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VESTAL — “From 2008 until 2011, [our] sales averaged in the $50 million [a year] range,” says Kenneth (Ken) Elliott, the CEO of Matco Electric Corporation, Inc. “In 2012, we experienced a 50 percent jump.” The company, formerly located in a 17,000-square-foot building on N. Jensen Road, moved its headquarters in April to a […]
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VESTAL — “From 2008 until 2011, [our] sales averaged in the $50 million [a year] range,” says Kenneth (Ken) Elliott, the CEO of Matco Electric Corporation, Inc. “In 2012, we experienced a 50 percent jump.”
The company, formerly located in a 17,000-square-foot building on N. Jensen Road, moved its headquarters in April to a 26,000-square-foot facility at 3913 Gates Road in Vestal to help facilitate its growth.
NBT Bank provided the financing to acquire and upgrade the building. Matco also has offices in Ithaca, Elmira, and Albany, and does a lot of work in the Syracuse area. Matco, which currently employs 320, is a full-service electrical contracting company providing electrical and technology services, including high-voltage, fire-alarm, power, lighting, specialty low-voltage, and construction-management. The firm maintains a fleet of 90 vehicles to service its customers.
“Jim (James F.) Matthews started the company 48 years ago,” says Mark Freije, Matco’s president and a 50/50 stockholder with Elliott. (Elliott and Freije are currently buying all outstanding shares held by former Matco president Ronald Barber.) “[Matthews] was a real entrepreneur, who also ventured into auto dealerships, electronics manufacturing, entertainment, insurance, and real estate. Jim was an enthusiastic hockey fan (and former player), who brought the first professional hockey team — The Broome Dusters — to Binghamton.” (Matthews died in 2011 at age 77.)
Matthews sold Matco Electric in 1999 to Celebrity Partners, of which American Capital Strategies, Ltd. (ACS), a publicly traded, private-equity firm, and global asset manager based in Bethesda, Md., was a minority owner.
“At that time, much of the U.S. construction industry experienced ‘roll-ups’ [in which] large manufacturing firms acquired smaller firms, such as Matco, and rolled them into one [entity],” says Elliott. “We were rolled up with Port City Electric (another firm Matthews had owned in Mooresville, N.C.) and Consolidated Electric (Norwood, Mass.) into an entity called StarCom Holdings. ACS bought out the other partners in 2003 and renamed the group Constar International. By 2007, the other two companies in the group were [underperforming], and American Capital closed them.
“In November 2007, ACS notified us that they may either shut down Matco or seek bankruptcy protection. Mark, I, and Ron (former president Ronald Barber) then asked Constar International (owned by ACS) to sell the company’s assets to local management. M&T Bank provided the financing, and we closed the deal on Dec. 26, 2007.” Matco is currently a sub-chapter S corporation, and the two principals also own a real-estate company — Gates Road Holdings, LLC — in which they share ownership equally.
Elliott and Freije invested in Matco just before the “Great Recession” paralyzed the economy. “Despite the scary economic times, we have a solid list of long-time customers,” says Elliott. “In health care, we do work for United Health Services, Lourdes Hospital, Bassett Healthcare, [SUNY] Upstate Medical [University], and Guthrie. In [higher] education, our customers include Cornell University, Ithaca College, Syracuse University, and the SUNY universities, plus a number of [primary and secondary] schools in the region. We also serve manufacturers such as Lockheed Martin, IBM, Universal Instruments, Raymond Corp., and BAE Systems. Matco did much of the electrical work on the Destiny project, and we service a number of retailers such as Dick’s [Clothing and Sporting Goods]; Best Buy; Sam’s Club; and Bed, Bath & Beyond.
“We focus most of our attention on the Southern Tier, northern Pennsylvania, Central New York, and the North Country,” says Freije. “Still, Matco follows its customers across the U.S., doing electrical work in [states such as] California, Georgia, Florida, New Jersey, and New England. Our work is 95 percent commercial with a small portion assigned to residential. About 60 percent of our work is government [based] and the [remainder] comes from the private sector.”
While enjoying the rapid sales growth of the company, Elliott and Freije are cautious in their projections for 2013. “Last year [generated] an unusual amount of growth,” says Elliott. “It was a strong year in part because of the late flooding in 2011. Mark and I thought [our growth] was an anomaly, so we lowered our projections. Sales [however] for the first six months of this year are well ahead of our projections.”
Part of Matco’s growth is coming from new services offered by the company. “The company offers TEGG Services, which we introduced seven or eight years ago,” says Freije, “and we have had good success with it. (TEGG is not an acronym; it’s a brand name.) TEGG is a preventive-maintenance program designed to protect commercial and industrial facilities from electrical failures, [electrical] fires, business interruption, and property damage. The results are guaranteed if a TEGG contractor certifies that an electrical component is in good working order: The component will be replaced free of charge.” Matco is part of an international network of independently owned, local contractors selected by TEGG to implement the program.
