NBT unit, Mang Insurance, makes acquisition

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NORWICH — NBT Bancorp, Inc. subsidiary Mang Insurance Agency, LLC has acquired Harvey-Triumpho Insurance Agency of Fort Plain (Montgomery County). Going forward, the agency will

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Regional News, Small Business

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Health-care employers face tough time finding qualified workers

Employee Benefits & Human Resources, Health Care, Regional News

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Peoples 4th-quarter profit slips, but annual earnings rise

Banks & Credit Unions, Regional News

HALLSTEAD, Pa. — Peoples Financial Services Corp. (Ticker: PFIS) recently reported that its profit in the fourth quarter fell from a year ago. But that

Binghamton University named a top value among public colleges

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BINGHAMTON — The Princeton Review named Binghamton University the nation’s number four “Best Value Public” college for 2012. The Massachusetts–based education-services company profiles Binghamton University in its newly published book, “The Best Value Colleges: 2012,” and on its website www.princetonreview.com/best-value-colleges.aspx. In the profile of Binghamton, the editors at The Princeton Review praised the school for

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O’Brien & Gere plans to double work force in Charleston office

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Energy, Environment & Sustainability, Manufacturing & Engineering, Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE — The acquisition of Lindbergh & Associates of Charleston, S.C. will help Syracuse–based O’Brien & Gere continue to grow its work with the federal government in the Southeast and elsewhere, company leaders say. O’Brien & Gere acquired the remaining 55 percent ownership stake of Lindbergh in December. The firm previously owned 45 percent, with

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O’Brien & Gere acquired the remaining 55 percent ownership stake of Lindbergh in December. The firm previously owned 45 percent, with Lindbergh President Tony Price owning the rest.

The companies first began working together on some joint projects in 2003. Over the years, O’Brien & Gere made a series of investments in Lindbergh, says Lee Davis, O’Brien & Gere president and chief operating officer.

O’Brien & Gere was looking to ramp up its business with the federal government and Lindbergh had a strong base of federal work, Davis says. The plan was for O’Brien & Gere to acquire Lindbergh in full once Lindbergh grew larger.

O’Brien & Gere leaders decided to pursue more federal work as the firm’s state and local government clients were facing stiff budget pressures. And while the federal budget faces its own fiscal challenges, the government remains an enormous potential customer, according to the company.

Also, O’Brien & Gere’s overall share of the federal market is small, leaving plenty of room to expand, company leaders have said.

O’Brien & Gere now has 40 employees in its 8,000-square-foot Charleston office and about two-thirds of them are from Lindbergh, says Richard Garcia, senior vice president and general manager of the Charleston office. The firm plans to double the work force in that office in the next two to three years, Davis adds.

When O’Brien & Gere first opened in Charleston in 2003, it employed one person in the market. Lindbergh had three employees at the time.

Lindbergh was founded in 1982. It provides planning, design, and management services for federal, state, municipal, and commercial clients throughout the U.S. Services include architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, structural engineering, land surveying, civil engineering, master planning, and construction management.

O’Brien & Gere provides a range of engineering and other services. The firm employs 850 people at 30 offices throughout the country.

O’Brien & Gere will continue to use the Lindbergh brand, along with its own name, in the Charleston market for some time, Davis says. Lindbergh has a strong reputation in the region as well as in the federal market.

Charleston is a key location for O’Brien & Gere, Davis says, and serves as the hub for the firm’s federal business in the Southeast. The city’s port is planning a major expansion to accommodate larger ships, which should provide plenty of opportunities for industrial and commercial work as well, he notes.

The Navy and the Air Force both have a strong presence in the region, Garcia adds. And while Lindbergh has been focused mainly on the federal sector in the past, it will now be able to expand into other O’Brien & Gere business areas like water, energy, and environmental projects.

The two firms have worked together on more than 1,000 projects since they first teamed up, Garcia says. They have worked throughout the Southeast and elsewhere, including on a wastewater study for West Point.

