Utica Boilermaker organizers cancel 2020 road race

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UTICA — Organizers of the annual Boilermaker road race in Utica are looking forward to a virtual event that they’re planning for September after canceling this year’s race due to safety concerns related to COVID-19. The Boilermaker 15K race attracts up to nearly 20,000 runners per year and is one of the largest such races […]

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The Boilermaker 15K race attracts up to nearly 20,000 runners per year and is one of the largest such races in the nation. This year’s race was initially slated for July 12 before organizers in April decided to postpone it to Sept. 13 amid the building coronavirus crisis. On June 16, they decided to pull the plug on the race and instead encourage runners to run their own race in September and report their times to officials in what they’re calling a virtual race.

The Boilermaker organization says it is a nonprofit that relies on its 15K and 5K running events for its funding.

“The inability to host the traditional Boilermaker severely impacts the financial health of the organization,” the organization said on its website. It made a plea to race registrants to participate in the virtual Boilermaker event or to donate their 2020 race registration fee “to help secure the Boilermaker’s future.”

“Your decision whether or not to participate in this historic virtual version of the Boilermaker will directly influence the organization’s ability to continue to exist and stage traditional Boilermakers in the years to come,” it said.

The Boilermaker road race has been Oneida County’s “signature event” for more than 40 years and it’s “hard to imagine” a summer without thousands of people “flooding the region from across the globe to participate and celebrate,” Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente, Jr. said in a statement June 16.

“Unfortunately, the very thing that makes it so special, now poses a threat to the health and safety of our community in light of this pandemic. Not only does its loss deal a blow to the spirit of our community, but it also takes an immense toll on the local economy. I’m glad that it will still carry on in a virtual form, and look forward to the day when it will return as a live event, bigger and better than ever,” Picente said.

Options for virtual event

The Boilermaker website includes details and a question-and-answer section on the virtual event and how to get involved or decline involvement.

Participants will run their own 15K or 5K race at their discretion (time & location) between Sept. 1 and Sept. 13 and report their time back to the Boilermaker no later than noon on Sept. 13 via their RunSignUp account.

Those who were already registered to participate in the 2020 Boilermaker will remain as registered participants entered in the 2020 Virtual Boilermaker unless they opt out. Organizers note that the window of time to decide to make a change under the available options expires at 12 p.m. on June 30.

Those who do not want to participate have a few options to choose from for their registration fee. They can either receive a refund of their registration fee (minus a small processing fee); accept a complimentary rollover of their registration fee to the 2021 Boilermaker road race; or they can donate their registration fee.

Utica College adds to senior leadership team

Health Care, Regional News, Subscriber Only

UTICA — Utica College (UC) recently announced several additions to the college’s senior leadership team. The leaders are: Anthony Baird, VP for diversity, equity and inclusion; Karen Ferrer-Muniz, associate VP for enrollment management; Stephanie Nesbitt, dean of the School of Business and Justice Studies; Musco Millner III, director of campus safety; and Sharon Wise, dean

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UTICA — Utica College (UC) recently announced several additions to the college’s senior leadership team.

The leaders are: Anthony Baird, VP for diversity, equity and inclusion; Karen Ferrer-Muniz, associate VP for enrollment management; Stephanie Nesbitt, dean of the School of Business and Justice Studies; Musco Millner III, director of campus safety; and Sharon Wise, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences.

Baird, who earned his bachelor’s degree from UC in 1993, joined the college this past May. He earned his doctorate in higher education leadership from Johnson and Wales University, and retired recently from UMass Dartmouth, Charlton College of Business, Business Innovation Research Center, where he was director of corporate programs development and career management and coaching. He is principle consultant of I Am EPPIC Enterprises LLC, an educational, personal, and professional-coaching enterprise.

Ferrer-Muniz has more than 25 years of experience as an educational administrator, faculty, and academic advisor, specializing in student-life development, developmental education, academic-support services, and programming. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico, and a master’s degree from the University at Albany in social sciences and Latin American studies. Ferrer-Muniz is currently an ABD doctoral candidate at the University at Albany. Prior to joining UC, she was the associate dean of students and director of Minority Student Affairs and HEOP at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy.

Nesbitt, associate professor and director of the Utica College MBA program, has served as associate dean of UC’s School of Business and Justice Studies for several years. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Ithaca College, an MBA from Syracuse University, and her law degree from the University at Buffalo. Her research is in the development and effective teaching of business education programs and legal issues in cybersecurity. A licensed attorney, Nesbitt was risk manager and associate counsel for Faxton-St. Luke’s Healthcare before joining UC.

