Westchester’s economic development director adds a statewide position

In recent years, Westchester County’s Office of Economic Development under the leadership of Director of Economic Development Bridget Gibbons has been developing and implementing various programs designed to help build economic and business activity in the county. Now, Gibbons has taken another step in the business development milieu through her appointed to the New York State Economic Development Council’s (NYSEDC) executive committee.

Since 2021, Gibbons has been serving on NYSEDC’s Board of Directors.

“We are thrilled to welcome Ms. Gibbons to the executive committee,” said NYSEDC Executive Director Ryan Silva. “She is an expert in economic development and has proven over and over she has the knowledge, expertise, and skills to bring businesses and quality jobs to Westchester County. We look forward to working with her in her new role as we continue developing policies and programs that create economic opportunity and increase quality of life in New York state.”

Gibbons told the Business Journal that she expects her added role really will allow her to play “a major role in the work that the organization does. Westchester County is the seventh largest county in New York state and our voice needs to be heard. Our business environment is different than the middle of the state, Western New York, the Southern Tier. Our needs, our concerns, our strategy, what we focus on from an economic development standpoint is maybe common in some areas but unique in others.”

Gibbons characterized NYSEDC as the most important economic development organization in the state. The organization lobbies state and federal governments on issues affecting New York’s business climate and economic development programs. It conducts educational and professional development programs to help its more than 900 members enhance their own effectiveness in economic development. It organizes business marketing programs and keeps members updated on laws, proposed legislation and other activities of government that can affect business.

During NYSDEC’s annual meeting held in May in Cooperstown, members had numerous opportunities to be briefed on subjects ranging from dealing with the tight labor market to energy infrastructure expansion and its impact on real estate developments. Artificial intelligence was discussed as were policies created by local Industrial Development Agencies to help encourage housing development.

Westchester County Executive George Latimer referenced Gibbons’ development of new programs designed to help businesses in Westchester succeed in her role as the county’s director of economic development.

“Westchester County implements an aggressive economic development strategy that supports the expansion of key sectors, talent acquisition and new business formation,” Latimer said. “We are proud to have Ms. Gibbons, who leads these critically important efforts, representing us in this vibrant, forward-thinking, statewide organization.”

One of the major programs in business development under Gibbons’ leadership at the Office of Economic Development has been the creation of startup accelerators that are focused on life sciences (Westchester County Biosciences Accelerator), high-tech entrepreneurs (Element 46 Tech Accelerator) and idea development (Launch1000).

Gibbons helped steer the county’s economic recovery after the Covid pandemic. She oversaw the awarding of more than $30 million in grants to nonprofits, religious organizations, minority and women-owned businesses, businesses owned by disabled veterans and owned by other disabled individuals.

Gibbons and her department have been working on bringing the manufacturing of computer chips for quantum computing to Westchester along with developing the necessary workforce for this growing high-tech sector. The county is taking part in a QUANTUM Consortium with more than two-dozen other entities ranging from IBM to Columbia University and the Brookhaven National Labs. Gibbons points to the fairly young company SEEQC located in Elmsford. SEEQC designs and manufactures superconducting digital chips for energy-efficient quantum computing systems. Gibbons presents it as an example of what can emerge through encouraging high-tech in Westchester.

“Quantum is a really important area of growth for us. Looking to the future, Quantum chips are needed for AI (artificial intelligence),” Gibbons said. “Quantum chips are much more powerful and faster than traditional computer chips that we have now. We are looking toward the future as we work on this Quantum initiative.”

Gibbons said that her new position with NYSEDC will help her communicate the concerns of Westchester businesses up to the state level.

“We have 35,000 businesses in Westchester County,” Gibbons noted. “County Executive Latimer’s direction to me has been to strengthen ties with businesses, to do whatever we can to help them grow. That’s why a lot of our focus has been on workforce development. Many of our businesses tell us it is very difficult to hire people at this time. This represents another step in the direction of being able to support the business community.”

Gibbons said she was proud to be named to NYSEDC’s executive committee.

“I’m delighted in the faith the board had to name me to the executive committee,” Gibbons said. “I didn’t really know how much I was going to love economic development when the county executive asked me to take the economic director position but it’s become a passion. It is so rewarding to be able to help people get jobs, help businesses grow, and when we made it through Covid and helped our businesses in Westchester make it through it was so rewarding. You can’t even call it a job; it’s a passion for me.”