VICTOR J. KESSLER

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VICTOR J. KESSLER has joined the litigation practice group at Bousquet Holstein PLLC. He will be working in the firm’s Ithaca and Syracuse offices. Kessler’s practice spans many industries including manufacturing, insurance, health care, retail, and real estate. Some of his representative matters include defending one of the nation’s largest retailers in a sensitive multidistrict […]

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MARGARET MCCORMICK

People on the Move, Subscriber Only

MARGARET MCCORMICK has been promoted to assistant VP of operations for SRC, Inc.’s force protection division. In this role, she will provide leadership, execution, and vision for the force protection division, coordinating the development and execution of budgets, programs, and products. McCormick will manage the day-to-day operations of the division and support program performance, strategic

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Onondaga, Madison counties to allow indoor classes at gyms

Employee Benefits & Human Resources, Energy, Environment & Sustainability, Health Care, Law, Accounting & Taxes, New York News, Nonprofits, Regional News, Small Business, Sports, Entertainment & Tourism

Both Onondaga County and Madison County on Thursday announced they are allowing gyms and fitness centers to hold indoor classes again after five months of

Syracuse University scolds large gathering of first-year students on the Quad amid pandemic

Employee Benefits & Human Resources, Health Care, Nonprofits, Sports, Entertainment & Tourism

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Syracuse University (SU) says a large group of first-year students gathered on the SU Quad Wednesday night “selfishly jeopardized” their “chance at

People news: General surgeon Rosner returns to Carthage Area Hospital

Employee Benefits & Human Resources, Health Care, Nonprofits, People on the Move, Regional News

CARTHAGE, N.Y. — Carthage Area Hospital (CAH) announced that Dr. David Rosner, general surgeon, will return to its medical staff effective Sept. 1. He previously

Crews begins work on Temple Concord project to restore features of Kilmer Mansion

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Regional News, Subscriber Only

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — Crews were set to begin work on Aug. 18 on Temple Concord’s “long planned and eagerly anticipated” project to restore “stunning but critically deteriorated” features of the Kilmer Mansion. Temple Concord is the Reform synagogue of New York’s Southern Tier, located at 9 Riverside Drive in Binghamton. The 122-year-old building is home

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Temple Concord is the Reform synagogue of New York’s Southern Tier, located at 9 Riverside Drive in Binghamton.

The 122-year-old building is home to one of the last grand parlors of the Parlor City.

The project is a multi-year, multi-phase endeavor to rebuild portions of the stone building that have deteriorated over time, “some to the point of collapse.”

The first phase focuses on rebuilding the three prominent stone chimneys well above the third-floor level. Crews will remove and replace stones using a crane and multiple boom lifts.

Temple Concord is working with Chianis + Anderson Architects, PLLC and the Binghamton office of CTM Construction to complete the project, per a news release from Chianis + Anderson Architects.

The Kilmer Mansion is a locally, state, and nationally registered historic landmark. Located at 9 Riverside Drive, the residence is associated with Jonas M. Kilmer, one of the city’s “most prominent, colorful and wealthy” businessmen.

With its “eclectic” Victorian-era architectural style, the Kilmer Mansion was designed by architect C. Edward Vosbury.

“We are beyond excited to see the restoration of this spectacular historic treasure begin,” Lisa Blackwell, president of Temple Concord, said in a statement. “The Temple Concord congregation has been steward to the Kilmer Mansion for 70 years. We are determined to preserve it for generations to come for the entire Binghamton community to enjoy. We are deeply grateful for the tremendous outpouring of support from numerous foundations and many generous individuals, both from our own congregation and from the community at large. Without these generous donors, this work would not be possible. We also could not be more pleased to be working with Jeffery Smith of Chianis + Anderson Architects and Christopher Tracy of CTM Construction, both of whom bring unsurpassed knowledge and professionalism to the project, along with a love of the Mansion itself.”

Future phases will rebuild and restore the structures “endangered” porches and terraces.

The Kilmer Mansion Masonry Restoration Project has been funded in part by grants from the Community Foundation for South Central New York — David and Virginia Eisenberg Fund and Sam and Julia Selkowitz Fund; John E. Streb Fund for New York of the National Trust for Historic Preservation; The New York Landmarks Conservancy’s Sacred Sites Program; Stewart W. and Wilma C. Hoyt Foundation; Harvey & Elizabeth Prior Shriber Foundation; Jacob and Rose Olum Foundation; Temple Concord Foundation.

Visions FCU secures naming rights to Binghamton arena

Banks & Credit Unions, Regional News, Sports, Entertainment & Tourism, Subscriber Only

BINGHAMTON — Visions Federal Credit Union will pay Broome County $60,000 annually for the naming rights to the former Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena and Broome County Forum in downtown Binghamton. The fee will double if the county is successful in securing funding for and completing a “significant” renovation of the arena totaling more

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The fee will double if the county is successful in securing funding for and completing a “significant” renovation of the arena totaling more than $20 million, Broome County said in a news release about the deal.

