A conversation with Colorado’s economic development chief about how the pandemic has changed how the state does business | Business
Pat Meyers just finished his very first calendar year as the head of Colorado’s Business office of Economic Growth and Intercontinental Trade.
He’s also the state’s main financial restoration officer — a new situation designed by Gov. Jared Polis, who appointed Meyers to direct the state’s COVID Innovation Reaction Group in March 2020.
Meyers served as John Hickenlooper’s main of workers when Hickenlooper was governor, and he served in the U.S. Navy from 1978 to 1984.
In a extensive-ranging interview with The Denver Gazette, Meyers talked about his initial 12 months on the occupation, how the economic advancement place of work has modified throughout the pandemic and his leadership style.

What are your reflections following your first calendar year heading the Business of Financial Improvement and Intercontinental Trade?
I was really familiar with OEDIT when I came in, so I experienced a leg up on someone coming in from the outside the house who knew nothing about it. But I’m also the head of the Economic Restoration Office environment, which was not a purpose that at any time existed on this scale — at least in just the state of Colorado. So I would say that creating recovery was truly far more of a challenge than OEDIT. Not only has it been all over a even though, it’s obtained workers that’s been all over for a whilst. They definitely know what they are carrying out and are a good staff. … So I like to imagine I contributed some benefit. But my concentrate was extra on restoration. … It was expending a good deal of federal dollars in a somewhat brief interval of time, and staffing in a way that we know we’re paying it correctly. That is equally by the guidelines, but also exactly where it’s owning the most affect, to the most men and women in most communities, history trying to keep, getting an audit trail and reporting to the public how we’re shelling out all that. … It was an appealing year.
What, if just about anything, has changed in the way the workplace does organization in light of the pandemic?
It genuinely relies upon on the operate within just OEDIT, mainly because there are quite a few naturally. All of the point out organizations have been afflicted by the pandemic. Leave apart for the moment we created the restoration place of work in (OEDIT) and experienced new features that we have not typically experienced. But I would start out with world wide organization. We would historically commit all yr performing trade missions, assembly deal with-to-encounter and bringing people to Colorado with the goal of attracting companies or having corporations extend in this article, or finding to providers pondering about leaving. That grew to become difficult during the pandemic. No person was traveling. Nobody was assembly experience-to-encounter. Ironically, in a way that opened up channels of interaction that just had not existed before. That is comparable to distant get the job done. Right before the pandemic, like 3% of condition workers labored remotely. Now it is properly about 50%. The very same thing happened with worldwide company. … But they really accomplished very a bit in the past year, whereas you would have assumed that would have been the aspect of OEDIT that would have been impacted most. Tourism was definitely impacted as nicely. (The Colorado Tourism Office environment is less than OEDIT). … I would say the way we supported businesses was impacted as properly. It was much more encouraging them stay in business, as opposed to supporting them commence a business.
I discovered a ton of global companies coming to the Space Foundations’ House Symposium last thirty day period in Colorado Springs. What has OEDIT finished to catch the attention of extra?
We’re shifting back again to trade missions. We just experienced a team in Germany and in Scotland undertaking trade missions. We experienced one thing like 70 firms in Mexico Metropolis that we fulfilled with just lately. … But there have been others fascinated in Colorado. As travel is coming again, we’re shifting to much more in-human being conferences and displays. Obtaining said that, I consider distant meetings are right here to stay. … (Worldwide enterprises) are vital since you are bringing progress to the financial state with with any luck , sustainable and environmentally good work. Colorado does a superior career with growing careers by itself. But we’re also about pretty small enterprise. That’s like 90% of the businesses below. We have obtained wonderful research services and universities here. …We also have an aging population — folks aren’t having young children like they employed to, so we will need to be equipped to replace our workforce. Attracting really excellent industries appeals to wage earners from other states or internationally.
