A lifelong desire to impact her community in a positive way has led Deb Reinbold to become a force for change in Jefferson County.
Reinbold, president of Thrive Economic Development, is the 2025 BizTimes Media Woman Executive of the Year. She was presented with the award at the Women in Business Symposium on Aug. 21.
Since stepping into her current position, Reinbold has become one of a handful of influential business leaders who’s helped attract more than $1 billion in investments in Jefferson County from major corporations.
“It’s all about being able to impact your community in a positive way,” Reinbold said.
Reinbold grew up in Poynette, a small village in Columbia County, and graduated from high school with a class of 83 people.
After high school, she attended the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and studied graphic design. She started her professional career at a local commercial interior design firm.
She and her husband moved to Colorado for a few years before returning to Wisconsin upon learning her mother was sick. At that point, Reinbold decided to pivot and earn her real estate license.
While working for a real estate firm in Menomonee Falls, Reinbold and her husband began purchasing their own properties, including an old bowling alley in Slinger and two restaurants in Germantown.
“I was working for the Multiple Listing Service, and our manager had been let go,” Reinbold said. “I stepped in as I oversaw the restaurant, and that wasn’t what I wanted to do.”
A job opening at Washington County’s economic development office soon caught her eye.
She was there for about six years, through 2018, until she once again pivoted and accepted a position as director of business development for West Bend-baded American Construction Services.
In 2020, Reinbold realized she missed economic development and officially joined Thrive as managing director of business development.
“My whole goal is to try and bring in better paying jobs and have opportunities for people that improve their lives,” she said. “As an economic developer, what I’m really trying to do is elevate the opportunities for the people here.”
In Jefferson County, Reinbold has the challenge of balancing the area’s agricultural heritage with the desire to bring in new developments and opportunities.
She worked closely with previous county administrator Ben Wehmeier to further develop the concept of a food and beverage innovation campus in the city of Jefferson.
That campus landed its anchor tenant in 2024 with Kikkoman Corp. announcing plans for a $560 million facility.
“There’s a lot of time that you put into attraction projects. This was really my first attraction project, and we tried to look at it from their perspective,” Reinbold said.
In the end, a handwritten letter telling Kikkoman leaders how much state and county officials wanted to work with the business helped secure the deal.
“The story is (Kikkoman’s CEO) looked at the letter a couple of times and then said, ‘OK, we’re coming to Wisconsin,” Reinbold said.
Additional investments
Several other sizable investments have been made or announced during Reinbold’s tenure. They include a $300 million facility for Finland-based Onego Bio in Jefferson and Aztalan Bio’s $500 million investment in its biorefinery between Johnson Creek and Jefferson.
Nestlé Purina also completed a $195 million expansion at its Jefferson plant.
Still, Reinbold remains committed to intentional growth that makes sense in a county that’s 80% farmland.
“We don’t want to go turn all of it into businesses because we also see that there’s a balance here. We have a great quality of life,” she said.
The county has zeroed in on development within its major transportation corridors, including I-94 and Highways 26, 12 and 18. To make that happen, a big hurdle will be getting electric utilities to invest more in the county.
Major projects like Kikkoman’s and Onego Bio’s will easily need 20 megawatts of power, Reinbold explained.
“The communities that we work in don’t necessarily have that much (electrical) capacity,” she said. “So, I can’t bring more projects into those communities.”
While Jefferson County has proven that it can attract major projects, Reinbold said she still needs outside organizations to commit to investing in the community.
New programs in the county
Reinbold isn’t satisfied with the status quo. As such, Jefferson County is continually unveiling innovative new programming to support its residents.
One example of this is Jefferson County’s Revolving Loan Fund, which provides gap financing for businesses. The fund supports business growth by encouraging investments that boost a company’s productivity and competitiveness.
Last January, Jefferson County officially became certified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as a Home Counseling Agency, allowing it to provide professional guidance and other resources to prospective homeowners.
The county is also the second Financial Empowerment Center in Wisconsin, offering financial counseling to any residents who need it.
“The cool thing to me about being here in Jefferson County is that we’re all in it for the right reasons,” said Reinbold. “We’re not doing something because we’ve got an agenda. We’re doing this because we feel as though it’s going to be impactful for our people.”