Millner, retired captain and 26-year veteran of the New York State Police, joined UC last August. Born and raised on what was formerly Griffiss Air Force Base, he earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University at Albany and a master’s degree in mathematics education from SUNY Empire State College. A longtime adjunct professor in mathematics, Millner received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award last year for Excellence in Adjunct Teaching.

Wise earned her master’s and Ph.D. in environmental and evolutionary biology from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. A professor of biology, she returns to the position of dean of UC’s School of Arts and Sciences, following her recent sabbatical. Wise received the Virgil Crisafulli Distinguished Teaching Award in 2011.

N.Y. manufacturing index bounces back after two bad months

Manufacturing & Engineering, Subscriber Only

A monthly gauge on New York manufacturing activity indicated the state’s manufacturers are more optimistic about the future than they had been during the coronavirus crisis of the past couple months. The Empire State Manufacturing Survey general business-conditions index climbed almost back to even in June after posting record lows in the prior two months. The

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The Empire State Manufacturing Survey general business-conditions index climbed almost back to even in June after posting record lows in the prior two months.

The benchmark index of the survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York jumped 48 points to -0.2. That easily beat economists’ expectations of a reading of -30, MarketWatch reported, citing a survey by Econoday.

The general business-conditions index was at -48.5 in May and -78.2 in April, the two lowest levels in the survey’s history.

The June reading, based on firms responding to the survey between June 2 and June 9, indicates business activity “steadied” in New York, the New York Fed said in its June 15 report.

A negative number on the index indicates a decline in the sector, while a positive reading points to expansion or growth in manufacturing activity.

The survey found 36 percent of respondents reported that conditions had improved over the month, while 36 percent indicated that conditions had worsened, the New York Fed said.

The survey also found that firms were “notably more optimistic” that conditions would be better in six months, with the index for future business conditions rising to its highest level in more than a decade, the New York Fed said.

Survey details

The new-orders index rose 42 points to a level of around zero, indicating that the quantity of orders was “unchanged” from last month, and the shipments index climbed 42 points to 3.3, pointing to a “slight increase” in shipments.

Delivery times and inventories both held steady.

The index for number of employees was little changed at -3.5, pointing to a second consecutive month of slight employment declines. Notably, 18 percent of firms said that employment levels increased in June.

The average-workweek index increased 10 points, but remained negative at -12.0, indicating an ongoing decline in hours worked, “though at a slower pace” than in recent months.

The prices-paid index increased 13 points to 16.9, indicating that input prices increased at a faster pace than in May. The prices-received index moved up to -0.6, its near zero value indicating that selling prices “halted their recent decline and held steady this month,” the New York Fed said.

Firms were “much more optimistic” about future conditions.

The index for future business conditions rose 27 points to 56.5, its “highest level in more than a decade.”

The indexes for future new orders and future shipments also posted “significant” increases.

The index for future employment rose to 19.0, its “highest level in many months,” suggesting firms expect to increase employment in the months ahead.

The capital-expenditures index climbed slightly above zero, a sign that firms, on net, planned to increase capital spending.

The New York Fed distributes the Empire State Manufacturing Survey on the first day of each month to the same pool of about 200 manufacturing executives in New York. On average, about 100 executives return responses.

Afraid to Step Out of Your Comfort Zone? Then You Can’t Lead in the Age of COVID

Employee Benefits & Human Resources, Law, Accounting & Taxes, Subscriber Only

COVID-19 has disrupted the business world, and the “normal” of a few months ago may never return. In this new landscape, how business leaders process and react to new challenges will be crucial. Using critical-thinking skills to make sound business decisions in a complicated, constantly changing world has never been more important. Critical thinking in

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COVID-19 has disrupted the business world, and the “normal” of a few months ago may never return. In this new landscape, how business leaders process and react to new challenges will be crucial.

Using critical-thinking skills to make sound business decisions in a complicated, constantly changing world has never been more important.

Critical thinking in the COVID-19 era will separate effective leaders from the pack.

Before, many of us relied on linear thinking — that is, solving problems in a step-by-step fashion. When life proceeds in an orderly way, we can draw conclusions based on probabilities: this is what happened before; therefore, it will happen again. Or, we use contingency statements: if this is true, that is true.

