FOCUS adds three new board members

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SYRACUSE — FOCUS Greater Syracuse, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit citizen-driven organization that seeks to bring about change in Central New York, recently announced three new board members to drive community engagement. Joining the board are Lisa A. Hart, public health analyst/grants manager at the Syracuse Housing Authority; Rev. Lynnessa H. Joyner-Robinson, good neighbor community navigator […]

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Pathfinder Bancorp boosts quarterly dividend by 11 percent

Banks & Credit Unions, Subscriber Only

OSWEGO — Pathfinder Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: PBHC), the bank holding company of Pathfinder Bank, has declared a cash dividend of 10 cents per share of its common stock. The first-quarter 2024 dividend is payable on May 10 to all shareholders of record on April 19, according to an announcement from James A. Dowd, president and

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A.O. Fox Hospital, BOCES partner on nursing program

Education & Training, Health Care, Southern Tier, Subscriber Only

ONEONTA — A.O. Fox Hospital, part of the Bassett Healthcare Network, and Otsego Northern Catskills Board of Cooperative Educational Services (ONC BOCES) have announced a new partnership that brings the BOCES practical nursing-certification program to the hospital. The comprehensive 10-month program is designed to equip students with the skills and knowledge necessary to excel in

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A.O. Fox Hospital in Oneonta and ONC BOCES have partnered on a practial nursing certification program.
PHOTO CREDIT: ONC BOCES FACEBOOK PROFILE

The comprehensive 10-month program is designed to equip students with the skills and knowledge necessary to excel in nursing roles in various health-care settings. The curriculum covers nursing fundamentals, anatomy and physiology, pharmacology, growth and development, maternity and pediatrics, and other essential areas.

“ONC BOCES is thrilled to offer this pathway into the nursing profession,” ONC BOCES District Superintendent Catherine Huber said in a Bassett news release announcing the partnership. “Our partnership with Bassett Healthcare Network allows students to learn in a dynamic clinical setting, providing invaluable hands-on experience alongside expert healthcare staff and instructors.”

The organizations are currently accepting applications for the next session, which starts in August, and are prepared to accept an entering class of 30 or more students. Scholarships and financial aid may be available for eligible candidates.

At a time when Bassett is hiring for clinical positions across the eight-county region it serves, the program will help provide qualified candidates, the organizations contend.

“We are very excited to partner with ONC BOCES,” Bassett Healthcare Network Chief Nursing Executive Dr. Angela Belmont said. “As we support them through the educational process, they will provide a pipeline of employment candidates for Bassett Healthcare Network. We are investing in our future and assisting to increase the health-care workforce. It’s a win-win situation.”

More information about the program is available online at: www.oncboces.org/PracticalNursingProgram.

ONC BOCES provides educational and workforce-development programs to individuals in Otsego, Delaware, Schoharie, and Greene counties.

Bassett Healthcare Network includes five corporately affiliated hospitals along with community-based health centers, school-based health centers, and skilled-nursing facilities.

Broome County hotel occupancy inches down in February

Sports, Entertainment & Tourism, Southern Tier, Subscriber Only

BINGHAMTON — Broome County hotels saw slightly fewer guests in February, while two other key indicators of business performance improved. The hotel-occupancy rate (rooms sold as a percentage of rooms available) in the county dipped 0.7 percent to 50.4 percent in the second month of 2024 versus February 2023. Revenue per available room (RevPar), an

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Binghamton University to pursue AI research and development

Education & Training, Southern Tier, Subscriber Only, Technology

Uses “landmark” $5 million donation VESTAL — Binghamton University graduate Thomas Secunda is providing the school a financial gift that it

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Uses “landmark” $5 million donation

VESTAL — Binghamton University graduate Thomas Secunda is providing the school a financial gift that it calls a “landmark” donation.

Secunda — a 1976 graduate who later earned his master’s degree from Binghamton in 1979 — is the co-founder of Bloomberg L.P.

Binghamton University will use the $5 million donation to attract, recruit and retain tech talent, creating a pipeline for students to participate in the artificial intelligence (AI) economy of the future.

“As a Binghamton University alumnus, I’m proud to champion novel tech advancement and AI infrastructure at my alma mater,” Secunda said in the school’s announcement. “Embracing AI will not only unlock new opportunities for New York, but it will also catalyze the emergence of innovative jobs in uncharted industries with the potential to make our state the Silicon Valley of AI development. I urge the legislature to support opportunities for New York’s students to lead responsible AI research that will have the tremendous potential to improve the lives of all New Yorkers.”

Binghamton University notes that the funding is “contingent upon the passage” of Empire AI in the 2025 New York state budget and would support the SUNY school’s participation in Empire AI research and development.

Empire AI — which Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed and included in the Senate and Assembly one-house budget proposals — will establish a state-of-the-art AI computing center in Buffalo.