“TEGG utilizes high-tech [procedures] to keep equipment from blowing up,” continues Freije, “which includes infrared thermography, ultrasonic testing, voltage and ampere diagnostics, power-factor testing, power-quality analysis, and surge-protection analysis. These programs pay for themselves by preventing unplanned power outages and electrical fires. OSHA is pushing the program to mitigate accidents and deaths. We charge the customers an annual fee for the service, monitor their systems, and share our reports with the customers. The company is projecting continuing growth in this area.”
“Matco is also growing because of the expanding use of 3-D modeling, which we call BIM (building-integration modeling),” adds Elliott. “Traditional building design used to rely on two-dimensional drawings. BIM software lets us create a virtual-information model that starts with the design team, involves the contractor and sub-contractors, and then the owner/operator. Vital information isn’t lost; it’s retained through the operational life of the building and even its demolition … Today, our customers are demanding BIM. For example, we used BIM on Destiny, which was a paperless project.”
Elliott says that Matco’s sales are also rising because of the demand for LED lighting, the interest in solar services, and the meteoric growth of the gas-distribution industry demanding new compression stations and office facilities.
The company’s growth is steered by an executive team with Elliott as CEO and Freije as president. Other members include Kathy Towery, treasurer; Greg Smyder, senior project manager; Becky Johnson, human-resources manager; Devin Ashman, senior project manager; and Marty Lewis, senior project manager.
Elliott is originally a native of Massena, who attended Clarkson College of Technology (now Clarkson University). He graduated in 1983 with a degree in engineering management. Elliott joined Matco after college “even though the company offered me 40 percent less than my other offers,” he says. “Jim [Matthews] was a heck of a salesman. He convinced me there would be opportunities at Matco not offered at the competing companies. I worked in sales, estimating, project management, and even drove a truck, before becoming the general manager in 1993 and CEO in 2010.”
Elliott’s 30-year tenure with Matco is matched by Freije with 31 years. “After a year at Delhi [University], I started working at the company as an electrician’s apprentice,” says Freije … “My dad was an electrician … I joined IBEW 325 (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) and worked my way up to journeyman, foreman, supervisor, project manager, and became president [of Matco] in 2010.”
Matco’s success has also been helped by a number of regional firms. “We have worked closely with Kevin O’Hara at M&T Bank (Binghamton office) for our financing,” says Elliott. “Matco has also relied on Piaker & Lyons for its accounting. Our legal work is handled by John Dowd (John G. Dowd, Attorney), who acts as our general counsel and by Hinman Howard & Kattell, LLP, both located in Binghamton. Mang handles our insurance needs, and we depend on The Partners [Insurance & Financial Services Agency] to manage our employee benefits and consult on human resources.”
Elliott and Freije are optimistic about Matco’s future. “We have a well-trained staff with little turnover,” says Elliott. “Despite the fact that we have a number of competitors, our record of customer retention is excellent. We’re in a problem-solving business, and we need to listen to our customers and stay up with the technology. Today, every foreman has a laptop on the job, because everything is done electronically. Our focus is always on material- and labor-saving devices and procedures that improve our productivity; we make small improvements regularly.”
Contact Poltenson at npoltenson@cnybj.com
CNA returns to downtown Syracuse
SYRACUSE — The local unit of CNA (NYSE: CNA), a Chicago–based commercial-insurance provider, on Aug. 12 opened its new 26,000-square-foot office space in AXA Tower II at 120 Madison St. in downtown Syracuse. The move brought about 120 positions to downtown Syracuse, says Roy Orr, vice president for the east zone of commercial clients
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SYRACUSE — The local unit of CNA (NYSE: CNA), a Chicago–based commercial-insurance provider, on Aug. 12 opened its new 26,000-square-foot office space in AXA Tower II at 120 Madison St. in downtown Syracuse.
The move brought about 120 positions to downtown Syracuse, says Roy Orr, vice president for the east zone of commercial clients for CNA.
The move “is part of the CNA strategy to move closer to our customers and business partners,” Orr says.
“The AXA Towers provide the professional environment that aligns with our strategic vision,” he adds.
The firm now occupies the eighth and ninth floors of Tower II.
The move marks a return to downtown for the commercial-insurance provider.
Orr began with CNA when it previously operated in the iconic downtown office buildings when they had the name of Mutual of New York (MONY) in the early 1970s.
For the past five years, CNA had operated in a similar-size space at 443 Electronics Parkway in Salina, says Orr.
First Republic Corp. of America, headquartered in New York City, owns the building in which CNA previously operated, according to a firm spokesperson.
The firm worked with local broker to complete a market survey to determine the buildings that could accommodate its space requirements. CNA also sought a space that satisfied other criteria, such as proximity to agents, accessibility, parking, and other amenities, he added.
