The Rochester–based Center for Community Alternatives (CCA), which also has a Syracuse office, announced that attorney David M. Schraver has joined its board of directors.

Schraver, a resident of Rochester, is an attorney with Nixon Peabody LLP, a law firm with offices in Rochester and in cities across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. He has previously served as president of the Monroe County Bar Association (1997-98) and later as president of the New York State Bar Association (2013-14). Schraver is a graduate of Harvard University (bachelor’s degree) and the University of Michigan Law School (J.D. degree).

CCA works in the field of community-based alternatives to incarceration. The center says its mission is to promote reintegrative justice and a reduced reliance on incarceration through advocacy, services and public policy development in pursuit of civil and human rights. In Rochester, CCA recently expanded its New York State–funded Outreach and Recovery Center, known as the “CORE Center.” CCA has provided recovery services to people with criminal and drug use histories in Rochester since 2006. In addition to that office and its Syracuse site (located at 115 E. Jefferson St.), CCA also has an office in New York City.

 “Dave Schraver will help us develop new opportunities for our CORE Center and for those we serve. In addition, given CCA’s role in monitoring the implementation of Raise the Age [legislation], we will benefit greatly from Mr. Schraver’s perspective on what’s happening in Rochester,” Kelly Gonzalez, CCA’s deputy director for Rochester and Syracuse, said in the release.

David Condliffe, CCA’s executive director, added, “With his statewide contacts, Dave Schraver will open new doors across the state as CCA develops innovative public policy and identifies communities that want to expand their alternative to incarceration and reentry services.” 

SENNETT — The 386 Grant Avenue (Route 5) property in the town of Sennett, on which a Pizza Hut restaurant sits, was recently sold.

GC Pizza Hut REO Holdings, LLC, a Delaware-based limited liability company, purchased the 1.2-acre property and 2,800-square-foot building, according to John Bouck, owner/broker of Bouck Real Estate in Auburn, which arranged the sale.

According to Bouck, the previous owners of the property, R.S. Vescio Revocable Family Trust, had owned the real estate only for many years, with a long-term lease to Pizza Hut. The family trust sought to divest itself of some of its property, including the Grant Avenue parcel. Subsequently, the Bouck Real Estate firm sold the property, to a national franchisee.

The purchasers of the property, GC Pizza Hut REO Holdings had recently acquired the local Pizza Hut franchise, but were interested in owning the real estate, instead of leasing, as they have been doing. Bouck said that when the real estate became available, he contacted them to determine if they would like to acquire it.

GC (Golden Child) Pizza Hut REO Holdings is one of the largest Pizza Hut franchisees in the U.S., operating more than 97 restaurants in 7 states, according to Bouck. While a number of the Pizza Hut properties, in which GC has a franchise interest, have been closed over the past year, including two eateries in the Syracuse area, the company showed its continuing interest in keeping the Auburn–area Pizza Hut open. According to Bouck, the lease was set to expire in about one year, and the company wanted to ensure that it would be able to retain the real estate and the location, and not just the franchise.

The sale included the land and the building and did not include the Pizza Hut business, which GC Pizza Hut REO Holdings already owned as a franchisee, per Bouck.

“The GC franchise company is a very aggressive, and growing group, and I would anticipate there would be further upgrades and changes in this local operation, which will also show their commitment to the area and the people. We are certainly looking forward to a continuing relationship with the company,” Bouck said in a release.       

“A select group” of students at St. John Fisher College will have the chance to pursue both an undergraduate and law degree in six years under an agreement between Fisher and the Syracuse University College of Law.

St. John Fisher is located in the Rochester suburb of Pittsford.

It’s called a 3+3 legal education accelerated program (LEAP), which is aimed at “minimizing the cost of their education,” St. John Fisher said in a Nov. 7 news release. 

To be considered for the program, students must meet a set of requirements for both institutions. 

At Fisher, they must enroll as first-year students, complete the school’s first-year program, core curriculum, major, and minor requirements, per the release. 

They also need to consult with a LEAP advisor to discuss educational and career goals and earn a cumulative undergraduate grade-point average of 3.5 or higher. Students also must complete the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) with a score at or above the median LSAT score for the College of Law’s previous year’s enrolled class. 

Students also have to submit an application to the College of Law through the Law School Admission Council during their third and final year at Fisher.

“The partnership with St. John Fisher College provides its students with an accelerated path to the College of Law and its unique offerings, including our top-rated Advocacy Honor Society program, innovative research centers focused on national security, technology commercialization and disability law, and our expansive externship opportunities offered around the country, among others,” Denee Page, assistant dean of enrollment management at the Syracuse University College of Law, said in the Fisher news release.

This agreement is the fourth 3+3 LEAP program at Fisher. The school also holds agreements with Michigan State University College of Law, University at Buffalo Law School, and Ohio Northern University.       

SYRACUSE — The Syracuse chapter of SCORE provided guidance to about 65 business ventures in its territory during federal fiscal year 2018 that ended Sept. 30.

