To submit Business Bulletin announcements, click on image.
Eric Paley, the state’s secretary of economic development, says Massachusetts has a lot going for it, including the highest gross domestic product of any state, but still faces economic challenges.
He was the keynote speaker at the Merrimack Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Economic Development Conference and Business Expo Wednesday. Paley told business leaders he has spent much of his time since his appointment last September traveling the state and talking to business leaders so he can better understand its strengths and challenges.
“First, we should acknowledge how lucky we are. Massachusetts actually had the highest GDP growth of any state in 2025. I would say when I go around the state and talk about that, most people are pretty surprised,” he said.
When it comes to competitiveness, he noted, Massachusetts is in a strong position because it can attract and retain businesses that rely on skilled workers—scientists, engineers and technicians, for example, because the state has the most highly education population in the country.
“So we’re bringing in extraordinary talent. And we need people across the entire spectrum of education, economic where-with-all. We need all of that. It is a key component to our economy,” he argued.
He said there is still much to do, particularly addressing economic inequities. He said he’s worried about retaining young people age 22 to 35 because the state has the second highest cost of living in the country.
“But affordability is not just about housing. It’s about transportation. It’s about energy costs, which we’re one of the highest in the country, the whole region is. It’s also about health care. There are a lot of factors that are affecting affordability,” he noted.
Ian Burns, manager of community and economic development programs at the Merrimack Valley Planning Commission, expanded on the topic. He urged business leaders to talk to local officials about supporting more housing growth.
“It is estimated that in our region alone, we have to produce about 20,000 new units of new housing in the decade in order to accommodate our growing population. To continue growing our workforce, we need to build up this housing faster than at the pace we currently are,” Burns said.
Lane A. Glenn, president of Northern Essex Community College, talked about how his institution is expanding its career technical education programs. He said he is looking forward to the possible collaboration with Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School to build a new state-of-the-art school building on Northern Essex’s Haverhill campus.
“So we take our role in workforce development, which, of course, is a key component of economic development, quite seriously,” Glenn said.
Octavien Spanner, senior advisor to Lawrence Mayor Brian A. DePeña, talked about the $1.1 billion in new development in the pipeline for his city.
Paley encouraged business managers in the room to register with the state’s Business Front Door program as a way of staying in touch with resources the state offers to help entrepreneurs just starting out as well as businesses looking to relocate or expand.
“We are constantly trying to help companies expand in Massachusetts and bring companies to Massachusetts. And, we’re trying to understand regional advantages so that we can bring companies to places that can really satisfy their needs,” he said.
Prior to being named economic development secretary, Paley was managing partner of Founder Collective, one of the world’s highest-performing seed-stage venture capital funds.