Officials aim to save Arrow jobs
Kenneth Adams, head of Empire State Development, said he hopes to direct federal aid to businesses hurt by Sandy. Credit: Newsday/Karen Wiles Stabile
State and Long Island economic development officials plan to meet Wednesday with executives of Arrow Electronics Inc. in an attempt to see that the company keeps jobs on the Island after it relocates its headquarters from Melville to Colorado.
Long Island business and political officials have been worried since Arrow, one of the world's largest distributors of components for computers, announced last week that it will move its corporate headquarters to Englewood, a suburb of Denver. Arrow has about 550 employees in Melville, and Long Island officials want to make sure those jobs remain here. Arrow's chief executive, Michael J. Long, is a Colorado resident.
Kenneth Adams, new commissioner of the state's Empire State Development, said in an interview at an economic conference in Melville Tuesday that state officials plan to "reach out" to Arrow executives. He made his remarks after addressing about 100 people who attended a Long Island Economic Development Summit sponsored by National Grid and the Long Island Power Authority.
"We're obviously disappointed to lose the headquarters to Colorado," Adams said in the interview. "We're going to reach out to them." Adams noted Arrow did not reach out to state or local officials before announcing plans for its headquarters.
In an unrelated matter, Adams said Empire State Development plans a $10-million advertising campaign called "New York Open for Business." He said ESD's board is to select an ad firm to run the campaign at its meeting in Manhattan Thursday.
Andrea Lohneiss, Empire State Development's Long Island director, said that during the visit to Arrow "we will talk to them about potential investment." She said state and Long Island officials would discuss funding for machinery and job development. Arrow spokesman John Hourigan said the company does not plan to move any jobs from Long Island. "Nothing has changed since last week's" announcement, he said. "This is an address change."
Long Island officials said they don't want to take any chances.
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