Spotlighting Central New York’s Top 100 Corporations

In this week’s Central New York Business Journal, we feature and list the Top 100 Corporations, ranked by the total number of Central New York employees. As a shortened, spin-off version of past years’ Business Journal 500, this special publication focuses on the largest private-sector corporations in our 16-county region. Collectively, these 101 businesses (it’s 101 companies due to ties) employ nearly 6 million people worldwide, including about 97,000 in CNY alone.

The Top 100 Corporations report includes all employees working and offices located in Broome, Cayuga, Chemung, Chenango, Cortland, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego, St. Lawrence, Seneca, Tioga, and Tompkins counties. Of those in the Top 100, about 40 of the companies are headquartered in CNY. Look for the [SYMBOL] that indicates which ones are homegrown. About half of the companies on the list are publically traded, while the other half are privately held.

Much time and effort go into compiling the data that you see in this special publication. It’s not a quick, easy task. To identify the companies that rank among the Top 100, the research department conducts a thorough analysis of available data. Though the list is primarily based on data from surveys the companies completed and submitted to The Business Journal, we also gathered information from local chambers of commerce, industrial-development agencies, and other news sources, when necessary.

The methodology is designed to make a fair comparison among companies operating in a wide range of industries across the region. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the data in this publication.

Additionally, this list includes several companies that have never appeared on any previous Top Ranks lists or in the Business Journal 500, making it a more comprehensive snapshot of the region’s employers and indeed, its economy. On the following pages, you’ll also find brief write-ups on some of the news the Top 100 companies have been making, as compiled by the editorial staff.

Many thanks to the local companies and organizations for supporting and providing the information for this publication. I hope you will find this new Top 100 Corporations special publication to be a valuable resource.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BJNN 100 #1

Wegmans Food Markets, Inc.
CNY employees: 5,497
Wegmans was recently named one of “America’s Best Companies to Work for” by the online financial news and opinion website, 24/7 Wall Street. The Rochester–based supermarket chain, with 84 stores across six states, ranked number 46 in the nation. 24/7 Wall Street identified the top 75 companies to work for in the U.S., based on company ratings provided by current and former employees to the website Glassdoor.com.

“Wegmans has a long history of taking a unique approach to supermarket retail. The company has been repeatedly honored for hiring workers with disabilities. Additionally, Wegmans operates a culinary innovation center where chefs conduct research and development for the grocer. Employees, too, clearly endorse the company’s strategies, with 89 percent approving of CEO Danny Wegman,” 24/7 Wall Street wrote in its ranking report.

Wegmans operates supermarkets in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, and Massachusetts. The company will reach its 100th anniversary in 2016.  

BJNN 100 #2
Oneida Indian Nation Enterprises
CNY Employees: 4,500
Included among the Oneida Nation’s many business enterprises are the Turning Stone Resort’s three championship golf courses. The Professional Golfers Association (PGA) of America has picked Turning Stone to host the 49th PGA Professional National Championship in 2016, 10 years after it first put on the event.

The PGA Professional National Championship is a tournament for golf-club professionals and golf teachers who are members of the PGA of America.

The 312-player championship, previously hosted by Turning Stone Resort in 2006, will be played June 26-29, 2016, according to the PGA. Atunyote Golf Club and the Shenendoah Golf Club are the two resort courses that will be used for the tournament.

“We look forward to showcasing our world-class destination resort and challenging courses for the PGA Professionals who will compete here for the 2016 Championship,” Ray Halbritter, Oneida Nation Representative and Nation Enterprises CEO, said in a news release. 

BJNN 100 #4 (tie)
Walmart
CNY Employees: 4,000 (BJNN estimate)
The global discount retailer Walmart operates about two dozen stores and a distribution center in our region.

The company formally opened its new Walmart Supercenter in Clay in early June. The new 152,000-square-foot store is situated at 8770 Dell Center Drive, next door to Walmart’s previous smaller store at 2949 Route 31, which was about 115,000 square feet.

