Author: Delaware Prosperity Partnership

Delaware’s infrastructure

Study Sees Big Benefits from Investing in Delaware’s Infrastructure

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Study sees big benefits from investing in Delaware’s infrastructure

4 FEBRUARY, 2019 | DELAWARE BUSINESS TIMES

An analysis from the national Business Roundtable reveals that a significant reinvestment in U.S. public infrastructure systems would add $1,000 in disposable income for the average Delaware household every year for 20 years and create 3,000 additional new jobs in Delaware over the next decade.

Prepared by the Interindustry Forecasting Project at the University of Maryland, the economic analysis shows that as a result of increased infrastructure investment over a 20-year period,

Delaware would benefit from:

– $8 billion of additional output from personal and non-tradable services;
– $6 billion of additional output from finance, insurance and real estate; and
– $3 billion of additional output from construction.

The study also shows that, nationally, infrastructure investment would raise wages by $1.34 per hour and, for every dollar invested in infrastructure, economic growth would increase by $3.70 over a 20-year time horizon.

On January 17, Governor John Carney proposed in his State of the State Address to invest $10 million to create a new Transportation Infrastructure Fund that would “help the state to react quickly to important economic development projects.”

The Delaware Business Roundtable believes the national Business Roundtable’s research shows the General Assembly should back the governor’s infrastructure proposal.

“This new study demonstrates the wisdom of Governor Carney’s proposal to beef up infrastructure funding in Delaware,” Delaware Business Roundtable Executive Director Robert Perkins said. “A significant investment in our infrastructure will have real and lasting benefits for Delaware’s taxpayers.”

The study analyzes the economic impacts of the following scenario: (1) a $737 billion investment is made over 10 years in America’s surface transportation, water and sewer systems, aviation, water resources and water transportation; and (2) thereafter, a new normal

for infrastructure spending by holding public capital investment infrastructure steady at a fixed share of GDP, in the range of 1.2 percent. This investment would return infrastructure systems to a state of good repair, expand capacity to meet future demand and fund innovative approaches to future infrastructure challenges.

This article was originally posted on the Delaware Business Times at: https://delawarebusinessnow.com/2019/01/study-sees-big-benefits-from-investing-in-delawares-infrastructure/

Kurt Foreman

PRESIDENT & CEO

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Tata Trusts and New America Launch Blockchain Blueprint

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Tata Trusts And New America Launch Blockchain Blueprint

25 JANUARY, 2019 | FORBES

Last year, at the World Economic Forum, blockchain was one of the most widely cited words echoing through the alpine town of Davos. So much so that it signaled how blockchain and distributed ledger technologies were coming out of beta in 2018. At this year’s gathering of the world’s elite, despite substantial political no-shows amounting to 50% of the world’s GDP and 42% of the world’s population, blockchain’s movement from hype to impact is pressing ahead. This time rather than so many short-lived cryptocurrency issuances, blockchain has found a new home in the social innovation arena and in the emergence of the digital state, which may be the technology’s most lasting impact on the world.

In an ambitious project supported by Tata Trusts, India’s oldest philanthropy, carrying the eponymous name of the Tata family, and lead by New America’s Blockchain Trust Accelerator, a blueprint for blockchain and social innovation has been released. This blueprint, publicly announced at a Global Blockchain Business Council gathering in Davos, outlines many practical examples of how blockchain is being applied to tackle perennial development scourges like the erosion of institutional and public trust, economic friction and the lack of transparency and accountability in the public square. Use cases and real-world applications from e-voting using blockchain in West Virginia, enfranchising overseas military voters in the very democratic process they defend, to cases involving workers’ rights and supply chains are all highlighted in the report.

As a base layer solution using blockchain, a world where more than 1 billion people have no identity at all, is clearly an area where blockchain can enable people to have a digital twin of their identities that is at once permanent and secure. A blueprint outlining precisely how these projects are underway and can be translated to the social impact and government technology arena will help accelerate understanding and adoption. Along these lines, to find the most progress when it comes to digital state efforts and the embrace of blockchain among other emerging technologies, look no further than small island states, city states and innovative countries such as Estonia.

