Orange County Partnership Honors Chamber of Commerce President Heather Bell with 2025 Woman of Achievement in Economic Development Award
By John Jordan
MIDDLETOWN, NY—More than 450 business professionals gathered on Oct. 7 at the Barn at the Villa Venezia here to honor Orange County Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Heather Bell who was bestowed the “2025 Woman of Achievement in Economic Development” award by the Orange County Partnership.
Bell, who has guided the Orange County Chamber since 2021, has helped grow the organization in terms of both size and stature. Under her direction the Chamber’s membership has doubled and in recognition of her efforts, the Chamber was recently named 2025 Chamber of the Year by the Business Council of New York State for its strategic vision and leadership.
Since joining the Orange County Chamber of Commerce in 2019, Bell played a pivotal role in enhancing the organization’s impact. She served as co-chair of the Workplace Wellness Committee, chairperson of the Ambassador Committee, and spearheaded the re-creation of the Chamber’s Small Business Committee, which she also chaired. Bell strategically grew the Chamber’s membership while ensuring the retention of existing members by building meaningful relationships and providing real value to their businesses. Following some leadership changes, she became the new President and CEO of the Orange County Chamber of Commerce four years ago.
The breakfast program hosted by the Orange County Partnership also included updates by Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus and Orange County Partnership President and CEO Conor Eckert, and a keynote presentation by Katrik B, Athreya, director of research and head of the research and statistics group at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, who offered a detailed outlook on the national and regional economies.
In recognizing Bell for her outstanding achievements, Orange County Executive Neuhaus said, “Heather Bell has been a driving force behind Orange County’s economic momentum. Her leadership, vision and commitment to collaboration have strengthened our business community. Heather understands that when our businesses thrive, our residents thrive and she’s worked tirelessly to make that happen. I congratulate her on this well-deserved recognition and thank her for her continued dedication to making Orange County a place where opportunity grows.”
The Chamber’s membership under Bell’s direction now totals more than 1,200 businesses, retention has risen to 89% and the organization remains financially strong and debt-free. The Chamber has launched initiatives such as ChamberGrow, an entrepreneurial training program approved by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and Small Business Development Center (SBDC); the Women M.E.A.N. Business committee supporting mentorship, empowerment, authenticity and networking; and an expanded Government Affairs Committee to ensure business voices are represented at every level of policymaking.
“Heather embodies the qualities we strive to honor with this award—vision, dedication, and a deep commitment to Orange County’s economic future,” added Melissa Cobuzzi, Chair of the Orange County Partnership Board of Directors. “We are proud to recognize her leadership and lasting contributions to our community.”
Orange County Partnership President and CEO Eckert, who presented the award, described Bell as “a leader whose resilience, authenticity and heart have turned challenges into opportunities, not only for herself but for thousands of businesses that call Orange County home.”
County Executive Highlights Trends, Opportunities
Orange County Executive Neuhaus discussed the fast-growing film industry in Orange County and its impressive economic impacts as well as advancing the development of tourism trains in the county. He said that the county has easements it can utilize and expects to see significant progress in advancing the initiative in the next six months to a year.
He also detailed his proposal for Orange County to take over the struggling New York Stewart International Airport from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for a 10-year period. The County Executive said he would utilize a portion of the $7 million the county receives from its hotel tax for marketing Stewart Airport.
The proposal he has sent to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Port Authority would have the Port Authority continue to pay for the airport’s operations, but allow Orange County to aggressively seek to bring in new air carriers. “We have to take this seriously or nothing is going to happen,” he said.
He concluded his remarks by noting that Elon Musk’s Space X has expressed interest in establishing operations in Orange County and that the semiconductor industry is also a sector that is exploring sites in the county.
Orange County Partnership’s Eckert related a few recent economic development success stories including Garonit Pharmaceutical, Inc.’s plans to build a new state-of-the-art, 200,000-square-foot pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in New Windsor; Cannabis company DreamFields’ establishment of a 39,000-square-foot production facility in the City of Middletown, and Balchem Corp., which is seeking to replace its outdated Slate Hill manufacturing site with a new $40-million, approximately 80,000-square-foot plant in the Town of Wallkill.
Federal Reserve Remains Focused on 2% Inflation Target
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Athreya related that the economy is showing signs of softening and the job market has weakened of late. However, he said the Federal Reserve, which recently instituted a quarter of a percentage point rate cut, remains focused on its goal of bringing the inflation rate down to 2%. Currently, the inflation rate is hovering at or a little below 3%.
In fact, the same day as his presentation, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York released its September 2025 Survey of Consumer Expectations, which showed that households’ inflation expectations increased at the short- and longer-term horizons and were unchanged at the medium-term horizon. Despite a small rebound in the expected job finding rate, labor market expectations continued to deteriorate with consumers reporting lower expected earnings growth, greater likelihoods of losing jobs, and a higher likelihood of a rise in overall unemployment.
Median inflation expectations in September increased at the one-year-ahead horizon to 3.4% from 3.2% and at the five-year-ahead horizon to 3.0% from 2.9%. They remained steady at the three-year-ahead horizon at 3.0%.
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell in a recent speech cited the deteriorating job market as a cause for further rate cuts by the Fed in the coming months. Many analysts expect the Fed to cut rates two more times in 2025 beginning with a rate cut announcement at its meetings on Oct. 28-29.
Athreya concluded his remarks by citing a recent survey of business leaders that portends to “not boom times right now but more of (a period) of treading water.”
