DeWITT — Recruitment will begin in June for the first pre-apprenticeship training program in the Manufacturing Careers Partnership.

CenterState CEO’s Work Train program describes it as a “new workforce-development initiative.”

The organization announced the Manufacturing Careers Partnership at Darco Manufacturing at 6756 Thompson Road in DeWitt and in a news release issued April 30.

The program will provide training for unemployed and underemployed area residents and link them to entry-level employment in the manufacturing industry.

The Manufacturing Careers Partnership anticipates working with 40 to 60 people through December and “will build capacity to train and advance 300 workers through 2017,” CenterState CEO said.

New York State Assemblyman Al Stirpe (D–Cicero) secured $1.2 million in state-grant funding for the initiative.

“People who go through this program are going to walk into a job as soon as they’re done, and that’s probably the best thing that I can say about the whole program,” Stirpe said in his remarks during the April 30 announcement.

The partnership seeks to “align a reemerging manufacturing sector in the region” with a pool of untapped talent in the region, according to CenterState CEO. 

“We’ve talked to employers across the Central New York community who all say they can’t hire enough workers quickly enough to keep up with the pace of growth,” Dominic Robinson, director of Work Train, said in his remarks at the announcement event.

The community has “countless” men and women who want to work but are “disconnected” from opportunity, he added. 

“I am confident that we will be good stewards of the resources that Assemblyman Stirpe has provided to us and that at the end of this process, we will have put a lot of good people to work and we will have supported a lot of really good companies in this region,” Robert Simpson, president and CEO of CenterState CEO, said in his comments at the event.

The program will initially target residents of Onondaga County to address workforce needs for entry-level workers at “traditional” manufacturers, CenterState CEO said.

After establishing the pre-apprenticeship program as a “strong foundation,” the partnership will develop subsequent programs and resources to address “higher-skilled positions over the long term,” with expanded programs to support workforce needs within the advanced-manufacturing industry, as described in the CenterState CEO release.

Manufacturing input

All programs that the partnership develops are “designed to employer specifications, based upon employer input.”

The program is “important to us” because it requires more than what people might think of as “traditional” training programs. Casey Crabill, president of Onondaga Community College, said in her remarks at the event. 

“We’re going to be building curriculum that’s based on the needs of employers, so we’ll know what skills have to be displayed by folks who are looking for work, at what level, under what time constraints, to what level of accuracy,” she said. 

SUNY’s Syracuse Educational Opportunity Center will serve as the host site of the pre-apprenticeship program, according to CenterState CEO.

The curriculum will also incorporate feedback from industry groups, such as the DeWitt–based Manufacturers Association of Central New York (MACNY) and the Salina–based Central New York Technology Development Organization (TDO). 

Randy Wolken, president of MACNY, said the program is “music to my ears.” The organization represents more than 300 companies that all seem to be focused on “one consistent theme,” according to Wolken.

“Will I find the workforce of today and tomorrow — because if I don’t, I may have to be in North Carolina or Mexico or China,” he said.

Darco Manufacturing, through its partnership with On Point for Jobs, has hired eight entry-level workers in the last eight months, Laura Miller, general manager of Darco Manufacturing, said.

Only one of the workers had experience working in a manufacturing setting, she added.

Miller credited programs like On Point for Jobs, which helps Darco when it gets “hit by orders, as things slam us.”

“I’m able to say … bring those people in, let’s talk to them and that’s when it happens. Then, we figure it out later, we sort it out,” said Miller. That’s why Darco supports the new Manufacturing Careers Partnership.

On Point for Jobs is part of the nonprofit On Point for College, which operates an office at 1654 W. Onondaga St. in the Catholic Charities building. 

“It takes a community-wide approach. It takes a systemic approach. And that’s what this … is all about,” Robinson said.

Work Train, a collaborative that CenterState CEO leads and administers, is spearheading the Manufacturing Careers Partnership. Local foundations and local and state-government funding help pay for the Work Train collaborative, CenterState CEO said.

Work Train says it brings together partners to develop workforce programs that meet the needs of area employers and unemployed and underemployed workers. 

Work Train seeks to connect community members to jobs that “show persistent and robust demand for workers” and “opportunities for career advancement,” according to the release.

Work Train’s model builds on CenterState CEO’s pilot programs, Green Train and Health Train.        

DeWITT — Two-thirds (67 percent) of New York independent-insurance agencies grew their revenue in 2013 compared to 2012, with the average revenue growth at 14 percent.

By comparison, 70 percent of independent agencies nationwide grew their revenue in the same time period, with an average revenue growth of 20 percent.

That’s according to an analysis of New York agencies that participated in the 2014 Agency Universe Study. 