The newly relocated store employs about 300 people total, an increase of about 85 jobs over the prior location. The new Walmart is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and offers a full line of groceries, including organic/natural food, a bakery, and self-serve deli. It also provides pharmacy services.

Holding company Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) says more than 245 million customers and members visit its 11,302 stores under 71 banners in 27 countries and e-commerce websites in 10 countries. With fiscal-year 2014 sales exceeding $473 billion, the company employs more than 2 million people worldwide.

BJNN 100 #17 (tie)
Welch Allyn
CNY Employees: 1,300
Welch Allyn, Inc., a global medical-diagnostic-device company headquartered in Skaneateles Falls, in June announced the acquisition of certain assets from PediaVision Holdings, LLC, based in Lake Mary, Fla.

The transaction included the corporate name, customer list, and a new generation of vision-assessment technology marketed under the brand name “SPOT.”

“SPOT is a fast, portable, easy-to-use binocular-vision device designed to screen for refractive error,” says Richard M. Farchione, Welch Allyn’s senior global category manager.

Stephen F. Meyer, Welch Allyn’s president and CEO says, “PediaVision is a good fit for us. It offers Welch Allyn an opportunity to not only expand the company’s current vision-screening technology [such as the SureSight, the Vision Screener, and the Autorefractor] but also to offer our customers a more expanded suite of early detection solutions for health care. We have the global distribution reach to take SPOT to the next level.” Welch Allyn expects to rebrand the product later this year.

BJNN 100 #34 (tie)
ITT Goulds Pumps
CNY Employees: 900
ITT Goulds Pumps, a unit of ITT Corp. (NYSE: ITT), on Aug. 4 formally unveiled a new $22 million test and production facility at its corporate campus in Seneca Falls. The expansion project added 75,000 square feet of manufacturing space and 50 new jobs. The facility will fill an increase in market demand for highly engineered pump products used in the oil, gas, and mining industries. ITT Goulds Pumps hired VIP Structures of Syracuse to design and build the structure.

Before completing the test and production center, ITT Goulds Pumps began with an expansion of its research and development facility that wrapped up at the end of 2013. That project added new space to house more engineers at ITT Goulds Pumps. All told, the company’s expansion efforts totaled $27 million.

BJNN 100 #45 (tie)
Community Bank, N.A.
CNY Employees: 700
Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE: CBU), parent of Community Bank, N.A., reported net income of $45.9 million in the first half of 2014, up from $41.4 million in the first six months of 2013. Earnings per share rose almost 9 percent to $1.11 in this year’s first half from $1.02 in the year-ago period.

On July 16, Community Bank System boosted its quarterly cash dividend by 7 percent to 30 cents a share from the 28 cents it paid in each of the four prior quarters. This marks the company’s 22nd consecutive year of increased dividend payouts to shareholders. 

The banking company operates more than 190 branches across upstate New York and northeastern Pennsylvania. With assets of about $7.5 billion, DeWitt–based Community Bank System says it ranks among the nation’s 100 largest financial institutions.

BJNN 100 #71
POMCO Group
CNY Employees: 441
POMCO Group, a Syracuse–based third-party administrator of self-funded health-care and risk-management plans, has added 65 new employees at its corporate headquarters as it administers a new plan offered through the Affordable Care Act.

The employee growth is to accommodate the “continual rapid growth of the company’s plan membership” due to the impact of Health Republic Insurance of New York (HRINY), the Affordable Care Act’s consumer operated and oriented plan (CO-OP), according to POMCO.

CO-OPs are private, member-governed, health-insurance companies that are forming nationwide as part of the Affordable Care Act.

The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services used $174 million in no-interest and low-interest loans to launch the New York CO-OP. The Brooklyn–based Freelancers Union, a national nonprofit organization that serves independent workers and has 170,000 members, is sponsoring the CO-OP.

