Change We Need - Local CEOs postulate Obama's impact on Business

Washington Smart CEO Magazine
February 2009
Jeanine Gajewski

......It’s The Economy, Stupid

Of all the country’s ills, the economy is by far the most pressing issue for Washington-area businesses – and CEOs expect the new administration to make it priority number one, as well. If business owners had any doubts they were feeling the pangs of recession for the past year, Wall Street’s spectacular meltdown this fall drove the point home, just as the country was preparing to elect its next president.

Todd Stottlemyer, president and CEO of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), confirms that the faltering economy is top of mind for the business owners he represents. "Business owners are very concerned," he says. "Their plans for hiring are not robust, capital expenditure plans are low and they are concerned about the credit market."

"We haven’t even felt the pinch yet on the economy. There isn’t another shoe to drop – there are many shoes waiting to drop," says Norm Grandstaff, president of Ideas Communicated, LLC, a Vienna, VA-based publication design firm. Grandstaff says one of his steady customers has already gone belly up as the result of the recession and he is worried that the worst is yet to come. "What about the $100 billion boondoggles of failed projects in Iraq? And what about our existing debt – the highest it’s ever been. I hope since things are so dire that Obama and his staff will hit the ground running and have the opportunity to get a lot done. But I pray for him; I can’t imagine a worse mess to inherit."

With businesses and consumers alike desperate for financial relief, some CEOs say most Americans, regardless of whom they voted for, are ready to pin their hopes on the new president’s economic solutions. David Nevins, CEO of Nevins & Associates, says he’s seeing what appears to be a bi-partisan push for Obama’s success. "Fifty percent voted for him, but pretty close to 100 percent would like to see him succeed, and that’s not something I’ve seen for a long time," he says.

"I think there is a "rallying around the flag" feeling right now. We want (Obama) to be really good," says Donna Evers, founder and president of Evers & Co. Residential Real Estate, which employs 62 agents in the greater DC area. "There is no point in being a detractor at this point. The political grousing seems petty compared to the problems we have."

Because desperate times call for desperate measures, some thing Obama will have the political license to make bigger, faster changes than would otherwise be afforded a new president – for better or for worse.

"More than usual, because of the economic crisis, there is opportunity for more real change," says Max Brown, partner and co-founder of 360jmg. "People are going to be eager to move more aggressively than would an administration that was inheriting a more stable situation."