Local finance leaders in the hot seat
The Chamber asked four leaders from our local financial sector: ‘What keeps you up at night?’
Last Thursday night, the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce gathered four local financial leaders for a chit-chat about the state of Saratoga.
Let’s get to it.
—Abby
The night’s go-to name-drop: GlobalFoundries
A major economic driver for our area, the massive semiconductor manufacturer has gross revenue in the billions and employs more than 2,500 people in its Malta facility — with promises of more hires on the horizon with its $11.6 billion, 10-year expansion plan.
“We’re not just a tourist economy anymore,” said Charlie Wait Jr., President and CEO of Adirondack Trust Company. “We have GlobalFoundries, so we have the technology piece that bodes well for our economy.”
Topic center of attention: affordability
“Regarding the cost of housing,” said David DeMarco, President and CEO of Arrow Bank, “rates are coming down but the 10-year yield curve is going up, too.”
“We see the topic in conversations we have with clients, and it’s real,” said Martin Shields, Chief Wealth Advisor and Shareholder, Bouchey Financial Group. “It’s healthcare, it’s childcare, it’s certainly housing.”
“Is there enough affordable housing around here?” asked Ben Chuckrow, Senior VP/Investments and Brand Manager, Stifel. “I wish there was a little bit more transportation up here, so people weren’t so worried about having to buy a house so close to downtown. People aren’t able to buy in the areas where houses are cheaper because they don’t know how they’re going to get to work [without] a car.”
Honorable mention: talent, acquisition and retention challenges
Elephant in the room Saratoga wasn’t ready for yet: AI
“AI, like the internet did, is going to eventually have a positive impact on inflation, eventually lowering interest rates,” Chuckrow said. He told me afterwards that people’s eyes glazed over so he stopped talking about it.
What keeps them up at night
“Fraud,” said DeMarco. “Cybersecurity, AI…these kind of things continue to proliferate the challenges with fraud in particular in the banking industry — the fraudsters are getting better with new technology. I am very optimistic about the economy, and we have ways to fight the fraudsters, but it’s a big battle.”
“The resilience of this area really makes it so I don’t have to be kept up at night,” Wait said. “I worry about affordability. I worry about money coming out of the banking system and going to places like private credit because that credit is opaque. Keeping a steady growth is one of the benefits that we have in this area. And that’s what makes it such a great place to be.”
Great synthesis of the local economic landscape here. The connection between GlobalFoundries and the broader affordability crisis is intresting, when you have a high-wage employer but housing can't keep pace, it creates this weird bottleneck. I've noticed similar patterns in other tech hubs where transporation becomes the limiting factor. Chuckrow's point about car-dependancy is lowkey arguing for better public transit without saying it outright.