Meet the new VP tasked with boosting economic development in Springfield – Springfield

The Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce’s new senior vice president of economic development, Jonas Arjes, has big plans for 2025.

The 56-year-old started in his new role in early October and has spent the last two months gearing up for changes in the new year. After about 13 years as chief economic development officer for the Branson/Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce and executive director of the Taney County Partnership, Arjes said he is excited to take on a market like Springfield.

“The reason I took the job” is because it’s a “bigger market, more diverse (and a) more traditional economy,” Arjes said. “The projects and opportunities down there are way different than what is in this market. That, to me, was very appealing.”

The economic development team at the Chamber will soon have a new member as Arjes hopes to fill a marketing and communications position for the team in early 2025. The Chamber is set to roll out a new strategic plan this year, Arjes said.

Arjes takes the Springfield Chamber job with a full plate, big aspirations for 2025

Jonas Arjes gave the keynote address before the panelists began at the annual Manufacturing Outlook on Dec. 4, 2024. (Photo by Shannon Cay)

Arjes came into the job with a full plate. In 2024, there were nine named projects for the Springfield Business Development Corporation (SBDC), the economic development arm of the Springfield Chamber. Those projects netted 372 new jobs and more than $200 million in capital investment in the region.

“Those are pretty good stats,” Arjes said.

He declined to give specifics on the projects since several have yet to be announced.

Looking ahead, there’s a strong pipeline of projects the economic development department is focusing on for 2025, aiming to bring as many to fruition as possible, Arjes said. The project list includes some new company attraction as well as business retention and expansion projects for companies that already operate in the region.

“I’m jazzed about the opportunities,” Arjes said. While attracting new companies to the Springfield region is exciting, “in actuality, the majority of your job creation comes from the companies that are already here.”

Arjes sees Springfield’s perimeter ripe for industrial development. The senior vice president said the city has roughly 800 acres of sites for development, from 50-acre options all the way up to 200 acres. In his first two months, he has toured available sites and said he was encouraged by the inventory.

“At the end of the day, marketable assets are available sites and buildings,” Arjes said. “If you do not have buildings and you don’t have sites, you don’t have anything to market. If you have property without infrastructure, you don’t have sites.”

Regionalism remains a strong focus for Chamber, senior vice president

Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce Senior Vice President of Economic Development Jonas Arjes started his position in October 2024. (Photo by Shannon Cay)

Economic development across the 10-county southwest Missouri region will be of paramount importance in Arjes’ new role. You could say on the regionalism front, Arjes will take the Chamber reins as Dean Thompson handed them over.

“The regionalism aspect is still very strong,” Arjes said. “From my perspective, it played a significant role in me being hired.”

Thompson, former executive director of regionalism and economic development at the Chamber, left the role in late-2024 to lead a nonprofit focused on economic regionalism efforts. LORE, or Leaders for Ozarks Region Evolvement, is the culmination of regional-defining efforts of the last few years by a multitude of Springfield stakeholders, including the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, the Chamber and the Hatch Foundation.

Arjes and Thompson had a professional relationship that dates back more than a decade. When LORE was forming, Thompson had multiple meetings and conversations with Arjes about Taney County’s involvement.

Arjes said the creation of LORE didn’t change the Springfield Chamber’s efforts on regional development. Instead, it’s helped focalize it.

“LORE, to me, is the big rock that’s not moving,” Arjes said. The nonprofit “will provide the resources to make it happen.”

LORE “won’t be the group to do it, they will call on groups like us. And we will call on regional stakeholders. We’re more focused and we’re going to do more with regionalism… in lockstep with LORE.”

It’s a moving target; there’s not exactly a set of blueprints to follow when it comes to regional economic development in lockstep with a regionalism-focused nonprofit, Arjes said.

“We’re creating this plane in flight,” Arjes said. “We’re flying this plane as we build it.”

Arjes plans to beef up the Springfield Regional Economic Partnership

Jonas Arjes, senior vice president of economic development at the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, says he will be sending teams to the regional counties the chamber works with to learn about their economic needs. (Photo by Shannon Cay)

One of the first goals Arjes has is to boost the Springfield Regional Economic Partnership (SREP), the senior vice president said. SREP is comprised of cities, counties, local chambers of commerce and utility providers within the 10-county region and is aimed at attracting new investment to southwest Missouri, according to the Chamber website.

SREP is marketed externally of the Chamber and is a public-private partnership. The organization spans Barry, Christian, Dade, Dallas, Greene, Lawrence, Polk, Stone, Taney and Webster Counties, according the organization’s website.

“SREP kind of ebbed and flowed for a while,” Arjes said. “As of late, it hasn’t been as robust as it was when I started 12 (or) 13 years ago” in Taney County.

The Chamber’s economic development team plans to be more involved with its peers in the 10-county region, including attending more meetings in other cities “to understand what’s going on,” Arjes said. There are also some changes and proposals going to the Springfield Business Development Corporation board in the coming months.

The economic development team needs to “get back to what’s working,” Arjes said. “Engage your regional partners and stakeholders, communicate (and) provide services.”

Arjes said his goal is to continue to cultivate the Chamber’s economic development team and work through the growing project list for 2025. He has plenty of challenges ahead, he said, which is a good thing when it comes to Springfield’s economic vitality.

“Barring any unforeseen macroeconomic challenges, I think Springfield is poised to continue to see…