“There were several buildings that we looked at,” Orr says.
CNA did not disclose the name of the local broker involved.
CNA has signed a five-year lease for its new space with AmTrust Realty Corp., which owns the AXA Towers. CBD Companies serves as the property manager for the AXA Towers.
Crews had moved furniture during the preceding weekend, and local employees reported to the new location to begin the new week on Monday, Aug. 12, Orr says.
CNA employees are utilizing the Harrison Parking Garage, across the street, for parking, Orr says.
Orr, who is based in the local office, has oversight for all of the firm’s claim centers on the East coast.
The Syracuse office, which supports CNA’s agents and underwrites commercial policies across the entire upstate New York area,also serves as the claims-processing center for the Northeast, Orr says.
CNA Financial Corp. on July 29 announced it earned $194 million, or 72 cents per share, during the second quarter that ended June 30. The figures compare with the $166 million, or 62 cents per share, during the same time period a year ago.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
EPA awards grants targeting the water quality of Onondaga Lake
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded two grants totaling $260,000, aimed at improving the water quality in Onondaga Lake and its watershed. “These two grants … will really advance our work to address pollution in Onondaga Lake,” Judith Enck, administrator for EPA Region 2, said during an Aug. 8 conference call.
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded two grants totaling $260,000, aimed at improving the water quality in Onondaga Lake and its watershed.
“These two grants … will really advance our work to address pollution in Onondaga Lake,” Judith Enck, administrator for EPA Region 2, said during an Aug. 8 conference call.
EPA Region 2 includes New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, Enck said.
The federal agency awarded the Lowell, Mass.–based New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission (NEIWPCC) a $200,000 grant to hire an Onondaga Lake watershed coordinator for a two-year period.
The EPA also awarded the Onondaga Environmental Institute of Syracuse a $60,000 grant to train people to develop, build, install, and maintain controls on stormwater using sustainable infrastructure, the agency said.
Green infrastructure is an approach to water management that “protects, restores, or mimics” the natural-water cycle and “enhances” quality of life for communities, the EPA said in a news release.
Aimee Clinkhammer, NEIWPCC’s Onondaga Lake watershed coordinator, will work with community groups, businesses, local governments, and the Onondaga Nation to develop strategies for the restoration of the physical, chemical, and biological health of the Onondaga Lake watershed.
Clinkhammer started in the position during the week of Aug. 5, Enck said. Clinkhammer previously served as a project specialist in the Syracuse Center of Excellence (SyracuseCoE) Center for Sustainable Community Solutions, according to the SyracuseCoE website.
Clinkhammer will also initiate outreach efforts with groups to explain or promote restoration of, and access to, Onondaga Lake and other natural areas within the watershed.
In addition, Clinkhammer will work with local governments in assessing the impacts of proposed projects, land-use planning, and other local decisions on the integrity of Onondaga Lake, the EPA said.
Enck acknowledges the effort to clean up Onondaga Lake has had “progress,” but the body of water “really needs more attention.”
“But we know that more work needs to be done. And that’s why EPA decided to put some of our limited resources into having an EPA-funded coordinator focused just on this work,” Enck said.
The Onondaga Lake watershed covers 285 square miles and encompasses two counties, one city, 18 towns, six villages, and the Onondaga Nation territory, according to the website of the Onondaga Lake Partnership (OLP).
OLP provides “a framework for government agencies to cooperate as they restore and conserve water quality, natural resources, and recreational uses of the lake to the benefit of the public,” the organization said on its website.
The Onondaga Environmental Institute will use its EPA grant to sponsor two green-infrastructure training workshops for low-income, unemployed adults at the L&M Training Center at 232 W. Borden Ave. on Syracuse’s south side.
Participants will learn how to create and maintain green infrastructure, including rain gardens, bioretention basins, rain barrels, and green roofs.
In addition, the program will include training on life skills, job readiness, workplace safety, and exposure to a variety of “green” careers, according to the EPA.
This grant is part of the EPA’s National Urban Waters program, which supports communities in their efforts to access, improve, and benefit from their urban waters and the surrounding land, the agency said.
Meanwhile, a $1 billion cleanup project on Onondaga Lake continues. Morristown, N.J.–based Honeywell International has been a large part of the cleanup effort due to its 1999 acquisition of Allied Signal, which operated a location near Onondaga Lake. Work has included design and engineering, cleanup of upland industrial sites, the construction of a barrier wall to keep groundwater from entering the lake before it can be treated, dredging the bottom of the lake and removing tons of contaminated sediment, and capping the bottom.
