Hi, I'm Jeff Rea, your host for Economic Outlook.

Welcome to our program.

We hope you enjoy the show.

Please make plans each week to join us to discuss the region's most important economic development initiatives.

With a panel of experts, she's a former Fortune 100 executive and veteran policy strategist on a national stage and was recently tapped to be the new president and CEO of the state's largest business advocacy organization.

We're sitting down this week with Vanessa Green Sinders from the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.

Coming up on economic outlook, the Indiana economy is thriving, with major investment happening in all corners of the Hoosier State.

For 102 years, the Indiana Chamber of Commerce has been right in the middle of Indiana's growth, driving key policy issues that have helped separate Indiana from its peers and make the state more desirable for businesses and residents.

We're sitting down today with the new head of the organization as we look ahead at what's next for the Indiana economy.

Please join me in welcoming Vanessa Green Sinders, the president CEO of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.

Vanessa, welcome.

Thank you.

Hey, thank you for being here.

Great to have you.

And congratulations on your new role with the Indiana Chamber.

We thought as the leader of the state's largest business organization.

Be great to have you.

Just a hop in your brain for a few minutes here and talk about what's going on in Indiana.

So thank you for joining us today.

So let's start.

So somebody who's not familiar with Indiana Chamber of Commerce, tell us a little bit about the chamber and what it does.

So as the largest statewide business organization, first and foremost, we are focused on advocacy and focused on advancing the mission of the chamber, which is to cultivate and maintain that world class environment where Hoosier enterprises and citizens prosper, and we can continue to have economic growth for the state.

So advocacy is first and foremost, whether it's at the state house or the governor's office, state agencies.

But we also have lots of programs to support our members and help our member companies comply and understand different rules and regulations deal with, you know, an issue we increasingly hear about workforce, how do we address workforce and really kind of make sure we provide that member value.

Great.

So let's talk just for a second about your members, because my my guess is they cover a broad geography in a wide array of industries.

Tell us a little bit about just like who are your members?

So we have member companies from across the state in total, about 4000 member companies.

And I love to talk about the fact that 57% of our members are less than 50 employees.

So not only do we have the largest businesses in the state, but we also have the smallest businesses.

And I think that for the chamber, one of the most important things to do is make sure that we are representing businesses of not only all sizes, but also across all regions and counties, all 92 counties.

And so one of the reasons I was so excited to be with you today is I, as I embark on this role, kind of wanting to make sure I travel around and interact and hear from businesses and leaders in all parts of the state.

So I was happy to be in South Bend today.

Well, we're thrilled to have you.

We're excited about the energy you've brought into the chamber so far.

And we look forward to a long and prosperous time with you.

So so let's back up and we'll talk more advocacy in a second.

But let's go to you.

So you this is this is a new assignment to you.

So give it tell us a little bit about sort of what you were doing ahead of this and maybe what attracted you to to not only this job at Indiana.

Good.

So many folks know I am a Hoosier by choice.

So I actually I grew up in Massachusetts in a small town outside Boston, and I spent 20 years in Washington, D.C., which I we can get into.

But after 20 years there, my husband, he is a native Hoosier.

He grew up in Clay City, went to ISU and worked for former Senator Dick Lugar for a long time.

We met in Washington, D.C. and in the I guess the beginning of 2022, we decided we were ready for a change.

And as everyone in Indiana knows, Indiana checks all the boxes for a family.

We have a six year old and a nine year old, two boys, and we were ready to make a change and move home.

As my husband likes to call it.

And so we settled in Indianapolis and I started to think about what I wanted to do.

And it is such an honor to be able to work for the chamber and help support this great mission and help work with lots of leaders on moving the state forward.

You know, it's interesting you mentioned or we talked briefly about this is an organization that's been around for a couple of years and continues to evolve as is the needs of the business community or evolving.

So it and my own job, I think sometimes what I love is every day is a little bit different, right?

And the needs of everybody are different.

So talk just a little bit about just the.

So now you've been in it for a week or two and a little bit more?

Probably a month.