Future One sponsored the survey. Future One is a collaboration involving the Alexandria, Virginia–based Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, Inc. (IIABA) and other insurance companies that do business through the independent-agency system, according to the IIABA website. 

The DeWitt–based Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of New York, Inc. (IIABNY) released the New York analysis on April 23.

IIABNY is a trade association that represents independent-insurance agents throughout New York. 

Future One conducts the survey to sample the views of independent agents nationwide and to see how the industry is performing nationally.

“It is the definitive study relative to the number of independent insurance agencies in the [U.S.] and the profile of those agencies,” says Richard (Dick) Poppa, president and CEO of IIABNY. 

Poppa spoke with CNYBJ on May 4.

The 2014 Agency Universe Study found New York insurance agencies “achieved greater revenue even while facing a difficult economy,” according to the IIABNY news release.

They reported revenue growth “despite the lingering effects of the 2007–09 recession and an economy that has lagged the rest of the country in recovery, particularly in the upstate counties.” 

Agencies can grow their revenue in two ways, says Poppa. 

“One is through new client acquisition and then the second is … the clients themselves having growth in their businesses,” he explains.

As a business of any kind grows, Poppa says, its insurance needs increase. For example, if a company adds more employees, it will to need more workers’-compensation insurance and perhaps more health insurance.

“For us, it’s a very positive reflection on the productivity of independent-insurance agencies, the resilience of independent-insurance agencies,” says Poppa.

The New York analysis also found that the state’s agencies are “fixtures” in their communities. 

The study found 55 percent of New York agencies have been in business at least 45 years. One-fifth of them started business before World War II. 

In the rest of the country, 30 percent are 45 years or older and only 13 percent pre-date the war, according to the IIABNY news release.

The analysis also found that New York independent agents like to work with New York–based insurers. 

Compared with their peers outside the state, the percentage of New York agencies representing large national companies, such as Progressive, Travelers, and 

The Hartford, is “substantially less,” according to the IIABNY news release. 

Large percentages of New York agencies represent local insurers such as Utica National Insurance Group, Buffalo–based Merchants Insurance Group, Dryden Mutual Insurance Company, and Edmeston, New York–based NYCM Insurance, the trade association said.

New York data

IIABNY last June asked IIABA, the national organization, and Zeldis Research Associates, a Pennington, New Jersey–based research firm, if they would extract 

data specific to New York state agents and compare it to the national study.

The information that IIABNY released was based upon a New York sample pulled from the overall national Agency Universe Study, says Poppa. 

Zeldis started its work with the online survey in the fall of last year and finished gathering data early in 2015, he says. 

In order to provide as “rich” data on New York agents and brokers as possible, the IIABNY communicated to its membership the importance of responding to the 

2014 Agency Universe Study.

“We wanted to make sure that we got enough responses that it was going to be statistically valid,” says Poppa. 

Nearly 280 agents responded, compared to the 111 responses to the 2012 study, the IIABNY said. The organization didn’t take “special steps” to encourage responses to the 2012 study, it added.

Researchers have conducted the survey once every two years over the past decade, Poppa believes. 

Study participants included 22 agencies from New York City, 114 from Long Island, 35 from downstate, and 108 from upstate counties, according to the study.             

SYRACUSE — CH Insurance Brokerage, Inc. of Syracuse is partnering with Long Island–based Kreative Health Solutions, Inc. to include its health and wellness program in its employee-benefit offerings.

The program includes the Kreative Care Network, which Kreative describes as an “educational hub for anything you ever wanted to know about health.”

It’s an online health-education platform “that integrates into the job without disturbing your work flow,” according to a YouTube video about the Kreative Care Network.

The program is “customized to the needs” of a customer’s “living and working environment,” according to an April 14 CH Insurance email about the partnership. 

CH said that it’s making the service available to its clients “at no cost.” It is offering the service to its customer “prospects” as well, says Joseph (Joe) Convertino, Jr., president and co-owner of CH Insurance.

Convertino, along with Steffen Rowe, CEO of Kreative Health Solutions, and Jarod Cervoni, Kreative’s chief director of new business development, spoke with CNYBJ at the CH Insurance office on May 4.

“I think it’s a good retention piece [for] our clients because I think they’re doing this without us knowing it,” says Convertino, noting they could be conducting online research on the topic.

The two organizations started discussions because David Wicker, a CH Insurance account executive, knows Jarod Cervoni. 

CH Insurance started discussions with Kreative Health Solutions in late 2014 and finalized the deal on April 1, Convertino says.

“It’s very easy to access them and give our clients and their employees access to their product,” says Convertino.

CH Insurance implemented the program after Easter, says Convertino. 

