NNY Business April 2015

// Annual family business issue

APRIL 2015 Volume 5 No. 5

***

INTERVIEW Rick Caskinette Caskinette’s Ford p. 40

A Century of service $2.95

/nnybusiness @NNYBusinessMag

Wm. c. brown & son marks 100 years in business // Northern New York’s Premier Business Monthly //

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Inside APRIL 2015

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COVER |

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SMALL BIZ STARTUP |

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16 ALL IN THE FAMILY For three Northern New York family businesses, success means clear communication. |

15 HIT THE RIGHT NOTE A Carthage teacher uses music to help students on the autism spectrum. |

FAMILY BUSINESS |

24 A brotherly Bond Three brothers, brother inlaw, continue the business their parents started in 1972.

AGRIBUSINESS |

27 INDUSTRY ON THE RISE New York’s maple industry holds potential for growth as technology aids production.

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TRANSACTIONS |

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37 TOP HOME SALES Top 10 propert sales in Feb. in Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties totalled $10.01m

BUSINESS SCENE |

54 networking, nny style From Jefferson to St. Lawrence counties, businessmen and women connect for success.

REAL ESTATE |

38 A PASSION-FUELED RUN Realtor Melanie Curley is mastering her second act since diving in 9 years ago. |

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BUSINESS HISTORY |

60 A FAMILY CHEESE EMPIRE In the early the 20th century, F.X. Baumert and Co. was the largest domestic cheese plant.

CONSTRUCTION |

62 NEW WINE, LIQUOR STORE Work on a new home for South Jeff Wine and Liquor continues through spring.

April 2015 | NNY Business

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BusIness

C o n tr i b u t o r s

www.nnybizmag.com

Chairman of the Board John B. Johnson Jr.

Lance M. Evans is executive officer for the Jefferson-Lewis and St. Lawrence County Board of Realtors. He writes about the federal Fair Housing Act. (p. 36)

Bob Gorman is president and CEO of United Way of Northern New York.

He writes about 2-1-1, a non-emergency number that connects residents to services. (p. 43)

Corey Zeigler is CIO for the Fort Drum Regional Health Planning Organization. He writes about improving patient outcomes through health care IT. (p. 44)

Bill Murray is an executive with CITEC, a nonprofit consulting organization in Potsdam.

He and Reg Carter write about executing change with focus. (p. 45)

Publishers

John B. Johnson Harold B. Johnson II

VP News Operations Timothy J. Farkas

Magazine Editor

Kenneth J. Eysaman

Staff Writer / Editorial Assistant Lorna Oppedisano

Graphic Design / Layout Lauren Harrienger

Paul Luck is a principal partner in the Succession Partners, Clayton.

He writes about how unchecked risks in any business can be devastating. (p. 46)

Larry Covell is a professor of business at Jefferson Community College. He explains the importance of maintaining clear shareholder agreements. (p. 47)

Lynn Pietroski is president and CEO of the Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce. She writes about planning for family businesses. (p. 48)

Jay Matteson is the agricultural coordinator for the Jefferson County Industrial Development Corp. He writes about Fort Drum’s impact on the ag sector. (p. 49)

Photography

Norm Johnston, Justin Sorensen, Jason Hunter, Melanie Kimbler-Lago, Amanda Morrison

Director of Advertising Michael Hanson

Magazine Advertising Manager Beth Hornbarger

Advertising Graphics

Brian Mitchell, Rick Gaskin, Heather O’Driscoll, Scott Smith, Todd Soules Jill Van Hoesen is chief information officer for Johnson Newspapers and a 28-year IT veteran. She writes about new products that Microsoft plans to roll out this year. (p. 50)

Jennifer McCluskey is an advisor for the state Small Business Development Center at SUNY Canton. She outlines new marketing strategies. (p. 51)

Norah Machia is a freelance writer and veteran Watertown Daily Times reporter. In this month’s cover story, she writes about three family businesses. (p. 16)

Kris Rusho is a former newspaper journalist and freelancer who lives in Watertown. She writes about a 43-year-old family owned agricultural equipment dealership. (p. 24)

MARKETPLACE Adirondack Physical Therapy ....................... 8 Advanced Business Systems ...................... 21 Asian Market ............................................... 33 Avon Shoes ................................................ 33 Bach & Company ....................................... 32 Bay Brokerage ............................................. 64 Blue Seal Feeds .......................................... 35 Bolton’s Pharmacy ...................................... 44 Bradley’s Trophy & Promotion .................... 30 Brownell Abstract Corp. .............................. 32 Bruce M. Wright Conference Center ........... 33 Caskinette’s Ford ........................................ 52 Center for Sight .......................................... 46 CFS Eye Boutiques of NNY ........................ 14 CFS Hearing ............................................... 43 CFS Medispa .............................................. 58 Cheney Tire ................................................ 22 Chiappone’s Tire ......................................... 32 Clayton Dental Office .................................. 25 The Clubhouse Restaurant ......................... 63 Coleman’s Corner ....................................... 63 Community Bank ........................................ 29 Community Bank Wealth Management ........ 4 The Corner Grub ......................................... 63 Cortel Improvement .................................... 39 Creg Systems Corp. ..................................... 8 Crystal Restaurant ...................................... 32 D & D Power Sports ................................... 59 D.L. Calarco Funeral Home .......................... 9 Dr. Guitar .................................................... 35

6 | NNY Business | April 2015

Edd Burns Home Improvements ................. 35 Empire State Development ........................... 7 Fairground Inn ............................................ 63 First Class Auto .......................................... 22 Fort Drum Regional Liaison Organization .... 19 Foy Agency ................................................. 37 Fuccillo Automotive .................................... 20 Fuller Insurance .......................................... 37 Garlocks Design Center .............................. 39 Gerald A. Nortz Jeep, Dodge ...................... 23 Great American ........................................... 32 Guilfoyle Transportation Service ................. 33 Haylor, Freyer & Coon ................................ 51 HD Goodale ................................................ 37 High Tower Advisors .................................. 42 Hospice of Jefferson County ...................... 61 Immaculate Heart Central Schools ............. 61 Ken Piarulli / Ameriprise ............................ 26 Krafft Cleaning Service ............................... 54 Macars ........................................................ 36 Momma’s Kitchen ....................................... 63 Montague Inn ............................................. 23 Netto Fire Equipment .................................. 18 NNY Community Foundation ..................... 31 North Country Urgent Care ......................... 26 Northwestern Mutual .................................... 8 Nortz & Virkler Ford ................................... 20 Number One Speed .................................... 20 Off the Top Lawncare & Landscaping ......... 55 Party Rentals ............................................... 32

Phinney’s Automotive Center ...................... 33 Rainbow International ................................. 25 RBC Wealth Management ........................... 18 Ridge View Lodge ....................................... 25 Robert’s Automotive Sales and Service ...... 32 Schonfield Dental ....................................... 32 The Scrub Hub ........................................... 33 Sea Comm Credit Union ............................ 45 Seaway Sales .............................................. 62 Shorty’s Place ............................................. 63 Shred Con .................................................. 48 Shuler’s Restaurant ..................................... 63 Slack Chemical ........................................... 49 S.T.A.T. Communications ........................... 13 Succession Partners ................................... 12 T.F. Wright & Sons ...................................... 57 Tug Hill Hook & Ladder .............................. 23 Tug Hill Vineyards ...................................... 23 Tuggers Family Restaurant ......................... 23 Tunes 92.5 WBLH Radio ............................. 30 Vandusen Auto Sales .................................. 20 Waite Motorsports ...................................... 50 Waite Toyota ............................................... 56 Waterbury Fine Jewelers ............................ 33 Watertown Daily Times ............................... 47 Watertown Savings Bank .............................. 2 Watertown Spring & Alignment .................. 20 Wratten’s Trailer .......................................... 35 WWTI TV 50 ................................................. 3 Ziebart ......................................................... 20

Circulation Director Mary Sawyer

NNY Business (ISSN 2159-6115), is published monthly by Northern New York Newspaper Corp., 260 Washington St., Watertown, NY 13601, a Johnson Newspaper Corp. company. © 2010-2015. All material submitted to NNY Business becomes property of Northern New York Newspaper Corp., publishers of the Watertown Daily Times, and will not be returned.

Subscription Rates 12 issues are $15 a year and 24 issues are $25 for two years.

Call 315-782-1000 to subscribe.

Submissions Send all editorial correspondence to keysaman@wdt.net Advertising For advertising rates and information in Jefferson and Lewis counties, email bhornbarger@wdt.net, or call 315-661-2325 In St. Lawrence County, e-mail blabrake@ogd.com, or call 315-661-2507 Printed with pride in U.S.A. at Vanguard Printing LLC, Ithaca, N.Y., a Forest Stewardship Certified facility.

Please recycle this magazine.

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INTERVIEW

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ABOUT THE COVER

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40 teaching the next gen Nearly 20 years after Richard D. “Rick” Caskinette bought the former Lofink Ford-Mercury dealership in Carthage, twin sons Jameson and Jess will join older brother Craig in the business. |

COLUMNS

43 44 45 46 47 |

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NONPROFITS TODAY ECONOMICALLY SPEAKING EXECUTIVE CORNER STRATEGIC PLANNING BUSINESS LAW

DEPARTMENTS

8 9 10 12 15

48 49 50 51

COMMERCE CORNER AGRI-BUSINESS BUSINESS TECH BYTES SMALL BUSINESS SUCCESS

36 52 54 60 62

real estate roundup CALENDAR BUSINESS SCENE BUSINESS HISTORY WHAT’S HAPPENING HERE?

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EDITOR’S NOTE PEOPLE ON THE MOVE ECONOMIC SNAPSHOT BUSINESS BRIEFCASE SMALL BIZ STARTUP

For our annual Family Business cover, photography editor Norm Johnston captured William C. Brown &

Son owners Arel B. Brown and wife, Barbara, with Morris the Maytag Cat, in the showroom of their Maytag Home Appliance Center, 5503 Shady Ave., Lowville.

The third-generation family business is celebrating its 100th anniversary. Our cover story by writer Norah Machia about three north country family businesses in different stages of operation begins on page 16.

April 2015 | NNY Business

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EDITO R’S N O T E

Your Integrated Solutions Provider ~ Unified Communications ~ Digital and VoIP Telephone Systems: Shoretel, Toshiba CAT 6 and Fiber Optic Cabling Computer Networking / Routers and Firewalls Cameras / Fire / Security / 24hr. Monitoring SERVICE PLANS

1039 Water St., Watertown

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his month we are excited to deliver our fourth annual Family Business issue. In our cover story, veteran writer Norah Machia visits three north country family businesses that are each at different stages of operation.

In Lewis County, William C. Brown & Son celebrates a century of service this year in the county seat of Lowville. The business that specializes in plumbing, heating and air conditioning service and appliance sales is in its third generaKen Eysaman tion with Arel B. Brown and wife, Barbara, at the helm. In Jefferson County, Norah visits Wratten Trailer Sales, a 56-year-old recreational vehicle dealership started by Al and Lois Wratten in 1959.

Today, Al and Lois’s son James “Jim” Wratten continues the business with sons Robert and James also working full and part time, respectively. And in St, Lawrence County, family members Audrey Roberts, husband, Jake and Audrey’s father, Larry Reece, are collaborating to open Maple Rock Bed and Breakfast in Potsdam. Norah’s story begins on page 16.

Walldroff Farm Equipment is another decades-old family business we feature this month. Writer Kris Rusho talks with brothers Marcus, David and Wendall Walldroff and brother-in-law Dave Schryver, who keep the agricultural farm equipment dealership their parents started in 1972 running. The feature begins on page 24.

Also this month, magazine staff writer Lorna Oppedisano examines the future of New York’s maple industry in the north country as production climbs and producers integrate better technology into their sugar shacks.

20 QUESTIONS — This month we sit down with longtime auto dealer Rick Caskinette, who in 1996 bought the former Lofink FordMercury in Carthage. Nearly 20 years later, Rick’s son, Craig, and twin boys Jameson and Jess are in various stages of learning the business. Craig, 30, is a fixture on the sales floor while his twin brothers will join the business full-time after they graduate from SUNY Oswego next month. In a wide-ranging conversation, we talk with Rick about what it’s like to work with his children. Our interview with him begins on page 40.

BUSINESS SCENE — This month’s Scene section, which begins on page 54, features 53 faces from nearly four dozen businesses and organizations from across the north country.

On March 5, we joined the Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce at Savory Downtown, Watertown, for the annual Business of the Year luncheon.

On March 10, we joined the SUNY Canton Small Business Development Center for its Women’s Business Bootcamp luncheon at the Richard W. Miller Campus Center. On March 18, we joined the Greater WatertownNorth Country Chamber of Commerce at the 1000 Islands Harbor Hotel, Clayton, for March Business After Hours. On March 20, we joined the Women’s Council of Realtors Tri-County NY Chapter for its annual leadership luncheon at Watertown’s Italian American Civic Association.

Finally, on March 25, we joined the St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce at Parker Maple Farms, Canton, for the March Business Spotlight.

As always, if you have any questions, comments or general feedback, please contact me at keysaman@wdt.net or 661-2399.

Yours in business,

BRIAN BOUTILIER, M.P.T.

18564 US Route 11, Suite #6, Watertown, NY 13601 (315) 779-1059

Medical School: U.S. Army Baylor US Army Major (Ret.) a former Chief of Physical Therapy at Fort Drum Specialty: Manual Medicine, Trigger Point Therapy, Back, Neck & Shoulder Pain Length in Practice: 22 years 8 | NNY Business | April 2015

P E O P L E O N T H E M O VE

SLU professor named to research fellowship

Cynthia Bansak, associate professor of economics, has been named a research fellow at Germany’s Institute for the Study of Labor. She earned a bachelor’s in economics from Yale University and a master’s and Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, San Diego.