The EPA, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation, and the state Department of Health are overseeing the project.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
NFIB: small-business optimism up ‘marginally’ in July
Small-business optimism “sighed” in July, with a monthly index that measures the optimism up 0.6 points for a reading of 94.1, according to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), which released the index Aug. 13. The optimism index rose “marginally,” the NFIB said on its website. The latest report continues the “historically
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Small-business optimism “sighed” in July, with a monthly index that measures the optimism up 0.6 points for a reading of 94.1, according to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), which released the index Aug. 13.
The optimism index rose “marginally,” the NFIB said on its website.
The latest report continues the “historically weak” trend of owner confidence, which has led some observers to suggest the NFIB should rename the monthly survey the “Small Business Pessimism Index,” the organization said in a news release.
The NFIB, headquartered in Nashville, Tenn., advocates for the nation’s small businesses.
The two labor-market indicators remained weak, but both improved and are beginning to push into “normal” territory, according to the NFIB.
July was “another slow month for jobs” among NFIB’s 350,000 business owners, with the average increase in employment coming in at a negative 0.11 workers per firm, the third consecutive negative monthly reading.
Owners have stopped reducing employment, but they have not resumed hiring, the NFIB notes.
In addition, about 20 percent of all owners reported job openings they could not fill in the current period, which is up 1 point, and “a good omen” for the unemployment rate, the NFIB said.
Another 15 percent indicated their use of temporary workers, which is up 3 points from June.
The NFIB notes the federal health-care reform law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, provides incentives to increase the use of temporary and part-time workers. It also notes an increase of 360,000 part-time jobs in June, along with a loss of 240,000 full-time jobs.
Job creation plans rose two points to a net 9 percent planning to increase total employment, “the best reading” since August 2012, according to the NFIB.
But, overall, the data doesn’t indicate a lot of “promise” for new job growth, the organization said.
Uncertainty about the future remains “endemic” among job creators, with only nine percent of respondents believing that now is a good time to expand their businesses, the NFIB said.
The small-business community registered the fourth-highest optimism reading since December 2007, when the economy slipped into official recession, William Dunkelberg, NFIB chief economist, said in the news release.
He called it “an attempt to ‘make lemonade’ from the lousy bushel of lemons the administration has handed” the small-business community.
The level is still “well below” the average reading of 100 in the prior 35 years and still half a point below the December 2007 reading, Dunkelberg cautioned.
“Unfortunately, nothing is being done to allay the most pressing concerns identified by job creators, [which include] dealing with rising health-insurance costs, regulations, tax complexity, energy costs and general-economic uncertainty. The President wants a deal on ‘corporate taxes,’ but most small businesses are not incorporated. Energy policy is more confused than ever and the volume of new regulations is mounting. Should I even mention the mounting problems with Obamacare? We are in the ‘tankeroo,’ not sinking, but trying to stay afloat,” Dunkelberg said in the news release.
Additional indicators
The net percentage of all owners reporting higher-nominal sales in the past three months improved a point, rising to a negative 7 percent compared to the prior three months. The net percentage of owners expecting higher real sales volumes rose 2 points, to 7 percent of all owners.
These expectations remain “depressed” and are not the kind that will generate a lot of new employment or new orders for inventories, the NFIB said.
Reports of positive-earnings trends improved one point in July to a negative 22 percent, restoring them to May’s numbers. The index found four percent of owners reduced worker wages and 19 percent said they raised compensation, yielding a seasonally adjusted net 14 percent that reported higher worker wages, which is unchanged.
A net 11 percent have plans to raise employee wages in the coming months, which is up five points, according to the NFIB.
Credit remains a “non-issue” for small employers, five percent of whom say they weren’t satisfy all their credit needs in July, which unchanged from June and May, and the lowest reading since February 2008. The index found about 30 percent of owners surveyed met all their credit needs, and 52 percent explicitly said they did not want a loan. Add in the respondents who didn’t answer the question, and the index found a total of 65 percent that are not interested in borrowing, according to the NFIB.
The net percentage of owners expecting better business conditions in six months was a net negative 6 percent, two points worse than June’s reading, the NFIB said.
The report is based on the responses of 1,615 randomly sampled small businesses in NFIB’s membership, surveyed throughout the month of July.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
Reflections from the PGA Championship
I was fortunate to see the world’s best golfers in action while attending the 2013 PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club in Pittsford Aug. 8-11 The major tournament was estimated to have produced a nearly $80 million economic impact on the greater Rochester region, according to the economic-development group, Greater Rochester Enterprise (GRE).
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I was fortunate to see the world’s best golfers in action while attending the 2013 PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club in Pittsford Aug. 8-11
The major tournament was estimated to have produced a nearly $80 million economic impact on the greater Rochester region, according to the economic-development group, Greater Rochester Enterprise (GRE). The sporting event production, construction, service, and real estate industries were among the biggest beneficiaries.
