Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Photo Courtesy of Rob Simpson

November 11, 2011 – Veterans Day

by Rob Simpson, CEO, Brattleboro Retreat and Secretary, Vermont Business Roundtable

 I was driving through Waitsfield yesterday after leaving the Vermont Business Roundtable Board meeting when I noticed on my right on Route 100 a roadside memorial made up of small white flags arranged like a cemetery with gravestones honoring the 6,229 Americans who have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. The contrast to my meeting with business leaders throughout the state and the juxtaposition of the images on my right and the thoughts in my head were jarring. Minutes before we had been discussing the Roundtable’s strategic initiatives in early childhood education, healthcare reform and supporting the Vermont brand in tourism. (more…)

(l to r) Mary Barrosse Schwartz, Lisa Ventriss, Elmo, Governor Peter Shumlin, Steven Voigt

The Pew Center on the States’ Pre-K Now campaign last week brought together education leaders, advocates, business leaders, and national and state policy makers to celebrate significant accomplishments in the pre-k movement and highlight Pre-K Now’s capstone report, “Transforming Public Education: Pathway to a Pre-K-12 Future.”

Vermont’s accomplishment in pre-k public policy was highlighted as Governor Shumlin delivered the keynote speech. “Perhaps because I was a kid who learned differently, I understand how vital it is that we get all kids off to a good start. Thanks to the hard work of Pew and all of you with the Pre-K Now Campaign, many more are starting to appreciate how valuable early learning can be. I am convinced that when our kids arrive at kindergarten ready to learn, they will have more successful educational and professional futures as a result.”

As recognition for the role it played in Vermont advocacy for better pre-k public policy, leaders from the Vermont Business Roundtable attended, with VBR Board Chair Steve Voigt, President and CEO of King Arthur Flour, invited to introduce the Vermont Governor. Voigt stated “The Vermont Business Roundtable has long understood that the best way to provide children with a successful start in life and build the productive workforce of the future was to champion a policy shift towards improving both the access to and quality of early education. It has been our highest policy priority for the last five years.”

Pre-K Now was designed as a 10-year catalytic effort, grounded in research, to spark the early learning movement by bringing together different voices and supporting strategic advocacy efforts to advance high-quality voluntary pre-k for three- and four-year olds. This December, Pre-K Now will mark its 10th anniversary, wrapping up a decade of state and federal policy wins.

Also attending the meeting was Lisa Ventriss, President of Vermont Business Roundtable. Ventriss helped lead a coalition of children’s advocates, public educators, business leaders and providers to improve access and funding to pre-k programs. After the meeting, she noted “The Pre-K Now Campaign was helpful to our work in that it provided the research necessary to make an economic case for early education investments.”

Vermont is one of eleven states nationwide to provide funding to allow towns to offer pre-k for all as a voluntary program for families. In 2011, 78% of towns chose to offer pre-k as part of educational offerings in public schools and/or private pre-k providers. Ventriss commented “We’re hoping that eventually every child will have this opportunity, if their parents wish it for them. We’re working with communities that do not yet offer these important programs to encourage them to view the well-researched benefits.”

 -###-

Howdy! (Hello, how are you?) I just returned from Austin, Texas where I spent the better part of this week with my colleagues from other state business roundtables in our semi-annual gathering. During that time I learned that Texas is bigger’n Sam Houston’s hat; hotter’n a skillet biscuit; and drier’n a tumbleweed. It has 25 million residents and all of them drive pick up trucks, eat inspired Tex-Mex food, wear cowboy boots, and speak in a straight forward, honest manner. They are big in every conceivable way and are unapologetically patriotic about Texas and Woo-hoo! (I’m so proud!) about it every chance they get.

When we weren’t visiting the LBJ Presidential Library and Museum (45,000,000 pieces of paper); walking past UT Austin’s Texas Memorial Stadium where the Longhorns play football, (it can hold roughly 1/6 of all Vermonters at a time: capacity of 100,119 seats); and touring the state capitol, which has more floor space than any other (360,000 square feet) and is built of beautiful “Texas Rose” pink granite, we were talking economic development, pension reform, and education.

The Roundtable execs each shared similar stories of their state’s economic recovery ~ regaining ground at various speeds and worried about the domestic impacts from the EC’s financial crisis and Congressional inertia. There was widely held agreement that state rankings on economic development only tell a part of the story and that true judgment comes by experiencing the whole package: the old perception versus reality of a state’s attractiveness as a business destination. Even Texas, that former sovereign nation, (Woo-hoo!) which ranks #1 (Woo-hoo!) on a handful of measures including job creation, has its drawbacks as we know. It’s all in how the state spins its own narrative, and we all do it.

We all complained about lack of adequate workforce above all other shortcomings ~ Anglo-Americans simply aren’t producing enough children, but Mexican-Americans are ~ and all shared a common priority of investing in education for the long haul. At the same time, however, some colleagues expressed concern with “business fatigue” when it comes to advocating for investments in education, not because it’s a lesser priority, but because results are not happening fast enough.

