In his corporate life, William Christopher thought he knew about pressure. He runs a $5.5 billion division of Alcoa Inc., which is a $30 billion aluminum manufacturer. His Engineered Solutions group, based in Independence, manages 50,000 employees in 103 locations throughout 18 countries and makes hundreds of diverse products.
That was until he was asked to testify before the U.S. Senate last summer.
"It's an intimidating situation," the 53-year-old Christopher says. "I was glad I wasn't one of the first people to testify."
Christopher wasn't involved in an Enron-type ethics investigation, but rather he served as the face and voice of the Greater Cleveland Partnership (GCP) and its 17,400 business members before a Senate subcommittee on air quality. Lawmakers, including Cleveland-native and Sen. George Voinovich, who asked the GCP to send a representative, were considering tighter air emission regulations and sought input from all sides of the issue.
In his statement, Christopher enlightened the senators that further standards wouldn't improve the pollution issue in the Cleveland area, mainly because more than 60 percent of those forbidden greenhouse gas emissions come from neighboring states' industries, as well as mobile sources such as cars and trucks.
His comments were well received, but the experience wasn't quite as inspiring as it is portrayed in the old political movies starring Jimmy Stewart or Spencer Tracy.
"There's a big clock counting down your time and when you have 30 seconds left in your opening statement, a light starts flashing," Christopher says with a laugh, describing the subcommittee's chambers on Capitol Hill, which are set up much like a courtroom. "I wouldn't call it a warm and friendly environment."
But Christopher did help influence the legislation. In the most recent version of the bill, senators addressed issues like coal-burning power plants and mobile sources of pollution, and he referenced both in his testimony.
"I'm no longer mayor and I'm no longer governor, so I turn to [the GCP] for leadership in the private sector," says Voinovich. "They've done a good job, and we're lucky to have Bill's leadership there."
Christopher's success and ease before the nation's top lawmakers, as well as his role leading a multibillion-dollar corporate division, earned him the seat as the GCP's chairman of advocacy earlier this year, making him the top (part-time) political lobbyist for Northeast Ohio business.
"If you're going to be on the [GCP] board, then you should be engaged," says Christopher, who is also on the partnership executive committee. "It forces you to really gain an in-depth understanding of the economy of the region, the impact of the proposed legislation, some of the challenges we're facing and some of the opportunities we have that are really starting to move forward."
The GCP has been involved in political issues for decades — including holding an annual public officials reception for the last 46 years — though has always been quiet about taking credit. Recently, the advocacy staff has had a number of successes, including helping negotiate the reversal of a recommendation by the Department of Defense to close the downtown Cleveland Defense Finance and Accounting Service, which saved 1,100 jobs and brought 500 more to Cleveland.
The staff also had a hand in the passage of a state tax-reform package that included the enactment of the Commercial Activity Tax, which helped modernize Ohio's tax structure and included a 21 percent reduction in the income tax.
They've fought for NASA's John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field playing a key role in the design and testing of the next-generation space exploration vehicle, as well as helping land more than $300 million in Ohio Third Frontier competitive grant awards for high-tech and research institutions in Northeast Ohio.
Due to the increased importance of government funding and regulation on Northeast Ohio businesses, and the multiple area economic development organizations at work, GCP's leadership felt they needed a single, prominent, public leader to boost the profile of its political activities.
"Bill has a tremendous energy and commitment," says Joseph Roman, president and CEO of the Greater Cleveland Partnership. "Secondly, Alcoa is an interesting symbol for our region in that it's an innovative, international manufacturer that is growing just as we are a transitioning manufacturing economy that's growing."
Christopher and the political advocacy staff fight for funding and issues that affect not only the partnership members themselves, but affiliates such as the Council of Smaller Enterprises, Cleveland Development Advisors, BioEnterprise, Build Up Greater Cleveland, NorTech, JumpStart, MAGNET, the Commission on Economic Inclusion and Team NEO. Having one representative who can speak for the diverse group of interests also packs more of a punch with a time-starved public official.