Yeah, exactly.

So.

So as you're going around the state, as you're meeting people, talking to businesses.

Give us maybe some first impressions from your new role.

So, I mean, I would say every day that I am meeting with leaders and business owners, I get more energized and excited about the opportunity.

One of the things I think that, you know, has struck me coming into this role and coming into Indiana as a relative newcomer is just how much Hoosier pride there is in the state, how much support, investment, desire to make sure Indiana is the best place, the best place for people to live, businesses to operate.

And it is just really exciting to be part of an organization that is helping further that mission and so when I have been traveling around the state, I think, you know, folks like to talk about the role that we play in advocacy.

Also, we talk about member engagement and making sure that the chamber as a membership organization, how can we engage our members to support and help them and also help the state?

And big for me is also partnerships, how we can work together with other organizations, whether it's the local and regional chambers and economic development organizations or other regional and state leaders, again, to move the state forward.

So I hinted in my opening just about the the important role that the business community played as a thought leader and as the drive in policy that helped Indiana grow and and thrive.

So whether it's business or tax policy or different things and and so more of this, you know, kind of this high level question, how is Indiana doing like in this space, Right.

Like I think everybody homes like often wondering, you know, how we're doing, how do we compare what's going on?

The chamber's taking a very active role in sort of not only setting a policy agenda, but sort of keeping track on our progress towards goals.

Speak a little bit to that.

Sure.

So I think that's a good opportunity to highlight.

So to think about where the state needs to go in the future and how to measure that.

The Chamber has put out three economic vision plans, economic strategic plans for the state, and the third one was just released last August.

It's called Indiana Prosperity 2035.

It lays out six key areas that the state needs to work on to continue moving forward.

First and foremost, workforce and the talent pipeline right alongside that is K through 12 Education, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Quality of place.

Health and infrastructure and energy.

And so, you know, I think when I look at those issues and when we look at the data, we released a report card on those six issues last November.

I think, you know, the business climate from a tax and regulatory perspective is is really good.

You know, businesses want to operate here.

I think an area that we is an opportunity for, for more focus is workforce and education, right.

Making sure that we have the talent trained, how we're retaining talent, how we're educating our students to make sure that we can continue to grow in the way that we want to as a state.

You know, I love the the future focus.

I'm not I'm not meaning to be critical in the statement to lawmakers.

But but government, for example, sometimes is reactionary, right?

They react to a problem that happened down the street and some new law or policy happens because of that.

In this case, it's a forward thinking, future focus.

What are the policy agenda or what are the goals that we should be tracking?

And I think what what we as a local community appreciated is the we set some local goals based on what you have done and then, you know, how do we help you achieve those goals?

We set some local goals and so so talk about like how how receptive folks are to when you set an agenda like that, you set some objectives.

What what's been the reaction as those things have happened?

I mean, I think positive and I would go back to you know, I think one of the great things about the chamber, we just, as you mentioned, celebrated our 100 year anniversary.

So we have staying power and so we can advocate on policies that are in the best interest of the state when there are governor changes, when there are legislature changes.

And I think that's part of our role to kind of state keep moving the state forward from an economic policy perspective and being that policy thought leader.

And, you know, when we rolled out the the plan, the latest vision plan in August, it included, you know, stakeholder from across the state, business leaders, community leaders, economic development leaders were involved in the kind of putting together that plan, which we thought that was really important.

And I would say going forward, I'm really looking forward to getting involved in the implementation of that plan and really working with local and state leaders on each issue area to define what are what is our biggest priority in this pillar and how are we going to go achieve it?

Because I also think that we are in a constantly changing environment.

The world is dynamic.

We are facing new challenges every day.

So even something that we wrote last August, like we might got it, we might have to evolve it a little bit to meet the needs for the state.

And I think that that's an opportunity for us as leaders with with the Chamber playing hopefully a convening role to work together to figure that out and then implement it.

Yeah, no, I love the work that's happened in that space and I am impressed by how many people have embraced it as a as a an important roadmap and especially the the measure people, you know, over the last couple of years, I think as a state, we've gotten a lot better about measuring kind of our success or progress towards some of those things.

