Gov. Andrew Cuomo turned to a leading business advocacy group in Albany with his choice of Kenneth Adams to head a restructured Empire State Development Corp. and serve as the state”™s economic development commissioner. Business leaders hailed his selection as a sign the state is newly “open for business” with the new governor.
Adams, president and CEO of The Business Council of New York State Inc., was nominated by Cuomo as president and CEO of ESDC and commissioner of the state Department of Economic Development. The appointment is subject to state Senate approval.
Adams will succeed Dennis M. Mullen as ESDC CEO. Mullen also was chairman of ESDC. Cuomo, as part of his plan to change the development agency”™s leadership structure, separated the CEO and chairperson jobs. He said the yet unnamed chairperson “will bring a specific understanding of the issues facing economic development in upstate New York” to the post.
Cuomo thanked Mullen, a former food industry executive from Rochester, for his dedication as “a tireless advocate for business, marketing and growth for our state.”
Adams joined the state Business Council as president and CEO in 2006. The council represents nearly 2,500 member businesses, chambers of commerce and professional and trade associations that employ a total of more than 1 million New Yorkers.
Adams previously was president of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, where he spent 11 years, and director of the MetroTech Business Improvement District in downtown Brooklyn. He was the founding executive director of New York Cares, New York City”™s leading volunteer organization, from 1988 to 1994.
“With Ken Adams as president and CEO, the Empire State Development Corp. will fuel New York-based innovation and create jobs at home while helping to transform the state into a world-class center for business and new ideas,” Cuomo said when announcing his choice. “As I said in my State of the State address, we need a strong voice to help say that New York is ”˜open for business.”™ A fast growing and forward-thinking economy begins with changing the state”™s business climate to attract and maintain cutting-edge companies. Ken is clearly the right person at the right time for New York and I thank him for agreeing to serve the people of the state.”
An Empire State Development Corp. spokesperson said Adams was not available for interviews before the Senate vote on his nomination.
Adams also was named recently to the governor”™s Task Force on Mandate Relief, which will find ways to reduce the costs of local programs mandated by the state, identify ineffective and outdated mandates and determine how school districts and local governments can have greater ability to control expenses.
Another Cuomo appointee to the mandate relief task force, Westchester County Association President William M. Mooney Jr., said he is hopeful that Adams at ESDC will work to solve New York”™s business challenges. “We wish him the best,” he said.
The governor”™s choice of Adams was praised by both business and labor leaders in the state.
At The Business Council of Westchester, president and CEO Marsha Gordon said Adams “has demonstrated leadership and vision in his advocacy on behalf of New York businesses. His energy, enthusiasm and passion make him the ideal choice.”
Gordon joined with Adams in White Plains in 2010 to launch the state Business Council”™s Enough Already New York campaign, an online voter education and citizen participation project for the 2010 election. “He is not afraid to speak his mind and puts business interests first,” she said. She called the governor”™s pick as economic development chief “a great selection that bodes well for the entire state.”
Michael Oates, president and CEO of the Hudson Valley Economic Development Corp., said Adams has “a proven track record of navigating the needs of private business where they intersect with government” and will be “a very strong advocate for business in Albany. I know Ken and his record; he will be tremendously effective from day one.”
“Ken knows doing business in New York can be like swimming upstream, but now he is in a position to change the tide,” Kevin Burke, president and CEO of Consolidated Edison Inc., said in a statement. “Business leaders know and trust him, and for good reason. His knowledge and dedication will help New York reclaim its place as a national pro-business leader and center for job creation.”
Denis Hughes, president of the state AFL-CIO, called Adams “a good friend and someone who can do a great job at ESDC. He has a full understanding of New York”™s economy and businesses, and he is someone that the labor movement can work with for the betterment of our state.”
Linda Sanford, senior vice president for enterprise transformation at IBM Corp., said, “Governor Cuomo has outlined a vision of making New York state business-friendly, and I can think of no one better to make that vision a reality than Kenneth” Adams.
In an interview last year with the Westchester County Business Journal, Adams at the Business Council described the challenge of promoting the state as a good place to do business. It is the challenge he”™ll face again in the public sector leading the state”™s chief economic development agency:
“Right now we don”™t have a story to tell,” Adams said. “There hasn”™t been any good news out of Albany for the business community in some time, so there”™s no good reason to bring business here. We need a new story and a positive story and Albany is not providing that now.”
Noting a “disconnect” between Albany and the private sector”™s heavily taxed business owners, Adams said the state Legislature was “getting in the way” of private-sector job growth “just when we need it most for the recovery of New York state.”
Cuomo said Adams at ESDC will work closely with Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy to implement regional economic development councils across the state.
At the state Business Council, Heather Briccetti, vice president of government affairs, was named acting president and CEO. The council board of directors will conduct a nationwide search for Adams”™ permanent replacement.
