ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation event Thursday highlighted the Lehigh Valley’s burgeoning field for science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics industries.
It also explored how are businesses are attracting, acquiring, and maintaining the workforce needed to keep the momentum going.
LVEDC’s Fall Signature Event, “Tech and Talent for Tomorrow’s Lehigh Valley,” welcomed a panel of key players for those fields in the area’s to discuss the benefits, challenges and the future of business.
The centerpiece of the event was a panel discussion tapping representatives from Lehigh Valley-based science and technology companies, focusing upon the cultivating, attracting, maintaining, and promoting talented individuals for a field that continues to grow exponentially.
“We need to be exposing young boys and girls to science and technology careers, because there is such a need right now for the STEAM field."Evonik Corporation Senior Vice President of Regional Development Robert Cuscino
After introductions and opening remarks from LVEDC Executive Vice President Jaime Whalen and DaVinci Science Center Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer Lin Erickson, Lehigh Valley Hospital Network Operations Vice President Lisa Liddington discussed how LVHN can create a path between local schools and employment opportunities in the world of STEAM.
Through summer work experience programs and unpaid internships, 31 students were able to shadow workers at LVHN sites to learn about the industry.
“And I'm proud to say that 10 of the students have joined us in professional roles at the hospital, and at least ten more in the pipeline to come and work careers at LVHN,” Liddington said.
“And all of this was made possible through our commitments and partnerships here, all of us here today, to support STEM education and career development as the region's leading healthcare partner.”
The current state of the LV economy
LVEDC President Don Cunningham followed up with a short presentation hitting the highlights of economic development in the Lehigh Valley.
According to Cunningham, the Lehigh Valley ranked No. 1 in the country for economic development in mid-sized markets, and No. 4 among communities of any size in the northeast.
As of 2023, the area saw a peak economy of $50.2 billion, dwarfing other areas, and several states — including Wyoming (at $42 billion) and Vermont (at $35.3 billion).
Cunningham pointed to the numerous economic development partnerships and projects that have helped grow workforces and companies in the Lehigh Valley as driving forces for success.
He called attention to a median income that sits above both state and national levels at $78,287, high growth rates among 18- to 34-year-olds, and a plethora of life sciences businesses.
Cunningham concluded by stating all those points come together “to attract people and talent to share in our great downtowns, like what we're seeing here in Allentown.
"And to continue to make that connection so our companies can find the talent, and people can find a career and opportunities.
"And carve out their little piece of the American dream right here in the Lehigh Valley, and hopefully do it within the life sciences.”
Cultivating, attracting, maintaining and growing STEAM talent
The evening’s panel discussion saw discussion of strategies to grow, attract, maintain, and increase the tech talent pool in the Lehigh Valley.
Participants were Shift4 Director of Talent Acquisition Allison Valentin and Evonik Corporation Senior Vice President of Regional Development Robert Cuscino.
Also, OraSure Technologies Senior Vice President of Human Resources Amy Steigerwalt, and Olympus Corporation of the Americas President of Medical Systems Group Richard Reynolds.
Reynolds and Steigerwalt called attention to the numerous colleges and universities in the community as invaluable resources for top tech candidates.
Steigerwalt said finding the perfect candidates for her company can be difficult, especially when working with specialty areas, requiring some specialized instruction for those potential recruits from scientists already in the field.
“And what better way to teach them then, from them finding students and being able to really bring them into our location, show that what we're doing and really enrich the talent that we have here," Steigerwalt said.
"So our partnership with the local university has been very important to our development and very important to our growth."
Touching on the idea that remote work has presented challenges to recruiting in tech, Valentin said it was important to emphasize on-site work to recruits across the country.
"Learning and creativity happens when we’re all in a room that we can collaborate in,” she said.
“So one way that we recently tried to do outreach to new candidates and talent was by doing a LinkedIn talent talk. So what we did is it was a live video.
"We had one of our leaders in our operations team show our audience our headquarters as like a live view of, ‘This is our global headquarters.’
"He gave a fantastic rundown of why it was so amazing to live and work in the Valley."
Modern challenges and solutions
The speakers agreed that while tech talent is in high demand, fulfilling those needs has become challenging, so it would be beneficial to help grow the field locally and hold onto those prized candidates.
“We need to be exposing young boys and girls to science and technology careers because there is such a need right now for the STEAM field," Cuscino said.
"So we would love to see more engineers come into the Valley. We have some amazing colleges and universities, especially Lafayette College.
“We need to graduate these engineers and keep them in the Lehigh Valley.”
Valentin agreed, saying there's a need for more software engineers and people excited to dive into the field of technology, which could be facilitated by building connections with local colleges and helping them to cultivate talent.
“Once people come into the Valley and join us, it's very rare that they leave, because it's a wonderful place to raise a family."Richard Reynolds
The key to continued success in that world is creating a business atmosphere that promotes the concept of a long-term career, Reynolds explained, with the overall appeal of the Lehigh Valley’s culture being pivotal to that goal.
“Once people come into the Valley and join us, it's very rare that they leave, because it's a wonderful place to raise a family," Reynolds said.
"It's close to a metropolitan city, so that you can enjoy that, but it's got that rural element to it, and some really great places to go out.
“It means it kind of ticks all the boxes, and we use people who've moved into the area to use word of mouth to get people to come as well, and it works really effectively in that respect.”
Beyond that, it is a matter of moving past the concept of the Lehigh Valley of days past, Cuscino said.
He said “the Billy Joel song" — referring to Joel's 1982 hit "Allentown" — "doesn’t help us.”
“We have to overcome that old-school-school perception of the steel town where the factories are closing, and we have to share all the wonderful attributes that Richard shared,” Cuscino said.
One way to accomplish that is to promote the idea that a globe-spanning business can be situated right in the Lehigh Valley, with a community that attracts and helps keep top talent in the area for years to come.
“It's always nice to be able to proudly say that that we are based here. We're right down the street from Olympus," Valentin said.
"So we do have this great area that we're just looking and craving bring in talent to our headquarters."
