What's What 2010: Annual Report to Membership

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Underwriting Sponsor: Pepsi Bottling Group

Partnership President & CEO Andrew Rudnick presented What's What: The Partnership's Annual Report to Membership to business leaders from the region on Tuesday, June 8, 2010 at the UB Center for the Arts.

A copy of the 2009-2010 What's What book, which provides a look at what the Partnership has been working on over the last year, may be found here.

Below is the full text of the speech from the event:

Good morning, and thank you for joining us today for our Annual Report to Members. To kick this off, it is my pleasure to introduce Kevin Murphy, market president of Bank of America, to say a few words. Bank of America is today's title sponsor, and Kevin is a member of the Partnership's executive committee and board of directors. He’s also a really good guy.

(Kevin Murphy from Bank of America said a few words about his organization’s commitment to the community).

Thanks Kevin.

We’ve given an annual report to our members since the end of our first year, 1993 – 1994. For everything that has changed in Buffalo Niagara since that time, one thing has stayed the same: no matter how tough the economy has been, or which Albany decision has made you consider – one more time – moving to Florida, our members remain absolutely committed to helping this region grow.

And it’s that commitment that I want to talk about briefly this morning, especially the Partnership’s work this past year, which was made possible by your investments with us.

Such investments beyond one’s own enterprise have been a big part of the Buffalo Niagara business culture since its “City of Light” days.

We can’t be precisely certain why, or when that began, but UB’s third chancellor – Ebenezer Carleton Sprague – may have had a hand in inspiring it. Or at least so the story goes, and as long as we’re at UB this morning, let’s go with it…..

Mr. Sprague was a prominent civic leader in the 1880s -- a colorful lawyer who spearheaded the first international railroad bridge across the Niagara River. A few years before he became chancellor of the University of Buffalo, he was selected to give the keynote address at the celebration of Buffalo’s 50^th year as a city.

At that time, our region was booming. The end of the Civil War launched explosive growth. Jobs were plentiful – as were eager, talented immigrant workers to fill them. Numerous mansions – some still standing – were built to house the families of tycoons in lumber, meat-packing, banking, railroads, crock ware, wallpaper, leather tanning, milling, iron-making, furniture, breweries, bicycles and soap.

But this vast expansion of wealth also became a concern to Mr. Sprague.

And, according to legend, Ebenezer held a private meeting at the Buffalo Club where he told the region’s most elite: “Wealth without a conscience sowed the seeds of the French Revolution and drove its possessors into exile and to the guillotine.” His message: Spread your wealth around.

And that they did. As a result, this community got the reputation for being a place where titans of industry invested in civic institutions, philanthropic efforts, and the arts. And, in turn, this was a place where the wealthiest residents weren’t resented, but respected.

Today, while times are much different and, for most, far tougher, that philanthropic spirit remains. Millions of dollars from corporate citizens like Bank of America keep our region’s not-for-profits and cultural institutions alive and well. And beyond money, volunteer time, energy and talent also help so many such institutions thrive.

The Partnership as an organization, and the Buffalo Niagara employers who depend on us – the people sitting in this room – also are the beneficiaries of those investments.

It’s you that keeps us at work.

For starters, at work on advocacy.

Your investment with the Partnership during the past 12 months funded our policy and government relations staff to sift through legislation, knock on the doors of elected officials, draft policy proposals, negotiate with government bureaucrats, work behind-the-scenes to foster consensus, and develop political strategies. In 2009-2010, we took action on more than 80 government proposals; some good, most bad. All this work had one goal: To make sure the employer perspective was brought to bear when government decisions were made, so that your interests were defended and bolstered.

Your investments specifically defended business owners and taxpayers against numerous proposed new burdensome mandates and taxes; Bad IDA “reform,” the NYS Farmworkers’ Bill, the Employee Free Choice Act, state legislation encouraging frivolous and obstructionist lawsuits, government bureaucrats setting health insurance rates, and increased taxes on utilities, economic development incentives, printed materials and soft drinks.