“Binghamton University sees tremendous potential for exciting research, education and economic development opportunities related to the Empire AI initiative,” Binghamton University President Harvey Stenger said. “We are thrilled that Tom Secunda is choosing to support Binghamton so generously within this transformational area of research. Tom visited campus recently with Governor Hochul and met with faculty studying how to use AI to solve important societal issues ranging from healthcare to information security. His gift will advance Binghamton’s research efforts and Empire AI will provide essential links to other institutions across the state.”

Empire AI will be the “first project of its kind in the country, with research geared toward the public good and overseen by educational institutions, placing New York in the driver’s seat for future AI development,” Binghamton University said in its announcement.

University researchers are already working on a number of projects that use AI to tackle important societal issues. They range from protecting power systems from malicious attacks to developing a robotic seeing-eye dog for people who are blind.

“This generous commitment from groundbreaking leader and SUNY alumnus Tom Secunda is a testament to the results, promise and potential of research at Binghamton University,” SUNY Chancellor John King Jr. said in a news release. “SUNY’s university centers, including Binghamton, are at the forefront of researching and designing artificial intelligence applications to advance the public good. We are excited about the opportunities Empire AI will create for SUNY to lead on AI – from healthcare to climate resilience, and from educational interventions for students with disabilities to ethics and information integrity.”

About Empire AI

The Empire AI consortium includes SUNY (including Binghamton University), the City University of New York, Columbia University, Cornell University, New York University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and the Flatiron Institute.

It will lead the development for responsible AI that is “focused on serving the people of New York first.” New York’s leading institutions will use the center to promote responsible research and development, create jobs, and unlock AI opportunities across the state, Binghamton University said.

Smith Brothers eyes architect and engineer niche with latest merger

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Manufacturing & Engineering, Subscriber Only

Smith Brothers Insurance, a Connecticut–based insurance broker with New York offices in Owego, Vestal, Waverly, and Rensselaer, recently merged another Connecticut company into its operations. It’s a move that makes the company one of the largest advisors and brokers for architects and engineers in the northeast. With the merger, Maloney & Company, LLC, in Guilford,

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With the merger, Maloney & Company, LLC, in Guilford, Conn., along with Michael J. Maloney, principal, and his team are now part of Smith Brothers Design Professional team, led by Principal Scott Smith.

Maloney’s niche in architecture and engineering dovetails nicely with Smith’s New York niche of public entities, school districts, and municipalities, says Partner Michael Constantine.

“There’s a lot of synergies there,” he says.

The merger is one that makes sense, Partner Jared Carillo says. Maloney specialized in architecture and engineering, fitting smoothly into Smith Brothers’ architect and engineer vertical line. The two companies, in fact, have been friendly competitors for years, he adds.

“I am delighted my team and I will be joining Smith Brothers,” Michael Maloney said in a news release announcing the merger. “This combination will allow us to leverage the resources of Smith Brothers and expand the range of products and services we can offer our clients including health insurance, employee benefits, financial and retirement planning, success planning, surety, labor and HR compliance, and personal lines. By augmenting Smith Brothers’ existing design-professional program, we look forward to helping our existing and future clients even more fully as part of our combined operations.”

The merger is one of several Smith Brothers has made recently. Last September, the firm acquired the Palmer Family Insurance Agency in Marathon in Cortland County.

“We are in active growth mode,” Carillo notes.

Constantine says Smith Brothers is always looking for agencies to acquire, either because an owner is looking to retire or otherwise exit the business or because they want to grow their business but need help to do so.

“We’re really looking to be known as the buyer of choice,” he says.

“The buyer of choice, employer of choice, broker of choice,” Carillo adds. The company’s pillars are based on being a first-class employer and a first-class resource for clients.

Smith Brothers currently employs about 250 people across 12 office locations and is always looking to grow that number.

“We’re always on the lookout to find talent,” Constantine says.

Founded in 1971 by brothers Bob and Brian Smith, the company is a full-service agency and independent broker licensed in every state. Along with Connecticut and New York locations, it also has offices in Massachusetts and New Jersey.

NYS home sales rise for the first time in 30 months

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Subscriber Only

But inventory hits another record low ALBANY — New York home sales increased in year-over-year comparisons for the first time in more than two years in February, while the number of homes available for sale fell to another record low. That’s according to the monthly housing report that the New York State Association of Realtors (NYSAR)

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But inventory hits another record low

ALBANY — New York home sales increased in year-over-year comparisons for the first time in more than two years in February, while the number of homes available for sale fell to another record low.

That’s according to the monthly housing report that the New York State Association of Realtors (NYSAR) issued on March 21.