Before she joined St. Lawrence University in 2007, Ms. Bansak was an assistant professor at San Diego State University and an economist at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

Ms. Bansak is an applied microeconomist with research interests in labor economics, international immigration, remittances, educational attainment and business cycles. Her work has been published in various academic journals and she recently co-authored a textbook titled “Economics of Immigration” by Routledge Publishers.

Library trustees appoint new executive director

Yvonne F. Reff, reference librarian and interim executive director of the Roswell P. Flower Memorial Library, Watertown, was recently made permanent executive director by the library board of trustees.

The appointment came about two weeks after former executive director Reff Margaret J. Waggoner abruptly resigned after six months at the library.

Ms. Reff said anyone is invited to call or stop by the library and share ideas for

135 Keyes Avenue, Watertown, New York

315-782-4910

Got business milestones? n Share your business milestones with NNY Business. Email news releases and photos (.jpg/300 dpi) to editor Ken Eysaman at keysaman@wdt.net. The deadline for submissions is the 10th of the month for the following month’s issue. Photos that don’t appear in print may be posted on our Facebook page. how it can improve and meet the needs of the community.

The search for a new reference librarian is still in its initial phase. Information about the position is available on the city of Watertown’s website, citywatertown.org.

St. Lawrence County hires HR director

Paul M. Smith, Syracuse, was recently appointed as St. Lawrence County’s director of human resources. His annual salary is $74,205.

Mr. Smith previously worked as employee relations officer for Onondaga County’s personnel department.

The position became available when Christopher S. Boulio resigned Dec. 15 to take a job in the private sector.

Congresswoman names regional directors, staff

Madeline R. Donovan was recently appointed as regional director at the Watertown office of Rep. Elise M. Stefanik, R-Willsboro.

Ms. Donovan, who graduated from Nazareth College, Rochester, previously served in the Watertown regional office of former Rep. William L. Owens, DPlattsburgh.

Other appointments include Renee Hertz, who will manage Ms. Stefanik’s Plattsburgh office, and Matt Scollin,

another former staffer of Mr. Owens, who will lead Ms. Stefanik’s Glens Falls office.

Watertown resident Mary Jo Richards has also joined Rep. Stefanik’s Jefferson County staff.

Health planning agency names deputy director

The Fort Drum Regional Health Planning Organization recently named Tracy L. Leonard as its deputy director.

Ms. Leonard started with the organization in 2009 and has held several positions, most recently regional care transition manager. In her new role, the Leonard agency said Ms. Leonard will take on additional leadership and other responsibilities.

She is a graduate of Immaculate Heart Central Schools, Jefferson Community College and SUNY Oswego. She is pursuing a master’s degree at SUNY Potsdam.

In 2012, she was named to NNY Business magazine’s annual 20 Under 40 Northern New York Emerging Leaders class.

Named St. Lawrence County attorney

St. Lawrence County Public Defender Stephen D. Button was recently appointed St. Lawrence County attorney.

Mr. Button will earn $100,254 a year for the three-year appointment that runs through Dec. 31, 2018.

Mr. Button started working for St. Lawrence County in July 2009, when he was

Please see PEOPLE, page 14

(315) 782-4910 • 1-800-772-4201 • Fax: (315) 785-8248 www.dlcalarco.com • francee@dlcalarco.com

April 2015 | NNY Business

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Average per-gallon milk price paid to N.Y. dairy farmers February 2015 $1.60 January 2015 $1.80 February 2014 $2.09

23.4%

Source: NYS Department of Agriculture

296,404 in February 2015 340,704 in January 2015 300,348 in February 2014

Average NNY price for gallon of regular unleaded gas

Source: T.I. Bridge Authority, Ogdensburg Bridge & Port Authority, Seaway International Bridge Corp.

February 2015 $2.42 January 2015 $2.55 February 2014 $3.64

U.S.-Canadian dollar exchange rate (Canadian dollars per U.S. dollar)

33.5%

28.3%

12.6%

Source: Federal Reserve Bank of N.Y.

Average NNY price for gallon of residential propane

Nonagriculture jobs in the Jefferson-Lewis-St. Lawrence counties area, not including military positions

February 2015 $2.95 January 2015 $2.84 February 2014 $4.19

89,200 in February 2015 87,000 in January 2015 88,800 in February 2014

30.0%

0.5%

Source: NYS Energy Research and Development Authority

Source: NYS Department of Labor

Jefferson-Lewis Board of Realtors single-family home sales

St. Lawrence Board of Realtors single-family home sales

49, median price $135,000 in February 2015 70, median price $148,450 in January 2015 62, median price $99,500 in February 2014

23, median price $80,000 in February 2015 28, median price $87,500 in January 2015 20, median price $68,000 in February 2014

21.0% Sales

35.7%

15.0%

Price

17.6%

Sales

Source: Jefferson-Lewis Board of Realtors Inc.

Price

Source: St. Lawrence Board of Realtors Inc.

NNY unemployment rates United States

7.0

5.7 January 2015

February 2014

5.8 February 2015

7.5 February 2014

5.8 January 2015

9.4 January 2015

6.4

9.6 February 2015

February 2015

9.3 February 2014

New York State 10.3

8.7 January 2015

Lewis County

8.4

St. Lawrence County

February 2015

9.9

8.8 January 2015

February 2014

8.7

Jefferson County

February 2015

ECON SNAPSHOT

February 2015 $3.02 January 2015 $3.08 February 2014 $4.21

1.3%

$1.25 on Feb. 27, 2015 $1.27 on Jan. 30, 2015 $1.11 on Feb. 28, 2014

Average NNY price for gallon of home heating oil

10 | NNY Business | April 2015

(Percent gains and losses are over 12 months)

Vehicles crossing the Thousand Islands, OgdensburgPrescott and Seaway International (Massena) bridges

February 2014

NNY

Economic indicators

Source: U.S. Department of Labor and New York State Department of Labor (Not seasonally adjusted. Latest available data reported.)

Note: Due to updates in some “Econ. Snapshot� categories, numbers may differ from previously published prior month and year figures.

Economic indicators New automobiles (cars and trucks) registered in Jefferson County Cars 329 in February 2015 309 in January 2015 350 in February 2014

6.0%

Trucks 96 in February 2015 118 in January 2015 83 in February 2014

NNY

15.7%

Source: Jefferson County Clerk’s Office

No airport data

n February passenger totals for Watertown International Airport were unavailable at press time because of a delayed data release

by American Airlines officials.

2,361 in February 2015 2,361 in January 2015 2,201 in February 2014

7.3%

Source: Social Service Depts. of Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties

DBA (doing business under an assumed name) certificates filed at the Jefferson County Clerk’s office Feb. 27 to March 31, 2015. For a complete list of DBAs filed in past months, visit www.nnybizmag.com.

March 31: U Fill I Dump Dumpsters, Room 35552, state Route 37, Theresa, Ronald McConnell, 25559 county Route 136, Theresa. n Bill’s Plowing Service, 26162 Weaver Road, Chaumont, William E. Lawler III, 26162 Weaver Road, Chaumont. n Banks of the River Bakery, 5550 Greig Road, Glenfield, Bethany A. Maxam, 5550 Greig Road, Glenfield. n DD Construction, 313 W. Main St., Watertown, Dan Dalton, 313 W. Main St., Watertown, and Dennis LaJuett, 559 Leray St., Watertown. n Aaron R. Edwards, Attorney at law, 120 Washington St. Suite 340, Watertown, Aaron R. Edwards, 21450B Redwood Lane, Watertown.

March 30: HJS Motorsports, 19770 Overlook Drive, Watertown, John Raymond Schwandner, 19770 Overlook Drive, Watertown. n Premier Detailing and Graphics, 19340 Cade Road, Adams Center, Sandra June Baker, 19340 Cade Road, Adams Center. n Scream and Shout Cheer Bows and Accessories, 503 Wood St., Dexter, Sarah Jane House, 503 Wood St., Dexter.

March 27: Shear Artistry, 17044 county Route 189, Adams, Karen M. Widrick, 17044 county Route 189, Adams. n Draught Works, 17 Bridge St., West Carthage, Jose Ramos and Amiee L. O’Connor, both of 17 Bridge St., West Carthage.

March 26: Furniture Medic By Tim, 26441 state Route 12, Watertown, Timothy J. Nevin, 26441 state Route 12, Watertown. n Z Mowing & More, 36627 Reese Road, Clayton, Zachariah John Yelle, 36627 Reese Road, Clayton.

March 25: About Face Behavioral Health, 32133 state Route 3, Great Bend, Kenneth Charles Price, 32133 state Route 3, Great Bend. n Jaber Enterprises, 19390 Spring St., Adams, Richard F. Roberts, 19390 Spring St., Adams. n Caleb Whiting Music, 271B Franklin St., Watertown, Caleb Lee Whiting, 544A N. Hycliff Drive, Watertown.

March 24: Prospec, 31280 Miller Road, LaFargeville, Scott Ruttan, 31280 Miller Road, LaFargeville. n S & J Automotive, 24619 Gonseth Road Apt. 2, Calcium, Lisa Harding, Shaun Howland and Jason Norquest, all of 24619 Gonseth Road Apt. 2. n Kogut’s Contracting Business, 23031 Spring Valley Drive, Watertown, Nicholas D. and Victor L. Kogut, 23031 Spring Valley Drive, Watertown. n Inspirational Ambitions, 95131B Desoto Drive, Fort Drum, Larry Youngblood, 95131B Desoto Drive, Fort Drum.

March 23: Med Ready Urgent Care, U.S. Route 11, Watertown, Betty J. Richmond, 73 Blind Creek Drive, Sandy Creek.

March 20: Pillowcase Dresses by Delilah, 221 W. Joseph St., Cape Vincent, Stephanie Askins, 221 W. Joseph St., Cape Vincent. n Woodpickers Feather Your Nest, 3649 Woodpecker Lane, Mannsville, Sandra Mills, 3649 Woodpecker Lane, Mannsville. n Jeannie Bleuer, 28395 Pheasant Run, Evans Mills, Jeannie Bleuer, 28395 Pheasant Run, Evans Mills. n Scarlet Moon Audio, P.O. Box 497, Great Bend, Scott P. Beirman 32191 Wilton Road No. 2, Carthage. n Montgomery Flowers, 16288 U.S. Route 11, Watertown, Alexandra Woodruff, Inga Davey, both of 237 E. Main St., Watertown. n Heaven’s Delectables, 30137 state Route 12, Chaumont, Angel Marie DeCilles, 30137 state Route 12, Chaumont.

March 19: Darling Designs, 22469 county Route 3, LaFargeville, Dominique Cappuccetti, 22469 county Route 3, LaFargeville. n Theresa Redemption Co., 36074 county Route 136, Theresa, Lansing Gordon Willix, 36074 county Route 136, Theresa. n Cindersoaps, 19468 Route 12F, P.O. box 451, Brownville, Cindy M. Childers, 19468 route 12F, P.O. box 451, Brownville.

March 18: North Country Churches Alliance, 207 Wealtha Ave. #648A, Watertown, Bradford Kaupuiki, 651 Olive St. Apt. 2, Watertown, Chermark Pettigrew, 207 Wealtha Ave. No. 648A, and Henry Wallace Jr., 19789 Orchard Drive, Watertown. n Adamsdale Farm, 27898 Keyser Road, Evans Mills, Timothy Hyman, 27898 Keyser Road, Evans Mills.

March 17: Tokoua Tshirts, 11641 Iris Ave. #B, Fort Drum, Seti Falei He Filo, 11641 Iris Ave. B, Fort Drum. n Tiny Little Treasures, 317 S. Clinton St., Carthage, Eric Theodore Weber, 317 S. Clinton St., Carthage.

n Double Deuce Tavern, 560 State St., Watertown, Danny Lewis Roberts, 17 Main St., Adams. n Dockside Catering, 29548 Spencer Drive S., Chaumont, Thomas Pierce, 29548 Spencer Drive S., Chaumont. n Kahrs Construction, 43240 Martusewicz Lane, Alexandria Bay, Michael James Kahrs, 43240 Martusewicz Lane, Alexandria Bay. n Petite Blush Photography, 419 Clay St. Apt. 1, Watertown, Karen Elizabeth Fosberg, 419 Clay St. Apt. 1, Watertown. n R Nek A D’Woods Café, 44005 state Route 3, Natural Bridge, Lindsay L. and Timothy L. Woods, 801 Tamarack Drive Apt. A, Carthage. n JB’s Meat Shop, 16 Bridge St., Carthage, John Bushey, 23 Champion St., Carthage.

March 16: Soulshine & Happiness, 332D Quaker Ave., Philadelphia, Morgan Alyssa Edney Joslin, 332D Quaker Ave., Philadelphia.

Eclectic Cuisine, 4 Prospect St., Adams, Robbie Lee Myers, 4 Prospect St., Adams.

March 13: Woody Hollow Farm, 31402 county Route 18, Theresa, Charles R. Warner, 31402 county Route 18, Theresa. n Impact Graphix, 594 W. Main St., Watertown, Jeffrey Rowe, 33187 county Route 143, Carthage, and Jason Gilmore, 24200 Perch Lake Road, Watertown. n Farmhouse Maple, 14685 Bay Breeze Way, Dexter, Tomm L. Maxon, 14685 Bay Breeze Way, Dexter.

