At Tuesday’s annual meeting of the Manufactur-ers Association of the Southern Tier, outgoing President John Zabrodsky highlighted successes in public policy and workforce development.

“In terms of our advocacy and public policy efforts, on behalf of manufacturers we accomplished a great deal over the past year particularly pertaining to the repowering of the NRG-Dunkirk facility and in Albany, manufacturing scored some wins this year, including a new manufacturer’s real property tax-based credit, a rate reduction in the corporate franchise tax and a reduction in the 18A State Energy and Utility Service Conserva-tion Assessment,” stated Zabrodsky. “In terms of our workforce development efforts, Dream It Do It, a workforce initiative focused on growing our regional pipeline of students interested in careers in manufacturing, we saw continued expansion. Since its inception in 2009 this initiative has reached over 20,000 students in the Southern Tier.”

The Manufacturers Association of the Southern Tier has elected a new slate of officers and board members for 2014.

New to the board will be Dale Gier of Producto Machine and Rick Turner of Blackstone Advanced Technologies. New officers are: President, Mark Shafer, Heidenhain; Senior Vice President, Kevin Brombacher of M & T Bank; Vice President, Jay Churchill, Jamestown Electro Plating; Treasurer, Eric Livengood, Ulrich Planfiling; and Immediate Past President, John Zabrodsky, Advanced Manufacturing Technology.

Returning board members are: Mike Abbate, Cummins, Inc.; Rex McCray, Weber Knapp; John Mulryan, Lufkin; Herman Ruhlman, Rand Machine; Nichole Segrue, Universal Tooling; John Stahley, Dresser Rand; and Marilyn Zagora, Jamestown Community College.

The Manufacturers Association of the Southern Tier is a pro-active leader, committed to enhancing the economic strength of the region, by acting as a primary resource for information and assistance to promote manufacturing excellence. MAST is committed to assuring the best possible business environment for manufacturing to prosper.

The annual meeting incorporated a tour of the Chautauqua Tech Wars and Science Olympiad events at Jamestown Community College and was sponsored by Blackstone Advanced Technologies, Chadwick Bay Broadcasting, James-town Jammers Baseball, KeyBank, and M & T Bank.