Melissa Meschke replaced Bill Rubin in January 2024 as director of the St Croix County Economic Development Corp. The EDC is a 502(c)6 org that spans 35 towns, cities, and villages in the county. As a 501(c)6, SCEDC is allowed to lobby. Meschke noted that she works closely with neighboring counties. The EDC does programming for municipalities as well as businesses. Her responsibilities include attending events, heading up local initiatives, and growing membership in the EDC. As housing is a very important issue affecting local economic development , a housing study underway will gather data with a target of completion in Q2 2025.
Melissa presented some key data: a county population of 96,763, a 7.8% increase since 2018. An additional growth of about 6% is expected between 2023 and 28. Regional employment is 40,972, which is a growth of 6.3% from 2018-23. Median household income is about $98k, $22.8k above the national average. Pierce & St Croix are among the highest income counties in WI. Job growth in St Croix is above average and unemployment % is very low, which is not always a good thing for economic development. Business statistics show a fairly even distribution among services, retail, construction, heath care, and other. A final slide showed the effect of the pandemic on SCC with job growth and # of establishments growing sharply up to 2019, dropping sharply, and then recovering. Click on Download Files to see the slides and click READ MORE to read about Melissa Meschke.
Melissa Meschke is the Executive Director of St. Croix EDC, where she fosters economic development across St. Croix County, Wisconsin. With over a decade of entrepreneurship-led economic development experience, she has done everything from starting her own small business to managing and consulting for small businesses to spreading the word about small business programs. Previously, she was the Economic Development Outreach Manager at the University of Wisconsin System Institute for Business & Entrepreneurship. Before that, Melissa served as the Director of the Small Business Development Center at UW-Stevens Point. Melissa, her husband of over 11 years, and their two children live in New Richmond.