Young Professionals

Action By HIA-LI Members Helps Secure Long Island’s Future

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Amid the doldrums of the COVID-19 pandemic, HIA-LI members have good reason to pat themselves on the back this year.

Why? Because our organization’s members played a central role in advocating for a public policy victory that will serve, according to Newsday, as a “building block for our region’s future.”

That victory occurred in August, when the Smithtown Town Board voted unanimously to greenlight a “zoning overlay” allowing mixed-used development at the 1,650-acre Long Island Innovation Park in Hauppauge (LI-IPH), formerly known as Hauppauge Industrial Park. The idea for a “zoning overlay” had arisen from a 160-page strategic analysis issued in April 2019. The analysis, commissioned by HIA-LI in cooperation with the Suffolk IDA and others, had enumerated ways to strengthen the Park’s future.

The Town’s decision came in the aftermath of an organized campaign – undertaken by HIA-LI members and many others – to help educate Board members regarding the merits of the change.

Thanks to new development opportunities made possible through the revised zoning rules­­­, one of Long Island’s most respected real estate developers, TRITEC of East Setauket, stepped forward in November and proposed to build a $125-million, mixed-use building with 335 apartments in the Park. The venue would be a development parcel at 49 Wireless Boulevard that TRITEC owns through a subsidiary. The “zoning overlay” opens the door for similar mixed-use projects at twelve other Park sites.

Long Island municipalities like the Town of Smithtown are recognizing the need to take bold steps to promote regional economic development and to help stem the hemorrhaging of young workers from Nassau and Suffolk. 

The Town – under the leadership of Supervisor Ed Wehrheim – understands that mixed-use development like this represents a “building block” for creating a better tomorrow for our area. Such measures boost our economic competitiveness by supporting workforce attraction and retention. In July 2019, a Rauch Foundation survey conducted for Newsday found that 67 percent of Long Islanders aged 18 to 34 years planned to leave the region within five years.

Can you imagine? Such an exodus would seriously disable the Long Island economy and make it highly difficult for Park employers to hire and keep a skilled workforce.

In a November 29 editorial, Newsday called the new Smithtown policy “a prime example of what’s possible” when Long Island municipalities act creatively to re-envision our region’s future.

So, bravo to the members of HIA-LI for helping to create a new model for fortifying Long Island’s long-term competitiveness.  And a special thanks to our LI-IPH Task Force, headed by HIA-LI Board Chair Joe Campolo, Managing Partner at Campolo, Middleton & McCormick, LLP.

Read the complete Newsday editorial here.

Young Professionals Impart Wisdom

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There was a full-house at the June 18 HIA-LI Young Professionals and Entrepreneurs (H.Y.P.E.) Executive Breakfast and Scholarship Awards ceremony.

We all know the challenge of young people leaving Long Island to live and work in other regions. In fact, it is stated by the year 2025 seventy-five percent of the workforce will be millennials who, if they continue to exit Long Island, will create an even larger challenge. We also know the urgent need to create jobs and connect our educational partners. It is the very reason that several years ago the HIA-LI created a Young Professionals Committee (now H.Y.P.E.) that every year creates a young professionals panel to speak to our scholarship recipients.

There were some great takeaways this year from the June 18th HIA-LI Young Professionals Scholarship Awards and Executive Breakfast held at the WizdomOne Group of Companies in Islandia.  Here are a few that stand out:

  • Follow your passion because passion equals excellence. Now is not the time to “settle” or second-guess your dreams.
  • If you’re not sure of your career direction, use college to explore your options. Take classes that interest you . . . one of them might just ignite a ‘spark.’
  • There is no substitute for hard work. (You’ve heard the expression, “The harder I work, the luckier I get.  Well, it’s true.)
  • Look at failures as learning opportunities. You can’t learn to succeed unless you’ve learned to fail.  And when you do fail, fail hard, fail fast, and then get up and continue moving forward.
  • Be present in whatever you’re doing. Put down the cell phone.  Turn off the TV.  Focus on people.
  • It’s important to have a support system. It may your parents.  It may be friends.  It may be extended family.  Or it may be co-workers.  But no matter, surround yourself with people who are positive and supportive.
  • Find work-life balance that makes you happy. It may not look like your parents, friends, or colleagues, but that’s ok.  So long as it works for you.
  • Make your bed every morning! Yes, starting the day in an organized way sets a positive tone for the rest of your day.

Many thanks to the stellar panel of young professionals who helped to impart these insightful pieces of advice.  They were moderators Jason Hershkowitz, Account Manager and Executive Recruiter, Choice Long Island, and Gregg Pajak, Founder and Managing Partner, WizdomeOne Group of Companies. Panelists included Josiah Cheatham, Senior Business Development Representative, People’s Alliance Federal Credit Union; Adam Holtzer, Director of Business Development, Generations Beyond; Lauren Kanter-Lawrence, Director of Communications, Campolo Middleton & McCormick, LLP; and, David Whelan, Director of Development, Harvest Power.

Congratulations to the 12 scholarship recipients, all children of HIA-LI members who chose to continue their post-high school education right here on Long Island.

Want to find out more about HIA-LI’s Young Professionals & Entrepreneurs (H.Y.P.E.) Committee?  Call Connor Robertson at 631-543-5355 or email crobertson@hia-li.org.