Public leaders from these locations recognize that as the global economy continues to decouple the fortunes of countries from those of companies and cities, how they embrace technology as a source of leverage is key. The Caribbean basin, for example, is home to the most robust and proven blockchain technology sandbox. The city state of Dubai has advanced a broad vision for Smart Dubai for not only going paperless, but for going long on citizen trust through applications of blockchain technology across the suite of government services. Governments as far afield as Bermuda’s, Gibraltar and Singapore are not only signaling their embrace of digital assets in their legal and regulatory codes, they are making strides towards enhancing efficiency, transparency and security of their functions using blockchain. All of this, amid an increasingly uncertain global economy where the bylines of recession, trade wars and national retrenchment tear at the seams of globalization.

The Blueprint for Blockchain and Social Innovation underscores many of the ways in which the blockchain movement is very different from previous waves of innovation and economic progress. The question of social good, justice and broad-based economic participation has been at the center of this wave since the outset. And while all eras of economic progress may come with negative externalities, what blockchain militates against are some of the world’s direst problems. From the erosion of institutional trust, to systemic doubts about the provenance, authenticity and veracity of value and information online, the role of blockchains in enhancing trust at scale is only now coming to light.

Globally the stakes are high in leveraging technologies such as blockchain to improve efficiency and the effectiveness of social innovation and governments. Not counting high government expense ratios as a share of GDP, which in the U.S. is around 36%, poor data quality costs the U.S. economy $3 trillion per year. In this sense where the internet was a disruptive technology upending traditional business and economic models, blockchain should be viewed as an augmenting technology that can help deliver a high-trust low-friction proposition to the world. This much is being demanded at ballot boxes and in street protests in the west and is one of the keys to pulling billions of marginalized people into the global economy in the first place. The case for social innovation and the digital transformation of the state could not be more urgent. A powerful new primer is available to show the world’s leaders how to unlock the stranded asset of public trust.

Kurt Foreman

PRESIDENT & CEO

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Angel Investor Tax Credit Supports Delaware’s #7 Spot in National Science and Tech Index

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Angel Investor Tax Credit supports Delaware’s #7 spot in national science and tech index

(Wilmington, Delaware) With more than 60 percent of Fortune 500 companies registered in Delaware, the small state has historically punched above its weight in innovation.  It is increasingly being recognized as a hub for innovative science and tech start-ups.  It just garnered the #7 spot in the Milken Institute’s State Technology and Science Index (STSI) in part because of its new angel investor tax credit.

The Milken Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank focused on increasing global prosperity, has been publishing the STSI since 2002.  It evaluates each state by multiple factors, including science and technology capabilities and broader commercialization ecosystems that contribute to firm expansion, high-skills job creation, and broad economic growth.

One key factor in Delaware’s rise in the STSI from #10 to # 7 is its new tax credit bill, the Angel Investor Job Creation and Innovation Act for Small Technology Companies, signed into law by Governor John Carney in 2018.  The bill provides a refundable tax credit for qualified investors in innovative, small Delaware-based businesses.

ELIGIBLE BUSINESSES

  • Focus on qualified high-technology fields
  • Are headquartered in Delaware
  • 51% of common-law employees and 51% of total compensation paid for work provided in Delaware
  • Use proprietary technology to add value to a product, process, or service in qualified field; research or develop a proprietary product or process in qualified field
  • Have fewer than 25 employees
  • Have been in operation for fewer than 10 years (or fewer than 20 years if working on FDA approval for product)

QUALIFIED INVESTORS

  • $10,000 minimum investment for individual, $30,000 minimum for fund
  • Credit is 25% of investment in qualified business
  • Total program funding is capped at $5 million annually
  • Sunset after 2021

More information on qualifications is available at www.business.delaware.gov/incentives.

“Delaware is home to some of the nation’s most innovative small companies and now with this tax credit, science and high-tech entrepreneurs have even more incentive to choose Delaware to grow their businesses,” said Kurt Foreman, President and CEO of the Delaware Prosperity Partnership.

