SYRACUSE — CNY ATD has announced its 2019 leadership team. 

They are as follows: President, Steven DeHart, Progressive Insurance; President-Elect, Amy Wood, Raymond Corporation; Past-President, Amy Bartolotta, The Hartford; VP CNY BEST, Beth King, O.C. Tanner; VP Programs, Brent Danega, AXA; VP Employee Learning Awareness, Melissa McLean, Oneida Nation Enterprises; Membership Chair, Cynthia Doss, SUNY Syracuse EOC; Emerging Chair; President Emeritus, Mark Britz, ThruWork/The eLearning Guild; Virtual Opportunities Chair, Kati Wheeler, The Bonadio Group; Scholarship Chair, Laura Carroll; President Emeritus, Ingrid Gonzalez-McCurdy, Elmcrest Children’s Center; President Emeritus, Ken Steiger, Steiger Training & Development/UMU; Programs Vice Chair, Christy Rohmer, NYSERNet; Employee Learning Awareness Vice Chair, Erin Cunia, National Grid; Scholarship Vice Chair, Eileen Hudack, SUNY Upstate Medical University; Managing Director, Brenda Grady, ACME Planning; and Managing Director, Julie Billings, Event Management.

CNY ATD is the local affiliate chapter of Association for Talent Development (ATD). It has more than 140 members from various businesses covering 17-plus counties from the Canadian border to the Pennsylvania border in Central New York.

UTICA — Hotels in Oneida County were fuller in November compared to a year ago, according to a recent report.

The hotel occupancy rate (rooms sold as a percentage of rooms available) in the county increased 3.6 percent to 49 percent in November from 47.2 percent in the year-ago month, according to STR, a Tennessee–based hotel market data and analytics company. That was the ninth straight monthly increase. Year to date through the first 11 months of 2018, the occupancy rate was up 5 percent to 58.5 percent.

Revenue per available room (RevPAR), a key industry indicator that measures how much money hotels are bringing in per available room, rose 4.4 percent to $49.01 in November from $46.94 in November 2017. Oneida County’s RevPAR has increased nine months in a row. Year to date through November, the county’s RevPAR was up 5.2 percent to $66.95.

Average daily rate (or ADR), which represents the average rental rate for a sold room, gained 0.8 percent to $100.09 in November from $99.34 a year prior, per STR. Oneida County’s ADR was nearly unchanged year to date at $114.50.

BINGHAMTON — The board of trustees of the Link Foundation announced it has appointed James Edmond (Ed) Morton, IV as a special advisor to the foundation’s board of directors. 

Morton is senior VP, wealth management group regional executive, and Broome Tioga market executive with Chemung Canal Trust Company, a community banking company headquartered in Elmira. 

Morton holds a bachelor’s degree in applied economics from Cornell University and is a graduate from the Cannon Financial Institute’s Trust School. 

The Link Foundation is a charitable trust established in 1953 by the late Edwin A. and Marion Link, who made their residence in Binghamton and on the Treasure Coast in Florida. Since 1953, the foundation has awarded grants totaling nearly $16 million to universities, colleges, and other nonprofit organizations to fund internships, scholarships, fellowships, and research projects. These grants are mainly allocated to advancing energy resources development and conservation; modeling, simulation and training; and ocean engineering and instrumentation. 

The Link Foundation’s administrative office is located at Binghamton University and the Link archival and permanent collection is situated in the Bartle Library at Binghamton University. The foundation has over the years supported programs and scholarships at Binghamton University including the Link Endowment in Music and the Edwin A. Link Instructional Laboratory in the Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science. In addition, the Link Foundation has awarded doctoral fellowships, through a national competition, to Binghamton University students studying in Edwin A. Link’s fields of interest — modeling, simulation and training; energy resources development and conversation; and ocean engineering and instrumentation.

DeWITT — DeWitt–based Dumac Business Systems, Inc. has acquired Total Retail Solutions (TRS) of Louisiana, a provider of point-of-sale (POS) and loss-prevention products to independent grocers.

Point-of-sale products are more commonly known as cash registers, whether scanning systems for supermarkets or touch screens for restaurants, says Phil McCarthy, VP of Dumac, who spoke with CNYBJ on Jan. 7.

West Monroe, Louisiana–based TRS supports about 400 supermarkets in Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee, Dumac said in a news release. 

The acquisition closed Dec. 1. Dumac is headquartered at 19 Corporate Circle in DeWitt.

McCarthy declined to disclose the acquisition price but indicated that Dumac financed the deal using company assets and a loan from KeyBank. 

