By Dennis Brobston
As the national economy continues to grow, unemployment declines and wages increase, our business membership driven organization is focused on seeding future investment, talent and workforce alignment to support jobs of the future.
We collaborated with the Saratoga County Prosperity Partnership (SCPP) to agree to non-duplicative, complementary roles to support area community and economic development needs respectively. The result led to Saratoga County re-engaging SEDC for 2020 as a marketing contractor to entice new investment, entrepreneurs and foreign investment within our communities to help generate job and wage growth.
Thanks to our member investors and business partners, SEDC saw progress made against two of our Advance Saratoga strategic initiatives. Our five-year strategy stressed creating more inventory of permitted space to locate new employers and attract investment as well as attracting and keeping corporate headquarters.

By Darryl Leggieri
Another successful year for the books. Saratoga Springs remains a vibrant, in-demand destination that people want to visit, hold meetings in, and work and play.
To embrace this popularity, we must look ahead and be ready to serve the meetings and conventions industry effectively and continue to grow our impact on the local community. Before we discuss the economic outlook for 2020, let’s reflect on the past year’s successes.
In 2019, our community came together to create one online community calendar. Thanks to the collaborative efforts of Mannix Marketing, Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Business Association, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs City Center, and Discover Saratoga, event organizers can now enter information on any one of our top performing local websites and that information will populate on all of them.
The goal of this project was to make it easier for event organizers to promote their events and for participants to find them. This community calendar has proven to be a huge success.

BY PETE BARDUNIAS
A year ago I observed that “organizations which successfully support our business communities in 2019 will be the ones which can effectively and tangibly integrate with and positively impact the individualized needs of community businesses both large and small.”
I am proud to say that my organization has lived up to that standard, and we are now exporting our brand of locally-focused-but-regionally-aligned business practices throughout the Capital Region. The much heralded affiliation between the Chamber of Southern Saratoga County (CSSC) and the Capital Region Chamber (CRC) puts three large, formerly-independent business organizations (The Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber, the Chamber of Schenectady County, and the CSSC) plus the former Malta Business and Professional Association under one organizational structure and leadership.
Some 2,900 area businesses totaling 160,000 employees are now united with a common purpose and resolve. One large chamber staff of 27 represents their needs and interests (24 full time, plus three at the Southern Saratoga Information Center at the Exit 9 Rest Area on the Northway).

By David Kopyc
I’ve been fortunate to have been in the financial services business for over 35 years. I saw the Dow break 2000 for the first time and every major event since. Flash crash, internet melt down, financial crisis etc.
I’ve always resorted back to the individuals that I feel are the backbone and the individual financial pillars of our industry: Peter Lynch (Fidelity), Jack Bogle (Vanguard), Charles Schwab (Schwab Investments), and Warren Buffet (Berkshire Hathaway).
If you remember about one year ago, the markets were in high anxiety and most of the wall street experts were predicting doom and gloom. We were heading for a recession and the stock market was positioned for a major pullback. We are having an exceptional year in the markets and the same experts that were wrong about this year are pretty optimistic for 2020. As I’ve said many times to clients and to radio listeners, it’s “time in the market, not market timing.”

By Doug Ford
The construction industry, both nationally and locally, took on a variety challenges this past year, many of which will likely continue to have an impact in 2020.
Despite these difficulties, the industry did well overall. While there are favorable signs of continued growth in the industry, there are still fears in the marketplace that have caused some to proceed with caution.
The biggest single factor, without question, is the lack of skilled labor. This one issue is dramatically influencing how many homes will be physically built in 2020. The skilled labor shortage, combined with an aging workforce and the influx of inexperienced workers, are contributing to the challenges already existing within the industry.
In a national survey produced by Autodesk and the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) in 2019, 77 percent of construction firms in the Northeast report they are having difficulties filling hourly positions that represent the bulk of the construction workforce.

Stephen Kyne, CFP
As we roll into 2020, we have ushered in another decade. We’ve just lived through a decade of economic expansion, and are still in the middle of the longest bull run in history, with no clear end in sight. All of the fear mongering and doom-and-gloom predictions since the recession, a decade ago, have been wrong. The sky has not fallen, and the future still looks promising.
In the last 10 years, the S&P index (a frequently quoted index comprised of 500 commonly held U.S. stocks), has increased 190 percent. Just this year, the index is up about 30 percent. While a third of this year’s gains were a recovery from the correction at the end of 2018, the markets still continue to reward those with the discipline to stay appropriately invested.
Technology and capitalism are amazingly transformative forces, and when working together, they produce astounding results on a global scale. Consider that 100 years ago, 80 percent of the world lived in extreme poverty. In the year 2000, 20 percent did, and that number has since been halved.
The last 100 years has seen the rise of America as a global force, spreading and protecting capitalism and democracy around the world, and creating an environment where innovation and entrepreneurship are rewarded.