But COVID-19 has changed those premises. Now, there are too many unknowns to rely on lazy thinking. The volatile economy is one example. What will the business community look like post-COVID? Will people continue to work remotely, and which companies will thrive and which will crumble? Will entire industries — like the cruise industry — buckle under the strain? How will communities deal with their struggling populations, vacant real estate, and shuttered businesses?

Now is the time for non-linear (lateral) thinking, characterized by expansion in multiple directions rather than in a straight line. The concept has multiple starting points from which we can apply logic to a problem.

I offer the following advice to developing non-linear critical thinking:

Step out of your comfort zone. Critical thinking requires that we see and interpret information from a different perspective. In our old comfort zones, we were not necessarily required to make difficult decisions. But navigating COVID requires taking steps to adapt to new circumstances. For companies, it means being nimble, finding opportunities and ways to innovate. It may mean drastically reducing a brick-and-mortar footprint in favor of a digital presence. It may mean dumping obsolete inventory at a discount. Or it may mean layoffs.

Many people have closed minds and don’t adapt well to change. In military training, one is taught to pivot, to escape, and adapt, since there is no such thing as a perfect set of circumstances. The species that is capable of adapting well is the species that survives.

Don’t jump to conclusions. When jumping out of your comfort zone, be careful not to jump to conclusions as well. Instead, ask questions, and organize and evaluate information. For instance, business owners should be asking, is now the right time to be reopening? Who says the pandemic is over? Who is cautioning against reopening? What will reopening look like? Coming to a valid conclusion requires studying the available data: what is happening in other parts of the world, the country, or the industry?

One criterion we rely on is, what do experts say? What are the credentials of these experts? Carefully evaluating data has never been more crucial than during this pandemic.

Separate truth from belief. People often have trouble separating what is valid from what is true because of ingrained beliefs, which we all have. This “belief bias” interferes with our ability to think logically. Critical thinking means making decisions based only on data. For business leaders that means putting aside what worked in the past and being completely open to new practices and protocols.

In the age of COVID-19, we must embrace challenges and make solid decisions based on critical-thinking principles.

Jim White, Ph.D. is author of “Opportunity Investing: How To Revitalize Urban and Rural Communities with Opportunity Funds” (www.opportunityinvesting.com), and founder and president of JL White International. He also is chairman and CEO of Post Harvest Technologies, Inc. and Growers Ice Company, Inc., and founder and CEO of PHT Opportunity Fund LP.

Hammond named VP on NYSSCPA board of directors

Law, Accounting & Taxes, Subscriber Only

Timothy J. Hammond, principal in the Syracuse office of The Bonadio Group, has been elected to serve as a vice president on the board of directors of the New York State Society of CPAs (NYSSCPA). He was one of four elected Society VPs who began their terms of office on June 1, the organization announced.

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Masonic Medical Research Institute promotes Kontaridis to executive director

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

UTICA, N.Y. — The Masonic Medical Research Institute (MMRI) on Friday announced that Dr. Maria Kontaridis is now serving as its executive director. Kontaridis, who

Barclay Damon lawyers, staff have option to keep working from home

Employee Benefits & Human Resources, Law, Accounting & Taxes, Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE — Even with most of its Northeast offices reopened, the attorneys and staff of Barclay Damon, LLP have the option to continue working from home for all or part of a given week. The firm has reopened most of its offices, with the exception of its location in New York City, says Connie Cahill,

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SYRACUSE — Even with most of its Northeast offices reopened, the attorneys and staff of Barclay Damon, LLP have the option to continue working from home for all or part of a given week.

The firm has reopened most of its offices, with the exception of its location in New York City, says Connie Cahill, deputy managing partner of Barclay Damon. The reopening was part of phase 2 of New York State’s regional economic reopening process after closures related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cahill credited John Langan, the firm’s managing partner, with the idea to offer the option of working from home.

“We, for a long time, made investments in technology … and teaching people how to use technology. We doubled that effort for training while people have been working from home. For the most part, most people are just as effective, and in some cases, maybe even more effective working remotely,” says Cahill. She spoke with CNYBJ by phone on June 16.

Barclay Damon lawyers have worked from home in the past, including nights and weekends, depending on the work they are handling for a client.

“So they were very comfortable with working remotely,” says Cahill.

Working from home was a change for some staff members, so some people needed time to get updated with technology and computers, she adds.

With nearly 300 attorneys, including 145 partners, Barclay Damon operates from offices located in the Northeastern U.S. and Toronto. It has an overall employee count of 475. Its Syracuse office is in the Barclay Damon Tower at 125 E. Jefferson St.

