Markell: State will fight for Dow DuPont Ag headquarters in state
The Delaware State Chamber of Commerce changed things up a bit at its annual meeting Monday night. It may have been a reflection of changing times in the state.
The dinner at the Chase Center on the Riverfront was attended by about 900 people, including 100 elected officials and dignitaries.
President Rich Heffron, Gov. Jack Markell, board members and the state’s congressional delegation were featured in video presentations, rather than speeches from the podium to make a case for the chamber being a key player in the economy and public life in the state.
Later, Heffron and Markell did make remarks from the podium with the chamber president praising the introduction of the Delaware Competes legislation that aims to reform the state’s corporate tax structure.
Markell offered an upbeat overview of the state’s economic performance over the past couple of years, citing a number of expansion projects as well as corporate relocations that have aided the state.
Markell, like Heffron, praised the Delaware Competes Act and its ability to take away the financial penalty for companies adding jobs in the state.
Still, the company that for many years was a lead player in the State Chamber remained the proverbial elephant in the room.
“It is difficult for us to contemplates a smaller DuPont,” Markell said.
The governor said the administration has been in close touch with both Dow and DuPont, as well as working with the education and business leaders.
Markell said the state would do “everything it can” to keep the merged companies’ agriculture operations in Delaware. No decision has been made on the fate of the agriculture business.
The chamber faces an altered business landscape, with former mainstay DuPont Co. cutting 1,700 jobs. The job count at the company has plunged in recent decades from 25,000 to fewer than 7,000 today, with the final total expected to end up around 5,000.
The state is now working to convince DowDuPont to keep two of the three businesses it will spin off after the merger in the state.
Close behind as an issue is the state’s revenue shortfall.
“Revenues are not sustainable in the long run,” Chamber President Heffron said during one of the presentations “We have some very difficult decisions to make.”
Heffron added. “everyone will have to give a little to get a little.”
U.S. Sen. Tom Carper said Delaware has been through adversity before, citing the near bankruptcy of state government in the 1970s and the first threat to close the General Motors Boxwood plant.
The plant was spared and operated for another 15 years, noted and financial reforms and the Financial Center Development Act turned around the state, the senator noted.
Keynote speaker at the dinner was David Bailey, CEO of Nemours Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, located near Wilmington. The health care system also has operations in Florida.
Bailey said the hospital remains committed to Delaware, but must operate in an expanded market area in the Delaware Valley with one million children.
The trust from the late Alfred I. duPont now accounts for about $150 million of the $1.2 billion in annual revenue.
Like other health care entities, Nemours faces challenges in dealing with rising health care costs. Bailey says the system will continue to work to meet the challenges while keeping a focus on Delaware’s children.
Du Pont, who built his fortune from his involvement at DuPont Co. and later from holdings in the state of Florida, left a massive array of holdings that included a railroad and vast amounts of real estate for the purpose of meeting the needs of children.
There have been fears in Delaware that the hospital and health care system is focusing its attention on Florida. This comes despite the recent quarter of a billion dollar expansion and renovation project at the Delaware hospital.
At the event, Bank of America Delaware executive Chip Rossi succeeded Mark Stellini as chairman of the State Chamber. Stellini is an owner of Assurance Media, Wilmington, a commercial cabling, video and audio systems company.
As chairman, Stellini worked to, in his words, “keep the chamber relevant” in a changing environment where big companies are cutting staff and playing a lesser role in the economy.
The chamber went through a rough patch a couple of years ago with the hiring and sudden departure of the former head of the Chamber of Commerce in New Jersey.
The board turned to Heffron, the chamber’s long-time No. 2 in command to stabilize the organization.
Both Rossi and Stellini asked those in attendance to become active members of the State Chamber, with video presentations reinforcing
the message.
