HORSEHEADS — A Southern Tier engineering and architecture firm that operates an office in DeWitt has announced a change in its top leadership group.

Horseheads–based Hunt Engineers, Architects, Land Surveyors & Landscape Architect, DPC (Hunt) on Feb. 12 said it has named Chris Bond its new president.

He had been serving as Hunt’s VP. Bond, who becomes the third president in the firm’s history, succeeds Dan Bower, who will remain as CEO and chief strategic officer. Bond started his duties as president on Feb. 1, Sean Phelan, business service manager at Hunt, said in an email response to a CNYBJ inquiry.

Robert Hunt founded the company following the “devastating” floods in Corning in 1972, the firm said. Besides Horseheads and DeWitt, the firm also operates offices in Rochester and in Towanda, Pennsylvania. 

The engineering and architecture firm, which has 150 employees, has worked on “numerous” projects in the Syracuse area, including most recently in Chittenango, Lyncourt, and Homer. 

Bond will manage Hunt’s day-to-day operations while Bower will focus on corporate initiatives, strategic planning, and business development, as well as the transition.

“As early as the drafting of our 2003 Hunt transition plan, Chris’s ultimate promotion to president was an integral ingredient. Even then, we knew his knowledge, experience, and vision were exactly what we wanted in the next Hunt leader,” Bower said in a company news release.

In the release, Bond called 2018 one of the Hunt firm’s “strongest” years, so he says he “couldn’t have been luckier” with the timing of this appointment. 

“Staying ahead of the curve when it comes to business practices and technology has always been a Hunt trademark, and at the same time my immediate priorities are going to be those cultural initiatives like personnel development and bolstering our project management capacity,” said Bond

Bond joined Hunt’s transportation division after graduating from Clarkson University in 1988. He worked as a structural engineer, focusing “predominantly” on bridges in upstate New York and by 1995, was working on a variety of building structures. 

In 1993, Bond earned his professional engineering license, and, subsequently, rose within Hunt to become director of structural engineering in 2001, principal in 2004, corporate secretary in 2006, and VP in 2015, per the release.

The firm says Bond’s professional highlights include the concrete design at the water-filtration facility in the Village of Watkins Glen. He’s also worked on projects that include Cornell’s Beebe Dam foot bridge, Schuyler County’s shared-service building, and the Corning Nasser Civic Center Ice Rink renovations.      

New York farms produced an estimated 102.6 million bushels of corn for grain in 2018, up more than 31 percent from 78.1 million bushels produced in 2017, the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service reported on Feb. 8.

New York farms harvested an estimated 645,000 acres of corn for grain last year, up 33 percent from 485,000 acres in 2017, the agency said.

The total yield per acre in the Empire State was 159 bushels of corn in 2018, down more than 1 percent from 161 bushels the year before. 

In neighboring Pennsylvania, production of corn for grain declined 10 percent to an estimated 133 million bushels in 2018 from 148.1 million bushels in 2017, the USDA reported.

Nationally, U.S. farms produced an estimated 14.4 billion bushels of corn for grain last year, down more than 1 percent from 14.6 billion bushels in 2017, according to the USDA.

SYRACUSE — M&T Bank announced it has appointed Meg Tidd, chief marketing officer at VIP Structures, and Andy Breuer, president of Hueber-Breuer Construction, to its Directors Advisory Council for the Central New York region. 

The 10-member council meets regularly throughout the year to provide M&T management with “valuable insight on a wide range of business, client and community matters,” the bank said in a news release.

Tidd and Breuer are “rising leaders of family-owned companies that are deeply committed to Syracuse, where both firms are based,” M&T Bank contends.

“In Central New York, the responsibilities of our most influential business leaders extend far beyond increasing revenues or attracting customers for their companies. They also become stewards of our community’s growth and advocates for our region’s needs,” Allen Naples, M&T Bank regional president for Central New York, said. “Meg and Andy understand these civic responsibilities. As next-generation leaders of family-owned businesses, they will bring new perspectives to M&T’s advisory council, providing increased emphasis on the importance of engaging young business leaders in the ongoing efforts to revitalize the region.”