The addition will bolster O’Brien & Gere’s business in other regions, Davis says. Lindbergh’s resources should aid projects with clients like Fort Drum and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

D’Arcangelo & Co. obtains a physical presence in SyracuseD’Arcangelo & Co. obtains a physical presence in Syracuse

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Insurance & Financial Services, Law, Accounting & Taxes, Small Business, Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE — It started as a casual encounter at a Syracuse Chiefs game, but the end result is the merger of two established Central New York accounting firms — a move that expands the scope of expertise at both firms. D’Arcangelo & Co., LLP, based in Utica, and Syracuse–based Kruth, Stein, Squadrito, Liberman & Silverman,

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D’Arcangelo & Co., LLP, based in Utica, and Syracuse–based Kruth, Stein, Squadrito, Liberman & Silverman, LLP (KSSL&S) merged operations under the D’Arcangelo name effective Jan. 1. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“D’Arcangelo has been desirous of having a physical presence in Syracuse,” Practice Manager Diane Fowler says of the merger. The firm wasn’t necessarily actively seeking a merger, but when some partners from D’Arcangelo bumped into some partners from KSSL&S at a baseball game in the summer of 2011, the conversation started flowing.

The merger just made sense on several levels, Fowler says. D’Arcangelo already has a client base in Syracuse.

“Some of the largest clients we have are Syracuse–based,” she notes. Merging with KSSL&S now gives D’Arcangelo an office at 401 N. Salina St.

The second way the merger makes sense is through the complementary nature of the two accounting firms.

“Their clientele is more focused in the area of taxes and small business,” Fowler says of KSSL&S. D’Arcangelo has strength in audits, human-resources consulting, insurance services, and investment management. “We expect to complement their practice,” with those services, Fowler says.

Julius J. Kruth founded KSSL&S in 1950. “We found that because of the two firms’ similar cultures, our core values, and our shared emphasis on the role of the partner, the combination of partner and staff talent from all offices would provide benefits such as staff synergy, expanded use of technology, overhead reduction, niche practice creation, and expanded services,” Managing Partner Sheldon Kruth said in a news release.

D’Arcangelo, founded more than 60 years ago, has a strong niche-based practice in the areas of ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act) and with governmental auditing.

“D’Arcangelo and Co., LLP can offer any and every client the qualifications, service, and experience of a large firm, but at small firm rates,” Managing Partner Mark Semo said in a news release about the merger. “Our partners are hands-on, in the trenches daily on behalf of our clients, and we believe that it’s this level of service that sets us apart from other firms.”

“We have significant depth in tax already, but their focus in tax and small business will even add to that more,” Fowler notes of how KSSL&S will benefit D’Arcangelo.

“It’s a great partnership between the two firms,” she says. “”We’re very excited about our future in Syracuse.”

D’Arcangelo retained all 25 employees at KSSL&S and they joined D’Arcangelo’s more than 150 employees at locations in Utica, Rome, Oneida, Poughkeepsie, Millbrook, and Westchester.

To market the newly merged firms, Fowler says the company has done print advertising with numerous publications including The Mohawk Valley Business Journal and The Central New York Business Journal, the Syracuse Post-Standard, the Rome Sentinel, the Rome Dispatch, and the Utica Observer-Dispatch. The firm is also sponsoring the show “Financial Fitness,” airing Thursday nights on WCNY to further get its name out there.

“We’ve been reaching out to all of our clients,” Fowler adds. The firm is also sending letters to prospective clients.

Fowler declined to share client figures or growth projections for the firm.

“We just know that this is going to provide a big opportunity for us, and we’re excited to see where it goes,” she says.

KS&R’s INSITE contact center takes advantage of downtown Syracuse move

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE — KS&R, Inc. brought nearly 200 of its employees close to home last month by relocating its INSITE survey contact center. It’s so close that those employees can reach the market-research firm’s downtown Syracuse headquarters by crossing the street. “That’s all I hear, how nice it is to be able to walk and go

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“That’s all I hear, how nice it is to be able to walk and go back and forth,” says Joseph Snyder, KS&R principal. “We’ve been there one month now, and it’s been huge.”

The contact center’s new home is in the Syracuse Building at 224 Harrison St., while KS&R’s headquarters is in the nearby AXA Towers. KS&R moved the contact center from its previous home at 5792 Widewaters Parkway in DeWitt on Jan. 2.

The move brings 185 employees, who work in the contact center, to downtown Syracuse. The center runs a day shift from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and an evening shift from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., according to Snyder. It also operates some weekend shifts to support consumer calling, he says.

INSITE is a full-service, in-house resource center for collecting data and managing information. Its services range from recruiting for focus groups to conducting interviews with senior business executives.

The center’s new location is 6,700 square feet, which is smaller than its previous space in DeWitt. That office space was 7,500 square feet.

