Lisa Ventriss, Roundtable President, recently visited with Anson Tebbetts, WCAX News Director, as invited guest on You Can Quote Me to discuss VBR’s 2nd Quarter CEO Economic Outlook Survey and other Roundtable priorities. If you missed the interview in real time, be sure to visit WCAX’s You can Quote Me site to view their recording.
Click Here to Watch Video | Interview Date: August 7, 2011
Vermont Business Roundtable is a proud partner of VMEC’s 3rd Innovation Engineering Leadership Institute:
Randolph Center, Vermont – The Vermont Manufacturing Extension Center (VMEC) has announced that it will be hosting its third “Innovation Engineering Leadership Institute” on August 23 – 25, 2011 at The Essex in Essex Junction, Vermont. The first IELI training event was held in Burlington in May 2010, followed by the second in February of this year in Woodstock. Innovation Engineering teaches business leaders a proven, systematic approach to leading profitable growth through innovation. It is an intensive 3-day graduate level program designed for senior managers in business, government, non-profit organizations, and academia. Two separate Georgia Tech studies (2008 & 2010) found that innovation is THE MOST profitable primary business strategy compared to low cost, fast delivery, voice of the customer, or quality strategies. In fact, the 3-year average profit margin of companies with a primary strategy of innovation is over 50% higher than for companies competing with a primary strategy of low prices. This training is equally vital to service industries, inventors, entrepreneurs, researchers, non-profits and economic development professionals. (more…)
Chairman of the Roundtable’s Infrastructure Working Group, and President and CEO of PKC Corp., Howard Pierce released a statement of support of the Vermont Gas proposal to extend service to Vergennes and Middlebury communities today.
In a prepared written statement, addressed to the Vermont Public Service Board, Pierce wrote: “The Roundtable supports this proposal for two principle reasons: it improves and expands the mix of energy sources available to both residential and business customers in an important area of the state, and it utilizes a creative and ‘Vermont-like’ approach to solving the challenge of how to finance the building or renovating of infrastructure in our thinly populated state.”
The familiar problemof finding a business model that permits our best public and private entities to bring key services to areas that lack a critical mass of consumers, will always be part of Vermont’s heritage. As federal funds become harder to find and the need for environmental and human efficiency becomes more compelling, every opportunity to spread key infastructure costs across a population of beneficiaries should be tested. Vermont Gas has repeatedly demonstrated its ability to deliver a dependable product at an improving price point. Harnessing one of these improvements in pricing across their existing customer base, in order to better guarantee expanded user base and product volume, seems in everyone’s interest – new customers, existing customers, and the State of Vermont.
The Roundtable’s Infrastructure Working Group supports this proposal We also encourage other key utilities, in particular broadband data and communications, to investigate similar strategies that use small across-the-board discount diversions and usage taxes – in a careful and targeted manner – to overcome the challenges presented by Vermont’s highly valued beauty and deomgraphics.”
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Business Roundtable Releases Latest CEO Economic Outlook Survey
Forecast is Steady for Next Six Months
(South Burlington, Vt.) The chief executives of Vermont’s leading businesses appear poised to hold steady for the spring and summer months of 2011, when compared against the previous survey period. The survey was completed between April 1 and April 15 and released today by Vermont Business Roundtable Chair Steve Voigt, CEO, King Arthur Flour and President Lisa Ventriss.
According to Roundtable President, Lisa Ventriss, “Overall, these data show an economy that is taking its breath and assuming a “wait and see” posture. The most positive growth indicator continues to be our members’ sales forecasts which showed a slight uptick over the previous period (73 percent compared to 71 percent). And while a plurality of our members are forecasting growth outlooks for capital expenditures and employment levels, (47 percent and 44 percent, respectively), another segment of members is projecting no change in those indicators from the previous quarter (38 percent and 41 percent, respectively),Ventriss said.
Chair Steve Voigt said “We believe that these data also reflect a hesitation among our CEOs that is related to the current debate around health care reform in Vermont and the nation. We polled our members on this topic and found it to be a major source of concern; there are still many cost-related reform questions yet to be answered, and this makes future investment decisions regarding people or plant difficult to make at best. We must remember that while growth indicators have been trending upward nicely since early 2009, these changes are still fragile.”
