KALAMAZOO ? Departing Southwest Michigan First CEO Barry Broome said he expects his replacement to be more of a consensus builder than he was. In February, Broome will become President of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council.
In an interview, Broome also said he has left a legacy at Southwest Michigan First that will help Kalamazoo become one of the centers for pharmaceutical and life science research well into the future.
The first part of this interview is featured below. Part two will be published shortly.
Q: How do you feel about leaving Kalamazoo?
A: This was one of the hardest decisions I?ve ever made.
It?s hard to time the perfect transition. I really think for this community, this transition is closer to perfect than imperfect. I really love my staff and I feel incredibly privileged to having reported to a board of directors that is the caliber of Southwest Michigan Firsts. I?ve had some really extraordinary experiences here that aren?t likely to be replicated. But that?s what will make this experience so treasured throughout my life.
Q: Do you think the person they bring in to replace you should be more of a manager and less of an entrepreneur.
A: I think you?ll see a different type of leader. And I think you?ll see someone more executive than entrepreneur. Someone who is probably more of a consensus builder. I have always thought of myself as a coalition builder, not a consensus builder. I try to find the coalition I need to get a project done, whether it achieves consensus has been secondary.
Q: Some people referred to you as the bull.
A: Well, we were in trouble. I can be a bull. I think during Pfizer, if I wasn?t a bull, we would have lost a lot more jobs and we wouldn?t have been able to build the companies we have at the Innovation Center.
Q: Is there one thing that stands out in your mind as your legacy?
A: I?d like to think I helped restore the community?s confidence in itself and helped the community embrace the notion of competing for its future. And that?s now so ingrained in the community?s culture that people forget we didn?t think that way at all when I came here. The other key thing is the best professional work of my life is Pfizer. I know it was.
The fact that this community has the animal health resource lab for the company and manufacturing for the company with its lab still intact downtown. You wouldn?t be hearing all those great things about downtown if the lab wasn?t there.
I think the animal health business has the chance to be something special in this community for the next 50 years. The manufacturing asset is very productive. All manufacturing assets have a shelf life, but I think this one will have a very good one.
And I think at the end of the day, in three to five years, Midlink will have two to three thousand new jobs, our research parks will be built out, and I think the Innovation Center will be starting to spin out companies and Western Michigan University will be better than it was before. If we end up faced with another Pfizer challenge, I think we?ll have all our energies and hands free to deal with it.
And I think with the additional growth and strength that will occur in this economy over the next three years, we?ll manage that comfortably. And there will be no looking back. Come to this community in 10 or 15 years and I think it will be a haven for new ventures.
Q: What challenges lie ahead for Kalamazoo?
A: The community needs to be asset driven to its highest level. The Greater Kalamazoo community needs to look at assets that may be just fine now, but could be great. The airport, the work force programs, and other assets, can?t be looked at only when they are in trouble.
The community is happy with functional programs, but it needs to push itself more to higher standards to make it more competitive; air service, work force, transportation. And if it pushes itself through those things and pushes itself through the new venture economy, I really think this community could pass Ann Arbor, not only economically, but pass it in terms of being the best balance of a community in Michigan. The University town with the high performance companies. A great place to run a business and a great place for outdoor recreation. Strong schools, strong arts, strong businesses. That?s what I see for this community.
My only other dream is 10 years from now I?ll come back to this community and I?ll go up to the Innovation Center and I?ll go inside and there will be some intern there from Western Michigan and they are operating the front office. And I?ll walk in and say, ?Hi, my name is Barry Broome. Tell me about this facility and would you take me on a tour? And have that person not know who I am, and walk me through and show me the next 12 to 15 interesting companies being built in Kalamazoo. And then name the four to seven that are sitting in the Business Technology Park, or the downtown Biomed Corridor. I?ll take the tour, get back into my car and move on. That?s what I?d like to do in 10 years.
This interview will be featured in the new Southwest Michigan First eNewsletter to be published Monday Jan. 17. Part two of this interview will be published on Wednesday Jan. 19.
