Panelists praise VT as business locale Lecture addresses accomplishments of state entrepreneurs

Author: Peter Mueller

Last Wednesday, April 20, 2005, Middlebury College hosted the Professor D.K. Smith Visiting Economic Lecture Series in McCardell Bicentennial Hall. This year's event, entitled "Vermont's Business Landscape: Entrepreneurs Tell their Tales," showcased accomplishments of Vermont entrepreneurs and asked patrons and panelists to consider how Vermont's business environment is changing.

According to Larry Williams, co-owner of the Redstone Commercial Group, "Vermont is perfectly positioned to compete in the global economy." In his presentation, Williams described Vermont as a "niche" industry that can have success in specialized goods that sell the Vermont name. Williams cited Lake Champlain Chocolates as an example of the quintessential Vermont company, a group that attracts the business of gastronomes worldwide despite maintaining higher prices than a major company such as Hershey's.

Fellow panelist Carolyn Cooke, co-founder of Isis for Women, a business that specializes in outdoor apparel designed for women, identified with Williams' beliefs. "Vermont has the chance to be an outdoor company niche," she explained, "Mine is an outdoor company, and this is an outdoor state."

Conversely, Lawrence Miller, CEO of the Zota Soda Company, described Vermont's economy as weakened by isolation. He gave Vermonters credit for "self-sufficiency and resourcefulness" but attributed Vermont's "island mentality" to limited interstate economic activity.

Tim Davis, former CEO of Surmet Corporation, postulated whether business expansion is in the best interest of Vermont. "What is it about this place that attracts us to it?" asked Davis. Increased demand will bring mall-sprawl and an influx of "big-boxes" such as Walmart, additions that will effectively knock the family-farmer and local storekeeper out of the market. According to Miller, employees are willing to take less income in exchange for the quality of life offered in Vermont. He also expressed his opinion that as big business grows, desire to live here will decline. "Real wealth," Miller proclaimed, "is satisfaction with life."

When asked where else they might consider starting a business, the four entrepreneurs had difficulty coming up with a better place than Vermont. While on trade shows, Cooke has declined solicitations from other states to relocate Isis. Miller said that Vermont was the only place for him. Although losing the Vermont landscape would be a tough tradeoff, Davis suggested Massachusetts, particularly Boston's Route 128 region, as an alternative due to its reputation as an economic dynamo and startup hotspot. Canada quickly came to mind for Williams, but strictly for political reasons, adding that his choice to live in Vermont is a "gut feeling."

Differences aside, all four panelists mentioned the environment, the culture and the "intellectual capital" of Vermont as compelling reasons to live and work here. Davis speculated that many Middlebury graduates ultimately end up living in Vermont for the same reasons that draw them to the college.