SYRACUSE — Benefit Specialists of New York, an affiliate of CenterState CEO, is now operating under the name Business Solutions of NY (BSNY).

The organization announced the name change on Oct. 27.

The organization changed its name in mid-October, coinciding with the open-enrollment period for benefits, says Frank Caliva, Jr., Sr. VP and COO of CenterState CEO. He spoke with CNYBJ on Nov. 8.

Caliva describes Business Solutions of NY as a wholly owned, for-profit subsidiary of CenterState CEO.

The name change
The organization over the last two years has been looking at the changes in the employee-benefits business resulting from the Affordable Care Act and technology, says Caliva.

People are turning to the Internet for help in making decisions about how they buy and manage their benefits.

“As we started to look at all that, we began to realize, we really were a lot more than just benefits to our clients. We were really helping them manage the people side of their business,” says Caliva.

The organization’s clients were asking for advice on matters pertaining to payroll and human resources, so BSNY started working with other companies who specialized in those areas, he says.

BSNY had also purchased a technology platform called Employee Navigator, an online system that allows companies of all sizes “to manage their work force online.”

“In its simplest form, you can use it just as an online portal for employees to choose their benefits on an annual basis,” says Caliva.

After considering the factors involved, CenterState CEO decided to pursue the name change. The organization started thinking about it in the spring.

When asked if the group considers the name change a rebranding, Caliva thinks it’s “more of a reframing.”

“It’s just kind of underscoring the fact that, absolutely, we’re still all about employee benefits but we’ve always been helping [clients] with other things as well,” he says.

Business Solutions of NY services about a “couple thousand” clients, most of which are not chamber members, he notes.

“There’s a lot who are, but a significant majority of our clients at BSNY don’t happen to be chamber members,” says Caliva.

BSNY serves about 10 client chambers of commerce in Central New York, according to Caliva. Its footprint extends west to near Rochester and east to Oneida County and into Cooperstown.

“Our strongest presence is in Onondaga County,” he notes.

It markets “exclusively” through chambers of commerce and business associations, according to its website.

Business Solutions of NY offers employee benefits, including health insurance, payroll, human-resources, and regulatory-compliance services.

BSNY works with DeWitt–based ChoicePay, Inc. as its payroll provider and Syracuse–based Pinnacle Employee Services, a professional employer organization, in offering services to its clients, according to Caliva.

Caliva refers to Business Solutions of NY as a “one-stop shop” for a small or medium-sized business.

Caliva declined to disclose any financial information about BSNY, noting its financial performance is reported on as part of the overall reports of CenterState CEO.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com

UTICA — The Central Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (CABVI), a not-for-profit agency that serves people who are blind or visually impaired, announced it has launched the new CABVI Quest Program.

The CABVI Quest Program is an “opportunity for employees to achieve upward mobility within the company and to learn more about CABVI in ways they may have not yet discovered, or had a chance to do so,” the nonprofit said in a news release. Each month, Quest participants will meet to spend the day with their peers and listen to CABVI leaders or fellow employees discuss various aspects of day-to-day activities or tasks.

Participants were selected from all departments within the organization at its production and manufacturing facilities in Syracuse and Utica, and also at its contact center at Albany, Virginia.

The first meeting was held on Sept. 28 and reviewed the basics of CABVI such as the mission statement, core values, agency structure, and departmental dynamics, the release stated.

CABVI Quest participants will meet each month for the next 10 months and topics will include: business conduct and code of ethics, human resources 101, assistive technology, and rehabilitation services, and management and leadership. When Quest participants applied to the program, they also noted which departments at CABVI they would like to learn more about and shadow for the day.

“Upward mobility and retention of employees within our CABVI family is very important to us all. We want our employees to be able to learn and grow and hope the CABVI Quest program allows Questers to achieve just that,” Jill Koch, chief financial officer at CABVI, and a CABVI Quest mentor, said in a release.

