Wyoming People: The Powell Man Who’s Recruited Businesses To Wyoming Through Five Governors

Dave Reetz is 80 years old and technically retired, but he just cannot pass up a chance to recruit new businesses to Wyoming. He has done it through the terms of five Wyoming governors—including on a recent vacation to Hawaii. Sitting in a hot tub on Kauai, the 6-foot-3, 250-pound former economic developer helped a man out of the water, then overheard him talking about his business plan. The man turned out to be a Yale graduate and former NFL player who now produces Super Bowl ads. He was thinking about starting a business in Montana. “I said, ‘What? You need to come to Wyoming,’” Reetz recalled.

Within days of returning from Hawaii, Reetz escorted the man to Cheyenne, introduced him to the governor, the CEO of the Wyoming Business Alliance, the CEO of Cheyenne LEADS, and Secretary of State Chuck Gray. Then Reetz heard the words every economic developer loves: “I am going to move my company to Wyoming.”

Reetz’s career in economic development began after he moved to Powell with his wife Glo, a native of the town. He served as dean of administrative services at Northwest College, then joined First Bank of Wyoming for 18 years, where the bank’s board president told him his job description included business and economic development. “It was a natural move for me,” Reetz said. “I wanted to serve the community, to build the community. The downtown was in shambles. There were 35 empty commercial buildings.”

He successfully recruited Wall Street bond firm Fitch Investor Services’ database unit to Powell, helped write grants for five business parks, and led the Powell Valley Chamber of Commerce to win an All America City designation in 1994—earning a ceremony at the White House. He co-founded the Wyoming Business Council and has served on boards and commissions appointed by Governors Mike Sullivan, Jim Geringer, Dave Freudenthal, and Matt Mead. He was inducted into the Wyoming Business Hall of Fame in 2015.

Reetz also helped create the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation, securing National Historic Site status and a $5.3 million interpretive learning center at the site of a Japanese American internment camp. He chaired the committee to raise money for the christening of the USS Wyoming, an Ohio-class nuclear submarine. He has served as a worship leader and Bible teacher, and when each of his 11 grandchildren turned 13, he took them on a weeklong trip to “speak into their lives.” One granddaughter, an aspiring singer, was taken to Carnegie Hall; she later sang there and at Lincoln Center.

Reetz said the farm boy from Nebraska who learned to work hard and wanted to make a difference has never left him. Even after five-bypass heart surgery, he continues to go to work. He said economic recruitment is not more important than helping a man in need. “It’s my friendship with (the man) that matters,” he said.