Tariffs to AI: Business leaders discuss state of economy

Quad Cities business leaders gave their views on tariffs, the role of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in business, the state of the labor market and other economic issues during a QCBJ event Monday, June 2, at the Rhythm City Casino Resort in Davenport. Five business leaders gave the panel discussion during the Quad Cities Regional […]

Quad Cities business leaders gave their views on tariffs, the role of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in business, the state of the labor market and other economic issues during a QCBJ event Monday, June 2, at the Rhythm City Casino Resort in Davenport. Five business leaders gave the panel discussion during the Quad Cities Regional Business Journal’s 2025 Mid-Year Economic Review. That event, which was attended by about 200 people from the business community, was sponsored by First Central State Bank and Hawkeye Commercial Real Estate. John Lohman, the CEO and president of the North Liberty, Iowa-based Corridor Media Group, which publishes the QCBJ and Corridor Business Journal, called the annual event “a working lunch meeting” that was meant to give the audience a better look at trends in the local, national and international economies. The keynote speaker Austan Goolsbee, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, gave audience members some insight into national-level trends.  But the five Quad Cities panelists mostly concentrated on the local business issues. The  business panel was made up of:

• Dennis Campbell, president of Crystal Creek Farms. Crystal Creek is a diversified row-crop farm in Clinton County, Iowa.
• Brian Duffy, CEO of Per Mar Security. PerMar is a 72-year-old security firm that operates its headquarters, Quad Cities/Per Mar Centre, at 1910 E. Kimberly Road, Davenport. It is the largest, family-owned, full-service security company in the Midwest with more than 3,000 team members and 28 branch locations. Per Mar was founded in 1953 by John and Eleanor Duffy, Mr. Duffy’s grandparents, in their Davenport home.
• Kevin Kotecki, CEO of Group O. The Milan-based Group O is a business process outsourcer specializing in packaging, incentive marketing, supply chain, and device testing solutions. In addition to the Quad Cities, it has major operations in Minnesota and Texas as well as a Mexico Group O unit. In all, it employs more than 1,000 professionals. Founded in 1974 by Robert “Bob” Ontiveros, the once small, Hispanic family-owned packaging company has expanded into a thriving multi-faceted business enterprise still owned by the Ontiveros family. Mr. Ontiveros died in February 2022 at age 83. 
• Jim Tansey, president of Hawkeye Commercial Real Estate. With locations in Davenport and Coralville, Iowa, some of the company’s services include commercial real estate brokerage, property management and real estate consulting.
• Beth Tinsman, chairman and founder of Twin State Technical Services. The Davenport-based company offers a wide range of services from updating networks and troubleshooting telephone systems to website and mobile app development.

One of the top questions the business leaders addressed was how tariffs are (or possibly will) impact their local businesses.

Mr. Campbell’s Crystal Creek Farms could see big impacts – especially with its soybeans customers in Asia. He told the audience that soybeans grown in the QC area are put on barges on the Mississippi River and eventually shipped to customers in Asia. He added his company took years to build that customer market, and now it could be in jeopardy because of tariffs. “Soybeans are the biggest concern. .. That market is really in flux,” Mr. Campbell said, adding that if Crystal Creeks loses its Asian customers, it might take a long time to get them back. Group O’s Mr. Kotecki said that higher prices brought on by tariffs are passed along to its customers. At the moment, the customers understand the reason for the price hikes, he said. The CEO also gave his views on the use of AI tools in the workplace. He said that for Group O, AI is helping productivity and decision making. He added that AI helps company workers better and faster, and assists them in device testing. Ms. Tinsman said AI can be very valuable for companies by giving them a competitive edge and increasing productivity. Some of those tips of using AI in the workplace were shared during a May 22 workshop hosted by Twin States in Davenport. “Over the past few days, we’ve connected with more than 125 customers to explore how AI can streamline everyday work — from summarizing long email threads and taking meeting notes to generating presentations and sales materials,” Twin State’s Facebook page said a day after that workshop. During Monday’s economic panel, Ms. Tinsman said with AI, companies “can set a new bar. … This is a transformational technology.” Later in the discussion, the business leaders were asked how their businesses have done in the past six months and how things look for the next six months. For the most part, all the speakers offered optimistic views of the past and the near future. Ms. Tinsman said she is “careful, cautious” but business is doing well. Mr. Duffy said Per Mar is doing well and does not usually see the ups and downs that many businesses experience during economic cycles. “As far as new sales goes, we’re up,” he added. Mr. Tansey said Hawkeye is seeing a “strong” market with 2022 and 2023 being record-breaking years for the real estate company. And this year is off to a very good start, he told the crowd. He added that there is much growth in the Quad Cities, and some market areas are not doing as well. Mr. Tansey called the office building market “a little depressed,” but not nearly as bad as other areas of the country. He told the attendees on Monday that an office building deal recently fell through in Chicago. That building was worth about $325 million a few years ago, and the recent failed deal for the building was for about $70 million. The Quad Cities’ office building market is not nearly in the dire condition that is facing Chicago and other areas of the country, he added. The local company leaders also were asked about the state of the job market and labor force in the region. Mr. Duffy said Per Mar is in very good shape, getting many applications for most of its open positions. Several members of the audience said they liked what they heard from the panel. They especially like hearing that the local economy is going well. “There were a lot of good insights offered today and the people can take home with them. … There was good news that the economy here isn’t so bad,” said Mike Thoms, the former Rock Island mayor. Another audience member, Ty Grunder, a vice president with MidWestOne Bank, said the Mid-Year Economic Review was filled with “great information.”  But he added that he is concerned that uncertainty is still a main theme worrying many local business leaders. He is hoping for a time when businesses will have a better picture of economic things to come, and can move forward with more business planning.