Moreover, your investments led to Erie County’s six IDAs adopting a new – and much better –common policy for awarding economic development incentives, that, among other improvements, rewards companies for buying products and services from other local businesses. It also helped support a successful compromise to protectionist “Buy American” provision that had been included in federal stimulus funding and which would have put a wall in the middle of our binational economy.

And there’s more – you ensured that New York State now has an Upstate private sector representative on its new Brownfields Working Group, to guarantee we have a direct voice in addressing one of Buffalo Niagara’s most pressing environmental and economic development issues. And you allowed us to successfully lobby the NYPA to give preference to local businesses in its proposed offshore wind project, ensuring that companies in the Buffalo Niagara region - particularly in manufacturing, logistics and professional services - have the first shot at the work and jobs coming from renewable energy projects.

Our members’ investments in the Partnership also helped us launch the Great Lakes Metro Chambers Coalition, which gives this region a much higher profile on federal issues of major economic importance such as transportation infrastructure, Can-Am border, fresh water resources, innovation, immigration reform and energy.

Unshackle Upstate, which has grown significantly in both coalition size and influence since its founding in 2006 by the Partnership and the Rochester Business Alliance, has taken on a new role this year because of your investments. We’ve joined forces with downstate entities to pool financial resources to influence the outcome on Election Day 2010. We’ve also launched an “Unshackle Army” comprised of 15,000+ individual taxpayers whose social media networks put Unshackle Upstate in touch with more than 2.1 million people. Leading up to election day, your support enables us to mobilize those folks and other voters throughout the state. In sum, Unshackle has become a state political force to be reckoned with.

And your investments kept the Partnership at work on business development; including staff working one-on-one to help members understand the implications of government proposals on their particular businesses. We also helped local employers make compelling cases to elected leaders and government bureaucrats – whether about an energy assessment’s affect on their bottom line, or why a new traffic light in front of their plant will allow them to expand. Our technical assistance provided to members, one at a time, led to cost savings, building expansions, new hires, retention of employees and investments in Buffalo Niagara by corporate parents around the world.

Through our Employer Outreach Program, Partnership staff met with individual members to asses their needs and opportunities in order to find out how the Partnership directly can help them. Nearly 400 such meetings have taken places during the past nine months. These conversations help us ensure our programs and advocacy efforts are explicitly designed to provide the highest value to you. But they also led to direct, more immediate help for members – such as the advocacy I just mentioned, or in ways more closely tied to day-to-day business operations.

For example, this past year our business intelligence staff worked with companies that were breaking into new markets and doing long-term planning by providing them with customized demographic and economic information, statistics, targeted marketing data, business lists, maps and research assistance. A member engineering firm, feeling it had tapped out the local market of manufacturing clients, considered broadening its geography, but wasn’t sure how to proceed. Partnership staff helped that firm identify a specific subset of manufacturers – and contact information for each company – in nearby regions in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Another member professional services company – this time in finance – had a goal of becoming the go-to firm at various local office parks. Partnership staff’s research led to detailed information for that firm about each business in each of its targeted parks, including whom to contact to pitch firm services.

Our business development staff helped employers connect with job retention and creation incentives, workforce development support, small business loans and other programs designed to keep businesses growing here in Buffalo Niagara. Often, those member companies didn’t know this capacity existed until their meetings with us.

Partnership staff also connected local businesses to buy products from each other and hire the services of fellow members. Our folks helped companies market themselves in targeted cost-efficient ways, during a year when advertising budgets were slashed at so many businesses. They also helped local businesses learn from each other’s experience and expertise – from how to employ social media marketing, to how to break into the wind energy supply chain. For example, Brett Burnsworth of member company Zoodle, taught Partnership members about search engine optimization – in other words, how to make sure a firm is at the top of the Google results page – at a seminar we held last year. He helped fellow Buffalo Niagara companies…and himself: Zoodle’s now doing search engine optimization for Canisius College.

