Category Archives: Economical Development

By Jill Nagy

The Saratoga County Economic Development Corporation will soon cut the ribbon at their new quarters at 517 Broadway, in the heart of Saratoga Springs. 

Already, “we’re a very busy office here. . . .Very excited to be in the center of Saratoga Springs,” J. Gregory Connors, president and CEO, said.

Prominent on his agenda is dealing with the coming closure of Quad Graphics and helping to find new jobs for the company’s 400 employees. The EDC sponsored a job fair for Quad Graphics employees in February, along with Workforce  Development for Saratoga County. He said that Jen McCloskey, the director of Workforce Development, contacted some 105 businesses to invite them to attend. He didn’t know how many responded, but observed that “It certainly was crowded and there was a lot of interest.”

Further job fairs are planned, including one at the City Center in Saratoga Springs and at least one in the southern part of the county, perhaps in Clifton Park.

Fortuitously, the Quad Graphics announcement came almost at the same time as Global Foundries’ announcement of its plans to expand its Malta facility and add another building. That company reached out to Quad employees, he said, and have already interviewed several of them. He noted that many of the skills needed at Quad Graphics can transfer to the Global Foundries operation.

By Christine Graf

When Jim Siplon was hired as president and CEO of Economic Development Corporation (EDC) of Warren County in early 2021, the country was in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“When I stepped into the job, I thought it was about attracting and supporting business,” said Siplon. “That’s kind of the traditional view of economic development. But, COVID helped clarify that there are a lot of dynamics going on in the greater economy and the greater population.”

During the pandemic, the EDC began working to bring high-speed broadband internet service to rural communities throughout the region.

“It’s not something I would have predicted we would get involved in, but we discovered it to be a huge, glaring need during COVID,” he said. “We had school kids that needed to stay connected. We had people with health care issues that were attempting to access health care but couldn’t hold a tele-health session. We had businesses that were trying to operate remotely. The ability for everyone to be able to connect became almost a universal need.”

Although a considerable amount of money had already been spent to bring broadband internet to rural areas, pockets within Warren Country remained unserved.

In order to address what was considered an urgent need, the EDC established an informal group to tackle the issue. The makeup of the group–one that continues to meet weekly–varies from week to week. It typically includes elected officials, members of community organizations, and representatives from broadband companies. 

By Rod Bacon

By R.J. DeLuke

The Saratoga Economic Development Corp. (SEDC) has been a driving force in the economic development in the area for more than four decades.

Functioning as an independent, nonprofit group, its purpose is to create jobs and diversify the tax base. It is always examining what business or industry might be a good fit for the community and how to entice them to the area.

To that end it has helped attract companies like QUAD/Graphics, SYSCO Food Service, Ball Metal Corp., the Ace Hardware and Target distribution centers, Arnoff Global Logistics, Greenfield Manufacturing, AgroChem and many more to the area.

It was also a key player in the development of the $200 million Luther Forest Technology Campus.

Business retention is also important. SEDC works with state and regional officials on economic development programs available to encourage continued growth of existing industries.

Funding from the organization comes from businesses who pay memberships and thereby help the SEDC continue to work for a stronger economy that benefits all businesses. It also receives some funding from Saratoga County (though SEDC remains politically neutral).

Those that pay the SEDC fees are called “stakeholders.” And to retain and grow those entities, having tangible benefits is important. Retaining stakeholders (and growing them) is on a par with keeping Saratoga County’s existing businesses within the thriving business community.

By Jim Siplon

It is certainly not news to say that the last two years of COVID have reshaped our area economy and the work we do to support it. 

One of the often acknowledged aspects of the COVID era is the observation that the pandemic often exposed and accelerated shifts that were already underway but perhaps not yet fully understood. Our economy and its dynamic elements , things like an aging workforce and a lack of new housing, are perhaps the greatest example of this. Constructing the framework that will underpin the post-COVID economy requires us all to lean into this together-to understand and retool around the “Economy of Now.”

EDC Warren County has long been focused on the strategic work required to attracting, growing and retaining business for our community. Classically, this was a process built around enticing new business to locate here and utilize our workforce to run them. Our programs, incentives and resources were deployed primarily in ways designed to capture transitory or relocating business ventures. 

While that work continues, it is transitioning before our eyes to a model that flips the traditional approach on its head. We are now in a competition for workforce, and those areas that have it will attract and grow the most successful business and economic entities while those that do not will struggle to build a sustainable economy. 

