By Joshua Schuetz
Board members help guide organizations and advocate for the causes those organizations pursue. CEDA’s new board member, Jack Evenson, has firsthand experience with how CEDA helps small communities do big things.
Evenson, the current mayor of Benson and a former city council member, joined CEDA’s board in 2024. He was informed of an opening by Hillary Tweed, a CEDA team member currently contracted in Benson.
Touting CEDA’s work in the city, Evenson said Tweed and fellow CEDA team member Laura Mitteness have been transformative for the city, especially in regard to housing and business development. “CEDA has landed a successful builder to add 40 units to Benson, which will free up homes for people who currently can’t afford them,” Evenson said. “Hillary helped bring Abundant Ag to Benson, we have small businesses coming to town and we are working on an industrial park on the south side of town.”
Evenson said he wants to start out by learning more about what board members do in their roles, but said he hopes to see CEDA boost regional economic competitiveness for small communities bordering other states. “We have so much competition with South Dakota in the economic development space, so if we can get CEDA embedded in more cities and counties on this side of the state, we can boost the competitiveness of those communities and keep jobs, businesses and workers in Minnesota,” Evenson said.
Evenson is confident CEDA can turn things around in cities and communities struggling with business attraction and workforce issues, because he’s seen exactly that in Benson. “When I was elected to the city council in Benson, we were losing workers and businesses to South Dakota and other states, and I think CEDA has found ways to work around the obstacles leading to that,” he said. “The benefits are wide because CEDA doesn’t just work on bringing businesses to communities; there’s also a focus on ways to bring in new residents and workers.”