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Former Loretto employee accused of stealing from resident trust account
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A former finance associate at Loretto is under arrest for allegedly stealing from a trust account established for residents’ funds. New York
PAR Technology names Bartusek as new CFO
NEW HARTFORD, N.Y. — PAR Technology Corp. (NYSE: PAR) has appointed Michael Bartusek as the company’s new vice president and CFO, effective immediately. Bartusek fills
Meyda Lighting transitions to the third generation
YORKVILLE — “This July 11, you can meet the fabulous Beekman Boys at the Old Forge Home Show,” Max Cohen, event impresario, said in a recent YouTube video. The Beekman Boys, who bought a mansion in Sharon Springs where they became farmers and launched their lifestyle brand with goat-milk soups and cheeses, created a reality-television
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YORKVILLE — “This July 11, you can meet the fabulous Beekman Boys at the Old Forge Home Show,” Max Cohen, event impresario, said in a recent YouTube video. The Beekman Boys, who bought a mansion in Sharon Springs where they became farmers and launched their lifestyle brand with goat-milk soups and cheeses, created a reality-television show that runs on the Cooking Channel.
“The Old Forge Home Show is just one of 10 trade shows I attend annually,” notes Cohen, a nine-year employee of Meyda Lighting (pronounce MY-DA), a Yorkville–based manufacturer and retailer of custom and decorative lighting. His grandfather Meyer launched the business as a hobby in 1974. “My primary role at the company is sales and design,” Cohen stresses. “This keeps me on the road six months out of the year to brand the uniqueness of a four-decades-old design tradition inspired by artists such as Tiffany and Stickley. The goal is to promote national recognition of our brand.”
Max Cohen, 28, is not the only third-generation scion in the family business. His older brother Chester (Chet) Cohen, 29, a five-year employee, focuses on manufacturing operations. “We’re passing up business,” opines Chet. “Our current lead time of eight weeks (from a signature on a drawing) is too long for some customers, who simply won’t consider us [as a vendor]. We need to add a few engineers, fabricators, and wiring specialists now to reduce the production time to four weeks. But finding the right help is not easy for our facility here in Utica.”
The two brothers work with their father, Robert (Bob) Cohen, the company president and a 40-year employee who is active in the business. “Meyda is a complicated business,” opines the president, “that deals with a lot of market segments including Internet dealers, brick-and-mortar dealers, designers, customers who buy directly at our retail outlets, and buyers in industries such as hospitality and restaurants … Recently we added another market segment — restoration. The chandelier we built for the recently refurbished Stanley Theater in downtown Utica was 35 feet wide, 11 feet high, and weighed 6,000 pounds. Meyda Lighting is currently bidding on lighting in the Hotel Syracuse’s restored grand lobby and the Persian Terrace [part of a $60 million renovation].
What further complicates the business is keeping track of 15,000 [discrete] items in our catalog; a growing manufacturing operation that produces unique lighting; and the fact that our products include aluminum, bronze, brass, copper, textiles, acrylics, and wood.” Bob Cohen later added stone as another material when he showed this reporter a new fixture made of translucent stone from India. Meyda calls the line “Opykta,” the Greek word for stone. The company is not only a manufacturer and retailer but also an importer, designer, and distributor.
The start
“As Max says, we didn’t start out as a business,” remembers Bob Cohen. “My mother [Ida] was tired of looking at ‘vintage cars’ in our backyard, which my father [Meyer] said he would restore one day. She asked him to install a stained-glass window to block the view. Since Meyer was retired and a master tinkerer, he and my mother took a course in making stained-glass windows … That was in 1974. My parents had fun making windows, terrariums, lamps, and planters in our basement and sold them at area craft shows. Business was slow; the door usually opened only when the wind blew. In 1980, a local Methodist Church ordered four stained-glass windows. Then, I started to think of my parents’ hobby as a business.”
Bob Cohen joined his parents in 1975 while still a teenager. “I helped out at the craft shows and watched the business begin to grow,” posits the company president. “Our growth was spurred by an interest in Tiffany designs that swept the country in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1995, we bought the Quality Bent Glass Co., which created original lighting fixtures, including the famous Coca-Cola chandeliers supplied in the early 1900s to Louis Comfort Tiffany’s studio in New York City. In the late 1990s, we bought Mecco Art, a metal-art studio, and in 2009, Meyda acquired 2nd Ave Lighting to expand our metal-lighting sales both on the commercial and residential side of the business. Our development has been a combination of organic growth and acquisitions.”
To Bob Cohen, Meyda Lighting is still a hobby. But he and his sons recognize that it’s also a business, which currently employs 75 people at the plant and retail store in Yorkville. The facility encompasses 170,000 square feet of manufacturing, inventory, retail, and distribution space sited on 8.5 acres. Meyda also leases 1,600 square feet in Old Forge for a retail outlet.