About Delaware Prosperity Partnership
Created in 2017, Delaware Prosperity Partnership (DPP) is the nonprofit that leads the state of Delaware’s economic development efforts to attract, grow and retain businesses; to build a stronger entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem; and to support private employers in identifying, recruiting and developing talent in the state of Delaware. For more information, visit www.deprosperitypartnership.com.

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Chemours Opens New Global HQ in Renovated DuPont Building

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Chemours opens new global HQ in renovated DuPont Building

16 JANUARY, 2019

The Chemours Company, a global chemical firm, opened its renovated company headquarters on January 15 within the historic, 106-year-old DuPont Building on Rodney Square in downtown Wilmington — the former headquarters of DuPont, which spun off Chemours in 2015.

“This is a place that our team can be proud to call home,” Chemours President and CEO Mark Vergnano told the gathering of local dignitaries. “Our renovated office is a perfect metaphor for Chemours – a company grounded in its legacy, but transforming into an agile, innovative and collaborative enterprise with a bias for actions and growth.”

Now in his fourth year as leader of the new company, Vergnano expressed continued confidence about Chemours’ future growth in a time of market turmoil. In an interview with Delaware Business Times after the ceremony, Vegnano said, “People recognize that we’re the world leaders in our fields, and the market gets that,” he said, referring to the decentralized firm’s three operating units – Titanium Technologies, Fluoroproducts and Chemical Solutions.

The new headquarters will occupy 280,000 square feet in an 11-story segment of the building that is owned by the Buccini/Pollin Group (BPG), which also oversaw the 20-month renovation. Chemours’ share of construction costs was $30 million.

Vergnano said his company made a conscious decision not to change the building’s name to the Chemours Building out of respect for the company’s heritage, which dates back to the founding of DuPont on Brandywine Creek in 1802.

U.S. Sen. Tom Carper, Gov. John Carney, Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki and BPG Co-President Christopher Buccini were among the speakers at the ceremony and ribbon-cutting event that took place in the ornate Nobel Room on the 11th Floor.

Buccini purchased the building, including the Hotel du Pont, from Chemours in 2017 and set about revitalizing the structure, including adding residential units.

“After having renovated the Nemours and Brandywine buildings earlier, we had the knowledge of what worked and what didn’t work,” Buccini said. “This project stressed tested our company’s capabilities.” In his prepared remarks, Buccini noted that “Chemours’ decision to be based in this historic building is a fitting tribute to their heritage, while their 21st Century workspace points boldly to their future. We are proud to have been on this journey with them.”

Approximately 850 Chemours employees and contractors will work in the headquarters, which has 125 meeting rooms, 73 conference rooms and one café per floor of the building. The structure’s open-concept design features ergonomic chairs and sit/stand desks. In addition, 500 marble panels were recovered during renovation– about 50 tons in all – and reused in the building.

Carney noted that “this is probably the happiest day I’ve had in my two years as governor,” crediting the work done toward keeping Chemours in Wilmington and Delaware by his predecessor, former governor Jack Markell. “The state of Delaware can’t be successful without Wilmington being successful, and Wilmington can’t be successful” without a strong business base.

Purzycki, who followed Governor Carney to the podium, said, “If John is happy, you can’t imagine how happy the mayor of Wilmington is.”

Business analysts continue to be bullish on Chemours, most rating it a “buy” or “strong buy” to potential investors. Vergnano expressed confidence in the strength of the American economy, while noting that global market volatility continued to make the company’s stock undervalued. “I was given the advice by other CEO’s when I took over not to check the stock price every day,” he said. “We can’t control market volatility, which is a reflection of the fact that the market hates uncertainty.”

He re-stated his opinion that Chemours, with its worldwide manufacturing and marketing capabilities, is positioned better than most companies to weather this uncertainty, which includes tariff wars, the slowdown of the Chinese economy and what will play out with Brexit, the UK’s planned withdrawal from the EU.

