Greater Binghamton Coalition Announces New Direction
BINGHAMTON, NY - The Greater Binghamton Coalition announces the resignation of its Executive Director, James DiMascio. DiMascio has been with the Coalition for 2 ½ years working to carry out the Coalition's projects and initiatives. DiMascio is resigning to take a job as Business Development Director for Joe Orlando & Son Contracting.
The Greater Binghamton Coalition is a partnership between local government and the private sector, whose goal is to work on projects and initiatives that spur economic growth.
“The board would like to extend its appreciation to Jim for all of his hard work and thank him for his dedication to help improve the Greater Binghamton region,” stated Greater Binghamton Coalition Chairman Marc Newman. “We have covered a lot of ground in the past few years and Jim has played an instrumental role in working with the GBC board to strengthen the local economy and improve the quality of life of the region.”
During Jim's tenure, the GBC partnered with Broome County to create www.GreaterBinghamton.com, a web portal that provides links to most everything there is to know about Greater Binghamton. The website was launched in 2006. Jim worked with Broome County on developing the Greater Binghamton Innovation Center, the small business incubator located in Downtown Binghamton. Jim also led the community education effort to garner support for sustainable funding for marketing Greater Binghamton and supporting brownfield redevelopment. In the fall of 2007, Broome County lawmakers passed an increase in the hotel/motel tax and dedicated the money to marketing and brownfield redevelopment. Jim DiMascio and the GBC also partnered with Broome County Government and the Broome County Industrial Development Agency on spearheading the Data and Disaster Recovery Center marketing effort. >/p>
“I have enjoyed my time with the Greater Binghamton Coalition and I am pleased with the progress we have made in bringing more attention to our community and with developing strategies that we believe will lead to new and better paying jobs for our community,” said DiMascio. “I believe strongly in Greater Binghamton's potential and plan to continue being active in my community.”
Broome County Economic Development Director Darcy Fauci will take over the coordinating duties of the Greater Binghamton Coalition. Also on Friday, the GBC board announced that it is becoming an advisory board to the Broome County Industrial Development Agency.
“We are realigning our resources to strengthen our economic development efforts. We want to put the focus on our Industrial Development Agency which is our strongest local economic development tool,” said Barbara Fiala, Broome County Executive and board member of both the GBC and IDA. “We strongly believe this move will better focus our efforts and continue the strong public/private partnership that has been developed with the evolution of the Greater Binghamton Coalition.
“The Greater Binghamton Coalition board members possess the skills, knowledge and experience in a wide variety of areas that will assist the IDA in developing strategies for improving our local economy,” said George Akel, Chairman of the IDA and GBC Board Member. “We are all looking forward to working together for a stronger Greater Binghamton.”
Greater Binghamton Coalition Board members include: Broome County Industrial Development Agency Chairman George Akel, Chamber Chairman Alan Hertel, Workforce Investment Board Chairman Michael McNally, local developer Marc Newman, STOC President Diana Bendz, Legislative Chairman Mark Whalen, Legislative Minority Leader Dan Schofield, Managing Partner of Hinman, Howard and Kattell James Orband, John Fitzsimmons, CEO of Granite Capital Holdings and President of Binghamton University Lois DeFleur.
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Published Date: 01-24-2008
