CEO Note
2024: A NEW ERA FOR THE PITTSBURGH REGION BEGINS
Stefani Pashman, CEO
As these first few weeks of 2024 unfold, an exciting era has arrived in Pittsburgh. New and returning elected leaders are taking office throughout our region, bringing with them valuable perspectives that will inform the public-private partnership that is crucial to our work at the Allegheny Conference.
This incoming wave of policymakers signals a transition for the entire region: it is through our public-private partnerships that we are able to accomplish our most significant goals, and I cannot emphasize enough how critical they are to our success.
Already, our partnerships are hard at work seeking paths toward economic development and growth for all. When our elected leaders work in harmony with the Conference’s stakeholders and the region’s businesses, we have proven that we can take on big challenges and assume the risks that are catalysts for the most meaningful change.
Toward that end, the priorities we hope to tackle across the region in 2024 include:
- Repositioning downtown Pittsburgh for the future as a model for main streets throughout the region.
- Creating more responsive, predictable, consistent, and modern permitting processes.
- Positioning our region to capture opportunities — including those for transformational federal investment — to support inclusive growth, economic development, and investments in physical and digital infrastructure.
- Supporting external attraction, expansion, and retention of existing businesses — large and small, emerging and established — to ensure home-grown ideas and talent thrive here.
- Capitalizing on vast innovation assets to drive economic growth.
- Ensuring communities in all corners of the region, especially those most in need of investment, have the resources needed to be vital and flourish.
These are just a few examples of what we at the Conference hope to accomplish in working with the newly elected and re-elected leaders across the region. As we pursue these priorities, we remain eager to hear from you, our members and stakeholders, regarding those issues that are top of mind for you as the new year begins.
In Allegheny County, there is an additional tool to make your voice heard: this community survey, which is available in multiple languages online to gauge your thoughts on housing, healthcare, safety, environment, small business support, and other topics.
On a personal note, as the first woman to lead the Allegheny Conference, I am excited to now welcome Allegheny County’s first woman executive, Sara Innamorato. It isn’t always easy to be first, but it is surely gratifying to see woman leaders making things happen in our region.
As we embrace the challenges that this year represents, I look forward to working together with all of you to achieve progress on our collective vision, and I hope you share my excitement in discovering the opportunities that lie in the months ahead.