Steve Carter’s retirement as president of the ISU Research Park was celebrated from 3 to 5 p.m. Thursday at the economic development core facility.

Carter served as the president of the ISU Research Park for 18 years. He was an asset in developing what the 400-acre ISU Research Park, holding 80 companies, is today.

Carter received his Bachelor’s of Arts from Iowa State and has had a variety of careers, but ultimately ended up back with his Iowa State family.

“At the ISU Research Park, I was able to contribute and care for both my state and community and Iowa State, while having an enormous amount of fun,” Carter said.

Carter positively impacted his coworkers, caring for the team as a whole.

“Steve was here for a long time and grew the ISU Research Park,” Marketing Director Alison Doyle said.

The ISU Research Park grew due to Carter’s success with relationships and business knowledge.

“He developed strong relationships with tenants as well as people with services,” Doyle said. “It will be hard to lose Steve’s [Carter] intellect about building a business as well as his knowledge in negotiations.”

Carter has greatly expanded the ISU Research Park in his time as president.

“There have been 370 tenants in the time [Carter] has served us,” said David Spalding, Dean of the Ivy College of Business. “So many opportunities have been created, employment has grown by 150 percent and the square foot of the park has tripled since 2000.”

Along with being a great businessman, Carter was also a team leader, surrounding himself with quality people and never micromanaged them.

“I would put our team against anyone in the country,” said Mike Crum, chair of ISU Research Park’s board of directors.

“We will find someone really good to replace Steve but it’s not going to be easy,” Crum said.

The global search for a new president will be happening, but until the right fit is found, plans for a temporary replacement have been arranged.

“[Carter] will leave us Dec. 31 and Warren Madden, former vice president of business, will serve the research park until the spot is filled,” Doyle said. “He is one of the founders of the research park and will provide strong leadership to our team.”