Editor's note: Former board chairmen for Wilmington Business Development sent the following letter to Greater Wilmington Business Journal publisher Rob Kaiser in response to the recent article "On the Right Track?" that ran in the Aug. 1 edition. Click here for the article. Below is the letter in its entirety and as shared with WBD members. The current WBD board also issued a separate response. To read that letter, click here.
August 12, 2014
Rob Kaiser, Publisher
Greater Wilmington Business Journal
c/o SAJ Media, LLC
219 Station Rd. Suite 202
Wilmington, NC 28405
Dear Mr. Kaiser:
Last week's feature on economic development strategies in Greater Wilmington is the sort of story regions that compete with us love to read. Unfortunately, corporate site selectors - such as Jay Garner, whose report your contract writer liberally cited - also come upon the web-based versions of such articles when quietly piecing together their research on contending communities.
By so publicly hoisting a red flag, the Greater Wilmington Business Journal has thus done the people of this region a monumental disservice.
We welcome coverage of regional economic issues from your publication and other media entities. As former chairmen of Wilmington Business Development (WBD), several of us spoke regularly to journalists about the organization and its work. But last week's direct assault on WBD by your paper amounted to fomenting - not just reporting on - division and disagreement about economic development strategies here.
Differing views on the allocation of scarce economic development resources and setting of achievable priorities are inevitable in today's complicated business world. They are commonplace in any American city and county where residents care passionately about their future. Most communities manage these disputes through quiet, ongoing engagement, comity and compromise. Wilmington, sadly, is airing them in the pages of its business weekly. Yet in fairness to the people, businesses and public officials of this region, they didn't make that call. You did.
There is much we find in last week's article that is, at best, disappointing and, at worst, offensive. The cartoon caricature sets off a mocking tone well before the first word even is read. There is an insinuation of evasiveness on the part of our CEO, which appears to suggest that pre-maturely divulging sensitive project details to media organizations is more important than fulfilling legally-enforceable terms of written confidentiality agreements with the businesses we serve. Otherwise, WBD routinely provides insight to business reporters working in earnest to keep readers, viewers and listeners informed about economic issues. Most project details, of course, are made public record once companies announce their choice of communities. We're therefore left with the impression your publication's beef is not so much with Mr. Satterfield or WBD, but with the ethics and operating standards of the economic development profession itself (and, perhaps, with today's business world in general).
Economic development encompasses a universe of different programs, policies, tactics and tools. WBD's mission is a subset - albeit a critical one - of a host of organizations, businesses, educational programs and government offices working together to keep our economy vibrant. Fundamental to WBD's role is the expansion of tax-base: providing reliable and growing streams of local government revenue that keep public-sector wheels turning. That means law enforcement, EMS, parks, schools, roads and other critical government services remain adequately funded.
What truly ranks as offensive in last week's diatribe is its reliance on anonymous reporting. In short, the practice in this context hinges on the bizarre. Unnamed critics may be standard fare in news coverage of national security or intelligence policy, but the story of how a region builds and executes job-growth strategies is not exactly the stuff of which cloak-and-dagger thrillers are made. Perhaps it lent some metaphorical continuity to an earlier reference to the CIA and the overall depiction of our business development efforts as somehow operating in the shadows. If so, that's a cold slap in the face to our organization's legion of partners, allies, sponsors and members, not to mention the employers that have worked with us in implementing relocation and expansion plans.
To quote one unnamed source might have warranted only a slightly raised eyebrow. But to cite three approaches supermarket tabloid territory. The reek of an agenda becomes noticeable. [Just how, freelance writer Kevin Maurer might have asked his unnamed sources, would or could WBD have "alienated" their or anyone's business? Just curious.] It was, at least, heartening to see supporters of WBD standing proudly next to their names when discussing the organization and its work.
It's a regrettable fact of life for membership organizations that basic disagreements over mission and direction over the years can result in disgruntled ex-members. As to the unhappy former board member who was eager to lend his (or her) thoughts, but not his name, to Mr. Maurer's assault, we're none of us sure which board meetings he might have attended (or perhaps, didn't), but those we've presided over at WBD during the last 20 years certainly were chock full of information, learning opportunities and candid discussion.
As former chairmen of this organization, we are current and retired leaders from success minded businesses, including some of the world's most competitive global enterprises. We know where the bottom line is, and we don't have the luxury of wasting time and funding on organizations that are long on talk but short on tangible results. That's why we stand by WBD and, through it, our voluntary service on behalf of Greater Wilmington's economy.
Regretfully yours,
Bill King, Chairman
James Hundley, MD, Chairman
Scott Sullivan, Chairman
Rick Biberstein, Chairman
Rick Willetts, Chairman
Greg Pittillo, Chairman
Peter Fensel, Chairman
Paul Boney, Chairman
Bill Cameron, Chairman
Bob Warwick, Chairman
cc: Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo
Wilmington City Manager Sterling Cheatham
New Hanover County Commission Chairman Woody White
New Hanover County Manager Chris Coudriet
Pender County Commission Chairman David Williams
