Westchester County Association asked some of the most successful people from around the nation to come to Westchester: County of Tomorrow and share how they did it last Friday at The Rennaisance Hotel– how they helped transform their regional economy.

Here’s how they did it:

JM: In a recent survey of American mayors, fixing America’s failing infrastructure should be the top priority for the next U.S. president. Millennials will have different infrastructure needs than current generations.

JW: Communities need to be entrepreneur-led. We convened 350 entrepreneurs with opposing viewpoints and assembled a blueprint for entrepreneurship. We created density of community which attracted VC funding. We developed “sexy space” to attract entrepreneurs so they could work and bump into each other, fostering collaboration.

SD: Build your human infrastructure. Talent is key for cities. We used data to tell a story of how reducing K-12 absences and growing STEM education was worth $540 Million to Central Texas. Aggregate the data to galvanize community action.

SP: Our goal was to make New York the 21st century capitol of innovation. We focused on quality of life as an economic development issue, investing in lowering crime, better education, and more amenities. We looked at data to find patterns which led to a need for R&D (Governor’s Island campus development). Government is bad a picking winners and losers, so we focused on building a better business climate rather than a particular sector. We also avoided offering incentives to attract companies with 100 employees, as you’ll “race to the bottom” on cost.

AB: Don’t hold on to your past for too long. We rolled out a municipally-owned 10 GIG fiber network to make Chattanooga America’s most wired city. This action sparked an innovation district downtown with arts and culture that is walkable. Downtown’s population will double by next year. The entire community is involved.