As I walked the grounds of Oak Hill during the tournament — including the course, the practice areas, the media center, and the concession areas — I was struck by what a monstrously large logistical undertaking putting on an event like this is. Daily crowds of more than 30,000 spectators mobbed Oak Hill on the weekend, and surely, a good number of them made the drive in from Central New York. Add it in thousands of tournament volunteers and workers and hundreds of media members, and what you have is the population of mid-sized city occupying only about 350 acres.
As I watched the play on the eighth hole, I could hear the constant noise of shuttle bus after shuttle bus coming and going down the country club’s main road.
You could also see the effect of the crowds when Friday morning rainfall turned many of the trampled down spectator pathways on the edges of the fairways into a muddy goo. However, the tournament grounds crew was ready with wood chips to make the walk less slippery.
Another indication of what a massive effort it is to stage a tournament like this is the advance work required. Ryan Cannon, championship director, and John Handley, sales and marketing director, and others from the PGA moved to Rochester two years in advance to work on getting ready for this event. And those folks will now move onto the New York City metro area to begin preparing for the 2016 PGA Championship held at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, NJ.
The PGA Championship, which boasts a field of 156 golfers from around the world, is the fourth and final major championship in the professional golf season. It is nicknamed “Glory’s Last Shot.” And this year’s event produced glory with the winner Jason Dufner setting scoring records and wowing crowds with his super-accurate approach shots on his way to victory. I was lucky to see Dufner up close in the second round as he shot a record-best 63 for a championship round in Oak Hill history.
But I also greatly enjoyed some of the unsung moments that played out on the course with barely any people watching. For example, I was able to see some of the final players left on the course late Friday afternoon fight to make the cut. And there were maybe 20 people watching tops. Rather than crowd roars, you heard polite clapping or a sole voice saying, “good birdie.” It was still very much appreciated by the players.
What a great event.
Adam Rombel is editor-in-chief of The Central New York Business Journal. Contact him at arombel@cnybj.com
New York’s initial unemployment claims fall by 4 percent
The number of people applying for new unemployment-insurance benefits in New York state in the week ending Aug. 3, fell by 712, or almost 4
Family Business Spotlight: Lisa Conway of Pioneer Warehousing & Distribution, LLC
We all may have read blogs, self-help articles, or books that address the topic, “Can you have it all?” Today, I share with you a question-and-answer session with a businesswoman who can answer that question affirmatively through her actions. Meet Lisa Conway, director of marketing at Pioneer Warehousing & Distribution, LLC in the town
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We all may have read blogs, self-help articles, or books that address the topic, “Can you have it all?” Today, I share with you a question-and-answer session with a businesswoman who can answer that question affirmatively through her actions.
Meet Lisa Conway, director of marketing at Pioneer Warehousing & Distribution, LLC in the town of Clay. Conway represents the second generation at the family business — she’s the daughter of Tom Belge, president of Pioneer Warehousing & Distribution.
The company, which employs 20 people, offers general and contract warehousing, distribution, fulfillment, and other services. Pioneer occupies 390,000 square feet with customers including Wegmans Foods, Southern Wine and Spirits, Hospira Pharmaceuticals, Sysco Foods, Verizon, Amerada Hess, Intersurgical, Associated Spring, and Walmart.com.
Conway makes it all sound easy, even with her full plate of being a wife, mother of three children — Jaydon, 6, Jacob, 4 and Lia, 1 — as well as daughter, sibling, employee, and own person.
Q: What was your first job at Pioneer?
A: My first job here involved mainly office work, but I do remember one summer at age 14 when one of our customers needed us to help remedy a mistake that it had made when making its product. And I, along with another person, had to spend an entire summer adding an ingredient to their product. Which meant basically, I started right in with whatever needed to be done; I did it.
Q: The most memorable thing you learned from your father?
A: One thing, oh my, that is a hard question — he has taught me so much. I think I would have to say the value of the dollar. He really instilled that into all of us from a young age. He always made us work hard for what we have. I worked through high school and college and I think that really helped a lot with how we live our lives and value what we have.
Q: Most memorable thing learned from your mother?
A: To be strong! When I was little, she never let me be too girly. She always wanted me to be independent and be able to stand on my own two feet. On the other hand, she taught us how to be caregivers, by example. She took great care of us.
Q: Who was the greatest inspiration and influence on you life?
A: I cannot pick one person. I would definitely say my parents. Absolutely my parents, but each in different ways.
Q: What is the company’s greatest success?
A: One of the things we pride ourselves in is we keep clients for years and years and years. I would say our greatest success is how long we keep our clients. Not only our clients but also our employees — our turnover is very minimal.
Q: Your greatest personal success?
A: Do you mean besides my family and children — because they would have to be my greatest success? I have so much to be grateful for. I was successful before I came back here to the family business in finance, and I feel I have been successful here professionally.
Q: What is the biggest thing you have contributed to Pioneer Warehousing since you have been here?
