LINC in the Press

About 120 regional CEOs and executives gathered to advance and integrate diversity and inclusive excellence.

LINC assembles regional CEOs to advance and integrate diversity and inclusive excellence.

Some have been paying attention, but for others, the Lehigh Valley’s comeback (from something like the washed-up, jilted ex of expired industries like Bethlehem Steel to a network of thriving, reinvented communities) hasn’t fully registered. Of course, the proximity to New York and Philadelphia is an obvious plus, but looking inward, years of hard work to build up the ABE area has borne nutritious fruit.

We’re moving where?

Lehigh Valley — beautiful location, many things to do, great place to raise a family — it’s familiar to the 830,000 people already living here.

But for a new person who just received a job offer, there is more at stake. Their experience is short: fly in, drive to corporate headquarters, interview and back to the airport — only seeing the Lehigh Valley from a few thousand feet in the air.

Shortly after relocating to the Lehigh Valley from North Carolina, Lindsay and Chris Cardenas recall the night the gas tank was on empty as they followed their smartphones looking for a gas station.

One recommendation was actually a repair garage. Another was closed.

“As it turns out, there was a Wawa five minutes away,” Lindsay Cardenas said. “But we didn’t know what a Wawa was.”
But that’s just the type challenge and uncertainty – no matter how small – that career transplants face when they move into a new area. So a group of employers envisioned a welcome wagon, of sorts, in an effort to make the transition as smooth as possible and keep professionals in the Lehigh Valley.