Annual Dinner GOVERNOR
Progress, Not Promises IN HIS SECOND ANNUAL DINNER ADDRESS, Gov. Matt Meyer opened by thanking State Chamber leadership and sponsors, offering special recognition to President Mike Quaranta, who had announced his upcoming retirement just minutes earlier. Meyer praised the State Chamber as a key force in uniting Delaware’s business community around shared priorities. “Thanks for your tremendous leadership,” Meyer said. “Your hard work with your team in marketing Delaware to the nation and to the world has been tremendous. And you’ve taken a business community that is often in competition and helped it collaborate on initiatives that create jobs and grow Delaware’s economy for generations to come.” Meyer pointed to progress made over the past year. “We’ve taken historic steps forward in protecting our corporate franchise, and we’ve added clarity to Delaware corporate law,” Meyer remarked. He emphasized the state’s continued strength as the nation’s incorporation capital. “We saw nearly 280,000 new entities incorporated here in Delaware just in the first ten months of last year,” Meyer said. “That’s 14% more than the same period in 2024.” He also highlighted investments aimed at supporting growth and affordability statewide, including workforce development, housing supply, and streamlining government services. Gov. Meyer pointed to the launch of the Office of Workforce Development to better align state resources
with the jobs of the future, along with the groundbreaking of Merck’s $1 billion state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Wilmington. While Gov. Meyer emphasized that recruiting and retaining major employers remains important, he said the state is also focused on helping startups scale. “We are clear eyed about where the next wave of growth is coming from,” Meyer said. “From innovation, from startups, and from people who are willing to take a risk on an idea and build something new right here in Delaware. That’s why we’re sharpening the focus of the Delaware Prosperity Partnership to do more than recruit and retain big business.” Looking ahead, Gov. Meyer said his administration plans to launch a digital permitting interface to make housing approvals easier across agencies. Meyer outlined a “deregulate and innovate” agenda centered on making government faster and more responsive to employers and residents, urging business leaders to share with his office what slows growth down. “That means we don’t just celebrate that Delaware is a great place to incorporate a business. It means Delaware is a great place to do business.” Meyer closed with a message of accountability and follow-through. “We don’t make promises. We make plans,” Meyer finished. “Then we turn those plans into progress.” As he put it plainly, “Empty political promises mean nothing. We say how we’re going to deliver for people, and then we do it.”
“In the year ahead, we’re going to push a deregulate and innovate economic agenda that is practical, that is measurable, and that is driven by real feedback from the people who actually use the systems.” — Governor Matt Meyer
18
J109400_DB_MarApr2026_v2.indd 18
March/April 2026
| DELAWARE BUSINESS
2/25/26 9:04 AM