March 12: Nicole Regan Photography, 11570A Maple View Place, Fort Drum, Nicole Michelle Regan, 11570A Maple View Place, Fort Drum. n Payne Lane Construction, 26804 Holbrook Road, Evans Mills, Andrew Wren, 26804 Holbrook Road, Evans Mills.

Fults Contracting, 30056 Garderville Road, Evans Mills, Christian Fults, 30056 Garderville Road, Evans Mills.

March 11: O’Donnell’s Towing and Truck Company, 29350 state Route 37, Evans Mills, Patrick E. O’Donnell, 29350 state Route 37, Evans Mills.

March 10: Brittany’s Chik Boutik, 207 Wealtha Ave. Apt. 645A, Watertown, Brittany Marie White Volks, 207 Wealtha Ave. Apt. 645A, Watertown. n TDF Entertainment, 111 Phleps St., Watertown, Robert L. Robinson, 111 Phleps St., Watertown.

March 6: Hikari Aikido, 520 Meade St., Watertown, James Nolan Williams, 8494 state Route 12E, Three Mile Bay. n Meade Street Fitness Studio, 520 Meade St., Watertown, James Nolan Williams, 8494 state Route 12E, Three Mile Bay. n March 6: Joe’s Resorts, 613 Sherman St., Watertown, Joseph Dwayne Coplin, 613 Sherman St., Watertown. n Stephen Matthew Designs, 21819D Oak Point Lane, Watertown, Stephen Matthew Wisniew, 21819D Oak Point Lane, Watertown. n Byrd Nest Photography, 35880 state Route 3, Herrings, Kimberly Byrd, 35880 state Route 3, Herrings. n MJ’s Wae Enterprise, 685 Hazelhurst Ave., Watertown, Joseph Gerstenschlager, 686 Main St., Glen Park, Watertown.

March 5: Confection Connection, 424 S. Massey St., Watertown, Lisa Ann Cluette, 424 S. Massey St., Watertown. n Five and Dime Tattoo, 173 Flower Ave. E., Watertown, Andrew M. Bouvia, 1737 Burns Ave. Apt. B, Watertown. n Angry Cock Hop Yards, 342 E. Broadway, Cape Vincent, Declan Callan, 261 Point St., Cape Vincent, and Michael J. Chavoustie, 342 E. Broadway, Cape Vincent. n Andy’s Odd Job Services, 923 Boyd St., Watertown, Ward D. Anders, 923 Boyd St., Watertown.

March 4: C & D Transport, 23002 Timmerman Road, Dexter, Curt Hewett and Dagmar Hewett, both of 23002 Timmerman Road, Dexter. n CDR Professionals, 119 E. Hoard St., Watertown, Colby Roy and Katie Hennigan, both of 119 E. Hoard St., Watertown.

Evolve Hair Studio, 259 JB Wise Place, Watertown, Janet M. Barnes, 28146 county Route 54, Chaumont. n WT Roberts Restorations, 214 Lorraine St., Mannsville, Wesley Roberts, 214 Lorraine St., Mannsville.

March 2: Aqua Plus, 607 Coffeen St., Watertown, Shawn Collins, 1003 Harrison St., Watertown, and Pamela Whiting, 21521 Fox Ridge Road, Watertown. n Piece Out, 521 Stone St., Watertown, Kirstyn Ojeda, 521 Stone St., Watertown.

Feb. 27: Aerial Arts Fitness, 308 State St., Watertown, Angela Kimberley Chabot, 168 N. Shore Road, Voluntown, Conn. n DJ’s Sharpening Services, 5500 county Route 97, Adams, Dustin James Neil Reed, 5500 county Route 97, Adams.

transactions

DBAs

Open welfare cases in Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties

April 2015 | NNY Business

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BUSINESS BRIEFCASE NONPROFITS

Credo tapped for national tobacco control initiative

Credo Community Center for the Treatment of Addictions was recently chosen as the state’s only organization to participate in the 2015 National Behavioral Health Network’s Tobacco and Cancer Control Community of Practice.

The eight-month initiative is comprised of 10 service providers nationwide seeking to enhance tobacco and cancer control practices for people with mental

illness and addictions. It aims to instill skills that build tobacco-free campuses, implement cancer screenings, utilize tobacco cessation tools and incorporate cancer survivorship into care planning.

Credo selected Jana Parody, clinical care coordinator, as project manager.

Organizations from American Samoa, Colorado, Arizona, Ohio, Connecticut, Kansas, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Maryland will also participate in the network’s latest initiative.

Visit credocommunitycenter.com or BHthechange.org to learn more.

Council funds program

Credo Community Center for the Treatment of Addictions recently received $1,300 from the Northern New York Community Foundation’s Youth Philanthropy Council.

The council reviewed proposals from nonprofits requesting grant funding and chose to support Credo’s Healthy Recovery Connection program.

Healthy Recovery Connection is a 12week comprehensive wellness program aimed at introducing healthy lifestyle choices while also improving health factors. Healthy Recovery Connection also partners with local organizations, like the YMCA, to assist clients in their recovery.

JRC nets $50k grant

The Jefferson Rehabilitation Center received a $50,000 grant from the state Office of Persons with Developmental Disabilities to improve its work training opportunities.

The state funding is a part of an effort to develop service offerings for those with developmental disabilities, providing integrated community settings for work and increasing the number of people competitively employed.

HEALTH CARE

Hospitals net awards

Forty-five upstate hospitals and health centers earned $26 million in quality improvement incentive payments from Excellus BlueCross BlueShield last year as part of the health insurer’s Hospital Performance Incentive Program.

Eight Central New York hospitals participated in the program, including Crouse Hospital, Samaritan Medical Center, St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center and two Upstate University Health System sites.

Launched in 2004, the program evaluates hospitals on more than 247 performance measures. In 2014, hospitals achieved 88 percent of all target quality levels.

Samaritan ranks high in funding program

Samaritan Medical Center’s “performing provider system” application for the state’s new hospital funding program ranks fourth among 25 submitted statewide, according to tentative scores announced by the state.

The Watertown-based providor’s application, which calls for 11 projects to be completed over five years, earned a score of 93.3 for the state’s new payment program. Decided 12 | NNY Business | April 2015

BUSINESS BRIEFCASE by independent assessors, the Department of State released the scores in late February.

The Central New York PPS, which includes Lewis County General Hospital, earned a score of 91.1. The Adirondack Health Institute, which includes Canton-Potsdam and Massena Memorial hospitals, earned a score of 90.8. Massena Memorial is also affiliated with the Samaritan PPS. View PPS application scores online at wdt.me/cruSyJ. AGRIBUSINESS

Economic impact online

The farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program has posted its economic impact report for 2014 projects. The program serves Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties with farmer-selected agricultural research and technical assistance projects.

Twenty-nine NNYADP-funded projects in 2014 included dairy and field crops production research, crop and livestock pest and disease management, agricultural environmental management, beef production and marketing, and fruit and vegetable production.

Visit nnyagdev.org to view a project-byproject breakdown of the impact.

Comptroller reports growth in ag sector

A New York State Comptroller report showed the agriculture industry contributed $37.6 billion to New York’s economy in 2012, up 22 percent from 2007.

The report ranks the state first nationwide for production of a variety of dairy products as of 2012, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2012 Census of Agriculture.

The state ranks third for sales of milk, and it leads the country in production of yogurt, cottage cheese and sour cream. New York is a top 10 producer nationwide of apples, grapes, onions, sweet corn, tomatoes, maple syrup and other fruits and vegetables.

The north country — Jefferson, Lewis, St. Lawrence, Clinton, Essex and Franklin counties — was ranked second in the state for total agricultural sales, behind the Finger Lakes region. The north country was ranked third among regions in farm acreage.

Milk is the state’s largest commodity, with $2.4 billion in sales, followed by grains, peas and beans. The state is ranked second nationally in maple syrup production.

The report shows that about 56,000 New Yorkers operated farms as of 2012, with an additional 61,000 people hired as farm laborers. While sales of agricultural

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commodities and farm acreage climbed from 2007, the number of farms and farmers “declined modestly,” the report states.

The average New York farmer’s age is 55.

EDUCATION

JCC offers new programs

Jefferson Community College announced plans to launch two programs this fall: an energy technology certification program and an associate of applied science degree in agribusiness. Fall classes begin Aug. 31. Students may apply to either program immediately.

The energy technology program is designed to prepare students for entry into the clean energy industry and further enhance knowledge of those in the field.

Upon completion, students can receive the following third-party certificates: National Career Readiness Certificate, Skills USA Energy Industry Employability Skills Certificate and an OSHA 10-hour certificate. Additionally, graduates are eligible to take North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners entry-level examinations in solar heating and photovoltaics.

Contact Steven Porter, energy program director, sporter@sunyjefferson.edu or 786-2508, to learn more.

The agribusiness program is designed to prepare students for entry-level positions in agribusiness-related private businesses and governmental agencies. Emphasis is placed upon operations, marketing, sales and management. The program will offer classroom instruction, laboratory exercises and supervised internships. New courses include “Grow-Prep-Eat: From Farm to Table,” “Northern New York Agriculture,” “Survey of Horticulture Industry Applications,” “Survey of Agri-Business Technologies” and “Marketing and Sales of Agricultural Products.”

The degree is structured for completion in four full-time semesters or across a longer period of part-time study. All required classes are offered on campus and several online.

Contact Alissa Donnell, agribusiness instructor, adonnell@sunyjefferson.edu or 786-2503, to learn more.

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P E OPLE ON THE MOVE People, from page 9 appointed an assistant public defender. In March 2010, he was promoted to chief assistant public defender. In October 2011, he was assigned administrative responsibilities for the public defender’s office. A month later, he was appointed public defender.

Last month, Mr. Button was reappointed to another four-year term as public defender.

A 1997 graduate of Canton Central School District, Mr. Button earned a bachelor’s degree in telecommunications in 2000 and a master’s degree in organizational communications in 2002, both from Baylor University, Waco, Texas. He earned a law degree in 2006 from Western New England University School of Law, Springfield, Mass.

Mr. Button succeeds Michael C. Crowe, Canton, who retired Nov. 30 after serving as county attorney since July 2009.

Joins CAH medical staff

Dr. Walter Dodard recently joined the medical staff at Carthage Area Hospital.

Dr. Dodard will see patients at the hospital’s Women’s Way to Wellness Clinic, 117 N. Mechanic St., Carthage. He will also perform gynecological surgeries at the hospital.

Dr. Dodard comDodard pleted his medical education in 1998 at New York College of Osteopathic Medicine, Old Westbury. In 2003, he completed an obstetrics and gynecology residency at Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center, West Islip, New York.

In 2002, Dr. Dodard completed a Galloway Fellowship in gynecology and oncology at

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York. He completed intense training in infertility and high-risk pregnancies.

Dr. Dodard provides a full range of obstetrics care and advanced non-invasive laparoscopic gynecological surgeries.

Firm adds senior counsel

Lisa A. Christensen, previously of Texas, recently returned to Central New York to join Bond, Schoeneck & King in Syracuse as senior counsel in the employee benefits and executive compensation practice.

Ms. Christensen concentrates her practice in health and welfare benefit Christensen plan administration and compliance with an emphasis on health care reform and HIPAA/HITECH. With an emphasis on Internal Revenue Code, she drafts and reviews executive employment, severance, change of control and top-hat plans. She also deals with federal and state payroll tax reporting and corrections, and state and local tax matters.

New cancer care director

The Center for Cancer Care at CantonPotsdam Hospital has announced the appointment of Mark Serago as director. Mr. Serago succeeds Linda Richards, interim director since October.

Mr. Serago is responsible for administration of cancer care services and will work closely with the cancer care medical team.

He previously served as assistant vice president of oncology services for Mountain States Health Alliance, Johnson City, Tenn., where he oversaw physician recruitment,

staff development and patient services. Mr. Serago has more than 10 years of experience in cancer care service development.

He began his career as a dosimetrist at Baptist Hospital of Miami.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in biology from Penn State, Mr. Serago completed Serago graduate management education in human resource development. He also holds Level II NDT Nuclear Specialist certification.

Attorney garners award

Virginia C. Robbins, a management committee member at the Syracuse law firm of Bond, Schoeneck & King, has earned a “Women Who Make America” award from WCNY for distinguishing herself as a “gamechanger” in the legal field.

Robbins Ms. Robbins is an environmental and energy attorney, and chairwoman of the firm’s environmental and energy practice.

In 2009, she developed the Bond Women’s Initiative, which helps advance the professional development of women inside and outside the firm. Through mentoring programs and regular events, the initiative provides opportunities for collaboration. It also emphasizes recruitment of women for summer clerk and associate positions.

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S mall B usiness startup BUSINESS

Music and Movement for the Extraordinary Child THE INITIAL IDEA

Carthage Middle School music and chorus teacher Theresa M. Lorence was born with passion for music and teaching in her blood. Now that it’s time for retirement — after 31 years of practicing her craft — she has no plans to give up on her calling.

Through her new venture, Music and Movement for the Extraordinary Child, Mrs. Lorence hopes to continue to have a positive impact on others, particularly children on the autism spectrum. In a classroom setting, it can be hard to reach every child. Music and Movement aims to provide that direct interaction through individual lessons.

“For some, they respond so positively to music,” Mrs. Lorence said. “That’s my inspiration: to hopefully give them that outlet, and have a way to help them express themselves through music.”

TARGET CLIENTELE Mrs. Lorence’s main focus is reaching children on the autism spectrum. While she is not a certified therapist, she’s seen the effects of music on her students.

