By Victoria Hurley-Schubert, Staff Writer
Turning around New Jersey’s unwelcoming business atmosphere is the goal of Choose New Jersey, a public-private venture started by statewide business leaders.
Dennis Bone, interim chair of Choose New Jersey and CEO of Verizon New Jersey, explained the organization’s mission at the Mercer Regional Chamber of Commerce’s monthly luncheon.
”New Jersey brand needs a little polish; it’s a little rusty, but it’s getting better, and starting to turn around,” he said. “It’s an organization to promote and enhance our business environment to attract and maintain our companies.”
Choose New Jersey will be independently run and funded, but supported by state government.
”It’s private in that all the money is privately raised and there is no government money,” said Mr. Bone. “It’s public because it’s part of the governor’s outreach to promote New Jersey; it’s being embraced by the Christie administration.”
The idea for Choose New Jersey has been fast-tracked since Gov. Chris Christie took office in January. Choose New Jersey was officially launched in June.
”The genesis of Choose New Jersey was in the work we did on Gov. Christie’s Economic Growth Transition Team (Mr. Bone co-chaired the team) in the November-January time frame after his election last November,” said Mr. Bone. “When we looked at successful states and their approach to positioning their states in a favorable light, we found public/private organizations at work doing things similar to what we hope to do with Choose New Jersey.
”Once Gov. Christie took office, he put Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno in charge of his economic growth agenda. A small group of us who worked on the transition team began meeting with her on a regular basis and that’s when and where the idea of Choose New Jersey was born.”
Choose New Jersey is one part of the New Jersey Partnership For Action, which is a three-part economic development plan, said Ms. Guadagno. “These are companies that have committed to New Jersey,” she said. “What they have done is to pledge to fund a private non-profit so we can go outside New Jersey and market New Jersey.”
”The idea is the CEO or chair of a board of a company like Verizon will be more persuasive in marketing New Jersey than an elected public official might be,” she explained. “The concept is that a business person talking to a business person will be able to persuade them. While you’d like to have elected officials to go out and market New Jersey, we just don’t have the money for that these days and this 501c3 has stepped up to the plate.”
Choose New Jersey is already taking action by helping advise the administration on policy to make the state more business friendly; the organization is already out there marketing New Jersey and they are making themselves available for companies to use as references for companies looking to move to New Jersey, said Ms. Guadagno.
”I have already asked members of Choose New Jersey to talk to companies who want to come to New Jersey,” she said.
The first area Choose New Jersey is looking to improve is where New Jersey can make a difference in the business community. Mr. Bone pointed to the economic development authority and urban tax incentives as examples.
”One area we benchmarked really well with other states and other regions was economic development (EDA), and the incentives that come out of that area” he said. “We said to leave that area alone.”
Companies interfacing with government are huge hurdles for businesses to overcome and the second goal the organization has set for itself. “How companies interface with state government got an F,” said Mr. Bone, adding that businesses expanding or companies locating in New Jersey found it extraordinarily difficult to secure permits.
”We heard horror stories from company after company, from a little retail company that has a 2,000- to 2,500-square-foot operation taking five years and $150,000 to get the permits to build this retail establishment, all sorts of permutations of that,” he said.
The third area Choose NJ will be focusing on is marketing outreach. Other states have people who specialize in being in front of the industries. But, the advertising will not be mass advertising, it will be targeted by industry.
”It’s important people know what it is; it’s not Tom Kean’s New Jersey & You, it’s much more industry focused,” Mr. Bone said. Marketing materials will demonstrate how existing companies are successful and how new companies can be successful here as well. Choose NJ staff will be actively recruiting and participating in conferences and going out to areas to talk up the features and benefits of New Jersey.
”You craft your materials toward the industry you are trying to win,” he said.
Focus industries or clusters could be pharmaceutical, renewable energy, transportation or financial, said Mr. Bone.
