← Construction Leaders Podcast
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- [00:04]
Nick Soto
Welcome to episode four of season three on CMA's Construction Leaders podcast. On this episode, we're going to delve into one of the world's most ambitious infrastructure projects as we embark on an effort that starts through the heart of Europe, where precision, ingenuity and commitment to excellence converge in Switzerland's large infrastructure scale mandate. Nestled amidst the breathtaking Alps, Switzerland isn't just a picture perfect postcard. It's a testament to human determination in the engineering powerless. From the Gothard based tunnel, a marvel of modern engineering that burrows through the mountains, to the Swiss Metro project promising high speed underground travel connecting major cities, Switzerland's infrastructure initiatives are rewriting the rules of connectivity and sustainability. But this podcast isn't just about concrete and steel. It's about the people behind the project. The visionaries who dare to dream big, the engineers who turn those dreams into reality, and the communities whose lives are transformed by these monumental undertakings. Here to discuss the challenges, triumphs and future prospects of Switzerland's large scale infrastructure mandate is Penny Tillman, a Senior Advisor of Infrastructure with the Embassy of Switzerland here in the United States. Welcome to the show, Penny.
- [01:21]
Penny Tillman
Oh, thank you. Thank you. Nick and Carly, thank you for having me. Very much appreciate this opportunity to be on this podcast and to highlight my recent client, the Swiss Business Hub usa, which represented the Swiss large infrastructure mandate in the United States. I should add a disclaimer that unfortunately, due to budget cuts, just recently, the USA mandate was eliminated from the large scale infrastructure mandate of Switzerland.
- [01:48]
Nick Soto
Well, that's disappointing to hear, but Penny, could you take a second and just introduce yourself and tell us about the recent fact finding mission that you coordinated with Switzerland in which 2 of CMAA's Southern California Board members, Jeff Bowling and Vera Farzana, participated.
- [02:04]
Penny Tillman
Yes, happily again, I'm Penny Tillman. I'm an economic development and global trade and investment professional. Over the past 10 years, I've been contracting with foreign governments to support their commercial ambitions in the usa. My work entails essentially developing commercial and policy advocacy campaigns that focus on facilitating relationships with US Government entities, including the White House, Congress, state and municipal offices, as well as US Companies and industry associations such as yours, cmaa. In terms of the fact finding mission in which Jeff Bowling and Bear Farz and I participated, January 14 through 19 partnered with the CMA SoCal chapter, the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, as well as the National League of Cities to bring decision makers from both the private and public sectors to Zurich, Lucerne and Davos to visit local companies to learn about their products and Technologies deployed to sustainable infrastructure projects such as wastewater management, clean drinking, renewable energy and mobility in terms of non carbon emitting, public transportation. In terms of an opportunity as well as facilitated, the delegates participate in programming at the World Economic Forum. We had two members of our delegation from the United States serve as panelists on infrastructure panels talking about their sustainability measures under process in the United States. It was a knowledge exchange between the US as well as Swiss and Brazilian officials to be able to give them the world stage and to highlight key projects in their respective cities.
- [03:51]
Nick Soto
That's great. I've seen some of the stuff that came back with you from the Southern California Board and it looks amazing and I can't wait to dig in here. But I do want to ask you how and why did you choose to talk to associations in particularly cmaa?
- [04:05]
Penny Tillman
Absolutely. In September of last year, I had the privilege of developing a mission on behalf of the Swiss Ambassador to the United States, His Excellency Excellency Jacques Pittalou. We went to California and we developed relationships not only with the Governor's office, but also municipal organizations. Mayor Karen Bass team In addition to the Construction Management Associations at Southern California Chapter, which was led most recently by Yashar Ushvar, we coordinated a program, a welcome reception for the ambassador, the CMA SoCal. And during the reception we facilitated so many conversations about how we could coordinate and work together more closely in the areas of sustainable infrastructure between the Nation of Switzerland and various chapter members. With that said, I was charged with the responsibility of coordinating high level US Delegations to Switzerland to connect with local companies in the areas of clean technology. And I felt it was very important to have CMAA at the table and be involved with the programming given the sheer significance of your organization. You're the only organization that comprises over 19,000 members in the EPC space. And clearly that was our target for the USA mandate in terms of Switzerland wanting to connect Swiss companies with US EPCs, in particular across the United States. Not just California, of course, but California being a major economy, fourth largest economy in the U.S. if you look at it as far as GDP in the world, but also in terms of there being one of the largest recipients of the bipartisan infrastructure funding that was passed in 2021. So it was definitely an opportunity to work more closely, intimately rather with your leadership in California as well as nationally.
