Reflections from NYATEP Executive Director, Chris Nardone

Dear Members and Partners,

Thank you to everyone who joined us in Rochester for the 2024 Partners in Workforce and Economic Development Conference, held in partnership with the NYS Economic Development Council. During this annual event, attendees get an opportunity to spend time together learning from each other with the hope to identify best practices and bring them back to our regions, areas, and organizations. The discussions and sharing of ideas is one of the many ways we can leverage our connections to one another and make every region and county across the state a better place to live and work.

Some of the sessions that were the most thought provoking for me were those focused on the childcare crisis that many New Yorkers are forced to confront every day. The Dutchess County Workforce Investment Board presented a childcare coalition with the hope of building a long term and replicable strategy to combat the childcare drought. There were also many discussions and innovative ideas presented on the topic of AI and its role in the future of work. The idea that Artificial Intelligence will be the end of the working world as we know it has created some resistance to the technology, but its ability to multiply the productivity of the workforce we have will allow economic growth that would otherwise not be possible. There were also many exhibitors, events, raffles, and time for networking. This was an event I will always remember, taking on this position in September and on my 25^th working day, I had the pleasure of leading the opening remarks.

As the excitement of my first Partners in Workforce and Economic Development Conference as Executive Director has waned, I have had some time to reflect on the experience and would like to share some of what I’ve learned.

First, be present. It’s an important and often exhausting thing, but if you are asking people to trust you and believe in your capacity, they need to see that you put in the effort to show up.

Second, listen more than you talk. When you have an opportunity to meet 400 people in 3 days, most of them members or long-time partners, it’s most important to listen and learn. To be effective in our work we must understand the situations and environments that our members and partners exist in. We come to understand this by listening and asking questions.

Lastly, when you have experts listen to them. I was surrounded throughout the conference by an experienced, capable, and expert team. The NYATEP staff understood the needs of the attendees and what they needed from me to make the conference the great event that it was. When they spoke, I listened. Move forward with humility and self-awareness and understand that your title doesn’t make you an expert. 

Those were three (of the many) takeaways from my first NYATEP conference as Executive Director. I would go on, but I was asked to write a few words, and I feel like I am already well past a few. To conclude, I'd like to thank the NYATEP team Adrienne, Joelle, Megan, Molly, and Therese as well as The NYATEP Board of Directors and all of our members. Without the support of the NYATEP Board and the NYATEP team, there would be no conference. Without the members there would be no NYATEP.

Thank You!

Chris Nardone
Executive Director
NYATEP

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