The company stock is held by the family. The Business Journal estimates Meyda Lighting’s annual revenue is between $12 million and $15 million.
Since 1989, Meyda has contracted with manufacturers in China to produce some of their lamps. The plant operates one shift, five-days a week.
Meyda Lighting’s corporate mission statement is simple. “We’re here to say yes,” says Max Cohen, “and make it happen,” quips his father. “Designers and customers are always sending us sketches and asking whether we can produce the design,” continues the younger son. “Sometimes the sketch is just a scrap of paper and sometimes it’s a verbal idea of what a product should look like. We pass on the ideas to our engineers, who [uncannily] turn the concept into reality. Meyda’s growth is also based on new-product development. A few years ago, we created a lighting innovation by integrating lighting fixtures and fan mechanisms. The new collection takes a lighting fixture and inserts a fan mechanism inside the fixture. We call the line ‘Chandel-Airs’ and offer them in any size or color combination. This really is a creative business.”
Meyda Lighting started in the Cohens’ residence in Old Forge. On June 7 of this year, the family dedicated a new “Creative Arts Wing” at View, a nonprofit visual and performing-arts center in Old Forge. The wing houses a pottery studio, stained-glass and fused-glass stations, woodworking area, and culinary-arts teaching kitchen. “The wing is the result of a challenge grant by Bob Cohen,” says Kevin Jost, a longtime friend and volunteer fundraiser for View. “Old Forge has had a robust arts community going back to the 1950s. It was natural to turn to those families with a long association with the area. Bob and his sons are artists, and the wing was a perfect match with Meyda’s mission.” Bob Cohen’s response: “This was just a nice way to say thank you to the community which has supported us [for decades].”
Third generation
Meyda Lighting’s transition to the third generation is an ongoing process. “There are a lot of moving parts to this business,” observes Chet Cohen. “Also, my dad has 40 years of knowledge and long-term relationships with customers. Max and I are slowly absorbing the knowledge, much of which is in his head, and building relationships with his customers. We have a strong brand and want to build on our reputation. The business is growing, but it’s a daily challenge to create unique products, price them properly, and produce them efficiently.”
Family-business experts tell us that 40 percent of businesses are passed to the second generation and only 13 percent to the third generation. These companies need to be nimble and build a consensus around change, according to Craig Aronoff, co-founder and principal consultant at the Family Business Consulting Group in Chicago.
Bob Cohen, his wife Ellie (who has the corporate moniker: director of visual merchandising), Chet, and Max are steering Meyda Lighting successfully as the company transitions to the third generation. The spark of entrepreneurship is also alive in the Cohens’ youngest son Ben, who runs a business in Old Forge, and in Bob’s mother Ida, who at 95, still manages the Nutty Putty Miniature Golf course in Old Forge.
Northern Safety seeks growth after acquisition by German conglomerate
FRANKFORT — Northern Safety and Industrial, a company based about 10 miles east of Utica that sells safety and industrial supplies, expects to see significant growth due to its pending acquisition by Germany–based Würth Group. The sale of Northern Safety by its CEO and current owner, Salvatore Longo, who founded it in 1983, is
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FRANKFORT — Northern Safety and Industrial, a company based about 10 miles east of Utica that sells safety and industrial supplies, expects to see significant growth due to its pending acquisition by Germany–based Würth Group.
The sale of Northern Safety by its CEO and current owner, Salvatore Longo, who founded it in 1983, is the result of a “lengthy and comprehensive process” to find a partner company to invest in it, according to the president of Northern Safety, Neil Sexton.
“[W]e feel that that process has rendered the perfect partner,” Sexton tells CNYBJ. He says the company began the process over a year and a half ago, and that it involved considering more than 200 companies.
The acquisition by Würth Group was set to close at the end of July. Sexton declines to disclose terms of the acquisition, except to say that it involved the purchase of stock.
The Würth Group is privately owned, and comprised of more than 400 companies spread over 80 countries. It posted more than $12 billion in sales in 2014, the company said in a news release. Its primary business is in assembly and fastening materials, and it employs more than 66,000 people.
The Würth Group has a similar growth-oriented culture to Northern Safety, Sexton says. “They have committed significant resources for ongoing acquisitions and increased marketing activities, and the process of seeking synergies across our customer bases has already begun.”
This is the Würth Group’s first foray into safety equipment sales, but it does sell other products to thousands of companies that use safety equipment, says Sexton. “[W]e think there is a great opportunity for cross-pollinating.”
Without disclosing specific figures, Sexton says Northern Safety expects “significant top- and bottom-line growth in the years ahead.”
Northern Safety has two New York state facilities, both in the Herkimer County town of Frankfort. One is its headquarters, situated at 232 Industrial Park Drive, which will not move because of the pending acquisition. Longo will remain the CEO, and the entire management team is staying put, says Sexton.
