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January 2006 — Vol. 83, No. 11

FROM THE PRESIDENT

Time to say goodbye

By Kenneth O. Decko

CBIA President and CEO


By time you read this, CBIA will have new leadership. As of Jan. 1, John Rathgeber will be president and CEO.

CBIA has been in a leadership transition since 2004, when I notified the board that I would retire in 2006. I will stay involved in the board and will assist John Rathgeber until my retirement Oct. 31.

After 35 years with CBIA, 26 of them as the association’s leader, I will miss the organization and the wonderful people with whom I’ve had the opportunity of working. I will especially miss the staff. They are a talented, hard-working and enjoyable group of people to work with.

CBIA’s success over the years has been due not only to the efforts of the staff but also to the support of our members and Board of Directors. This support provides both the resources needed to operate the association and the expertise and grassroots activism necessary to achieve our public policy initiatives. I extend my sincere thanks and appreciation for your past involvement and support.

CBIA’s policy work is something I will also miss. I strongly believe in the association’s mission: to create a competitive business climate that enhances the quality of life in Connecticut and provides well-paying jobs for our citizens and opportunities for young people.

My successor will have his work cut out for him in today’s economic and political climate. When I started at CBIA, Connecticut’s economy was the envy of the nation. We had major defense plants and other large manufacturing facilities. We were the insurance capital of the nation. And we had many Fortune 500 companies, whose CEOs often hailed from our state.

The global economy and technology, however, have “shrunk” the world. Capital and people can easily move to locations where it’s easier to make a fair return on investment or find a better job. Many places now have a quality of life as good as Connecticut’s, but far lower costs. Because of our high costs, businesses here must use advanced technologies to compete in world markets. That means both our current workforce and the young people entering it must have the skills to use emerging technologies. Although Connecticut is doing okay with the top third of students, it’s not doing very well with the middle group and it’s failing those in the lower third.

Today, too many of our elected officials do not seem to realize how the business world has changed. As a result, Connecticut is slowly losing its position at the top of the economic pyramid. It is being passed by other states and regions that are more effectively dealing with the changes that are sweeping our world.

We cannot turn the clock back, nor can we isolate ourselves from the world economy. Our elected officials need to better understand how the world is changing, evaluate Connecticut’s strengths and weaknesses, and formulate a long-term strategy for the future. They must understand that increasing business costs in an already overly costly state will harm our quality of life. They also need to be more proactive instead of reacting to events.

I believe it is still possible for Connecticut to meet the challenges we face. Connecticut is fortunate that CBIA will have a strong team with a tremendously talented individual leading it in the coming years. John Rathgeber and his staff will need the strong support of the membership to focus attention on what needs to be done so that Connecticut remains a place where people can successfully operate a business, work and enjoy a good quality of life.