Brandon Hanson is the new CEO of Downtown Sioux Falls, Inc. Though he's relatively new to DTSF, Inc., he's been connected to downtown for some time through previous jobs at the Washington Pavilion, SculptureWalk and EmBe. Hanson sat down with Sioux Falls Simplified to chat about his new role, his goals and his go-to coffee shops.

Answers are edited for length and clarity.

Give us a little background, how did you get smart about downtown Sioux Falls and DTSF, Inc.? 

I went to school for art and theater, and I later went back and got an MBA – that was probably a more natural fit for me.

• Most of my career was with the Pavilion in a lot of roles there from working in their art museum to being director of all museums and then ultimately running SculptureWalk. I moved on from there and went to EmBe overseeing childcare operations for 1,500 families.

I saw late last spring that DTSF was hiring a vice president ... I wasn't necessarily looking for a job, but I decided to send in my application and learn more. Through the interview process, I just sort of fell in love with the organization.

We’re all about simplicity here. Can you describe your new job in 10 words or fewer? 

Bringing people together to build a thriving business community.

What are some of your top priorities right now for downtown? 

There are so many people developing in downtown, and DTSF, this small nonprofit, can get a lot of credit for how amazing downtown is. But it takes a lot of us, really, to make this amazing.

Top priorities though, for me at the nonprofit of DTSF is to reconnect the organization with the membership base.

• I think we’ve been really humble and more in the background over the last few years, and I really want every member to know not only my name but the names of my team members and know exactly where to go when they need something.
• We offer a lot of really amazing tangible services and resources to small businesses, and I think if they had a very easy path to get to those they would utilize them even more.

One more priority would be bringing our ambassador program (which supports homelessness outreach) in-house.

What’s the biggest misconception you hear about downtown Sioux Falls, and can you help us set the record straight? 

It might be my own misconception, but when I showed up, I kind of thought of DTSF as an event company. We certainly have some signature events, but we’re not an event company

We are a downtown organization that focuses on activation and placemaking, which really at the end of the day what we’re measuring is foot traffic and economic impact.

• It' really just all about driving foot traffic in any way possible to the downtown district, and then letting the incredible businesses down here benefit from that.

If you could wave a magic wand and bring one new resource to downtown, what would it be? 

In retail and in food and beverage, the first couple years (in business) are pretty volatile with startup costs, inventory, investing in marketing. All of that combined can be a really clear recipe for a couple years.

My magic wand would be t o build a library of resources to help flatten those ups and downs in year one and two, and get to those year three, four, and five where it's a little more stable and the statistical likelihood that you'll stay around and stay open is way higher.

• That could be customer service training, that could be maybe we pair you with an expert who is great at logistics or can come in and advise you – maybe it's a mentor program.

Say you’ve got a friend visiting from out of town, where are some of the first places you take them, downtown or otherwise? 

Well, for sure downtown.

It probably depends son what day of the week – personally I’m a big fan of our coffee culture in downtown. You could even do a little coffee tour if you’re willing to drink that much espresso in one day – go to Queen City, the Breaks. Even by just those two you've got some good representation of two very different atmospheres and environments.

We're probably looking for entertainment after that – maybe SculptureWalk while we wait for lunchtime to come around.

Then I would want to take someone over to BibiSol, especially with their new business, very incredible food but also because they were recently nominated for a James Beard Award.

• Then you might as well follow it up with C.H. Patisserie (also a James Beard Award nominee).

Then I think we’d wrap it up with the State Theatre. It's got the best audio/visual experience in town, super low prices and just the history there is incredible.

Anything else you’d like the good people of Sioux Falls to know about you, your new job or DTSF in general? 

We have such a small team, but we’re all so approachable. We'd love to grab coffee with anyone, anytime.