The company has nearly 500 employees, about half of whom work in New York. No job cuts are planned as a result of the pending ownership change. Northern Safety has an additional 16 locations across eight other states: five in Texas, three in Tennessee, two each in Oklahoma and Louisiana, and one each in Delaware, Missouri, South Carolina, and Georgia.
The acquisition of Northern Safety is the first step of what the Würth Group says is its entrance into the safety market.
“Northern Safety has been one of the largest privately owned companies in this market for a long time,” Marc Strandquist, executive vice president of the Würth Group, said in the news release. “The Würth Group has a long-standing strategy of enhancing our product offering. The acquisition of Northern Safety supports that strategy. Their core competency of personal protective equipment and safety supplies is a great complement to our current offerings.”
Northern Safety will be the safety and industrial distribution platform for North American–based safety and industrial companies acquired by the Würth Group, according to Sexton. He would not specify if that means Northern Safety will be used as a model for the operations of safety supply companies acquired by the Würth Group in the future, or if Northern Safety will have a greater, hands-on role with those companies.
“We have a large long-term investment with the Würth Group, and they’ve committed substantial resources to grow this company,” Longo said in the release.
Representatives of the Würth Group could not be reached for further comment on the acquisition as of press time.
In Sikorsky deal, Lockheed is acquiring a contract “teammate,” Hewson says
In the world of contracting for the U.S. Department of Defense, Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) and Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. are no strangers. The chief executive of Bethesda, Maryland–based Lockheed noted the two companies have a 40-year history of collaborating on programs. And, Sikorsky has served as a “frequent teammate” for Lockheed’s mission systems
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In the world of contracting for the U.S. Department of Defense, Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) and Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. are no strangers.
The chief executive of Bethesda, Maryland–based Lockheed noted the two companies have a 40-year history of collaborating on programs. And, Sikorsky has served as a “frequent teammate” for Lockheed’s mission systems and training business area.
For example, the U.S. Navy in early May 2014 awarded a $1.26 billion contract to Sikorsky Aircraft and Lockheed Martin to build a new fleet of Marine One helicopters that are used to transport the U.S. President.
Marillyn Hewson, chairman, president, and CEO of Lockheed Martin, made her comment during a July 20 webcast announcing the pending acquisition and the company’s second-quarter earnings.
The defense contractor has agreed to acquire Sikorsky for $9 billion.
That price is “effectively reduced” to about $7.1 billion after taking into account tax benefits resulting from the transaction, the defense contractor said in a news release issued that same morning.
Sikorsky, which specializes in the design, manufacture, and service of military and commercial helicopters, is a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX), the parent company of Carrier Corp., which has operations in DeWitt.
Sikorsky is a “natural fit” for Lockheed Martin, Hewson contends.
“It complements our broad portfolio of world-class aerospace and defense products and technology. This action will enable us to extend our core business into the $30 billion annual military and commercial rotary-wing segment,” Hewson said in her remarks.
She noted that Sikorsky has familiar customers, referring to it as among “the important strategic benefits of this acquisition.”
“This familiarity will assist the integration process through utilization of similar knowledge and interaction with common customers. They’re also extraordinarily well positioned with an established brand and a robust backlog of future work,” said Hewson.
In addition, Lockheed also expects Sikorsky’s “strong” after-market business to provide a “long-term” source of earnings for the corporation, Hewson added in her webcast remarks.
The acquisition is subject to customary conditions, including securing regulatory approvals. Lockheed expects the acquisition will close by the end of the year or early in the first quarter of 2016.
The transaction will have “no impact” on the company’s previously stated “commitments” to return cash to shareholders through dividends and to reduce its outstanding share count to below 300 million shares by the end of 2017, the company said.
Aligning Sikorsky
Lockheed Martin plans to align Stratford, Connecticut–based Sikorsky under its mission systems and training (MST) business segment.
The MST unit has operations in both Salina in Onondaga County and Owego in Tioga County.
Lockheed and Sikorsky currently partner on a “number” of programs, including the VH-92 Presidential helicopter, combat-rescue helicopter, and the naval MH-60 helicopter, Lockheed said.
Sikorsky has 15,000 employees and operates in 20 countries with products used in more than 40 countries, according to a Lockheed Martin online slide presentation.
Lockheed Martin employs about 112,000 people worldwide, including a combined 4,200 people between its plants in Salina and Owego. The corporation’s net sales for 2014 were $45.6 billion, according to its news release on the Sikorsky acquisition.
Sikorsky expects to generate revenue of $6.5 billion in 2015 with its revenue composition split equally between domestic and international customers.
“With approximately 50 percent of [its] annual revenue derived from international customers, [Sikorsky] will aid us in moving forward on our goal to expand international revenues,” Hewson said in her webcast remarks.
About 75 percent of its customers are from the military and 25 percent come from the commercial sector, according to the Lockheed slide presentation.