McCarthy also noted that he is one of seven people who own Dumac, a family-operated business. Dumac had 285 employees before the acquisition and added all of TRS’s 28 employees in the deal. 

“We’ll ultimately grow that group,” says McCarthy, noting that all TRS workers will remain at their respective job sites.

The local firm also added all TRS customers. TRS has two facilities in Louisiana and one each in Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee that will operate under the Dumac name, per the release.

Headquartered in DeWitt since 1952, Dumac also has operations in Texas, Oklahoma, and Indiana, according to its website.

More than a thousand independently owned supermarkets across the U.S. use Dumac products. Dumac also sells POS hardware to the hospitality and restaurant markets. 

The firm’s customers include Dublin, Ohio–based Wendy’s, a fast-food restaurant chain, and CoreLife Eatery, McCarthy told CNYBJ. CoreLife Eatery describes itself as an “active lifestyle restaurant” operating several locations in New York and 10 additional states.

How the deal happened

TRS had been for sale since after the owner, Lane Osbon, died in late 2017, according to McCarthy. Osbon’s widow wanted to make sure the company’s employees would still have jobs in the acquisition deal.

“They reached out to a group of potential buyers, looking not just for someone to buy it but also for a cultural fit,” says McCarthy, noting that Dumac was familiar with TRS before the acquisition discussions.

Aaron Davidson, who most recently served as president of TRS, will continue in a leadership role with Dumac as a branch manager. “His day-to-day role has not changed a whole lot,” says McCarthy. 

“We’re excited about this combination with Dumac and the opportunities it presents to continuously provide better experiences, opportunities, and outcomes for our customers and employees,” Davidson said in the Dumac release. “In many ways, it’s business as usual with the added benefit of offering customers greater expertise and solutions to help them achieve greater results.”                       

Firm commits to creating at least 8 new jobs after more than $1 million project

SODUS — Dynalec Corporation, a communications-equipment manufacturer in Wayne County, is expanding its operations in Sodus with a project that costs a little more than $1 million.

The company has also committed to creating at least eight new jobs, according to Empire State Development.

Dynalec is adding up to 12,000 square feet to its existing facility. The project will allow Dynalec to “substantially increase production in an effort to better meet the worldwide demand for its products,” ESD said. 

The expansion project is underway, and the company expects construction crews to finish their work in mid-March. 

ESD has offered up to $250,000 through the Excelsior Jobs tax-credit program in exchange for the job-creation commitments. 

“The surrounding community has supported Dynalec for over 40 years and we are proud to call the village of Sodus our home,” James Ryan, attorney for Dynalec Corp., said in an ESD news release. “Construction of our new facility will allow us to meet the growing worldwide demand for our products, while expanding our highly technical workforce to remain a leader in onboard ship communication.”

Founded in 1960 in Rochester and relocated in 1973 to Sodus, Dynalec is a manufacturer of shipboard systems for communication, navigation, and switching. It says it builds standard and custom products for military and commercial use, including sound-powered telephones. Its customers include agencies of the U.S. Department of Defense; military and commercial shipyards; international navies; mining/oil rigging manufacturers; and telecommunication companies.

The New York Council of nonprofits (NYCON) recently announced that it has been awarded a three-year grant from the Stewart W. and Willma C. Hoyt Foundation, Inc. 

The grant, which provides $15,000 for each of the next three years, will continue “longstanding financial support for the Southern Tier Capacity Building Program,” NYCON said in a news release. 

The Southern Tier Capacity Building Program was first piloted in 2008 and designed to meet the needs of Broome County nonprofits. The program model has two primary components: to facilitate free governance training for local nonprofit boards, and to provide small “mini-grants” to nonprofits, which are used by grantees to engage in a range of capacity building services, the release said. Since 2008, the program has continued to grow and expand, providing a broader range of training topics throughout the year, and offering more mini-grants to nonprofits seeking assistance.

“The Southern Tier Capacity Building Program is a longstanding success,” said Catherine Schwoeffermann, executive director of the Hoyt Foundation. “We’re proud to support the great work NYCON does, assisting so many nonprofit organizations in the Southern Tier. The training and development opportunities provided through this grant really pave the way to success for a broad range of nonprofits doing important work locally.”

The mission of the Hoyt Foundation, created to perpetuate the Hoyts’ charitable interest, is to use its resources to enhance the quality of life of the people of Broome County mainly through selective grantmaking, the release stated. Since 1971, the foundation has made more than $27 million in grants in Broome County.

NYCON and its affiliates state that they work to develop and promote the charitable community in New York state. It has almost 3,000 nonprofit members.