Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Delivers Remarks at the IBM Flagship Office Ribbon Cutting

Earlier on Sep 6th, Governor Kathy Hochul delivered remarks at the IBM flagship Office Ribbon Cutting in New York City. As one of the largest tech companies, IBM has a tenured 110-plus-year-old history and deep roots with its founding in New York. IBM is further establishing its presence in New York City and the New York State tech hub, providing a state-of-the-art space that facilitates employee collaboration, productivity and showcases IBM’s innovation and own technology in the building. The new office is about 260,000 square feet and will house about 2,000 employees.

VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.

AUDIO of the Governor’s remarks is available here.

PHOTOS of the event will be available on the Governor's Flickr page.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

The “steely grit,” you hear that everybody? I think that comes from the fact that my grandfather and father once made steel in Buffalo. They were steel workers and I do believe I have steel running through my veins, which helps a lot in this business.

Speaking of Buffalo, Jessica Pegula. So proud of her. We all stayed up late last night and we’re looking forward to her making history. And I'm texting the family all night long, “I can't believe this,” just so excited. And she's also related to the family that owns the Buffalo Bills so, there's a whole synergy here about my passion for Buffalo and sports as well.

But also, I have a story to tell you. My father did make steel at the Bethlehem Steel Plant, and there were signs that it was going to be a little shaky and that we were not going to always have the steel plant that employed everybody we knew. My dad decided to go get a college degree at night while he and my mom were living in a trailer park.

A few years later, my dad left that steel plant to join two guys who had formerly worked for IBM and they started a small tech company in Buffalo. And I, as a little girl, used to go see my dad in this room with a giant computer — a computer as big as this room — and he would let me play with the punch cards. I'd bring my crayons and color on the punch cards. So, my dad was an early coder I guess, and took that company to great heights after many years, and ended up becoming the CEO. So, IBM had a great influence on taking my family to greater heights as it has for hundreds of thousands across its incredible history here. So, I have that personal gratitude to IBM.

Arvind, you're an extraordinary leader. And for your commitment to double down on New York City — this is going to have the ripple effect that we need. When a legacy company like IBM that is courted to go anywhere — other states, other countries, and to plant your flag elsewhere, and you say, “No, this is our home. We believe in New York.” Especially after we were hit so hard with that pandemic and people questioned whether we could ever have the comeback. We've surpassed what we expected by this point and a company like IBM coming here, bringing thousands of workers downtown — and don't be working remotely, okay? Come back in person. That's over. We're done. You're never going to get a date; you're not going to make new friends. Don't be sitting in your basement, okay? Just, come on. Come back.

So, IBM understands this culture of greatness, and we do have great partners. And you mentioned Senator Schumer, our Majority Leader. I will always be grateful to Senator Schumer for what he did in that CHIPS and Science Act because if it wasn't for that at the federal level, we would have no reason to put our $10 billion to supplement what Senator Schumer did in Washington with President Biden and Vice President Harris. So, it was that synergy, you know? You do your job in Washington, you get it done, I’ll get it done in New York. Senator Liz Krueger here — I want to thank her and our partners in Albany for believing in this idea that with this amount of money, it could be leveraged to attract a company like Micron. A company like Micron that could have gone anywhere. Texas thought they were going there, by the way, and we pulled them back. Then we said, “No, you're coming to New York.” We made it worthwhile at the state and federal level.

I was in Syracuse yesterday. I was at one of the schools where they're already changing how they're changing the curriculum to get ready for the jobs — the 50,000 jobs — that are coming. So, this is happening. They are already building their child care center on site so they can attract more women and parents to be working these jobs.

So, change is happening. And to have that synergy with IBM, I believe that the presence of IBM here, was one of the drivers of that decision for them to come to New York. And so, I will always be grateful for how you are a catalyst for all the other supply chain companies and the other semiconductor companies and all those who are involved in this incredibly exciting tech ecosystem here in the State of New York.

So, thank you for that. Thank you, Majority Leader Schumer for your involvement there. Other great partners — Kathy Wylde. Thank you for being such a great champion of the business community. You never gave up hope either. And it was your resiliency and tenacity that got us through the tough time. So, you can take a victory lap, walk around this space and say, “Yes, they built it. They came and I was a driver behind it.” So, thank you, Kathy Wylde, for your leadership there as well.

Julie Samuels, thank you for pushing us so hard in the tech space. As you know, I love it anyhow, but to be able to bring in more partners to show how important this is. I'm understanding, and I'm quoting you on this, so it better be right, “We're the number one destination for tech jobs in America today.” Did you hear that? Number one destination in America for tech jobs. And we're just getting warmed up. I mean, we never say, “Enough is enough,” in New York. That's not who we are. So, I want to thank Arvind and Tarika Barrett for all this. Tarika, would you stand up please? Would you stand up? Stand up. Thank you.

When we decided we need someone to help manage this whole Empire AI initiative and beyond, this is just the first year I'm focusing on Empire AI, I needed two leaders that had incredible respect in the community. The two of you bring diverse opinions and voices and attitudes and perspectives, and I needed that at the table. You are doing incredible.

I know you just hosted a meeting for us here a couple of days ago. I'm grateful for that. So, I'm really, really excited about where we're going. I have a whole list of everything we've done. You basically said it. So, I will not go through all the details, but we're making things happen here. My friends never, ever give up on New York.

Not just the City, but the State, because exciting things are happening. And to know that the young people I saw in a high school in Syracuse yesterday are preparing for jobs that would not have been there, but for our President, our Majority Leader, myself, our Legislature, and a whole lot of other people who never gave up believing — this is how you make the magic happen. The magic is back, my friends, and I want to thank IBM for being there. We'll see you for the next 114 years.

Thank you.