CEO Note
UNLOCKING OUR REGION’S POTENTIAL
Stefani Pashman, CEO
I am thankful every day for the privilege of leading an 80-year-old organization with a storied history founded on the theory that bold leadership between corporate leaders and elected officials can drive change. This also means we tend to celebrate our history, what came before us and what those names on our letterhead did; living in the Pittsburgh of today. From day one this power of legacy, to respect what built us, the foundation erected by names like RK Mellon and David Lawrence, and further nurtured by Jim Rohr, Chuck Queenan, and Robert Mehrabian are who we credit with positioning our organization for the future.
History matters, and in this case, the experience of history influences how we approach issues today.
But what matters even more, especially in today’s Pittsburgh, is to look forward to and listen to those who are our future. To quote hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” We must look forward and ensure what we do today allows the ideas, the voices, and the discoveries that await us to become reality. This is how we unlock the potential of this region.
This year we intentionally shifted our mindset and resources to focus on two key goals: creating the conditions for growth across the entire region and tackling a festering challenge that threatened to thwart our future progress — a faltering, anemic downtown. Using the time-tested playbook of public-private partnerships, we made some big moves to set conditions that we hope will yield for future generations. Downtown, we set a vision and a concrete action plan to build a Golden Triangle that is future-focused, relevant, and ripe for investment. To improve the competitiveness of our business climate, we advocated for creating robust site investment at the state level so that the region is more enticing for large scale investment. We also advocated for continued business tax improvements in the form of net operating loss reform and further phasing down of our corporate net income tax rate. Lastly, important permitting reform progress occurred in Harrisburg so that all projects and investments are brought to life in a faster and more efficient manner.
We laid new groundwork on both challenges and now we will take the steps to bring these significant accomplishments to life.
Our business investment strategy also refocused this year on aggressively pursuing transformational investments to the region. We are focused on identifying, recruiting, and landing high impact companies, as well as retaining and expanding companies already investing in our region, that play to our comparative advantages. A signature example of note — we built a coalition of more than 30 organizations and 120 partners that helped us recruit a manufacturer (Mainspring) of linear generators. Opportunities like this one relied on a comprehensive approach of collaboration, community partnership strategies, federal funding, and state economic development tools. Along with dogged determination by all — this was a winning formula.
We are on the cusp of 2025 – looking forward to what happens next. I am mindful that robust economic growth still eludes us, despite the asset-rich region we all celebrate. In 2025 we must take more ‘big bets’ that make sense for the people, the economy, and the future we see coming after us. We are ready and hope you are too.
Happy Holidays!
Stefani Pashman
CEO Allegheny Conference on Community Development