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Home > About BNE > Press Room > 2007 Archive > October > Buffalo Niagara Enterprise returns focus to marketing > BNE reports 21 wins

             

BNE reports 21 wins

Business First of Buffalo - by James Fink Business First

Doughnuts, audio books, back-office call centers and cutting-edge cancer research all combined to help the Buffalo Niagara Enterprise set a new benchmark for itself.

The BNE, the region's premier economic development marketing and business development agency, reported 21 project "wins" during its 2006-2007 fiscal year. That effort brought in more than $1.8 billion in new, private-sector investment and the creation or retention of 2,389 jobs.

By comparison, Richmond, Va. reported 16 economic development wins that created or retained 1,761 jobs and resulted in investment worth $49.9 million while Kansas City recorded 14 wins that created or retained 1,865 jobs and resulted in $525 million in private-sector funding.

The BNE issued the report Wednesday morning during its annual meeting.

Among its successes was convincing Kainos Partners Inc. to open a regional Dunkin' Donuts manufacturing plant in Cheektowaga and luring Cleveland BioLabs Inc. to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus for its cancer treatment research operations.

Yakov Kogan, Cleveland BioLabs Inc. executive vice president of business development, said the chance to partner with Roswell Park Cancer Institute was one of the primary reasons why his firm came to Buffalo. Cleveland BioLabs moved 45 workers to Buffalo this year.

"Why Buffalo?," Kogan said. "Roswell Park Cancer Institute is, in our opinion, a unique institution."

The BNE also played a role in helping to secure back-office operations by HSBC Bank and Citicorp and helping Simply Audiobooks expand in Tonawanda.

"Looking forward, our job is to be aggressive in marketing and put a lot of leads into the (economic development) pipeline," said Thomas Kucharski, BNE president and chief executive officer.

He said the organization will be pointing north to Canada in the hopes of bringing companies into the United States. Kucharski said the BNE has identified more than 600 companies it will be reaching out to and trying to bring at least some of their operations to the region.

Randall Clark, Dunn Tire LLC chairman, who ended his six-year run as BNE chairman during the meeting, said since 1999 the BNE has reported 201 wins that resulted in $3.7 billion in new, private sector investment and more than 30,000 jobs that were created or retained.

"Eight years ago, there were a lot of skeptics," Clark said. "Investing in those days was nothing more than an act of faith. It is no longer an act of faith. Those results speak for themselves."

Clark is being replaced by David Smith, president and chief operating officer of National Fuel Gas Co.

"The time is now because frankly, we can't wait," Smith said. "We need to keep the momentum going."