“I’m fascinated with the brain,” she explained. “There’s so much research out there on how music can affect any child.”

Using music as a tool to connect with children is not a new practice. According to a report by the American Music Therapy Association, “music therapy is a particularly important intervention for children with autism spectrum disorders to engage and foster their capacity for flexibility, creativity, variability and tolerance of change.”

Mrs. Lorence began educating herself about autism when her son, now a film and animation student at Rochester Institute of Technology, was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome.

“I’d love to be a resource to other parents and people,” Mrs. Lorence said. “As a parent, we are our child’s advocate.”

THE JOURNEY Music and Movement opened on a small scale last summer. With plans to retire from public education in a year, Mrs. Lorence knew she wanted to get the ball rolling to make the transition as easy as possible.

The idea of crafting one-on-one music and movement lessons began to percolate in her mind a few years ago, when retirement crept into view.

“I love teaching,” Mrs. Lorence said, “but something told me that after this many years, it’s time to move on to something new.”

She toyed with the idea of offering lessons in her home, where she has held traditional guitar lessons in the past, but ultimately decided to open her studio in a building that a former student owns.

Her next step was to determine what she

AMANDA MORRISON | NNY BUSINESS

Theresa Lorence helps student Justin Haffner sing through a song from the musical “Oliver” during a recent session at Music and Movement for the Extraordinary Child, Carthage.

“I’d love to be a resource to other parents and people.

As a parent, we are our child’s advocate.”

— Theresa M. Lorence, owner, Music and Movement for the Extraordinary Child wanted to offer students. Mrs. Lorence said her approach to teaching at Music and Movement isn’t very different from that in her classroom in Carthage. Her lessons include piano, drums, Autoharp, singing, music reading and movement.

“It all it all depends what their sensory issues are,” she explained.

Mrs. Lorence said she often adjusts instruments to better fit each individual lesson plan. She takes strings off guitars, or lays the instrument flat on the child’s lap. She’s open to anything that might help the student.

Mrs. Lorence has taught herself to use technology, like GarageBand and HarmonyWiz, to assist with the lessons.

“I’m a learner, and I learn from the kids,” she said. “And I’ll be continually learning.”

After cementing a business plan, Mrs. Lorence began to mention the new venture to parents of students in her classroom and word spread.

Now she spends two afternoons a week teaching eight students.

The biggest challenge Mrs. Lorence said she faces is not having the time to plan lessons the way she would prefer.

“Not being able to give 100 percent of my focus right now,” she said, adding that should change once summer settles in.

IN FIVE YEARS

Once Mrs. Lorence retires from school, she plans to teach up to 25 children — those on the autism spectrum and traditional students — Monday to Thursday afternoons, with perhaps an occasional Saturday lesson. Lessons are $15 per half hour.

She does get inquiries about adult lessons, which is something she might consider in the future, along with expanding her studio space.

“If it does grow, it would be neat to do some group things with students, especially on the movement piece,” she said. “Perhaps do some recitals.”

Mrs. Lorence said she would also like to form an online community with parents to share what she’s learned from her students.

Once everything is settled, she wants to keep the business to a manageable size. After all, reaching each individual child and helping him or her communicate is one of the most rewarding aspects of Music and Movement, Mrs. Lorence said.

“These kids are so creative. And just to be able to get to see the world through their eyes and how they respond to it, and try to understand that, and just help them feel a part of something,” she said. “I think that’s most important.” ­— Lorna Oppedisano

WHERE 110 S. School St., Carthage | OPENED June 2014 | WEB musicfortheextraordinarychild.com

April 2015 | NNY Business

| 15

COV E R STORY

William C. Brown & Son owners Arel B. Brown and wife, Barbara, in front of their Maytag Home Appliance Center, 5503 Shady Ave., Lowville.

The thirdgeneration family business, which specializes in plumbing, heating and air conditioning service and appliance sales, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

16 | NNY Business | April 2015

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Of the more than five millioN FAMILY businesses operating in the United States, those that have been in the same family for more than 100 years are few and far between, according to an article in USA Today.

A study conducted at Hope College in Holland, Mich., reported the highest percentage of century-old family businesses are in the manufacturing sector, followed by finance and insurance, and then retail, the newspaper article stated.

One of those can be found in Lewis County.

William C. Brown & Son, Lowville, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

The business specializes in plumbing, heating and air conditioning service and appliance sales.

How has it survived so many years?

“We’re reliable and trustworthy,” owner Arel B. Brown said. “We try to

BY NORAH MACHIA | NNY BUSINESS be accommodating and offer customers reasonable pricing.”

The solid reputation of the business has been a key in its long-term survival, because “word gets around quickly in Lowville. It you’re not trustworthy, you’re going to be short-lived,” Mr. Brown said.

The majority of their customers are repeat ones. One customer stopped in the store several weeks ago to surprise Mr. Brown, and his wife, Barbara, with a cake noting the 100th anniversary of the business.

“Arel has built a reputation of being fair,” said his wife, who serves as business manager. “Plumbing and heating can be tricky, and we may need to go back more than once to the customer’s home. Arel goes out of his way to make sure we’re keeping the customers happy.”

The business employs nine people, and

the Browns are proud to point out that the majority of their employees are long-term and dedicated. Two have been there more than 30 years, one for 28 years, one for 22 years, one for 15 years, two for 13 years, one for eight years and one for five years.

“We try to take good care of them,” Mr. Brown said. “We try to do right by them.”

Some of their certified service technicians are so familiar to customers that they have their own following, said Mrs. Brown. Customers often call and ask for particular technicians for service calls.

The business has three departments: service and installation, a plumbing and heating supply store and a home appliance center. The service department and appliance center are located on 5503 Shady Ave., while the supply store is operated just around the corner on Forest Avenue.

April 2015 | NNY Business

| 17

COV E R STORY They serve primarily central Lewis County, and provide service calls for customers who purchase appliances at their store. That’s something to consider before buying an appliance online, Mr. Brown said “A lot of people who buy appliances online don’t think about what will happen down the road” when their appliances need servicing, he said.

To celebrate their 100th year in business, the Browns are sponsoring raffle drawings each month for $100 gift certificates for those who purchase $100 or more in sales or service.

The business was started in 1915 by Mr. Brown’s grandfather, William C. Brown, as a roofing, heating and plumbing business. It was originally started in Beaver Falls, but was relocated of Lowville after a few years in operation.

William Brown’s sons, Arel J. and Gerald Brown, joined the business after World War II. It was just a few years later that William Brown died in 1949 at the age of 60 after falling off a roof while doing construction work.

Gerald Brown decided to relocate to Lyons Falls in 1950 to start his own plumb-

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ing and heating business, so the original company in Lowville continued to be operated by Arel J. Brown. At the time, the company was still offering plumbing, heating and roofing services.

Although Mr. Brown had helped out in his father’s business as a youngster, “I never thought I’d be doing this for a living,” he said.

Instead, he decided to pursue a teaching career. For more than ten years, he taught industrial arts to high school students in the Adirondack Central School District, Boonville.

His brother, Patrick Brown, had joined the family business in 1974. After their father, Arel J. Brown, passed away suddenly in 1978, Mr. Brown left his teaching position in Boonville to help his brother run the family business.

By the early 1980s, “my brother was ready to move on” Mr. Brown said.

Patrick Brown left the family business to pursue his interests in carpentry and boat-building. The business stopped offering roofing services, focusing its attention on expanding its plumbing and heating services.

The retail plumbing and heating supply store was opened in 1982 at the Shady Ave. location, and Maytag laundry appliances were added to their product line. A decade later, the company opened a new supply store in a renovated building just around the corner on Forest Avenue.

The home appliance center was added in 1996 at the Shady Avenue building to include Whirlpool, General Electric, Frigidaire and Speed Queen.

During that time, Mrs. Brown left her position as a vice president in the banking field and joined the family business.

She handles the accounting, payroll and bookkeeping duties and jokes that she is “helped by Morris, our human resources manager.”

Morris is a cat and regular fixture at the business. He was taken in by the Browns after former tenants could no longer care for him. Although Morris has since lost his sight, he knows his way around the business and spends much of his day there.

In fact, Morris was recently identified in a store advertisement as “Morris, the Maytag Cat” and was credited for “nine years of service, public relations, stress relief” and serving as the “team mascot.”

Call the service department and appliance center, 376-2422, or the showroom and sales, 376-8130, to learn more.

C O V E R S T O RY

O

ne of the most important keys for the success of a family business lies in the relationship among members of the business family, according to the Family Business Institute.

The foundation for building good relationships in a family business is open and honest communication, according to its website. Also important are common values, shared visions and expectations, and understanding the roles each person has in the business.

The motto printed on the back of James “Jim” Wratten’s business card reads “Come see the family” at Wratten Trailer Sales, 9209 US Route 11, Adams.

The “business family” consists of Mr. Wratten, the owner, and son, Robert, who is employed full-time, overseeing the service department, and James, an EMT at Fort Drum who helps out parttime with RV deliveries.

Mr. Wratten and his wife, Annabelle, a school-based nurse practitioner, have another son, William David, San Jose, Calif.

Mr. Wratten also has a daughter, Tamara McConnell, Pulaski, from a previous marriage.

The family business was started 56 years ago by Mr. Wratten’s parents, the

JUSTIN SORENSEN | NNY BUSINESS

From left, Robert Wratten, brother, James, and father James “Jim” Wratten of Wratten Trailer Sales, Adams. Mr. Wratten’s parents, the late Al and Lois Wratten, started the family business in 1959.

late Al and Lois Wratten.

“They started with five campers on two acres of land,” Mr. Wratten recalled with a smile on his face. “The office was the front seat of their pick-up truck.”

Growing up in a business that specialized in travel trailers benefited the entire

family, he said. Mr. Wratten’s parents, and three brothers and one sister, all became “great travelers,” he said.

Some of his fondest memories were the regular trips his family took to their favorite places, such as Daytona Beach, Fla. “We were taken out of school for a

April 2015 | NNY Business

| 19

C OV E R STORY couple weeks, but we took our homework with us,” Mr. Wratten said. “We did it on the beach. My Dad was strict about the homework being done.”

“It was a beautiful lifestyle,” he added.

“There aren’t too many states that we hadn’t visited. Our experiences traveling together made us a close family.”

Mr. Wratten and his brother, Frederick “Fred” A. Wratten, joined the family business in 1973. They expanded the location, which is now spread over approximately 30 acres, and includes an average of 80 recreational vehicles for sale and/or rent.

A new 6000-square-foot service facility and a 3,000 square-foot accessory store was opened in 2007. In 2012, Mr. Wratten took over the operation of the family business when Frederick “Fred” retired.

The family has also been providing RV storage for its customers since 1959.

Throughout the years, the business has overcome several challenges in the economy, including a gas shortage in the early 1970s, Mr. Wratten said. During that time, a system of odd-even gas rationing was put in place, which allowed vehicles with drivers with licenses plates ending in

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Since people could not fill up their vehicles two days in a row, the Wratten family encouraged customers to “just spend an extra day at the camp ground and enjoy yourself,” Mr. Wratten said.

That was the advantage of recreational vehicles and camping — people didn’t have to drive somewhere every day as part of their vacation, he said.

“Our advice was to just fill it up on the day you leave,” he said.

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C O V E R S T O RY When the price of gas started rising sharply in the past decade, Mr. Wratten said the trend didn’t stop people from enjoying their time off work. They just didn’t drive as far, he said. For those in the north country, it wasn’t too difficult to find great camping locations within a 100-mile radius, including Lake Ontario, the Adirondacks and Canada.

Another major challenge was the financial crisis that hit the American economy in 2008. It was just prior to that the business stopped selling motor homes and started to focus on just towable recreational vehicles, including “Fifth Wheels” and travel trailers.

“We saw the economy was turning, and we got out of the motor home business,” Mr. Wratten said. “We wanted to survive.”

Mr. Wratten, who started helping out in the family business at age nine, said his “door is always open” to customers, and he greets the majority of them at some point during the sale. The business employs an average of nine people.

“I have maintained my Dad’s business principles in the operation of this business,” he stated on the company website.

“We always treat our customer the old fashioned way — fairly and honestly and we continue after you purchase from us.

You are not just a number.”

The RV business is “always evolving, always changing,” he said, noting some new travel trailers have features such as outside kitchen setups and flat-screen televisions.

Robert Wratten recalls getting off the school bus and spending his afternoons with his father and grandfather at the family business. He started helping at age 13 by washing trailers.

“I was brought up in the RV industry,” he said.

After graduating from South Jefferson Central School, Robert worked for a local lumber yard, but soon decided to obtain additional training to help in the family’s RV business. He completed a six-month RV Service Academy program in Sarasota, Fla., and then returned to Adams in 1991.

But after a few years, “I decided that I wanted to try something different,” Robert Wratten said.

He found a job with a construction company that built sewage plants along the East Coast, and worked for them for several years. The job involved a lot of traveling.

But Robert Wratten still maintained a passion for the RV industry, and four years ago, he returned home to Adams.

He now oversees the service department.

Melanie Kimbler-Lago | NNY BUSINESS

Audrey Roberts and husband, Jake Roberts, left, with the help of Audrey’s father, Larry Reece, are opening Maple Rock Bed and Breakfast, 719 Old Potsdam/Parishville Road, Potsdam.

“I really like working with my father, and the service end of the business,” he said. “I’m not a paper pusher.”

Visit www.WrattenRVsales.com or call 232-4535 to learn more.

S

o how does a family business get started?

