
Greater Dunn County Economic Development will seek businesses that want to “get a foothold” in Dunn County. Outreach will include providing information to the potential businesses that want to locate in Dunn County about sites that are available, Accola said, adding that sites available in Dunn County will be marketed effectively.
The next pillar is business retention and expansion to make sure that existing businesses have the resources they need, he said.
The third pillar is development of entrepreneurs and small businesses to make sure that people who want to build businesses have resources and support, Accola said.
The fourth pillar is housing, he said.
Housing is a constant topic of conversation and is directly tied to economic development, Accola said.
Businesses need places to relocate their employees, and if there is nowhere for employees to live, then businesses will not be interested in moving to Dunn County, he said.
Accola acknowledged that housing is the most difficult aspect of business development in Dunn County.
Housing as an economic development strategy has been discussed at various meetings of the Dunn County Board’s standing committees.
Work plan
Accola told the Dunn County Board that he has started to put together a work plan for 2025 that includes deliverables, metrics and goals in the four categories that he outlined.
At the time of the September 18 county board meeting, he had been working in Dunn County for about a month.
In that time, Accola said he had received requests from businesses and had been working on building connections.
The goal is to fully understand the scope of work needed in Dunn County, he said.
Accola said he was planning a visit to Elk Mound the day after the county board meeting and that he would be visiting Ridgeland on Friday of that week.
The next week he was planning to visit Colfax and would visit Boyceville the following week.
The visits to the municipalities in Dunn County would allow him to make connections and “to find out about the people I should be meeting,” Accola said.
Accola described himself as a point of contact and as a resource.
“I am here to help funnel the energy, in harnessing it and driving it forward,” he said.
