During the most-recent iteration of its Eggs and Issues series, the Meadowlands Chamber welcomed Gov. Phil Murphy and New Jersey Economic Development Authority CEO Tim Sullivan to discuss a wide range of issues – local and broad – that affect small business.

“We are focused today on small- and medium-sized companies – making a big deal out of small business,” said Meadowlands Chamber President and CEO Jim Kirkos as he kicked off the event, which was held at the Graycliff in Moonachie in late October. “It has been a chamber initiative over the last couple of years.”

In that room were a number of small business owners, business students, and a variety of members and stakeholders from the business community.

Sullivan offered a presentation on some of the economic areas of focus for the administration as well as an overview of the tools, resources, and programs/initiatives the NJEDA offers to small businesses and entrepreneurs.

“I want to introduce someone who is changing the game in New Jersey,” said Kirkos as he welcomed Sullivan. “We have had many people who have led – very ably – the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. But I think Tim Sullivan has brought what I call – next-level leadership.”

Kirkos noted that in this role, Sullivan has been a great listener in learning and understanding what ails and concerns businesses of all sizes.

Sullivan began by reflecting on taking the job some six years ago, noting that Murphy had given him and the NJEDA a mandate to focus on two key areas: attracting startups and building the innovation economy/ecosystem, as well as focusing on small business across all sectors and trying to do things to put a little wind at the back of small businesses.

“We got a whole robust toolkit to support the home team,” said Sullivan. “The folks who are not going anywhere, that are not picking up and leaving. They are the backbone of our economy.”

Sullivan said that there are some misconceptions about small business here in New Jersey. “There is no doubt that the last three-and-a-half years – since the onset of COVID – have been a gut punch for small businesses,” Sullivan explained. “New Jersey small business owners are resilient as hell. You figured it out in a lot of ways. The government is here to help – the governor, the Legislature, the federal government provided lots of resources. But that we are where we are is a testament to the strength, the resilience, and the get-stuff-done mentality that New Jersey small businesses have demonstrated throughout this pandemic.”

New Jersey small business owners are resilient as hell.
– Tim Sullivan, New Jersey Economic Development Authority CEO

And then he dropped a notable nugget. “There are more small businesses doing business in New Jersey today than before the pandemic,” said Sullivan. “If you go on Twitter [now X] or Facebook or other places you should not go for your facts, you would see some other story. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but not entitled to their own facts. There are more small businesses doing business in New Jersey today than before the pandemic. We have seen an explosion of new businesses. We have outpaced the region. We have outpaced the country for the rate of new business filings, new business formations — particularly since the pandemic. And that goes hand-in-hand with the fact that we have led the region – the Northeast – including Pennsylvania, in private sector job creation for the last three years.”

But Sullivan said that doesn’t mean the battle is over — stressing that there is still much work to be done to continue recovering from the pandemic while facing many of the challenges that have come in the aftermath, such as access to capital, rising costs/inflation, soaring interest rates, labor challenges and much more.

After running through some of the key programs and initiatives available through the NJEDA, Sullivan closed with a message for the small business community.

“We have tools in the toolkit – and if we do not have the right tool in the toolkit, talk to us,” said Sullivan. “Reach out to us. We can come up with tools. We can come up with programs. If there are gaps in the marketplace that we have not figured out yet, we have the flexibility and the mandate to go big and go broad – with regard to small business.”

Kirkos then welcomed Murphy to the stage for a candid, armchair discussion, noting that the governor was returning to Eggs & Issues after appearing during his first campaign several years back.

Murphy was fresh off the recent economic mission he led to East Asia. He opened the discussion by touting his administration’s record and efforts on small business, but echoed Sullivan in noting the work left to be done as well as the challenges.

“I enter a discussion like this very proud of what we have done for small businesses – but recognizing there is much more distance yet to travel,” said Murphy. “We are in year six of an eight-year journey, and I think if you compare where we are today versus where things were when we got here, it is a record that we feel very good about, but we also acknowledge is incomplete.”

At the top, the governor spoke broadly about the state of affairs – describing the current time as an inflection point. “And maybe a little bit of a tale of two realities,” Murphy said.

With that he ran through the different challenges facing the state, the country and the world — everything from high interest rates to the geopolitical unrest. Murphy said that despite these headwinds, the economy has endured. He pointed to recent strong gross domestic product numbers, state revenue trends and the unemployment rate, among other metrics.

