Suffolk County Police Department

40 Years of “Personal Touch”

terrialessimiceliLeave a comment
HIA_2018_40th_Anniversary_D3X6883(1)
Pictured from left: Grant Hendricks, Vice Chairman, Suffolk IDA; Hon. Ed Wehrheim, Supervisor, Town of Smithtown; Terri Alessi-Miceli, President & CEO, HIA-LI; Jack Kulka, President & Founder, The Kulka Group and HIA-LI Lifetime Board Member; Sophia Serlis-McPhillips, Director, Middle Country Public Library; and, Joe Campolo, HIA-LI Board Chair and Managing Partner, Campolo, Middleton & McCormick, LLP

I’ve said it before: One special attribute of HIA-LI is that we bring “a personal touch” to our work.

This pleasing dimension of our operations was evident at last week’s 40th Anniversary Gala at Stonebridge in Hauppauge.

We were able to have some fun, interact socially, honor some great friends, and reflect on HIA-LI’s many accomplishments over four decades.

It’s nice that HIA-LI doesn’t default into clinical-style, by-the-book networking. Instead, we enjoy each other’s company. We engage each other as people, not just business prospects.

It calls to mind my initial encounters with the group about 30 years ago. As an executive with Dale Carnegie Training, I was a rank-and-file member of HIA-LI, hoping to drum up some local business.

But what treatment I received! Marcy Tublisky introduced me to virtually every CEO in the organization.

My first reaction was, “This group is different. Sure, they’re all aiming for business success. But these people bring ‘a personal touch’ to the whole enterprise!”

And it was a personal thrill for me last week when we recognized four honorees:

We applauded an HIA-LI founding father and development icon Jack Kulka — President and Founder of The Kulka Group — who was there on Day One in 1978.

We recognized the Miller Business Center of Centereach, represented by Middle Country Public Library Director Sophia Serlis-McPhillips. Few know that HIA-LI had been poised to launch our own business library years ago when we realized that the nearby Miller Business Center was an ideal partner to fulfill our needs.

Attendees also praised the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency – represented by Vice Chair Grant Hendricks – which aggressively promotes the growth of our business park.

Supervisor Edward Wehrheim spoke for the Town of Smithtown, our final honoree. He’s already begun building upon the legacy of former Supervisor Pat Vecchio in facilitating the enrichment of our complex.

And I was truly surprised and humbled to be given an award by the HIA-LI board. It is my honor to serve as president and C.E.O., and I share this honor with the outstanding staff at HIA-LI who work hard every day in order to make my job look easy.

We also recounted some of HIA-LI’s achievements over four decades, including our growth from 350 to nearly 1,000 member companies.

HIA-LI remains an effective agent of regional economic growth, while maintaining the “personal touch” that facilitates relationship building among members. And HIA-LI keeps advocating for the Hauppauge Industrial Park, whose 1,350 businesses and 55,000 employees make it America’s most job-rich industrial park east of the Mississippi River.

We’ve leveraged dozens of assets for the Park and its member firms, such as a Northern State Parkway exit ramp, a dedicated COPE car in cooperation with the Suffolk County Police Department, one of the country’s first-ever industrial park-based childcare centers, dozens of sewage, lighting, and road improvements, and a truly lengthy list of other deliverables.

Click here to check out our 40th Anniversary Report for a more complete list of accomplishments, current initiatives, and along with the history of HIA-LI.

So, bravo to you, HIA-LI! And congratulations on 40 proud years of successful business advocacy – all carried out in a way that maintains a warmly appreciated “personal touch.”

HIA_2018_40th_Anniversary_D3X7266

Working Closely with our Government Partners

terrialessimiceliLeave a comment
pic-with-politicians-and-jack-and-joe-2.jpg
From left: Hon. Phil Boyle, State Senator; Terri Alessi-Miceli, President & C.E.O., HIA-LI; Hon. Lee Zeldin, Congressman; Hon. Michael Fitzpatrick, State Assemblyman; Jack Kulka, Lifetime Board Member, HIA-LI; and, Joe Campolo, Board Chair, HIA-LI.

HIA-LI has always prided itself on having outstanding relationships with government officials. Many of our elected and appointed leaders have supported the HIA-LI throughout the years and at critical times have been just a phone call away.  That is something we, and our members, very much appreciate.

It has resulted in numerous projects and improvements such as:

  • A new highway exit off the Northern State Parkway.
  • Securing a COPE patrol vehicle dedicated to the Hauppauge Industrial Park through the Suffolk County Police Department.
  • Establishing the first childcare center in an industrial park on Long Island.
  • Obtaining a $600,000 transportation grant from former Congressman Steve Israel to look at egress and digress in the Park.
  • Establishment of an overlay district that allows for increased building height.
  • Expansion of the Park’s sewerage project.

All of this and more has happened because of our strong relationship with government officials.

On October 19, 2018, we took another important step in our advocacy and partnership with local and regional public officials by hosting a Board Legislative Breakfast where more than two dozen elected leaders and their representatives attended.  HIA-LI understands the importance of communicating our members’ concerns to governmental leaders and the benefits of working with them in a collaborative manner to find solutions.

At the October 19 breakfast, Joe Campolo, Board Chair and Managing Partner of Campolo, Middleton and McCormick LLP, reviewed the proactive work being done in the Hauppauge Industrial Park and the “Opportunity Analysis” that this is being conducted to help identify ways that the Park’s economic power can be channeled to maximize its contribution to Long Island’s long-term growth and competitiveness.

Scott Maskin, HIA-LI Board Member and Co-Founder of SUNation Solar spoke about the progressive work being done with our Solar Initiative.  There are 20 million square feet of unused rooftops that can be utilized as a solar asset, helping to lower energy costs for businesses while increasing the quality of our environment.

Rita DiStefano, HIA-LI Board Member and HR Consultant for Portnoy, Messinger, Pearl spoke about the urgency to continue helping small businesses via our Small Business Task Force. Since more than 80 percent of HIA-LI member companies are considered small to midsize businesses, this is another critical step for us. We realize that small business doesn’t have the bandwidth that larger companies have and the open forums this task force has created can help them lead and grow their organizations.

HIA-LI continues to be a catalyst for change, and I feel blessed to be leading an organization that has not only has its heart and footprint in the Hauppauge Industrial Park but across this bi-county region.