Under the agreement, which begins Jan. 1, 2021 and continues for 10 years, the arena will be known as the Visions Federal Credit Union Veterans Memorial Arena.

In addition to the annual fee, Visions Federal Credit Union will establish and manage a reserve account dedicated to increasing the number of live events at the Veterans Memorial Arena and Forum Theatre in the amount of $126,000 per year.

Visions — which is based in Endwell — says it secured the rights following the Aug. 13 meeting of the Broome County Legislature. The deal involves naming rights to the arena and ongoing sponsorship to the Forum. Visions is also partnering with Binghamton–based Mirabito Energy Products, which will sponsor the box offices.

The changeover from the Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena to the new name will come at no cost to taxpayers as Visions has agreed to design, construct, and install all signage at its expense, the county said.

“Broome County has been our home since the beginning,” Ty Muse, president and CEO of Visions Federal Credit Union, said. “Partnering with the county and Mirabito furthers our investment in the community, and it’s even better knowing that we’ll have a part in drawing more people to the area. Whether they’re here for [the] LUMA [Projection Arts festival], hockey, or even a concert, they can experience all the great things that the Binghamton area has going for it.”

Chris Marion, general manager of the arena and Forum Theatre, said he’s excited about the live-event fund.

“It’s a top priority of ours to maximize use of these facilities and this partnership with Visions Federal Credit Union and Mirabito Energy Products will help us bring more frequent and diversified entertainment and sporting events to downtown Binghamton.”

Visions has also agreed to act in partnership with management to market upcoming event calendars through means “agreeable to both parties,” Broome County said.

Visions Federal Credit Union is a nonprofit financial institution that is owned by its members. Established in 1966, Visions serves more than 210,000 members in communities throughout New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

Viewpoint: How Businesses Can Avoid Becoming Irrelevant in a Changing World

Business Mentors, Subscriber Only

The business world has produced a veritable graveyard of once magificently successful companies that came, conquered, and thrived — but ultimately perished. In many cases, those businesses share a common reason for their demise: Times changed. They didn’t. I have always been fond of the saying that if you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance

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The business world has produced a veritable graveyard of once magificently successful companies that came, conquered, and thrived — but ultimately perished.

In many cases, those businesses share a common reason for their demise: Times changed. They didn’t.

I have always been fond of the saying that if you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less.

Over the years, many businesses discovered they didn’t change quickly enough, much to their chagrin. Others realized their old business model no longer applied, and they did adapt.

In the last decade or so, media companies especially have had to navigate their way through an extraordinary disruption of their business models.

Reading habits and advertising habits shifted. This meant media companies needed to diversify and be innovative if they wanted to continue to thrive.

With COVID-19 and the 2020 recession forcing companies to navigate their way through even more changes, businesses that want to avoid tumbling into irrelevance need to do the following.

• Review and rank their products. A few years ago when my company did such a ranking, I realized one product line the business had offered for years didn’t measure up and needed to go. It was hard to deliver, had low gross margins, was extremely people intensive, and had very limited scalability. The time, energy, effort, and capital we were investing in this product line were taking away our ability to invest in new products that would be more scalable and more profitable.

• Always be on the lookout for new ideas. What worked yesterday may not work tomorrow, so savvy business leaders are always open to new ideas for bringing in revenue. You should also encourage employees to suggest ideas. Maybe a lot of those won’t work. But the more ideas that get tossed around, the better the odds something will prove a winner.

• Favor facts and data over opinions. No matter how much entrepreneurs love the business plan they used originally to launch their business, they need to make decisions about the future based on facts and data. You must deal with the way things are, rather than the way you want them to be. Facts and data will tell you the way things are.

Because of COVID-19 and the recession, a willingness to adapt to changing consumer habits and ways of doing business is probably more important than ever. The businesses most likely to thrive coming out of this are those that have a plan, but also remain flexible and are willing to change that plan as the circumstances around them change.

Adam Witty, co-author with Rusty Shelton of “Authority Marketing: Your Blueprint to Build Thought Leadership That Grows Business, Attracts Opportunity, and Makes Competition Irrelevant,” is the CEO of Advantage/ForbesBooks (www.advantagefamily.com) which he started in 2005. The company helps busy professionals become the authority in their field through publishing and marketing.

Semifinalists make pitch for prize funding in 76West clean-energy competition

Energy, Environment & Sustainability, Regional News, Small Business, Subscriber Only, Technology

Event was held virtually BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — The 19 semifinalists in the 76West clean-energy competition have made their pitches and are hoping to secure funding when the winners are announced in the fall. The companies presented their cases for winning during a virtual event held Aug. 18 and 19 on the competition’s website, the New

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Event was held virtually

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — The 19 semifinalists in the 76West clean-energy competition have made their pitches and are hoping to secure funding when the winners are announced in the fall.

