Q&A
31 JANUARY 2013
REGIONSBUSINESS.COM
DANIEL FITZPATRICK’S
COLLABORATIVE ASSIGNMENT
The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce Chairman and Citizens Bank regional executive says natural gas and world-class education put the city in the middle of a Renaissance, but business leaders, innovators and government need to work together for improvements to come to fruition.
What’s the elevator pitch for the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce? The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce represents its more than 5,000 member companies, which is a wide variety of large, Fortune 100 companies through entrepreneurial businesses — from restaurants to startup technology companies — throughout the Greater Philadelphia region. Why are you the man for the job? That’s actually a great question. I’ve been meaning to ask that myself. I never lobbied to do the job. The role of the chairman is to work on setting strategy and goals for the Chamber for the next year or two, and the attributes that I brought was a passion and caring for Philadelphia and the Greater Philadelphia tri-state
region, and the ability to work collaboratively with leaders from various industries, companies, not-for-profit industries and government. What is the Chamber’s strategy? We believe in creating an environment that facilitates a private industry, working collaboratively with government and the non-profit sector to make the region as attractive for businesses to start their businesses here, grow their businesses here, move their businesses from some other region to this region. What makes Philadelphia attractive to businesses? One of the great stories of the Greater Philadelphia region is our educational industry as well as our life sciences industry. We need to
continue to invest in that, cultivate that, advocate for that and continue to build upon that strength. The unique opportunity we have right now is the Renaissance in manufacturing, due in part to the energy industry that is growing more rapidly, from an investment perspective, in the region due to the shale gas phenomenon. And what that’s doing, obviously, is driving energy costs down for our region, certainly being close to that supply, but it also creates opportunities for the Greater Philadelphia region as a processing site for natural gas as well as an export location. How does your job help with your chamber work? I was always very active with the chamber on its executive committee,
but I also believe it’s very synergistic with my job as the Mid-Atlantic Regional Executive for Citizens Bank, because of my knowledge of the economy from so many great business leaders throughout our region. Knowing what their needs are and how the Chamber can help them achieve their growth and create those job opportunities for businesses in the region makes it, again, that symbiotic relationship. If I can lead the chamber effectively and help grow our regional economy, that certainly helps every bank doing businesses in the Greater Philadelphia region as well as most businesses doing business in the Greater Philadelphia region. Spending weekends devoted to chamber activities, it really is part of my job as a banking industry leader in the region.
PHOTO BY REBECCA SAVEDOW
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