Kylee Garretson is the senior vice president of business attraction at Greater St. Louis, Inc. (Photo by Derik Holtmann)

Hometown: Mattoon, Illinois 

Degree: MPPA, Certificate in Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 2015

Current Position: Senior vice president of business attraction at Greater St. Louis, Inc. 

Fun Fact: Garretson enjoys a bi-weekly dinner club with friends to check out new restaurants and also enjoys embroidery in her free time. 

Kylee Garretson didn’t originally plan to spearhead economic initiatives in the St. Louis area. All through her undergraduate career, she wanted to be a therapist. After graduating with a bachelor’s in psychology, Garretson worked as a psych tech in a St. Louis hospital. But she soon realized policy, not clinical work, was her true calling.

Drawn to the certificate in Nonprofit Management and Leadership and the Master of Public Policy Administration program at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, Garretson sought an opportunity to improve mental health from a different angle – by helping create spaces and tools for clinicians to do their work.

Yet shortly after starting her graduate studies, Garretson’s path took an unexpected turn. She was hired as an office manager at Missouri Partnership, a public-private economic development organization, in a shift that changed the course of her career. “I had no idea what economic development was before I started,” Garretson admits.

She quickly realized she was in the right place after moving into a project management role at Missouri Partnership and rising through the organization over seven years. “I was actually helping recruit businesses to Missouri and helping my fellow Missourians prosper and get jobs,” she says.

Garretson then spent a few years as a site location consultant in Cleveland but seized an opportunity in 2025 to take a job at Greater St. Louis, Inc., which strives to bring economic growth to 15 counties across Missouri and Illinois.

Garretson credits courses at UMSL for preparing her with the necessary skills to do this work.

“At UMSL, I learned a lot of HR functions, how nonprofits should be managed, how boards and bylaws work,” Garretson says. “The policy-writing skills were invaluable.”

In her current role, Garretson helps attract companies to invest in the region, analyzing everything from site infrastructure to workforce demographics to tax structures, and leveraging unique experience gained as both an in-house strategist and an outside consultant.

“I know what companies are looking for,” Garretson says, “and I know what consultants are looking for.”

Garretson firmly believes St. Louis is a great region in which to run a business, and she has words of wisdom for every St. Louisan who wants to help bolster the city’s reputation.

“Just be an advocate,” Garretson says. “When we travel, or when people come to visit, let’s share what we love, not tear it down.”

This story was originally published in the fall 2025 issue of UMSL Magazine. If you have a story idea for UMSL Magazine, email magazine@umsl.edu.