H2M Architects + Engineers

Steering the Future: HIA-LI’s New Workforce Development Task Force

terrialessimiceliLeave a comment

As President and CEO of HIA-LI, one of Long Island’s foremost business advocacy organizations, I’m excited to share that we are launching a new Workforce Development Task Force. This initiative underscores our ongoing commitment to supporting businesses and strengthening the economic framework of the Long Island Innovation Park at Hauppauge (LI-IPH).

The LI-IPH is a significant player in our region’s economy, serving as the largest business park in the Northeast. With around 1,400 companies that employ approximately 55,000 workers, it forms a critical part of Long Island’s economic pulse. However, like many regions across the country, Long Island faces a significant challenge: a shortage of skilled workers. This issue is not just immediate; it also has implications for our region’s future growth and resilience.

To address this challenge, we’ve assembled a task force with two specific goals: align resources to meet business needs and spearhead efforts to recruit and develop talent for in-demand careers. Our task force is led by two respected individuals, Rich Humann, President and CEO of H2M Architects & Engineers, and Dr. Edward Bonahue, President of Suffolk County Community College. They will leverage their expertise to foster meaningful collaborations between businesses, educational institutions, and workforce development organizations.

We draw inspiration from successful ventures like Suffolk County Community College’s Solar Installer Certificate Program, a perfect example of mutually beneficial academia-business partnerships. By facilitating similar collaborations, we aim to ensure students are equipped with hands-on experience and businesses have access to a well-trained talent pool.

In the evolving post-Covid landscape, it’s crucial to forecast the skills businesses will need. To this end, the task force will commission an extensive “LI-IPH In-Demand Skills Assessment” in partnership with the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency (Suffolk IDA) and executed by James Lima Planning, a renowned New York City-based consulting firm. This project is made possible by a grant from the Workforce Development Institute, with additional funding from HIA-LI and the Suffolk IDA. The results will guide academia in reshaping curricula to align better with the future needs of the region’s economy.

Our task force’s initiative resonates with a larger statewide initiative – a $350-million initiative announced last year by Governor Kathy Hochul – to improve workers’ skills to meet job demands. This wider program forms a crucial element of a strategic approach to workforce development in the region.

Given the rapid pace of technological advancements, anticipating the shape of future work is a priority. The task force is committed to helping local businesses understand and prepare for these changes. By creating synergies between businesses, academia, and governmental organizations, we aim to foster a more resilient economy, attuned to both immediate and future needs of Long Island’s workforce.

Smaller businesses often find predicting future skill requirements a daunting task. Thus, we’re tailoring our efforts to help these firms, providing assistance to navigate and prepare for future demands. We are aiming to equip these businesses with customized programs that meet their ever-evolving workforce needs.

In conclusion, the Workforce Development Task Force reflects our dedication to continually fostering the growth and development of Long Island’s workforce. We view this initiative as a strategic response to current challenges, ensuring a more vibrant, resilient, and future-ready regional economy.

Stay tuned for information about our fall Workforce Development Conference where the results of the “LI-IPH In-Demand Skills Assessment” will be presented and discussed.

Despite challenges, many L.I. employers expect to boost hiring in 2023

terrialessimiceliLeave a comment
Moderator Michael Sabatini, a Partner with Citrin Cooperman, third from left, poses with panelists, from left: Renee Daniel Flager, Executive Director of Girls Inc. of Long Island; former HIA-LI Chair Rich Humann, President and CEO of H2M architects + engineers; MaryAnne Hyland, Dean of the Robert B. Willumstad School of Business at Adelphi University; Kevin O’Connor, CEO of Dime Community Bank; and Dr. Patrick O’Shaughnessy, President and CEO of Catholic Health Services.

While local business leaders grapple with such challenges as inflation, supply chain issues, and employee recruitment and retention, many still plan to increase the size of their workforces this year.

That’s a key finding of “The Long Island Economic Survey 2023,” a new survey of more than 200 Long Island executives. It was commissioned by HIA-LI and conducted by Adelphi University and the Citrin Cooperman accounting firm.

Survey results were discussed by a panel of leading regional executives on February 15 before more than 250 attendees at HIA-LI’s 29th Annual Business Summit held at the Hamlet Golf & Country Club in Commack. We were pleased to have Michael Sabatini, a Partner with Citrin Cooperman, moderate the panel.

Executives were asked to identify up to three of “the most important issues facing Long Island today.” Inflation and taxes were each cited by 22 percent of respondents. One-third identified workforce-related challenges as a top issue.