This need for workforce is not new, in fact it has been building slowly in the demographics for years. Baby boomers are aging out, birth rates have declined and flight of our young has been going on for some time. But today this problem is not limited to the North Country or other less populated areas but is now almost universal. 

By Dennis Brobston

One of our beloved presidents, Abraham Lincoln, once said “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” That is our belief at Saratoga Economic Development Corp. (SEDC). 

Creating Saratoga County’s economic development future has been our mission for over 43 years of existence. Working with SEDC to create our economic future are many partners: Saratoga County and local governments, Saratoga County businesses large and small, our Industrial Development Agencies (IDAs), universities and colleges and our K-12 school districts, to name a few. Over the last decade, SEDC and our stakeholders helped to create over 1,700 new jobs with over $170 million in payroll while retaining over 2,050 existing jobs at Saratoga County companies.

The year 2021 was another strange year as we all continued to adapt thru the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Like 2020, we were thrust into uncharted waters for supporting our existing businesses in Saratoga County while marketing our region for new and exciting companies looking for fertile ground to grow their businesses. And like 2020, this past year of 2021 proved to be another banner year delivering over $110 million in new investment while creating 182 new jobs and over $11.5 million in payroll. 

Over the last two years, we have supported $232 million of investment creating over 629 jobs with over $38 million in new payroll while retaining 730 existing jobs. The years 2020 and 2021 are the first back-to-back years with more than $100 million investment in our 43-year history. We are thankful for all of the projects that allowed us to excel during this pandemic.

Promoting Saratoga County’s sites and buildings to site selectors across the country and throughout Europe will continue in 2022. Our efforts to create more product (pre-zoned sites and buildings) continue as we work with our municipalities eyeing this type of growth. “On spec” flex space is being built regularly in Saratoga County and the support of the Saratoga County IDA and the Town of Clifton Park IDA is vital to that continuing. 

The board of directors of EDC Warren County has made Jim Siplon its permanent president and CEO.

Siplon was serving as a member of the EDC board of directors last July, when longtime CEO  Edward M. Bartholomew died unexpectedly. He offered to step in as the organization’s interim leader, having recently retired as chief operating officer of JUST Water.

“Seven months ago, we recognized Jim as a colleague, strategist and advocate for economic growth. Since July, our board has seen firsthand how he energizes people, marshalls resources and catalyzes progress through public-private partnerships,’’ said Matthew Fuller, chair of the EDC board. “Our board concluded that we are fortunate to have in Jim Siplon a uniquely talented and insightful individual leading our economic development efforts at a moment of particular challenge and emerging opportunity.’’

Siplon said his immediate priorities will continue to be expanding reliable broadband and cell service countywide, attracting new residents and businesses, helping local governments obtain funding for major infrastructure projects, improving communication, expanding affordable housing, and helping local businesses recover from the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under his leadership, EDC has collaborated with the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism on research to assess interest among professionals in relocating to the Warren County Lake George area and the Adirondack region. He has also overseen updates to the EDC website, including a blog featuring success stories of investing and professional relocation. HE has led expansion of social media, including creating a Facebook page, an Instagram page and a LinkedIn page for improved communications and marketing.

Under the leadership of newly-appointed president Jim Siplon, the EDC Warren County continues to focus on attracting new business to the area.

Siplon, a former EDC board member, has firsthand experience with the process.

“The EDC was instrumental in helping me when I was trying to get JUST Water off the ground, particularly Ed Bartholomew, who was the longtime president,” he said. At the time, Siplon was chief operating officer of the water startup and was responsible for choosing the company’s headquarters.

“I’m not a spectator in this. I’m a player. I came here in 2014 to figure out if this was a good place to base JUST. I looked at a number of places across the country, and I had never seen the receptivity and kind of collaborative nature that I found here. Now I’m trying to tap into it in my new role of working on economic development for the entire region.”

Siplon took the helm of the EDC during the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. A top priority  was to offer support to the tourism industry, which accounts for 25 to 40 percent of the local economy.

“When COVID struck, we ran the risk of literally having the bottom dropping out of an enormous part of our economy,” he said. “Here in Warren County we immediately organized a group of private sector participants in the tourism and hospitality world to meet together with public sector players like the EDC and the county and municipalities to figure out what is that we can do that is both safe and can also potentially backstop this huge economic impact.”