Kokomo Auto

VIDEO & TRANSCRIPT: Locals discuss auto industry on CNN

Published:
Thursday, June 18, 2009 9:40 PM EDT

Tonight three local men -- Jeb Conrad, head of the Greater Kokomo Economic Development Alliance, Chris Rohaly, founding partner of Green Alternatives, and Kirk Daniels, owner of Freedom Financial Group -- appeared on CNN’s Money & Main St., hosted by Anderson Cooper.

The following is a transcript and video of the interview:


Anderson Cooper: Our first virtual town hall of the hour is in Kokomo, Ind., population of 45,000. Four Chrysler plants, Delphi Electronics, manufacturing on a big scale, but in a sector, cars, it’s shrinking. People in Kokomo are adapting, but it is a battle. With us now is Jeb Conrad, head of the Greater Kokomo Economic Development Alliance, Chris Rohaly, founding partner of Green Alternatives but he is also holding down a job in the auto industry, and Kirk Daniels, owner of Freedom Financial Group, a local investment firm.

Cooper: Kirk, I want to start with you. You were raised in Kokomo. Auto industry has had big ups and downs over the years. Jobs have always come back though. Do you think that is going to happen again?

Daniels: I think everybody knows that jobs, to a certain extent, have already left, and what we are trying to do in this community is to find not only as many auto jobs as we can find but branch out and diversify. We’ve got a lot of talented people sitting here that can be used in many different areas.

Cooper: And Jeb, part of the problem is, you know, nearly a quarter of the population was working in the auto industry. You say had Chrysler and Delphi closed their plants Kokomo would have been devastated. What do you think Kokomo is doing to be less reliant on the auto industry? How do you try to get beyond that?

Conrad: We got to be encouraging and entrepreneurial in nature. The bottom line is, Kirk kind of hit on it a little bit, which is, how do we take the talent, the skill sets, and the assets in this community and diversify them so we are less reliant directly on that industry sector.

The good news is that sector has some life back in it, especially here in our community, with the plants coming back on line and in part with the new relationship with Fiat. That brings us some hope and opportunity there. We really need to diversify that and encourage entrepreneurialism, and we have done that.

Cooper: And how are you going about doing that?

Conrad: Well, we have an incubator now, for example, which brings all the resources -- financial resources, low operating cost space -- and all the assets that you would need to really build a new business plan. A lot of that comes from that talent base that has been shed as part of the process associated with the downturn, and the change, and the shrinking of the auto industry. We have a company of consulting engineers that were formally Delphi-related, which is some of the highest skilled technicians in the world.

Cooper: Kirk, you are a financial planner. Your business must be affected by all these layoffs and buyouts.

Daniels: Absolutely. We have a fairly continuous stream of automotive employees that two years ago thought they were in great shape. They have had to take early retirements. They have had to take bonus incentive packages. We’re continuously trying to counsel people on how to find new jobs, how to start businesses. It is not so much the investing of the money they have because they need right now to eat. It is a serious issue.

We have some of the most talented engineer and labor force in the world. These plants are sophisticated and always have been.

Cooper: Chris, you know that firsthand. You work in the auto industry. You have also started though a green technology company, basically hoping for job security in the future. Tell us about that company, why you think it could work in Kokomo.

Rohaly: We think it can work in Kokomo because, even though we are not a notorious sunbelt here in the Midwest, technology is, for one thing, very parallel to a lot of what many of the technicians that Jeb talked about have worked on here for years. It is high-voltage, high-current DC, which is not too far off of automotive electronics from a technology standpoint. We have also studied a lot of where the technology is going, and where policies and green industries are going, especially in Germany, for instance. We honestly believe, as do most analysts, that it is not too long into the future before the price curves of technologies like standard photovoltaic solar and some upcoming breakthroughs are at cost parody with conventionally coal-burning electricity. Then it doesn’t matter if you are in the Southwest. It will be a viable business everywhere.

Cooper: Jeb, do you still see a manufacturing sector in Kokomo? Do you see that in the future?

Conrad: Absolutely. Our history and our legacy is in the areas of manufacturing and advanced manufacturing. We believe that there is still a proficiency here in this community to continue to do manufacturing. I think what the real piece is how do we diversify that in a little different manner and also find emerging industries similar to what Chris was talking about. Which is, how do we lasso some of those to tie that together with the assets and talents we have here? We believe we are getting outside that box. We are being more strategic about that, and we have also had fortunate circumstances actually learning from history from some communities around the country that have been in a situation similar to us, not exactly the same but similar.

Cooper: Jeb, you are talking about talent. Chris, you clearly have a lot of talent. You are able to run a startup while also having a full-time job. How do you do that?

Rohaly: Actually, a lot of the work is happening by people who are not as fully employed as I am. The industry is nowhere near mature, and yet there is enough people interested in it that I got cooperation from sectors that will be vital to it. The skilled trades, some very gifted contractors who are underutilized, electricians, so they are doing the bulk of the work, and I am able to keep up right now in my off hours between the paying day job.

Cooper: I can’t imagine you getting a lot of sleep, but let’s hope it pays off. I appreciate your time tonight Kirk Daniels, Jeb Conrad, and Chris Rohaly.