Ova set to retire after 21 years with Jamestown/Stutsman Development Corp.

Masaki Ova, The Jamestown Sun, N.D.
·4 min read

Dec. 23—JAMESTOWN — A Jamestown/Stutsman Development Corp. official who has helped create over 1,400 jobs and four business parks in the area since 2003 will retire at the end of this year.

The last day for Connie Ova, special projects manager at JSDC, is Dec. 29.

"Obviously, she will be dearly missed and her wealth of knowledge, she's been here for 21 years at the JSDC, so you can't really replace someone like that," said Corry Shevlin, CEO of JSDC. "I'm happy for her moving into retirement."

Ova started as a training and projects coordinator for JSDC in 2002 and became CEO in 2003. She stepped down as CEO in March and worked part time as she transitioned to retirement.

Since 2003, Ova has helped with more than 75 new or expanded businesses and helped retain businesses in the area, according to a document acknowledging some of her accomplishments.

Mayor Dwaine Heinrich said the Spiritwood Energy Park Association's industrial park at Spiritwood and the I-94 Business Park are a couple of Ova's biggest accomplishments. He said it took a lot of dedication and networking to make the Spiritwood Energy Park Association's industrial park a success and the I-94 Business Park is a "wonderful addition" to the business community in Jamestown.

Stutsman County Commission Chairman Mark Klose agreed that the success of the SEPA industrial park is the type of development project that everybody dreams of.

"That would be the home run," he said.

The JSDC invested in land in the Jamestown area to create business parks where the infrastructure is developed. The developed land is made available to companies that are either looking to relocate or expand their operations.

The four business parks in the area include the I-94 Business Park located at the junction of Interstate 94 and U.S. Highway 281, the Bloom Business Park located about 2 1/2 miles east of Jamestown and directly east of Cavendish Farms on 3rd Street Southeast, the Airport Park on Jamestown Regional Airport Property and the SEPA industrial park located at Spiritwood.

"I think the best thing that this organization has done with the board of directors at the helm is to decide that it was good to have available land, land that was already secured and had the infrastructure so the opportunity for companies to come in and grow was there," Ova said. "They (businesses) didn't have to fight for pricing. They didn't have to do any of that because ... we don't increase the costs. Everything is at cost. Our goal is to grow the community and to grow the tax base and to provide good jobs."

Jim Boyd, a past president of the JSDC Board of Directors, said Ova is a hard worker and very dedicated to what she does.

"We are lucky to have her," he said. "She works hard to try to grow Jamestown."

Heinrich said Ova is leaving the JSDC in good hands. He said Ova has done a good job of training the staff at JSDC.

"I think that she will take as much pride in seeing that the people that she trained are going to be able to continue the work that she did," he said. "I think she will be wanting to brag that they're doing a better job than she did because of her training."

Ova said Shevlin has done an "excellent" job in his first year as CEO. She said Shevlin primarily worked on the Green Bison Soy Processing project.

"He's very good at what he's doing," Ova said. "I'm very proud of him."

Shevlin said Ova recruited him out of college and has taught him everything he knows about economic development. He said it was valuable to have Ova around during his first year as CEO to bounce ideas and brainstorm with.

Ova and Heinrich both said creating more housing will be the biggest challenge that the JSDC will need to tackle.

"It is something that is going to have to be tackled with the help and guidance of economic development because we have to have houses or else we're not going to get people," Ova said. "If we don't have people, our companies can't grow."

Ova said she plans on taking a trip to Hawaii and going to Mexico with her husband, Denny, during her retirement.

"We're certainly going to miss Connie," Klose said. "She's been the mainstay of the economic development community for 20-plus years. She's got connections with legislators and is very well liked in the development world. ... She's gonna leave a big hole in the organization but she's trained her replacements up well and I think we're going to be in good shape."