A: We recently implemented a warehouse-management system. It was a big deal. We used to do everything by hand and Excel spreadsheets. I researched it and implemented it and it has made a world of difference on how we manage our warehouse.
Q: How do you support the community?
A: We have been part of, and a big supporter of, the local transportation club, which supports local students and scholarships. We do as much as we can. We participate and support where and when we can. We support several local children’s sports teams, employee bowling leagues, and other community events like that.
Q: When did you realize you emerged from the shadows?
A: When I came back to the business, I was a little timid working with the people who had been here for years. It took a couple years before I was confident enough to realize I had some really good ideas. I feel my dad has really started to trust me with projects, being innovative, and trying to grow the company. The proof of that is that he feels comfortable taking longer vacations. He is not handing me the reins, but he is giving me more responsibility.
Q: Words to live by?
A: Be honest and follow your heart. Being a trustworthy business partner is most important.
Q: Advice for other future leaders at family businesses?
A: Work hard and be who you are. It is tough in a family business. You need to earn the respect from everyone; it is not just handed to you because of who you are. I chose to be here.
Q: What is the best thing about being a family business?
A: We are a small family business, so there is camaraderie and the opportunity to share in the joy, the ups, the downs, and be able to talk to someone on the fly. I not only have a dad but I have a friend and a great coworker. I really love it. It’s always an open-door policy. I would never be able to share my ideas and implement so much so quickly in corporate America.
Q: The worst thing about being a family business?
A: For me, I lose myself sometimes. I forget I am talking to my boss; it’s hard to draw lines. In staff meetings, sometimes I forget that I am talking to the boss and not my dad. Right now, we are living with my parents as our house is being built. So we are together all the time, and at the moment, it is a little different than usual.
Q: What do you do in your leisure time?
A: I coach both boys in soccer. I am training for a triathlon and going to the park with the dogs and the husband and kids. I spend as much time with my family as I can.
Q: Do you have a great story about Pioneer?
A: After the big blizzard in the early 1990s, our roof caved in. We had a lot of product in our warehouse and it was a Friday night. All of our employees came in and worked together to relocate the product and clean up. It was weeks of working long days and nights. They worked their butts off. They brought crocks and platters of food with them so they could just continue working long hours. The employees made it work. When it was over, our company was stronger than ever. If we didn’t have the support from the employees, the outcome could have been much different. I was not here then, but my dad, and his partner at the time, Ray Dionne, led them through this.
Q: What do you see as the future of Pioneer?
A: The future for the company I see is in order fulfillment. Most people know that we do general warehousing, but where I see the future is e-commerce. We are a logistics company, from placement of the orders to the delivery. We pull the orders from the Internet, pick them, pack them, ship them, and track them. The client does not have to do anything but take care of its business.
Q: How is the company handling succession planning?
A: My succession planning with my father is probably on the five-year plan. I have been here for about five years and have learned a lot and we still have some to go. The one thing that I feel was very important is that I went away from the family business and did my own thing first. I earned my business degree, worked in real estate, and at Wells Fargo for several years before I came into the business full time. I would definitely want the same thing for my children. I would love it if they wanted to work with me in the future but I will encourage them to go out and work with others first.
Q: How do you benefit from the New York Family Business Center?
A: I have met so many great people. We all have so much more in common than you would ever think. Surrounding yourself with like-minded people is very important. I have a jam-packed schedule, but making time for peer-group discussions is a great part of the day. After each session, I come back and talk to my father about what I might have learned from my peers. Maybe not every time, but usually I am able to implement something that someone might have mentioned or suggested during these sessions.
Q: Do you have any comments about the statistic indicating that a large percentage of women will be taking over their family business in the next decade?
A: I have a lot to say about that. Women have so much to offer that is different than men. We have different characteristics, different strengths, and different time frames. We take action. There is so much that has not been tapped into yet that we have to offer. I look forward to watching my daughter grow and see what she will be able to do.
Donna Herlihy is the executive director of New York Family Business Center (www.nyfbc.com), a Syracuse–based not-for-profit that gives family owned business owners and managers opportunities to interact and learn from each other and from family business professionals.
StartFast gears up for second annual Demo Day event
SYRACUSE — StartFast Venture Accelerator’s second Demo Day, set for Thursday, Aug. 22 at the Landmark Theater in Syracuse, promises to be bigger and better than last year’s inaugural event. The gathering, which features technology companies pitching themselves to investors after spending the summer participating in StartFast, sold out the Everson Museum auditorium last
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SYRACUSE — StartFast Venture Accelerator’s second Demo Day, set for Thursday, Aug. 22 at the Landmark Theater in Syracuse, promises to be bigger and better than last year’s inaugural event.
The gathering, which features technology companies pitching themselves to investors after spending the summer participating in StartFast, sold out the Everson Museum auditorium last year.
