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New York native Chris Haran has tried to bring a little of the Big Apple with him to Northeast Pennsylvania. As president and CEO of Great Valley Technology Associates, a regional public-private partnership started in 2000 to develop a knowledge-based, technology-focused economy, Haran has managed the Wall Street West (WSW) Initiative from its inception. WSW, a partnership of more than two dozen economic development agencies, investment groups, workforce development organizations, educational and research institutions and private-sector experts in Northeast Pa., received a $15 million grant from the Department of Labor in 2006 to develop a workforce and entice New York City-based companies to establish back-up and back-office operations there.
Keystone Edge: Like many others in the last 20 years, you moved from New York to Northeast Pa. How would you describe the experience?
Chris Haran: I came here 15 years ago and hopefully have made a difference. This is a wonderful place, but it’s hard to explain to my colleagues back in New York. It may not be the center of the universe, but it has an incredible quality of life, and allows you to get involved in more things and make a difference. We have great people and great amenities here. This is my third job since I’ve been in the area and I’ve always been surrounded by intelligent, hard-working people. You can attract bright, articulate people and they can stay because they can practice their trade here, make a decent living and not spend an incredible amount of money to maintain a lifestyle.
KE: What’s keeping you busy right now at Great Valley?
CH: We’re hitting our stride with 55 projects approved through the Wall Street West initiative, for which we were one of the creating bodies. We’re trying to create an atmosphere of high-tech workers and programs so companies will look to Northeast Pa. just like they’d look to other areas of the country. We’ve been working very hard to invest $15 million of taxpayer money, getting our workforce prepared for the future. The funding stream comes to an end at the beginning of next year, so everyone is sprinting to the end. The majority of the 55 programs will have legs to carry them forward and beyond the funding.
We’re not a traditional economic development organization, but a collection of all of the above. We focus on collaboration, talent, entrepreneurship and bringing those together can really make sparks fly.
KE: What was your role in the formation of The Commonwealth Medical College, the region’s first medical school, which opens this month?
CH: It’s the first medical college to open in the state in about 40 years. It’s something I was part of since its inception, determining whether it was viable. It was a very deliberate exercise. Now, four years after the original concept was hatched, we’re about to welcome our first students [on Aug. 9]. My involvement was to represent local colleges and universities who wanted to make sure they were brought into the equation. I served on a panel of about a dozen community leaders and it was quite the enlightening experience.
It creates a logical path for many of our students. The premise behind it is if you get your education and do your residency here, you might want to start a practice here. There was empirical evidence there that these folks will stay. We have the third and fourth oldest population in the nation in Lackawanna and Luzerne Counties, and our doctors are getting old. Community leaders realized we need to address the growing shortage of medical professionals.
KE: What do you consider one of Great Valley’s signature programs?
CH: We run a business plan competition every spring. It’s an academic competition strictly for college students, but we’ve had 25 companies that have incorporated as a result in seven years. It was one of the first things we tried. They get feedback, get judged and if they win they get $20,000, and usually $5,000 and $3,000 for second and third, respectively. The in-kind services alone, like office space, insurance, and legal services, are worth $100,000. It’s everything you need to go start your business.
KE: Considering Northeast Pa.’s history as a coal mining and industrial center, how is the region positioned to get through the recession and build for the future?
CH: When you think of what you need, we’ve got academic institutions, workforce investment boards, and a dozen or so economic development organizations. If we can get broad collaboration in some form, it bodes well for the area. Maybe we’ll no longer be recognized as a rust belt or coal mining town.
I think one of our strengths is we’re all of the above. We may not be able to call ourselves a center of biotech or silicon like other areas, but at the same time, we don’t have the risk. We have a number of industries that can cushion us. No single industry has decimated this area, evidenced by our unemployment rate being lower than the national average. We haven’t had a boom, therefore we haven’t had a bust. That diversity, I think it was done deliberately by economic development leaders, to create opportunities for anyone who wants to do anything.
Joe Petrucci is a freelance writer in Philadelphia and one of Keystone Edge’s Innovation and Job News editors. Send feedback here.
