May 15, 2024

This paid piece is sponsored by Sioux Metro Growth Alliance.

It’s a bit of a leap from the St. Louis metro area to the Sioux Falls metro area, but Wynne Hindt is settling in fast.

It helps that this originally was home for Hindt, who is from Sioux Falls and moved with her husband’s trucking career to Missouri nine years ago.

Family – grandchildren, especially – drew them back to the Sioux metro area, where they’re building a house in Hartford near where Hindt’s parents have lived for 20 years.

“I previously was a licensed Realtor and came to Hartford as a mortgage loan officer, but I was very new to it,” she said. “And then I saw in the Shopping Guide that Harford was hiring a chamber director and it was a part-time role, which was great, and in reading the description, I realized I could do all those things.”

She began as director of the Hartford Area Chamber of Commerce earlier this year.

“We’re excited to work with Wynne and help as she continues to evolve and expand Hartford’s chamber,” said Tyler Tordsen, president and CEO of Sioux Metro Growth Alliance. “Hartford has some strong momentum, and we see a lot of potential for business growth in this community.”

We caught up with Hindt to learn more about her early months at the chamber and what’s ahead for her growing business community.

What attracted you to your role with the chamber?

The part that intrigued me is working with businesses and doing that one-on-one. I’m very servant-minded and discovered quickly that in a chamber role you’re also an event planner, there’s public relations, and it also can be very administrative, but they’re all things I thrive in, and it’s been fun getting to know the businesses and business owners and many aspects of the community itself.

 What are your initial impressions of the community?

It’s up-and-coming. They’re ready for Sioux Falls to be moving this way. I feel like the community is preparing and has prepared for that to begin to happen. I see the infrastructure in place. I see the leadership in place to allow that growth to happen without it causing chaos. The goal is not to react to growth but plan for growth, which is huge, and the leadership here has done that.

How would you describe Hartford’s business community, particularly in terms of engagement with the chamber?

We have about 126 members, and the membership itself has been very strong since the chamber started in 2013. It’s very solid and connected to the community, and there has been growth within the businesses and new energy. In some longtime businesses, the next generation is now taking over, and I see them bring a different level of enthusiasm to being a business owner in a small community, which is exciting to see. They want to stay in Hartford and help build community. 

What about growth? Do you have new organizations joining or new businesses opening?

I do hear about new things coming, and we just held a very exciting ribbon-cutting with Siouxland Libraries. The growth of our public library in town has been tremendous, and now we have the first StoryWalk in Minnehaha County, where you walk through our walking trails and there’s a story you read throughout the walk that changes every month.

We had it in Missouri when I was there, and we loved it, so I was excited to see Hartford step into that and do something so proactive for the community and growth. And in addition to business growth, we have a lot of new housing and demand for more. There are at least three or four new neighborhoods with new construction, so it’s busy, and people are realizing how it’s only 20 minutes from Sioux Falls.

What are some of your current chamber initiatives?

My biggest priority for the rest of the year is to build out my strategic planning, looking out to the next five years. There’s not one currently in place, and I think a strategic plan will help the chamber with things like planning for events and bringing in new businesses and educating current businesses about issues like risk management and being on the edge of technology with artificial intelligence. My focus is on intentional growth in certain areas and having the chamber determine what those areas are going to be.

Have you been able to connect with Sioux Metro Growth Alliance, and what value have you found if so?

Oh yes, we are friends, and we see a lot of value. SMGA’s Ryan Solberg was the moderator of a legislative forum we just had and did a phenomenal job. And Tyler Tordsen and I have been connected, and I can tell they’re an excellent organization. We very much appreciate the value they bring to us.