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05/09/2018 08:30 AMLast year, state budget worries pushed off plans to hire a part-timer as North Branford’s first economic development coordinator. Turns out the timing couldn’t have been better. A search this spring brought the town Roger Salway, a recently retired, global agricultural manufacturing executive and business development professional. Last week, Roger started his first day on the job as North Branford’s new economic development coordinator.
Roger, a newly settled Essex resident, wouldn’t have been available for the job last year. At that time, as founder and CEO of Roger Salway International, he was facilitating grants and action plans to continue years of work to develop core agricultural growth of small farms and spur local economies in Africa.
“My work I was doing, really up to early this year, was in the southern highlands of Tanzania,” says Roger.
He and his wife moved to Essex from Minneapolis to be closer to their two children, who live in New York City.
Once the Salways got to Connecticut, the plan was for Roger to retire, but in March, his wife happened to mention seeing an ad for the North Branford job. Roger decided to give it a go.
“My wife has a statement. It says, ‘The purpose of life is to have a purpose in life,” says Roger. “I know there are a lot of folks that have retired and are happy to be retired, but seemingly have no purpose in life. One of the beautiful things I’ve been able to gain, having worked in the agricultural scene, is there is always the opportunity to give back and help.”
In fact, part of his attraction to North Branford is the town’s agricultural heritage and continuing efforts to develop its farms and other agricultural concerns as thriving businesses.
“With this being sort of an agricultural economy, I hope that I can be of help,” says Roger.
Town Manager Michael Paulhus hired Roger in April and introduced him to the Town Council on May 1, Roger’s second day on the job. Roger will work closely with Paulhus and many other town leaders and groups, including North Branford’s Economic Development Commission (EDC). Among his responsibilities, Roger will be helping the town to attract prospective businesses, industries, and companies that may be looking to start up, relocate, or expand. He’ll also work to retain the town’s current business players and look at ways to help effectively market the town.
It’s a tall order for someone who has part-time hours to get the job done and made more challenging by a town budget with no specific funding earmarked for economic development efforts. Luckily, Roger brings much to the table, including many successful experiences in fielding grants, generating innovative ideas, and researching and assessing opportunities.
Prior to founding Roger Salway International, Roger’s career experience included his role with Deere & Company (manufacturer of John Deere machinery and equipment) as director of marketing for Europe, Africa, and parts of Asia.
“I had about 55 countries in my reach and responsibility,” says Roger. “It gave me insight into working with well-developed countries in Europe and undeveloped countries in Africa, and what type of agricultural machinery was most appropriate, and how to help them get the equipment they needed.”
After Roger left Deere, he went on to become a corporate officer of a major John Deere supplier based in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Roger anticipates drawing on much of his work experience to help North Branford as its economic development coordinator. In the past, he’s developed programs with funding from the National Cooperative Business Association and through grant writing to win support from organizations including the Rockefeller Foundation and federal programs including the U.S. Agency for International Development.
“Part of my job will certainly be researching grants and finding opportunities for economic development, whether they are at the federal level, at the local level or at the state level,” says Roger. “It could be capital grants, training grants, [or] renovating properties so somebody could move a business into it,” among others grant opportunities, he says.
Roger has been touring North Branford to familiarize himself with its profile and identify key prospects, from the historic potential in the Augur House to top industries such as Tilcon CT Inc. and major developments like Evergreen Woods. Roger sees plenty of opportunity for fine tuning economic development in North Branford.
“The thing that strikes me is that we have some big players, like Tilcon and Evergreen Woods, [so] let’s make sure we maintain and expand the current economic base, because that’s easier than getting someone new,” says Roger. “Next, how do we attract new investors, particularly in technology? Connecticut is the fourth-ranked state in the country for investment in research and development. Why are those companies not coming to North Branford?”
Attracting technology rather than, for example, “a big box store that would probably want to be on the interstate,” leads to bringing in highly skilled people and families who may move to town to be closer to the workplace, all of which buoys up North Branford’s tax base. Roger says the town already has excellent schools and sports and recreation facilities, which are a big draw for new families, as well as other attractive components.
“It’s got a lot of pluses. It’s friendly, it’s clean [and] a lot of people want to get out to a town like this, to have a bit more space around them, to have trails they can use,” says Roger, adding the town’s infrastructure is solid, another plus.
Roger also sees great value in North Branford’s agricultural economy and is excited to help grow agritourism here. Agritourism revolves around activities that bring visitors to a farms, orchards, or other agricultural destinations. Among its farm destinations and wealth of farm markets, North Branford has two vineyards (one with a popular tasting room, the other soon to construct its first tasting room) and recently OK’d its first farm brewery and tasting room.
Roger says the town’s all-volunteer EDC and Agricultural Commission got a great start by developing and promoting North Branford’s farm trail brochure and map in 2017.
“There’s the marketing end of this job—that’s promoting North Branford, period,” says Roger. “The farm trail brochure is a start. You see vineyards being opened up and [farm breweries]. All of this can be linked up to help make this town a destination for agritourism. It just needs more coordination.”