Wyoming News Exchange

Business Council looks to narrow focus
 
By Ramsey Scott
Wyoming Tribune Eagle
Via Wyoming News Exchange
 
CHEYENNE – As ENDOW works to narrow its broad 20-year vision for the state’s economy into actionable items, the Wyoming Business Council is working to narrow its own focus to become an engine of economic diversification.
During the ENDOW Executive Council meeting last week, Wyoming Business Council Executive Director Shawn Reese told that body he and his staff see ENDOW as their guiding star for how to refocus the agency’s mission.
Over the next few months, the Business Council will look to move away from being a group completely centered around programmatic services to one that caters to the needs of new and growing businesses, Reese said.
“Previously, our mission was one of economic development, which is generally about increasing wealth and prosperity. While that is important, where we’re looking now is a more specific subset of that broader mission,” Reese said. “How Wyoming’s economy is comprised, what comprises it and how resilient it is. In focusing our mission, we will be in a better position to not be everything for everyone, which is really the position we’re in with a broader mission.”
Gov. Mark Gordon said the Business Council’s narrowing of focus, and ENDOW working to turn its broad economic vision into actionable items, is part of trying to create lasting improvements to the state’s economy.
“At my request, the Business Council has refined their approach with better definitions and clearer measurements,” Gordon said in an email exchange. “This new strategy seeks to build on the good work of the ENDOW Executive Council and is informed by industry leaders.”
Reese this week said after about 20 years of taking a broad look at the state’s economy, the Wyoming Business Council was in need of refocusing its mission to better reflect the economic needs of the state. Part of that is the reality that Wyoming is a state in need of bringing in new industries that can move the state away from a complete dependency on commodities like coal, oil and natural gas.
“We feel that for us to get to that point where we can start seeing changes or effectuating change (in the state’s industry), we needed it to have that more focused attention on the industries themselves,” Reese said. “We have a big role to play in this.”
One major question related to the narrowing of focus is how it will affect the Business Council’s structure and makeup. Reese said as they begin to work on better defining their new mission, they may need to change staffing levels, change the expertise of its personnel or think of other structural changes.
Dale Steenbergen, president and CEO of the Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce, said the Business Council historically has helped bring in some major projects. But as the business environment across the country has changed, the Business Council has needed to adapt to provide the types of services other states offer their communities.
“The future of our state will be built on making sure we have higher-paying jobs, and making sure our kids have the education they need to take those higher-paying jobs,” Steenbergen said. “That hasn’t been the focus of the Business Council in recent history. They were focused on bringing in jobs. But I would question whether those jobs would hit the mark of superiority in our community to entice our kids to stay here.”
The planned refocusing of the Business Council’s mission and Gordon’s efforts to turn ENDOW’s 20-year plan into actionable items are both steps in the right direction, Steenbergen said.
“It’s kind of like shooting with a shotgun or shooting with a rifle. I know there’s some big states, and they can afford to shoot with a shotgun. We’re not in that shape. We’re a small state, and we need to be very specific and targeted in our efforts,” Steenbergen said. “We need to be focused on bringing in those jobs that pay a good living.”
There has been a lot of conversation since ENDOW’s creation by former Gov. Matt Mead about how it and the Business Council would work together, or if the two bodies were both needed. During this year’s legislative session, lawmakers put in a footnote in the supplemental budget that withheld several hundred thousand dollars in funding to the Business Council until a report on economic development efforts was submitted to the Legislature by November.
Gordon eventually vetoed that footnote from the budget as legislative overreach. But Reese said the Business Council is very aware of the political landscape, and it is imperative they listen to what lawmakers and policymakers are saying when it comes to the direction they want to see out of the Business Council.
“The Legislature has been very supportive. But I think they also have an expectation we can’t continue to do the same thing and expect different results,” Reese said. “So we need to match their willingness to invest in economic development and economic diversification with some new and fresh approaches that are grounded in these conversations that we’ve had with industry, policymakers and ENDOW.”