- [06:04]
Carly Trout
Now Penny, it just seems like it would take so much effort to coordinate a program like this. How many of these missions are coordinated annually and how can CMAA members participate in them?
- [06:17]
Penny Tillman
Surely in terms of the infrastructure mandate of Switzerland. I'll just give you some background information to better answer your question. In 2021 there were six global markets of target of the mandate. The United States came in quite late actually. The US had taken the place of Russia due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Russia was eliminated from the program. The USA was included at the behest of Ambassador Pittalo. He was. He's quite a dynamic individual. Not only a politician, but he's just. He's excellent strategist and he has very high business acumen and he's listen the writings on the wall. The United States has largest infrastructure market, surpassing even the developing nations in terms of the amount of money that was unleashed by the bipartisan infrastructure law. So it would be most beneficial to Swiss SMEs in particular to have the USA included in the mandate. So with that said, the USA joined Indonesia, Brazil, India, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates. In terms of identifying opportunities in that space. We were able to at least host one high level delegation looking at senior executives in private sector as well as mayors and governors to be able to visit Switzerland from the USA and the other five markets annually. At least one delegation per year. However, I was in process of coordinating two delegations per year in terms of Also in the process of working with the White House to coordinate a White House federal delegation to learn more about how the companies really are playing a key role in pushing forward the USA infrastructure agenda.
- [08:08]
Carly Trout
And then just to follow up on that, you mentioned that the two board members from CMAA SoCal chapter were involved in this fact finding mission. And so if there are other CMAA members who are interested in participating, how would they go about doing that?
- [08:22]
Penny Tillman
Absolutely. In terms of Switzerland, they're more than welcome to reach out to the Swiss business hub usa. The head of the organization who's based in New York City, his name is Otter Chernozewski. Even though the mandate has been eliminated from the usa, interested US companies who are interested in learning more about the infrastructure landscape and the companies in Switzerland can reach out to the Swiss business hub to get more information and to also initiate a conversation about coordinating an individual fact finding mission to Switzerland and across the country doesn't necessarily have to be in Zurich, but Zurich is one of our key markets in terms of the local companies developing key technologies to export to the U.S. and to also open offices in the U.S. the mandate was geared towards supporting small to medium sized enterprises SMEs not only in Switzerland, but all over the country. The United States play a key role in economic development. With that said, the Swiss government wanted to be able to boost business opportunities for the smaller companies to gain a greater market share in six key markets around the world, including the usa.
- [09:38]
Nick Soto
Are there other countries that coordinate similar programs for the US Firms to learn and engage commercially abroad?
- [09:44]
Penny Tillman
Absolutely. Pretty much all of the US Key trading partners, allies and friends have commercial offices operating in the United States for this purpose. I'll give you some examples. The United Kingdom they have a Department for Business and Trade, Austrade Israeli Commercial Mission and Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office. In terms of majority of these offices are located in embassies or consulates across the United States and you can contact their respective offices to facilitate discussions about developing programs similarly to the one I coordinated on behalf of the Swiss government. Switzerland Global Enterprise I just wanted to also give you more background information into not simply the foreign government side, but the United States government. They do have opportunities to assist organizations such as yours and individual companies to develop trade missions abroad. In terms of we have the Department of Commerce or International Trade Administration. It's called Trade Wins Their Program. It's the largest US government led trade mission and business development forum. Roughly 300 companies on average participate in their delegation visits around the world. When I was serving at the behest of the Qatari government, I coordinated a program for US Tech companies in partnership with the Business Council for International Understanding to visit Doha. So this is just another example of how organization and company such as yours within your membership can facilitate opportunities to learn more about business opportunities outside the United States as well as working closely with state government entities. There's economic development offices not only at the state level, but at the municipal level that also can coordinate trade missions abroad, including local chambers of commerce. For example, the Swiss Business Hub, having partnered with the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce for the recent fact finding mission to Switzerland. This is another example of how different entities can work very closely together in support of doing business.