Yet despite their concerns over hiring and retention, virtually half of respondents (49 percent) expect to increase their employee rolls in 2023. Thirty-one percent of all respondents expects to augment their Long Island-based workforce, four percent will do more hiring outside of Long Island, and 14 percent plan to expand their workforce both on and outside Long Island. Forty-three percent anticipate no increase in staff size. Eight percent were unsure.

Some four out of ten were optimistic about their projected revenue and net profits next year, while half expected level growth. Ten percent expect a decline in revenues this year.

Similarly, more than a third (38 percent) of participants expected to expand their Long Island-based businesses in 2023.  

How concerned were local executives about the effects of inflation on their business? Most (62 percent) were “very concerned.” Thirty-one percent were “somewhat concerned,” and seven percent were “slightly concerned.”      

Sixty-five percent of respondents said they were affected by disruptions to the global supply chain. Most respondents expect supply chain issues to persist for another six months to two years.

Who took part in the survey?

A large majority of respondents represented businesses generating less than $100 million in revenue. More than three-quarters had been in operation 20 years or more. While respondents came from many industries, those with the largest representation were professional services (21 percent) and manufacturing, distribution and retail (17 percent). Most respondents (52 percent) were based in Suffolk County. Ten percent were situated in Nassau County, and 32 percent were based in both counties.

We were grateful for the participation of our panelists at the 29th Annual Business Summit: Kevin O’Connor, CEO of Dime Community Bank; Renee Daniel Flager, Executive Director of Girls Inc. of Long Island; former HIA-LI Chair Rich Humann, President and CEO of H2M architects + engineers; MaryAnne Hyland, Dean of the Robert B. Willumstad School of Business at Adelphi University; and Dr. Patrick O’Shaughnessy, President and CEO of Catholic Health Services.   

Newly elected Rep. Nick LaLota was also present to greet attendees.

How closely does your point of view match up with those reflected in our survey?

I urge you to see for yourself.

“The Long Island Economic Survey 2023” can be found here.

Despite Challenges, the Long Island and National Economies Are Set to Grow

terrialessimiceliLeave a comment

It was wonderful to be back in person at the HIA-LI Economic Summit. On March 25, business leaders, colleagues, and friends joined us at the Radisson in Hauppauge for our 28th Annual Summit, where a panel of experts offered their economic predictions for Long Island and the country.

Dr. Don Levy, Director at Sienna College Research Institute, summarized the results of the PKF O’Connor Davies 2022 Economic Survey. Among the 270 CEOs who participated, 59 percent said that the economy on Long Island was better than it was a year ago, and 61 percent expected improvement during 2022. Within their industries, 50 percent described conditions as more favorable than they were last year, and 56 percent anticipated an upswing in 2022. Normalized against historic data, these four results indicate a confidence rating of 6.8 out of 10, up from 6.5 a year ago.

Challenges include the continuing impact of COVID (cited by 55 percent of CEOs), inflation (53 percent), and rising supplier costs (43 percent). Worker supply is another: “Only one out of five say that they can find the people they need to step in and make a fruitful contribution right away,” remarked Levy.

Bob Quarte, a Partner at PKF O’Connor Davies who is also HIA-LI Board Treasurer, moderated the panel discussion. Noting the challenges that have arisen since the completion of the survey in early January — the war in Ukraine, a stock market correction, rising interest rates, and spiraling gas prices — he asked the panelists to describe their confidence in the economy and in their business sectors.

“As businesses get busier, healthcare gets busier,” stated Dr. Patrick O’Shaughnessy, President and CEO of Catholic Health Services. “I don’t just mean sick care. I mean well care, and that includes important screenings, keeping you healthy, getting ahead of you having a problem that causes more of an impact. I believe we’re moving forward in the right direction. That doesn’t mean we’re not going to have blips along the way, but I’m optimistic.”

Rich Humann, President and CEO of H2M Architects + Engineers and HIA-LI Board Chair, said that despite the national energy strategy that “continues to tip on a scale,” he is also optimistic. “As we recover, the commitment to infrastructure, the commitment to dollars, is coming from the federal government. Although there’s clearly an inflationary effect of that, nothing moves us in a strong economic direction more than a really robust investment in infrastructure.”

The national economy will do well in the long term, predicted Kevin O’Connor, CEO of Dime Community Bank and HIA-LI Board Secretary, but it will experience blips in the short term. “The Fed’s ability to navigate a soft landing does not have a lot of historical success. We may feel some pain that might be necessary to end some of the inflationary pressures.”

Dr. Edward Bonahue, President of Suffolk County Community College and an HIA-LI Board Member, declared that he’s “remarkably optimistic” despite the difficulties created by the pandemic. “We know that our ability to engage students, to provide hands-on workforce training that replicates the conditions that students are going to find when they’re on the job, is going to be supported by the continuing economic recovery, and the continuing recovery from COVID.”