CH Insurance is paying Kreative Health Solutions to provide the health and wellness service, but Convertino declined to disclose the cost.

The firm is using its own assets to cover the cost, he noted.

“When you have a healthy and energetic workforce, I think it helps overall in the company with … morale, with workers’ compensation … and [cheaper] health-insurance premiums,” says Convertino.

“The biggest challenge wellness programs have is that people don’t use them,” says Rowe. “We negotiated terms so that we would have limited curriculum to offer them.”

Kreative set up five classes that CH Insurance felt were “most pertinent to their clients,” says Rowe.

The online classes focus on nutrition, weight loss, smoking cessation, high intensity interval training, and workplace ergonomics, a class described as a “must for anyone who spends the day sitting.” in

As of May 4, CH Insurance had five clients that have already taken advantage of the wellness program, says Convertino. 

About Kreative

Kreative Health Solutions is a corporate and community wellness company, says Rowe, the firm’s CEO.

“Essentially what we’re dedicated to doing is helping build more functional people both at work and at home and in their community,” says Rowe.

Rowe is a graduate of Binghamton University and a former member of the school’s wrestling team, according to company marketing materials provided to CNYBJ.

Rowe and Cervoni launched the company in May 2014, each having owned separate corporate-wellness businesses before Kreative Health Solutions.

Cervoni still operates Business Fit Solutions, which is headquartered in Binghamton, but it’s on the “back burner” as of now.

The company that Rowe previously owned, called Wishing Wellness, worked with doctors, so he has a “very expansive” network of doctors, he says.

Rowe lives on Long Island, and Cervoni lives in Liverpool. They hope to open a brick and mortar location in June, perhaps in DeWitt, but they haven’t made a final 

decision on the site.

Even without its agreement with CH Insurance, Kreative had been considering the possibility of a location in the Syracuse area.

“We like the geographic area of Syracuse, [which] allows us to hit all of Central New York,” says Cervoni. 

Kreative currently employs 15 full-time workers, along with about 100 contract employees, says Rowe.

The firm has plans to open two corporate-wellness centers, including one in Syracuse, and each will include obstacle courses inside. 

The centers could triple the number of full-time workers the company employs, says Rowe.       

SYRACUSE — Right now, there are 73 million Millennials in the United States between the ages of 18 and 34, according to the latest Census data. The Central New York Business Journal looked at a slice of this generation right here in Central New York.

Renee Downey Hart, a professor at the Madden School of Business at Le Moyne College, has conducted more than 25 years of research on generations. She says her research on Millennials is her most requested presentation.

Hart summarizes Millennials like this: “They want to learn. They want respect. They want technology that is up to speed. They want to be included. They want you to have a conversation with them about what’s happening and they want their ideas not to be judged as, ‘Oh that’s the 24 year old,’ but [as] ‘Oh that’s somebody that has technological capacity, and maybe I can learn from it.”

Hart’s research shows Millennials in the workplace thrive off feedback. She says it’s important for organizations to understand this is the way that Millennials prefer to work and respond to it.

“And I say to people, would it kill you when you have someone who is 25 years old who just finished a project, to wander into their office and say, ‘Hey, thank you for this. This is what went really well. Here’s some other feedback I would like to give you.’ They are hungry for that. And without that, they will leave you,” says Hart. 

Erica Muscetello, a 27-year-old marketing manager at Dermody Burke & Brown, CPAs, LLC in Syracuse, says her boss, Pennie Gorney, director of marketing, gives her what she needs to succeed.

“She is open to communication and we are always giving each other feedback on a daily basis. It’s not where you have your one annual review at the end of the year; it’s just constant feedback, constant learning. You know what you are doing wrong, what you are doing right,” says Muscatello.

Millennials want more opportunities than a typical 9 to 5 job. John Neri, a young professional at M&T Bank, exemplifies this.

 ”Success to me is being well balanced, right. So, I want to be able to have my Bruce Wayne job in the bank but my Batman job is DJ’ing. You know what I mean?,” he quips. 

“I like to have different elements of who I am,” says Neri, who is a business development officer for M&T in Central New York.

According to Hart’s research, learning to communicate with Millennials is important in maintaining the workforce. Millennials now make up one-third of all workers.

Employers need to make a connection with prospective employees from this generation starting at the job interview.

“If there’s anything to remember when a Millennial is sitting in front of you in an interview, it’s to appreciate that they’re tech savvy. They need feedback in real time … And, they want to be part of something that matters,” says Hart. “So, what is it that your organization does that matters, and share that with them in the interview. 

And see if you can get them to be on board. People are most successful when they’re passionate about what they’re doing. And, this is a passionate generation.”