New York realtors sold 6,233 previously owned homes in February, up 0.6 percent from the 6,195 existing homes sold in February 2023. Additionally, pending sales rose nearly 5 percent in the second month of 2024, foreshadowing future increases in closed sales.

NYSAR cites Freddie Mac as indicating interest rates moved higher each week in February, averaging 6.78 percent on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. This is slightly up from the 6.64 percent rate in January. For comparison, a year ago, the interest rate stood at 6.50 percent. Freddie Mac is the more common way of referring to the Virginia–based Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation.

New York sales data

Pending home sales in New York totaled 7,864 in February, up 4.7 percent from the 7,511 pending sales in the same month in 2023, according to the NYSAR data.

The inventory of homes for sale in New York stood at 23,448 this February, down almost 17 percent from 28,170 in the year-earlier month. This marks the lowest number of homes for sale since statistics have been kept in New York state, NYSAR said. It also marks the 12th straight month in which inventory has dropped in year-over-year comparisons, the trade group added.

However, new listings rose 5 percent to 10,020 in the second month of this year from 9,541 new listings in February of last year.

The February 2024 statewide median sales price was $375,000, up nearly 4.2 percent from the February 2023 median sales price of $360,000.

The months’ supply of homes for sale at the end of this February stood at 2.6 months, down more than 7 percent from the 2.8 months’ supply at the end of February 2023, per NYSAR’s report. A 6-month to 6.5-month supply is considered a balanced market, per the association.

All home-sales data is compiled from multiple-listing services in New York, and it includes townhomes and condominiums in addition to existing single-family homes, according to NYSAR.

Lockheed Martin plant wins $27M Navy contract order

Manufacturing & Engineering, Subscriber Only, Technology

SALINA — The Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) plant in the town of Salina has been awarded a $27.1 million firm-fixed-price delivery order under a U.S. Navy contract. It’s for the procurement of the submarine electronic-warfare system to include modernization kits, equipment, and installation. Work will be performed in the Lockheed facility, just north of

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MACNY to add Byrne to Wall of Fame, give award to Robillard

Manufacturing & Engineering, Subscriber Only

DeWITT — MACNY, The Manufacturers Association, will add Carl Byrne, president and CEO of Byrne Dairy, Inc., to its Manufacturers Wall of Fame. It will also recognize Tyler Robillard, director of engineering at Feldmeier Equipment, Inc., as this year’s Innovator of the Year. DeWitt–based MACNY, its members, and community leaders will honor both Byrne and

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DeWITT — MACNY, The Manufacturers Association, will add Carl Byrne, president and CEO of Byrne Dairy, Inc., to its Manufacturers Wall of Fame.

It will also recognize Tyler Robillard, director of engineering at Feldmeier Equipment, Inc., as this year’s Innovator of the Year.

DeWitt–based MACNY, its members, and community leaders will honor both Byrne and Robillard at MACNY’s 111th annual Celebration of Manufacturing on May 23 at the SRC Arena & Events Center on the campus of Onondaga Community College (OCC) in the town of Onondaga.

MACNY’s Manufacturers Wall of Fame is a group of manufacturing leaders who have been honored since the Wall of Fame’s inception in 2001. It celebrates individuals who have “demonstrated long-term dedication” to manufacturing in Central and Upstate New York.

The Innovator of the Year Award was created at the suggestion of MACNY members as a way to nominate and recognize individuals within a company who “consistently demonstrate forward thinking ideas” in the areas of technology, innovation, and advancement of products and production.

About Byrne

Over the years, Carl Byrne has taken Byrne Dairy from a small local milk company to a major dairy supplier throughout the U.S. and beyond.

As a member of the third generation of the Byrne family to operate the dairy, Carl began his career developing a customer base and managing a convenience store in the Rochester area, per the MACNY announcement.

As VP of sales, Byrne’s vision of moving into extended shelf life (ESL) dairy and non-dairy products resulted in the construction of the DeWitt facility in 2004.

Since becoming president and CEO in 2008, Byrne has overseen five expansions at the plant, which now includes more than 200,000 square feet of processing, production, packaging, and warehouse space, and employs more than 250 people. Additionally, Byrne has directed the growth of a sister ESL facility in Cortlandville and Byrne’s Ice Cream Center in Syracuse.

In 2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and “when other manufacturers were cutting back on employees and facilities,” MACNY says Byrne saw the opportunity to further expand the company’s footprint by entering the aseptic dairy market.

Using the “most technologically advanced” equipment available, Byrne is now producing shelf stable (no refrigeration needed) dairy products that can be shipped around the world.

Byrne Dairy marked its 90th anniversary in 2023 and has more than 550 employees, per the MACNY announcement.

About Robillard

Tyler Robillard has been with Feldmeier Equipment for 15 years, joining the company in 2009 after graduating from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.

Within a few short years, Robillard grew the design-engineer role into a project engineering position.