We often see trends emerge out from all this one-to-one assistance to members, and, as a result, we have developed specific action plans for target industry sectors in our region.

For example, investments with the Partnership this last year, helped us bring local manufacturers together to share industry best practices through the popular “Manufacturers Tour Series.” You funded our work to help the local agribusiness sector by increasing access to locally-produced food by creating more efficient, cost-effective and sustainable local food supply chains – with the help of companies in the region’s logistics industry.

And then, there are projects that impact the “quality of place” of you and your coworkers (and of your friends and family) and for which your support also has been essential.

Member volunteers worked alongside Partnership staff, usually behind-the-scenes and with little fanfare, to fix the mess in the city of Buffalo’s economic development department, to lead the city and Olmsted Parks in reaching a successful agreement on park operations, and to advise local electeds on workforce training, energy policy, healthcare reform and smart development. We also brought that combination of volunteer and staff expertise to the public schools, local farms, not-for-profits, Canalside, Peace Bridge and Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. And, finally, we’ve been just about the most consistent and passionate voices leading the charge for UB2020, and pursuing the multiple advocacy channels for getting there.

I started these remarks by saying that while lots of things have changed, a lot of stuff also has stayed the same. For example, even though Facebook is now used by more of us with grey hair than by 20-somethings, good, old-fashioned networking is still the way so much business gets done.

And as it was in Ebenezer Sprague’s day: local businesspeople rely on organizations like ours to come together. So, the Partnership also is at work on connecting. It’s one of the most important things we do, and in Buffalo Niagara, at least, nobody does business networking better.

More than 3,400 people attended the 50+ events the Partnership presented during the past 12 months. Nearly 1,000 young professionals are now involved with Buffalo Niagara 360 because they want to connect for professional development with each other and with the region’s more experienced and established business leaders. Our networking events in 2009 and 2010 informed and entertained, celebrated excellence and longevity in Buffalo Niagara and had local professionals walking out the door with pockets full of business cards.

The Partnership’s Movers & Shakers series brought a “behind the headlines” perspective from people in-the-know. 2009’s Endurance All Stars was a celebration of Partnership members who have been employing people and contributing to our region for more than 50 years. 550 people used the ever popular Networking with a Twist series to hone their networking skills. The 4th annual HobNob featured the CEO Silent Auction where participants were given the opportunity to bid on a meeting with some of the region’s premier CEOs. The INNOVATE Buffalo Niagara awards recognized the innovative regional businesses that are moving the local economy forward. The Athena Awards, Buffalo Niagara 360 events, seminars and workshops large and small, Upstate Night in Albany and nearly a dozen opportunities for members to speak directly with elected officials….these all are designed to provide maximum value to members. In fact, everything we’ve done has.

And whether it’s our advocacy, expertise or connecting that’s at work for local businesses, there are some members whose investment with us has been extraordinary to ensure those things happen, and are done well.

Time doesn’t allow me to name all our sponsors, but you’ll see them behind me and I ask that you join me in giving them a round of applause.

I also want to thank the retiring members of the Partnership board of directors and welcome our new board members, who were elected by you at the beginning of the month.

I think Mr. Sprague would be pleased to see what the region’s business leadership has invested in this past year. Perhaps he might even think you’ve spared yourselves the guillotine.

I hope you all know that we’re here for you, including those Partnership members who view their investments with us as an insurance policy. They may not need the direct help from our staff today, and for now, they may be content funding our work that helps another company down the street. But they know we’re here and prepared when they do need us.

So, please join me in thanking all of you in this room and the thousands of other employers who make the Partnership’s work possible.

I also want to extend my personal gratitude to the staff of the Partnership. I am just the pretty face of the organization. They are the folks passionately doing all the good work I’ve just described.

Finally, thank you for being Partnership members and for doing all you do as corporate citizens in this community.

On your way out, take note of staff who are here to help you sign up for employer outreach meetings, and to hand you information about upcoming events, Election Day 2010 activities and more.

I appreciate you being here and have a great day.