New York State Economic Czar Hope Knight ’85 Reflects on Her MMC Experience
Hope Knight ’85
When Hope Knight ’85 enrolled at MMC, she had no clear sense of how the business world operated or even what career paths it offered—and no contacts in the field who might’ve served as a guide. Still, in a bustling city like New York, “the business world seemed exciting, and I thought I could potentially be successful,” she said. So, she made Business Management her major and threw herself into classes and internships.
Today, some 40 years later, few names are more closely associated with doing business in New York state than hers. Knight is the president, CEO, and commissioner of Empire State Development, New York’s economic development arm that facilitates business growth and job creation. Her moves are closely watched as a barometer for the state’s economic health. Indeed, for the past three years, when the political media outlet City & State has released its annual list of local leaders helping New York’s economy rebound after the pandemic, it has included her not just on the roster but at the very top of it.
Knight was nominated for the ESD post in 2021 by Governor Kathy Hochul, becoming the first African American to lead the agency. With deep experience in economic development—she’d previously run the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone and the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation, one of New York’s oldest local development groups—Knight, Hochul explained, was just what the state needed. “After the devastating impact the pandemic had on New York’s economy, we need the best of the best at the helm to lead our recovery,” the governor said.
Since then, Knight has helped steer some of the state’s most ambitious economic projects, including a historic $100 billion investment by the tech giant Micron to build the country’s largest semiconductor manufacturing campus in Central New York. The deal, Knight said, is one of the most significant economic development projects in the nation, expected to create nearly 50,000 jobs. Further, as part of Micron’s commitment, the company is establishing a $500 million community benefits fund to support job training and other initiatives in under-resourced communities. “To be able to directly invest that kind of capital in the region and have Micron involved in engaging disadvantaged communities for training opportunities in advanced manufacturing is very exciting,” Knight said.
Knight was also instrumental in creating the state’s new Office of Strategic Workforce Development, which helps equip New Yorkers for careers of the future and removes barriers to opportunity such as lack of childcare. The office has supported 52 workforce development projects across the state that are set to train more than 12,000 New Yorkers for over 400 business partners. With its focus on troubleshooting real-world issues that can sideline workers, it is among Knight’s proudest achievements.
“Some folks are one car breakdown away from being unable to get to training,” she said. “We’re working with partners to help them manage day-to-day challenges that would have previously prevented them from accessing these kinds of opportunities.”
In addition, Knight has also prioritized awarding grants to small businesses across the state and, for the first time in 15 years, boosting funding for the ESD’s Entrepreneurship Assistance Centers, which are typically located in low-income communities.
Successes like those have helped the state find surer footing in a post-pandemic world; New York’s unemployment rate, for example, currently sits at 4.5 percent, down from more than 8 percent in 2020.
Knight, an East Harlem native, never doubted that New York would bounce back after several bruising years. “New York is incredibly resilient, though we’ve had more challenges than many states over the last couple of decades,” she said.
Moreover, she emphasizes that much of what she’s accomplished in her career and for the people of New York has its roots in what she learned at MMC. “It started at Marymount,” she said. “That was a time of incredible growth for me, and it set a firm foundation for the rest of my career.”
As an MMC student, Knight felt deeply at home on 71st Street but also took the College’s ethos that the city is its campus to heart. “I recognized that I could take advantage of the rich cultural institutions and research institutions in the city, and I did,” she said.
It started at Marymount,” she said. “That was a time of incredible growth for me, and it set a firm foundation for the rest of my career.”
Just as importantly, she focused on relationships and built close ties with faculty. That would turn out to be a game changer: Though Knight came to the College with no role models or champions in the business world, she found both in her professors, particularly Marvelle S. Colby, Ph.D. A well-respected business leader, Dr. Colby taught in MMC’s Business Management and Accounting Division for 21 years and also served as division chair.
“Marvelle had come to Marymount after a long and successful career in business and nonprofit and brought her life experience to the classroom,” Knight said. “I always thought she was very wise and practical.”
Dr. Colby’s influence and support prepared Knight to perform at a high level. “Dr. Colby and my time at MMC gave me the confidence to become a manager straight out of college,” she said.
Knight would remain close to Dr. Colby even after she retired. Along the way, Knight built a personal and professional network amongst the professor’s former students in the business world. “We became connected and stayed connected because of Marvelle,” Knight said.
Dr. Colby passed in 2016, but MMC’s Dr. Marvelle S. Colby Endowed Scholarship Fund has ensured her legacy among the community. Knight led the charge in creating the fund, alongside Dr. Colby’s colleagues, fellow alumni, faculty, and staff. “It makes me incredibly happy that her memory lives on at MMC in the form of a scholarship that supports students who are in some way disadvantaged.”
Knight hopes current students will feel at home at MMC, just as she did, and leverage all the benefits of being part of a small, intimate community in a big, roaring city. That includes, she said, ample leadership opportunities, the ability to cultivate strong, long-lasting relationships, and a push to create opportunities outside the four walls of the College. Tapping into those things “will certainly pay dividends on a go-forward basis,” she said.
And, over the years, she has continued to participate in the life of the College, not only as an active alumna but as a trustee emeritus (Knight served as board chair from 2014-2017), a former adjunct Business faculty member, and as a parent. Her son is in his senior year at MMC.
While the MMC of today looks very different from the MMC she attended in the 1980s, its ideals have remained the same—which, she said, is what she works to maintain. “A lot of great things are happening at the College,” she said. “It’s changed as an institution, both in terms of what it looks like physically and the programming, but it’s important to see it grow and be preserved. To the extent that I’m able to, I want to do my part in that endeavor.”
Published: February 28, 2024
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