Heather Briccetti among City & State’s “Influentials”

Heather Briccetti, president and CEO of The Business Council, is among 22 people City & State considers New York’s most important “nonelecteds who have the ear of the state’s top politicians.” The Influentials were chosen from the “worlds of business, journalism, organized labor, politics and government.” 

Morgan Pehme of City & State writes:

Heather Briccetti believes that a key to becoming influential in government is demonstrating the ability to be reasonable.

“Being bombastic and being over-the-top negative—over time, you lose credibility,” said Briccetti, who took the helm of the Business Council in January. “You have to be rational and have a basis for your argument, but you have to have the credibility to begin with.”

Throughout her career, Briccetti has established that credibility. She was the first female chief public defender in Rensselaer County and served as a special counsel in the state Attorney General’s Office, coordinating with the Legislature and the executive branch.

She also worked on both sides of the aisle in the Capitol, serving as a legislative aide and counsel to Democratic Assembly members before joining the Republican Senate majority’s staff.

“It [was] a good lesson,” said Briccetti, who considers herself fiscally conservative and socially liberal. “Partisanship doesn’t really get you anywhere. You’ve got to recognize that there are tremendously smart people on both sides of an argument.”

Briccetti applies these lessons to her work at the Business Council, where her goals are to improve the state’s business climate and to unify the interests of business groups so they have more clout with the Legislature.

Though Briccetti describes the private sector in New York as “underdogs,” she said that the state was now “taking steps in the right direction.” She cites two years of state budgets with no growth in spending and the property-tax cap as remarkable feats, particularly in light of the country’s economic troubles.

Just because she extols moderation in politics doesn’t mean that Briccetti is reluctant to fight when the interests of the over 3,000 employers she represents are involved.

“On some issues, if there’s not a compromise solution, you have to say ‘No’ and you have to say ‘Here’s why,’ ” Briccetti said. “Just the fact of being right doesn’t mean you win the argument.”

Howard Glaser, Director of state operations and senior policy adviser to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, James Featherstonhaugh, President of the New York Gaming Association and Joshua Vlasto,
Deputy Communications Director to Gov. Andrew Cuomo are among the other Influentials.

Click here to see the entire list.