Utica–based CABVI, which is an affiliate of National Industries for the Blind, says it serves people who are blind or visually impaired, from newborns to the elderly, generally free of charge. CABVI’s vision-rehabilitation programs provide for more than 1,500 people who are blind or visually impaired in an eight-county area of upstate New York (Oneida, Herkimer, Madison, Fulton, Lewis, Montgomery, Jefferson, nd northern Otsego Counties).

CABVI reported $48.6 million in total operating revenue in 2015, up from $45.8 million in 2014, according to its 2015 annual report posted on its website. The nonprofit’s total employment was 252 at the end of last year.

Contact The Business Journal News Network at news@cnybj.com

CORNING — The Rockwell Museum in Corning has named Brian Lee Whisenhunt as its new executive director.

He will start in the position in early January 2017, succeeding Kristin A. Swain who announced her retirement earlier this year, after serving for 14 years.

Whisenhunt brings nearly 20 years of museum experience, according to a news release from The Rockwell.

Since July 2011, Whisenhunt has served as the executive director of the Museum of the Southwest in Midland, Texas. He was responsible for planning a $5.4 million capital campaign to renovate and restore the Turner Memorial Art Museum, which includes the historic Turner Mansion dating from the 1930s. Under his leadership, the museum attracted more than 100,000 visitors in 2015, the first time in more than a decade.

“Brian’s museum experience and eagerness around arts in education, community collaboration and high quality American art experiences make him a great fit for The Rockwell and our region. I’m certain he’ll be overwhelmingly welcomed by our vibrant arts community and the people that make it happen,” Deb Naylor, president of the museum’s board of trustees, said in the release.

Whisenhunt received his master’s degree in art history from the University of Oklahoma.

His other previous jobs include stints as executive director of the Swope Art Museum in Terre Haute, Indiana; adjunct professor of art at Indiana State University; director of education at the Wichita Art Museum in Kansas; and manager of public programs at the Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas.

Whisenhunt is joining The Rockwell after it, in the last three years, has broadened its mission statement to “encompass art about the American experience, transformed its permanent art galleries from top-to-bottom, [and] opened a new Family Exploration Studio for young visitors,” the release stated. The Rockwell also revamped it museum store, and launched new programs like Rockwell Roadhouse and the Urban Arts Crawl.

Most notably, The Rockwell, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, has become an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, the museum said.

The Rockwell’s diverse collection includes a mix of contemporary American art with traditional bronze sculptures, landscape paintings, and other works that “embody the American experience.” The museum is housed in the restored 19th century Old City Hall building in Corning.

Contact The Business Journal News Network at news@cnybj.com

The New York State Common Retirement Fund generated an overall return of 3.51 percent for the three-month period ending Sept. 30, 2016, the second quarter of the state’s fiscal year 2016-2017.

That’s according to a news release from New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. The fund ended the period with an estimated value of $184.5 billion.

“Investments across several asset classes had positive returns during a solid quarter,” DiNapoli said in the release. “Our long-term perspective and our diversified portfolio continue to cushion the fund against volatility and help ensure sustainable returns that provide retirement security for our 1.1 million members, retirees and their beneficiaries.”

In comparison, the S&P 500 index generated a total return of 3.31 percent in the same quarter, according to data from Morningstar.

The Common Retirement Fund’s estimated value reflects benefits paid out during the quarter. The fund ended its first fiscal quarter on June 30, 2016, with an overall return of 2 percent and an estimated value of $181 billion, the comptroller’s release stated. The S&P 500 produced a 1.9 percent return in that same quarter, according to Morningstar.

As of Sept. 30, the Common Retirement Fund had 38 percent of its assets invested in publicly traded U.S. stocks and 16.3 percent in international stocks. The remaining fund assets by allocation are invested in cash, bonds, and mortgages (26.7 percent), private equity (7.6 percent), real estate (6.9 percent), absolute-return strategies (3.2 percent), and opportunistic alternatives and real assets (1.3 percent), according to DiNapoli’s office.

Contact The Business Journal News Network at news@cnybj.com