The goal for Brett Robbins is measurable impact

By Colleen Gundlach

It’s never easy to step into the shoes of someone like Libby Borden, who served as chair of the Norfolk Economic Development Commission (EDC) for the better part of the past 20 years, but it’s a job for which Brett Austin Robbins has volunteered, and he has hit the ground running. Having held the position since July of this year, Robbins already has a series of projects planned for the town for the coming year.

Getting to know Norfolk took no time at all for Robbins. He and his wife, Amanda Veraldi, had planned to raise their children in New York City, but once they discovered Norfolk, they decided to stay. “We casually drew a circle with a radius of two-and-a-half hours from the city,” Robbins said. “We were looking for a place with lots of open land, secluded and in the country.” They stumbled upon Norfolk and “once we learned all the unique connections of the town—arts, philosophy and intellectual and creative curiosity—we fell in love with the town.” They moved to Parker Hill Road part-time in 2019, but by June of 2024 they were full time residents.

The first challenge Robbins faced in Norfolk was getting acclimated to no cell service and spotty internet, but this inconvenience is what ultimately led him to the EDC. “During purchase negotiations I never thought to ask if the house had internet. It did not,” he said. The family moved in just as the pandemic was starting, which only complicated attempts to install service, as the connections for the nearest provider, Comcast, were a quarter mile from his house.

Robbins eventually made contact with Kim Maxwell, who at the time was working to develop a town-wide fiber optic network for Norfolk. Before long, Robbins became a member of the town’s now-defunct Broadband Advisory Committee, which was convened to investigate the possible implementation of a municipally-owned fiber optic broadband network. The committee disbanded in 2022, but not before it had enticed Frontier Communications to begin installation of fiber optics throughout the town.
Libby Borden, a very persuasive EDC chair, was also a member of the broadband committee and she asked Robbins to join her on the EDC. He did and is now taking the reins from Borden, who remains a member of the EDC.

Robbins, the 38-year-old CEO of Snapfix, a company that develops computerized maintenance management systems, has already advanced new ideas for Norfolk’s EDC. “I want the commission to bring forward ways to evaluate initiatives for the EDC to take on,” he said. “Is the Norfolk Foundation the right type of work for the EDC or are there other directions we need to take?”

The first initiative Robbins would like to see is to have the EDC concentrate on facilitating programs that drive business revenue. He says this is the first priority. The second is to improve the way Norfolk shows up to the public, in print and on-line. “We need to show Norfolk’s culture, its outdoors, commerce and visibility. We as a committee need to decide how we can best accomplish this.”

Encouraging more public and private partnerships with the EDC is also high on Robbins’ list. “We need to develop a program where the EDC can review business plans and approve them based on the benefit to the town. We need to publicize grants in really tactical ways, to draw in new entrepreneurs and businesses.” He cites the recent purchase of the Royal Arcanum building by Emily Adams Bode Aujla, her husband Aaron Aujla and her brother-in-law Dev Aujla, as an example of the type of partnership he would like to see the EDC pursue going forward.

Figuring out what visitors would do each day in town is a big part of knowing what tourism to promote. “If someone came to town and stayed in an inn or bed and breakfast or maybe Manor House, they would be active all day—breakfast at Berkshire Country Store, lunch at Icebox Café, hiking at Haystack or Dennis Hill, shopping around Station Place, maybe dinner at Norfolk Pub,” Robbins said. “These visitors support Norfolk’s commerce all day.”

Robbins said he is looking forward to a change in structure and goals for the EDC and admits that not everyone on the committee may agree with him. “Members who agree to stay on the EDC will be behind me and support the new efforts. If members choose not to remain on the commission, they can still help in many ways to make Norfolk more visible and I look forward to working with them,” he said.

Mentorship is an area where Robbins would like to have the EDC move in terms of utilizing the talent already in Norfolk to teach others. “Many Norfolk residents have spent years in finance, for example, or endowment development, or maybe grant writing,” said Robbins. “We can build a network of mentors to expand what can be done in town.”

The goal of the EDC for the next 12 to 18 months, according to Robbins, will be to set the groundwork for measurable impact. “The EDC already knows how to do this as they have actually accomplished this with Weekend in Norfolk, which does have impact and focuses on Norfolk’s specialness.”

Robbins says that his goal is “for every EDC project to have impact in the next 12 months and then we will be in a position to know where to best keep our focus after that.”