A former star of Harvard University’s crew team in the late 1980s, Jon Bernstein can’t resist a good rowing metaphor.
Ask him what he’s looking to accomplish as the new chair of influential employer group Mass. Business Roundtable, and he responds by saying Massachusetts can’t get complacent about its economic position.
“The thing I learned at rowing: I was able to compete against the best in the world [but] the best are always finding out ways to get better,” Bernstein said.
To some extent, taking over as Roundtable chair represents the culmination of the work he has been doing since he became PNC Bank’s top local executive nearly seven years ago, as the Pittsburgh-based bank looked to expand here. The regional president for PNC’s New England operations has become a ubiquitous presence in Boston’s business scene, including by joining the Greater Boston Chamber’s board and co-chairing a business-backed push to increase state funding for early childhood education.
Now that he’s taken over for Citizens Bank president Lisa Murray for a two-year term as Roundtable chair, Bernstein has another good reason to be out and about. The Roundtable represents nearly 100 member companies and nonprofits, and it’s through PNC’s membership that Bernstein first came to know the group.
His priorities as chair will include promoting policies that make Massachusetts a better place to attract and retain talent and to grow businesses. He sees housing costs and energy affordability among the biggest threats to those goals, as well as the cuts to academic and medical research resulting from recent changes in federal policy.
Starting out, Bernstein says he’ll meet with Roundtable president JD Chesloff to strategize on the best policies to focus on at the State House, and spend more time getting to know Roundtable members.
To describe his approach, he turns to another rowing metaphor.
“The Roundtable is working really well,” Bernstein said. “When you hop on a boat that’s moving pretty quickly, the first thing you want to do is not slow it down.”
This is an installment of our weekly Bold Types column about the movers and shakers on Boston’s business scene.
Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him @jonchesto.