In order for a family business to get off to a successful start, it’s important to have respect, support and trust from family members, according to the Family Business Institute. These can include a spouse, parents and/or children.

Audrey Roberts’s story starts at the beginning, and illustrates that there are many ways family members can support each other in establishing a business. For example, it’s not unusual for a business owner to receive assistance from relatives, even if they are not working full-time in the endeavor.

Mrs. Roberts, Potsdam, will open Maple Rock Bed & Breakfast this spring in a house that her great-grandfather once owned. The bed and breakfast at 719 Old Potsdam/Parishville Road will accommodate up to 10 guests, and will also be used to offer cooking classes to the guests, as well as the public.

Finishing touches are being done on the five bedrooms, including a ground floor bedroom that will be accessible to those with limited mobility. Although the bed and breakfast won’t be fully operational until late May, Mrs. Roberts plans to start offering cooking classes in mid-April to anyone interested.

The classes will focus on using “local, seasonal ingredients to create a delicious and nutritious meal that easily can be replicated at home,” she said.

Those who participate will be given the recipes as well to try at home. Each

April 2015 | NNY Business

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class will have a specific focus, such as making sushi or cooking with a partner.

Mrs. Roberts is carrying on a tradition of business ownership in her family, and is receiving support from her parents, Larry C. and Linda T. Reece of Potsdam.

“I am the first in my family to start a bed and breakfast,” Mrs. Roberts said.

“My father started his own accounting firm and knows the “ins and outs” of business. He has passed his knowledge onto me and provides financial guidance.”

Her mother has “helped with everything from planning, scheduling appointments to picking out paint colors,” Mrs. Roberts said.

And her husband, Jake, who teaches English full-time at Potsdam High School, has still found time to help his wife with renovating the bed and breakfast.

“My husband has supported me through this crazy endeavor and even tolerated living in my parent’s garage for seven months when we sold our house to start building the bed and breakfast,” Mrs. Roberts said.

The location is just minutes away from several colleges, including SUNY Potsdam and Clarkson University. Mrs. Roberts is hoping to attract visitors who are attending events at nearby colleges, such as alumni weekends or graduations.

After graduating from the University of Vermont with a bachelor’s degree in family consumer sciences, and a minor in nutrition, Mrs. Roberts started teaching in New Hampshire. Five years later, she was laid off due to school budget cuts.

“Just before I discovered I was losing my full time teaching position, my husband and I had discussed creating a five-year plan that would allow me to pursue my dream of running my own business,” she said.

When she told her husband that she had been laid off, he looked at her and said “It looks like our five-year plan is now a fivemonth plan,” Mrs. Roberts said.

The couple moved into her parent’s garage while working to restore the bed and breakfast, which is located across the street.

They have since moved into the building and are completing the renovation work.

Plans also call for her husband to brew craft beers for guests, with future classes in all-grain home brewing.

Visit www.maplerockbandb.com or call 212-4155 to learn more. n Norah Machia is a freelance writer who lives in Watertown. She is a 20-year veteran journalist and former Watertown Daily Times reporter.

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FA M I LY business

AMANDA MORRISON | NNY BUSINESS

From left, David Walldroff, brother-in-law Dave Schryver, and brothers Wendall and Marcus Walldroff, in the garage of their Watertown store.

The family business, Walldroff Farm Equipment, was started in 1972 by the brothers’ parents, William and Jean, at their LaFargeville farm.

A success built on trust

Brothers continue family business parents started in 1972

By Kris Rusho

I

NNY Business

t’s a bright, sunny Saturday in March and Walldroff Farm Equipment is polished for an open house at its Watertown store off Bradley Street. Despite the calendar’s signal for spring the week before, it’s a mere 20 degrees outside. The morning chill doesn’t freeze out attendance as most people appear content with the return to positive temperatures. Even at 9 a.m., customers, friends and new acquaintances mingle about the shop.

Several franchise brands are on display, including tractors and equipment typically seen from afar in wide-open fields

24 | NNY Business | April 2015

or up close on warmer days in small-town parades, showing off tires taller than most professional basketball players.

The three brothers involved in the business — Marcus, Wendell and David Walldroff — and brother-in-law David “Dave” Schryver are on hand to greet people and talk family and business. Each graduated from college and returned to the family business in management positions. It was a move that made sense.

“We recognized the opportunity that existed at the time. It fit hand-in-hand as how we are as a family and how we interact as a family,” Wendell said. “There is a relief in knowing that someone has my back.”

There are no downfalls to working with

family, Marcus explained, only rewards.

“They could write a book about working with family on a day-to-day basis. It’s been interesting. The rewards are immense,” Marcus said.

For David, the camaraderie among family gives rise to a sense of trust that’s in their blood.

“I have a lot of trust with my partners because I know them — exclusive trust that can’t be replicated,” he said.

Walldroff Farm Equipment began on the family’s LaFargeville farm in 1972 when parents William and Jean Walldroff started the business. As it grew, so did the opportunity to expand. A Watertown outlet was built in 1987, merging existing

Family business operations under one roof. That facility expanded in 1999, creating one of the largest farm equipment dealers in the region.

David characterized the business as just the right mix of “big-small,” which allows the brothers to manage consumer expectations found at larger dealerships while being small enough to employ a personal, hands-on approach that leaves customers satisfied and feeling valued.

Originally focusing on one major product line, Allis Chalmers, it quickly became necessary to add additional lines to accommodate increased agricultural needs. The Walldroffs have a second store in Canton and hosts more than 13 major lines of equipment, including New Holland, Kubota and Massey Ferguson.

It’s an advantage that is hard to come by in today’s competitive dealership landscape, but one that has helped set the north country natives apart.

“Being a multi-franchise operation isn’t possible today. We’re grandfathered in,” Marcus said.

Having such a selection is important to maintain customer relationships, Wendell added.

“If one product won’t work for a customer, I know I have one that will,” he said.

That philosophy has led to many friendships through 43 years in business.

The family passionately describes Northern New York’s agricultural community, marveling at the resiliency with which farmers weather continuous ups and downs year after year. Clearly, they have a strong desire to be in business for those who depend on them. And while the politicization of the agricultural industry has spawned frustration, the four family members are determined to help local farmers succeed.

“Farming today, you have to prepare for the worst. We can prepare [for down times] better than in the past,” Marcus said. “Agriculture has taken a higher road based on the price of milk. We came off a very good year last year. It takes the urgency off [for farmers] and it’s better than being forced out of the business. So with that, business has been strong for us.”

Success often breeds change and new developments, including complicated technology that has advanced light years from the early days of crop and livestock management.

“Now it is technology coupled with mechanical ability coupled with an understanding of the electric communication between all [the systems]. In prior years, if we hired a mechanic, he needed a fairly high level of mechanical skills. The broadness of the technician today is four times what it was,” David said.

From driverless tractors to satelliteguided planting and robotic milking systems, manufacturers of farm equipment have integrated modern technology at a break-neck speeds and show no signs

of an evolutionary slowdown. Much of today’s agricultural technology found on domestic soil originated in Europe, Wendell said, adding that many people don’t realize how much farming has become a global industry that takes massive capital investments, often to the tune of millions of dollars for even essential equipment.

“Did a farmer buy that machine to impress his neighbor? No. Only one reason a farmer buys that machine: out of need.

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FAMILY business to justify the expense,” Wendell said.

“Technology is changing so quickly. If you sell 100 or if you sell one, the investment in the technician is the same.”

It’s a concern that the family shares, citing technology as the most significant change in the farming industry they’ve experienced. It’s also dealt some frustration as changes in technology often outpace their ability to keep up with it.

“Understanding this technology and having the ability to be able to support this type of equipment is a stress on employees,” Marcus said. “The demands on time can require 24-hour services. Sometimes it cannot wait until the next day.”

Farmers depend on proven equipment that will function on airtight schedules in often unforgiving weather. If something breaks and it isn’t repaired in a timely fashion, the loss of a day in the field can devastate a farm, especially for multimillion dollar operations. The Walldroffs strive to keep trained staff employed yearround so they can promptly diagnose and repair malfunctioning equipment.

Ever-changing technology brings new opportunities to grow and add muchneeded jobs in an area of the state that consistently posts the highest rates of unemployment outside metropolitan New York.

Today, the Walldroffs employ about 30 people and are looking to hire.

“I’ve got the best employees. Two of them have a 25th anniversary coming up; one just retired after 26 years,” Marcus said. “I can train you. But bring with you a basic work ethic. Show up early, put in your day’s work like you want to be here.”

The family hopes to continue on their well-established path of success, while growing within the community. They see ever-growing opportunities to work with school, state and local officials and residents and partners in agriculture thanks to a solid reputation for service and the extensive lines they support. It’s a huge commitment, but it’s one they hope will continue long after they have retired.

“The agricultural industry is more than big farms and big equipment. It’s a lifestyle [where you’ll find] honest, genuine salt-of-the-earth people. I wouldn’t trade it for any other way of life,” Marcus said. n KRIS RUSHO is a St. Lawrence River native, former journalist and freelance writer who lives in Watertown. Contact her at kris.rusho@gmail.com.

26 | NNY Business | April 2015

LIQUID GOLD Maple production a key to agribusiness growth in north country, state

T

TEXT BY LORNA OPPEDISANO PHOTOS BY JUSTIN SORENSEN

he snow is melting. The temperature is rising. The sap is running. It’s maple season, and Northern New York’s sweetest industry is on the rise.

“To me, there’s a lot of tradition here in Lewis County and in the north country,” said Michele E. Ledoux, executive director of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Lewis County. “Seeing the steam from the sugar

houses, and just knowing it’s sugaring season. It’s a really important part of the culture and history of this area.”

In 2014, more than two million taps produced 546,000 gallons of maple syrup in New York, the country’s second-largest maple producer after Vermont. In 2013, the same number of taps produced 574,000 gallons.

“We’ve had three record years in the last 15,” said Helen M. Thomas, executive director of the New York State Maple Producers Association. “We’re starting to get back to close to what we

April 2015 | NNY Business

| 27

Maple / By the numbers Season

32 days

Average length of maple syrup season in New York, January 10 to May 3

28 days Average length of maple syrup season in Vermont January 10 to May 23

Price, value $43.60

Average 2013 per-gallon price of maple syrup in New York

$25.03 million Production value of maple syrup in New York, 2013

$33.40

Average 2013 per-gallon price of maple syrup in Vermont

$49.43 million Production value of maple syrup in Vermont, 2013

Taps, production 2.2 million

Maple taps in New York, 2014

546,000

Gallons of maple syrup produced in New York, 2014

0.248

Yield, gallons per tap in New York, 2014

4.27 million

Maple taps in Vermont, 2014

1.32 million

Gallons of maple syrup produced in Vermont, 2014

0.309

Yield, gallons per tap in Vermont, 2014

U.S. maple production 3.167 million

Total U.S. gallons produced, 2014

42 percent

Percent of total U.S. maple syrup produced in Vermont, 2014

17 percent

Percent of total U.S. maple syrup produced in New York, 2014

17 percent

Percent of total U.S. maple syrup produced in Maine, 2014 SOURCE: United State Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service

Above, Elbert E. Narrow loads an evaporator with wood while Shawn E. Massey gives visitors an overview of the maple syrup-making process at Massey Ranch, Watertown. Below, middle, 40 gallons of maple sap is boiled down to one gallon of syrup in an evaporator. Bottom, different grades of maple syrup are shown, Previous page, top, buckets collect sap on maple trees at Massey Ranch. Bottom, Mr. Narrow fills a container with finished maple syrup.

had in terms of production in the ’40s and ’50s.”

In the 1800s, maple was dairy farmers’ first crop of the year, making them enough money to purchase seeds for everything else, Ms. Thomas explained.

Then white sugar became popular, and demand for maple decreased.

Now demand and production are growing, and at the helm of this change is the younger generation. Sugar bushes that haven’t been touched in years are now being tapped.

“The younger generation is coming in and saying, ‘We’d like to do this,’” Ms. Ledoux said.

This is the “second generation,” as Ms. Thomas calls it, grandchildren of past maple farmers looking to breathe life back into the industry, along with people fulfilling a dream of owning a piece of land in the country.

Arriving hand-in-hand with the newcomers is the rapid introduction of new technologies to the business.

“In the last few years, people adapted the same type of technology that’s used in other industries,” said Michael L. Farrell, director of the Uihlein Forest, Cornell University’s Supar Maple Research and Extension Field.

In the ’80s, plastic tubing was borrowed from other industries. Vacuum

pumps were taken from dairy farms. The technology used to purify salt water led to reverse osmosis.

Along with advances spurred by other industries’ equipment, research done by universities, such as Cornell and the University of Vermont, has moved technology forward.

“The research has been exponential,” Ms. Thomas said, citing studies done to keep tapholes from drying up resulting in better spiles, the spouts inserted into the taphole.

Few people hang buckets to catch sap anymore either, she said.

“By and large, it’s much more efficient and cleaner and better for your food to run tubing from tree to tree and collect all the sap in the tubing,” she explained.

This increases the sap yield and keeps the holes cleaner, so they produce longer. When you add vacuum pressure to the tubing, the sap production

Mike R. Stiefel, a Forester from Colorado State University, checks maple syrup vacuum tubing for leaks on Fort Drum during the 2013 season.

Maple producers say vacuum tubing is one technological advancement that, in recent years, has helped boost maple syrup production in Northern New York. Most producers no longer collect sap in metal buckets,

also increases. Most operations tap each tree once, or maybe twice for larger trees, Ms. Thomas said. Reserve osmosis makes production more energy efficient.