- [11:56]
Nick Soto
Let's take a quick break and hear from our sponsor.
- [12:00]
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- [12:24]
Carly Trout
The future Penny, I'm curious about funding for these types of programs. Can you talk a little bit about how these programs are funded?
- [12:33]
Penny Tillman
Absolutely. In light of so many budget restrictions when it comes to national governments, of course, indus governments in general. In light of the economy, domestic economy Global economy. So many forces are working against these programs currently. But with that said, there are certain money that is budgeted per year for trade missions for by various foreign entities in addition to companies help self pay in terms of their participation. Regarding the recent fact finding mission, I reached out to various companies in the United States to help sponsor hotel accommodation. Fortunately, the CEO of Hyatt provided in kind donation of 15,000 Swiss francs to drastically reduce the amount of hotel accommodation for our delegation. Just in light of the significance of the program in parallel more so in concert with the World Economic Forum. Also local companies provide and can sponsor local transportation, ground transportation and certain meals. But a lot of it is 50, 50 self funded by companies in partnership with some government funding.
- [13:46]
Nick Soto
Penny, this other thing that you mentioned at the top, where the funding was eliminated for here in the United States due to budget cuts, is there a way that comes back in the future?
- [13:56]
Penny Tillman
Possibly. It all depends about the political will of the various organizations that were part of Team Switzerland. I know that several companies were really depending on the program to continue the United States, just given the momentum, not only from the recent fact finding mission, but also the attention of the White House. We had a huge champion and Mitch Landrieu, who was the most recent senior advisor to President Biden on infrastructure. He recently stepped down of course and joined Biden's campaign, of course a reelection campaign. But the White House back to the Swiss mandate in the USA along with various governments including the state of California and the state of Texas. And I mentioned those two states specifically because those two states are the largest recipients of the bipartisan infrastructure law funding in terms of formula funding and opportunities really to build out their infrastructure in terms of highway chargers, water, wastewater management, growing populations in addition to just the sheer size of the populations in both of those states.
- [15:08]
Nick Soto
So did the US Government organizations and Chamber of Commerce still help with coordinating such programs like this?
- [15:15]
Penny Tillman
Absolutely. As mentioned, we have trade winds at the Department of Commerce and the US Commercial Service. They actually have over 80 representatives and Haiti embassies across the world in terms of you can specifically reach out to any number of US Embassies and they'll have commercial offices similar to the foreign embassies that have presence in the United States and they have their own commercial arms. But they do work closely together in partnership as key allies and partners. Switzerland of course is a neutral country, so they consider themselves friends of the United States, not an ally. There's just the nomenclature you have to be sensitive to. But with that said, there are avenues through both the US Government and the foreign government side to do business and to coordinate similar programs abroad. And this is throughout the entire year. It doesn't have to be once a year or a one off opportunity, but they're literally hired foreign service officers from the US and from other countries that are hired to do this 24, 7 penny.
- [16:25]
Carly Trout
Thinking about the specific US industry sectors, are there specific sectors that are current priorities for foreign commercial organizations? And if so, what are those industry sectors?
- [16:35]
Penny Tillman
Oh sure, absolutely. And in terms of looking at what's happening in the world in terms of climate change, of course clean technology is top of mind, especially when it comes to GCC states like Qatar or the uae. Obviously Switzerland is chief among them as well. We're looking at defense industries, aerospace. So anything technologically motivated and you can use that application to help mitigate climate change by way of decarbonization mechanisms. Those are pretty much hot industries in which foreign governments wish to invest as well as do business with.
- [17:14]
Nick Soto
So what is the target group for participation in the international exchanges such as the one that you coordinated back in January?