Feldmeier is a manufacturer of custom hygienic equipment for production of pharmaceutical/biotech, food, dairy, beverage, and cosmetic products.

After successfully managing some of Feldmeier’s largest pharmaceutical projects, he was promoted to engineering manager, then most recently serving as director of engineering, MACNY said.

Robillard leads a team of 16 engineers that develops innovative components and products for Feldmeier’s customers. His name has been applied and attributed to patent filings beginning in 2018. Robillard is the co-inventor on two additional patent pending designs. These components are “revolutionizing the cleanability” of Feldmeier’s custom tanks and pressure vessels, specifically supplied to their pharmaceutical customers who require the most hygienic equipment and processes developing lifesaving treatments.

These innovations have helped Feldmeier become recognized as the “best and only company in the Western Hemisphere” to specialize in this level of sanitation processing, per the MACNY announcement.

Syracuse Stage starts search for new managing director

Sports, Entertainment & Tourism, Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE — The board of trustees and senior management of Syracuse Stage are developing a plan to find the theatre company’s next managing director. That plan will be announced soon, according to an April 2 Syracuse Stage announcement that Jill Anderson, its managing director since 2016, will leave the organization this summer after eight years.

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Jill Anderson PHOTO CREDIT: SYRACUSE STAGE WEBSITE

SYRACUSE — The board of trustees and senior management of Syracuse Stage are developing a plan to find the theatre company’s next managing director.

That plan will be announced soon, according to an April 2 Syracuse Stage announcement that Jill Anderson, its managing director since 2016, will leave the organization this summer after eight years.

Anderson is departing to become managing director of the Minneapolis Children’s Theatre Company, the nation’s largest and most acclaimed theatre for young people, the Syracuse Stage said.

“When she arrived in Syracuse, Jill brought with her the wisdom that comes from working with the best and brightest of the American Theatre, and she leaves Syracuse Stage with a foundation that will carry us well into the next 50 years,” Rocco Mangano, chair of the Syracuse Stage board of trustees, said in a statement. “Jill is both a keen administrator and a tireless champion for the arts, qualities that have made her not only a successful leader but a cherished colleague and friend. On behalf of the entire Board, I extend eternal gratitude for everything Jill has helped us accomplish.”

She will continue as managing director at Syracuse Stage for the remainder of the 50th anniversary season, concluding her eight-year tenure when she departs at the end of the company’s fiscal year in early July, per the announcement.

“Being part of Syracuse Stage and the Central New York community these last eight seasons has been a tremendous privilege,” Anderson said in a release. “I’m so proud of what Stage’s staff and board have built — upon an already strong foundation — and look forward to seeing a thriving Syracuse Stage in the years ahead.”

Located at 820 E. Genesee St. in the city, Syracuse Stage is the nonprofit, professional theatre company in residence at Syracuse University.

Anderson joined Syracuse Stage at about the same time that Robert Hupp started serving as artistic director in 2016. She was responsible for fundraising, marketing, and operational oversight during seven straight years of operating surpluses.

Her work to strengthen the company’s financial foundation helped Syracuse Stage maintain full employment during the pandemic while positioning the company for future growth, the organization said.

Under Anderson’s leadership — and in partnership with Hupp and the board of trustees — Syracuse Stage boosted its reputation as a leading regional theatre, the organization contends.

The company produced two world premieres which later transferred to Broadway. They included “Thoughts of a Colored Man” and “How to Dance in Ohio,” which “deepened its relationship” with other regional theatres and producers through co- and enhanced-productions and developed commissioned work from nationally recognized artists and playwrights — all while expanding its community engagement and educational programming for local patrons, students. and families, per the announcement.

“Together, we have increased Stage’s visibility locally and nationally, worked to secure the organization’s future, and mounted an extraordinary response through and since the pandemic,” Anderson said. “I am more grateful than I can express for the opportunity Syracuse Stage gave me in 2016, and for the relationships I will take with me into this next chapter as I return to the Upper Midwest.”

Besides her work with Syracuse Stage, Anderson taught theatre-management courses in the Syracuse University Department of Drama.

As part of the company’s 50th anniversary season, Anderson oversaw the launch of an “ambitious” fundraising campaign. It prioritized updating essential production equipment through capital investments, and the creation of a permanent education and community engagement fund to support vital programming for Central New York residents.

The company also established the Julie Lutz New Play Development Fund, with an inaugural gift of $1 million to be used for the creation of new work with a particular focus on sharing stories from underrepresented voices, Syracuse Stage said.

“While we celebrate this next chapter in Jill’s life and career, the news is bittersweet,” Hupp said. “It has been a highlight of my career to work in partnership with Jill these past eight seasons, and everyone at Syracuse Stage will miss Jill’s warm-hearted and thoughtful leadership.”

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