New Economic Development Czar

The other day, Governor Spitzer introduced his choice to head up the upstate branch office of the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC).

Daniel Gundersen appeared before a phalanx of reporters from Buffalo and Rochester in the Empire State Development Corp.’s Liberty Building offices as Spitzer’s choice to direct his upstate development efforts.

The governor lauded him as one of the “pre-eminent economic development officials in the nation” and said his appointment fulfills a top campaign promise to bolster the state’s economic development program in the struggling region west of the Hudson River.

“He knows how to get deals done; he knows how to get jobs created; he knows how to leverage the state’s economic development dollars to get real results,” Spitzer said.

The governor also said 20 professionals will be added to the Buffalo office to assist the new economic development officer.

Craig at Northcoast seems to feel the selection of Gundersen was uninspired and will prove fruitless. Why? Because Gundersen has never been an actual businessman.

Anyone who harbored any lingering hopes that Governor Spitzer might put some new ideas to work to spur upstate’s economic growth, saw them dashed once and for all with the announcement of his economic development team today. His choices and their records are just more of the same of New York State’s (Democrat and Republican alike) big-government, “five year plan” style of dealing with business. To begin with they’re professional bureaucrats.

Now, I understand a negative knee-jerk reaction to one of Tom Kucharski’s buddies being hired for the job, but I can’t agree that success as an economic development professional requires previous success in private industry. Rarely will you find in the professional business ranks a person who understands regional zoning regulations, Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT) programs, economic incentive packages, etc. Why? Because businesspeople are in the business of doing business, not regional economic planning. Also, Gundersen seems to have a nice mix of government and business education in his background.

Dan Gundersen is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania where he earned a Masters in Governmental Administration, with concentrated study in public management and finance at the Wharton School. Recently, he attended the Harvard Business School Executive Education program on global strategy.

So, does Gundersen have the chops to tackle the economic morass that is Upstate New York? It would appear that he has a decent track record of success in his previous position as Executive Deputy Secretary at the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. However, most of his success was based upon business development in the Greater Philadelphia region, which as you can assume, is not very similar to Buffalo and Upstate.

I guess you have deduced that I’m not sure what to think of Mr. Gundersen, (aside from thinking of the movie Fargo every time I hear his name). It would appear that he’s got the right skills, the right connections, and a track record of big city success. He also is not from here, which is a major chit in his favor. New ideas and a focus on knowledge-based economic development are sorely needed in this area so, I remain cautiously optimistic.

The critical factors that will determine Gundersen’s level of success are completely beyond his control. Will Spitzer give him the freedom to act independently of the downstate office? Will critical reductions of our astronomical property and corporate income taxes be enacted? Will Spitzer follow through on his pledges to make New York more business friendly by reducing onerous regulations and costs?

Until he does, success will be incremental…