The organization will use a cluster approach to target certain businesses and industries that find New Jersey attractive, “They’re here now and we can recruit other businesses in those industries to New Jersey,” he said. “The state is doing things that Choose NJ can promote,” such as the Business Action Center.
”Choose New Jersey is going to be populated by experts in these clusters who are going to go and sell New Jersey,” he said. “This cluster effect is very powerful and what we’re investing is New Jersey future as a successful place to have your business. Maybe there is a competitor, the economy is stronger and the rising tide will lift all boats. It’s the life cycle of the economy.”
More companies coming to New Jersey would lead to more consumer choices, and an increase in the tax base by adding more residents and businesses to the state “If we get a major pharmaceutical company to open up shop, would they be competing? Yes, but they compete all over the globe, But bringing the company to New Jersey, they would hire people, who in turn would pay taxes, buy homes, goods and services here, which will reverberate throughout the economy.”
Choose New Jersey would also like to see companies already located here expand. “That sends a powerful message,” he said. “We will also work with companies to find out why (they leave). All companies who have signed on recognize that we will be better off in the long term if New Jersey is successful in attracting and retaining companies,” said Mr. Bone.
For funding, Choose New Jersey looked to 15 companies to donate $450,000 in seed money over the next three years. “If you do the math on that, that’s about $2.25 million per year,” said Mr. Bone, with $150,000 times 15 companies per year. “We had been looking at these other organizations and determined the resources and put together a business model.”
Finding the founding members, “we went knocking on a lot of doors, and these are the companies that responded,” said Mr. Bone. “We calculated we needed roughly 15 to give the financial stability to get the organization up and running.”
The 15 founders are Verizon New Jersey, American Water, Atlantic City Electric, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Celgene, Horizon Blue Cross/Blue Shield of New Jersey, Laborers International Union of North America, New Jersey Manufacturer’s Insurance, New Jersey Resources, Novartis, Prudential Financial, PSEG, South Jersey Industries, United Water, and Wakefern Food Corp.
One board member, the Rev. M. William Howard, pastor of the Bethany Baptist Church in Newark, was chosen because the board believes the state’s economic future is tied to working with distressed cities, such as Newark, Camden and New Brunswick, to help them become healthy and thriving centers of development.
”We wanted someone who had a special perspective on how to improve our cities,” said Mr. Bone.
The initial three-year investments were key to attracting top talent to run the organization, as the search for a CEO is underway, said Mr. Bone.
”Everybody knows New Jersey has tremendous strengths and the board is committed to getting the talent at the top,” he said. The organization hired Waverly Partners from Chicago to assist in the search. “We start the search and about six weeks later the head guy at Waverly comes back to us and says ‘We’re really impressed with the level and caliber of people across the country who have applied or shown an interest in this organization.’”
One of the reasons for the interest, said Mr. Bone, was “there was such a buzz about New Jersey coming across the country that maybe it is going to turn itself around because everybody knows New Jersey has certain strengths location, all the markets we’re close to, the infrastructure, the transportation infrastructure of ports and planes that fly directly to China and other things that are so critical for worldwide commerce today and the workforce we have.”
After the initial three-year period of investments from the major companies, “I think there is an assumption that companies will continue to fund the organization,” said Mr. Bone. The organization has applied for 501c3 status. “We see these models all over the country and it’s going to be a vibrant organization because there is so much interest in improving New Jersey’s economy.”
Beyond the 15 founding companies, other large businesses are welcome to contribute. “It’s not an exclusive club, if someone else wants to join, fantastic,” said Mr. Bone. These founding companies have formed the first board of directors.
Smaller companies will have the opportunity to participate when the organization becomes functional. “We envision Choose New Jersey will partner with the states’ many talented smaller firms where they unleash their energy to improve the state’s economy,” said Mr. Bone. “We have to have the organization running to stand those partnerships.”
These partnerships can be formed after the CEO is chosen, hopefully around the new year, said Mr. Bone. A professional paid staff will be filled in over time.
