Lundgren settles in at MCDC

New Montgomery County Development Corporation executive director Ben Lundgren is settling in.
Lundgren took over the role on Aug. 11, replacing Steve Adams, who retired earlier in the year. Lundgren is a Montgomery County native, growing up on his family farm northwest of Red Oak, near Wales.
“I graduated from Red Oak High School in 2006. From there, I went to Iowa State and graduated in 2010 with a dual major. I had a degree in economics and then a degree in ag business. After that, I worked in different lending and credit roles. My first job out of college was with an entity called Farmer Mac. Farmer Mac is a secondary market lender for ag real estate loans. Some of the banks here in Red Oak work with them. I worked as a loan underwriter there for around five years. That was my first job,” Lundgren advised.
Lundgren spent eight months with Conterra Asset Management in Des Moines, then he took the opportunity to get back to Western Iowa at Treynor State Bank as a loan analyst in 2016. And then shortly after he became the credit analyst manager until returning to the area and taking a job with Houghton State Bank in mid-2020.
“I came back to Red Oak during COVID-19. It was my first job as a lender and meeting with customers. I was with Houghton up until moving to this new role at MCDC,” stated Lundgren.
Lundgren said he felt growing up that he had an affinity for finance and math.
“I went to college for ag business originally thinking that I wanted to get into a lending role, which I did. When I was at Iowa State, I found out that the ag business degree is pretty closely related to the economics degree, and it wasn’t a whole lot more to get a dual major, so I did,” explained Lundgren.
While the role as MCDC director is a career change, Lundgren said there are a lot of parallels to the world of banking.
“A lot of lending is about making deals and finding ways to make them happen. Also it requires customer relationships, getting to know people in the area. Coming back to Red Oak and working at Houghton has allowed me to meet a lot of people that I knew of, but didn’t really know them that well. I feel like that’s going to be helpful in this role,” commented Lundgren.
Lundgren does have some prior experience in the realm of economic development, having served on the Red Oak Chamber and Industry Board, currently filling the role of treasurer. He’s also treasurer on the YMCA Board of Directors. Lundgren spoke about what led to his decision to apply for the executive director role with MCDC.
“I knew the position was going to be opening this year, and I knew the MCDC Board has been trying to replace Steve for a while. I hadn’t really given it a lot of thought until I was at a recent Chamber meeting and someone shared an update on finding Steve’s replacement. At that point things were still very much in the beginning stages. That was the first time that entered my mind to even think about it,” said Lundgren. “It never hurts to apply and investigate something, so I did. I applied and ended up interviewing for the position.”
One of the key questions Lundgren remembered being asked was why he was considering the change in paths.
“I enjoyed my job at the bank. It’s a great job, and Houghton’s a great organization. They’ve assembled an amazing team over there and that was the hardest part about deciding to even entertain something different. I have a lot of respect for the President, Britni Bergren, and all the other staff. We worked well together as a team,” Lundgren explained. “What intrigued me about this role was I felt that it was really unique, and it seemed like an opportunity to have a lot more impact in the community in a different way. I feel that’s what drew me to it. I felt that it could be a real opportunity and very rewarding.”
As he steps into the role, Lundgren is pleased that Red Oak and other communities in the county are proceeding with the funding being offered through the Lakin Initiative, and he’s looking at other ways to expand economic growth in the county.
“There’s a lot of different areas and there’s so many people in our community that are passionate about not only Red Oak, but the surrounding communities in the county as a whole. With the right leadership, we can get coordinated and try to get some things accomplished. I’m from this area and I don’t intend on moving away. It’s a great feeling to be working for a nonprofit with a mission to improve our community. Who couldn’t be excited about that.”
Shortly before accepting his role with MCDC, Lundgren said he achieved another milestone, a masters degree in economics. Lundgren intended to get the degree years ago, but encountered some hurdles.
“Around 2015, Purdue came out with an online master’s of science program in economics. I first enrolled back then, but then I changed jobs and I delayed it for a year. I ended up passing one class but had some difficulties initially. I was in a management role at the time and it was too much to balance. I dropped out of the program around 2018 or 2019. After taking the role at Houghton, it was still on my mind,” Lundgren advised. “I knew I could do it if I had my life structured correctly and if I devoted enough time. I checked back with Purdue and they told me I could come back,” Lundgren said.
In those intervening years, Lundgren said Purdue also restructured the online program.
“They realized it was pretty difficult. They created a couple math prep courses to help transition people who had been out of school for a little bit. Those prep courses were the key. Also, the world had changed since the COVID-19 pandemic. There’s a lot more Zoom and things of that nature. They had academic advisors and success coaches and they promoted interaction with your classmates who are in the program from around the world. It was night and day different from how it had been in 2015. I did really well and ended up graduating in May of 2025. It was an awesome experience, and I learned so much at Purdue. I’m planning on carrying on that knowledge into this role. I feel it’s going to be 100% applicable to economic development,” Lundgren stated.
Lundgren added he feels that the best way for Montgomery County to grow is when the individual communities thrive.
“Red Oak has benefited by having a thriving Stanton and vice versa. There’s no need to be competitive. I’m pro Stanton, I’m pro Red Oak, I’m pro Villisca, and I’m pro Montgomery County. That’s the approach I’m going to take. Each community has a lot to be proud of,” commented Lundgren.
As he proceeds in the new role, Lundgren said he’s going to take what prior director Steve Adams has been working on and build on that.
“I’m a bit new to this and I’m getting oriented. The first thing I want to do is establish relationships, in particular, in the Stanton and Villisca communities. Now that I’m in this new role I want to introduce myself to both the business and community leaders in all the communities here. Networking is where I’m going to start,” said Lundgren. “Also, there are things in the works including a number of things that Steve was working on. He’s left me with plenty of files and notes. And obviously, he has said that any time, I can contact him and have him as a reference here to help me as I get started.”
Lundgren said he also plans to get a handle on all of the MCDC members and examine the structure of the organization today. He also plans on revamping the quarterly newsletter for the MCDC members.
Following his announcement as the new MCDC executive director, Lundren said there has been a buzz in the air.
“There’s been a number of people who have reached out to me and I’ve really appreciated that. People have even stopped my parents as they’ve been around town and said they’ve been happy to hear that I’m stepping into the role. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive,” stated Lundgren.
Recently, the announcement was made that Bomgaars will be opening a store in the former Kmart building. Lundgren talked about his involvement in that project in his new role.
“I’m going to be reaching out to Bomgaar’s leadership to introduce myself and express appreciation that they are expanding in Montgomery County. It’s going to be a great deal for our community. The future of the Kmart building has been on a lot of people’s minds, as it’s one of the first things you see when you drive into town from the north. It’s great that Bomgaars is able to take the building and make use of it and give Red Oak and Montgomery County another option as far as shopping. I feel like it’s a win-win all the way around,” Lundgren explained.
Lundgren said if community members, and community and business leaders want to reach out, they are welcome to do so.
“I would love to get feedback from people of what they see as areas that the community can improve on.  As a plus, Red Oak has a city plan, as well as Montgomery County, Stanton and Villisca. I reviewed all four of them and they all have a lot of similarities, but they’re all somewhat unique because each community is unique in their focus.  But one of the big things all the communities need is population growth,” Lundgren commented. “We need to attract people to this area in particular. That’s not unique just to Montgomery County. While the communities have the same goal, how to achieve that goal needs to be custom tailored to each community. We also need to ask what can be done for our existing population, and address their needs. I think there’s a lot that can be done.”
To reach out to Lundgren, call the office at (712) 357-1122, or email director@growmocoia.org.