May 05, 2025

172: Pennsylvania's First Economic Strategy in 20 Years with Aaron Pitts

22 minutes

In this episode of the Econ Dev Show, host Dane Carlson speaks with Aaron Pitts, Chief Commercial Officer for Business PA, who shares how Pennsylvania is revitalizing its economic development approach under Governor Shapiro's administration.

Aaron explains the creation of Business PA, a dedicated unit within the Department of Community and Economic Development focused exclusively on building and maintaining business relationships. He details Pennsylvania's strategic advantages as a founding state with major cities, rural areas, and world-class educational institutions like UPenn and Carnegie Mellon, while highlighting their focus on five key sectors: life sciences, manufacturing, energy, AI/tech, and business services.

Listeners learn about Pennsylvania's impressive $500 million investment in site development, streamlined permitting processes that reduced business license waits from eight weeks to two days, and how Pittsburgh has emerged as a global AI leader with companies like Google, Nvidia, and Duolingo.

Aaron also shares insights from his previous experience helping create JobsOhio and explains why leaving corporate America for economic development has been so personally fulfilling.

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Ten Actionable Takeaways for Economic Developers

Create dedicated units focused solely on business relationships within your economic development organization to ensure businesses receive specialized attention.

Invest significantly in site readiness programs with dedicated funding to create shovel-ready locations that can immediately accommodate business relocations.

Implement a concierge service for permitting to help businesses navigate regulatory processes more efficiently and combat negative perceptions about permitting complexity.

Identify and focus on 4-5 key sectors where your region has competitive advantages rather than trying to be everything to everyone.

Build regional partnerships with clear roles and responsibilities for business retention, expansion and attraction activities to present a unified front to prospective companies.

Bring corporate experience into economic development leadership to better understand and speak the language of business executives.

Develop a strategy that balances care for incumbent businesses while positioning your region to attract cutting-edge industries.

Create a disciplined financial model to evaluate incentive offers that ensures both the business and the region benefit from each deal.

Leverage educational institutions as key partners in workforce development and innovation to create distinct advantages in specific sectors.

Foster an attitudinal shift within economic development organizations from reactive to proactive engagement with businesses to demonstrate that you genuinely care about their success.

Special Guest: Aaron Pitts.