The Roundtable’s CEO Economic Outlook Survey provides a forward-looking view of the economic assumptions and attitudes of chief executive officers for 120 of the state’s top employers with an aggregate economic impact of $135 billion and employing 15 percent of the state’s workforce. The members represent Vermont’s agriculture, construction, education, health services, finance, real estate, insurance, hospitality/leisure, manufacturing, information, utilities, professional/business services, wholesale trade, and non-profit industries. The response rate for this quarter was 58 percent. Historically, rates have varied from 35 to 73 percent.
1. How do you expect your company’s sales to change in the next six months?
| Sales | INCREASE | NO CHANGE | DECREASE |
| Q1 2004 | 83% | 13% | 4% |
| Q2 2004 | 80% | 15% | 4% |
| Q3 2004 | 71% | 25% | 4% |
| Q4 2004 | 77% | 22% | 1% |
| Q1 2005 | 78% | 19% | 3% |
| Q2 2005 | 75% | 23% | 2% |
| Q3 2005 | 74% | 24% | 2% |
| Q4 2005 | 72% | 24% | 4% |
| Q1 2006 | 78% | 20% | 2% |
| Q2 2006 | 78% | 22% | 0% |
| Q3 2006 | 69% | 25% | 6% |
| Q4 2006 | 73% | 23% | 4% |
| Q3 2008 | 51% | 35% | 14% |
| Q4 2008 | 27% | 46% | 27% |
| Q1 2009 | 33% | 30% | 37% |
| Q2 2009 | 41% | 31% | 28% |
| Q3 2009 | 34% | 49% | 17% |
| Q1 2010 | 63% | 19% | 18% |
| Q2 2010 | 69% | 24% | 7% |
| Q3 2010 | 59% | 35% | 6% |
| Q4 2010 | 71% | 23% | 6% |
| Q1 2011 | 73% | 19% | 8% |
| % change from Q4/10 to Q1/11 | 2% | -4% | 2% |
Totals may not equal 100 due to rounding.
2. How do you expect your company’s capital spending to change in the next six months?
| Capital | INCREASE | NO CHANGE | DECREASE |
| Q1 2004 | 62% | 30% | 8% |
| Q2 2004 | 43% | 41% | 15% |
| Q3 2004 | 51% | 42% | 7% |
| Q4 2004 | 45% | 46% | 9% |
| Q1 2005 | 55% | 37% | 8% |
| Q2 2005 | 49% | 43% | 8% |
| Q3 2005 | 57% | 38% | 5% |
| Q4 2005 | 50% | 35% | 15% |
| Q1 2006 | 45% | 45% | 10% |
| Q2 2006 | 53% | 40% | 7% |
| Q3 2006 | 40% | 50% | 10% |
| Q4 2006 | 56% | 39% | 5% |
| Q3 2008 | 38% | 42% | 20% |
| Q4 2008 | 17 % | 43% | 40% |
| Q1 2009 | 12% | 38% | 50% |
| Q2 2009 | 17% | 51% | 32% |
| Q3 2009 | 31% | 46% | 23% |
| Q1 2010 | 50% | 42% | 8% |
| Q2 2010 | 51% | 38% | 11% |
| Q3 2010 | 37% | 48% | 15% |
| Q4 2010 | 49% | 34% | 17% |
| Q1 2011 | 47% | 38% | 15% |
| % Change from Q4/10 to Q1/11 | -2% | 4% | -2% |
Totals may not equal 100 due to rounding.