“If we were together six or eight weeks ago, I was saying, and I would have said – I think the soft-landing scenario is being given too much weight and the bumpier landing is being given too little weight,” he explained. “I no longer feel that. I am no longer of the opinion that the glass half-empty reality is being underweighted. I think that is being, probably, properly weighted right now. And let’s just hope for the best as we try to get our way through this.”

Murphy added that many of these challenges are out of his control, such as wars overseas and the interest rates. So, he said his administration is focused on the things they can control or influence.

“And that is where we are obsessed. We focus on that every minute of every day, what can we control?” Murphy explained. “We sort of look at two dimensions – where are we today versus where we were when we inherited the car keys six years ago. And the other dimension is where are we today as compared to other American states, particularly the ones that we realistically compete with for businesses and families. So that is where the overwhelming amount of our time is spent.”

Kirkos and Murphy continued the discussion through a number of broader themes, such as balancing the building of a stronger and fairer economy, innovation, technologies like AI and the need for bipartisanship, before shifting to the Meadowlands.

“Look into your crystal ball – the folks that are here are very passionate about this particular region. And you know that is what I do each and every day in the Meadowlands,” said Kirkos. “Paint the picture of what you see for the Meadowlands in the upcoming years, in the future – just as a region.”

“There is a lot going on,” said Murphy. “You all know the here-and-now better than I do. But there’s enormous potential. And there’s stuff that is on the books.”

Murphy pointed to a news conference that would end up covering the upcoming NHL Stadium Series being held at MetLife Stadium. And he also pointed to the 2026 Men’s World Cup, for which MetLife will be a host site. Murphy said that because of the expanded field, he estimated that the venue would host at least eight games – with New Jersey/New York still in the running to land the championship match

“We are still competing aggressively for the finals,” said Murphy. “But I would say that it is a 50/50 proposition – against Dallas of all places. We think that we have all the compelling case that you need to get the finals here.”

The continued development and evolution of American Dream was another area of focus. Murphy also spoke favorably about the proposed convention center, which has been a project that the Meadowlands Chamber and area stakeholders have long been seeking — to be built at the site of the former Izod Center. Murphy said it looks conceptually attractive to him.

He then gave a run-through of the recent East Asia trip, which included stops in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, leading to a number of forged partnerships, relationships, memorandums of understanding and the chance to pitch New Jersey. The governor described the economic mission as extremely successful.

“There’s going to be some here-and-now hits. There will be hits over the next couple of years coming out of this,” said Murphy. “There may be hits that do not hit for five or 10 years coming out of relationships that you begin – and that’s OK. As long as it is for the good of New Jersey — count us in.”

The discussion rounded out with Murphy shouting out the performance of NJ Transit during a busy concert season and the start of the football season at the Meadowlands, while blasting New York over congestion pricing.

Before the event concluded, Kirkos asked the governor about legacy and what he wants to accomplish in his time left as governor.

“You are halfway through the second term. And if you had to go back and say, ‘this is what I wanted to accomplish.’ Something that might be a legacy item that you really felt personally committed to – that you were able to achieve. And maybe something that you still really feel strongly about that you want to get to before your term ends,” Kirkos asked.

“I do not spend a lot of time on legacy. But this gets back to where we started,” said Murphy. “I would like to think that folks would say, you know what? These guys both were who they said they would be. They were true to what they said they were. There were not a whole lot, if any, surprises. And secondly, they turned the place around.”

Murphy said that the state was not growing when he took office – blaming both parties for the stagnation – and that much work was needed to pump life into the economy — pointing to credit ratings upgrades, efforts to make the economy fairer and more equitable, and to implement better practices as key measures of progress under his administration’s watch.

“We are not perfect. I am not going to tear my rotator cuff patting ourselves on the back. But we have made a lot of progress on all three of those,” said Murphy. “What is still left to be done? Whether you folks like it or not – liquor license reform. That is not the only thing but that is still one of the big ones that we want to get done. And then I would say more execution of the same. Our first term was putting a lot of stuff out there that we needed to put out there. The second term has largely been – executing. Some new stuff, clearly. But it is largely putting stuff in place term one – executing on that in term two. And that is continuing.”