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The Metropolitan Development Association (MDA) is arguably the most influential, sometimes mysterious, and perhaps least understood economic development organization in the Central New York region.
Because the MDA is a private, not-for-profit entity, its staff is accountable solely to a board of some 46 directors, not the community at large. Much of its work is behind the scenes.
But few significant developments occur in Onondaga County in which the organization doesn't become in some way involved. The combined clout of its 80 or 90 members is more significant than any similar group.
"We're not very democratic," states MDA Executive Vice President Irwin Davis. "The MDA is a unique economic development vehicle, one of just thirteen or fourteen such organizations in the nation."
Want to join? Just fill out an application, Davis says. But membership is restricted, to CEOs, the senior executives or persons of influence, and subject to the approval of the MDA's board of directors. Don't hold your breath, though. Unless you carry a pretty big economic or political stick, the MDA hangs a polite NO VACANCY sign pretty quickly.
"We're not a government. We're not a service organization. We're not putting out press releases. The MDA, representing the business leadership of the region, does not need to advertise its results. We're not trying to get people to join, trying to show what we're doing. We do not need that," Davis continued.
Originally, the MDA was designed to represent the 50 largest companies in the area. But since its formation in 1959, the heads of many mid-sized companies have joined the group as well, though Davis does not divulge their identities.
"This very privacy, for which the MDA is often maligned, is what makes the organization effective, according to one board member. We meet, we plan, we act," he said, "without undue rigamarole."
Other critics of the organization say the MDA does a lot of good, but also serves as a power and information base for Doug Barclay and Steve Rogers (MDA president and chairman, respectively, and arguably, two of the most powerful business people in the region). However, no one chose to go on the record with that observation.
"Irwin Davis walks a tightrope between Barclay, Rogers and Bill Davis (CEO of...