“We’re not interested in acquisitions or new business outside the three areas where we have a strong presence,” he said. “Second, we will continue to invest in ourselves [through normal business expansion]. And, we will continue to provide cash back to our stockholders.”

Chemours had annual revenue in 2017 of more than $6 billion and with 45 manufacturing and laboratory sites worldwide, serving customers in over 130 countries.

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Business Community Celebrates ‘Delaware Way’ at DSCC Dinner

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Business community celebrates ‘Delaware Way’ at DSCC dinner

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.”

This article was originally posted on the Delaware Business Times at: https://www.delawarebusinesstimes.com/business-community-celebrates-delaware-way-at-dscc-dinner/

Kurt Foreman

PRESIDENT & CEO

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Frederica, Little Heaven Ripe for Economic Development

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Frederica, Little Heaven ripe for economic development

6 JANUARY, 2019 | DELAWARE STATE NEWS

FREDERICA, DE – The governor’s certification of Kent County’s 2018 Comprehensive Plan came with a caveat — a master plan must be drafted and adopted for a large portion of Little Heaven and South Frederica in the orbits of both the newly constructed Del. 1 interchanges in the area. State planners suspect that the interchanges raise the areas profile in terms of accessibility and as such, the groundwork should be laid for future development.

That master planning process began in December and stakeholders say a foundational meeting suggested that both these locations may be well-suited to become large employment centers in the next five to 10 years.

Chairing the working group to initiate the master plan, fourth district Kent County Levy Court commissioner Eric Buckson says the combination of the new interchanges, growing popularity of the DE Turf Sports Complex and a proposed Delaware Transit Corporation 265-vehicle park-and-ride facility at the complex makes this area ripe for development.

“In south Frederica, we’re seeing the possibility for a sort of commercial district that could support some of the activities going on at DE Turf recreationally — there’s a real opportunity for retail, commercial and entertainment-type businesses there,” he said. “For Little Heaven, there’s a possibility for something like a large health campus or something related to medical services — we’re definitely going to continue to need those types of things as the county ages. Both spots are well-positioned for great employment and service centers.”

Mr. Buckson is quick to point out that the master planning process is only an effort to pull together data and make projections about the targeted area. How it develops remains up to the local landowners.

“With the state’s investment in the new overpasses comes the reality that people will want to come in and develop the land — we’re not trying to stop or control that,” said Mr. Buckson. “With the plan though, we can manage and create a more defined expectation of what could go in these areas versus simply leaving it as is and dealing with new developments piecemeal. The land owners maintain control. If their desire is to keep it farmland, residential or otherwise, it’ll remain that way. But, in the event that they change their minds after the master plan has been created, there is a rough blueprint for how economic development opportunities might expand.”

Mr. Buckson, working alongside the master planning vice-chair Gregg Moore (chairman of the Kent Economic Partnership), felt that the first meeting was constructive and accomplished the mission of bringing the relevant state agencies, residents and local representation to the table to discuss the area’s future. He says the next step is to being drafting the plan and meeting one-on-one with more property owners in the affected areas.

Linda Parkowski, the executive director of the Kent Economic Partnership, says similar master plans in the state have quickly led to economic development.

“In Milford, they planned the southern part of their city and the hospital went there — with master planning complete, they had a much better idea what they were looking at,” she said. “We’ve also seen Amazon go to Middletown over Smyrna because Middletown had their master planning complete. The process is extremely important for economic development.”

Invested in the process herself, Ms. Parkowski says master plans help collate important infrastructure, utility access, transportation, land use, environmental and demographic data that weigh heavily in large employer’s decisions when considering locations.

Responsible for collecting much of this information, County Administrator Michael Petit de Mange said the next few months will be consumed with working with property owners and state agencies to iron out specifics.

“The areas themselves involve a lot of property owners we need to work alongside on the plan,” he said. “Other early tasks will include meeting with water, electric and gas utility providers and working with DelDOT and DNREC to understand the limitations and opportunities of the area. However, there aren’t a whole lot of wetlands, water impacts or woodland impacts. There are some excellent groundwater recharge areas around Little Heaven that we’ll need to work with to some degree.”

