Executive Suite: Terri Alessi-Miceli

Revitalizing Long Island will be a key theme at the Hauppauge Industrial Association's 26th  business-to-business trade show and conference this month, says HIA-LI president Terri Alessi-Miceli. Representatives from large-scale projects such as the Ronkonkoma Hub, Wyandanch Rising and downtown Patchogue will speak at the May 22 event at Suffolk County Community College's Brentwood Campus.

A networking group of about 4,500 individual members and more than 1,000 companies, HIA-LI serves as a catalyst for funding opportunities and workforce education while supporting the dense Hauppauge Industrial Park that is a workplace for 55,000 employees. Considered one of the largest in the Northeast, the 1,400-acre park is due to expand within the next two months.

Alessi-Miceli, 53, networked at HIA as managing director of Dale Carnegie Training for more than 20 years before being recruited as president in 2004.

What challenges do Long Island businesses face?

The high cost of doing business is more significant than it's ever been. So people need to be able to get information quickly and all in one place. That collaborative effort needs to continue. We've done a lot, but we need to do more to make it easier to do business. Funding is also a big piece: understanding where they can get access to capital, understanding what incentives are out there, what grants might be out there.

Which businesses are overcoming these challenges?

The health care industry is building and booming. Many of the pharmaceutical companies in this industrial park have had the opportunity to get incentives and grants from the Suffolk Industrial Development Agency and from Empire State Development.

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What new industries are coming into the park?

A lot of distributors and the pharmaceutical industry.

When a new networker walks into that room, what's the first thing they should do?

Three things: Before they show up, try to find out who will be there so they can be a lot more strategic. Then seek out somebody they know, who can introduce them to people. It's always great to be introduced by somebody else; if not, the third and final step would be for them to walk in and literally just begin introducing themselves to people.

What trends are you seeing?

A lot of effort being spent on start-ups -- like Accelerate Long Island and Lean LaunchPad, which is through Stony Brook, and many of the incubators, and the Small Business Administration -- all are encouraging the entrepreneurial spirit. It's needed now more than ever . . . a lot of people are reinventing themselves.

CORPORATE SNAPSHOT

NAME: Terri Alessi-Miceli, president, Hauppauge Industrial Association

WHAT IT DOES: Provides a forum for business leaders to network, solve problems and form strategic partnerships; supports the Hauppauge Industrial Park.

EMPLOYEES: 7

REVENUE: $1 million to $1.5 million.