The nonprofit SCORE is an organization of business entrepreneurs working to help small-business owners, entrepreneurs, and those who are “kind of dreaming” about opening a small business or having their own business, says Marty Doto, a mentor with the SCORE Syracuse chapter. He calls it “trying to pay it forward.”

“We’re trying to take our expertise and our knowledge and share it with those folks to help them succeed as we did in our careers,” he says.

Doto, who has been a mentor for a “little over two years,” also handles marketing and communications for the organization. Doto, who is now retired, says he worked in the insurance industry both in upstate New York and elsewhere 

SCORE Syracuse’s territory is a five-county area around Syracuse, including Onondaga, Oswego, Cortland, Madison, and Oneida counties. The SCORE Syracuse office is affiliated with the office in Utica.

“It’s a pretty broad reach and the clients can come from anywhere, and we can also do video conferencing,” Doto notes.

He describes SCORE as a “resource partner” with the Syracuse district office of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), which provides “a lot of our referrals.” 

Client meetings are by appointment. SCORE will meet with a client at the Syracuse SBA office or wherever it’s most convenient because the goal is to have recurring visits and mentoring sessions. 

SCORE provides guidance for a lot of startups. About two-thirds of its clients are seeking help because they want to start a new business. The other one-third are people who are already in business, so SCORE works to be available to them as they continue to face different challenges. 

“The goal is that we’re working with each other over years, not just over weeks or months,” Doto says.

About SCORE

SCORE has operated since the 1960s and “just about as long here in Central New York,” Doto says. SCORE started as an organization of retired executives “but that’s certainly not our make up now,” he adds.

The organization has members and mentors who are retired and semi-retired, along with small-business owners and entrepreneurs who are still working. 

The name SCORE, for a time, was short for senior corps of retired executives, but that’s no longer the case. “We don’t consider it an acronym for anything. It’s just the name of the organization,” Doto says.

When asked how business owners become mentors with SCORE, he says “a lot of times, it’s word of mouth” and a recommendation from someone with whom the mentor is acquainted. Former SCORE clients sometimes decide to join the organization because they appreciate the help that the organization provided, he notes.

“When it was their time, they decided to join the organization so that they could give back,” says Doto.

The Syracuse chapter of SCORE has about 35 mentors as of now, but it also has subject-matter experts based on a client’s needs. It also has members and volunteers who conduct workshops. 

“Because we’re part of a national organization, we can tap resources on the national basis as well … so the client gets a broad base of expertise to pull from,” says Doto.         

SYRACUSE — The woman who has been serving as a vice chair on the Syracuse University board of trustees will become the first female to lead the board.

It unanimously elected Kathleen Walters as its next chairperson, the university said in a Nov. 12 news release.

Walters, who graduated from Syracuse University in 1973, will succeed current board chair Steve Barnes, whose term ends in May 2019.

“I am deeply honored to have been selected by my peers to serve as the chair of my alma mater’s board of trustees,” Walters said. “Syracuse University played a significant role in my life’s trajectory, both professionally and personally, and I am thankful to have the opportunity to work on behalf of the institution that provided me such a strong education. I am humbled by the support I have received from my fellow trustees, Chancellor Kent Syverud and other members of the Syracuse University community, and look forward to taking on this critically important role.”

About Walters

Walters currently serves as executive VP of Atlanta, Georgia–based Georgia-Pacific LLC (GP) and group president of its consumer-products group. Georgia-Pacific is one of the largest retail and commercial tissue and tabletop businesses in North America, spanning more than 40 operating facilities and employing 15,000 people.

She has held her roles with Georgia-Pacific since 2007, and previously served in other executive positions at the company. Prior to joining GP in 2004, Walters held a number of key leadership positions in Europe and the U.S. for Scott Paper Co. and its parent company, Irving, Texas–based Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB). She also served as CEO of SAPPI Fine Paper North America.

“Kathy brings a unique perspective, as well as a wealth of knowledge and experience to the role of board chair,” Chancellor Syverud said in the release. “She is a strong leader and a tireless advocate for Syracuse University. Kathy will make an excellent chair. I am confident great things will happen under her leadership.”

“Syracuse University is incredibly fortunate to have someone of Kathy’s caliber taking over the leadership of the board of trustees,” Barnes said. “The combination of her strategic and governance experience makes her well positioned to be our next chair.”

Walters has been “very active” in supporting the university along with her husband, Stanley Walters, who graduated in 1972, per the release. He was a two-year letterman in football at Syracuse University and went on to play in the National Football League with the Philadelphia Eagles, and after retiring was a radio color commentator.

Kathleen Walters regularly speaks with Syracuse University students, participating in the Syracuse Immersion Program in Atlanta, and she hosted a regional Syracuse-sponsored event in 2014, called “Power Up Atlanta.” It was a women’s networking symposium featuring Kristi Andersen, professor of political science in Syracuse’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, and prominent Syracuse alumni, the university said.

The Walters reside in Atlanta. They are the parents of two grown children, Stanley and Elizabeth, who also live in Atlanta, per the release.