SYRACUSE — Owners and leading officials of 18 area companies participated in the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Emerging Leaders program in 2018.

The SBA honored the group during a graduation ceremony held Oct. 15 at the Gateway Center at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF). 

The Gateway Center is located east of Syracuse University’s Sadler Hall and across Forestry Drive from the Carrier Dome.

“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 news release.

The Emerging Leaders Initiative provides free entrepreneurship education and training for executives of small, “poised-for-growth” companies that are “potential job creators,” the SBA said. 

The “intensive” executive entrepreneurship series includes nearly 100 hours of classroom time. It also provides opportunities for small-business owners to work with experienced coaches and mentors, attend workshops, and develop connections with their peers, local leaders, and the financial community.

The SBA program is made possible through support from local cosponsors that include Blackstone LaunchPad; CenterState CEO; CNYTDO; City of Syracuse Office of Neighborhood and Business Development; Falcone Center for Entrepreneurship; Manufacturers Association of Central New York (MACNY); Onondaga County; Onondaga Small Business Development Center; SUNY ESF, Syracuse SCORE chapter; the Downtown Committee of Syracuse, Inc.; the Tech Garden; and the WISE Women’s Business Center, the SBA said.

Participants, SBA officials

The accompanying photo includes this year’s participants.

Back row from left to right: Steve Bulger, SBA region II administrator; Nicholas Mir, co-owner of Snow Ridge Resort, LLC in Turin; Matt Notaro, president of Sun Environmental Corp. of Clay; Nicholas Ryan, co-owner of Strong Hearts Café, LLC of Syracuse; Douglas Arena, partner and project manager at Bell & Spina Architects in Syracuse; Scott Colbert, owner of Paul Davis Restoration of North Country NY in Hastings; Thaddeus Lovett, president of Lovett Mechanical Contractors Inc. of Syracuse; Chris Keevil, president of the Copy Centers of Syracuse; Paul Kocur, VP of government sales at Oneida Business Enterprises, Inc.; and James Thew, principal with Thew Associates PE in Marcy.

Front row from left to right: Jenn Beach Brillante, VP of business development at C&D Advertising of Utica; Laura Cueva, president & CEO of Interior Innovations of Utica; Natalie Evans, co-owner of The Sweet Praxis in downtown Syracuse; Nabil Rab, CEO of Altenew of Syracuse; Paul Vinciguerra, business development manager at Upstate Printing Inc. in Syracuse; Michael Weisel, managing partner of Galaxy Brewing Company of Binghamton; Mary Celletti, CEO of Golden Spike Pub in East Syracuse; Thomas Brown, a partner in Blue Water Capital Management, LLC of Syracuse; Andrew Cambria, owner of the Cambria Agency of Cicero; and Bernard J. Paprocki, SBA Syracuse District Director.

The participants work in sectors that include manufacturing, food service, and technology. 

SYRACUSE — Syracuse University on Nov. 5 announced it has formed a search committee for the next dean of the School of Information Studies (iSchool).

Current iSchool Dean Liz Liddy announced in early September that she would retire at the end of the 2018-19 academic year.

David Seaman, dean of libraries and University librarian, will chair the iSchool search committee.

“I have great confidence in Dean Seaman and the search committee to find just the right candidate to fill the huge shoes of Dean Liddy and continue to break new ground in this ever-evolving field,” Michele Wheatly, vice chancellor for academic affairs and provost, said in the release. She added that the iSchool is “nationally recognized for innovative programs in information policy, information behavior, information management, information systems, information technology, information services, data analytics and enterprise data systems.”

New York City–based search firm Russell Reynolds Associates will be assisting the search committee in its work, the school said.

SYRACUSE — Le Moyne College has started the process of establishing an undergraduate major in risk management and insurance following a $7 million donation to spur the effort.

The McNeil family of Cortland, “one of Le Moyne College’s third-generation families,” donated the funding, the school said in a news release. Le Moyne announced the donation at its Founders’ Day Gala on Oct. 19. 

Le Moyne will “eventually apply for approval” from the New York State Education Department to establish the major. The program’s launch date at Le Moyne is dependent on receiving state approval, the college said.

The major will bring to the school a “new academic discipline in one of today’s fastest-growing career fields,” Le Moyne contends.

The McNeil gift is part of the college’s $100 million Always Forward campaign, which it publicly announced earlier this year. The donation will create a new endowment to establish three to four endowed professorships to support the new program “in perpetuity.” 

“We look forward to working with the McNeil family to develop a program that will be on the cutting-edge of the risk management and insurance industry,” Le Moyne Provost Joe Marina said in the release. “This gift will help us to continue to expand our academic offerings to best serve our students now and into the future.”

About the McNeil family

Dan McNeil Jr. is a 1951 graduate of Le Moyne College, part of the school’s first graduating class. He is president of McNeil Development Company in Cortland, which owns and manages commercial property. 

His son, Dan McNeil III, who graduated from Le Moyne in 1977, is president of McNeil & Company in Cortland, a provider of insurance programs and risk-management services for specialty niche markets nationwide. Those markets include an emergency-services insurance program for fire and emergency organizations; ambulance-services insurance program for private-ambulance services and HOMed for home-medical equipment dealers. 

Mary McNeil — Dan, Jr.’s daughter — graduated in 2008 with an MBA degree from Le Moyne, and currently serves as COO of McNeil & Company. 

Dan, III’s daughter, Lauren Davis, is a 2008 graduate of Le Moyne, and serves as VP of operations at McNeil & Co.

“We owe so much to Le Moyne, not just in our professional lives, but also for how the Jesuit values imbued during our time at the college play such a vital role in shaping us as individuals,” Dan McNeil, III, who currently serves on the Le Moyne board of trustees, said in the Le Moyne release. “We are so pleased to be able to give back to the institution in this way.”                  

SKANEATELES FALLS — The president of Welch Allyn has accepted a new job as a CEO “in the healthcare provider space” and will be leaving the company Dec. 1.

That’s according to Howard Karesh, VP of corporate communications at Hill-Rom, who responded to a Nov. 5 email inquiry from CNYBJ.

Word of Alton Shader’s upcoming departure was included in a filing from Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc.’s (NYSE: HRC) with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) about its fiscal fourth quarter financial results. 

Shader told Hill-Rom of his plan on Oct. 30, the SEC filing says. Hill-Rom expects to name a successor “shortly.”

Shader joined Hill-Rom as senior VP and president of post-acute care in 2011, and held the position of president, North America since 2012. Shader was appointed president of front line care in September 2015.

Welch Allyn is part of Hill-Rom’s front-line care unit. 

Shader spoke with reporters in May when Hill-Rom formally dedicated a $12.7 million expansion project that adds about 100,000 square feet to the Welch Allyn campus.

“So, this here is all warehouse and shipping, delivery, logistics, but it … frees a lot of space up so we could add R&D, marketing, and other jobs as well,” Shader said at the time.

The company announced in September 2016 its commitment to bring more than 100 new jobs to Skaneateles Falls, while retaining nearly 900 existing positions.

Hill-Rom, a medical-technology company, in 2015 acquired Welch Allyn, a medical-device maker, for about $2.05 billion in cash and stock.