The Right Guy at the Right Time

LEE COUNTY – The county’s 58-minute man has gone a full 11 years.
Lee County Economic Development Group’s Dennis Fraise ushered in the metamorphosis of what is now one of the top economic development agencies in the state, country, and even globally for its size. But his last day will be November 21 and he said it won’t be an easy day for him.
“There’s a lot of emotion that comes with this,” he said.
The LCEDG was a small entity trying to find a path when Fraise applied for the position and met then-president and future mentor Phil Hecht. He said Hecht had a vision of creating “a world-class” organization and brought Fraise on board to help move the needle.
From that moment, Fraise has endured a substantial learning curve.
After his hire, along with Dana Millard on Sept. 1, 2013, as a capital campaign manager and marketing coordinator, Fraise helped transition the group to a public-private partnership from an entity that had been fully funded by Lee County.
He said his first task was rebranding the organization. And he did it with trademark 58-minute meetings with stakeholders, all with an eye on Hecht’s vision.
“Phil said his mandate was for us to become a world-class organization and that’s been my guiding star for the past 11 years,” Fraise said.
Then it became a mission of creating a roadmap beginning with a capital campaign that generated more than a million dollars. But he said that came with the big question of what to do with it.
At that point the board went through several CEOs and then migrated away from that with the board serving as the CEO and Fraise and Millard doing the heavy lifting of the day-to-day operations.
That began with a rebrand of the organization under the Grow Lee campaign. One of the key brand-building programs that brought the entire county together was a world-record tulip planting project at the Lee County Conservation Center in 2016. More than 8,000 tulip bulbs were planted by close to 1,463 people simultaneously in Montrose to set a mark that still stands today. The effort resulted in 6,000 tulips blooming in the conservation property the following spring.
Fraise and Millard and a dedicated rotating board of directors then began raising the county’s economic profile around the country. The group has been honored with mulitiple state, national, and international awards for programming. The most recent was an award from the International Economic Development Council that set LCEDG as the top agency out of about 25,000 others in comparative population base.
Fraise himself started a podcast with Jason Hutcherson, executive director of Great River Health Foundation. Fraise calls Hutcherson a mentor and his best friend. The two launched the podcast and it is now one of the most-followed economic development podcasts in the country.
Fraise is also a sought-after speaker on economic development event circuits and has given presentations globally.|
Fraise has been a professional photographer and marketing representative for several non-profits including the Alzhiemer’s Association. He moved into economic development with Louisa County part-time while doing multiple other jobs in marketing.
“I’ve always been a student of the game and started with an economic development course and then took several other courses to become a certified economic developer,” he said.
Only about 5% of economic development officials get the certification. He also received formal training for meeting facilitation, and has coursework in non-profit management.
“My goal was to lead this organization. I loved what I was doing and I had grown up in Lee County so for me it was personal.  And I thought we could do better,” he said

Fraise said the work has been complex, but has also been more political than he cares for.
Fast forward to 2024 and Fraise finds himself as the outgoing President and CEO with Emily Benjamin set to take over the operations Nov. 22.
“We’ve done some really innovate work and punched above our weight. We brought some stability to this organization still with that guiding star of being a world-class organization,” he said.
He said the building was brick by brick by brick and investors began to grow but so did expectations of the agency.
“It’s a lot of juggling and a lot of people to make happy, but we did that in part by building a fantastic board. This is a team sport. No one does it alone. We brought on the ag sector, the education sector, and we still have more work to do in those areas,” he said.
“We’re at a point now where you see the integration of the three economic development organizations.”
He said plans from as far back as 1998 included efforts to integrate economic development.
“We’re at a point now where we can lead and that hasn’t always been the case. Being able to lead makes a big difference. We’re not single-minded by any means, but I use a word “catalyst” in collaboration. Where can we collaborate.”
He said the recent broadband investment, which is now close to $25 million in the past three years, began with LCEDG funding a study and then involved great collaboration with area governments and non-profits to get traction.
Fraise said the same is already happening with natural gas. The county has lost several projects due to not being able to supply the needed natural gas supply. He said that’s a complex problem but the agency is now equipped to be the catalyst to start the process.
He said there is a startling difference between what the organization was 11 years ago and what it is now, and credits it to Hecht’s vision and the energy of the board and staff.
“I have to sometimes tell myself when I’m having a day to look back and all that’s been accomplished. As an organization and personally. I’m one of 55 national board members of the International Economic Development Council.
He said when he leaves on Nov. 21, the transition will be seamless due to the succession plan that’s in place.
“When I leave I’m going to be this organization's biggest cheerleader, but I’m also going to expect them to evolve and change things,” Fraise said.
He said it’s healthy for him to step fully away and let Benjamin lead the group.
“You’ll only see me down here for lunch,” he laughed. “I’ll always be a resource if they need something, but they don’t. I was the right person to take us from where we were to today. Emily’s the right person to take us from where we are today to where we need to go next.”
His retirement plans including growing the podcast “Develop This: Economic and Community Development". But he also intends to enjoy a few of the fruits including travel and spending time with family.
A retirement celebration for Fraise has been planned for Nov. 21 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Turnwater Bar and Grill. The public is invited.