I’ve heard you speak about the skills imbalance Colorado is enduring appropriate now — there are a large amount of open up employment, but not always people today with the correct abilities to fill them. How do we correct that?
There is a expertise mismatch. I also imagine there is a geography mismatch. … You have as many open careers proper now as you have unemployed men and women who are nonetheless in the labor force. I believe that also there is a youngster treatment difficulty that has contributed to that, significantly with gals. There are almost certainly a quantity of good reasons there’s a abilities mismatch. … There were being plenty of employment posted necessitating a 4-calendar year faculty diploma that definitely did not require it. But that wipes out a ton of prospective staff since it’s nonetheless a minority of the populace that finishes up finding a four-calendar year diploma. So if you just take all individuals little ones who are not heading to get a 4-yr diploma and you say you are automatically excluded from a whole bunch of prospective work — there you have your capabilities mismatch. It’s a little something that John Hickenlooper and Jared Polis are really focused on — really doing work with apprenticeship courses and regional collaboration. … We’re going to go into each region of the state and say, ‘What do you need? What does the sector within this region have to have?’ And how can we (incentivize) whomever that is to fill the hole? Whether it’s a firm, or a local community university, or it’s possible it is a 4-calendar year establishment. How do we get that teaching in that area? … I talked to a job manager who stated he can not find welders. He reported no 1 wants to go into welding educational institutions. So now what they do is go into higher schools and they say, ‘We’ll fork out you to arrive and start out learning to weld and you are guaranteed a work as lengthy as you learn the craft.’ You’re assured to get a position at the time you graduate from substantial school. We need to have to do much more of that.
Inform me about your marriage with Gov. Polis. Lots of assume you took this occupation as a favor to him.
Perfectly, I don’t believe I’m carrying out him a favor. I was functioning on John’s two campaigns, we had shifted from presidential campaign to the Senate and I had hired a marketing campaign supervisor that in fact knew what she was doing. Simply because I didn’t. Then when COVID hit, the governor and his main, Lisa Kaufmann, asked me to come in on the Crisis Reaction Staff. It was generally hoping to discover healthcare materials and PPE (private protective equipment) for the point out. I talked to John about it, and claimed you know that’s a bigger price than what I was doing — and he stated Okay. I considered this is a little something the place I type of understand offer chain and I recognize the point out and I thought I could enable. He was all for it. I have considered all of my federal government support — and I know this sounds hokey — but it genuinely is type of an possibility to give again. I was both in private practice or non-public sector for like 30 a long time. So this is a way to give back again to the state I grew up in. I adore this point out. … I realize the private sector. I realize budgets. I have an understanding of the state finances and the point out procurement procedures and just the way the point out operates. So it was a lot easier for me to figure out restoration than it could have been for others.
I know many individuals individually who have remaining OEDIT due to the fact you took around, and I have heard about 30% of the workers has left in the last 12 months. Is that typical when a new chief will come in, or do you feel that’s normal churn?

I really don’t truly feel like it’s a issue. It’s actually about 20%, which is variety of the historical norm for this agency. There were being various factors. Some retired. Some bought features from other agencies that were paying more, or some from private sector — which by definition pays extra. It’s a warm task market. … For a great deal of agencies, there’s no personal-sector equivalent. But here, there are a large amount of equivalencies.
What about your leadership type makes you effective? You have gained the trust of a whole lot of potent persons.
My ability to handle individuals and have them truly feel like they are valued and they’re listened to. Even if they disagree with an final result, at the very least they experienced an opportunity to converse about what they thought need to be the result. I’ve carried that with each individual of my profession chapters. Which is been the continuous I have realized. Due to the fact when you’re in the Navy and supervising persons — I was like a 20-yr-old supervising men and women — you find out what will work and what does not. Individuals have different variations. It also can take a whole lot for me to get, like, hair on fire mad. I just do not do it. I also really don’t get panicky, unless of course it requires my daughters.
Editor’s take note: This interview was edited for brevity.
