Table of Contents
Cover Story:
Only Time Will Tell
A look ahead at what 2007 will mean for Rockland
Feature Story:
How Will He Do That?
Hector May has big plans for the RBA
DEPARTMENTS:
Economics Roundup
• The Smart Investor
Try a financial diet in 2007
• Economic
Viewpoint
Coming to America or conundrum continued
Business Roundup
• Office Efficiency
Streamlining office operations through lean processes
• Marketing By Design
Branding your image - it's not just for the "big" guys
Ask The Experts
• Business Start-ups
Getting your basics together
• Is It Tax Season Yet?
Your tax questions answered
Retail Round-Up
• Feast or Famine
Taking the pulse of the local restaurant biz
• In The News
Invest in Your Community
• Heart of a Lyon
Former Jet delivers an inspirational message
• Family Shelter Honors
First-ever program recognizes community contributions
Odds & Ends
• From The Publishers
• PR Patter
Dedicated Section:
Rockland Business Association:
The President’s Desk
All in all, it was a very good year
Handing Over The Torch
Annual membership luncheon introduces new RBA board
RBA Happenings
• Committee and Council Info
• Calendar of Events
• New Members
How Will He Do That?
Hector May has big plans for the RBA
By Steven Powell
May is uniquely qualified to be the voice of small business and to lead the RBA and its memberships into a new era. May’s financial firm, Executive Compensation Planners, specializes in the custom design and implementation of tax-qualified plans, executive compensation programs, financial, tax and estate planning. As such, Mr. May has worked with attorneys, CPAs, stock brokerage firms and insurance professionals as a consultant in these areas for the last 30 years.
He is a member of the Association of Certified Financial Planners and has addressed many business and professional groups, including CPA firms, law firms, stock brokerage firms, and the like, throughout the United States.
Hector is married and has two children and three grandchildren. His daughter, Vania, enjoys a working relationship with him as an associate in his firm. Mr. May took time during the busy pre-holiday season to sit down and talk with Rockland Business Digest about his plans for the RBA.
RBD: Congratulations on your appointment as the RBA’s new Chair. Howard Hellman of Allbright Electric is the outgoing Chair. What are your thoughts on Howard’s legacy?
HM: Howard was open-minded, and receptive to ideas. He listened, digested information, and showed support. He was a terrific Chairman who understood the importance of putting arms around our members. He was fun, and always there. In his two years as Chair, I think he missed only one Board meeting. There’s a saying, “If you need to get things done, give them to a busy person.” Howard was a great leader.
Anyone who has done business in Rockland has probably run into Hector A. May; a staunch and eloquent friend of small business, especially when those businesses are Rockland businesses. He has just stepped into the role of Chairman of the RBA, a position he took over from the departing Chair, Howard Hellman.
RBD: As newly appointed Chair, what are your plans for the RBA over the next 12-month time period?
HM: It’s an ambitious plan; it’s a macro plan; it’s about continuing to tackle more aggressively the issues that affect every business in Rockland County at some level. What we need to do is tackle larger issues, or we won’t make a difference. We need to look at making health care affordable, and creating and streamlining opportunities for current and future members of the RBA.
We need to make our voices heard, in Albany and with local politicians. The business community is paying their fair share and more. We need to make a statement, that with the costs of healthcare and worker’s compensation, profit margins are shrinking.
RBD: Aren’t local politicians looking into this type of thing?
HM: Yes, but only to a point. For example, Senator Thomas Morahan is a proponent of health mandates. Mandates make difficult insurance premium demands and pays little attention to people’s abilities to meet those costs. As well, Towns like Clarkstown have an occupancy tax, extracting money from small businesses. That’s not the way I think it should be done and neither do most taxpayers.
RBD: How can the RBA do more to help Rockland’s business environment?
HM: Even little inconveniences can become big and cause people to think about relocating here. For example, did you know there is a problem in New York City right now of how to bring 75 concrete trucks into the city every day into the World Trade Center area between 10 am and 2 pm without backing up the roadways with traffic? With traffic jams constantly affecting the flow of business, some are looking to leave the city. Many times they look to places such as Hoboken or Bergen County, New Jersey, but don’t usually consider Rockland.
We need to connect with these businesses and let them know that Rockland has a user-friendly business environment, and prepare the infrastructure. We need to make our message known in N.Y.C., and in New York State. But, in order to help small businesses today, we need to reach out now and find businesses who need a location and who can help our county grow. We need to find and engage the resources—define parameters and incubators—so they can help change the pattern of business in Rockland.
We need to be proactive and think outside the box.
