3 APRIL, 2019

The final of three public presentations aimed at informing those in attendance of the work being done by the Delaware Prosperity Partnership (DPP) to develop the economy in the First State.

DPP co-chairs Governor John Carney and board member Doneene Keemer Damon presented for a crowd filled more with elected officials than private citizens, but informed all present on the importance of Delaware having a public/private partnership when it came to making the most of the small but varying state economy.

Kurt Foreman is the President and CEO of DPP and detailed the four pillars of the partnership’s mission statement before going on to answer questions toward the end of the public meeting.

From the beginning of the Q&A, Foreman addressed the commitment to serving a diverse community, including businesses owned and run by people of color.

“We’re here to try and help everyone, not just certain folks in Delaware. We’re about trying to help all entrepreneurs so we’re talking about this partnership. The reality is that we have partners all the way up the state–at the community level, the county level, the state level and even some specialized partners in certain sectors,” said Foreman. “The combination of us, together, should have the capacity to help all sorts of companies whether they are on a local street or they are one of our largest employers in the state.”

He added that the work done by DPP aims to improve the quality of life for businesses and employees from teenagers to those who may be coming back into the workforce.

“Our effort is to not just create high paying jobs, but a variety of jobs because not all of us are at the same starting point. How do we make sure that there are jobs of all kinds,” asked Foreman. “Think about it like you would diversify your own portfolio if you have a 401k or something. We need to create whole groups of jobs at a variety of levels. Some of the projects we’ve worked on recently had everything from truck drivers to people who were going to work in a commercial kitchen to people who might be creating [software] code. There’s a variety of opportunities and there’s nothing that impacts a family or a person more than a great job. We hope that our jobs will affect lots and lots of Delawareans over time.”

A question was even asked about the appeal of foreign business and the attraction that Delaware may have when it comes to those affected by the United Kingdom’s looming ‘Brexit’ from the European Union.

“I think Delaware has an opportunity, because of the strength of our heritage as a business community, the benefit of our courts and our incorporation structure–we’re known as a place, around the world, to get started, but why not be a place to operate,” added Foreman. “I think we’re going to be out there telling that story–not just in the U.S., but to companies from all over because whether it’s Brexit or changes going on around in other parts of the world, Delaware may be the right place for them to grow and expand.”

Foreman noted that the approach of the DPP gets more people and businesses firmly invested in the economic growth of the First State.

“I think one of the things that makes public, private partnership exciting is that it brings new resources to the table,” he said. “In the past, when it was done by just the public sector, we had public dollars to bring to bear but no private dollars. By doing it this way, it leverages the public dollars a bit more aggressively because there are private dollars in the mix. We also get the know-how and the networks of the private sector that can introduce us to people or engage people with us to tell the story of Delaware. It’s sort of a 1+1=3 when you bring the group together like we are doing and I think the fact that we’re connected in Delaware makes that, hopefully, a stronger connection.”

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2 APRIL, 2019

If you’re interested in knowing the legal benefits of coming to Delaware, look no further than David Swayze of Parkowski, Guerke & Swayze, P.A.

Among his many accomplishments, Swayze served in the administration of Governor Pierre “Pete” du Pont in the 1970s and 80s and was one of the architects of Delaware’s distinctive Financial Center Development Act of 1981 and subsequent banking legislation. The seminal legislation kickstarted Delaware’s journey to becoming a hub for the financial services sector. Swayze’s legal expertise and institutional knowledge of Delaware include financial services regulation, Delaware trust law and administration, government relations and legislation, and environmental, administrative and commercial law.

Swayze dates Delaware’s corporate-friendly environment back to the founding of the First State in 1787. The Delaware Court of Chancery is widely recognized as the preeminent forum internationally for adjudicating disputes involving the internal affairs of the thousands of Delaware corporations and other business entities. Its market-centered, unique competence in issues of business law is unmatched. The decisions are made in timely fashion by fair, experienced judges, versus somewhat unpredictable juries.  And privacy is kept at a premium; the information about privately-held companies is kept securely.

Swayze said that additional benefits for business in Delaware include:

• A favorable corporate tax rate. Delaware has one of the most competitive corporate income tax rates in the Mid-Atlantic, at 8.7%.
• Proximity to other major corporate centers. More than a million businesses, including Fortune 500 companies like AT&T, Bank of America, Coca-Cola and Wal-Mart, have chosen to incorporate in Delaware.
• Small size supports access to stakeholders. “The ability to sit down with the governor, county executive, a mayor or congressional delegate is a special value-add for business here in Delaware,” Swayze said.
• The Delaware general assembly annually updates the Delaware General Corporation Law (DGCL), with the assistance of the Delaware Corporate Bar. This keeps corporation law continuously responsive to business needs.

Swayze says Delaware’s distinctive corporate-friendly strategy continues with ongoing revisions to the Coastal Zone Act that are intended to encourage re-use of abandoned sites and allow more flexibility for bulk product transfers. “Delaware has always been sensitive to over-regulation,” he said.

