Clarkson joins cooperative to research electric, connected and autonomous vehicles

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POTSDAM — Clarkson University announced it is part of a new nationwide collaboration focused on developing new sustainable vehicle technologies. The collaboration is part of the Center for Electric, Connected and Autonomous Technologies for Mobility (eCAT), Clarkson said in a Sept. 5 news release. The eCAT Center is an industry-university cooperative research center (IUCRC) sponsored […]

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Giles to serve as liaison to Office of Veteran and Military Affairs

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SYRACUSE — Patricia Giles was recently appointed reference and instruction librarian in the Department of Learning and Academic Engagement (LAE) at Syracuse University Libraries. In this new role, Giles will serve as liaison to the Syracuse University Office of Veteran and Military Affairs (OVMA) and the Honors Program. OVMA serves as the university’s single point

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Onondaga, Watertown SBDCs combine

Regional News, Small Business, Subscriber Only

WATERTOWN — The Watertown Small Business Development Center (SBDC) has combined with the Onondaga SBDC as part of a pilot program. The effort seeks to “increase shared resources and opportunities” for small businesses in the Central New York region, per an SBDC announcement. Under the program the Watertown SBDC is now the Watertown Outreach Center,

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WATERTOWN — The Watertown Small Business Development Center (SBDC) has combined with the Onondaga SBDC as part of a pilot program.

The effort seeks to “increase shared resources and opportunities” for small businesses in the Central New York region, per an SBDC announcement.

Under the program the Watertown SBDC is now the Watertown Outreach Center, Kevin McGoldrick, director of marketing and communications with the New York SBDC, tells CNYBJ in an email.

The Onondaga SBDC operates at Onondaga Community College, and the Watertown Outreach Center is run from Jefferson Community College.

The partnership and the combined regional center “leverage the collective expertise” of both advisory teams to boost support for small-business clients throughout the region, New York SBDC said.

The locations and service footprint for each of the Watertown and Onondaga locations, as well as outreach centers and satellite locations, will remain the same. However, Robert Griffin, director of the Onondaga SBDC, will lead the combined team of advisors, the New York SBDC said.

The Watertown SBDC director position “had been vacant for several months,” according to McGoldrick. The combination didn’t lead to any layoffs, and the New York SBDC hopes that it may lead to additional staffing growth moving forward, he adds.

“I couldn’t be more thrilled to help lead this effort and drive new opportunities, programming, and possibilities for small business owners across the Central New York region,” Griffin said. “The combined team of advisors from Watertown to Onondaga bring an incredible wealth of experience to the table.”

As of now, the Onondaga SBDC has five full-time business advisors and one open coordinator position, and the Watertown Outreach Center has two full-time business advisors, McGoldrick tells CNYBJ.

The combined advisory team has more than 250 years of collective business ownership and management experience, with backgrounds ranging from agriculture, manufacturing, human resources, marketing, international trade, energy, retail, and hospitality, among others.

Both the Watertown and Onondaga Small Business Development Centers started in 1986 and, with their combined experience, have served over 70,000 businesses across the region. Those efforts helped the companies invest more than $935 million in the area’s economy and creating or saving over 34,000 jobs, per the announcement.

The combined group of small business advisors will primarily serve Jefferson, Lewis, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oswego, and Seneca counties, the New York SBDC said.

Two CNY firms certified as service-disabled veteran-owned businesses

Regional News, Small Business, Subscriber Only

New York State Office of General Services (OGS) Commissioner Jeanette Moy recently announced that a pair of Central New York businesses were certified as service-disabled veteran-owned businesses (SDVOB). The New York OGS Division of Service-Disabled Veterans’ Business Development (DSDVBD) issued the certification to KW Bradley Associates, LLC, a cybersecurity and drone-services provider in Manlius, and

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Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center adds new Emergency Department PA

Regional News, Subscriber Only

OGDENSBURG — Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center recently announced the addition of Marc Moyer to its Emergency Department team. Moyer is an experienced physician assistant (PA), specializing in emergency medicine in Western New York. He currently works as a solo overnight provider at Olean General Hospital, where he is responsible for the Emergency Department. Moyer has practiced

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3 students win SUNY Potsdam’s latest business-plan contest

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POTSDAM — Three students from SUNY Potsdam’s department of business administration have won the university’s most recent business-plan competition. Edwin Portugal, a professor of business administration at SUNY Potsdam, started the competition in 1993, the school said in its Sept. 8 news release. As part Portugal’s capstone course, “Strategic and Global Management,” 16 students were

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POTSDAM — Three students from SUNY Potsdam’s department of business administration have won the university’s most recent business-plan competition.

