23-05-2025
Gov. Tim Walz, other leaders cheer progress made by DMC at halftime of the 20-year project
May 22—ROCHESTER — Billed as a coach's halftime talk, Gov. Tim Walz lauded the vitality of Rochester and Mayo Clinic to hundreds of community leaders gathered for a luncheon to mark the 10-year milestone of the 20-year-long Destination Medical Center initiative.
"Everybody wants this," as he gestured to the crowd and downtown Rochester. "I hear that everywhere I go, especially with governors, when I'm talking about what you have in Rochester. They're always like, 'Oh, I wish we had that.' It's an incredible engine ... As goes Rochester, so goes Minnesota. And I would argue, as goes Minnesota, goes the Upper Midwest."
The celebratory luncheon was held at the downtown Hilton hotel in the Dr. John Noseworthy Hall, named after the former Mayo Clinic CEO who originally launched the DMC initiative. The 10-year anniversary marked by DMC ties back to April 2015, when the DMC Corp. adopted the official DMC Development Plan.
The retired Noseworthy took to the podium himself to cheer the economic development progress of the past decade and remember its history.
"The heart of the DMC story is acknowledging that for decades, Mayo Clinic has been a national treasury, and increasingly in the modern era, an international treasury. At its heart, DMC was and is a commitment to ensure that the infrastructure necessary to enable such future success is in place," he said.
Noseworthy described DMC as a bipartisan vision that echoed Mayo Clinic's historic moments, when Dr. Charlie Mayo drove the founding of the first versions of Rochester Community Technical College and the Rochester International Airport.
He added the original "City on the Hill" vision of Mayo Clinic started with the idea of relying solely on its reputation to attract patients without any advertising or self-promotion.
"But 25 years ago, the world was changing. In the early years of the 2000s, medicine became increasingly competitive, including top medical centers vying for the kinds of patients that Mayo Clinic attracted. Mayo would need to make changes to remain the leader ... The idea was formed for a Destination Medical City and these leaders, some of whom are in the room, began their work," said Noseworthy. "The stakes are high for everyone. It's hard work fueled by the possibilities of improving the lives of our patients and of our communities. There have been frustrations, mistakes, apologies, regrouping, highs and lows nailed by intention and agonizingly long days. This measured, patient, consensus-seeking methodology has been ongoing every day for the last decade. And many of you are the architects of this amazing transformation."
Former Gov. Mark Dayton, another retiree who helped shepherd the DMC initiative, described the massive economic development project as a memorable success of his administration. He said it was an easy vision to support.
"When Dr. Noseworthy announced Mayo's proposal to establish the next Destination Medical Center here in Rochester to further enhance your standing as the world's premier medical institution, I was thrilled and immediately announced my support," said Dayton.
Walz, whose speech wrapped up the event, concluded by returning to the theme of a halftime pep talk.
"We are solving some of the world's biggest issues right here in Rochester, and we're doing it in a collaborative way. We're doing in a way to keep the charm of a small city," he said. "If this is halftime, we're leading at halftime and we're not going to settle for setbacks. This would be one time, where I would say, 'Let's run the score up this.'"