Agreeing with Mr. Buckson, Mr. Petit de Mange feels the first meeting with stakeholders was constructive and provided an early look at the possible destiny of the area.

“The area around Little Heaven seems suited to a large professional officer or campus-type of employment center,” he said. “Down around south Frederica, smaller more mixed-use commercial and business zoning that would support both the sports complex and the town of Frederica seemed more appropriate. These were some of the main ideas discussed at the meeting.”

Image courtesy of Gary Emeigh

This article was originally posted on the Delaware State News at: https://delawarestatenews.net/news/frederica-little-heaven-may-be-ripe-for-economic-development/

Kurt Foreman

PRESIDENT & CEO

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Angel Investor Tax Credit Puts Delaware in the Top 10 for Tech

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Angel investor tax credit puts Delaware in the top 10 for tech

3 JANUARY, 2019 | TECHNICAL.LY DELAWARE

The Milken Institute has been publishing its biannual State Technology and Science Index since 2002, a study that evaluates each state in the U.S. by several factors, including access to startup capital and startup activity.

Delaware cracked the top 10 in 2016. Now, thanks to a new tax law that allows gives startup investors a credit on investments over $10,000, the state is ranked higher than it’s ever been previously, at No. 7.

The tax credit bill, the Angel Investor Job Creation and Innovation Act for Small Technology Companies, signed into law by Governor John Carney last May, gave Delaware a big boost in the study. In the sub-index measuring the ability of tech and science companies to obtain investment, Delaware previously had a below-average rank of 29. Now, that factor is ranked 15.

In two of the study’s sub-indexes, Delaware ranked No. 5: the strength of its tech and science workforce, and its business startup rate of 53.4 per 1,000 residents.

The top four ranked states — Massachusetts (1), Colorado (2), Maryland (3) and California (4) — have all maintained the same ranking since 2016. Washington and Minnesota each dropped one place, but remain in the top 10.

Elsewhere in the Mid-Atlantic, Pennsylvania is No. 13 (up from 14 in 2016), and New Jersey dropped from 17 to 21.

Kurt Foreman

PRESIDENT & CEO

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Delaware – Ideal for FinTech

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Delaware – Ideal for FinTech

1 JANUARY, 2019

 

Home to big names like Capital One, Citibank, M&T Bank, WSFS Bank and JPMorgan Chase, Delaware is a nationwide leader in business and financial services. In the first state, we are also home to an innovative talent pool, making it the ideal place for FinTech startups and expansions.

Our strategic location, analytical workforce and uncomplicated business climate keep us at the forefront of the financial services industry.

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How Delaware Prosperity Partnership is Moving Forward

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How Delaware Prosperity Partnership is moving forward

27 DECEMBER, 2018

Wander the halls of academia, spend time in the cafeterias and peek into dormitory lounges, and you likely won’t find too many students telling their friends they want to go into economic development as a career.

Kurt Foreman doesn’t understand why.

When he was an undergraduate at Franklin & Marshall, he took a class with a professor who described his passion for helping regions grow their business profiles and decided that was what he wanted to do. A political science and anthropology major, Foreman was fascinated by the multi-pronged efforts of those professionals and decided that life was for him. At the urging of the professor, Foreman decided he would apply his trade — at least to start — in Fairfax, Virginia.

“When I graduated, in 1986, I called Fairfax and said I wanted to work for them,” Foreman says. “They told me they didn’t have any jobs.”

It took him nine months, but he landed a gig in his chosen field — and preferred location — as a researcher. More than 30 years and a few career path twists later, Foreman is in Delaware, serving as CEO for the Delaware Prosperity Partnership, a public-private concern created in 2017 by Gov. John Carney and the state legislature with the charge of attracting new companies and retaining current enterprises throughout the state.