Freelancers Union was also responsible for choosing POMCO to administer the CO-OP’s benefits.

HRINY is one of 23 CO-OPs nationally and offers health benefits for both individuals and small businesses, POMCO said.

POMCO Group partnered with HRINY at the start of 2014 to serve as its claims administrator, customer-service call center, and medical-management provider. POMCO’s partnership with HRINY is the “largest factor” behind the firm’s need to recruit additional people, the firm said.

POMCO, headquartered at 2425 James St. in the Eastwood section of Syracuse, has hired more than 150 new employees since the beginning of 2013.

BJNN 100 #82 (tie)
First Niagara Financial Group
CNY Employees: 400
First Niagara Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: FNFG) generated substantial loan growth in the second quarter across its various product lines and markets, the banking company reported on July 25.

The Buffalo–based parent company of First Niagara Bank N.A. said average total loans increased 7 percent annualized in the second quarter from the first quarter, driven by continued growth in the company’s commercial lending, indirect auto, and home-equity portfolios, its earnings report stated.

Average commercial loans, which include commercial business and commercial real-estate loans, increased to $13.5 billion in the latest quarter, up 8 percent annualized from the previous quarter.

First Niagara is the fourth largest bank in the 16-county Central New York market ranked by deposit market share.

First Niagara says it is a multi-state community-oriented bank with about 410 branches, $39 billion in assets, $27 billion in deposits, and 5,900 employees serving New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. 

BJNN 100 #92
KeyBank
CNY Employees: 375
KeyBank is the second largest bank in the 16-county Central New York market ranked by deposit market share, with more than a 10 percent share of total deposits, according to the latest FDIC data available.

The bank’s holding company KeyCorp. (NYSE: KEY) recently reported that net income from continuing operations totaled $474 million, or 53 cents a share, in the first half of 2014. That’s up from $389 million, or 42 cents per share, in the first six months of 2013.

Contact Collins at ncollins@cnybj.com

In this week’s Central New York Business Journal, we feature and list the Top 100 Corporations, ranked by the total number of Central New York employees. As a shortened, spin-off version of past years’ Business Journal 500, this special publication focuses on the largest private-sector corporations in our 16-county region. Collectively, these 101 businesses (it’s 101 companies due to ties) employ nearly 6 million people worldwide, including about 97,000 in CNY alone.

The Top 100 Corporations report includes all employees working and offices located in Broome, Cayuga, Chemung, Chenango, Cortland, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego, St. Lawrence, Seneca, Tioga, and Tompkins counties. Of those in the Top 100, about 40 of the companies are headquartered in CNY. Look for the [SYMBOL] that indicates which ones are homegrown. About half of the companies on the list are publically traded, while the other half are privately held.

Much time and effort go into compiling the data that you see in this special publication. It’s not a quick, easy task. To identify the companies that rank among the Top 100, the research department conducts a thorough analysis of available data. Though the list is primarily based on data from surveys the companies completed and submitted to The Business Journal, we also gathered information from local chambers of commerce, industrial-development agencies, and other news sources, when necessary.

The methodology is designed to make a fair comparison among companies operating in a wide range of industries across the region. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the data in this publication.

Additionally, this list includes several companies that have never appeared on any previous Top Ranks lists or in the Business Journal 500, making it a more comprehensive snapshot of the region’s employers and indeed, its economy. On the following pages, you’ll also find brief write-ups on some of the news the Top 100 companies have been making, as compiled by the editorial staff.

Many thanks to the local companies and organizations for supporting and providing the information for this publication. I hope you will find this new Top 100 Corporations special publication to be a valuable resource.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BJNN 100 #1

Wegmans Food Markets, Inc.
CNY employees: 5,497
Wegmans was recently named one of “America’s Best Companies to Work for” by the online financial news and opinion website, 24/7 Wall Street. The Rochester–based supermarket chain, with 84 stores across six states, ranked number 46 in the nation. 24/7 Wall Street identified the top 75 companies to work for in the U.S., based on company ratings provided by current and former employees to the website Glassdoor.com.

