The Northeastern Economic Developers Association (NEDA) has just recognized The Tech Garden for its growth and impact over the past year. This award is a welcomed acknowledgment for an incubator that is truly a benchmark project for fostering innovation in this region.

This has been a year of growth and milestones for the Tech Garden. Last winter, it opened 18,000 square feet of new incubation space at the adjacent AXA Towers. Just last month, it celebrated its 10th anniversary. With programs to support entrepreneurs at every stage, from ideation to commercialization and acceleration, the Tech Garden is well positioned to continue growing its programs and offer an even more robust ecosystem for entrepreneurs. As we look to the future of this region and work to create a sustainable economy, there is no doubt the Tech Garden has a key role to play. 

We are proud of the Tech Garden and what it has accomplished to date, and are grateful to NEDA for their recognition of this work. In addition to the award received by the Tech Garden, NEDA has recognized several CenterState CEO partners and members for their outstanding achievements in the field of economic development (see the box above for a list of awardees). We extend our congratulations to them and all of this year’s recipients.      

Best Practice Award winners

L. Michael Treadwell, Operation Oswego County — Lifetime Achievement Award

Mike Treadwell is honored for his 32 years of service as the executive director of Operation Oswego County, Inc., a not-for-profit, economic-development corporation serving Oswego County.

Brian Anderson, National Grid 

— Member of the Year Award

Brian Anderson is recognized for his commitment and service to NEDA over the last three years, serving as both a board member and board president.

M&T Bank — Business of the Year Award

M&T is recognized for its long history of providing financing and investments that impact our communities. Specifically it is honored for its support of CenterState CEO’s “Germinator” regional business competition, the Hotel Syracuse renovation project, and its long-standing reputation as the leading SBA lender in the region. 

Marketing Award winners

Mohawk Valley EDGE 

— Marketing President’s Award

Mohawk Valley EDGE is recognized for its outstanding overall contributions to economic-development marketing, specifically the EDGE Annual Report, the Marcy Nanocenter website, and the Cyber-NY Alliance Brochure.

Operation Oswego County — Outstanding Marketing of Economic Development Products and Services 

Operation Oswego County is recognized for its economic-development newsletter. “OOC E-News” has become a valuable tool to report important information about current economic-development activity to its constituents and for potential business customers to learn about the resources and assets of the Oswego County community.

Robert M. (Rob) Simpson is president and CEO of CenterState CEO, the primary economic-development organization for Central New York. This editorial is drawn and edited from the “CEO FOCUS” email newsletter the organization sent to members on Aug. 6.