LVEDC President & CEO Don Cunningham interviews Shelly McWilliams, President of Lehigh Valley Plastics.

This article originally appeared in the October 14, 2021 issue of “LV Connections,” a quarterly newsletter LVEDC distributes to municipal officials in the Lehigh Valley.

The executive video interview series launched earlier this year by the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation (LVEDC) was so well-received and so widely-viewed that the organization has launched a new series of interviews.

The new series, which launched last month, features video interviews with new corporate leaders from some of the largest and most prestigious companies in the Lehigh Valley, including Mack Trucks, Olympus, PPL Electric Utilities, Victaulic, and more.

The videos are released each Thursday at 11 a.m. on the LVEDC Facebook page, and are available for later viewing on the organization’s YouTube channel, as well as on the LVEDC blog.

“Our series sought to introduce the region’s new corporate leaders to the broader community, who were unable to meet or network with them in traditional settings due to COVID-19 restrictions,” said LVEDC President & CEO Don Cunningham. “Our viewers so enjoyed having direct access to these leaders and hearing their thoughts and visions for the Lehigh Valley that we immediately started making plans for another series of interviews.”

The new series was launched on Sept. 23 with an interview with Steph Raymond, President of PPL Electric Utilities. Other interviews released since then include Angelo Valletta, President & CEO of Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania, and Shelly McWilliams, President of Lehigh Valley Plastics. Those videos can be viewed below.

Upcoming interviews will feature Gunnar Brunius, Vice President & General Manager Lehigh Valley Operations of Mack Trucks; Rick Bucher, Chief Executive Officer of Victaulic; Sarah Santos, President of Cigars International; and Julien Sauvagnargues, President of Olympus Corporation of the Americas.

The previous series included interviews with leaders from such companies as B. Braun, Capital BlueCross, Crayola, FL Smidth, Follett, Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network, PPL Corporation, and Sharp Packaging Solutions, among others.

Each video interview is a 30-minute, one-on-one conversation between Cunningham and the executives about who they are, their thoughts on leadership, the companies they lead, and doing business in the Lehigh Valley.

The series is being recorded and produced by Countess Communications, a Lehigh Valley video and media firm. There will be no in-person audience for the interviews, and the videos were made in adherence to public health and social distancing standards.

Sponsors for the series include presenting sponsor Lehigh Valley Health Network; premier sponsor Capital BlueCross; gold sponsor Fitzpatrick Lentz & Bubba; event sponsors Boyle Construction, Klunk & Millan Advertising, Olympus Corporation of the Americas, interview sponsor Victaulic, and production sponsor Countess Communications.