All in all, the new technology means less work for farmers, which results in more time for more production.

Even a smaller operation, like Moser’s Maple, Croghan, puts the new practices to use. Moser’s produces about 500 to 600 gallons of syrup a season, which is “quite small” for the industry, said Jake Moser, a fifth-generation member of the 111-yearold family business.

Mr. Moser remembers the old days of the 2,500-bucket operation, the gravity-fed tubing of the ’80s and the vacuum pumps of the late ’90s. Today the farm uses primarily high-volume vacuum pumps and reverse-osmosis machines.

“Just in my timeframe, we’ve covered the full spectrum,” Mr. Moser said.

This year’s maple season got off to a late start. With record-setting cold temperatures in February, conditions for sap to run weren’t ideal until mid-March.

The ideal daytime temperature is 42 to 45 degrees, with the air dropping to 25 degrees at night, Ms. Thomas explained.

Other factors, like how deep into the ground the frost has set, also can affect the season, she said.

“When I was a kid, my dad always said, ‘You don’t tap until March 15.’ The last 10 years, we’ve tapped around Feb. 10,” Ms. Thomas said. “The seasons, in the course of my 60 years, have moved a month earlier.”

According to U.S. Department of Agriculture, last year’s season opened Jan. 10 and closed May 3. In the northern part of the state, the season lasted until the third week of April, and turned out to be a good year, Ms. Thomas said, adding that it only takes a few days of a “bumper crop” to be in good shape.

Mr. Moser said he doesn’t have too many predictions for this year, but he can say one thing: “Mother Nature’s going to give us what she’s going to give us,” he said. “If the weather breaks good, then we’re going to have a good season.”

A less technological advance in the industry is the use of marketing. Cornell Cooperative Extension is helping in

April 2015 | NNY Business

| 29

American Maple Museum WHERE: 9756 State Route 812, Croghan CONTACT: americanmaplemuseum.org 1 (315) 346-1107 OPENING DAY: May 16 HOURS: Memorial Day to June 30, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Monday; July to early September, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Saturday COST: Adults, $4; ages 5 to 14, $1; ages 4 and younger, free; family (two adults and two or more children, maximum of 10 people), $10.

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those efforts, Ms. Ledoux said, offering branding and presentation advice to any producer who might need it.

“The whole gambit of ‘How do you look? How do you set up? From A to Z, how does that look?’” she said.

The local foods movement has helped, too, Ms. Ledoux said. When she first came to Lewis County, a lot of syrup was shipped out of state in barrels. Now, it’s being made into value-added products and sold at farmers markets.

“You can’t get any more pure and natural than maple syrup,” Ms. Ledoux said.

Maple comes in more forms than just syrup. It’s being produced as cream and candy, in beverages like beer and coffee, and used to flavor nuts, popcorn, seasoning and mustard.

“In the past, it was just ‘I’m making syrup,’” Ms. Ledoux said. “Now people are making dog treats that are maple.”

Moser’s Maple is among the innovators. Within the last year, Mr. Moser

30 | NNY Business | April 2015

A young girl watches sap boil in an evaporator during a Maple Weekend open house last month at Massey Ranch, Watertown. Below, Carol A. Narrow puts out syrup samples while wearing one of the T-shirts for sale in the sugar shack. Each spring, the state promotes two Maple Weekends during peak production in late March.

began producing Maple Minnies, the first mass-produced hard maple candies in the country. After coming up with the recipe, he teamed up with a man in New Jersey who had the right equipment, and now the candies are shipped nationwide.

“We’re thrilled,” Ms. Ledoux said. “It’s something right here in Lewis County that’s being developed.”

Purchasing maple syrup was recently simplified. Previously, the grading system varied between different states and countries. Now, a new universal standard that notes the color and taste is used.

In New York, this means that light amber syrup is now Golden Color, Delicate Taste; medium amber is Amber Color, Rich Taste; and dark amber is Dark Color, Robust Taste.

The system has only been in effect since Jan. 1 in New York, but Ms. Thomas said she’s already heard positive feedback from customers.

“Market research that was done showed that, in general, customers liked it much better,” she said. “There was, if anything, an increase in sales because people preferred understanding a little better what they were buying.”

While the industry should see maple production increase, the same cannot be said about the number of trees being used.

Right now, roughly 2 percent of the state’s maple trees are tapped.

In the more agricultural counties, like Lewis County, the percentage is higher, but in some parts of the state, it’s simply not part of the culture, Mr. Farrell said.

“A large portion of the trees aren’t really in a forest,” he explained. “That doesn’t really make it conducive to setting up a sap collection system.”

However, the industry can expect technology to advance and become more automated in the future, Mr. Farrell said.

Thanks to developments in the past few years, producers can now control reserve osmosis and monitor their vacuum systems remotely.

“As operations get bigger, they’re spreading out,” he said. “You can be at your sugar house, and be monitoring your sugar bush 20 miles away.” n LORNA OPPEDISANO is a staff writer and editorial assistant for NNY Magazines. Contact her at loppedisano@wdt.net or 661-2381.

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leadership Women’s Council of Realtors “Got Leadership?” panelists, from left, Jefferson County Sheriff Colleen M. O’Neill, Doreen Garrett, founder of Otis Technology and owner of the Tilted Kilt, Erika F. Flint, executive director, Watertown Urban Mission and Sarah V. Compo, deputy chief of staff for state Sen. Patty Ritchie, RHeuvelton. norm johnston | NNY BUSINESS

‘The sky’s the limit’

Women leaders stress goal-setting, networking

By Lorna Oppedisano

L

NNY Business

eadership is a lot like parenting: you have to make the best decisions for your team, know when to sit back and listen, absolutely love what you do and know your end game.

“It’s about goal-setting,” said Doreen A. Garrett, founder of Otis Technology and owner of the Tilted Kilt. “Ten or 20 years might seem like a long time, but all the decisions you make today help you make that goal.”

Mrs. Garrett was one of four women who spoke last month during the Women’s Council of Realtors annual “Got Leadership?” luncheon at Watertown’s Italian American Civic Association. The panel also included Sarah V. Compo, deputy chief of staff for state Sen. Patricia A. Ritchie, R-Heuvelton, Erika F. Flint, executive director of the Watertown Urban Mission, and Colleen M. O’Neill, Jefferson County sheriff. Alan Walts, WTNY radio, moderated the discussion.

“I actually tried to avoid [leadership] a little bit,” said Mrs. Flint, 2014 Athena Award recipient. “When I started to accept that that’s who I am, when I started to em-

34 | NNY Business | April 2015

brace it, I became the best version of myself for myself and the community.”

As a busy director of an active nonprofit, mother of two and member of several local boards of directors, Mrs. Flint said that balancing life and work isn’t as hard as one might think, saying that she views every responsibility as simply part of what she does.

“It becomes harder if you view it as separate things,” she explained.

Ms. O’Neill, the first woman elected sheriff in the state and daughter of former two-term Jefferson County Sheriff Alfred P. O’Neill, said she’s known where she wanted to end up since she was 10 years old.

The panelists cited their parents, colleagues and communities as support systems that have helped them achieve their goals.

“They impress me every single day,” Ms. O’Neill said about her coworkers. “What I expected was a good agency. What I see is a great agency.”

Ms. Compo, who was recently promoted from communications director/deputy district director to deputy chief of staff, stressed that surrounding yourself with positive role models is a great step for young leaders to take.

“Tap into the network of people you think are good leaders,” she said.

In a close and supportive community, this isn’t a hard thing to do, event attendee Eileen Kaleel said.

“It’s empowering as a woman to be in a town where the sheriff is making history,” Ms. Kaleel said.

SCENE PHOTOS: After a short stint Turn to page 56 for in the north country networking photos years ago, Ms. Kaleel from this event. and her husband retired back to the region about 10 months ago. She’s now working toward earning a real estate license at the Professional Institute for Real Estate Training. After living away, she’s impressed that the north country’s women leaders are so approachable.

“They put across a vibe that ‘We’re at the top and we’d love to help you,’” she said.

As women at the top of their fields, the panelists agreed they have rarely faced opposition simply because they’re women.

Ms. Compo, who last fall was named to NNY Business magazine’s 2014 class of 20 Under 40, said she doesn’t see gender as a barrier to success in Northern New York.

“The sky’s the limit,” Ms. Compo said. n LORNA OPPEDISANO is a staff writer and editorial assistant for NNY Magazines. Contact her at loppedisano@wdt.net or 661-2381.

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RE A L E STATE ROUNDUP

Federal Fair Housing Act turns 47

T

he sale and purchase of a home is one of the most significant events a person will experience in his or her lifetime. It is more that the simple purchase of housing, for it includes the hopes, dreams, aspirations and economic destiny of those involved. Recognizing this, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Fair Housing Act in April of 1968. This landmark legislation is the reason that April is known as Fair Housing Month. During this 47th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act, the Jefferson-Lewis and St. Lawrence County Boards of Realtors have reached out to numerous legislative bodies and asked them to declare April as Fair Housing Month.

Why is remembering this legislation important? And why is it important that Realtors lead the way on this issue?

Simply put, Realtors build communities and believe people have a right to live wherever they can afford to live.

As has been seen in the north country, as well as in other parts of the state and nation, homeownership has an increasingly multicultural future. Fair housing laws help protect consumers and Realtors as they serve this expanding market.

Working through the National Association of Realtors, Realtors strive to preserve and expand housing opportunities on all levels of government. Realtors strongly support the Fair Housing Act, which aims to prohibit discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status or disability and support equal opportunity on the basis of sexual orienta-

tion and gender identity, all of which have been incorporated into the Realtor Code of Ethics.

Every New York Statelicensed broker and salesperson is required to take a course Lance Evans in fair housing as part of his or her two-year continuing education requirement. In addition, every Realtor must take a course in the code of ethics every two years.

The home seller, the home seeker and the real estate professional each has rights and responsibilities under the law.

A home seller or landlord has a responsibility and a requirement under the law not to discriminate in the sale, rental, and financing of property on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin. One cannot instruct the licensed broker or salesperson acting as an agent to convey any limitations in the sale or rental because the real estate professional is also bound by law not to discriminate. Under the law, a home seller or landlord cannot establish discriminatory terms or conditions in the purchase or rental, deny that housing is available or advertise that the property is available only to persons of a certain race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin.

Home seekers have the right to expect

that housing will be available without discrimination or other limitations based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin. This includes the right to expect housing in their price range made available without discrimination, equal professional service and the opportunity to consider a broad range of housing choices. It also means no discriminatory limitations on communities or locations of housing, no discrimination in the financing, appraising or insuring of housing, reasonable accommodations in rules, practices and procedures for persons with disabilities, non-discriminatory terms and conditions for the sale, rental, financing or insuring of a dwelling and to be free from harassment or intimidation for exercising your fair housing rights.

Real estate professionals are prohibited by law from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin. A request from the home seller or landlord to act in a discriminatory manner in the sale, lease or rental cannot legally be fulfilled by the real estate professional.

If you suspect you have been discriminated against, you can call the Board of Realtors, the local fair housing office, the New York State Attorney General’s office or the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. n LANCE M. EVANS is the executive officer of the Jefferson-Lewis Board of Realtors and the St. Lawrence County Board of Realtors, which are real estate trade associations. Contact him at levans@nnymls.com. His column appears monthly in NNY Business.

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RE AL E STAT E / top transactions Top 10 property sales by price recorded in the Jefferson County Clerk’s Office in February 2015: $2,415,000: Feb. 5, City of Watertown: 0.685 acres, 261-285 State St.; 0.350 acres, Academy Street; 0.205 acres, 309 Mill St.; 0.202 acres, 272 Mullin St.; 0.102 acres, 550 Coffeen St.; 0.11 acres, 536 Emerson St., and 0.27 acres, 181 Mechanic St., Watertown Redevelopment Company, Rome, sold to Black River Apartments LLC, Watertown.

$328,913: Feb. 11, Town of Lyme: 2.012 acres, 10799 Duck Harbor Road, Chaumont, Timothy A. Farley, Carthage, as referee for Richard Guga and Richard L. Guga II, sold to St. Pius X Federal Credit Union, Rochester. $303,000: Feb. 17, Town of Adams: 6.12 acres, Minkler Road, Daniel W. St. Hilaire and Darcy L. St. Hilaire, Adams Center, sold to Karl A. Kissman and Tina N. Kissman, Adams Center, and Bridance R. Kissman and Elizabeth L. Kissman, Adams Center.

$1,272,100: Feb. 3, Town of Ellisburg: Three parcels, 342.78 acres, County Routes 85 and 91, Bulluck Farms LLC, Mannsville, sold to One More Farm LLC, Woodville.

$278,900: Feb. 23, City of Watertown: 0.273 acres, Flower Avenue West, Kenya K. Cain and Jacklyn F. Cain, Watertown, sold to Anthony V. Medina and Trista J. Medina, Watertown.

$1,200,000: Feb. 23, City of Watertown: 0.78 acres, Breen Avenue at Arsenal Street, Jai Ambe Hotel LLC, Watertown, sold to Arsenal Apartments LLC, Watertown.

Top 10 property sales by price recorded in the St. Lawrence County Clerk’s Office in February 2015:

$870,000: Feb. 11, Town of Clayton: Three parcels, 15.4 acres, Murray Island, Bradley Properties LLC, Minnetonka, Minn., sold to Lombard LTD LLC, Skillman, N.J. $800,000: Feb. 20, Town of Clayton: 5.63 acres, Lots 1, 2, 3 and 4, Blind Bay subdivision, Blind Bay Associates LLC, Clayton, sold to Rivershore Development Inc., Clayton. $675,000: Feb. 12, Village of Clayton: 0.17 acres, Riverside Drive, 517 Riverside Drive LLC, Aspen, Colo., sold to H. Riverside LLC, Clayton. $515,000: Feb. 26, Town of Cape Vincent: Three parcels, 3.58 acres, Tibbetts Point Road, Beatrice Austin, Cape Vincent, sold to Lynn A. Ketcham and J. Marsha Ketcham, Manlius.