- [17:21]
Penny Tillman
Absolutely. The target group was again US epcs. It was just a prime opportunity to partner with the Construction Management association in that regard, as well as mayors partnering with the National League of Cities. They're actually the oldest municipal organization in the United States and they actually celebrated their 100th anniversary, kicked off, started their hundredth anniversary by participating in the fact finding mission to Switzerland. Within another week they're going to host their Congressional city conference in Washington D.C. and highlight two of the Swiss companies that welcome the delegation locally in terms of or looking at municipalities and those EPCs. Because the infrastructure mandate wanted to foster further commercial ties with procurement contracts as well as opportunities to do joint ventures and basically sell their products to these entities to build out the built environment in the us. I can say, for example gas, water, factory, gwf. The chairman and CEO Florian Strausser, he coordinated an extensive program for CMA delegates and the LA Area Chamber of Commerce and the mayors who participated in the delegation to showcase his innovative technology whereby he has employed artificial intelligence to give you predictive modeling of water usage in municipalities. Okay. And this can also be applicable to EPCs when they're building, when they're constructing buildings, office space, houses, residential, you name it. This was such a brilliant opportunity to showcase this technology that has not been established in the US yet. So this was a value added opportunity to have these stakeholders, as I've mentioned, to be able to connect with the Swiss companies.
- [19:14]
Carly Trout
So I had asked earlier in the episode how individual members could get involved. But looking from an organizational perspective, if say an industry organization association such as CMAA were interested in approaching countries to coordinate similar programs, how would they go about doing that?
- [19:31]
Penny Tillman
I would say start by contacting their respective foreign embassy. Just giving you an example. In case of Switzerland you can contact the ambassador's office directly and then ambassador's office can point you in the right direction or feel free. You can also do a more labor intensive Internet search and find the business arm of the embassy and where they're based. Usually majority of them are headquartered, they're in New York City at the respective consulate, but some are also headquartered in Washington D.C. within the respective embassy and contact their business arms and say listen, I have this organization, a group of companies within this particular industry sector. We're interested in learning more about the opportunities in your home country and and then they can actually take it from there. And several offices do have the budget. If not, they'll be creative, they'll help fundraise with also nonprofit organizations, other trade associations and be able to move forward with a proper program for you.
- [20:36]
Nick Soto
We have time for one last question and I keep going back to the fact that the US has cut this out of the budget, but any parting words for our members? Maybe something they can do to still maintain involvement or anything that you would like to see come from the listeners of the podcast.
- [20:51]
Penny Tillman
I must say, and hopefully most of us already know that 95% of the world's consumers are outside the United States. And with that said, doing business with foreign companies benefits America. And the program that I recently coordinated on behalf of the Swiss government in partnership with Construction Management Associations, America, Louisiana Area Chamber of Commerce and the National League of Cities highlights the significance and the importance of the US being able to make inroads with countries, key allies, friends and trading partners around the world, more so to support the current economy we're facing with infrastructure. This is an opportune time once in a generation opportunity for us to move forward and to continue economic development domestically. But by doing it we will definitely need key technologies from abroad Still, Penny.
- [21:49]
Carly Trout
We really want to thank you for taking the time to join the podcast today. I'd imagine that our listeners rarely get a chance to hear about these types of programs, so we appreciate you joining and sharing the information.
- [22:01]
Penny Tillman
Thank you so kindly. Thank you for having me again. It's been a pleasure and I just want to once again say a special thank you to your CEO Andrea Routledge, whom I did not thank initially at the start of the podcast. She's an amazing Leader that we had the pleasure of having lunch with her with the Swiss Ambassador in October. Great.
- [22:22]
Carly Trout
And to all of our listeners, on the next episode of CMAA's Construction Leaders podcast, we will be joined by Cody Fournear to discuss the intersection between business development and professional talent development for both construction firms and as well as professionals themselves. As always, make sure to download or subscribe to the podcast and follow us on social media maahq. And please feel free to leave us a review with your thoughts on today's episode and let us know what you'd like to hear on upcoming episodes. On behalf of cmaa, I'm Carly Trout with Nick Soto. Thank you for listening.