3. How do you expect your company’s employment to change in the next six months?
| Employment | INCREASE | NO CHANGE | DECREASE |
| Q1 2004 | 57% | 38% | 4% |
| Q2 2004 | 50% | 48% | 2% |
| Q3 2004 | 59% | 37% | 4% |
| Q4 2004 | 58% | 39% | 3% |
| Q1 2005 | 55% | 38% | 7% |
| Q2 2005 | 49% | 42% | 9% |
| Q3 2005 | 49% | 44% | 7% |
| Q4 2005 | 60% | 35% | 5% |
| Q1 2006 | 54% | 39% | 7% |
| Q2 2006 | 50% | 45% | 5% |
| Q3 2006 | 43% | 49% | 7% |
| Q4 2006 | 53% | 41% | 5% |
| Q3 2008 | 40% | 42% | 18% |
| Q4 2008 | 25% | 35% | 40% |
| Q1 2009 | 23% | 37% | 40% |
| Q2 2009 | 21% | 50% | 29% |
| Q3 2009 | 34% | 46% | 20% |
| Q1 2010 | 40% | 52% | 8% |
| Q2 2010 | 46% | 45% | 9% |
| Q3 2010 | 35% | 52% | 13% |
| Q4 2010 | 51% | 38% | 11% |
| Q1 2011 | 44% | 41% | 15% |
| % Change from Q4/10 to Q1/11 | -7% | 3% | 4% |
Totals may not equal 100 due to rounding.
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by Lisa Ventriss, President, Vermont Business Roundtable
In the winter of 2007 the Vermont Business Roundtable, along with the Vermont Superintendents Association, convened a group of business and education leaders around some simple goals: to develop mutual understanding and respect for our respective issues and priorities; to inform each other’s thinking with factual information and industry insight; and, to find common ground that could lay the foundation for policy recommendations. We recruited organizations that could bring balance and non-partisan independence to our discussions, and charged ourselves to provide “bold and long-term leadership” on education reform efforts. Thus was born the Business-Education Alliance. (more…)
by Mary Barrosse Schwartz, Executive Director, Pre-K VT
Research on the Effects of High Quality Early Education on At-Risk Children and from Middle Income Backgrounds
Three U.S. longitudinal studies show long and short-term positive effect for children. These programs were of varying intensity and served mainly at-risk children. These studies include the Abecedarian study in North Carolina, Perry High Scope in Michigan, and the Chicago Child-Parent Center in Illinois. All show consistent benefits that persist for many years following the program. (more…)
South Burlington, VT – Today, Vermont Business Roundtable (Roundtable) President Lisa Ventriss announced that three new directors were elected to the Roundtable Board of Directors at its 24th Annual Membership Meeting on January 13th at Topnotch Resort & Spa in Stowe.
New directors are: Rob Adams, President, Simon Pearce; Tim Donovan, Chancellor, Vermont State Colleges; and, Pam Mackenzie, Area Vice-President of VT/Western New England. Elected to a second three-year term is Howard Pierce, President and CEO of PKC. (more…)
Vermont Business Roundtable Releases 2010 Pulse of Vermont: Quality of Life Report
Study Represents 20 Years of Trend Analysis on Vermonters Attitudes
At its 24th Annual Membership Meeting held on January 13th at Topnotch Resort & Spa in Stowe, the Vermont Business Roundtable (Roundtable) released the fifth Pulse of Vermont: Quality of Life Survey conducted since 1990. Each of the studies, conducted every five years, was directed by Dr. Vince Bolduc and Dr. Herb Kessel of the Center for Social Science Research at Saint Michael’s College under the sponsorship of the Roundtable. Since the first study in 1990, more than 2,000 Vermonters have been interviewed, allowing for the documentation of numerous longitudinal trends. (more…)
(South Burlington, Vt.) The chief executives of Vermont’s leading businesses appear increasingly poised for improvement in all three of the survey’s metrics: sales prospects, capital expenditures and employment levels for the winter and spring months of 2011, when compared against the previous survey period. The mood was assessed near the end of calendar year 2010 and released today by Vermont Business Roundtable Chair Bill Stritzler and President Lisa Ventriss. (more…)
Nationally, states compete against each other to lure large employers with elaborate incentive packages. As important as these public investments are for those states, the Roundtable recognizes that Vermont cannot compete with them in supplying an array of expensive economic incentives for targeted business recruitment. However, we can certainly become a business relocation destination for all types of business and industry by building on an existing asset, and creating one of the best preK through higher education systems in the country. Businesses’ first need is a well-prepared and adaptable workforce so, by investing aggressively in our human capital beginning with our youngest children, Vermont can create a positive environment to attract new business and their workers at the same time that we bolster our existing businesses and ultimately create the workforce we need. (more…)
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