“Celebrating the foundation of our future.”
That was the theme of the day as the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce celebrated its 225th anniversary at its annual meeting and luncheon Friday at the Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale. Some 600 attended.
It was a day to cite and celebrate history. The GNHCC traces its roots to 1794, when two dozen New Haven businessmen joined forces to try to persuade the then-infant federal government to take more vigorous measures to safeguard their port city’s maritime commerce — its sole lifeline to the outside world — from the predations of British and French privateers.
Today its membership has swelled to 1,800 and its footprint spans 15 municipalities in south-central Connecticut, defining a geographic semi-circle from Orange to Cheshire to Madison. In 2013 the GNHCC incorporated the Quinnipiac Chamber of Commerce, which represents companies in North Haven and Wallingford.
It was a day freighted with history. The chamber’s 2019 Corporate Heritage Award honoree, New Haven’s Shubert Theatre (the “Birthplace of the Nation’s Greatest Hits”), traces its roots back more than a century. (It opened in 1914.) The South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority (RWA), which traces its own lineage back to Eli Whitney, marks its 170th anniversary this year. To honor that milestone RWA CEO Larry Bingaman announced that the company would fund a full-time chamber position focused on business retention and expansion.
Of course, 170 years is nothing compared to the institution represented by the keynote speaker, Peter Salovey. His place of business was founded in 1701 as the Collegiate School in Old Saybrook. Seventeen years later it relocated to its current address, in New Haven.
During his two-decade (1993-2013) tenure in Woodbridge Hall, Salovey’s predecessor, Richard C. Levin, pursued two broadly articulated objectives: to recast Yale as a global institution (spearheading the creation of the first liberal-arts college in Asia, Yale-NUS, in partnership with the National University of Singapore), and to more actively and effectively engage the university in the life and fortunes of its host city.
By contrast, Salovey has yet to articulate a signature issue or agenda. But in a 20-minute address he reminded his audience of his university’s foundational place in the life of the city, region and state.
So much to say:
• ”Yale is an economic anchor for our city,” Salovey said. The university has been a leader in hiring residents, with a particular focus on economically disadvantaged neighborhoods, he added.
• Yale has contributed more than $40 million to economic-development initiatives in the city such as Start Community Bank, Market New Haven, the International Festival of Arts & Ideas and many other programs.
• University employees have contributed more than $21 million through the United Way of Greater New Haven alone to support programs that benefit area residents.
• Over the last decade some 130 companies based on Yale research have been created, a majority of those through the university’s Office of Cooperative Research.
• Yale has helped to fuel a downtown New Haven renaissance. The Shops at Yale have welcomed a raft of national retailers such as L.L. Bean and Apple that have transformed the Broadway shopping district and attracted shoppers from throughout the region.
Speaking of history, Friday’s luncheon also marked the first anniversary (approximately) of GNHCC President and CEO Garrett Sheehan, who settled into the corner office at 900 Chapel Street last March.
Like many business groups in Connecticut, including the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, the GNHCC has attempted to straddle a fine line between advocacy and accommodation in a deep-blue state. For instance, Sheehan has been a vocal cheerleader for expanding Tweed New Haven Airport, but has had much less to say (at least in his public pronouncements) about pending legislative measures such as a $15 minimum wage and mandated paid family and medical leave, which small-business owners say will wreak havoc on their bottom lines.
State government was represented at the event by David Lehman, Gov. Ned Lamont’s hand-picked new commissioner of the state’s Department of Economic & Community Development (DECD). He didn’t have much to say about the business climate under the new administration, but did offer that, “We want to be a partner with everyone here.”
In other business, the chamber elected a new slate of directors and welcomed a new board chair: Jeffrey Klaus, regional president of Webster Bank. He succeeds Jennifer DelMonico, managing partner of the law firm Murtha, Cullina LLP in New Haven.
Klaus may have uttered the most trenchant line of the day, when he quoted his old boss, Webster Bank CEO James C. Smith, who used to say, “You can’t be in favor of jobs if you’re against business.”
Contact Michael C. Bingham at mbingham@newhavenbiz.com