The meeting adjourned as they all do, with an update on each Roundtable’s activities and pressing issues. For me, I encouraged my brothers and sisters to do their holiday shopping online in Vermont. And they pledged to do so.

Image Property of WorldNow and WCAX www.wcax.com

Lisa Ventriss, Roundtable President, recently visited with Anson Tebbetts, WCAX News Director, as invited guest on You Can Quote Me to discuss VBR’s 2nd Quarter CEO Economic Outlook Survey and other Roundtable priorities. If you missed  the interview in real time, be sure to visit WCAX’s You can Quote Me site to view their recording.

Click Here to Watch Video |  Interview Date: August 7, 2011

Vermont Business Roundtable is a proud partner of VMEC’s 3rd Innovation Engineering Leadership Institute:

Randolph Center, Vermont – The Vermont Manufacturing Extension Center (VMEC) has announced that it will be hosting its third “Innovation Engineering Leadership Institute” on August 23 – 25, 2011 at The Essex in Essex Junction, Vermont. The first IELI training event was held in Burlington in May 2010, followed by the second in February of this year in Woodstock. Innovation Engineering teaches business leaders a proven, systematic approach to leading profitable growth through innovation. It is an intensive 3-day graduate level program designed for senior managers in business, government, non-profit organizations, and academia. Two separate Georgia Tech studies (2008 & 2010) found that innovation is THE MOST profitable primary business strategy compared to low cost, fast delivery, voice of the customer, or quality strategies. In fact, the 3-year average profit margin of companies with a primary strategy of innovation is over 50% higher than for companies competing with a primary strategy of low prices. This training is equally vital to service industries, inventors, entrepreneurs, researchers, non-profits and economic development professionals. (more…)

The sun has come out, the lake is receding (enough to declare the state open for business) and the next 2 months’ forecast looks very good for the live life part of our mission, whether it be that bike ride off your usual route, or that destination you’ve been thinking about for years.  We live in one of the great unspoiled destinations on the planet (National Geographic).  Our problems will be here waiting for us when we return. Won’t attacking them refreshed improve the odds of a better outcome?  Wouldn’t it be a shame if we didn’t explore more of VT this summer? (more…)

The 2011 National Business Summit on Early Childhood Investment will be held in Boston on July 21-22, and it will have more than a little Vermont flavor. In addition to Chair Steve Voigt presenting on a panel entitled “New Frames for Early Childhood: STEM Education and Economic Development”, the Roundtable will be represented by another seven members that have made this leadership initiative a priority. The Summit, which is sold out, is designed to bring together CEOs from around the country to share models, research, messages, tools, and techniques that have demonstrated success in developing early childhood policy agendas at the state level. (more…)

Gov. Shumlin explaining the power of the "magic pen" he's holding

As is the Roundtable’s practice, our legislative policy agenda is one that we believe has the strongest possible connection to a long-term positive future for all Vermonters. And because of our small size and limited resources, that agenda is necessarily short, but runs deep. On several fronts, the Roundtable played a leadership role in bringing the employer perspective to bear in the development of education reform policies. Here is a summary of that work in the first year of the 2011-12 biennium.

Governor Peter Shumlin signed S.53, a bill that repeals the statutory cap that limits the number of children in state-funded pre-k, into law on May 19, 2011, at a child care center in St. Albans, Vermont. The Governor, recognizing that the Vermont Business Roundtable was a driving force behind the bill, presented VBR President Lisa Ventriss with the “magic pen” that he used to sign the bill into law.  The bill is now officially Act 38. (more…)

At a meeting with State Business Roundtables in Washington, D.C. last April, representatives of the White House Business Council (WHBC) indicated their intent to convene meetings with business leaders in all 50 states to ask how the Obama Administration can best support their growth.  The Vermont Business Roundtable willingly offered to host the Vermont session and, earlier this month, convened 20 CEOs at Dwight Asset Management’s offices to meet with Jeanne Hulit, Regional Administrator, New England Region, US/SBA, and a member of the WHBC. (more…)

At the Summer Membership meeting, members ratified the election of Don George to the Roundtable Board of Directors. George fills the unexpired term of Pam Mackenzie, Comcast (retired).

Mr. George joined BCBSVT in 1993 and has held various and increasing levels of responsibility during his career with the plan.  Most recently, he was Vice President of the company’s Managed Health Systems division and Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of TVHP.  As Vice President of the Plan’s Managed Health Systems division, he led the development of medical management and quality programs which resulted in BCBSVT and TVHP being named among America’s Top 50 Health Plans by U.S. News and World Report.  He also oversaw performance improvement programs at the Plan that were recognized by the Vermont Council for Quality with the Governor’s Award for Performance Excellence. (more…)