Robert Simpson ’97 has been chosen by N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo to help lead a new organization tasked with better coordinating economic development opportunities in central New York.
Simpson, president of the Syracuse-based CenterState Corporation for Economic Opportunity, was named a co-chair of the Central New York Regional Development Council.
The council includes representatives from industry, academia, labor, agriculture and economic development groups from Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Onondaga and Oswego counties. Colgate University is in Madison County.
Cuomo has created 10 councils to represent different areas of the state. The councils will act as a point of contact for businesses seeking state financial assistance for a jobs-producing project, according to a story in The (Syracuse) Post-Standard.
“With the regional councils, we will empower individual areas like central New York to chart their own course for job creation and growth and we will send a clear message that New York is open for business,” Cuomo said Wednesday.
Simpson will co-chair the regional council with Syracuse University chancellor Nancy Cantor.
In his role as president of CenterState, Simpson leads a twelve-county business leadership and economic development organization. The organization serves as the region’s primary economic, community and business development catalyst.
Simpson earned a bachelor’s degree in political science at Colgate and went on to earn a master’s degree in public administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.