Earnings, review announcement
Lockheed Martin made its announcements as the firm shared its second-quarter financial results.
The defense contractor reported net earnings of $929 million, or $2.94 a share, during the second quarter on net sales of $11.6 million, Lockheed said in a separate news release issued July 20.
Besides the Sikorsky acquisition, Lockheed Martin announced it will conduct a “strategic” review of alternatives for its government information-technology and technical-services businesses.
The review will focus “primarily” on the information systems and global solutions business segment and a portion of the missiles and fire-control unit.
“The strategic review will address the changing market dynamics affecting these businesses and will help us determine how to best position them for future growth and is expected to result in the spinoff or sale of the businesses,” said Hewson.
The programs represent roughly $6 billion in estimated 2015 annual sales and more than 17,000 employees, the firm said.
New Skaneateles bar looks to serve both craft beer drinkers and brewers
SKANEATELES — Finger Lakes on Tap, a new bar preparing to open at 35 Fennell St. in Skaneateles, is expected to prominently feature beers made by the state’s growing farm-brewer population. Owner Thomas Ierardi says Finger Lakes on Tap will have 51 taps for beers produced in the state, and another nine taps for
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SKANEATELES — Finger Lakes on Tap, a new bar preparing to open at 35 Fennell St. in Skaneateles, is expected to prominently feature beers made by the state’s growing farm-brewer population.
Owner Thomas Ierardi says Finger Lakes on Tap will have 51 taps for beers produced in the state, and another nine taps for craft beers from out of state. He expects at least half of the 51 New York taps will be devoted to farm brewers, although the lineup is not finalized.
Farm brewing began after state legislation was enacted in 2013 to foster growth in the state’s craft beer industry. The legislation allows aspiring brewers to attain a “Farm Brewers” license, which requires, through 2017, that 20 percent of the hops and other ingredients be grown or produced in New York, according to a news release from Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office.
Those percentages increase to 60 percent in 2018, and 90 percent in 2024. Farm brewers are not required to have an additional license to serve their beer in a glass.
Since the inception of the farm-brewing legislation on Jan. 1, 2013, 89 farm breweries have opened up as of July 1, 2015, according to data from the governor’s office.
“I started talking to some of the farm brewers last summer, just to get an idea of some of the challenges they were facing,” Ierardi says. One of the limitations he noticed is the small radius of distribution for most brewers.
“What I really thought is they needed some kind of showcase to show people what is going on here.”
He began looking for a space to set up his bar in January 2015. He wanted it to be in Skaneateles, where he lives.
Ierardi attained a three-year lease for the space at 35 Fennell St. — the former location of Creekside Books & Coffee — as well as an option for a five-year extension, he says.
The bar, which does not have an opening date yet, is about 1,750 square feet in size. The first floor is about 1,350 square feet, while a mezzanine comprises the other 400 square feet, according to Ierardi. He plans to have a seating capacity of 60 to 65.
The project cost is about $200,000, says Ierardi, about 75 percent of which will be covered through financing from M&T Bank. The rest will come from his personal assets.
Work is still being done on the interior to prepare it for opening. The beer lines were installed on July 20, he says, and the bar top, comprised of two, 12-foot slabs of black walnut, has yet to be installed. Ierardi says no one is allowed to see the bar top until it is finished, including him.
A representative from the state Department of Health is scheduled to inspect the facility the last week of July, says Ierardi, and he is still waiting to receive his license from the state for on-site alcohol consumption. He has no timeline for when that will arrive, or when the bar will open.
“It’s like a bunch of dominoes, and one thing has to happen before everything else, and if one domino is missing, everything else stops,” Ierardi told CNYBJ.
He originally anticipated having three or four employees, but he says feedback he has received indicates he may end up needing five or six. Ierardi will be the manager.
While beer is the focus of the bar, Ierardi says turkey and roast beef sandwiches, and a cheese plate, will be available food options, as well as an occasional soup.
The bar is intended to be a place for conversation, with only one TV inside. The main bar is set off from the nearest wall, according to Ierardi, and will have no beer taps visible. Two back-bars can be found against a wall behind the main bar. Each will have 30 taps. No bottled or canned beers will be sold, nor any Budweiser, Coors or Miller beers, says Ierardi.
A mix of seating options will be available, including several sectionals located on the main floor and on the mezzanine, and stools.
Some work to the building was needed, but the structure was in good shape, he says. The work consisted mainly of painting, various touch-ups, and some plumbing and electrical work. Much of the work was handled by friends and family, with some help from the building’s owners, according to Ierardi. He says he has operated as the general contractor.
Beer prices will be in the $5 to $6 range for 12-16 oz. beers. Ierardi says he is pricing the beers based on the alcohol-by-volume content in the kegs, even though some lower-alcohol beers are more expensive to produce than some higher-alcohol varieties.
