President’s Message – October, 2018

Accelerate Campaign Update

CEG’s new investors during Q3 included:

• Adirondack Trust
• Doc Electronics
• Case Windows and Doors
• Clancy Real Estate
• Sunmark Federal Credit Union

Annual Meeting

CEG’s 2018 Annual Meeting will be held on Monday, Oct. 29 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Empire State Plaza. I encourage you to bring your team and join hundreds of business professionals for networking, dinner and an inspiring keynote by best-selling author, researcher and entrepreneur, Marcus Buckingham. Registration is open online. Individual tickets and tables of ten are available.

HV GamerCon 2019

CEG is partnering with the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) and Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) to create the Northeast’s largest collegiate esports event, dubbed HV GamerCon 2019. The event will be held at the Albany Capital Center on March 30-31 and will include the ECAC esports Championships featuring three popular game titles, including “League of Legends” and “Overwatch.” A third title will be revealed in the coming months. There will also be an expo showcasing the Capital Region’s video game development cluster, including Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Digital Gaming Hub and a dozen local game development studios. Tickets for HV GamerCon 2019 are on sale now. The Capital Region Economic Development Council (CREDC) listed this event as a Priority Project in its 2018 Progress Report (see page 59).

CREDC 2018 Progress Report

The CREDC submitted its 2018 Progress Report, which details the state of the region, the status of past priority projects and 22 proposed priority projects seeking $35 million through the Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) process. CEG supports the work of the CREDC by implementing the strategies outlined by the Council and preparing the 2018 submission. In 2017, CEG began playing an active role and assisting the CREDC in preparing its annual Progress Report. The Council went on to be named a “Top Performer” in the Round VII of the REDC Awards, receiving $85 million.

Workforce Development

In August, the Manufacturing Technology Bootcamp at Hudson Valley Community College (HVCC) ran for a third time. Students completed their training attending a career fair. The first cohort of the Certified Production Technician course at Schenectady County Community College (SCCC) began in September, and has 12 students hailing from five Capital Region employers. Students are slated to graduate from the course in December and will receive the nationally recognized credential. CEG has also continued to market the Manufacturing Intermediary Apprenticeship Program throughout the Capital Region as well as in the North Country.

Business Growth Solutions

BGS offers services and technical assistance to local companies needing operational improvements, strategic planning and analysis and entrepreneurial assistance. A National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) survey conducted in Q2 found BGS had a $12.4 million economic impact in the Capital Region. These economic impacts earned BGS a Cooperative Agreement Recipient (CAR) Current Quarter Performance score of 100 –  the highest score BGS has achieved in the past five years.

• Increased Sales: $450,000
• Retained Sales: $ 1,213,000
• Cost Savings: $130,000
• New Products & Processes:  $365,750
• Plant Equipment Amount: $ 2,040,000
• Info System Amount: $25,000
• Workforce Practices Amount: $49,800
• Avoided Unnecessary Investments:  $68,000
• Other Areas Amount: $120,000
• Saved Investments Amount: $23,268.00
• Jobs Created: 14
• Jobs Retained: 150
• Jobs Multiplier: $48,387
• Jobs Created Impact: $677,418
• Jobs Retained Impact: $7,258,050

Total Economic Impact: $12,420,285

Industry Attraction

During Q3, CEG attended represent the Capital Region and its tech industries at the following events:

• SEMICON West
• Intersolar North America
• Consultant Connect Summit
• The Battery Show
• NY BEST Conference
• New York Jobs and Supply Chain Technical Working Group: Workforce Development Working Meeting

Talent Connect

The Talent Connect team continues to build momentum in and outside of the region, representing our investors and the Capital Region as a whole at multiple career fairs and sharing their job opportunities to career seekers via our web page. Talent Connect staff represented the region at the following career events:

• Times Union Manufacturing/Technology Fair, Albany, New York
• Premier Aviation in Rome, New York
• Pioneer Bank’s Veteran’s Fair, Colonie, New York
• MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Hartford Career Expo, Hartford, Connecticut
• National and NYS career fair at Fort Drum, Watertown, New York

We are pleased to announce that Momentive Performance Materials and the City of Albany began utilizing Talent Connect in September for their relocated professionals. During Q3, Talent Connect provided 26 newly relocated professional hires with community resources and acclimation, cultural transitioning, and career support services to spouses/partners of new hires

Talent Connect collaborated with Greno Industries, HVCC and the Capital District Educational Opportunity Center to create a pre-employment training module for the manufacturing boot camp program at HVCC. The module includes résumé prep, job search techniques, building a personal brand, interview skills, emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, and how to handle various situations on the job. To find out more, click here.

CEG is working on creating launch a Veterans Connect Center, and Talent Connect will serve as its administrator. The program will be accessible through a brick-and-mortar space as well as an online portal for veterans and their families to find key services (careers, education, training and community resources) they need in the region. It will also serve as a programming provider and centralized information resource for businesses and educational institutions interested in attracting, hiring, educating and supporting veterans. The veterans committee includes 20 professionals representing military, academia and business. It will be chaired by Michael Swezey, a retired Brigadier General with New York National Guard and a vice president and senior financial advisor of Merrill Lynch. The committee’s vice chair is Joshua Toas, a former Army Reserve captain and vice president of compliance/chief compliance officer at the SUNY Research Foundation. More information will be forthcoming.

The below professionals are searching for a local career and relocated to here when their spouse/partner accepted a professional role with a CEG investor like you. Please help us help them find employment and continue to attract talented people to our region and organizations.

Anisha: Technical Sales & Management

Fatou: Community/Economic Advocacy & Development

Hasan: Integrated Engineering (Mech/Indus) Mgr/Research Scientist

Katy: Public Relations, Communications, Art Management, Social Media

Lori: Community/Academic Administration Maureen – Field Scientist/Project Manager

Rebekah: Biotech/Biomed Lab, Research, Compliance, Project Management

Siew:  Academic/Nonprofit/Student/Govt Administration

Tim: Product Management & B2B Marketing

Yuyu: Part-Time Administrative Support

To meet any of our career seekers or review their résumés, please contact Talent Connect Manager Joanne Cornell at joannec@ceg.org or 518-465-8975 ext. 222

Q3 2018 Economic Scorecards

Q3 2018 update: The Capital Region’s number of positive-trending indicators rose to 19 in Q3 from 17 the previous quarter. The increase is attributable to a marked improvement in the General Economic Scorecard. While still one of the strongest performing scorecards, the Manufacturing Scorecard saw its total of positive-trending indicators decline as New York manufacturers became less optimistic about future business conditions.

Click here to access the Economic Scorecards for Q3.