Foreman began with the Partnership last spring and has overseen its efforts to build relationships throughout the state and beyond, with an eye on bottom-line business growth. He said that much of the work during this first year has been foundational — Foreman calls it, “blocking and tackling” — but the DPP has experienced some early successes and expects more. That’s a good thing, because the broad nature of its work has already attracted some skeptics and people clamoring for more transparency in the process.

“We have built relationships that are setting the table for future opportunities,” Foreman said.

Becky Harrington, DPP’s director of business development, said the partnership has been involved in eight announcements by existing Delaware companies or those new to the state that will result in more than 1,500 jobs. Eleven hundred of those were retained in the state “or would have gone elsewhere,” according to Harrington.

She reported that $100 million in investment capital has been spent, which includes “expanding operations or putting up a new facility.”

One of DPP’s success stories is Ashland Inc., which will move its headquarters from Kentucky to Delaware by 2020. Others, such as Adesis, Decorotika USA, Dot Foods and Solenis will be expanding or beginning operations in the state. It’s a good start and one that Foreman expects to continue. In order for that to happen, DPP must be able to follow through successfully on the four-pronged plan it will implement in 2019.

The first part of it is an umbrella approach to being the “tip of the spear” for the attraction of new businesses to Delaware. If the Partnership establishes itself as such, it can work successfully with other entities as a gatekeeper and a distributor of resources and information to those curious about the state.

The second part is engaging current employers to make sure they are satisfied with being part of Delaware’s business community and therefore willing to stick around, or if appropriate, grow and expand.

The third part is reaching out to innovators, startups and entrepreneurs to help them grow their businesses in Delaware.

Finally, DPP wants to make sure it can provide avenues for companies to find and attract talent that will allow them to thrive moving forward. The key to all of this is that business development is not an instant process. It takes time, and the longer Foreman and his team are working together, the more likely they are to find success. One example of that is the need to develop relationships with site consultants, who work with states and regions all over the country to find places for companies to settle.

“It’s not atypical for projects to take two to three years to evolve and be completed,” Foreman said. “Of course, the process has been truncated because of technology and the increased access it provides.”

Foreman and his DPP staff expressed the need to be patient as they build relationships and promote Delaware as a destination for new businesses. They must work closely with site selection consultants, in order to create a profile that can be sold to companies across the country. Just getting to know those people and developing trust takes time.

Then there is the capricious nature of corporate movement, which doesn’t flow constantly.

The deals Delaware has been making to attract businesses are drawing fire from some who worry the taxpayer burden will outweigh the cumulative gain from new jobs and increased revenues. November’s $3.9 million deal with Solenis — a reported $2 million of which is designed retain 323 jobs — irked critics. Similar incentive packages for companies have led some to decry a perceived lack of transparency exercised by the DPP and the state officials.

Open government advocates have voiced concerns that deals are being made without any public input and were upset in September 2017 when John Riley was named interim CEO during a closed-door meeting.

While Foreman reports that communication between the components of the public-private alliance is strong, he was quoted in early December reminding Delawareans that we are a private/nonprivate; we’re not a government agency.” In other words, the DPP has no requirement to keep the public apprised of every negotiation and prospective deal.

According to Foreman, doing so could jeopardize the Partnership’s work by scaring off some prospective companies who aren’t interested in airing their business publicly. So, the Prosperity Partnership works to include as many constituencies as possible without doing anything that could torpedo future success.

“Business leaders, community leaders and local partners are excited to have our assistance,” Foreman says. “We never do anything by ourselves. We are always working with multiple partners.”

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After Missing Amazon Center, Smyrna was Ready This Time to Attract Huge Job Creator

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After missing Amazon center, Smyrna was ready this time to attract huge job creator

18 DECEMBER, 2018 | DELAWAREONLINE.COM

Amazon passed on Smyrna for a fulfillment center in 2012 because the town didn’t have utility and infrastructure capacity in place.

While the company was opening its fulfillment center in Middletown, Smyrna leaders were vowing to be ready for the next big thing.

Missing out on 1,000 to 2,500 jobs was a wake-up call for Smyrna Town Manager Gary Stulir and officials.