Reopening plan

Cahill was in charge of leading the firm’s office-reopening plan and assembled a committee of administrators and partners, which met “several times” a week.

The group had someone in charge of procuring hand sanitizer, masks, and gloves. Another colleague put together a checklist of what needed to be done in each office before the reopening process could start.

“And that checklist ended up with 100 items on it,” Cahill noted.

It included the removal of excess chairs in a conference room to maintain social distancing and elimination of the candy dish in the reception office “because we’re obviously not going to have shared candy for a while.”

Committee members attended different webinars, read about best practices, reviewed the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and read the New York State safety plans.

As its offices reopened, Barclay Damon limited the office occupancy to 30 percent and will gradually increase the percentage as the governor’s executive orders permit, according to Cahill.

In its health and safety plan, the law firm has a system in which its attorneys and staff members are asked to project where they will be the following week. They also get a daily email to help the firm keep track of where the employees are working from.

“So if someone’s looking for a teammate, they know whether they’re home or in the office,” Cahill says.

Barclay Damon plans to review the policy at the end of the year, which is “sensible” as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, says Langan, who joined Cahill on the June 16 conference call.

Langan says it’s not “revolutionary” to have partners and lawyers work from home, but to offer that option to all staff members is “revolutionary for a law firm.”

If the firm’s attorneys and staff members keep “operating at the high level that they have in the last three months,” then Langan says “our goal is to make [the policy] permanent.”

Utica Mayor introduces new zoning ordinance

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Law, Accounting & Taxes, Nonprofits, Regional News

UTICA, N.Y. — Utica Mayor Robert Palmieri has unveiled a measure that would update the City of Utica’s zoning ordinance. The proposal would bring the

New York extends suspension of state-debt collection

Law, Accounting & Taxes, Subscriber Only

New York State has for a third time renewed an order to halt the collection of medical and student debt owed to the state for an additional 30-day period. The debt has been “specifically referred” to the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) for collection, per a June 16 news release. In response to “continuing

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New York State has for a third time renewed an order to halt the collection of medical and student debt owed to the state for an additional 30-day period.

The debt has been “specifically referred” to the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) for collection, per a June 16 news release.

In response to “continuing financial impairments” resulting from the spread of COVID-19, the OAG again renewed the orders for a period between June 17 through July 16. After this 30-day period, the OAG will reassess the needs of state residents for another possible extension.

Additionally, the OAG will accept applications for suspension of all other types of debt owed to New York State and referred to the OAG for collection.

“While the number of coronavirus cases across New York may be on the decline, and the number of businesses opening back up may be on the rise, New Yorkers are still very much feeling the economic impact of this public health crisis each and every day,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said. “More than 2.6 million New Yorkers filed for unemployment in the last three months, so we will continue to look for ways to protect each of these individuals’ wallets, and the wallets of millions more across our state. We hope that by, once again, suspending the collection of state student and medical debt referred to my office, we are doing what we can to support New Yorkers and reduce their burden in these difficult times.”

The OAG collects certain debts owed to New York State via settlements and lawsuits brought on behalf of New York and state agencies. A total of more than 165,000 matters currently fit the criteria for a suspension of state debt collection, including patients that owe medical debt due to the five state hospitals and the five state veterans’ homes; students that owe student debt from attending SUNY campuses; and individual debtors, sole-proprietors, small-business owners, and certain homeowners that owe debt relating to oil-spill cleanup and removal costs, property damage, and breach of contract, as well as other fees owed to state agencies.

The temporary policy has also automatically suspended the accrual of interest and the collection of fees on all outstanding state medical and student debt referred to the OAG for collection, so New Yorkers are “not penalized for taking advantage of this program.”

New Yorkers with non-medical or non-student debt owed to New York State and referred to the OAG may also apply to temporarily halt the collection of state debt. Individuals seeking to apply for this temporary relief can complete an application online or visit the OAG’s coronavirus website to learn more about the suspension of payments. They can also call the OAG hotline at (800) 771-7755 for more information.

Gillibrand co-sponsors proposed HEAL Act

Law, Accounting & Taxes, Subscriber Only

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D–N.Y.) says she will co-sponsor a bill that would “remove barriers” to health care for immigrants as the nation and immigrant communities are “grappling with the ongoing impact of COVID-19.” The proposal is titled the Health Equity and Access under the Law (HEAL) for Immigrant Women and Families Act. Gillibrand’s office

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