$400,000: Feb. 24, Town of Lisbon: Parcel 1) 20 acres more or less, Parcel 2) 20 60/100 acres more or less, Parcel 3)1 3/100 acres more or less, Parcel 4) 23 92/100 acres more or less, Parcel 5) 50 acres more or less, Parcel 6) 21 26/100 acres more or less, in Mile Square 1, bounded by Dezell Road, Lee Dezell, Lisbon, sold to Kevin D. and Phyllis M. Acres, Madrid.

$214,000: Feb. 26, Village of Gouverneur: 1.76 acres more or less, bounded by Rock Island Street, Lisa J. Netto, Gouverneur, sold to James C. and Heather A. Delity, Fort Drum. $210,000: Feb. 26, Town of DePeyster: Parcel 1) 212 acres more or less, Parcel 2) 1½ acres more or less, bounded by Old State Route, Gideon and Amanda Swartzentruber, DePeyster, sold to Mose and Lizzie Hostetler, Heuvelton. $200,000: Feb. 27, Town of DePeyster: Parcel 1) 23 acres more or less, Parcel 2) 142 58/100 acres more or less, Lots 6 and 7, bounded by Fish Creek Road, Walter P. and Sherry Kawecki, Heuvelton, sold to Mose L. and Susan Miller, DePeyster. $200,000: Feb. 26, Town of DeKalb: Unknown parcels, unknown acres, Lot 66, bounded by Childs Road, Richard C. and Mary Ellen Simons, Rensselaer Falls, sold to Eli J. and Lizzie Yoder, Rensselaer Falls. $189,000: Feb. 17, Town of Hermon: Parcel 1) 59 acres more or less, Parcel 2) 1 8/100 acres more or less, Lot 380, bounded by East DeKalb Road, Richard J. and Lila L. Irwin, Hermon, sold to Mark C. and Kellie L. Marcellus, DeKalb Junction.

$303,000: Feb. 20, Town of Russell: 27 acres more or less, Lot 29 and Lot 38, bounded by Hill Road, Barbara J. Long and Deren L. Cook, Hermon, sold to John P. Zeh III and Carol J. Zeh, Heuvelton.

$164,000: Feb. 27, Town of Potsdam: Unknown acres, bounded by Old Hannawa Road, David and Chan McMullen, Potsdam, sold to Susan A. Raynis, Albany.

$236,000: Feb. 3, Village of Gouverneur: 34.9 acres more or less, bounded by Factory Street and Pooler Road, St. Lawrence County Industrial Development Agency, Canton, sold to Kinney Drugs Inc., Gouverneur.

$160,000: Feb. 6, Town of DePeyster: Parcel 1) 19.47 acres more or less, Parcel 2) 69.74 acres more or less, bounded by Popes Mills Road, Knollwood Farm LLC, Lisbon, sold to Dori B’s Farm, DePeyster.

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RE A L E STATE

Realtor turns passion into profits

By Lorna Oppedisano

F

NNY Business

or some, real estate is just a job and a home is just a place. For Melanie Curley, owner and founder of Weichert, Realtors — Thousand Island Realty, they’re passions.

“I wake up and I love to go to work,” she said.

Ms. Curley didn’t discover either passion until later in life. While living in Massachusetts and working as an occupational therapist, she and her husband vacationed to Northern New York and fell in love with the area. Two years later, they were north country residents.

Ms. Curley had enjoyed her job, but with the insurance companies dictating her number of client visits, she wasn’t satisfied.

Once they moved, she took a real estate course, and she was hooked.

“I took the class and really fell in love with real estate,” she said. “I guess you could say I’m obsessed with it.”

Ms. Curley entered the industry in 1999 with Christensen Realty, and then worked for Coldwell Banker. After taking every course she could, the self-titled “education junkie” soon earned a broker’s license.

Opening her own business hadn’t been in Ms. Curley’s plan, but one day she noticed a building for sale on James St. in Clayton.

She called her husband.

“He said, ‘You’re crazy,’” Ms. Curley laughed.

But he came, and after the couple examined the building, they decided to buy it.

Following three months of renovations, Thousand Islands Realty opened for business in October 2006.

Now, nine years later, it’s undergone changes. The business has grown to include six Realtors, and last November affiliated with the national brand Weichert, Realtors.

Ms. Curley was initially skeptical of joining forces with Weichert, but after she and her husband visited the firm’s headquarters in Morris Plains, N.J., she found herself impressed with their training systems, tools and call center.

“And the fact that everybody in corporate has been a real estate agent or broker,” she said, “so they understand the industry.”

Ms. Curley decided to take the plunge.

Her business is still locally owned and operated, but with a support system behind it.

Not much has changed since partnering, Ms. Curley said. The business now does more direct mail marketing and has systems that

38 | NNY Business | April 2015

Melanie Curley, owner and founder of Weichert, Realtors — Thousand Island Realty, in front of her main office in Clayton, 306 James St. Ms. Curley founded Thousand Islands Realty in 2006 and last fall affiliated with the national firm Weichert, Realtors, Morris Plains, N.J. NORM JOHNSTON | NNY BUSINESS

give agents more time with customers.

“Basically, we’re doing business under a new name,” she said.

This type of partnership between smaller businesses and national firms is proving to be a trend. In the past five years, Lori Gervera Real Estate partnered with Keller Williams Realty International, Peebles Realty with Berkshire Hathaway Home Services CNY Realty, and Elliot Realty Inc. merged with RealtyUSA. Ms. Curley said she believes these mergers happen because of the back-end infrastructure larger companies can offer, especially online-related resources.

Weichert.com is one of the most frequently visited real estate sites, she said.

“A company like Weichert can spend millions on it,” she said. “I really think that’s one of the reasons a lot of people are doing it. And the name recognition.”

When it comes down to it, Ms. Curley is still doing what she loves: helping people.

Whether it’s sharing the beauty of the area with waterfront buyers or helping residential buyers realize their dream of home ownership, she’s passionate about her job.

“And some of the friendships you make with your clients are truly long-lasting,” she said.

Fellow Clayton business owners Tom J. and Cindy Novobilski, of 1000 Islands Cruet, have known Ms. Curley for about four years. She was instrumental in the choice of their storefront, Mr. Novobilski said.

She knew they were looking for space, and gave them the lead when property down the street from her office was for rent.

“It’s like it was meant to be,” Mr. Novobilski said.

More recently, Ms. Curley helped the couple purchase property close to their home.

R E AL ES TATE The Melanie Curley file AGE: 60 JOB: Owner and founder, Weichert Realtors —

Thousand Island Realty, Clayton

ONLINE: thousandislandsrealty.com FAMILY: Husband, Mike Bohm; son, Jeremy HOMETOWN: Evans Mills; now in between Theresa and Alexandria Bay EDUCATION: Bachelor’s degree, occupational

therapy, Utica College of Syracuse University

PROFESSIONAL: Berkshire Medical Center Rehabilitation Department; Lee Visiting Nurse Association; Christensen Realty; Coldwell Banker Rimada Realty; Thousand Islands Realty, LLC; Weichert Realtors — Thousand Island Realty Community: Jefferson-Lewis Board of Realtors; Clayton, Cape Vincent and Watertown Chambers of Commerce BUSINESS BOOK YOU’VE READ AND WOULD RECOMMEND: Any books

about real estate

“She’s very knowledgeable of the real estate market and really easy to work with,” Mr. Novobilski said. “She has great communication skills and knows the industry really well.”

On a more personal level, Ms. Curley helped the Novobilski’s become part of Clayton. Breaking into the tight-knit community when she moved from Massachusetts, she knew how hard it could be, Mr. Novobilski said.

Having known Ms. Curley for a while, Mr. Novobilski said that she’s always “going in 10 different directions,” but you could never tell. She gives everyone the same undivided attention.

“People feel good about that because it makes it a little bit more fun, especially with real estate,” he said. “You really have to be comfortable with who you’re talking to, and I think she’s a great fit for that.”

Ms. Curley’s workweek well exceeds average full-time hours; she’s in the office seven days a week.

“But again, I’m real estate obsessed,” she said.

Her advice to anyone looking to get into the industry is to give it your all.

“Basically, treat it like a full-time job and work at it every day,” she said. “With real estate, no one holds you accountable.

But you don’t make money if you don’t work. If anyone would devote 40 hours a week to real estate, they would definitely be successful.” n LORNA OPPEDISANO is a staff writer and editorial assistant for NNY Magazines. Contact her at loppedisano@wdt.net or 661-2381.

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April 2015 | NNY Business

| 39

20 q uestions

NORM JOHNSTON | NNY BUSINESS

Turning the right keys

N

early 20 years ago, in 1996, Richard D. “Rick” Caskinette closed the largest deal of his professional career when he purchased Lofink Ford Mercury, which had operated under a well-established family name in Carthage since 1929. In the nearly two decades since, the Ford franchise has blossomed as a respected competitor, expanding to make room for an auto collision and detail center and, down the road, Caskinette’s RV. We spoke with Rick as sons Craig, 30, and twins Jameson and Jess, 22, who graduate from SUNY Oswego next month, settle in to jobs at the family business.

1

NNYB: You bought the Lofink dealership 20 years ago, but kept the name. Now you’re rebranding as Caskinette’s. What was behind your strategy of keeping the Lofink name for so long?

CASKINETTE: Lofink was a very well-established dealership and brand. They’d been in the area forever, since 1929. When I bought the store, I bought the rights to keep the name.

We have always strived to take care of customers the way they did; the way I wanted to.

We planned to eventually phase out the Lofink name, which we’re doing now.

2

NNYB: What family members are you in business with?

CASKINETTE: Three of the boys are here.

Craig, my oldest son, works on the sales floor as a salesman and he’s doing very well. Then I have the twins, Jess and Jameson, who are 22 and in their last year in college at SUNY Oswego. They’ll be done in May. All three of the boys have kind of started from the bottom, working in the detail center. And then spread around through the dealership, learning dif-

40 | NNY Business | April 2015

n Rick Caskinette on family, Ford and

what it takes to build a successful brand ferent aspects of it. The twins have worked four years in the detail center. Last year we did an apprenticeship and put them in service. They’re master certified in the service department. We also trained them in sales and moved them through all of the departments so they would get a little bit of an introduction to the departments. As soon as they graduate, they’re going to be back here full time. We’re looking forward to it. What’s exciting to me is the way they interact with other people in the dealership. Everybody else is looking forward to having them graduate, too. My service manager would like to have both of them, but I said we’re going to spread them around a little bit.

3

NNYB: What’s it like to have them all working in the business?

CASKINETTE: I’m really proud of them.

They’re very mature. Craig, my oldest boy, always wanted to be in the business. One of my twins had aspirations of working here but the other one was a little unsure. I let them make up their own minds. As they’ve grown up, they’ve been showing more interest. They really show a lot of initiative and get along well with the rest of my team. They know they’re still learning, but they’re excited to be here and to learn the business.

4

NNYB: What part of the business do your boys enjoy the most?

CASKINETTE: The twins are both excited

about service. They like dealing with customers, helping them solve problems. I’d really like them to get some more experience through the whole dealership. Craig is very good in sales and that’s where he enjoys working most.

5

NNYB: Technology in today’s autos is evolving at an ever-increasing speed. How do you keep up with it?

CASKINETTE: It’s interesting because we really work to embrace it since it’s changing all the time. Sometimes it’s hard to get your hands around it and be able to understand it because we have such old scales on our backs. You really have to want to understand it. The younger people who come in embrace it more easily because they’ve grown up with it.

6

NNYB: Has the Internet made for a more challenging sales climate as buyers are armed with greater information?

CASKINETTE: Customers are doing the research online before they walk through the door.

The closing ratio used to be 30 percent in Watertown, which means three sales for every 10 customers coming in. We don’t find that today.

We’re closing 75 percent of customers through the door. But when they come through the door, they’ve already done their research. It’s not like it used to be when a buyer would visit one dealership and drive four or five cars and go to the next dealership and work numbers and go to three different dealerships to negotiate a deal. That doesn’t happen anymore.

2 0 q uestions

7

NNYB: How have you managed such a high closing ratio?

CASKINETTE: We’ve embraced a lot of tools to create a successful pricing structure. We price our cars on the Internet as a best buy for the customer. Because of our location, we have to look at that as our marketing tool. We’re selling vehicles outside of the area. We just sold two Mustangs to out-of-state buyers. If you sell the right products with the right pricing structure, it works.

8

NNYB: How have your sales professionals responded to more educated consumers?

CASKINETTE:The salespeople sometimes see customers come through the doors who are more educated than the salesman is about his product. So it often comes down to what we can offer beyond product to build a relationship, like comparing our service to other brands and explain how well we take care of the customer after they’ve driven the new product off the lot. We also try to build loyalty through the interaction customers have with the rest of the dealership. It’s important that all departments work to build a memorable rapport with that customer.

9

NNYB: How do you encourage staff to think beyond the product?

CASKINETTE: I think that’s something you develop with your mission. It’s something that’s learned. The way management treats people helps to build a positive culture for your team.

10

NNYB: How do you manage employee recruiting and retention while also making staff feel valued?

