ACS Team Development

Boston, MA

A global city, Boston is placed among the top 30 most economically powerful cities in the world. The Greater Boston metropolitan area has the sixth-largest economy in the country and 12th-largest in the world. Boston’s colleges and universities have a significant effect on the regional economy, with students contributing to the city’s economy. The area’s schools are major employers and attract industries to the city and surrounding region. The city is home to a number of technology companies and is a hub for biotechnology, with the Milken Institute rating Boston as the top life sciences cluster in the country. Boston receives the highest absolute amount of annual funding from the National Institutes of Health of all cities in the United States. The city is also considered highly innovative for a variety of reasons that include the presence of academia, access to venture capital, and the presence of many high-tech companies. Tourism comprises a large part of Boston’s economy, with 21.2 million domestic and international visitors each year. Because of Boston’s status as a state capital and the regional home of federal agencies, law and government are another major component of the city’s economy. The city is a major seaport along the United States’ East Coast and the oldest continuously operated industrial and fishing port in the Western Hemisphere. Other important industries are financial services, especially mutual funds and insurance. Boston-based Fidelity Investments helped popularize the mutual fund and has made Boston one of the top financial cities in the United States. The city is home to the headquarters of Santander Bank, and Boston is a center for venture capital firms. State Street Corporation, which specializes in asset management and custody services, is based in the city. Boston is a printing and publishing center – Houghton Mifflin is headquartered within the city, along with Bedford-St. Martin’s Press and Beacon Press. Pearson PLC publishing units also employ several hundred people in Boston. The city is home to three major convention centers – the Hynes Convention Center in the Back Bay, and the Seaport World Trade Center and Boston Convention and Exhibition Center on the South Boston waterfront.

Minneapolis, MN

The Minneapolis-St. Paul area is the second largest economic center in the Midwest, behind Chicago. The economy of Minneapolis today is based in commerce, finance, rail and trucking services, health care, and industry. Smaller components are in publishing, milling, food processing, graphic arts, insurance, education, and high technology. Industry produces metal and automotive products, chemical and agricultural products, electronics, computers, precision medical instruments and devices, plastics, and machinery. The city at one time produced farm implements. Five Fortune 500 corporations make their headquarters within the city limits of Minneapolis: Target, U.S. Bancorp, Xcel Energy, Ameriprise Financial and Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. The city’s largest employers are Target, University of Minnesota, Allina Health, Fairview Health Services, Wells Fargo, Hennepin County, Ameriprise, Hennepin County Medical Center, U.S. Bancorp, City of Minneapolis, Xcel Energy, Capella Education Company, RBC Wealth Management, Macy’s, TCF Financial, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, Thrivent, and the Star Tribune. Foreign companies with U.S. offices in Minneapolis include Accenture, Canadian Pacific, Coloplast, RBC and ING Group

Philadelphia, PA

Philadelphia is the center of economic activity in Pennsylvania. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Philadelphia area is the seventh-largest metropolitan economy in the United States. Philadelphia ranks ninth among world cities and fourth in the nation. The city is also the nation’s fourth-largest consumer media market. The city is home to the Philadelphia Stock Exchange and several Fortune 500 companies. Philadelphia’s economic sectors include information technology, manufacturing, oil refining, food processing, health care and biotechnology, tourism and financial services. Philadelphia has shifted to an information technology and service-based economy. Financial activities account for the largest sector of the metro economy, and it is one of the largest health education and research centers in the United States.

Princeton, NJ

Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States, that was established in its current form on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township. As of the 2010 United States Census, the municipality’s population was 28,572, reflecting the former township’s population of 16,265, along with the 12,307 in the former borough. Princeton was founded before the American Revolution and is best known as the location of Princeton University, located in the community since 1756. Although its association with the university is primarily what makes Princeton a college town, other important institutions in the area include the Institute for Advanced Study, Westminster Choir College, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton Theological Seminary, Opinion Research Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Siemens Corporate Research, SRI International, FMC Corporation, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Amrep, Church and Dwight, Berlitz International, and Dow Jones & Company. Princeton University is a dominant feature of the community. Its main campus has its historic center on Nassau Street in the borough and stretches south into the township. Its James Forrestal satellite campus is located in Plainsboro Township, and some playing fields lie within adjacent West Windsor Township. The Princeton campus is known for having Albert Einstein lecture as well as being one of the original seven Ivy League schools. Westminster Choir College, the renowned school of music presently owned by Rider University, established in Princeton in 1932. The Institute for Advanced Study is in the borough and maintains extensive land holdings (the “Institute Woods”) there. Bristol-Myers Squibb is a client of Ms. Matteson’s.

Winston-Salem, NC

Winston-Salem, located in Forsyth, County, North Carolina, also known as the “twin city” is a part of the Piedmont (Winston-Salem, Greensboro, High Point) Metropolitan area and has a population of about 240,000 people. Winston-Salem’s Growth Domestic Product (GDP) in fiscal year 2013 was close to $30 billion out of the state’s combined metro GDP that was closer to $410 billion. It is home to market leading companies – R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJR), Lowes Foods., Branch Bank and Trust (BB&T), and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. Winston-Salem, is an educational, and research and development market home to Wake Forest University its largest employer. The nation’s largest propane company, Blue Rhino is also based in Winston-Salem. Winston-Salem’s Key Location Objectives (KLO), are healthcare, and retirement and has been listed as a key place to retire in the United States by CBS MoneyWatch. There is strong growth in healthcare, trade, business and professional services sectors of the Winston-Salem marketplace. The city is transforming itself from a textiles and tobacco industry into the high technology sector of high nanotechnology.