A Portage native himself, Portage EDC Executive Director Andy Maletta is ecstatic to bring more economic opportunities and growth to businesses within his hometown.
“I love the City of Portage. I grew up here and lived here my whole life,” he said. “It's a great place to live. It's a great place to work. I'm honored that the Portage Economic Development Board chose me to lead the organization, and I'm just looking forward to jumping in headfirst and getting things done.”
The Portage EDC works heavily within the business community, with clients ranging from industrial manufacturers, hospitals, health care facilities, local schools, and much more. The organization also invites new businesses to the city by showing them that Portage is the place to be for great success and more clientele.
“We help companies that are looking for a place to locate. It's fun to be able to sell the city. I enjoy doing that. To me, it's an easy sell,” he said. “I like being around people. I like the opportunity to be out and just enjoy being able to help the city grow.”
Additionally, the Portage EDC helps businesses with things like expansion, zoning, and offers various programs to help them and their employees, including a Manufacturing 360 and Healthcare 360 program.
Maletta got his start at the Portage EDC back in 2016, the same time he came on as the Director of Economic Development for the City.
“The Portage EDC is the nonprofit organization that works with the City and in the business community to help navigate throughout the city processes, attract businesses etc.,” he explained.
While Maletta has retired from the City of Portage, he chose to continue working with the Portage EDC and was later elected their Board President. Further on down the road, the then Executive Director stepped down from his position, and Maletta jumped in to help fill the gap.
“I took over as an interim to get us through the rest of last year, and then the board and I discussed it and decided that I would stay on permanently,” he said. “I am excited to be back into the fold of this and I’m looking forward to doing a lot of great things for the city.”
Maletta is proud to represent Portage for a number of reasons, one of those being the city’s convenient location to both Lake Michigan and Chicago.
“When you're looking at Portage, we’re right off of I80/94. We have the Indiana toll road with an exit right in the middle of our city. We're 40 minutes away from downtown Chicago, and we're only a few minutes away from I-65 to get you to Indianapolis. We have the South Shore that comes through and has a station here, soon to be double tracking. We have an international shipping port with 100 ships coming in a year, and 250 barges from all over the world coming into Portage.”
A city isn’t complete without its residents, and Maletta also holds the city’s people in high regard, noting they are the true backbone of Portage.
“We have good, hardcore, blue collar type of individuals here,” he said. “We know what it means to go to work every day. All the unions are here. We've got good hard working people. You'll find good employees here and that's a great attraction.”
Maletta’s Portage roots also give him a leg up for working with the EDC. Growing up and currently living in the city has given him extra insight into what works best for the city. Working in his hometown has also allowed him to form multiple connections with people from various departments throughout the city, which in turn allows him to bring people together who may have not connected otherwise.
“That's something that I bring to the table, that I do like to think a little more regionally, not just specifically Portage, but how can Portage work with these other communities or the others in other entities?” he said.
Moving forward, Maletta sees nothing but opportunities for growth and further success for Portage. There’s still plenty of room for newcomers to join Maletta in calling Portage their home, to see firsthand just how many wonderful opportunities the city has to offer.
“I think the future is good for the Portage EDC,” he said. “I think Portage is on the move with the quality of life, things we're working on all the time, expanding what we call our downtown now, where we've got our amphitheater, the playground, the founder square area. With some of the ideas on how we can grow that, I think there's tremendous opportunities. There's still some opportunities along the retail corridor on Route Six, and then for small manufacturers, we still have some availability along the Route 20 area. I think our opportunities are good. I think our future's bright.”
For more information on how the Portage EDC is working to bring greater economic opportunities to the city, visit their website at portagein.org.