“We learned from Amazon,” Stulir said. “We told them that by the time they were ready to build, the utilities would be in place. They said that wasn’t good enough. That changed the mindset of the council.”

Stulir said the next big thing came calling and this time Smyrna was ready.

Work has begun on Duck Creek Business Campus on the town’s north side. He said it has the potential to bring 4,000 jobs in the research, office, manufacturing and warehousing industries in the next 20 years.

It also could create enough positive economic impact to add hundreds of local, county and regional jobs once in place.

The campus will be developed by KRM Development Corporation on 206 acres nestled between U.S. 13 and Del. 1 near DelDOT’s Transportation Management Center.

The new Aldi grocery store in Smyrna will be the fourth to open in Delaware

KRM vice president Bryan Matthews said the company has owned the land for quite some time, but when Smyrna put water and sewer in place, “we didn’t have any reason not to pull the trigger.”

Matthews said the buildings are a mixture of office and warehouse space that can be customized.

4,000 jobs are possible

Matthews said based on the results of two similar business parks in KRM’s Maryland portfolio, the potential economic impact of the Smyrna project is $477 million and would generate an estimated $4 million in state and local taxes.

He said the company’s Chesapeake Bay Business Park in Stevensville, Maryland, has 20 “good-sized” buildings on 100 acres and employs about 2,000 people.

“Duck Creek will be twice the size and has the potential to have twice as many businesses with twice as many employees,” he said. “We can’t predict the exact number of jobs that will be there, but if the campus is at full capacity, 4,000 jobs is likely.”

Linda Parkowski, executive director of the Kent County Economic Partnership, believes Matthews’ estimate of attracting 4,000 jobs is conservative. She thinks if a large distribution company decides to build in the Duck Creek development, that could mean 2,000 jobs for just one company.

“What we hear from site selectors is they want to have sites that are ready to go,” she said. “This site fits the bill. There aren’t that many sites that are 200 acres together.”

Jobs for Kent residents

Matthews said he envisions the bulk of the jobs coming to Duck Creek will be in the warehouse and distribution sectors.

Parkowski said that plays “beautifully” into Kent County’s plan in terms of targeted industries. She said in the past, Kent County has never really had a blueprint and hasn’t truly known what industries to target.

“We’ve been out spinning wheels trying to attract businesses that would never come here and that we don’t have the workforce to satisfy,” Parkowski said. “We have an existing workforce that can fill the targeted segment for Duck Creek.” Kent County recently had a study done to look at how much money was leaving the county in certain sectors, and warehousing, distribution and logistics was a big one.”

Parkowski said the demand for this sector in Kent County is $756 million annually and that businesses there are only providing $310 million of that need.

“A lot of warehousing facilities are in South Jersey and Maryland and not in our county,” she said. “Money is leaving Kent County and we now have opportunities to capture it.”

Kurt Foreman

PRESIDENT & CEO

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Innovative Fintech Company Expands – Adding More than 200 Jobs in Delaware

Written on . Posted in In the News.

Innovative fintech company expands – adding more than 200 jobs in Delaware

17 DECEMBER, 2018

Marlette Funding, LLC, a leader in the FinTech sector, is adding jobs in Delaware. Marlette Funding, LLC uses the consumer-lending platform Best Egg, which offers a breakthrough frictionless online personal loan platform where qualified applicants can instantly view loan offers with no impact to their credit score and receive funds in as little as one business day.

Marlette leverages technology to create a distinctive customer-centric focus delivering faster, easier and a more personalized experience. The technology platform speeds and improves the customer experience, using machine learning and artificial intelligence to remove friction, reduce credit and fraud losses and create a hassle-free consumer experience.

Marlette’s user-friendly approach has resulted in being named #1 in Customer Satisfaction in Personal Loans from Lending Tree, the nation’s leading online loan marketplace, maintaining their recognition as the #1 Personal Loan Company from Best Company, continuing to hold an A+ Rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB), and, most recently, Best Egg was named to the LendEDU list of top personal loan lenders for Q32018.