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27 MARCH, 2019

Please join us for Delaware Prosperity Partnership’s Economic Development Update. Governor John Carney, co-chair of the Delaware Prosperity Partnership (DPP), and Kurt Foreman, DPP President & CEO, will provide an update on the public-private partnership that leads economic development for the state. They will be joined by DPP Board members Rob Herrera, Founder of The Mill, and Doneene K. Damon, EVP of Richards, Layton & Finger.

Tuesday, April 2, 2019
6 – 7:30 PM

Arsht Hall
Room 108/109
2700 Pennsylvania Ave.
Wilmington, DE 19806

This event is the third of a statewide series. Prior events were hosted in Sussex and Kent counties. The recordings are available here.

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8 JANUARY, 2019 |  DELAWARE BUSINESS TIMES

Around 1,000 business, political and nonprofit leaders gathered at the Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington on Jan. 7 for the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce’s annual dinner, an event that organizers called the state’s top networking event of the year.

The 182nd annual DSCC dinner featured awards for top achievers in business; an extended corporate promotion by the head of Chemours and a speech by Gov. John Carney highlighting the state’s strong economy.

But mostly it was a golden opportunity for executives to mingle, renew old acquaintances and enjoy being part of Delaware’s tight-knit business community.

“In this room right now, it’s a who’s who of Delaware,” said Ryan Kennedy, vice president of marketing for the Newport developer Harvey Hanna & Associates. “You can go to every single table out of the 200 or so tables that are here, and there’s a relationship. This is a good event to strengthen those relationships but also kick-start a new year of working together.”

As attendees sat down for dinner, Kennedy said the event creates common ground in the business community.

“Everyone in this room has something to do with the Delaware way and the Delaware story, and that’s something we like to be a part of,” he said.

The chamber’s prestigious DSCC Marvel Cup – whose recipient each year is a closely guarded secret until it is presented at the dinner — was awarded to the Hon. Joshua Martin and his wife Cynthia Primo Martin for their outstanding contributions to Delaware. Joshua Martin is a former Superior Court judge and chief executive of Verizon Delaware. Cynthia Martin is a retired nonprofit executive and founder of Trustees of Color, a nonprofit focused on board diversity.

The event also presented the Dick DiSabatino Award to Joseph DiPinto, a former State Representative, member of Wilmington City Council, and Director of Wilmington’s Office of Economic Development. The rarely given award, last presented in 2013, recognizes an individual who has helped to shape opinion and public policy.

Former Delaware Representative Roger Roy, presenting the award, called DiPinto “a man with a strong intellect and a healthy sense of humor. He is a Republican that didn’t just talk about bipartisan cooperation, he lived it.”

Budget surplus

Carney said the dinner for him marks the opening day of the new legislative season, which he predicted this year would be an “interesting” one, in which lawmakers would consider how to plan for a tighter state budget when the economy is not as strong as it is now, with a 3.8 percent jobless rate and a budget surplus of almost $200 million, compared with a deficit only two years ago.

“There is a lot of good news to report,” Carney said, including the expansion of the Port of Wilmington, and the development of industrial sites in the Coastal Zone, where the Delaware Prosperity Partnership has clinched eight agreements to create some 1,900 jobs.

“The budget surplus will create a different set of challenges,” he said. “We need to make the right decisions so we are prepared for when the economy turns the other way again.”

Government can create the right conditions for economic growth by minimizing the time it takes business to obtain permits from state agencies, said James DeChene, the group’s senior vice president for government relations.

Businesses seeking to move into Delaware or expand existing operations would like to get permits such as environmental approvals for new developments within six months of application whereas it can take as long as three years, DeChene said in an interview.

“That seems to be the industry standard for site selectors when they are pitching states or locations for their clients,” he said. “They want and need a six-month process from beginning the process to when they can have a shovel in the ground.”

DeChene argued that Delaware is in a good position to achieve the six-month permit goal because it’s a small state with good communications between the state and county governments that control the permitting process. “This is an opportunity for us to really excel,” he said.

Chemours checks in

Keynote speaker Mark Vergnano, president and CEO of The Chemours Company, outlined the chemical company’s efforts to remake itself after being written off by some observers as destined to fail when it launched as a spinoff of Dupont in July 2015.

After the stock lost about three-quarters of its value in the first year of trading, a restructuring program that included job cuts is turning the company around to the point where it has given shareholders a return of 127 percent in the last fiscal year, Vergnano said.

Reasons for the turnaround include a corporate culture that asks employees to take ownership, he said. “We encourage our employees at every level to act like they own the company. Our values are not words on a website.”

At a pre-dinner gathering, Jason Danner, Senior Vice President for Kelly Benefit Strategies, a benefits consultant, said the event draws anyone who wants to connect with the state’s commercial, political, and charitable establishment.

“I think it’s something that, anybody who’s involved in Delaware wants to be a part of the chamber dinner every year,” he said. “Delaware is a unique state, and I think that’s what brings everybody together.”

Kurt Foreman

PRESIDENT & CEO

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