By Christine Graf
Linda Brown of Spire Business, Inc. never set out to start her own business. She had a successful career in money management and financial planning when she took a maternity leave in 2002.
While on leave, a CPA asked her if she could help some of his clients with QuickBooks.
“I never went back to corporate America,” she said. “As a financial planner, you work 70 hours a week and I really didn’t want to do that.”
The Adirondack Thunder hockey team, ECHL affiliate of the New Jersey Devils playing at Cool Insuring Arena, has donated $17,950 to Special Olympics.
The donation came from the post-game jersey auction after a Law Enforcement Appreciation night at Cool Insuring Arena. This amount is the largest donation in Adirondack Thunder history. The specialty jerseys were purchased and donated by the Sheriff’s Offices of Washington, Saratoga and Rensselaer counties.
Conor Riley’s Law Enforcement Appreciation jersey sold for a team-high $1,500 in the auction, while captain James Henry’s and goaltender Alex Sakellaropoulos’ jerseys also topped the four-digit plateau.
By Susan E. Campbell
Washington County is on a trajectory for continued low unemployment and healthy economic growth in 2019. The Washington County Local Development Corp. will cross the $18 million mark in loans since the public entity began in 1985, officials said.
“Things are going well for us,” said Deanna Derway, WCLDC president and executive director. Since 2015, we’ve approved over $750,000 in loan funding each year and we continue to see an increase in loan applications presented to us annually.”
By R.J. DeLuke
EDC Warren County is the key driver of economic development efforts in the Glens Falls area and as such, its staff is always busy.
Toward the top of the tasks this time of year is giving businesses and municipalities in the county assistance with application process for the annual Capital Region Economic Development Council grant awards. The state doles out millions statewide through its Consolidated Funding by New York State program. The funding helps many economic development projects in the area—for businesses and municipalities. The applications are competitive, so interested parties must submit compelling information. In the first eight rounds of the state money competition, New York has given out $6.1 billion to 10 regions. The Capital Region, that includes Warren and Washington counties, has received $588.9 million for 813 projects over the past eight years. Last year, the counties raked in about $9.8 million.
By Greg Hitchcock
Warren and Washington counties are benefiting from the economic growth in the region spearheaded by Saratoga County. The growth is continuing in 2019, according to the Center for Economic Growth.
According to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce, 17 counties in New York state had employment gains from June 2017 to June 2018 with Saratoga County having the largest gain up 2.7 percent.
“All three counties have grown their private sector over the last five years with GlobalFoundries kicking off this growth,” said Andrew Kennedy, president and chief executive officer of the Center for Economic Growth, an economic and business development agency serving as a primary point of contact for businesses interested in growing in or moving to the Capital Region.
A regional economic initiative to bring biomedical innovations to market was awarded a $250,000 economic development grant from National Grid.
The Biomedical Acceleration and Commercialization Center (BACC) at Albany Medical College received a grant from National Grid to provide direct financial assistance to BACC biomedical start-up companies for commercialization needs and access to experts. It will also help support the BACC’s entrepreneurs in the arenas of clinical trials, prototype development, marketing and hiring consultants for regulatory needs, officials said.
By Susan E. Campbell
Amberly Bucci is a businesswoman who wants others to know that they, too, can turn their life’s passion into profit.
“For myself, I combined my passion for travel, digital marketing and teaching, and fused them together to create a career that I love: digital marketing with a focus on the hospitality industry,” Bucci said.
Last fall she officially formed Amberly Bucci LLC, a move she said was “long overdue.” After only a few months, the feedback she is getting utilizing digital marketing expertise is “exciting.”
BNI Pathfinders Chapter in Queensbury was recognized for passing $1,033,500 in business in 2018.
The ceremony took place at the Hyatt Place in Malta during International Networking Week in February. BNI is the world’s largest networking organization. Pathfinders is one of three chapters in the Glens Falls area.
The chapter meets Thursday mornings from 7 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. at the StoredTech Collaboration Center to exchange referrals with other members. BNI members form a team of referral partners who help each other grow their businesses.