Striving for Viability

At Haxtun Health, Julia Biesemeier noticed something special about Mikey Brown: a hunger to learn. That hunger, she said, will serve Brown well in her new career path as executive director of Phillips County Economic Development Corporation; she ranked it as the “No. 1 thing” to qualify for the job.

In the position, Brown will lead a nonprofit organization founded in 2001 to cultivate the economic viability of Phillips County. Biesemeier, who directed the group from 2004-6 and then returned from 2014-17, currently sits on its board as one of nine members who represent people from Holyoke, Haxtun and Paoli. They advise, assist and choose their director.

“You are constantly learning new things...every single day, there’s something new,” Biesemeier said. “[Brown] is constantly learning new things and does a really good job at it.

“I’m excited to see what she’s able to accomplish.”

Both had worked in Haxtun’s Hospital District – Biesemeier from December 2017 onward as director of public relations and marketing; and Brown in four roles, beginning July 2013 as a human resources assistant and ending November as an intermediate accountant.

Brown had become a mother relatively early before moving to Haxtun, during her teenage years, and wanted to “do better, but didn’t quite know how.” Her hospital’s chief financial officer pushed her to grow and find a career in which she was passionate. Biesemeier suggested her current direction: Officially, Brown starts the job Dec. 1.

After shuttling her three children from a school bus and into the house, then moving to her office space, Brown expressed a desire to be the “best resource” possible for the county. With a focus on housing and childcare, Brown said, she intends to retain the area’s younger members,  and “have them be successful and thriving.”

“We absolutely love raising our kids in rural northeast Colorado,” she said of her and her husband. In the long-term, she hopes her children choose to “raise their own families” in the same location.

Before she becomes a “resource,” however, Brown intends to establish a strong base of personal relationships throughout the county.

She also will continue her education at Colorado State University Global, working toward a bachelor of science degree in accounting with a specialization in human resource management.

“Hopefully, everyone will be seeing me – and my face – very soon,” she said. “I’ll probably be going out into the community and attending meetings just to make some informal introductions, and asking the question: ‘What does economic development mean for you?’”

Once residents and business owners can answer this question of themselves, she said, it becomes possible to learn ways of linking the unique “big pieces” and “small pieces” of a community into a picture that will allow its members to utilize their skills in tandem and move forward.

Trisha Herman, who directed the corporation from November 2017 to present day, said she opened the Holyoke Fitness Club in 2015 to contribute toward this greater economic drive.

“You need to have opportunities for recreation. You need to have opportunities for kids and youth,” she said. “You want things to do, places to shop. You want to shop local. You want to support our local businesses. That’s what economic development really is: ‘How do we get resources, whether it’s from state or federal funding, to help support all these programs? To support our chambers and our nonprofits in the community, and our schools and our hospitals?’ It all intertwines.”

The work, she added, also involves plenty of multitasking. Outside her directing duties, Herman volunteers in a variety of organizations: Holyoke Childcare Initiative, Holyoke City Recreation Committee, Colorado Small Business Development Network, the Women’s Golf Board and the Youth Summer Swim Team. She volunteered for many of the same organizations before joining the corporation. At times during the interview, her voice became drowned out by automatic brushes as she rode her vehicle through the inside of a car wash.

“When I moved here, I didn’t have childcare; I lived in a small rental,” she said. “I’m a big-city girl who fell in love with a small-town boy and moved out to Eastern Colorado, and I struggled.”

She learned in the Eastern Plains in 2006 and Holyoke four years later that if she wanted to improve opportunities for those like her, she needed to “band together” with helpers and “wear lots of hats” to keep her projects going.

As with Brown, Herman became acquainted with the corporation through Biesemeier. They worked “hand-in-hand” at Northeast Rural Philanthropy Days, a June 2016 event that brought potential funders from the Front Range to visit the local area. There, Herman realized the nonprofit’s potential.

“Learning what [Biesemeier] did, I was like, ‘Oh, I do all of that on a volunteer basis,’” Herman said, laughing. “‘You mean I can get paid to do all of this?’”

Biesemeier, upon meeting Herman, recognized in the mother of two a “go-getter” spirit.

“She was so good at networking, and just so engaged in the community and state activities,” Biesemeier said. “She was constantly on the move and looking for things.”

Herman described the 2017 transition from her previous job as executive director of Phillips County Education Services like the natural pull of a gravitational force. By a similar route, Herman said, she took on her new role in November as Eastern Colorado’s community relationship manager for the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority.

“[I have] mixed emotions. I’ve done nothing but want to grow our communities in Phillips County,” Herman said. “It wasn’t an easy decision. I wasn’t looking for a job. It just really fell into my lap.”

She will support nine counties in addition to Phillips by aiding the Housing Authority in its efforts to invest in affordable homes and economic development. Her organization has invested $3.6 billion into Eastern Colorado since it began in 1973.

“What’s great is my new job will allow me to work hand-in-hand with Mikey,” Herman said. “I’ll be doing a lot of the same things when it comes to housing and even business development, working for nonprofits, and growing our northeastern region.”

“My kids are in the system and I’m in the system here. I’m not going anywhere.”

Given Biesemeier’s influence on Brown and Herman – with both continuing down her former career path – one might ask the question: Did Biesemeier ever truly stop directing the corporation?

“Ah, well, okay,” she said. “So, I definitely stopped taking on the full responsibility of the load…because that job is, first of all, thankless and, secondly, it is a lot of work. There are so many things that happen in the background of that position people just don’t know about.”

“But I have a passion for economic development,” she continued. “I love to see the county succeed and I love to see our director succeed.”

Brown is set to introduce herself to the Phillips County Board of County Commissioners on Wednesday, Nov. 30 at their 9:05 a.m. public comment. She intends to keep an “open door and open phone policy”: one may find the Economic Development office at 127 E. Denver Street, Suite B, in Holyoke; her number will be (970) 580-3614 and her email admin@phillipscountyco.org.

As for Herman, the corporation’s board is set to hold a reception in her honor Nov. 30 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the current Economic Development building. The following day – Dec. 1 – she heads to Sterling, Colorado’s Northeast Regional Engagement Center from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. to help plan the  Housing and Finance Authority’s future in regional tourism. She may be reached by phone at (970) 218-4037 or her new email at therman@chfainfo.com.