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GCEDC Invites Partners to Rejoice in Year's Successes

By Roger Muehlig rmuehlig@batavianews.com

Saturday, March 20, 2010

BATAVIA -- The Genesee County Economic Development Center has long focused on the county's midway location between metropolitan Buffalo and Rochester in its effort to attract business and jobs.

Those connections came together Friday when the leaders of business enterprise organizations in the two large cities spoke at the GCEDC's annual luncheon at Genesee Community College.

Tom Kucharski, chief executive officer of Buffalo Niagara Enterprise, and Mark Peterson, CEO for Greater Rochester Enterprise, both had good things to say about the county's economic development agency and its strategies.

No group is doing more to put their county on the landscape, according to Peterson.

"You have a world class team,'' he said.

Kucharski said places having shovel-ready sites with infrastructure in place have an advantage in economic development and credited the GCEDC for its vision and "really bold efforts'' to achieve that status.

Add that to the midway location. "It's really unique and in my opinion will give you long-term benefits in the future,'' he said.

Buffalo Niagara Enterprise and Greater Rochester Enterprise are regional economic development operations, one focusing on the eight Western New York counties and the other focusing on the nine-county Rochester-Finger Lakes region.

Steve Hyde, GCEDC's CEO, called both representatives "my partners'' in what has increasingly become a regional approach to economic development.

Hyde extended the partner tag to everyone in attendance at the luncheon that attracted about 140 people, including municipal, business and financial representatives, to the forum at GCC.

There is a need to stay the course and continue to invest and prepare for the future, he said.

"We couldn't do it without your partnerships.''

National Grid sponsored the luncheon where Chad Zambito, GCEDC's vice president of marketing and community development, advised that Batavia and Genesee County had been listed by Site Selection magazine as one of the top 10 "micropolitan" areas in the nation for the sixth year in a row.

Chris Suozzi, the agency's senior vice president of business development, credited collaboration in what was a "dismal'' economic year in 2009, but still one that led to the creation of 109 new jobs.

"It's all about teamwork,'' Suozzi said.

Despite what is being called "the great recession,'' Hyde said Genesee has a "resilient'' economy that has seen private sector employment grow by 400 since 2006. The county's 7.6 percent unemployment rate in 2009 that was lower than its neighbors and well below the 10 percent state average, he said.

And, in spite of New York's ranking as the 49th most expensive state in which to do business, GCEDC found funding to keep First Wave Technologies, due to move into the agency's Upstate Med-Tech Park this summer, from leaving the state, he said.

A second company is looking at the Med-Tech site, he said, and the agency's Agri-Business Park, being developed off Route 5 east of the city, should also be ready for occupants this year.

Peterson said his Greater Rochester operation has 22 "active projects'' that have the potential for bringing more than 10,000 new jobs and more than $2 billion in investment to the region.

Six of those are in Genesee County, he said, and his agency is looking forward to its next time "to go to bat'' for Genesee.

Combined with operations in Buffalo and Syracuse, the extended region, known for its quality work force, becomes one of the top 10 technology centers in the nation, Peterson said.

It's up to those involved to "make sure we're no longer a secret,'' he said.

Collaboration is key, according to Peterson. "And in the end, that is exactly what will win in economic development,'' he said.

Kucharski agreed.

His Buffalo Niagara agency has had visits from 26 interested companies, he said, and the challenge is to put together something that those prospects want.

Much like the NCAA basketball tournament, economic development is a "game of elimination,'' he said.

He sounded optimistic on that count. "I think we're going to win some titles in the future,'' he said.

Cook honored

BATAVIA -- Suzanne Cook was honored Friday for 30 years of service at the Genesee County Economic Development Center.

Cook, the agency's vice president of finance and operations, received a plaque from James Vincent, vice president of the GCEDC's Board of Directors, during the agency's annual luncheon at Genesee Community College.

Vincent called her "the glue that holds our agency together.''