DATE: Friday, April 25, 1997                TAG: 9704230088

SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS     PAGE: 02   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: IDA KAY'S PORTSMOUTH 

SOURCE: Ida Kay Jordan 

                                            LENGTH:   61 lines

VIRGINIA MISSED A CHANCE TO MIX MUSIC WITH MONEY

Actually, I would have preferred to be in New York at Carnegie Hall listening to the Virginia Symphony. Instead, I was in Portsmouth at the Holiday Inn listening to the governor. Nothing against the governor, mind you. Music is just more uplifting than politics.

However, as the governor talked on about jobs and businesses in Hampton Roads, I kept wondering why the governor wasn't in New York. After all, the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance had planned a big to-do for business people in conjunction with the symphony's Carnegie performance. The governor's presence would have lent some additional prestige to the event.

Things like that reception usually pay off sometime down the road, and I was happy to see Hampton Roads folks gearing up to piggy-back on the symphony's debut.

Back in the 1970s, I went to New York for the Carnegie Hall debut of the North Carolina Symphony. It was special for me because I once worked a year traveling around the state promoting the orchestra. But that trip to New York was not a sentimental one. It was all business. And I do mean business!

North Carolina made such a big splash that the New York Times ran a front-page story with a picture of the North Carolina flag flying in front of one of the Midtown hotels. There were four governors - one sitting and three who preceded him - in the entourage. People noticed that.

Dick Jenrette, a Tar Heel who made it big in money, hosted an elegant luncheon at his Wall Street offices. The state threw another big luncheon - at the Plaza, I think. Top executives from a variety of businesses and from the universities mixed with executives from all over the nation.

The heads of companies already transplanted to North Carolina backed the event full-force. I was standing on 57th Street one morning when a taxicab pulled to the curb and out hopped Fred Coe, then president of Burroughs-Wellcome, a company that moved its headquarters from New York to Research Triangle Park. Coe had taken an early morning commute from Washington, where he was testifying to congressional committees, urging quicker approval by FDA for drugs already in use in Europe. He felt the New York activities were important enough to his adopted home state that he rushed up just for half a day to attend the state luncheon.

Not all of the bigwigs North Carolina was trying to impress used their comp tickets to the symphony concert, but that really didn't matter. They got the message.

By mixing the folks from banks and other businesses with those from universities in North Carolina at all the luncheon tables with the special guests, the tone was set. And, of course, the mix underscored the state's efforts to attract upscale, high-tech types to the state.

It was low-key selling at its best. I walked around taking pictures and listening to some of the luncheon chatter. Invariably one of the Tar Heels at a table would spot me and introduce everybody at the table. It was that kind of event, and since I knew all the North Carolinians pretty well, I didn't feel like the poor relation I was in this company.

In all my years in the newspaper business, that luncheon guest list was by far the most impressive bunch of people I've ever seen in one room.

There was no doubt that the project paid off for North Carolina. That's why I think Hampton Roads was on the right track to organize its event this past week. However, I couldn't help but wonder why the governor had not insisted on making it a real Virginia event.

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