SYRACUSE — The Syracuse district office of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) on Nov. 1 honored the owners of 16 participating companies in this year’s Emerging Leaders program during a graduation ceremony. The SBA held the event at the Gateway Center on the campus of SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF). With […]
SYRACUSE — The Syracuse district office of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) on Nov. 1 honored the owners of 16 participating companies in this year’s Emerging Leaders program during a graduation ceremony.
The SBA held the event at the Gateway Center on the campus of SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF).
With the 2017 class, 109 Central New York entrepreneurs have completed the program since it launched in Syracuse. The Emerging Leaders program targets small companies that have the potential for rapid expansion and job creation.
“Our graduates have just spent months analyzing their business financials, identifying sales trends, leveraging resources, learning new management skills, and planning how to sustainably expand their business. I am positive that each graduate stands better prepared to face new challenges and opportunities for their small business,” Bernard J. Paprocki, director of the SBA Syracuse district office, said in a statement.
Now in its seventh year, the Syracuse program is one of 51 participating Emerging Leaders programs nationwide.
Participants
The participants in this year’s Emerging Leaders program operate companies from Madison, Oneida, Onondaga, and Tompkins counties, the SBA said.
They work in sectors that include manufacturing, retail, service, and technology.
They included Stephen Jocz, owner of Best in Bloom in DeWitt; Elizabeth Peterson, creative director at Downtown Decorations Inc. in DeWitt; Tracy Foltz, president of Falk Precision Inc. in DeWitt; Neil Miller of Farmshed Harvest in Syracuse; Sandra Cirrincione, president of Solvay Electric Supply & Lighting in Solvay; Viktor Klyachko, president of Green Ignite Inc., Utica; Jaime Sweet, president and CEO of Hartman Enterprises, Inc. in Oneida; Matthew Holt, founder of Kishmish Inc. in Syracuse; Salvatore Lomedico of Sal’s Pizza & Restaurant in Baldwinsville; Ken Morse, principal at North Point Defense, Inc. in Rome; James Bogett with Omnicor Biomedical Services in Camillus; Jennifer Purtell with Quality Mechanical Services in Syracuse; Nate Beck with Rollingstar Mfg. Inc. in Barneveld; David Johnson, president of RP Solutions Inc. in Ithaca; Dana Scherzi, CEO of Scherzi Systems, LLC in DeWitt; and Erika Perez with SWANK in Hamilton.
About the program
The program started on April 26. During the more than six-month instruction period that involved training classes, participants worked with mentors and develop connections with other business owners and community leaders.
Participants leave the program with a “strategic” growth plan for their business, developed using the knowledge, skills, and techniques honed in the class.
The program, which the SBA describes as “intense,” provides more than 100 hours of advanced-management training.
The SBA says the program is made possible through support from local cosponsors that include Blackstone Launchpad; CenterState CEO; CNY TDO; City of Syracuse office of neighborhood and business development; Downtown Committee of Syracuse, Inc.; Manufacturers Association of Central New York; Onondaga SBDC; Onondaga County office of economic development; SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry; Syracuse SCORE; the Falcone Center; Syracuse Technology Garden; Upstate Minority Economic Alliance; and WISE Women’s Business Center.