Tidd became chief marketing officer at VIP in 2013 after joining the firm two years earlier. In 2015, she led VIP through a rebranding and corporate-strategy initiative that has contributed to increased market share for the company, per the release. As a member of VIP’s senior leadership team, she has pushed for continual improvement at the company, enhanced the firm’s sales and marketing processes, and fostered a collaborative workplace culture. Tidd is a 2014 graduate of the Leadership Greater Syracuse (LGS) program and a 2016 BJNN 40 Under Forty honoree. She also serves as a member of the Gifford Foundation board of trustees and an Early Childhood Alliance Business Council member.

Breuer represents the sixth generation of Central New York’s oldest, continuously operating construction company, the M&T release stated. Since 2002, he has led many projects for Hueber-Breuer Construction as a project manager and project executive, including the Onondaga Nation Tsha’ Thoñ’nhes Lacrosse Pavilion, Destiny Embassy Suites Hotel, and the New York State Fairgrounds’ Exposition Center. A graduate of the LGS program, Breuer is chair of the Central New York Community Foundation, a member of the Landmark Theater board of trustees, and a member of the SUNY ESF Foundation board of directors. 

In addition to Tidd and Breuer, M&T Bank’s Directors Advisory Council for the Central New York region has the following members: Carl Byrne, Byrne Dairy; Mara Charlamb, United Radio; James (Jim) Fox, O’Brien & Gere; Karyn Korteling, Pastabilities; Robert (Luke) Lewis, Lewis Custom Homes; Robert H. Linn; formerly with Ernst & Young; Joseph Mancuso, Hancock & Estabrook; and Melissa Zell, The Pioneer Companies.

M&T Bank’s Central New York regional headquarters is located on South Salina Street and is responsible for managing operations in 45 offices, with nearly 500 employees across eight counties, including: Cayuga, Herkimer, Jefferson, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego, and Seneca County.

ELMIRA — Chemung Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: CHMG) recently reported net income of $5.7 million, or $1.18 a share, in the fourth quarter, compared to a net loss of $2.2 million, or 45 cents, in the year-ago period.

The Elmira-based banking company’s net income for the full year of 2018 jumped nearly threefold to $19.6 million, or $4.06 per share, from $7.4 million, or $1.55 a share, in 2017. The results were led by growth in loans, net interest income, and fee income, coupled with a significant decrease in income-tax expense related to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

“We are very pleased to report record earnings for 2018, which included a strong fourth quarter. Our results for the year are a direct reflection of our focused approach to managing interest rate sensitivity, liquidity, and efficiency while positioning the balance sheet for 2019,” Anders M. Tomson, Chemung Financial CEO, said in the banking company’s earnings report issued on Jan. 23. 

Tomson expressed optimism about Chemung Financial’s prospects this year, which he indicated were buoyed by economic-development efforts in upstate New York.

“We are looking forward to the benefits of a stronger balance sheet and capital ratios that will provide us with the opportunity to support continued growth. We enter 2019 sharing the optimism of our clients, and business and municipal leaders of the communities we serve, and are encouraged by the economic development opportunities provided by the upstate New York revitalization initiatives that are in process in many of our markets.”

Chemung Financial is a $1.8 billion financial-services holding company that operates 34 branches through its main subsidiary, Chemung Canal Trust Company, a full-service community bank with trust powers. Established in 1833, Chemung Canal Trust says it is the oldest locally owned and managed community bank in New York state. Chemung Financial is also the parent of CFS Group, Inc., a financial-services subsidiary offering mutual funds, annuities, brokerage services, tax-preparation services, and insurance, as well as Chemung Risk Management, Inc., an insurance company based in Nevada.