Edwin Portugal, a professor of business administration at SUNY Potsdam, started the competition in 1993, the school said in its Sept. 8 news release.

As part Portugal’s capstone course, “Strategic and Global Management,” 16 students were split into five teams that worked to create strategic business plans for products of their choosing. Much like an episode of ABC’s TV show “Shark Tank,” at the end of the course, students pitched their business ideas to faculty and accomplished entrepreneurs in the community.

“The business plans pull together the students’ understanding of accounting, finance, management, marketing, information systems, legal environment of business, human resource management, and operations management,” Portugal said. “Students experience the stimulation of working in teams, the exhilaration of innovative thinking, the excitement of public speaking, and the challenges of coordinating team members’ unique talents.”

The three winning seniors include Caroline LaFountain, Wesley Hall, and Eben Thrasher, who earned top marks for their “CarBage Buddy,” a dual-purpose garbage bag.

“I am so honored to have been a part of this competition. Over the four years at SUNY Potsdam, I’m proud of the progress that I have made in the business administration program,” LaFountain, the team manager, said in the SUNY Potsdam release. “It also meant so much to me to have my father, who is a successful businessman, present at the competition where I was able to show him all my hard work this semester and over the past years. This was an unforgettable experience.”

The teams had to write a business proposal; create a prototype of the product; create a PowerPoint presentation; and make a business pitch to external judges in the hopes of convincing them to invest in their business idea.

The class and competition had a similar impact on Thrasher, a native of Canton in St. Lawrence County.

“This was unforgettable. As an avid watcher of ABC’s ‘Shark Tank,’ I was elated that I got to pitch my product idea in front of the investors,” Thrasher said. “Throughout the semester, through our hard work and dedication, we formed a strong bond that helped us overcome all challenges we faced. I just wanted to give a shout out to my girlfriend, Nicole Peña, who assisted the sewing of the product. Of course, our dog, Cleo, played a role as well as he was the original inspiration for the ‘CarBage Buddy.’”

In addition to the winning team’s stuffed animal that doubles as a trash bag, the other teams’ products included an insulated beverage bag for golfers, a multi-use phone case for college students, a dual-purpose candle for women, and a two-tiered umbrella for active couples.

The judges included David Davin, VP for advancement at SUNY Potsdam; Allen Grant, dean of the School of Education and Professional Studies; Christa Haifley, an associate professor in the department of business administration; Jason LaFountain, the northeast director of Brockway-Smith Company, a $16 billion building materials company where he has worked for 22 years; and Amanda Ledesma, a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Business Administration, SUNY Potsdam said.

Kinney Drugs says it was first to offer OTC Narcan

Health Care, Regional News, Subscriber Only

GOUVERNEUR — At 9 a.m. on Aug. 31, a Kinney Drugs store in Clayton became the first pharmacy in the country to sell Narcan over the counter (OTC). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the Narcan 4 milligram naloxone hydrochloride nasal spray for over-the-counter, non-prescription use, meaning it can be sold directly to

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GOUVERNEUR — At 9 a.m. on Aug. 31, a Kinney Drugs store in Clayton became the first pharmacy in the country to sell Narcan over the counter (OTC).

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the Narcan 4 milligram naloxone hydrochloride nasal spray for over-the-counter, non-prescription use, meaning it can be sold directly to consumers. The medication reverses the effects of an opioid overdose.

“We wanted to be first to the market,” Judy Cowden, Kinney’s senior director of marketing and advertising, says about Narcan. “We wanted that because it makes a statement, a statement that we’re part of the solution.”

According to the FDA, the U.S. had more than 101,750 reported fatal overdoses in the 12 months ending October 2022.

Overdoses happen in a variety of circumstances, Cowden says. Many times, overdoses happen at home when others are around. Not all overdoses are due to illicit use, she points out. They can happen when patients forget they already took their medication and accidentally take another dose. An overdose can also happen when someone else in the home, like a child, and comes across the medication, like an opioid pain patch that isn’t disposed of properly.

Regardless of how an overdose happens, the ability to now have Narcan on hand is a game changer, Cowden says.

“What we’re hoping for is to change the conversation so that people look at having Narcan in your first-aid kit like having an EpiPen,” she says. Kinney wants to help reduce the stigma that might be associated with having Narcan or associating having it with admitting a weakness or a problem, she says.

