Adam Wasserman Meets the Bloggers

Tonight, Adam Wasserman, the relatively new President and CEO of the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority (CCCPA), sat down with Meet the Bloggers at Gypsy Bean Cafe on Cleveland's West-side.

Overall, I was very impressed with Mr. Wasserman. He is a no-nonsense, unapologetic, straight-talking man with a rather dry sense of humor, who speaks authoritatively, but without being condescending, on economic development issues.

Specifically on Cleveland area issues, Mr. Wasserman seems to have a firm grasp on our region's assets and potential, with a keen eye to see that we, as a city, a county, and a region need to decide what we want to be when we grow up, and fast. On a scale of 1 to 10 of how well we’re doing in identifying and leveraging our existing assets, Mr. Wasserman graded us a 4. I would have to agree.

He comes to us from Great Britain and several areas in the U.S. where he held positions relating to economic development and with fresh eyes about what our region needs to do in both the short term and long term. I found his ideas to be balanced and grounded in common sense.

I got the impression that Mr. Wasserman is not the least bit intimidated by persons of political high office and that he speaks truth to power just as candidly as he spoke to Meet the Bloggers about the broad-based, big picture economic development strategy that needs to be undertaken here and the role that CCCPA can play in that strategy.

This trait will be very important for Mr. Wasserman, as he navigates his way through our region’s complex political landscape (he has nine bosses, the Board of CCCPA – 6 appointed by the Mayor of Cleveland, 3 appointed by the Cuyahoga County Commissioners). The only grumbling I could find when I Googled Mr. Wasserman, was about his pay. His current salary is approximately $283,000 per year. That may seem high, but given his experience and expertise I think he’s worth it (and the fact that he has to navigate the politics of his bosses mentioned above, he should probably get combat pay, too).

Of course, only time will tell whether Mr. Wasserman can execute on his broad goals for the CCCPA and whether he can use his position as CCCPA President and CEO to drag our current dis-jointed, hodge-podge economic development strategies into a coherent plan for the region.

I suspect one of two things will happen; the power to whom Mr. Wasserman speaks truth will either listen, or those with ruffled feathers will quietly run him out of town. I hope, for our sake, for the former.

Of course, no one person (even of Mr. Wasserman’s seeming passion and know-how) can be our sole savior from our economic plight. However, we should listen carefully to what Mr. Wasserman has to say. He may very well get us over the hump and help us gain the momentum we need to decide who we are as a city and region to the rest of the world. I, for one, will be watching Mr. Wasserman and will have my fingers crossed that his economic dreams for this region might just come true for all of us.

Look for the podcast of our talk with Mr. Wasserman at meetthebloggers.net, coming soon.

CEP