“The system is not perfect,” he says. “But it doesn’t make sense to me to make one beer much more expensive based on the brewer or based on my cost.”
Patrons will also be able to order beer flights, which consist of several small glasses, each with a different beer to sample.
Ierardi says he doesn’t have any target revenue numbers yet, although people have given him projections. “To me, those are numbers on a spreadsheet, and until I see faces in the door, people in the seats, and beers in their hands, that’s all they are is numbers,” he says.
Featuring farm-brewed beer is a double-edged sword, says Ierardi. While it allows him to offer some unique, locally sourced beers, it also means that many varieties will be around for only a few months. Patrons may find a brew they love, and in six months, it will be gone forever.
Ierardi has been interested in opening his own bar for more than 20 years, ever since he first started home brewing, he says. That idea was shelved when he received a promotion at his then-job.
This is Ierardi’s second business venture. His first was a kayak importer and distributor, also based in Skaneateles, called Tomandglo Ltd. He operated that throughout the 2000s as a side project to his main job — working as director of information technology for a contract research organization in the pharmaceutical field, he says.
MVCC recruiting for mechatronics certificate program
UTICA — Mohawk Valley Community College (MVCC) is accepting students for its new mechatronics certificate program. The one-year program provides additional “specialized” skills for “high-tech, high-skilled” careers in advanced-manufacturing fields, such as nanotechnology. The school’s fall semester begins Aug. 26, MVCC said in a July 13 news release. Mechatronics refers to both the
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UTICA — Mohawk Valley Community College (MVCC) is accepting students for its new mechatronics certificate program.
The one-year program provides additional “specialized” skills for “high-tech, high-skilled” careers in advanced-manufacturing fields, such as nanotechnology.
The school’s fall semester begins Aug. 26, MVCC said in a July 13 news release.
Mechatronics refers to both the software and code and the hardware on the line in an advanced-manufacturing facility, says Matthew Snyder, executive director of marketing and communications at MVCC.
“Mechatronics is about how to program that robot arm and all the related types of equipment that exist on advanced-manufacturing line,” says Snyder.
He spoke with CNYBJ on July 20.
MVCC designed the program for someone who doesn’t know anything about advanced manufacturing, says Snyder. It targets both traditional and non-traditional students
“We anticipate recruiting students graduating [from] high school. We anticipate recruiting displaced workers, or people who are employed but are looking to change careers,” says Snyder.
The school also anticipates interest among current MVCC students, he adds.
“It’s so directly connected to the growth industry of nanotechnology … We have a lot of prospective students coming to us asking how can [they] get employment ready in nanotech[nology] and this is a direct answer to that question,” says Snyder.
The student spends a year in the program, and, if academically successful, will have the skills needed to pursue jobs in advanced manufacturing, says Snyder.
The mechatronics program will prepare students to work in the operation, installation, and maintenance of automated and robotically controlled systems.
Graduates will be qualified for “immediate,” entry-level employment and can pursue careers in advanced manufacturing as machinists, tool operators, and nanotechnology support, MVCC contends.
MVCC designed the one-year program to “complement” its existing electrical-service technician associate-degree program, the school said.
Students can transfer the credits to the electrical-service technician — electrical-maintenance associate in occupational studies degree, if students decide to pursue that path.
The mechatronics certificate will also help prepare students who want to pursue industry-recognized certifications, the college said.
“Manufacturing as we know it is being transformed by new technology,” Randall VanWagoner, MVCC president, said in the school’s news release. “MVCC designed this program to respond to the Mohawk Valley’s need for a more robust, updated skill set in conjunction with the statewide initiative to provide programs
featuring hands-on learning for high-tech industry, training workers how to operate the new technology that can help our community and economy thrive.”
Tuition, program costs
Annual tuition for the certificate program is $3,960, says Snyder, noting that students can apply for federal student aid and scholarships to help in paying the tuition cost.
MVCC is launching the certificate program with funding from the U.S. Department of Labor through a Trade Act Adjustment and Community College Career Training grant awarded to SUNY, the school said.
The $640,000 grant covered the costs of curriculum development and the development of two labs at the MVCC’s Utica campus, says Snyder.
The school also created an instructional position for teaching mechatronics courses.
MVCC also worked with the Manufacturers Association of Central New York while organizing the certificate program, “so it directly addresses the needs of local employers,” says Snyder.
Applications are available in the student-services offices in Payne Hall at the Utica campus, the Plumley Complex at the Rome campus, or online at www.mvcc.edu/application.
Mohawk Valley Community College, the first community college in New York, has focused on manufacturing and technology education since 1946, according to Snyder.
CNY Community Foundation continues nonprofit executive-development program
SYRACUSE — The Central New York Community Foundation is preparing for a second session of the Marsellus executive-development program for executive directors of nonprofit organizations in Onondaga and Madison counties. The Marsellus program offers nonprofit leaders a chance to “brush up” on their leadership and work-performance skills, the Community Foundation said in a news
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SYRACUSE — The Central New York Community Foundation is preparing for a second session of the Marsellus executive-development program for executive directors of nonprofit organizations in Onondaga and Madison counties.