“If you take prescription opioids, you should have this in your medicine cabinet,” Cowden says.

Prescription opioids include oxycodone (brand names OxyContin and Percocet), hydrocodone (brand name Vicodin), codeine, morphine, fentanyl, methadone, hydromorphone, and buprenorphine, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Narcan is a nasal spray that blocks the opioid receptors in the body to combat an overdose, she says. “You don’t need special training to do it.” The medication has no impact on a person if there are no opioids in their system, she added.

“You can’t hurt them if they aren’t overdosing,” Cowden says. “You can only help them if they are.”

Sold in a two-dose package for $44.99, the medication is available on the shelves at Kinney. It isn’t behind the pharmacy counter, nor it is kept in a locked case. Sold in hot pink packaging, the box does include a security tag that must be deactivated at the register. This was a deliberate decision on Kinney’s part, Cowden says, to make the medication as accessible as possible. It’s also available via Instacart where the third-party shopping service is offered.

From the first sale taking place the moment it became available on Aug. 31, to continuing daily sales, the need for the product is apparent, Cowden says.

“We have sales every single day, and we’re encouraged by that,” she says.

Employee-owned Kinney Drugs, which is headquartered in Gouverneur, operates 96 stores in New York and Vermont. It is part of KPH Healthcare Services, which also includes Health Direct Institutional Pharmacy Services, which serves long-term care and alternative care needs; ProAct, Inc., a pharmacy benefit-management company; and Noble Health Services, a specialty pharmacy dispensing medications for complex and chronic diseases. The company also includes Aristacare, an infusion-therapy pharmacy; HomeLife, which provides specialized nursing support for in-home infusion services; and Kinney Homecare, a durable medical-equipment company.

Venture capital firm opens upstate office in CenterState CEO’s Tech Garden

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Employee Benefits & Human Resources, Insurance & Financial Services, New York News, Regional News, Technology

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — New York City–based ff Venture Capital (ffVC) has opened an upstate New York office within CenterState CEO’s Tech Garden in downtown Syracuse,

SMALL BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT: Northland Communications pursues plans for growth

Regional News, Small Business, Subscriber Only, Technology

HOLLAND PATENT, N.Y. — Northland Communications may be based in a small town, but the company has an ambitious growth plan that is anything but small town. The company, which got its start as Oneida County Rural Telephone in 1904, is all about connections — from the internet and voice solutions it provides to the

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HOLLAND PATENT, N.Y. — Northland Communications may be based in a small town, but the company has an ambitious growth plan that is anything but small town.

The company, which got its start as Oneida County Rural Telephone in 1904, is all about connections — from the internet and voice solutions it provides to the relationships with its employees and customers.

And Northland President James McCarthy is betting on those connections to help the company grow.

With current revenue of $28 million, McCarthy hopes to double that figure over the next decade. “We have to grow in a way where not only Northland wins, but our customers and employees do, too,” he adds.

To ensure that happens, Northland has been making key investments, including adding 15 new employees over the last 18 months. That’s no small feat for a company with an average employee tenure of about 14 years.

Those new team members joined the business at all levels and bring outside experience and perspective to Northland. They have brought new ideas that led to some operational improvements, McCarthy says, and have been fortunate to learn the ropes from seasoned employees.

The investments in the team have resulted in some significant improvements in both the number of tickets the company has open at any given time and in the response time to those tickets. Both figures have decreased by about 50 percent, McCarthy says.

That means when tickets do come in for issues, Northland’s employees can take more time to handle the ticket because they don’t have so many other tickets waiting for them. “We can go deeper and make sure we resolve it right the first time,” McCarthy says. This change benefits both customers and employees, he adds.

Most of Northland’s 4,500 customers have been with the company for years. More than 100 have been with it for 40 or more years. Nearly 500 have been Northland customers for at least 30 years, and just over 1,000 have been with the company for 20 years.

“Those customers have had choice for as long as they’ve been with us,” McCarthy notes. It’s his job to make sure they continue choosing Northland.

With just over 1,000 small telephone companies like Northland left in the U.S., it can be hard for the little guys to compete with telecommunication giants. Northland competes by sticking to its core business and providing quality service, McCarthy says.

“We’re not trying to be everything to everyone,” he says. “We feel as a result of being local, we can provide better service.”

Northland owns and operates 1,169 miles of fiber-optic cable, a number that is expanding, and is able to control service from end to end because of that, he says. In a time when traditional telephone companies have lost about 50 percent of their customers as more people switch from landlines to cell phones, Northland’s parent company, Oneida County Rural Telephone, has converted about 50 percent of its original lines to fiber, allowing it to maintain customers for internet service.

