For the fourth year, the heads of two of the region”™s largest business organizations addressed the Public Relations Society of America Westchester-Fairfield Chapter at its “Regional Business Outlook 2012” at the Hyatt Regency Greenwich.
Marsha Gordon, president and CEO of The Business Council of Westchester and Chris Bruhl, president and CEO of The Business Council of Fairfield County offered refreshingly hopeful reports tied to initiatives spearheaded by Govs. Andrew Cuomo of New York and Dannel Malloy of Connecticut, both Democrats. Though business trade and professional organizations, including Chambers of Commerce, have historically preferred Republican business agendas, Gordon and Bruhl said their support is not tied to political affiliation.
“We happen to have two pragmatic governors in office at the same time,” said Bruhl. “Pragmatism is about producing and sustaining positive outcomes, not about scoring points. With pragmatic governors you get public-private partnerships. With ideological governors, people leave.”
According to Gordon, “Gov. Cuomo listened to the business community”™s imperative that New York had to be more business friendly. So he got its support. With job creation the No. 1 priority, the political leaders came together with effective action.”
The following from the presentation are some of the key factors, trends and initiatives expected to influence growth in both counties.
Fairfield County
- Connecticut is operating against the backdrop of national presidential politics, which has slowed overall growth.
- Layoffs of public workers, due to a focus on debt reduction, have tended to balance off job gains.
- This is a time of changing demographics, i.e. an aging population and a growing immigrant population that is actually contributing to Connecticut”™s population growth, reversing a trend of shrinkage.
- Job growth will be spurred by new, expedited lending practices and hiring incentives for small businesses with fewer than 10 employees. These include tax credits for new hires that are higher if the person hired was unemployed.
- There are plans afoot for “Main Street” upgrades, Airport Enterprise Zones (starting with Bradley International) and refurbishing bridges for job creation and public safety.
- In 2012, there will be a focus on education, including closing the achievement gap. There are also plans to align education with business through workforce training.
Westchester County
- Cuomo has formed 10 regional economic development councils tasked with strategic planning, making recommendations and putting forth priority projects to compete for state funding. Westchester is part of the mid-Hudson regional council, which includes, Putnam, Dutchess, Rockland, Orange, Ulster and Sullivan.
- The mid-Hudson council brought together representatives of the business, education and nonprofit sectors. Marsha Gordon co-chaired the strategic planning phase. Of the projects they put forward, $4 million was awarded to a biotech incubator at New York Medical College in Valhalla as part of a strategy to advance and grow a biotech cluster in the area.
Ellie Becker is a special correspondent for the Business Journal.