This year, the event, which keeps the same format, moves to the Landmark in order to accommodate more people. All the more room to facilitate the growing excitement that Demo Day generates, says Chuck Stormon, a managing director at StartFast.
Demo Day is the culmination of StartFast, a 100-day mentorship-driven startup accelerator that provides an opportunity for up to 10 startup companies to spend the summer in Syracuse working on their business.
On Demo Day, each team has seven minutes to pitch their business to the collective pool of investors in attendance. The day begins with a networking breakfast, features an investors-only lunch where teams can talk in more depth with potential investors, and wraps up with an after party at Al’s Wine & Whiskey Lounge on Clinton Street.
Along with the five StartFast teams — Glyphr of Syracuse (ww.glyphr.cc); WedWu of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (www.wedwu.com); Falcon of Los Angeles (www.thefalconapp.com); Symcircle of San Francisco (www.symcircle.com); and Calester of Hamilton, Ontario (calester.com) — this year’s Demo Day also features five additional companies that have participated in other upstate New York accelerator programs including StartUp Labs in Syracuse, HTR Launchpad in Rochester, Z80 Labs in Buffalo, and the 2013 Syracuse Student Sandbox.
“We’re really celebrating entrepreneurship across the region and presenting 10 great investment opportunities,” Stormon says.
Glyphr has already seen benefits from just being involved in StartFast, says Michael Quigley, Glyphr’s COO and president.
“Leveraging StartFast’s world-class network of technology thought leaders, Glyphr has been able to increase awareness of its brand, grow its user base, and refine its product offering in a short period of time,” he says. Glyphr offers a 3D visualization plugin for tablet magazines and ecommerce websites to increase engagement levels and sales rates.
“They are revolutionizing how 3D models are created,” Stormon says of Glyphr, for whom he and Nasir Ali, also managing director at StartFast, have high hopes on Demo Day.
Demo Day spotlights another of the teams, Falcon, by using its mobile app, designed to drive customers to vendors and sponsors, within the Demo Day app available in the iTunes store for use on Demo Day.
Last year, eight companies participated in StartFast and Demo Day, with three of those companies now “seeing quite a bit of success,” Stormon says. He declined to name the businesses, but says when they are ready to share their stories, he hopes it helps generate more interest in StartFast and the Syracuse region.
“Graduates are our best ambassadors,” he says.
StartFast, a private, investor-backed program modeled on the TechStars program started in Boulder, Colo., is a program of Upstate Venture Connect, located at 235 Harrison St. in Syracuse, a nonprofit group that encourages the development of small, innovative companies in upstate New York.
Along with offering access to mentors, StartFast also provides participating companies with seed money — $6,000 cash per founder up to $18,000 per company — co-working space, free and discounted services from places like Amazon Web Services, and post-program support. In return, StartFast receives 6 percent of the company’s equity in the form of common stock.
StartFast (startfast.net) investors include members of the Seed Capital Fund of CNY, Cayuga Venture Fund, and angel investors across the region. StartFast is a member of the Global Accelerator Network, a global consortium of mentor-driven, independently owned and operated startup accelerator programs.
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Kishmish continues growth trend
SYRACUSE — With a newly created leadership position to head up the sales and marketing department, network and IT services provider Kishmish, Inc. is on track to generate double-digit growth this year. Founded in 1999, Syracuse–based Kishmish (www.kishmish.com) has produced steady growth yearly since its inception, averaging sales increases between 28 and 30 percent
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SYRACUSE — With a newly created leadership position to head up the sales and marketing department, network and IT services provider Kishmish, Inc. is on track to generate double-digit growth this year.
Founded in 1999, Syracuse–based Kishmish (www.kishmish.com) has produced steady growth yearly since its inception, averaging sales increases between 28 and 30 percent annually, says President Matthew Holt. But now the company is ready to take things to the next level with the goal of reaching sales of $2 million this year.
To facilitate and service that sales growth, Holt expects to increase employment as well. He currently has 18 employees, which are a mix of full-time staffers and independent contractors. While he didn’t divulge the ratio of full timers to contractors, Holt says he expects to transition one to three of his contractors to full-time status by the end of the year to keep up with the company’s growing workload.
Kishmish, headquartered in a 3,500-square-foot office at 217 Montgomery St., provides network services and IT services, including assisting a company’s IT department or acting as a client’s IT department. “Our goal is to be a partner to all our clients and be able to service them in all levels of technology,” Holt says. “I think we’re pretty special in that we can deliver infrastructure from soup to nuts” and pair that with support right on down to the end-user level. The firm can provide its services on premises or in the cloud and also include web and web-application services.
So far, Kishmish has had a winning combination of services and client support that has generated strong sales and the steady year-over-year growth, Holt says. If Kishmish hits its $2 million revenue goal this year, that will equal growth of about 28 percent. Much of that has come from expanding services with existing clients, he notes.