“Things go in cycles,” added Quarte, summing up the panelists’ perspectives. “We might be in a difficult cycle right now, but we’ve proved we’ve always pulled through it.”

Download a copy of the survey here.

Despite Slip, AVZ Survey Says Long Island Economy Is Still Strong

terrialessimiceliLeave a comment

AVZ Economic Summit
Moderator Robert Quarte, Managing Partner, AVZ & Company, P.C., and panelists, from left: Jim Coughlan, Principal, TRITEC Real Estate Co., Inc.; Janine Logan, Sr. Director, Communications & Population Health, Nassau-Suffolk Hospital Council; Rich Humann, President and CEO, H2M Architects + Engineers; Dr. John Nader, President, Farmingdale State College; and, Kevin O’Connor, President and CEO, BNB Bank.

Long Island business executives feel optimistic about the region’s economic future, as we explored at HIA-LI’s 26th Annual Economic Summit on February 12 at the Hyatt Regency in Hauppauge. HIA-LI sees this event as critical to helping our members interpret what’s going on here on Long Island.

Based on the annual survey conducted by AVZ & Company, one of Long Island’s largest accounting firms, confidence in the regional economy – which reached a survey record high of 7.2 in 2018 – stood at a healthy 6.8 by the end of 2019. Yet forty-six percent of respondents added employees last year, and 43 percent had “no problem” finding skilled workers.

With AVZ managing partner Bob Quarte keeping the discussion lively and interesting in his role as moderator, a five-member panel sustained the attention of over 250 guests as they delved into issues shaping our region’s economic future.

Jim Coughlan, principal of TRITEC Real Estate, praised IDAs for their powerful contributions to the success of large business development projects. But if State lawmakers begin requiring IDA-supported projects to pay “prevailing wages,” he cautioned, IDAs would lose much of their ability to promote growth.

Rich Humann, president and CEO of H2M Architects + Engineers, praised HIA-LI’s work in building bridges between the Long Island Innovation Park at Hauppauge (LI-IPH) and regional universities.

Looking big picture, Kevin O’Connor, president and CEO of BNB Bank, said there’s been an evolution in deal structures over the past fifteen years that should lessen the incidence of “crash and burn” economic cycles.

Janine Logan, Senior Director for Communications and Population Health with the Nassau-Suffolk Hospital Council, seemed unsurprised that the AVZ survey had ranked healthcare as the regional industry with the greatest growth potential.

Why? Well, nearly one-fifth of our population is age 65 or older, she said, and the top, predisposing factor for chronic disease is age.

Dr. John Nader, president of Farmingdale State College, told attendees that many people burdened with college debt had never received diplomas. Instead of two- or four-year degrees, he said that many jobs now call only for “micro-credentials” and certifications. That’s something for us to keep in mind as we develop a proposed LI-IPH workforce development center.

This year’s Economic Summit was stimulating and upbeat and once again served as a very important discussion on the pulse and future trends on Long Island.

Our Task Force Has Begun Building the Park’s New Future

terrialessimiceliLeave a comment

We’ve got the vision – and we’ve got the strategy.

And now, we’ve got a blue-ribbon Task Force in place to implement the strategy.

Our goal? The HIA-LI is spearheading a bold expansion of the Long Island Innovation Park at Hauppauge (LI-IPH), formerly known as the Hauppauge Industrial Park.

While our 55,000-employee workforce already delivers $13 billion in annual output, we’ve now identified powerful opportunities for new growth.

With support from the Suffolk County IDA and the Regional Plan Association, HIA-LI commissioned a full-blown “Opportunity Analysis” by James Lima of James Lima Planning + Development, a nationally respected economic development consulting firm.

It found that the Park stood as Long Island’s top source of new, incoming wealth – thanks to our unsurpassed ratio of “tradable” businesses. These are companies whose exports and services attract new dollars into the region.

Tradable industries constitute only 23 percent of the regional economy, well below the 36 percent national average.

But our Park’s ratio is super-high: 58 percent of our workforce represents jobs in tradable industries.

The 160-page Lima assessment pinpointed five expansion strategies: facilitate business growth, attract and retain key knowledge workers, strengthen workforce development, promote innovation, and bolster connections among businesses, government, and institutions.

Happily, our new LI-IPH Task Force has already begun implementing these strategies.

In addition to myself and Joe Campolo, HIA-LI board chairman and managing partner of Campolo, Middleton & McCormick, LLP, its members include:

I applaud our Task Force members for their commitment to the LI-IPH – and to our region’s future.

Let’s enthusiastically support their efforts to usher in a new era of economic vibrancy for Long Island.