Jason Ball to leave Chamber of Commerce as president and CEO, Dave Kapaska to assume interim role

The president and CEO of the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce is stepping down from the role effective Aug. 16.

Jason Ball is leaving for a similar position in the Austin, Texas area, at the Round Rock Chamber of Commerce, the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors announced Wednesday afternoon. 

Ball has led the chamber since February 2017. He told the Sioux Falls Business Journal he was particularly proud of the work the chamber has done in the policy space, the city logo and the creation of the Hey Sioux Falls program as a way to recognize local entrepreneurship and the startup community.

"I am so thankful for the opportunity to have been a small part of the Sioux Falls story, and I will miss this community and the people here so very much,” Ball said.

The chamber's board has named Dr. Dave Kapaska as interim president. Kapaska is a well-known local leader who retired in 2017 as regional president and CEO at Avera McKennan Hospital, and is a past chair of the chamber board.

Ball was hired in late 2016 under Kapaska's board leadership. He followed Evan Nolte, who was the chamber's president and CEO for 38 years. 

“Jason came to the chamber during a time of great change. We appreciate the work that he has done for the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce,” said Tim Sturdevant, chair of the chamber’s board of directors and president & CEO of Sturdevant's Auto Parts, in a news release. “We wish Jason and his family success and happiness in their new community.”

Under Ball's leadership, the chamber took a more vocal approach on several social issues on which the business community may not have commented, such as state legislation regarding which bathrooms transgender people can use. Ball articulated the chamber's view that such issues were inherently workforce issues.

"That was definitely following the direction of our leadership – that really was the voice of the business community manifesting ourselves," he said. "What changed was how we communicated about it, maybe being more transparent. But that’s our job, to articulate the issues the business community is concerned about, and sometimes people disagree."

Ball said he would he was "both proud and wish I had more time" on developing the regional character of the chamber's policy and economic development programs, but he said great strides had been made.

"There are so many shared needs we have, particularly on the I-29 corridor," he said.  

Ball said he hopes the Sioux Falls community maintains its collaborative spirit, and he cited the #onesiouxfalls approach of Mayor Paul TenHaken's administration as one example of the power of that spirit. 

"There’s so much good in store for Sioux Falls, there is so much happening that is unquestionably right and strong, and that everyone here should look forward to," Ball said.

Kapaska will start his interim position Aug. 12. The board decided to hire Waverly Associates to search for a new executive.

“I’m excited to work with the staff of the chamber," Kapaska said in the news release. "They are a talented and dedicated team, and they do so much for this city."