Kishmish has also seen growth from client referrals, and Holt credits the company’s mission of providing great service while breaking away from some of the IT stereotypes. “IT is not a very well respected part of an organization,” Holt says. Often people view IT employees as rushed and not taking the time to explain things such as how to perform a certain task. “We like to help redefine what the IT guy looks like,” Holt says, noting the firm does so by providing exceptional service.
Mark Hollingshead, president of sales and marketing, says that has helped build a solid reputation for Kishmish and helped make his new job a little easier. Hollingshead joined the company about two months ago in the newly created position and is tasked with bringing sales to the next level, Holt says.
Hollingshead, who previously served as vice president of small business banking at Bank of America, says a big part of his job is educating companies about how to leverage technology to improve efficiency and increase sales. Most businesses, he says, approach technology reactively instead of taking a proactive approach. Kishmish can conduct a technology evaluation to help businesses develop not only a plan to update their technology but also a budget.
“Most people look at technology as an expense, not an investment,” Hollingshead says. He’s out to change their minds. “You have to be serious about technology because it’s not going away.”
Currently, Kishmish does not do much in the way of “cold calling” potential clients. Instead, Hollingshead says the firm prefers to leverage existing clients who recommend their services to others. Kishmish serves clients across New York and in 15 other states around the country. “We can do excellent work from anywhere,” Holt notes. The goal is to provide services in all 50 states eventually, however there is a lot of growth opportunity right here in Central New York that Kishmish hopes to capture first, Hollingshead says. That opportunity could even include acquisitions if the right company came along. Ideally, Hollingshead says he sees Kishmish acquiring a number of small independent contractors whose business has started to grow too large for them to manage on their own. Those types of acquisitions would bring new clients to Kishmish while bringing new support and services to the former contractors and their clients.
Kishmish provides web services ranging from website design to interactive marketing; network services including network design, carrier services, and cloud services; and a full range of support. Some of the company’s clients include The Redford Center in Sundance, Utah; the U.S. Green Building Council Connecticut Chapter; and The Ritz-Carlton Residences in Vail, Colo.
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Growth fuels employment at ICS Solutions Group
ENDICOTT — Growth is the name of the game in 2013 at IT service and support provider ICS Solutions Group, which has seen its revenue jump just over the past few months and now needs to add employees to keep up with the demand. ICS President Kevin Blake attributes the growth to several factors,
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ENDICOTT — Growth is the name of the game in 2013 at IT service and support provider ICS Solutions Group, which has seen its revenue jump just over the past few months and now needs to add employees to keep up with the demand.
ICS President Kevin Blake attributes the growth to several factors, the first of which is the still-struggling economy. “When the economy goes down, people outsource,” he says. He declined to share specific revenue numbers for ICS but says a good portion of the growth stems from companies spending their IT dollars more wisely. For some, that might mean doing away with an internal IT department and completely outsourcing it. For others, it means contracting with a company for special projects or other needs that its own IT department cannot handle.
ICS has also generated growth from an array of new offerings, including a help desk service it now offers to business clients and local governments, says Travis Hayes, chief technology officer. Over the years, ICS has invested a lot of time and money into perfecting its own help desk system, he says. It just made sense to start offering that system to clients in need.
So far, a number of local governments, including Tioga County, are using ICS’s help desk system with great success, he notes. It gives clients an internal help desk ticketing system so end users can submit a ticket when they have an IT issue, and also provides an array of metrics that help clients see where they spending their IT time and how to make improvements, Hayes says.
ICS has averaged annual sales growth of 25 percent from year to year, a trend Blake expects to continue and the main reason ICS needs to hire new employees as soon as it can find qualified candidates. “We’re walking away from deals right now because we can’t meet demand,” he says.
As a result, ICS currently needs to hire between three and five new employees — both level 1 help desk employees and level 3 engineers — adding to its current staff of 53 to meet current and future demand. “We’re looking for a mix of people,” Hayes says. Potential candidates need to be tech savvy, but also need to be “warm and fuzzy” and able to interact with customers in a personable way, he says. That friendly approach is another key to ICS’s success, Blake says.
Other services ICS offers include disaster prevention, data recovery, off-site backup, network services, and could services.
Blake and Travis, who purchased ICS in 2005, expect additional growth at the company to come from a mix of expanded services with existing clients, adding new clients, and even from acquiring other companies. That strategy served the company well in 2010 when it acquired Microtech Computer Center, expanding ICS’s reach into the Syracuse market.
Headquartered at 111 Grant St. in Endicott, ICS (www.icsnewyork.com) also has an office at 2518 Erie Blvd. E. in Syracuse and serves clients in Binghamton, Elmira, Oneonta, Syracuse, Ithaca, Rochester, northern New York, and northeastern Pennsylvania.
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