The Marsellus program offers nonprofit leaders a chance to “brush up” on their leadership and work-performance skills, the Community Foundation said in a news release issued July 14.
The program started in 2014 and the first class finished this past spring, says John Eberle, vice president of grants and community initiatives at the Community Foundation.
“It’s very focused on the job, the role of being the executive director,” he says of the program.
Eberle spoke with CNYBJ on July 17.
The Community Foundation and Syracuse–based The Leading Element, a third-party consultant, designed the six-month initiative to help nonprofit executives “who are ready to achieve maximum impact in their organizations.”
The program focuses on four main “strategies” to assist the leaders in “feeling more energized,” according to the release.
They include a 360-degree assessment of each individual’s strengths and opportunities for growth.
“Here’s my strengths. Here’s my weaknesses … gives you a snapshot of some things that you might want to consider working on,” says Eberle in describing what the assessment seeks to accomplish.
The strategies also include 90 minutes of individual coaching sessions per month, consultant-led peer learning sessions that run three hours per month, and group-led peer meetings that also take three hours per month.
The program accepted all eight applicants who expressed interest for the 2014 pilot program.
For the upcoming session, the foundation will limit the involvement to 10 or 12 participants, says Eberle.
The program is free of charge for participants. The Community Foundation spends $16,000 to offer it, Katrina Crocker, the foundation’s director of communications,
said in response to a follow-up email from CNYBJ.
The program requires participants to provide a time investment of about 8-10 hours per month. Sessions will run from September through March.
The Leading Element conducts the program at “multiple” sites, says Eberle.
Program origin
The Community Foundation has offered the Marsellus sabbatical “for many years,” a four-week sabbatical for nonprofit executives.
“That was really beneficial for … leaders to get away, get some education, get recharged,” says Eberle.
In the years during and after the recession, local nonprofit leaders started indicating they didn’t feel comfortable leaving their organizations for a full month for a sabbatical.
So, the Community Foundation started pondering other ideas to address the needs for nonprofit leadership, he says.
“Times are really tough. I can’t leave, but I need support,” says Eberle, paraphrasing the concerns from leaders’ feedback.
Nonprofit executives wanted guidance on just-in-time training and peer support, he notes.
Eberle in 2013 started working with The Leading Element to organize the executive-development program.
The Community Foundation had worked with The Leading Element on “a few other projects,” he adds.
The executive-development program is named for the Marsellus family of Central New York, a donor to the Community Foundation. The family once operated the Marsellus Casket Company in Syracuse, says Eberle.
A member of the family, John Marsellus, is also donates to the Community Foundation and nonprofits in the Syracuse area.
“He is also actively involved in the leadership-development program, so we wanted to honor him for his ongoing commitment,” he says.
Community Foundation is the key sponsor and hired the Leading Element to operate the program. Foundation staff members don’t participate in the sessions,
citing its sensitivity to its relationship to nonprofits as a “funder.”
“Some of the executive directors might not feel as free to share some of the things they’re working on if a funder was in the room,” says Eberle.
Work begins on UHS Comprehensive Orthopedic Center
VESTAL — Construction-site work on the planned $30 million UHS Comprehensive Orthopedic Center is underway at 4433 State Route 434 (the Vestal Parkway East) in Vestal. Crews started the demolition work on the site of the former Van Atta car dealership about five weeks ago, says Danielle Donlin, UHS program director for musculoskeletal
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VESTAL — Construction-site work on the planned $30 million UHS Comprehensive Orthopedic Center is underway at 4433 State Route 434 (the Vestal Parkway East) in Vestal.
Crews started the demolition work on the site of the former Van Atta car dealership about five weeks ago, says Danielle Donlin, UHS program director for musculoskeletal services.
She spoke to CNYBJ on July 17.
UHS expects the 68,000-square-foot Comprehensive Orthopedic Center, which crews will build adjacent to UHS Vestal, to open in late 2016, the organization said in a news release issued June 24.
Regional, technological, and industry trends are driving the need for such a facility in the area.
“Our region’s aging population, coupled with technologic[al] advancements and minimally invasive surgical techniques, results in a growing need for orthopedic and similar services in the Southern Tier,” Matthew Salanger, president and CEO of UHS, said in the release.
Binghamton–based UHS, which is short for United Health Services, is the third largest health system in Central New York, according to the 2015 Book of Lists.
The New York State Department of Health found UHS’ evidence of public need for the new orthopedic center “compelling” and “quickly” approved its certificate of need, or application, necessary to launch the project, according to the release.
“It’s a fairly large process. It probably had to do with the market and the growth of our current practices and how there’s no more room for expansion and it’s on-site,” says Donlin.