Even though the new contact center has a smaller footprint than KS&R’s former space in DeWitt, the company did not lay off any employees when it moved, Snyder says.

“We were able to reduce the square footage because it’s a more efficient space,” he says. “Our old space was chopped up. It was originally set up as a call center, but we added to it over the years.”

The new center has a large open floor plan, which will help employees work together, according to Snyder. KS&R considered keeping the center in DeWitt before opting to move to Syracuse because the space was more efficient and closer to its headquarters, he adds.

KS&R started evaluating its contact-center space at the beginning of 2011. It looked at a number of issues before deciding to relocate, including making sure employees would have enough space for parking, Snyder says.

“We utilize what I would call the old Hotel Syracuse parking garage, and we also have spots in the back of the building and the Harrison Street garage,” he says.

The new facility required new floors, moving some walls, and rewiring for data networks and telecommunications. KS&R worked with its landlord, Syracuse–based JF Real Estate, to select new carpeting and tiling, Snyder says.

JF Real Estate coordinated renovations, according to Snyder, who called the work “relatively minor.” He declined to share the cost of renovations.

He also declined to disclose revenue totals and projections. KS&R does not anticipate any major changes to the size of its operations, he says.

KS&R employs about 275 people worldwide, Snyder says. It has offices in Syracuse; the metropolitan New York City area; Atlanta; Memphis, Tenn.; Frankfurt, Germany; and Asia.

Its Syracuse headquarters in the AXA Tower II in Syracuse is 23,000 square feet and has 75 employees.

KS&R performs worldwide market research and consulting in the technology, telecommunications, transportation, medical devices, health-care, retail, and finance/insurance industries. It was founded in 1983 and is privately held by 11 owners.

Cayuga County Chamber rolls out two initiatives to help business owners

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AUBURN –– The Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce, founded 104 years ago, recently announced the launch of two new projects aimed at helping small-business owners. The Cayuga and Seneca Counties Community Profile project has created a web-based tool that brings together accessible sources of 70 different statistical indicators that would measure important community indicators, such

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AUBURN –– The Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce, founded 104 years ago, recently announced the launch of two new projects aimed at helping small-business owners.

The Cayuga and Seneca Counties Community Profile project has created a web-based tool that brings together accessible sources of 70 different statistical indicators that would measure important community indicators, such as employment, education, and health and safety for six counties. The Community Profile website provides data, analysis, and grants, as well as tables and charts that can be downloaded in customized formats.

Andrew Fish, executive director of the Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce, says the Community Profile project was funded or made possible by the United Way of Cayuga County, the United Way of Seneca County, the Allyn Foundation, the City of Auburn, and Cayuga Community College. It is available for anyone in the community to access and utilize.

The Community Profile project (cayugasenecaprofile.org) has the potential to increase the capacity of nonprofits, government agencies, and businesses to leverage funding and to improve their ability to plan, Tim Kelly, executive director of United Way of Cayuga County, said at the Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce’s 2012 Economic Forecast Luncheon on Jan. 26 in Auburn. The United Way contracted with the Center for Governmental Research, Inc. (CGR), a Rochester–based nonprofit provider of research to government and organizations, to develop the data and indicators on the Community Profile project’s website.

“We know that our communities in Cayuga County and Seneca County face diminishing resources that have a direct impact on quality of life. So data, good quality data, and accessible data are essential to good decision-making and to better planning,” Kelly said. “For government, community organizations, and business, data can address their need to more rapidly and more effectively obtain funding.”

Second initiative

Along with the launch of this interactive Community Profile project, the Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce also announced the launch of the Finger Lakes Grants Information Center, a regional center that provides the access to data and resources on potential grants from government agencies and service providers.

The Grants Information Center will provide training opportunities to educate and support grant-seekers about fundraising, philanthropy, and grant-writing, Ginny Kent, supervisor at the Grants Information Center and membership coordinator at the Cayuga County Chamber, said at the 2012 Economic Forecast Luncheon, which attracted a crowd of about 150 people.

“It is really important not only to understand the process of developing grant proposals, but also to understand the field of philanthropy and to understand what your potential founders are looking for when you come to them,” Kent said.