So so let's talk about as you're focusing on things like that, obviously there are about nine gazillion issues that you that could be issues that you could focus on.

Everyone could be a business issue or so how do you sort of keep it somewhat laser focused to the things that you can influence?

So, look, I think that that is a constantly evolving thing.

But first and foremost, like you really, as you say, you really do have to think about prioritization and where and how you are going to be, maximize your impact and use your political capital and listen to our members and to the business community.

And and what, you know, this data and these reports say about what we need to do to move the state forward.

So I think it's lots of those inputs.

And, you know, for example, we did a member survey at the beginning of January when I took over and asked what are the you know, what is the biggest issue facing your business that you want us working on from an advocacy perspective?

And yet again, workforce and talent training was top with education and then health care kind of two and three.

And so constantly also checking in with your members and hearing what issues they care about is important and to follow that example to completion for the 2024 legislative session, our priorities are our top priorities are all workforce and education related.

There's legislation moving in the State House related to career readiness and kind of some some further tweaks to some legislation that passed last year.

There's lots of efforts around child care and making sure that we have supply of child care facilities and workers.

And again, that relates to workforce.

And then also thinking about how we improve reading and elementary educational attainment.

And those are issues that the chamber, through our economic vision plan has called out.

And so we're going to prioritize those with our, you know, work with the legislature and try to move those forward, working with the governor and the legislative leaders, while, of course, you know, you've got to balance that with, you know, we want to make sure that that business climate is there for businesses.

And so obviously, we'll continue to engage on tax or regulatory issues or other things as they come up.

Great.

I'm with Vanessa Green Sinders, the president CEO of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.

Vanessa, I want to take a quick break here in the studio.

I'm going to go out to the field.

George Lepeniotis my co-host is out there.

George, let me toss it to you.

Thanks, Jeff.

I'm in downtown Goshen at the Goshen Chamber of Commerce.

And I'm joined today by Nick Kieffer, CEO and president of the Goshen Chamber of Commerce.

Nick, thanks for being.

Thanks for having us.

Nick, Before we start the interview and talk about some of the substantive awesome stuff going on economically here in Goshen, I did want to mention that you and I are a bit of a brotherhood.

Sure, we are, in fact compatriots.

And do we both do similar to what Jeff Rea does?

I do it on the TV show, but you do it.

And I try to be I try to be like Jeff as much as I can.

Right?

He does great work over in South Bend and we try to try to help along.

I do the same.

So we are the Jeff Rea Brothers.

Yeah.

So as we talk about Goshen getting serious here.

Tell us a little bit about Goshen and the amazing strides it made for some of our viewers that maybe haven't been here in a while.

Yeah, come on.

Yeah.

As I drove in today, the downtown is amazing.

It's like a blast from the past.

There's a shoe store, there's boutiques, clothing boutiques, things that we have long since thought were dead.

Yeah, No, it's.

It's a it's a great shopping experience in downtown Goshen, where we're bookend in town.

Bye bye to superstores.

But our downtown is full of just unique shops that you can come in and spend a day walking around to.

Been a long process.

We had people that really put their sweat equity into the buildings and then businesses came in and it's just been a great 20 year ride.

Let's talk about the chamber and those types of successes.

What is the Chamber Chamber's role in your view, in a local community?

And how does a chamber help a community's economy grow?

So we do a lot of things right.

We're kind of a chameleon organization, but overall we're supposed to be a resource for business.

So if any business or anyone wanting to start a business needs something, it's our job to connect them to the right people to to help them grow.

Okay?

And so those connections are important because a lot of times people that are starting a business or even established business don't know where to turn next, Right?

And that's what we're here for.

And and so we have a vast array of of support systems and different programs that can help them, but also point them in the right direction to to grow their business.

So I understand that in addition to the downtown, which you guys have, the first Friday, those are still going on.

Still going on 17 years.

All right.

So people can come down every first Friday of every month, every month, 5 to 9, lots of different activities, things to do, but just a really fun atmosphere and sponsored by the chamber?