The Town of Vestal approved the project at its March planning-committee meeting.
About the center
The UHS Comprehensive Orthopedic Center will house UHS’ medical programs in orthopedics, podiatry, chiropractic, rheumatology, and physical therapy, according to the UHS news release.
Each of those services will relocate from another UHS site to make the new location its home.
UHS said it has designed the new facility to accommodate “significant” growth and to allow for the recruitment of additional health-care providers.
The new building will also house the Binghamton area’s largest sports-medicine practice, UHS said. It will feature areas for post-surgical strength conditioning and a concussion program specifically related to sports injuries.
The new orthopedic center will employ more than 125 people, including providers and staff, and will create at least 15 new jobs once it opens, UHS said.
It expects the facility to record 125,000 outpatient visits per year.
UHS is designing and building the Comprehensive Orthopedic Center to “complement” its Vestal complex next door, creating an outpatient campus that hosts a number of UHS medical programs at one, “centralized” location, the organization said.
Architecturally, the new building will be a “companion” to the UHS Vestal structure. Chianis + Anderson Architects, PLLC designed the Comprehensive Orthopedic Center, while LeChase Construction is the contractor on the project, says Donlin.
UHS is a locally owned, nonprofit, 916-bed hospital and health-care system serving Greater Binghamton and surrounding counties.
Founded in 1981, UHS provides medical, surgical, rehabilitative, and long-term care services from more than 60 locations around New York’s Southern Tier.
Utica College rides the cybersecurity wave
UTICA — Premera, Anthem Health, SONY, Staples, Home Depot, JPMorgan Chase, Michaels, Target, the Pentagon, Westinghouse Electric, U.S. Steel, the United Steelworkers union, and Community Health Systems. What do these organizations have in common? It turns out that the above entities have all suffered a security breach of their computer systems, with hackers enjoying
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UTICA — Premera, Anthem Health, SONY, Staples, Home Depot, JPMorgan Chase, Michaels, Target, the Pentagon, Westinghouse Electric, U.S. Steel, the United Steelworkers union, and Community Health Systems. What do these organizations have in common?
It turns out that the above entities have all suffered a security breach of their computer systems, with hackers enjoying access to hundreds of millions of sensitive, private records. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ website states that since September 2009, the health-care industry alone has recorded “133.2 million breach victims.” (The website lists only health-data breaches affecting 500 or more individuals.) Usually, the offenders are intent upon committing economic crime, but an increasing number are focusing on penetrating national security.
“Today, cybersecurity is involved in most economic crimes,” says Raymond L. Philo, a professor of practice in criminal justice at Utica College and the executive director of the college’s Economic Crime and Cybersecurity Institute (ECCI). “Both the public and private sectors are starting to realize just how big the problem is.”
In a research report issued in October 2014, the Ponemon Institute — a Michigan–based research firm focused on privacy, data protection, and information-security policy — quantified the economic impact of cyber attacks conducted via the Internet. (The report dealt only with those costs associated with detecting, investigating, managing incident responses, business disruption, and loss of customers. Costs associated with maintaining a security posture or compliance were excluded from the study.) Ponemon estimated cybercrime cost the U.S. $12.69 billion last year, an average increase of 9.3 percent over the previous year. All industries fall victim to cybercrime, but energy and utilities, defense, and financial services experience the highest costs. Information theft represents the largest external cost followed by the costs associated with business disruption. The mean number of days to resolve or contain cyber attacks is 45, at an average cost of $35,647 per day, a 33 percent cost increase over last year. Cybercrime detection and recovery costs represent about half of all costs associated with a breach, highlighting a significant cost-reduction opportunity for government and business.
ECCI
Utica College is focused on the opportunity. “The growing trend of cybercrime is drawing attention to economic-crime issues,” says Philo, “and consequently leading corporate, government, and law-enforcement organizations to the Institute. ECCI was established back in 1988 as the Economic Crime Institute (ECI), in a world then dominated by mainframe and mini-computers; personal computers were still new and far from … [ubiquitous]. Our role was to serve as a think-tank that supports leading-edge thinking on economic-crime issues faced by business, government, and enforcement agencies and that offers educational programs, policy guidance, research, and solutions. In short, we were and continue to be a forum for the exchange of ideas, innovative solutions, and technology that manages the risk of economic crime and serves as a resource for investigation and prevention of cybercrime.
ECCI also supports the college faculty in the development of academic programs to foster the next generation of leaders in this field. We added ‘cybersecurity’ to our name in 2013 to reflect the growing awareness of cybercrime. This change came from a recommendation of our board of advisers, a group of approximately 30 practitioners who help to guide the Institution.”
NCFC
Complementing ECCI’s role as a think-tank is the Northeast Cybersecurity and Forensics Center (NCFC). Located on the Utica College campus in the same building as ECCI, NCFC operates two laboratories — one that focuses on forensics and the other on cybersecurity.
