A Good Choice for the EDC

Editorial

Aaron Vega, director of Planning & Economic Development in Holyoke, will assume the reins at the Western Massachusetts Economic Development Council (EDC) in January. And he takes the helm at a very intriguing time for the region.

Indeed, many of the traditional pillars of this region’s economy, especially healthcare and higher education, are struggling and shedding jobs rather than adding them. Manufacturing is more than holding its own, but still coping with workforce issues — specifically the retirement of Baby Boomers and difficulty with replacing them. Other sectors are shrinking as a wave of mergers and acquisitions continues unabated.

Meanwhile, emerging sectors are trying to … emerge. This list includes food science, quantum computing, and green energy, with several of the businesses at the forefront of these efforts located in Holyoke.

All of this — as well as the EDC’s broad mission itself — ties back nicely to something Dave Fontaine Jr., president of the construction firm Fontaine Brothers Inc., said of this region at the recent Developers Conference in downtown Springfield.

He said of the 413, and he’s not alone in these sentiments, “it’s a great place to live … if you can make a living.”

And that’s essentially where we’re at right now in this region — trying to enable those who might want to live here for all the reasons we know about, especially quality of life, to make a living.

And while that is not Vega’s official job description, it might as well be. The EDC is charged with leading and coordinating efforts to stimulate the region’s economy, including efforts that don’t fall in traditional categories of economic development, like workforce development, entrepreneurship, and even marketing.

We’ve followed Vega’s career for nearly 20 years now, since he was a freelance film editor, yoga studio owner, and Holyoke city councilor, a package that earned him a spot in BusinessWest’s 40 Under Forty class of 2010. He would later go on to serve four terms as a state representative before returning to Holyoke City Hall as director of Planning & Economic Development.

He brings to his new post connections in Boston and across the region, but also a track record for getting things done, especially with complicated projects and bringing companies to this region to get started — and, hopefully, put down deep roots.

We believe he is the right person to lead the EDC at this critical juncture and continue the work of the agency and its outgoing president, Rick Sullivan, to make this region not only a great place to live, but one where people can make a living.