ALBANY - Martin Babinec grew up in a working class family in upstate New York, but left to make his fortune in Silicon Valley.
Opposing the current trend of workers leaving the state, he returned to his roots to raise his family in Little Falls, a central New York city of about 6,000 snug in the Mohawk River Valley.
Speaking Tuesday in Cortland to about 500 people at the ‘I Live New York' summit - an opportunity for government, education and business officials to coordinate efforts to stop the exodus of young, educated New Yorkers - Babinec, 52, used his Silicon Valley experience to outline what New York needs to reverse the “brain drain.”
“Young professionals want to be challenged,” Babinec said. “Young professionals don't want to work on yesterday's business model, they want to work on tomorrow's business model.”
Silda Wall Spitzer, the wife of Gov. Eliot Spitzer, hosted the event and outlined her ideas for bringing vitality and prosperity to the state. The population of New Yorkers between 20 to 34 years old dropped 22 percent upstate in five years ending in 2000; Buffalo alone lost 22,000, she said.
The region must have economic growth through job creation and technological innovation, she said. She also stressed the importance of livable communities and said the economy can be improved through small, gradual changes. All levels of government in New York must work together, she said.
“Everyone, particularly here in upstate, has their own story of sons and daughters, or sisters and brothers, or friends and neighbors who have gone to seek their fortunes elsewhere,” Wall Spitzer said. “It has been a crippling, corrosive, chronic problem in our state for at least two decades.”
The governor spoke at the conference about the importance of optimism in repairing upstate economies.
“I do not want anyone to walk away from here saying the data is bad, the trendline is wrong, we can't succeed,” Spitzer said. “That's hogwash. We will succeed. We can succeed.”
If upstate New York applies its strengths, the region can retain its work force and attract new talent from other states, said Babinec, the chairman, president and CEO of TriNet Group, which outsources human relations services.
Babinec can live in upstate New York and run his San Leandro, Calif.-based company with some travel and the use of new technologies like video teleconferencing. Upstate companies should adapt to the changing technology environment to give workers the same opportunities he has, he said.
New York colleges and universities have alumni around the country who could participate in revitalizing job growth, he said. He urged colleges and communities to improve ties so students stay in the region.
Kurt West, 22, moved to upstate New York from New Portland, Maine, to attend Clarkson University in Potsdam, near the St. Lawrence River.
He decided to stay upstate after graduation because the school helped him find work through alumni networking with ZeroPoint Clean Tech Inc., a renewable energy technology company.
Babinec calls the quality of life in upstate New York a selling point for a younger work force but said a shortage of managerial talent, particularly those with experience in fast-growing businesses, is a challenge.
Nathan Andrews, originally from Jamesville, attended the summit. He returned upstate after years of working in Boston so he could help run his family business, Morse MFG Co. Inc., in Syracuse. Brain drain could hurt his family's business, which manufactures equipment to handle industrial drums.
“We have a work force that is aging,” he said. “And in the next decade we are going to have a bunch of turnover in our company and I'm concerned about filling those positions.”
Meanwhile, Republican Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno was in Rochester Tuesday discussing his chamber's plan for the upstate economy. “The Senate's Upstate Now plan is a $3.7 billion, 10-point job creation and economic growth plan that will transform the upstate economy,” he said.
If passed, the plan would reduce taxes for small businesses, manufacturers and key industries, and build and invest $300 million in capital funds for economic development.
The summit and Bruno's appearance in Rochester were on the same day a poll from the Siena Research Institute found that voters want state leaders to get down to business rather than focus on the scandal. Two of the governor's top aides have been accused of using state police to track Bruno's whereabouts.
Speaking Tuesday in Cortland to about 500 people at the ‘I Live New York' summit - an opportunity for government, education and business officials to coordinate efforts to stop the exodus of young, educated New Yorkers - Babinec, 52, used his Silicon Valley experience to outline what New York needs to reverse the “brain drain.”
“Young professionals want to be challenged,” Babinec said. “Young professionals don't want to work on yesterday's business model, they want to work on tomorrow's business model.”
Silda Wall Spitzer, the wife of Gov. Eliot Spitzer, hosted the event and outlined her ideas for bringing vitality and prosperity to the state. The population of New Yorkers between 20 to 34 years old dropped 22 percent upstate in five years ending in 2000; Buffalo alone lost 22,000, she said.
The region must have economic growth through job creation and technological innovation, she said. She also stressed the importance of livable communities and said the economy can be improved through small, gradual changes. All levels of government in New York must work together, she said.
“Everyone, particularly here in upstate, has their own story of sons and daughters, or sisters and brothers, or friends and neighbors who have gone to seek their fortunes elsewhere,” Wall Spitzer said. “It has been a crippling, corrosive, chronic problem in our state for at least two decades.”
The governor spoke at the conference about the importance of optimism in repairing upstate economies.
“I do not want anyone to walk away from here saying the data is bad, the trendline is wrong, we can't succeed,” Spitzer said. “That's hogwash. We will succeed. We can succeed.”
If upstate New York applies its strengths, the region can retain its work force and attract new talent from other states, said Babinec, the chairman, president and CEO of TriNet Group, which outsources human relations services.
Babinec can live in upstate New York and run his San Leandro, Calif.-based company with some travel and the use of new technologies like video teleconferencing. Upstate companies should adapt to the changing technology environment to give workers the same opportunities he has, he said.
New York colleges and universities have alumni around the country who could participate in revitalizing job growth, he said. He urged colleges and communities to improve ties so students stay in the region.
Kurt West, 22, moved to upstate New York from New Portland, Maine, to attend Clarkson University in Potsdam, near the St. Lawrence River.
He decided to stay upstate after graduation because the school helped him find work through alumni networking with ZeroPoint Clean Tech Inc., a renewable energy technology company.
Babinec calls the quality of life in upstate New York a selling point for a younger work force but said a shortage of managerial talent, particularly those with experience in fast-growing businesses, is a challenge.
Nathan Andrews, originally from Jamesville, attended the summit. He returned upstate after years of working in Boston so he could help run his family business, Morse MFG Co. Inc., in Syracuse. Brain drain could hurt his family's business, which manufactures equipment to handle industrial drums.
“We have a work force that is aging,” he said. “And in the next decade we are going to have a bunch of turnover in our company and I'm concerned about filling those positions.”
Meanwhile, Republican Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno was in Rochester Tuesday discussing his chamber's plan for the upstate economy. “The Senate's Upstate Now plan is a $3.7 billion, 10-point job creation and economic growth plan that will transform the upstate economy,” he said.
If passed, the plan would reduce taxes for small businesses, manufacturers and key industries, and build and invest $300 million in capital funds for economic development.
The summit and Bruno's appearance in Rochester were on the same day a poll from the Siena Research Institute found that voters want state leaders to get down to business rather than focus on the scandal. Two of the governor's top aides have been accused of using state police to track Bruno's whereabouts.
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