Michael Borgos, Chairman – EDC Warren County.
By Maureen Werther
“A rising tide raises all boats” is a saying that Michael Borgos, Esq., of Borgos and DelSignore, is fond of using, especially as it pertains to the Warren County EDC, where he resides as Chairman of the Board of Directors. That saying exemplifies the mission and goals of the Economic Development Corporation of Warren County (EDCWC) in 2012, and into the future. Established in 1999, EDCWC is a non-profit entity formed by private-sector businesses and supported by both private and public funding. Its purpose is to assist existing and new businesses in accessing local, state, and federal business-development programs and to market commercial and industrial properties across the county to prospective business owners, developers, and tenants.
Charles Barton, Treasurer, Chair – Finance, Audit & Compliance Committee.
Borgos and his fellow board members are working hard these days to engage more private sector businesses as “investors” in the EDC and, by extension, in the future economic vibrancy of the entire region. Borgos notes that, by “expanding the pool of people who are talking about economic development through networking and sharing ideas. . . we’re building a larger population of volunteers who will someday be able to say, ‘Yes, I can take on that post on the Planning or Zoning Board.’ We’re creating a larger pool of willing, educated people who will step out of their living rooms and engage the community.”
Vicki Pratt Gerbino, who became President of EDCWC in May 2011, agrees with her Board that 80% of growth opportunities come from the existing member/business base; and, the influence of the private sector in a region’s continued economic development cannot be overstated. Gerbino is impressed by the EDC board’s willingness to do what is needed to “take the EDC to the next level.” That next level includes attracting new investors from the private sector to make the product – Warren County – more attractive to new and increased business. The Board members are already invested in this goal and have restructured their board to make it more productive.
Part of that restructuring has involved creating new, working committees including Marketing and Communications, Prospects & Projects, Product Improvement, and Investor Relations, all embracing the shared mission of fostering productivity. According to Borgos, these working committees are not just board members. They’re comprised of people from the community who are willing to make the investment of time and resources to produce tangible economic results. Committees are task-oriented, often meeting two to three times per week for two to three months, in order to drive results.
The Board also hopes to stimulate community involvement in the form of financial investment in the EDC and, by extension, the region. In making the commitment to be fully vested financially in the EDC, members have a stake in the future growth and development of existing businesses and the expansion of new businesses into the region.
Kurt Jaeger, Executive VP of Jaeger & Flynn, and Chairman of the Investor Relations committee, is new to EDC, having joined in the last year and a half. And, while he claims that he is not an economics expert, he does feel like he’s got a healthy stake in the vibrancy of the community. With sixty-five employees, thirty of them located in Glens Falls, he sees his membership and time commitment as an investment in the future growth of the community. “That is how we want all of our business leaders in the community to see their participation and investment in the EDC: we want them to experience a return on their investment through strong economic growth.” His committee is striving to achieve one of the EDC’s key objectives for 2012: to lead economic development initiatives across the Warren and Washington County region and aid in stimulating private sector businesses. One of Jaeger’s goals as Investor Relations Chairman is to achieve a 50/50 split between private and public sectors.
Gerbino agrees that, “Economic development is everyone’s business. It’s not just a government concern and it is critical to build a dynamic public/private partnership . . . . You want the private sector at the table when you’re focusing on using public sector dollars to stimulate private sector investment.” The EDC Board members understand that, with government money dwindling, they need to find a new way to work by making connections among local businesses.
Chuck Barton, COO of The Barton Group and a native of the region, brings a deep understanding of the global implications of investment in the region. He operates a company that does business all over the world and has a unique grasp of the global environment. Earlier in his career, Barton “cut his teeth” working as an analyst for Allied Signal, where he gained firsthand knowledge of the factors that go into a company’s decision to relocate or expand into a region. He has been Chair of the Audit, Finance, and Compliance committee at EDC for two years now, and he sees his duties and responsibilities as twofold: first, to promote business growth within the county; and, second, to use his knowledge and expertise in the global environment to help make the counties as attractive as possible to the businesses that will decide the future direction of the region. As Barton notes, “We need to be cognizant of the implications of corporate headquarters’ decisions between moving here or going elsewhere; it impacts the future- or lack thereof – of our community.”
He goes on to say that, when corporations have options, they’re going to choose locations that fit their needs and meet the majority of their criteria. “We have to be good at meeting 80% of those criteria,” says Barton. “We want to make businesses decide to put money into our region. Whether we’re talking about new businesses looking us over, or existing companies looking to expand, we have to be a one-stop shop.” Part of the way to do that, says Barton is by working with the public sector to facilitate regulatory processes. By working jointly to ensure that such components as zoning, water and land availability, and permit processes run smoothly and are structured in such a way as to facilitate, rather than impede development, the region stands a better chance of attracting new business to the area. By having members of the community actively involved in EDC’s restructured committees, the end result will be people, resources, and capabilities in place to ensure more businesses’ decisions to choose Warren and Washington Counties.
And, what’s in it for the investors/members of the EDC? The answer seems clear and all are in agreement. They all want to be riding high when that tide comes in.
To learn more about EDC Warren County, visit their website at www.edcwc.org or contact them at 761-6007.