The chamber and a couple of others downtown.

Yeah, awesome.

And that's a that's a great way to experience a downtown.

But again, there are other projects going on and Goshen.

Yeah, we have a few development projects coming along the chamber is actively involved with.

We have some housing developments that are happening.

So, you know, it's kind of when I said Chameleon Organization, that's, that's what we're, we're about.

So we have to make sure we have all the resources and the business needs.

So that's housing for their employees, that's shops for for their employees to take advantage of.

And so we're just kind of constantly working on those projects.

So Nick we know the RV industry is a big part of Goshen.

What is it that what type of support do they need that really is unique to a chamber that maybe some other communities don't experience?

Well, I mean, the vastness of their employment, right?

So largest employers in town.

So it's making sure that they have the necessary things to to solidify their business.

So we work with City Hall and the mayor's office to make sure that the infrastructure's where it needs to be so that they're they can grow and then expand when they need to.

We work with kind of in the HR field.

So we'll we'll do some hiring and firing type seminars.

We'll do some educational seminars for HR Professionals, those type of things.

But yeah, just really making sure we have a solid ecosystem of of programs for those companies to to take advantage of.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense and when we you know, while what you do here in Goshen is a big part of your mission we also the chamber does more than that right you reach outside of the community and that is actually part of the focus of our show.

I know we've got some state representative of Chamber of Commerce for the state of Indiana.

Right.

How do you interact with those folks and different other municipalities and state level organizations to help Goshen Yeah, we talk about working with Jeff, you know, in South Bend.

So regionally we work together as chambers.

There's 15 of us that get together quarterly and talk about regional issues that are facing business, community.

But then we reach down to the state and Vanessa and what she's doing at the state Chamber and just pull their resources there.

They have tremendous wealth of knowledge in the policy side of things.

So getting that information of what can impact a business and how we need to get that information and educate our members and our businesses and our communities out.

So it's just a it's a natural communication line.

We just spent a couple of days down at their office getting updated and briefed on on some issues, but that's just kind of how everything works together.

We're constantly in communication through that.

And in addition to learning and knowledge that they pass along, are there resources?

Are you an advocate at the state level for potentially getting resources to help build Goshen economy to take it to the next level?

Absolutely.

You have, you know, READI 2.0.

There's a bunch of different opportunities for communities to take advantage of.

So myself, Jeff, or other chamber directors in the region will be down there testifying on behalf or advocating for those resources to come to our communities.

That's great.

As you look to the future with Goshen, where do you see it going?

Where do you see the growth here?

I think it's a bright future we have.

Like I said, we have some developments coming online here this year for some growth and there's a few more in the pipeline.

So continued growth, I think, in our populations and our schools.

And I just think we'll continue to grow as a community.

Well, great Nick thanks for being here today.

Thank you for hosting us.

It's a great place.

As I said to you before we went on air.

Good luck with the incubator.

We did a show a few years ago and I know like a rough ride with COVID, but we're getting back to normal.

I appreciate it.

Jeff, back to you in the studio where I'm sure you can talk more about from your own personal experience as well as your guests on the important role the chamber plays both locally and at the state level to help our economy grow.

George, thank you.

Appreciate the inside look there.

Always good to see you there, Vanessa.

We're back in the studio here.

Vanessa Green Sinders the president, CEO, Indiana, she recovers.

Vanessa, we're so grateful you for your time today.

You touched briefly, but I just want to maybe help give people some additional perspective on legislators.

So we're in the middle of the Indiana General Assembly.

Their short session, you are you and your team are a very active presence here.

Just talk to us a little bit about nuts and bolts, how you go about in addition to priorities and share priorities.

But just the day to day managing the 700 or 800 bills that come across your desk.

Sure.

Well, as you mentioned, we have a team.

I do not do this alone.

And we have five policy experts and wonderful lobbyists who are each focused in their own issue area and who have great relationships with legislators and, you know, the governor's office and state agencies.