RBD: Are you concerned that these goals will conflict with those of the Rockland Economic Development Corporation (REDC)?
HM: My father once told me that there are two ways of playing baseball – the right way and the wrong way. He said no matter how anyone else was playing, I should always focus on playing the right way.
The REDC does not function at the level I want to function. The RBA and REDC are not in conflict; the two organizations have different missions. Yes, the REDC attracts and enables businesses to come to Rockland, but the RBA is concerned about the success of businesses and having an environment for them to thrive in once they are here.
I want to work closely with the REDC to help businesses. I’m not here to fight paper tigers, I’m here to help and make a
difference. Ninety-one percent of businesses in Rockland have less than twenty employees and don’t fit the REDC’s typical models.
Rockland is a place to be discovered, and we need to get on the radar screen. I expect Eliot Spitzer to help Rockland County get visibility and no longer be treated as a Rodney Dangerfield county, because we are conspicuous by our absence in the larger markets.
RBD: In that light, what’s your feeling about Rockland Business Digest and its impact on the County?
HM: I do not believe in building mountains, I believe in climbing them. Rockland Business Digest is a good example of this philosophy. Instead of yelling and screaming because we have no good B-to-B venue, you folks went out and created your own. You didn’t whine or complain – you did something about it. Now, that’s climbing the mountain.
RBD: Affordable healthcare is one of your topics of focus. How do you envision making a difference?
HM: Healthy NY and Child Care are good healthcare
initiatives, but they’re not enough. Healthy NY is a fine program, but is not available to all businesses in N.Y. What about the businesses who have health insurance before? Why don’t they qualify for the program?
We need to use the RBA’s influence to work with the New York Business Council, our elected officials and our governor, Eliot Spitzer, to bring the problem of healthcare costs to the forefront. Premiums can be the same amount that families pay for rent or mortgages. After paying housing and health insurance coverage, many people are broke.
We need to make our voices heard, in Albany and with local politicians. The business community is paying their fair share and more. We need to make a statement, that with the costs of healthcare and worker’s compensation, profit margins are shrinking.
RBD: What do you think Eliot Spitzer can do about the situation as it stands?
HM: I and others helped raise over $300,000 for Eliot Spitzer’s campaign in Rockland. We didn’t ask him for jobs or line items; all we asked of him was to keep an open mind for Rockland County. Eliot told me I had his word, that I’ll always have his ear—though the results may not always be likeable. I can’t argue with that.
RBD: Do you have thoughts on this issue?
HM: We need to find a way to establish a plan to control insurance premiums. Like having a Federal Reserve board to control interest rates, we should also have a state reserve board to review insurance premiums. Rather than having just an insurance commissioner, there should be an independent chairman and board making decisions. This idea would certainly need to be worked out further, but at least it’s thinking outside of what is obviously a ‘broken’ box.
RBD: Worker’s Compensation is something else you’d like to focus on in the next 12-months, right?
HM: Yes, definitely. We need to continue working with other associations, chambers of commerce and local businesses to unite Rockland and the state in a concerted effort toward Worker’s Compensation Reform.
I had a driver for three years and after 9/11, I had to let him go. Worker’s compensation for this gentleman alone went from $5,500/year to $15,800/year. I could afford him, but couldn’t justify the expense. So I had to let him go, and he was out of a job.
RBD: How do you expect economic growth in Rockland County to take place?
HM: Through unity among businesses. For economic development to occur everyone must be engaged and on the same page; but it’s like rounding up cats. You can round up every animal except for cats.
RBD: You’re prominent in Rockland’s Latin community. Why are so few Latinos in groups like the RBA?
HM: Latinos are united by language and disengaged by culture. We are hard workers, focused and intelligent. We can’t latch onto the discrimination card. We should see and consider one color—green.
As a people, we need to understand and learn from successful businesses. When in Rome, do as the Romans. In America, we need to do business in an American way. Also, the majority of Latino companies are retailers, who can’t leave their registers and come to an event. We need to help bring resources to them.
RBD: On another note, do you feel that RBA members should be trying harder to do business with other RBA members before looking elsewhere?
HM: The majority of the large companies do not have headquarters in Rockland. They don’t make use of other RBA members because they say they don’t make decisions here. Instead of large businesses immediately turning down the business of small companies, they should say, “Let me see what I can do.”
Why do we use vendors in White Plains? Aren’t there competent firms in Rockland County? If there aren’t, then we need to attract competent vendors to the area and assure them they will do business here.
RBD: Any last words for our readers?
HM: How about this? I don’t plan to make things perfect, but I do want to make them better. RBD
