When Matthew Nemerson was a kid, he’d zip around town, riding through street after street in his hometown of New Haven, wondering at the history that swirled inside old, abandoned factories that looked like dinosaurs from another age.
“I was fascinated. Undoubtedly, my interest in business and economics came from New Haven’s industrial history. How does a society invent and reinvent itself?” he asks.
Thus began his love for communitarianism — a study of how individuals are shaped by their communities. He is the son of businesswoman Vivienne and Dr. Yale Nemerson, who had the status of a rock star in the field of hematology. The Nemerson siblings grew up taking about science at the dinner table, laying the foundation for developing a scientific approach in integrating communities, which would become Nemerson’s calling in life.
Nearly every avatar he’s had centered around communitarianism. There was his work at a nonprofit real estate development firm in New Haven, which he founded; his 13-year tenure heading the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce, a period that included the inception of the city’s Science Park; and now as president and CEO of the Connecticut Technology Council, a statewide advocacy organization for nearly 400 technology companies that run the gamut from General Electric Co. and United Technologies Corp. to struggling start-ups.
“We’ve been communicating to legislators that maintaining an innovation ecosystem is like an old man planting trees for his grandson,” Nemerson says.
Whether they agree with his methods or not, critics and friends can’t deny that the man’s got passion. Don’t get him started talking about communities unless you’re willing to listen for a very long time. In fact, his biggest gripe against the Tea Party is what he perceives as a rejection of community in favor of individualism.
But for all his talk, he can get things done. As COO of East Haven-based software firm Netkey, he helped raise $15 million in venture funds. During his time at the Greater New Haven Chamber, he was instrumental in bringing urban transportation expert Michael Gallis from North Carolina to Connecticut.
“Matt has that kind of foresight,” says businessman Roger Joyce, former co-board member with Nemerson at the state’s transportation board. “The Gallis report is still a reference for Connecticut’s transportation strategy board.”
More recently, Nemerson lobbied in favor of the Jobs Bill HB 5435, which was passed in the 2010 legislative session. “Matt and I worked together on that,” says State Rep. Chris Perone (D-Norwalk), assistant Majority leader.
Liddy Karter, executive director of the Angel Investor Forum, has worked with Nemerson in convincing members of the legislature to approve an angel investment tax credit, which was passed in the 2010 session.
“Matthew has delivered an innovation and economic success roadmap for Connecticut as president of CTC. If Connecticut follows his advice, we will regain the economic standing that we once had,” she says.
Nemerson calls himself a “pro-Capitalistic Communitarian Democrat politician.” He knocks on doors in his neighborhood urging people to vote; and in his quiet moments, wanders through the New Haven Historical Society or reads a book on American industrial history.
A common thread runs though these seemingly diverse interests — looking at communities as functional systems.
“Matthew has an amazing capacity for seeing how different parts of complex systems interoperate and how to bring them together into a fine-tuned machine,” says Chris Kalish, director of GE edgelab at the University of Connecticut and chairman of the board at CTC.
To be able to do that, you’ve got to admit there are problems. Nemerson’s got no qualms doing that.
“We’re trying to make the argument that something’s not working here; that people are leaving the state. Our role has been to wave our hands around to say something’s not happening,” he explains. “We don’t want people to say we’re being negative. But the flip side is we can’t be Pollyannaish about this.”
He points out that it’s a gargantuan task, especially at a time when the state faces a daunting deficit, to convince people to fund areas that are not of immediate concern.
“The difficulty in our world — the entrepreneurial, innovation world — is that it takes many, many years for the systems that we create to in-turn create a positive environment for entrepreneurship, to actually end up with jobs,” he says. “It turns out that the process of creating a system that can identify a pathway for people out of laboratories, out of corporate spinouts and through the whole series of networks that are required to get funding, to find the place to have your business, to hire the right people and then strategically match up with other companies, requires assistance.”
He says his elation at the Jobs Bill was muted by the discontinuation of state funding — a total of $200,000 per year — toward CTC’s Innovation Pipeline Accelerator. “It wasn’t as though funds had run out; it was out of bond funds. CTC worked with nearly 300 start-ups, but we had to stop the program a year ago,” he says.
Going forward, Nemerson says he’s not ruling out running for public office — while in college, he wanted to be a senator or governor, perhaps travel to Korea, Singapore or Taiwan to study their innovation systems, write a book, and go back and teach someday.
He says organizations like CTC operate slightly below the radar and can make a difference in a way that can be just as effective as government without the baggage of special interest groups.
“When I was a kid, I was very much into politics. I ran for first selectman of Woodbridge in 1979. Then I decided what I really was interested in was having an impact on society’s systems. And I’ve had the opportunity to do that,” he says. “Right now, the role that I’m playing is the right role.”