FinTech is one of the fastest growing disruptive innovations in the country. Delaware, with its bench strength in the business and finance sectors, makes an attractive choice for the fintech sector. During the past five years, employment in Delaware’s finance industry grew by an annual average of 2.4%, twice the national rate and much faster than neighboring states. Delaware has been a magnet for out-of-state direct investment by financial services firms in recent years, with $725 million invested since 2010. Wilmington is the leading destination in our region for this investment.

Bobby Ritterbeck, Marlette’s Chief Marketing Officer, presented Marlette Funding LLC’s plan to add jobs and expand its Delaware facility to the Council on Development Finance’s (CDF) public meeting on November 26 and on December 17. The proposal includes a request for a performance-based grant of up to $2.725M to create 232 new full-time jobs and support its $7.5M capital investment in New Castle County, Delaware.

“We are entering 2019 with strong organizational growth, positive cash flow and an innovation strategy based on big data, smart tools, better technologies, and sophisticated marketing,” said Jeffrey Meiler, CEO of Marlette Funding, LLC. “Delaware has been a great state to grow our business, we expect to hire more than 200 people as we grow and provide additional economic benefits that will contribute to the overall economic development efforts of the first state.”

“We are excited Marlette is choosing Delaware for its continued growth,” said Delaware Governor John Carney. “With Delaware’s strength in finance and business services, we are ideally positioned to foster and support the fintech sector as well as other technology-based ventures. This commitment from Marlette reaffirms that Delaware is a great state for businesses of all sizes to put down roots, grow and create jobs.”

“New Castle County is dedicated to winning the future through sustainable job creation,” said Matt Meyer, New Castle County Executive. “Marlette Funding’s decision confirms that New Castle County is a premier location to grow the financial technologies of tomorrow, adding hundreds of new jobs.”

In a short time, Marlette has developed a reputation for its commitment to a positive and creative employee culture, as reflected in its employee engagement score, which ranks in the top 10 percent of thousands of companies using OfficeVibe, a leading online employee engagement platform, across 90 countries and recognition in 2018 by the American Banker as one of the Top Fintech Places to Work and in the Delaware News Journal Top Workplaces.

Marlette Funding and its employees are also solid corporate citizens volunteering and supporting local Delaware charities including Junior Achievement of Delaware, the Ronald McDonald House, the Food Bank and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

About Marlette Funding

Marlette Funding, LLC, uses the consumer-lending platform Best Egg, which offers a breakthrough frictionless online personal loan platform where qualified applicants can instantly view loan offers with no impact to their credit score and receive funds in as little as one business day. Marlette Funding LLC, a financial technology and service provider for banks, is dedicated to finding better ways to make money accessible to help people achieve their goals and enjoy life. The team blends decades of banking experience with deep customer knowledge and smart technology to deliver digital products, services and experiences in a more relevant way.

Since March 2014, the online loan platform has delivered over $6.7B of prime loans with strong credit performance as a third-party service provider for Cross River Bank under the Best Egg brand. For more information, visit www.MarletteFunding.com or www.bestegg.com.

About Delaware Prosperity Partnership

Created in 2017, Delaware Prosperity Partnership (DPP) is a nonprofit that leads the state of Delaware’s economic development efforts to attract, grow and retain businesses; to build a stronger entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem; and to support private employers in identifying, recruiting and developing talent in the state of Delaware. For more information, visit www.deprosperitypartnership.com.

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Join Delaware Prosperity Partnership and Delaware BIO for the 2019 BIO Convention

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Join Delaware Prosperity Partnership and Delaware BIO for the 2019 BIO Convention

15 DECEMBER, 2018

“It starts with one. One breakthrough idea. One inspiring conversation. Join us at BIO 2019 & accelerate the future of biotechnology,” stated BIO 2019 Program Committee Co-Chai Chandra Ramanathan.

Here’s your chance to be a part of the most respected forum for the transformative field of bioscience. Make plans to join Delaware Prosperity Partnership and Delaware BIO for the 2019 BIO Convention in Philadelphia, PA.

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