County Executive Adam Bello announces that the Monroe County business center will now carry the name of outgoing Comida Chair Ann Burr in recognition of her years of leadership

Monroe County, New York – Monroe County Executive Adam Bello has announced that the county’s business center will now bear the name of Ann L. Burr, a leader whose impact on local economic development has stretched across nearly two decades. The announcement came during the August meeting of the County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency (COMIDA), where colleagues and community leaders gathered to recognize Burr’s extraordinary service.

Burr has been a fixture on the COMIDA Board of Directors since 2005, and since stepping into the role of chair in 2016, she has been credited with steering the agency through some of its most defining years. Those years included not only turbulent economic cycles but also a surge of investment activity that redefined Monroe County’s industrial and business landscape.

Her leadership was marked by a clear focus on the agency’s mission: to drive growth, create opportunities, and ensure that development efforts benefitted both businesses and workers. In the last five years alone, under her guidance, COMIDA facilitated more than $4 billion in capital projects. Those investments didn’t just stand as numbers on a ledger—they safeguarded over 5,000 existing jobs while also creating an additional 4,000 in sectors that are rapidly expanding.

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“Over the last decade, Ann Burr’s vision and leadership have had a transformative effect on this community, and I’m deeply grateful for her service,” said County Executive Bello. “Ann not only helped us land significant new projects, she also helped us reimagine how we attract and retain businesses while uplifting local workers and their families. Renaming our business center is a lasting tribute to her legacy, recognizing her tireless work on behalf of Monroe County.”

That legacy is clearly visible in the transformative projects that COMIDA supported during her tenure. Amazon’s three massive distribution centers reshaped regional logistics. Constellation Brands chose Monroe County for its new headquarters, securing the county’s place as a hub for one of the most recognizable names in beverages. And then came the groundbreaking project in Webster—the $650 million fairlife dairy plant. This facility, set to open in late 2025, is being touted as one of the most advanced dairy processing operations in the nation. It is expected to generate 500 construction jobs, 250 permanent positions with competitive pay, and ripple effects across the agricultural supply chain, boosting hundreds of local farms and agribusinesses.

Yet Burr’s contributions were not confined to landing big deals. In 2022, she oversaw the launch of the COMIDA Modernization Initiative. The effort was designed to overhaul how the agency approached economic development, centering equity, inclusion, and workforce development. The initiative gave rise to the Workforce Development Fund—an unprecedented program that reinvests agency revenues into job training and talent pipelines. This allowed workers to benefit directly from the very projects COMIDA was supporting, creating a cycle of growth that included both corporations and community members.

The agency also began tying its tax-incentive programs to measurable commitments: ensuring that projects involved minority- and women-owned businesses, while also requiring companies to invest in the upskilling of their employees. That model has since been highlighted as an example for other counties across New York, demonstrating how incentive-based development can be both innovative and equitable.

Burr’s dedication to public service followed a remarkable 35-year career in the telecommunications and cable industry, where she built her reputation as a leader capable of navigating both technical complexity and shifting business landscapes. Her move into economic development governance brought that same steady hand to Monroe County, where her influence will now be recognized every day inside the renamed Ann L. Burr Business Center.

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The facility, located in downtown Rochester’s City Place at 50 West Main Street, serves as the hub for the Department of Planning and Economic Development. Beyond being an administrative space, it is a center where business support programs are launched and public meetings are held—a fitting venue to carry Burr’s name, given her lifelong commitment to fostering connection, opportunity, and community progress.

As Burr steps back from her leadership role, the renaming of the business center stands as a lasting reminder of how sustained commitment to public service can leave a profound mark. It is also a signal of Monroe County’s intent to continue building on the foundation she laid—balancing ambitious development projects with workforce growth and equitable inclusion.

For many, the announcement at COMIDA’s August meeting was more than a ceremonial gesture. It was an acknowledgment of how one individual’s guidance over time can help steer a region into a new era of growth. And now, with the Ann L. Burr Business Center carrying her name, that story will remain visible at the heart of Rochester’s business and development community.