“I think we have opportunity on our existing fiber-optic network to gain more market share,” McCarthy says.

Some growth will come as Northland adds 60 miles of fiber in rural Herkimer, Fulton, and Montgomery counties under a National Telecommunications and Information Administration Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Grant Program to bring broadband internet to underserved areas.

McCarthy’s also planning on growth from Northland’s new hosted voice product, which the company can sell off its own network. The company hired is working on creating a channel network partnering with IT vendors in order to sell the product.

The hosted voice product brings a complete phone service to customers without the expense of buying a traditional phone system, McCarthy explains. It provides all the function without the equipment and allows customers to pay “by the seat” for what they need. Northland has already installed the product for 800 seats for one customer and is in the process of another install of around 300 seats.

Finally, McCarthy expects Northland’s contact center application, which gives more functionality for clients to interface with customers through a variety of channels, to spur growth.

“Our growth strategy is around our customer-experience strategy,” McCarthy says. And that goes back to the employee experience.

“It’s more than just being nice to your employees,” he says. “We have to put them in a position to be successful.”

SMALL BIZ SNAPSHOT
– Company: Northland Communications
– President: James McCarthy
– Locations: 9560 Main St., Holland Patent
1 Dupli Park Drive, Syracuse
– Revenue: $28 million
– Employees: 125

OPINION: Recession soon? Unemployment jumps in the latest month

Opinion, Subscriber Only

The national unemployment rate reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) rose from 3.5 percent to 3.8 percent in August as an additional 514,000 Americans said they could not find work in the BLS’s household survey. Now 6.3 million Americans are said to be unemployed, the highest in more than a year. But

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But it did not come with a commensurate drop in the number of Americans saying they were working, which increased by 222,000 to 161.48 million.

Instead, it came amid a 736,000 increase in the civilian labor force, which included a 525,000 decrease in the number of Americans not in the labor force and a 211,000 increase in the non-institutional civilian population.

This represents Americans entering the labor force, either from the sidelines or for the first time, but being unable to find a job.

The news comes amid another drop in the number of job openings by 338,000 in July to 8.8 million, a 26.6 percent decrease from its 12 million peak in March 2022. That usually happens during economic slowdowns or recessions, and is associated with increases in unemployment, which is what we’re seeing now.

Other troubling signs include the annual growth of consumer credit that peaked at 9.95 percent in April 2022, dropping to 7.8 percent annualized by December 2022 and then falling to 5.7 percent in June 2023. This indicates Americans have maxed out their credit after the rampant inflation of 2021 and 2022 and are now slowing down spending to catch up on their bills. The economy overheated and so did household budgets.

The slowdown in credit accumulation has also coincided with the slowdown of annualized inflation, which peaked at 9.1 percent in June 2022 but now has slowed down to 3.2 percent in July. The July number is actually bouncing off the recent low of 3 percent in June, and so the Federal Reserve is still considering additional interest-rate hikes, which should further choke credit accumulation until inflation is normalized.

That usually means a recession, despite President Joe Biden’s hopes that it will not come to that.

On that count, the Federal Reserve is still placing a “significant probability of a recession occurring by the end of 2024,” according to the minutes of its July 25-26 meeting of the Board of Governors that was released Aug. 16.

“Respondents to the Open Market Desk’s Survey of Primary Dealers and Survey of Market Participants in July continued to place significant probability of a recession occurring by the end of 2024. However, the timing of a recession expected by survey respondents was again pushed later, and the probability of avoiding a recession through 2024 grew noticeably.”

That is slightly more optimistic than in June when the Fed had projected that “the effects of the expected further tightening in bank credit conditions, amid already tight financial conditions, would lead to a mild recession starting later this year, followed by a moderately paced recovery. Real GDP was projected to decelerate in the current quarter and the next one before declining modestly in both the fourth quarter of this year and first quarter of next year.”

The Fed in June projected unemployment to keep rising steadily to 4.1 percent this year and up to 4.5 percent in 2024, an implied 1.3 million jobs lost between then and now. Now, with unemployment at 3.8 percent, it is possible that its projection is coming true. Peak employment might be about to sunset, and with it, so too might President Biden’s reelection hopes.

Robert Romano is the VP of public policy at Americans for Limited Government (ALG). The organization says it is a “non-partisan, nationwide network committed to advancing free-market reforms, private-property rights, and core American liberties.”

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