"Their input is really more important than ever," says Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, who meets monthly with Roman and GCP Chairman Fred Nance. "It's fair to say that every person and player is important, but it's also important to have an umbrella organization that can speak with one clear, coherent voice."
Christopher, who officially accepted the government affairs role about 10 months ago, was not openly involved in politics or political causes
Political Profile
Here are a few of the issues and talking points William Christopher, the Greater Cleveland Partnership’s chairman of advocacy, is pushing when he travels to Washington, D.C., and Columbus to meet with elected officials and their staffs.
» NASA’s John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field: NASA Glenn and the Plum Brook Sandusky facility are in the spotlight due to their involvement with the space agency’s planned return trip to the moon and a popular topic among elected officials.
» Innerbelt: Christopher is working with federal officials to revise the Interstate 90 Innerbelt modernization plan to include a Carnegie Avenue ramp for access to Midtown and University Circle.
» Energy: The Greater Cleveland Partnership created an energy task force that includes manufacturers, alternative energy proponents and other experts to find business community consensus on state and federal energy issues.
» Health insurance: The GCP’s government affairs staff continues to press state and federal levels to reform the health insurance marketplace and make benefits more affordable to businesses.
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until now. "I've had great tutors," he says of the staff. "So far, I've been taken by the dedication from most of our elected officials. That's been a refreshing, eye-opening experience."
A native of the Philadelphia area, Christopher joined Alcoa's finance department in 1975 following graduation from Penn State University with an accounting degree. After earning numerous promotions, he arrived in Cleveland in 1996 to lead Alcoa's forgings and castings business. Shortly after the move, Christopher discovered a need to clean up the air emissions from one of his division's factories.
"We were meeting the letter of the law, but we were not meeting the intent of the law," Christopher says. "We really needed to take a step back and look at what we were doing."
Christopher spent four years and invested millions on the plant. The company removed and replaced its coal-burning boiler with a natural gas version. It upgraded its water-treatment system and cleaned up a nearby former landfill, donating it to the Cleveland Metroparks. Today, the emissions from that plant are half of what they were before the improvements and the water discharged from the facility is cleaner than the water it uses from the river.
"I'm passionate about the environment," Christopher says. "We've taken advantage of the opportunity to share with people that it's not bad for your business."
That kind of leadership is crucial in helping 12 or more somewhat disparate economic organizations to agree on some issues. But the leaders have managed to endorse a handful of talking points that Christopher brings to elected officials when he lobbies in Washington and Columbus. Although, lately, most politicians seem to be talking about energy — thanks to high gas prices and environmental concerns.
In early November, Gov. Ted Strickland's energy bill was up before vote with state lawmakers, while at the same time the U.S. House and Senate had passed versions of a bill encouraging the creation of renewable energy sources and reducing carbon emissions.
"The energy policy has gone from not even being in the dialogue 12 to 18 months ago to being front and center with proposed legislation, which is incredibly fast," says Christopher, who wants to make sure new energy laws don't hurt area manufacturers but at the same time help the environment and encourage new business development.
But it's not just fuel and "green" issues. Christopher pushes other economic improvement causes such as further federal investment in NASA Glenn, the Interstate 90 Innerbelt project, minority businesses, as well as commercial tax and health insurance reforms.
"My biggest role is to make sure we have a consensus of opinion to what we want staff to accomplish and then they come back and tell us what help they need to get it done," Christopher says. "When we can reach an agreed upon position, that's great. There are situations where we'll get into an issue that we can't agree on. … Then we leave it up to the individual companies to go their own way."
Running a large corporate division does take most of his time, but during his two-year term as the GCP's top lobbyist, Christopher will visit Columbus several times and Washington, D.C., at least twice a year, as well as meet lawmakers when they are in the region. In fact, when Sherrod Brown was newly elected to the U.S. Senate, his first stop in Cleveland was to meet with the partnership's top executives.
But does this recent political mingling have Christopher thinking about running for an elected office?
"No," he snaps. "When you run for public office, you either win or you lose and it's all out there for everybody to see. No thanks."