“We are a partnership of academic, government, and private-sector resources,” says Anthony Martino, NCFC director and an adjunct instructor at Utica College, “that provides digital-forensic services as well as the operation of a state-of-the-art computer-crime laboratory. The forensics lab has long been a resource to law-enforcement agencies, including all agencies in Oneida County, the FBI, Homeland Security, the Secret Service, and other state and local agencies.”
On the cybersecurity side, “… we are now processing more work for the private than the public sector. The rise in data breaches has been the impetus for corporations to use our vulnerability assessments where we test-penetrate a company’s computer-security system. With the rise of mobile banking, financial services is becoming a major area of concentration followed by manufacturing, insurance, small business, and health care,” Martino says. “Also, many of our private-sector clients are coming to us because growing cybersecurity regulations demand strict compliance. Our clients are not usually technical people, so they come to the center for help. For example, ECCI is currently working with a financial-services firm to develop policy and procedures to be in compliance with mounting regulation. Our responsibility is not only to develop the plan but also to train the company’s staff.”
NCFC grew from an alliance between Utica College and the Utica Police Department. “The college provided the lab space on campus and the police department ran the operation,” recalls Martino, a 20-year veteran of the police department. “When I retired from the Utica Police Department, Utica College took over the responsibility for the crime lab (June 2013), which today… [boasts] an outstanding skill set. NCFC has built a reputation for expertise and quick turnaround times, all based on a proven track record. On the forensic side, we are working more with law firms and individuals in litigation support and in internal investigations. There is a growing demand for digital forensics, and fortunately I have half-a-dozen, full-time [Utica College] faculty plus adjuncts and students to support the center.”
Martino has ambitious plans for NCFC. “The demand from companies has pushed us to create a new program called ‘Cybersecurity for Managers,’ ” he says. “This September, we will kick off a three-day boot camp here on campus to teach managers how to talk the talk with employees and regulators. The boot camp is designed to give them a working knowledge of and solutions for cyber threats. The session will provide hands-on, practical course work and is limited to 25 registrants. If the demand is there, we will schedule additional sessions later in the year.”
Small-business incubator
While the boot camp is on Martino’s front burner, he is also turning his attention to another idea, one that has been simmering for a long time. “I want to create a small-business incubator for students with entrepreneurial interests. I would make it part of the academic programs here at the college for those who would like to start a business. [Utica College] has a large body of alumni who could help mentor the students in business areas and a number of alumni from the School of Economic Crime and Justice Studies who bring cybersecurity experience. The college also has a large faculty to act as mentors. I would like to see this project launched next year.” Martino is already thinking about potential sites for the incubator.
Students in the Economic Crime, Justice Studies, and Cybersecurity program at Utica College get hands-on experience both at ECCI and NCFC. “We work with undergraduate and graduate students,” affirms Philo. “The idea is to encourage student engagement and provide real-world experience.” Martino echoes the sentiment. “NCFC encourages 15-week internships, typically for seniors.” He cites the following example. “Some of the students at the center are currently engaged in a research project for the Air Force Research Laboratory, testing the security of desktop computers. There is no doubt that this practical work makes our students more marketable.” In an interview last September with this reporter and James Norrie, dean of the School of Business and Justice Studies, the dean pointed out that 93 percent of the school’s recent graduates found jobs and the other 7 percent went on to graduate school. The industry currently has a 1 percent unemployment rate nationally.
Philo also points to the recent college valedictorian as another example of student marketability. Jared Platt, who majored in economic crime and who carried a 4.0 GPA, was a student researcher and volunteered in the Oneida Country District Attorney’s office. He attended a mock interview on campus with a member of ECCI’s board of advisors, Matthew Quinn, who is a cybersecurity officer at the Boston office of Santander Bank, N.A. (The Santander Group, headquartered in Spain, has 190,000 employees in Europe and the Americas, 14,500 branches, and 102 million customers.) The mock interview became a real interview, and Platt was hired on the spot for a position as a financial analyst. “That’s how good our students are,” exclaims Philo.
Both Philo and Martino bring strong credentials to their director positions. Prior to joining Utica College, Philo was a law-enforcement administrator, retiring as the chief of police of the New Hartford Police Department. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Utica College and earned a master’s degree in public administration from Marist College in Poughkeepsie. A faculty member at Utica College since 2001, he also serves as director of research for the college’s department of Economic Crime, Justice Studies, and Cybersecurity. Philo is currently a consultant with the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, a member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and a director of the Griffiss Institute.
Martino earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from SUNY Geneseo in 1992 and a master’s degree in economic-crime management from Utica College in 2004. In his two-decade career at the Utica Police Department, he supervised four units and conducted 100 digital forensic examinations a year. His professional experience also includes work with the U.S. Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security. Martino has headed NCFC since 2013.
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