The companies presented their cases for winning during a virtual event held Aug. 18 and 19 on the competition’s website, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) announced.

Semifinalists are competing for $2.5 million in prize money including one grand prize of $1 million, and three $500,000 awards. The winners will either move to the Southern Tier or establish a direct connection with the Southern Tier, such as a supply-chain relationship or other strategic relationships with Southern Tier entities that create jobs.

The 76West competition seeks to boost clean-tech economic development and expand “innovative” entrepreneurship in the Southern Tier.

The program and resulting technology support Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s climate and clean-energy agenda as outlined in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act that has set New York on a “path to a carbon-neutral economy,” NYSERDA said.

The competition also complements “Southern Tier Soaring,” the region’s “comprehensive strategy to boost economic growth and community development in the Southern Tier region.

Administered by NYSERDA, the 76West competition was launched in 2016 as a $20 million, four-year initiative to grow the clean-energy ecosystem in the Southern Tier with funds from the regional greenhouse-gas initiative and the clean-energy fund.

Previous competition winners and semifinalists have raised $29 million in private capital and created multimillion-dollar investments in property and equipment. They have invested more than $2 million in key suppliers. Past winners include Micatu, Optimus Technologies; Skyven Technologies; EkoStinger; Switched Source; Hub Controls; C4V; Suntegra; ProsumerGrid; SolarKal; Global Thermostat; and Southern Tier Technologies.

Semifinalists

NYSERDA listed the following 76West semifinalists who were scheduled to pitch their ideas and their technology focus.

New York State

Finger Lakes

• Paradigm of New York, Rochester — transportation

New York City

• COI Energy Services, New York City — renewable energy

• ThermoAI, New York City — greenhouse-gas mitigation

Mid-Hudson

• Solar-Tectic, Croton — chemicals and advanced materials

• Teratonix, Scarsdale — building and industrial energy efficiency

Southern Tier

• Combplex, Ithaca — agriculture

• Ecolectro, Ithaca — chemicals and advanced materials

• Heat Inverse, Ithaca — transportation

Long Island

• Urban Freight Corporation, Carle Place — transportation

Out-of-state

• AGreatE, Carlsbad, California — energy storage and batteries

• Aeroshield Materials, Cambridge, Massachusetts — building and industrial energy efficiency;

• Littoral Power Systems, New Bedford, Massachusetts — renewable energy

• Medley Thermal, Somerville, Massachusetts — building and industrial energy efficiency

• NexxGen Power Authority, Babcock Ranch, Florida — waste recycling or water efficiency

• Saratoga Energy Corporation, Richmond, California — chemicals and advanced materials.

International

• Alp Technologies, London, United Kingdom — energy storage and batteries

• Clir Renewables, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada — energy transmission and distribution

• gridX GmbH, Munich, Germany — energy transmission and distribution

• OXTO Energy, Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom — energy storage and batteries

Ithaca College cancels bringing most students to campus for fall semester

Health Care, Regional News, Subscriber Only

ITHACA, N.Y. — Ithaca College had shifted to remote learning in March at the start of the pandemic shutdown, and the school will continue that instruction format for most students through the fall semester. “This means that we will not be welcoming all students back to campus this fall as we had hoped,” Ithaca College

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“This means that we will not be welcoming all students back to campus this fall as we had hoped,” Ithaca College President Shirley Collado said in an Aug. 18 statement posted on the school’s website.

Ithaca had announced in May its intention to have students return for on-campus instruction on Oct. 5, but officials have now scrapped that plan.

Under the newly revised plan, classes at Ithaca College will begin Sept. 8 and conclude Dec. 14. In between, Thanksgiving break is scheduled Nov. 25 through Nov. 27, per a schedule posted at the school’s website.

Students whose programs require hands-on experience for licensure or accreditation (such as those in certain health professions) will be permitted to attend some instruction on campus, per Collado’s message.

Collado called the move to continue remote learning this fall an “agonizing” decision made in consultation with the members of Ithaca’s senior leadership team, “informed by the best thinking of so many members of our college community and data around the evolution of this pandemic.”

She went on to say that the reality of COVID-19 is “deeply concerning,” noting 5.4 million infections in the U.S. and more than 170,000 deaths. Even though the Ithaca area has a “low prevalence of infections,” the school has learned from watching other communities “how delicate this equilibrium is, and how quickly it can be disrupted,” Collado wrote.

She also noted the “on-campus experience” this fall would be “very different” from what Ithaca would want students to have, citing the “absolutely necessary modifications around things like facilities preparedness and population density.”

“But I sincerely believe this is the correct and responsible choice for Ithaca College to help protect the health and safety of our students, their families, our faculty and staff, and our Ithaca–area communities,” said Collado.

Ithaca College officials “fully intend” to bring all students back to campus for the spring semester, “as long as circumstances around COVID shift to enable us to do so in a reasonably safe manner,” Collado wrote.

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