Fish contends the Community Profile project dovetails perfectly with the Grants Information Center. He says the Chamber of Commerce mobilized to secure grant funding through the Stardust Foundation to launch the Grants Information Center, recognizing that once the indicators came online, people would need some additional resources to foster improvements in the
areas the data measures, such as salary by sector, change in number of businesses by sector, and job growth.

“Not only do they have the data, now they can [also] learn how best to use that and how best to interpret it,” he says. They can see “what are some funding opportunities that are out there, whether they are through other foundations or through government agencies, or philanthropy and other things that they can go after to meet the specific needs that are here and what kind of information would they need to back that up.”

He says although the Grants Information Center is not going to be writing grants for people, it is going to be able to give them the tools and resources they need to make quality proposals, with the goal of leveraging local investment and local talent to bring dollars into communities all over the Finger Lakes area.

Fish says he sees both projects benefiting for-profit businesses in the Finger Lakes region –– including small firms. The Community Profile project has a lot of economic data, which people can review to identify potential markets. On the other hand, the Grants Information Center will help monitor grant opportunities for businesses, including research grants and development grants, then notify them when it sees one that fits their business, and assist them to create a more competitive application, he says.

“The other thing is, businesses in general, when you have employees who are having a higher quality of life, who are happier, who are healthier, they are going to work better for you,” Fish says. “So by supporting the other nonprofit agencies that are delivering the services necessary to help people along those lines, we are actually helping the businesses in the long run as well.”

Fish sees the two projects coming out at the right time since both of them are necessary for the community. He feels that as the pool of grant money from government agencies and foundations is shrinking, it’s important that the chamber and its partners provide tools for people to be more competitive.

“I’m glad that we were able to get it off the ground and going in the beginning of the year, where we’ve got a lot of big plans to get people indoctrinated in how to use it,” says Fish. “It’s going to be a good year for both programs.”

Fish says the Community Profile project has already contracted with CGR to do an update of data in 2013, and the Grants Information Center is going to measure its success by evaluating the number of grant dollars that organizations attain, utilizing the services at the center.

Hiscock & Barclay launches new practice group

Law, Accounting & Taxes, Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE — Law firm Hiscock & Barclay, LLP of Syracuse is forming a new practice area aimed at work in white-collar criminal defense and government investigations. Daniel French, a former U.S. attorney, and his partner, Lee Alcott, have both joined Hiscock as of counsel. French will co-chair the new group with Gabriel Nugent, a current

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SYRACUSE — Law firm Hiscock & Barclay, LLP of Syracuse is forming a new practice area aimed at work in white-collar criminal defense and government investigations.

Daniel French, a former U.S. attorney, and his partner, Lee Alcott, have both joined Hiscock as of counsel. French will co-chair the new group with Gabriel Nugent, a current Hiscock partner.

French and Alcott will remain principals of their existing firm, French-Alcott, PLLC of Syracuse.

French-Alcott and Hiscock have been working together on white-collar cases for about six years now, Nugent says. Consistent demand for the work prompted the firms to formalize their relationship.

The practice will focus on criminal and civil cases at the federal, state, and local level, Nugent says. It could include everything from cases involving mortgage regulations, allegations of health-care fraud, insider trading, and more.

Prosecutors have been dusting off a number of older laws in those areas recently and using them to pursue new and different targets in investigations, Nugent adds.

“Really, that’s occurring all throughout the country in a number of different areas,” he says.

Attorneys will also try to help clients avoid ending up under investigation in the first place, French says. Regulations in fields like health care change all the time, he notes.

“A decent portion of what we do is communicate with our clients and make sure they understand the current regulatory framework,” he says.

Hiscock & Barclay’s new white-collar defense and government-investigations practice includes nine attorneys, including former prosecutors and a former regional director of a state Medicaid fraud unit. The group will also work with attorneys in other Hiscock practice areas if needed.

“It complements a lot of different areas,” Nugent says.

Hiscock may look to add more lawyers to the group in the future, especially in areas that require specialized expertise like cybercrime and matters involving imports and exports, Nugent adds.

In addition to his work as U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York, French was an assistant U.S. attorney as well as a law clerk for a federal judge. He has also served as a deputy staff director to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee and executive assistant to U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

Alcott previously served as director of the litigation department at another Syracuse law firm and was also chief trial counsel for the city of Syracuse.

Hiscock & Barclay has 200 attorneys in 31 practice areas. The firm has offices in Albany, Buffalo, New York City, Rochester, Boston, Toronto, and Washington, D.C.

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