“Wegmans has a long history of taking a unique approach to supermarket retail. The company has been repeatedly honored for hiring workers with disabilities. Additionally, Wegmans operates a culinary innovation center where chefs conduct research and development for the grocer. Employees, too, clearly endorse the company’s strategies, with 89 percent approving of CEO Danny Wegman,” 24/7 Wall Street wrote in its ranking report.

Wegmans operates supermarkets in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, and Massachusetts. The company will reach its 100th anniversary in 2016.  

BJNN 100 #2
Oneida Indian Nation Enterprises
CNY Employees: 4,500
Included among the Oneida Nation’s many business enterprises are the Turning Stone Resort’s three championship golf courses. The Professional Golfers Association (PGA) of America has picked Turning Stone to host the 49th PGA Professional National Championship in 2016, 10 years after it first put on the event.

The PGA Professional National Championship is a tournament for golf-club professionals and golf teachers who are members of the PGA of America.

The 312-player championship, previously hosted by Turning Stone Resort in 2006, will be played June 26-29, 2016, according to the PGA. Atunyote Golf Club and the Shenendoah Golf Club are the two resort courses that will be used for the tournament.

“We look forward to showcasing our world-class destination resort and challenging courses for the PGA Professionals who will compete here for the 2016 Championship,” Ray Halbritter, Oneida Nation Representative and Nation Enterprises CEO, said in a news release. 

BJNN 100 #4 (tie)
Walmart
CNY Employees: 4,000 (BJNN estimate)
The global discount retailer Walmart operates about two dozen stores and a distribution center in our region.

The company formally opened its new Walmart Supercenter in Clay in early June. The new 152,000-square-foot store is situated at 8770 Dell Center Drive, next door to Walmart’s previous smaller store at 2949 Route 31, which was about 115,000 square feet.

The newly relocated store employs about 300 people total, an increase of about 85 jobs over the prior location. The new Walmart is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and offers a full line of groceries, including organic/natural food, a bakery, and self-serve deli. It also provides pharmacy services.

Holding company Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) says more than 245 million customers and members visit its 11,302 stores under 71 banners in 27 countries and e-commerce websites in 10 countries. With fiscal-year 2014 sales exceeding $473 billion, the company employs more than 2 million people worldwide.

BJNN 100 #17 (tie)
Welch Allyn
CNY Employees: 1,300
Welch Allyn, Inc., a global medical-diagnostic-device company headquartered in Skaneateles Falls, in June announced the acquisition of certain assets from PediaVision Holdings, LLC, based in Lake Mary, Fla.

The transaction included the corporate name, customer list, and a new generation of vision-assessment technology marketed under the brand name “SPOT.”

“SPOT is a fast, portable, easy-to-use binocular-vision device designed to screen for refractive error,” says Richard M. Farchione, Welch Allyn’s senior global category manager.

Stephen F. Meyer, Welch Allyn’s president and CEO says, “PediaVision is a good fit for us. It offers Welch Allyn an opportunity to not only expand the company’s current vision-screening technology [such as the SureSight, the Vision Screener, and the Autorefractor] but also to offer our customers a more expanded suite of early detection solutions for health care. We have the global distribution reach to take SPOT to the next level.” Welch Allyn expects to rebrand the product later this year.

BJNN 100 #34 (tie)
ITT Goulds Pumps
CNY Employees: 900
ITT Goulds Pumps, a unit of ITT Corp. (NYSE: ITT), on Aug. 4 formally unveiled a new $22 million test and production facility at its corporate campus in Seneca Falls. The expansion project added 75,000 square feet of manufacturing space and 50 new jobs. The facility will fill an increase in market demand for highly engineered pump products used in the oil, gas, and mining industries. ITT Goulds Pumps hired VIP Structures of Syracuse to design and build the structure.

