SKANEATELES — The next time you open a package of Energizer Batteries or unwrap your new uni-ball pen, take note that the package design is the product of a Skaneateles–based company called ChaseDesign.

ITHACA — The clocks at the end of the Ithaca Commons had fallen into a state of disrepair; over time, they had gone from unreliable to completely nonfunctional. Tompkins Trust Company donated the $20,000 to replace the three time and temperature clocks, and on June 25, a ribbon cutting was held. This is but one example of the company closely knitting itself to its community.

SYRACUSE — Raymond V. Grimaldi’s entry into the accounting field was by chance more than by design. In 1959, Grimaldi, the founding partner of Grimaldi & Nelkin, CPAs, PLLC, attended Syracuse University on a gymnastics scholarship, majoring in math and science, and interested in chemical engineering. He later changed his mind.

WATERTOWN — The $10 million Rochester–area company today known as Relph Benefit Advisors got its start more than 45 years ago as Robert G. Relph Agency Inc. in the rural North Country.

KIRKWOOD — Sanico is far more than the janitorial-products company it started out as 26 years ago.

Michael L. Peters, president, founded Sanico with the funds from a home-equity loan and a lot of incentive — he had a wife, three kids, and no job.