Message from the President Unprecedented amounts of federal aid were awarded to each state as economic recovery for some sectors continues. In Delaware, the State will receive over $1 billion of support, on top of other revenues that have previously been directed here. This transformational moment is upon us, Michael J. Quaranta so making top-quality investments in our future is critical. For me, I would put our choices into a couple of categories: the safest, the wisest and the riskiest. Upgrading or repairing our infrastructure is a very smart and safe use of these resources. We need to get to and from places, survive on clean water, connect with our employers, schools, and commerce, and more. A wise investment would be to clean up old or abandoned commercial sites and use these resources to remediate the environmental hazards developers cannot afford to do on their own. This puts these “brownfields” back into useful service and limits sprawl and development of “greenfields” or open space. Workforce training and upskilling is another wise investment. Roughly 10,000 baby boomers reach the retirement age of 65 in this country every day, a phenomenon that has been occurring since 2011 and one that won’t end until 2029. We know that there is an existing mismatch between the skills workers have and the open, unfilled jobs employers post. If we want to rebuild the middle class and fill the jobs employers are desperate to hire, we need to put our eyes on more than just the three percent of the workforce coming out of high school or college every year and lift up everyone else. A riskier move may not be so risky after all. Every great city in North America – and maybe the world for that matter – has a college or university in its midst. The intellectual capital this brings to a downtown has economic multipliers that are easy to calculate. I’m not suggesting that any of our colleges and universities abandon their homes, but a “multi-flag” consortium of buildings, staffed with programs and populated with students of law, urban studies, management, finance, data science, and more could be an invigorating economic driver for Wilmington.
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DELAWARE STATE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
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DELAWARE BUSINESS EDITORIAL STAFF Katie K. Wilkinson Chair
Michael J. Quaranta President
Kelly Basile Editor
Christina Jones Graphic Design
Tony Allen, Ph.D. Delaware State University
Natalie Keefer Bank of America
Janice Nevin, M.D., MPH ChristianaCare
Jason D. Gonzalez DuPont
Rodger Levenson WSFS Bank
Robert (Rob) Rider, Jr. O.A. Newton
Marie Holliday, CPA Cover & Rossiter Tom Horne JPMorgan Chase
Bonnie Metz Verizon, Delaware
Gary R. Stockbridge Delmarva Power
BOARD OF DIRECTORS CHAIR
Katie K. Wilkinson Fulton Bank VICE CHAIR
Scott Malfitano CSC VICE CHAIR & TREASURER
Nicholas P. Lambrow M&T Bank
Nicholas A. Moriello, Stephanie Wiswall AstraZeneca RHU Highmark BCBS Delaware Pharmaceuticals LP
BOARD OF GOVERNORS Dennis M. Salter Pierre Anderson Francis M. DiNuzzo Lisa Kirkwood Artesian Water Company, Inc. ILC Dover TD Bank Edinburgh Capital Management LLC Steve Baccino Brian DiSabatino Richard H. LaPenta Chesapeake Utilities EDiS Company Insurance & Financial Greg Sawka Services, Ltd. Chris Baker Walter Donaldson Bancroft Construction George & Lynch, Inc, Freeh Sporkin & Sullivan, Stephan Lehm Company LLP VanDemark & Lynch, Inc. Greg Ballance Chris Schell Diamond Technologies Denis Dunn Alan Levin Schell Brothers AT&T, Delaware SoDel Concepts Mike B. Berardi Fred C. Sears II Wohlsen Construction Co. Thère du Pont Andy Lubin Delaware Community Longwood Foundation Robert A. Book II Delaware Financial Group Foundation, ret. Delaware Electric Jerry Esposito Mac Macleod Cooperative Tidewater Utilities, Inc., ret. Carvertise Greg Smith The Chemours Company Julian H. “Pete” Booker G. Kevin Fasic, Esq. William E. Manning Delaware Safety Council, Offit Kurman Robert S. Smith Saul Ewing Arnstein Inc. Bryan Fisher Santora CPA Group & Lehr Jennifer Gimler Brady Agilent Technologies William Smith Guy Marcozzi Potter Anderson & Corroon Michael T. French Environmental Alliance Duffield Associates, Inc. LLP Belfint, Lyons & Shuman Mark Stellini Paul M. McConnell Dr. Mark T. Brainard Donald T. Fulton McConnell Development, Assurance Media Delaware Technical Weiner Benefits Group Inc. Community College Grace Stockley Martha S. Gilman Kevin C. Broadhurst Michael A. Meoli Fidelitrade Incorporated Gilman Development Comcast The Meoli Group Company Dr. David Tam Robert L. Byrd Chad Moore Joseph A. Giordano Beebe Healthcare ByrdGomes Beacon Hospitality Whisman Giordano & Dian C. Taylor Patrick Callihan Associates, LLC Mark Mumford Artesian Water Tech Impact Nemours Children’s Health Vaughn Hardin Jim Taylor System Eric Casey LabWare Saul Ewing Arnstein & GT USA Wilmington Dr. LaVerne T. Harmon Terry Murphy Bayhealth Medical Center Lehr Stuart Comstock-Gay Wilmington University Delaware Community James Tevebaugh Chris O’Neill Pete Hayward Foundation Tevebaugh Associates University of Delaware, ret. PSCI Timothy J. Constantine John E. “Jack” Healy III Chris Perdue Mark Turner United Concordia Dental Healy Long & Jevin, Inc. WSFS Bank Perdue Farms Charlie Copeland A. Richard Heffron Robert W. Perkins Michael S. Uffner Associates International, Inc. Delaware State Chamber Brandywine Public AutoTeam Delaware Pam Cornforth of Commerce, ret. Strategies Richelle Vible Ronald McDonald House of Michael Houghton Theodore J. Prushinski Catholic Charities of Delaware, Inc. Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Citizens Bank Delaware Andrew Cottone, Ph.D. Tunnell, LLP Michael Ratchford ADESIS Ann B. Wayne, BSN, RN Tim Houseal W. L. Gore & Associates, SUN Behavioral Delaware Barry Crozier Young Conaway Stargatt & Inc. Belfint, Lyons & Shuman, Taylor, LLP Robert W. Whetzel Bettina Tweardy Riveros ret. Mark Hutton Richards, Layton & Finger ChristianaCare Jason Danner M&T Bank Salvatore J. “Chip” Rossi Thomas C. “Tom” KELLY Benefit Strategies Mona Jantzi Wiedemann Bank of America Rick Deadwyler Barclays US Consumer AAA Club Alliance Corteva Agriscience™ Bank James J. Roszkowski Robert Wirth Discover Bank Marta DeLisi Jeffrey Joseph DuPont Country Club Beasley Media Group PNC Bank Rhett Ruggerio Kevin M. Wolfgang Ruggerio Willson & Ernest Dianastasis Christopher L. Kenny Evergreen Apartment Group Associates, Inc. The Precisionists, Inc. ShopRites of Delaware
STAFF Michael J. Quaranta President
Melissa Brayman Office Administrator
Kelly Basile Vice President Strategic Communications
Regina Donato Program & Communications Manager Ken Evans Account Executive
Tyler Micik Public Policy & Government Relations Manager Fred Miller Advertising/Retention
July / Aug us t 2 0 2 1
Helana Rodriguez Marketing & Events Manager Alexis Williams Program Manager, The Partnership, Inc.
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