From the moment Peter Tokar III arrived in the Quad Cities, he said he knew that if he was chosen to lead the Quad Cities Chamber he would make it his mission to blow the lid off the region’s best-kept secret. Just weeks into his tenure as the new president and CEO of that regional […]
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From the moment Peter Tokar III arrived in the Quad Cities, he said he knew that if he was chosen to lead the Quad Cities Chamber he would make it his mission to blow the lid off the region’s best-kept secret.
Just weeks into his tenure as the new president and CEO of that regional business and development organization, Mr. Tokar said he’s eager to spread the word that from quality of life to the quality of its businesses and people, the QC already possesses the recipe for success.
In a Feb. 9 interview with the QCBJ, he said his current focus is meeting with Quad Cities leaders to learn as much as he can about the six-county, bi-state region and the needs of the businesses and communities the chamber serves. This Friday, Feb. 23, for example, he will host a 7:30-9 a.m. coffee and Meet & Greet for chamber members and community leaders in the lobby of the chamber’s offices at 331 W Third St., Davenport.
While it’s early in that process, the new leader – who boasts 20 years of economic development experience – already has been winning high marks from such leaders as Quad Cities Chamber Board Chairman Mara Downing.
“With Peter’s extensive industry and economic development experience, I am confident he will steer the Quad Cities Chamber to new heights of success,” Ms. Downing, vice president of global brand management and corporate communications for John Deere, told the QCBJ. “I have no doubt that under Peter’s leadership, the organization will thrive and continue to make a positive impact in the region.”
The chamber’s most recent CEO LaDrina Wilson, a current chamber board member, also is convinced Mr. Tokar is “the right person” for the job ahead. “He has the ability to win,” she said. “It’s proven in his track record but I also think he has the ability to build and I think that’s where we’re at, the building phase.”
Ms. Wilson added, “I’m eager to see him be successful and I think it’s going to take all of us having that thought process to help that happen because if we have a strong chamber, we have a stronger business community.”
To help the Quad Cities do that effectively, Mr. Tokar said, the theme for the chamber this year is “value proposition.” Or to put it another way, he said, “Is what the chamber organization is putting out providing value to the organization and to the region?”
Answering that will first require a careful re-evaluation of existing programming. “Not only am I putting fresh eyes on our organization but some of our people in the key leadership positions are also putting fresh eyes on the organization and seeing it from a different point of view,” he said. “I think that’s going to be good for the organization because we’re going to be developing new things based on just being new ourselves.”
That doesn’t mean Mr. Tokar said that the chamber will simply begin tossing out programs that have helped to make the Quad Cities the place he and his family now have chosen to call home.
When Mr. Tokar and his wife Melissa visited the Quad Cities shortly before Thanksgiving 2023, “we were very impressed,” he said.
Not only were they surprised and pleased by the wealth of historic buildings serving new purposes, they were excited by the large catalog of things to see and do here. “This whole region is full of character and different character communities and that’s really sought after right now,” Mr. Tokar said. “People are looking for nice qualities of a place – unique elements, not just concrete jungles – and so one of the immediate impressions that we had was ‘Wow, how come we never heard of this place?’”
Then there was the warm community reception and the vibrant and lively downtowns they found. He also lauded the unique restaurants, entertainment venues, museums, arts and theater opportunities they found detailed in a three-inch packet of information provided to them during the hiring process.
The family’s initial excitement wasn’t dulled by the nasty Midwest snowstorm that arrived on the heels of their Dec. 31 arrival to the community. Mr. Tokar said his kids – ages 9, 8, 6 and 4 – had experienced occasional snow in Atlanta and even less in Texas. “So two feet of snow was a whole new experience.” he said. “That was fun for them.”
Now as he and the rest of his family settle in, Mr. Tokar said he will continue his QC fact-finding mission. “Anytime you make a move like this to a region you’re relatively unfamiliar with the first 100 days is just getting to know everybody, getting to understand how things work, all the players,“ he said.
“Because the Quad Cities is so broad, there’s a lot of people and places to get to know,” Mr. Tokar said. When you lead a municipality, he added, “you know that what you’re doing will have a spillover effect on the neighboring cities, but it’s really not a concern. Now, from a regional perspective, you’re planning how those spillover opportunities are going to happen.”
That also was part of what attracted him to the QC Chamber job. “Regional economic development was always something that I wanted to get back to because I think it’s the most fun,” he said. “In a municipality, it’s still a great experience but when you graduate to the next level when you look at the regional ecosystem there’s so much more opportunity.”
Mr. Tokar also brings a wide variety of experience to the Quad Cities. “I’ve been in the big regions and I have been in some small cities and I’ve had a lot of success running economic development initiatives in those different environments before coming here,” he said.
“The recipe for success is here,” Mr. Tokar added. “You have every single ingredient and sometimes more than you need to be successful from an economic development perspective, yet it just seems like the region hasn’t put it together to serve it.”
He also said “we have a lot of really, really talented professionals working for the chamber and so I think that’s going to make it all that much easier.”
In addition to the draw of the Quad Cities’ strong industry cluster that’s anchored by companies including John Deere, he also highlighted what he called lifestyle development projects such as the TBK Bank Sports Complex.
“Industrial will bring jobs, but lifestyle will bring people,” he added. So will such efforts as Moline’s mixed-use planning for the riverfront, The Bend development in East Moline, revitalization efforts in downtown Rock Island and other projects in the works.
“A lot of communities have plans, but they do not execute those plans and so that’s part of that recipe for success: Do we have a plan in place and are we doing it? And they are. And you’re seeing it happen.”
He added “What I’ve told people here at the chamber is that we really don’t have an economic development issue, we just have a brand awareness issue,” and he predicted that the community will “see coming out of the Quad Cities Chamber some new and exciting initiatives coming in the future.”
TOKAR BIO FILE
- President & CEO, McKinney (Texas) Economic Development Corporation.
- Economic development director, City of Alpharetta, Georgia.
- Founder & president, Tech Alpharetta.
- Economic development director, Davie, Florida.
- Director of business development, Greater Fort Lauderdale (Florida) Alliance.
- Director of business development, City of Miramar, Florida.
- Family: Married to Melissa. The couple has four children ages 4-9.
2023 QC Business Attraction & Expansion
- $75,596,712 total economic impact
- 179 total new jobs.
- 168 business attractions/out-of-market outreach.
- 1,891 business retention & expansion resource assists.