And they are out there up at the state house all the time during session interacting with legislators, staff, talking about the issues that we care about, sometimes testifying and then calling me and when they need me.

So and you know, that process is all driven back to priorities.

We put out a legislative agenda every year.

It's on our website.

If anyone wants to go, go take a look at it.

And this year, again, we really try to prioritize the issues that we're hearing most from members about workforce and kind of lay our position out on those bills, while also making sure that we cover other issues and pieces and pieces of legislation that impact the business community.

So it's an all hands on deck approach.

I love it and I love how forward thinking are sometimes too.

I know as we've even been talking today, you already in your head are thinking about next year too, which is still a few months away.

But but in the midst of, you know, we sort of know what's advancing this session.

And next year, the budget session gives a chance to advance a few more things.

So let's zero in on just education.

Work for us for obviously chief concern of business community.

They all want to know where they can find their people and will they have the training they need.

These are hard things to move to sometimes, right?

So so give us a feel for just a maybe just very high level, because I know some of this really detail just sort of some of the education or workforce priorities, some some of the things that that bubbled up to the top of your agenda that are key to this discussion.

So yeah, so for example, there's some there's legislation dealing with, you know, career readiness and skills based learning for students and how to train and prepare students for jobs.

And I think our perspective is always wanting to think about the employer voice and how best to engage employers in those conversations and make sure that the employee personal employer perspective is heard.

And part of those legislative discussions so that whatever piece of legislation comes out is workable for the employer and actually achieves what I think we all want, which is a workforce that is skilled and trained in the competencies and areas that the employer needs to produce the good or service to then contribute to the economic growth and vitality of the region and the state.

And one thing I would come back to, you know, you talked about forward looking and kind of our, you know, what we're doing at the state House.

And I would be remiss if I didn't mention while while it is 2024, I'm thinking about 2025 and the the new governor and the legislature.

And again, how can the state chamber, working with our local and regional partners and the business community, think about what are those big economic policy issues that we want to address?

You know, harkening back to our economic vision plan that we can work on with the legislature and the new governor and help advance in 2025.

So planning for 2025 is underway, too.

I love it.

You know, it's interesting, as I talk to leaders in other states, I think the perception in Indiana is we we're the more advanced thinking or further thinking.

And so imitation is the best form of flattery.

I see many trying to duplicate our programs in our last couple of minutes.

Let's focus on this talent attraction piece, because this population growth and growing Indiana is important.

We thank you for the four that you've brought back to Indiana.

We'll put that on our on our tally list.

But but just talk about that just generally because we're trying to keep young people here.

We're trying to get people to come back.

We're trying to get them to understand the opportunities exist in our companies.

Just spend a minute talking about that.

Yeah, sure.

So back to our economic vision plan.

One of those key pillars is quality of place.

And I think that that, you know, at some level speaks to talent attraction.

How are we, you know, through READI grants or other economic development initiatives, kind of creating those communities that attract and retain the talent that we want and the place that we want it.

So, you know, that is an area that we will continue to be involved in.

And and again, I think another area of partnership and collaboration in about a minute or so left.

So what are you most excited about?

What's you've been here?

I know a short period of time that you were excited by a lot of things, but you know, what should our viewers be excited about here in the future of Indiana?

I mean, I think that Indiana has so much opportunity to continue being the best place for, you know, people to live, work and come visit and businesses to operate.

And I just get excited about being work, being able to work with such great leaders and folks here in the state to help do that.

I love I just think I'm envious of your job in this, getting to go around the state and see all the neat things that are happening in Indiana and all the great businesses that are helping drive that economy.

Ready to learn and listen.

Vanessa Green Sinders She is the president CEO, Indiana Tumor Congress.

Vanessa, thank you so much.

We're grateful to have you here.

And we'll look forward to having you back in the future.

Look forward to it.

That's it for our show today.

On behalf of the entire team here at PBS Michiana WNIT thank you for watching or listening to our podcast to watch this episode again or any of our past episodes.

You can find the economic outlook at wnit.org or find our podcast on most major podcast platforms.

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