Before completing the test and production center, ITT Goulds Pumps began with an expansion of its research and development facility that wrapped up at the end of 2013. That project added new space to house more engineers at ITT Goulds Pumps. All told, the company’s expansion efforts totaled $27 million.

BJNN 100 #45 (tie)
Community Bank, N.A.
CNY Employees: 700
Community Bank System, Inc. (NYSE: CBU), parent of Community Bank, N.A., reported net income of $45.9 million in the first half of 2014, up from $41.4 million in the first six months of 2013. Earnings per share rose almost 9 percent to $1.11 in this year’s first half from $1.02 in the year-ago period.

On July 16, Community Bank System boosted its quarterly cash dividend by 7 percent to 30 cents a share from the 28 cents it paid in each of the four prior quarters. This marks the company’s 22nd consecutive year of increased dividend payouts to shareholders. 

The banking company operates more than 190 branches across upstate New York and northeastern Pennsylvania. With assets of about $7.5 billion, DeWitt–based Community Bank System says it ranks among the nation’s 100 largest financial institutions.

BJNN 100 #71
POMCO Group
CNY Employees: 441
POMCO Group, a Syracuse–based third-party administrator of self-funded health-care and risk-management plans, has added 65 new employees at its corporate headquarters as it administers a new plan offered through the Affordable Care Act.

The employee growth is to accommodate the “continual rapid growth of the company’s plan membership” due to the impact of Health Republic Insurance of New York (HRINY), the Affordable Care Act’s consumer operated and oriented plan (CO-OP), according to POMCO.

CO-OPs are private, member-governed, health-insurance companies that are forming nationwide as part of the Affordable Care Act.

The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services used $174 million in no-interest and low-interest loans to launch the New York CO-OP. The Brooklyn–based Freelancers Union, a national nonprofit organization that serves independent workers and has 170,000 members, is sponsoring the CO-OP.

Freelancers Union was also responsible for choosing POMCO to administer the CO-OP’s benefits.

HRINY is one of 23 CO-OPs nationally and offers health benefits for both individuals and small businesses, POMCO said.

POMCO Group partnered with HRINY at the start of 2014 to serve as its claims administrator, customer-service call center, and medical-management provider. POMCO’s partnership with HRINY is the “largest factor” behind the firm’s need to recruit additional people, the firm said.

POMCO, headquartered at 2425 James St. in the Eastwood section of Syracuse, has hired more than 150 new employees since the beginning of 2013.

BJNN 100 #82 (tie)
First Niagara Financial Group
CNY Employees: 400
First Niagara Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: FNFG) generated substantial loan growth in the second quarter across its various product lines and markets, the banking company reported on July 25.

The Buffalo–based parent company of First Niagara Bank N.A. said average total loans increased 7 percent annualized in the second quarter from the first quarter, driven by continued growth in the company’s commercial lending, indirect auto, and home-equity portfolios, its earnings report stated.

Average commercial loans, which include commercial business and commercial real-estate loans, increased to $13.5 billion in the latest quarter, up 8 percent annualized from the previous quarter.

First Niagara is the fourth largest bank in the 16-county Central New York market ranked by deposit market share.

First Niagara says it is a multi-state community-oriented bank with about 410 branches, $39 billion in assets, $27 billion in deposits, and 5,900 employees serving New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. 

BJNN 100 #92
KeyBank
CNY Employees: 375
KeyBank is the second largest bank in the 16-county Central New York market ranked by deposit market share, with more than a 10 percent share of total deposits, according to the latest FDIC data available.

The bank’s holding company KeyCorp. (NYSE: KEY) recently reported that net income from continuing operations totaled $474 million, or 53 cents a share, in the first half of 2014. That’s up from $389 million, or 42 cents per share, in the first six months of 2013.

Contact Collins at ncollins@cnybj.com