CASKINETTE: It’s a real challenge. We do a lot of things to show our appreciation and celebrate the success employees enjoy. We once had a manager dress up as a cowboy and we fired up a grill outside and I cooked steaks and had all the sides. I think small things like that go a long way to show the people you want to retain that you care about them. It’s important to maintain a good team who enjoy what they do. It helps the entire business succeed at a higher level.

11

NNYB: Ford was the only domestic auto manufacturer that didn’t take federal bailout money at the peak of the recession. Has that given the company an edge over its competition in terms of how customers perceive the product?

CASKINETTE: Former Ford CEO Alan Mulally new that was coming. Ford sold parts of the business to develop a better cash position. He referred to it as a home improvement loan. It was absolutely brilliant. At the same time, they cut their product line and got rid of Mercury and a lot of duplicity that was expensive. I met Alan Mulally at a dealer conference. He pulled a card out of his pocket that read ‘One Vision’ with four or five simple things that the company employs to achieve that vision. It’s a set of core principles that guide our success. As for

NORM JOHNSTON | NNY BUSINESS

From left, sons Jameson, Jess and Craig Caskinette with father Richard D. “Rick” in the showroom of Caskinette’s Ford, Carthage. The three sons work in the family auto dealership. the bailout, you can’t imagine the people who walk through the front door and mention that.

We still hear that. At the same time, through that tough period, Ford never let up on developing product. And they’re on the leading edge of improving quality and safety. Right now, they have more new products through the whole line up than they’ve had in a long time.

FAMILY: Wife, Jeanne; daughters, Marya, Angel and Amber; sons Craig, twin boys, Jess and Jameson

NNYB: What types of buying trends are you seeing as fuel prices fall and climb?

HOMETOWN: Evans Mills; now in between Theresa and Alexandria Bay

CASKINETTE: It has definitely influenced buying trends. When fuel went up, people were buying smaller, more efficient vehicles, like the Focus or crossovers and the Escape, Ford’s smaller SUV. But what is interesting, as soon as the price came back down, buyers were coming in, looking to get back in to larger vehicles. People in the north country want to drive SUVs and trucks. We’re in an area where you really need four-wheel drive.

And we have uses for trucks. Electric vehicles, on the other hand, are better suited for metro areas. It’s a little bit more difficult in our area where the average miles per day people drive is much higher. The weather conditions that we drive in also influence buying patterns.

EDUCATION: Associate degree in construction

12

13

NNYB: What’s one myth about your industry you’d like to clear up?

CASKINETTE: That there’s a negative connotation about car salesmen. You wouldn’t call it a myth, but not all dealerships are cut from the same cloth. The car business is a good career.

Our people are professionals. We don’t really look at our sales force as car sales people.

They’re really consultants. They consult with the customer to help them find a vehicle that fits their needs and fits in their budget. A lot of people are reluctant to go to a car dealership. They’d rather go to a dentist than buy a vehicle. I’d like to see that change. I know our

The Richard D. ‘Rick’ Caskinette file AGE: 58 JOB: Owner, Caskinette’s Ford, Carthage

engineering, SUNY Canton

PROFESSIONAL: Started out with Stature Electric as an apprentice engineer, then moved into purchasing. Moved to Binghamton as a buyer with Stature and later worked as a purchasing manager for Stowe Manufacturing. Returned to the north country for a job at Gibbs & Edwards GM, Adams. Later moved to Ford. Bought Lofink Ford, Carthage, in 1996.

BUSINESS BOOK YOU’VE READ AND WOULD RECOMMEND: “Who Moved

My Cheese?” by Spencer Johnson

customers feel like we treat them well and with respect. That should be part of a normal carbuying experience.

14

NNYB: For many people, this is the largest single purchase they’ll ever make, especially if they never own a home. So shouldn’t it be a good experience?

CASKINETTE: It should be fun. They should look forward to it. It should be exciting. No one should dread it. That’s not really the impression we want the customer to have about the whole car-buying experience. We take the pressure off the customer. When they come through the front door, they’re going to be welcomed. People who have been here April 2015 | NNY Business

| 41

20 q uestions who customers have dealt with in the past are here to help them, not pressure them to get into a particular vehicle. We’ll give them some options and show them different vehicles but we want the customer to have an experience that will keep them coming back and referring their friends and family to us, too.

15

NNYB: Are we past the credit crunch or are you still feeling some impact?

CASKINETTE: Absolutely. Interest rates have stayed low. We went through some cycles when it was difficult to get credit. But we have a very good relationship with the credit side.

Ford has also done a lot better job planning

inventory for dealers, too. And all the products that have been produced in the past several years have been in demand, so that helps.

16

NNYB: How much of your business depends on Fort Drum and the military demographic?

CASKINETTE: It’s interesting because our sales are driven by about 25 percent of our customers who are direct military. But the military has far greater impact that on just 25 percent of our business. Look at what Fort Drum provides for all our other customers; it’s all intertwined. So you really can’t determine the impact that just the military has on our business or on our whole economy in the region.

It’s far greater than that. I know that there’s no rhyme or reason to how the government spends money sometimes. But when you look at Fort Drum and look at what it has, you have to ask yourself how in the world could you put that kind of an investment into a military base and then cut it back or close it. And with everything that’s going on in the world, I don’t really see pulling back our military as a solution.

17

NNYB: Have you ever taken a big risk that didn’t yield the return you hoped, but it served you well as a good lesson learned?

CASKINETTE: Yes. I can relate it to what we did in 2009. It was a difficult time in the economy and there were a lot of Harley Davidson pre-owned bikes available for purchase. I remember that day after I bought 17 of them.

I did it all on the Internet. When I got done I wanted to go into the bathroom and hurl lunch. But those 17 came on a tractor-trailer. I let all of the salespeople know that the Harleys were coming. They started calling their customers and gave them an inventory list of all the bikes. We literally had people here waiting for the tractor-trailer come in with those Harley Davidsons. Before they came off the trailer, we handed customers a price list. When the bikes arrived, all we had to do was put sold signs on them because they were coming off the trailer sold. We did well with the bike business. But the whole bike business has changed. Since Harley Davidson had all those repos, they started cutting production. On the new bikes, they started to increase prices, so I’m not able to pass on savings to help the customer. It doesn’t make sense today like it did in 2009.

But, as one door closes, another one always seems to open. Our pre-owned vehicle business has been growing. Now we’re going to get into selling pre-owned vehicles from other manufacturers, so we’re looking forward to growing the used car business as we phase out the Throttle Shop.

18

NNYB: Twenty years ago when you bought the business and took the plunge, what did you think?

CASKINETTE: In the car business, it’s hard to look much past tomorrow. So I didn’t really look 20 years out.

19 20

NNYB: What do you and your wife drive?

CASKINETTE: I drive an F150 truck. It’s my everyday vehicle. My wife is in a Ford Edge and she likes it a lot.

NNYB: What do you do for fun? Any fun side projects you’re involved with off the clock?

151 Mullin Street Watertown, NY 13601

CASKINETTE: My wife would say I’ve got too many projects. We own some land that we hunt deer on. And, of course, that allows me to spend some quality time with the boys and get out in the outdoors. We have such a great wealth of opportunities to enjoy the outdoors in the north country. It keeps us busy and having fun.

— Interview by Ken Eysaman. Edited for length and clarity to fit this space.

42 | NNY Business | April 2015

nonprofit ’ s today

North country connects with 2-1-1

S

ince 2000, residents of Georgia and Connecticut have been using 2-1-1, the nationally authorized phone number that connects callers to nonprofit and government services offered in their community.

Since 2007, residents of Plattsburgh and communities in all but 10 New York State counties have enjoyed the same service.

And finally in February, 2-1-1 came to Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties.

This has been a 15-year vision of the United Way of New York State, which has been working with state and local governments to support and finance the system. And wherever 2-1-1 exists, the local citizenry can’t imagine living without it.

Everyone is familiar with 9-1-1, the number you call in an emergency. 2-1-1 is for information and resources. Are you new in town and not sure where food pantries or youth sports are located? Wondering if there is free tax preparation service for senior citizens? Have some time on your hands and would like to be a volunteer? The answers to all those questions can be found through 2-1-1.

Right now, north country nonprofits are submitting information to the 211CNY call center in Syracuse, which handles all calls made from our three Northern New York counties and Oswego and Onondaga counties.

Some of the benefits of 2-1-1 are appar-

ent and others will eventually be revealed.

State government leaders like 2-1-1 because it allows them to refer most “constituent services” calls to 2-1-1.

Bob Gorman Staffers operating 9-1-1 like it because it cuts down on the number of

non-emergency calls they receive for information on food pantries and other services.

Fort Drum likes 2-1-1 because there is no way the post can give soldiers and their families in Gouverneur, Lowville, Adams, etc., information about what is available in every community.

And civil defense likes it because 2-1-1 can quickly be turned into the clearing

house for all information during a disaster. The service was the key conduit for information during Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and the massive snowstorm that hit the Buffalo area last November.

Additional funding was added to the state budget last year to bring 2-1-1 to our three counties, but continued state funding will be an annual concern for Sens. Patty Ritchie and Joe Griffo, and Assemblymembers Ken Blankenbush and Addie Russell.

Right now, our three counties do not pay anything for the system to be here, but that is understandable.

Why would any county government financially support 2-1-1 when there is no call volume data to make a judgment?

But the numbers are now coming in. 211CNY averaged 20 calls a week from our three counties the first three weeks after system availability was announced Feb. 11. As those numbers continue to rise, the United Way believes state and county leaders will see the value in ensuring 2-1-1 is here to stay.

Meanwhile, we invite you to review the 2-1-1 website at 211cny.com and see for yourself what the potential is for a one-stop shop of information and referral services for the north country. n BOB GORMAN is president and CEO of the United Way of Northern New York. Contact him at bgorman@unitedway-nny.org or 788-5631.

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economically speakin g

Health care IT improves outcomes

A

s health care consumers, we are all concerned with the cost, quality and access to care. But business owners have additional concerns regarding employee satisfaction, retention, health and productivity.

The North Country Initiative, a partnership of nearly all health care and community-based organizations in Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties, is embarking on a transformation from a volume-based system, i.e., paying for each visit and test, to a value- or outcomebased system, i.e., paying for the overall health or outcomes of an individual.

To meet this need, we have invested nearly $20 million in federal, state and local resources to strengthen technology infrastructure. In many ways, the community is fortunate to be very well positioned to make this transition, as well as preserve the high-quality health care that our community deserves.

The primary technologies being leveraged in the north country to improve the quality of care, reduce health care related costs and enhance patient experience include: electronic health records and patient portals, health information exchange, telemedicine and health care analytics. What are these technologies and how do they help?

ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS AND PATIENT PORTALS Electronic health records serve as the foundation for the health care IT system and allow providers to document all aspects of care on each of their patients in an organized record similar to a customer resource management system. Electronic health records take us one step further by supporting providers with reminders

44 | NNY Business | April 2015

and workflow enhancements established by evidence-based medicine, ensuring consistent patient outcomes. Here in the north country, 85 percent of our providers use Corey Zeigler electronic health records for their patients. Patient portals link the patient

to the provider, enhancing their partnership to achieve the patient’s health goals.

We encourage you to ask your provider if they provide patient portals and, if so, sign up for it and encourage your employees to do the same.

HEALTH INFORMATION EXCHANGE Health information exchange is similar to the integration of your own internal business systems – get them all to talk to one another. By connecting the different care settings, we create a more comprehensive view of the patient’s care, which aligns with the electronic health records quality, cost and patient experience ben-

efits, but on a larger, community scale.

TELEMEDICINE Telemedicine uses secure video teleconferencing and medical tools to connect patients in rural settings to specialty care physicians who may not be available locally. Similar to a global marketplace, this technology is bringing the world to our doorsteps. In addition, telemedicine reduces costs and increases patient satisfaction by preventing more costly care settings such as hospitals. It reduces necessary travel, offers wider choices of providers and decreases wait lists to receive care.

HEALTH CARE ANALYTICS Health care analytics, similar to business intelligence, is the practice of using data to inform decision makers. In health care, these decision makers are patients, providers and public health officials. The availability of measures and benchmarks improve quality. The use of data to identify and eliminate waste reduces costs. The patient experience is enhanced through the availability of information to make informed health care decisions, similar to an empowered consumer in the global marketplace.

OUR FUTURE LOOKS BRIGHT Health care lags many other industries in the use of technology and analytics, but our community is already leading and committed to becoming a high-quality, data-driven system to serve us all. Through technology, we are ultimately enhancing the community and your business by supporting a more informed, healthier, satisfied and productive workforce. n Corey Zeigler is chief information officer for the Watertown-based Fort Drum Regional Health Planning Organization. Contact him at czeigler@fdrhpo.org.

executive corner

Execute change with process focus

W

e last discussed our “Top 5” operational drivers that are most impactful on daily business success. The five concepts we believe essential to operate any business or organization, large or small, for-profit or nonprofit, public or private, are: customer focus, process focus, employee involvement, data analysis and leadership commitment.

This brings us to “process focus.” Successful businesses have processes in place that run well. Less successful businesses have processes that run “not so well.”

Running well means that you consistently satisfy customer requirements while hitting revenue and profitability targets.

“Not so well” means that you miss customer expectations or, if you meet their expectations, you do so inefficiently, which eats into profit. The message is simple.

Anytime a process goes astray, you pay the price with customer dissatisfaction, inefficiency, or both.

First, realize that everything is a process or a system. Whether it’s a manufacturing assembly line, the intake of patients to an emergency room or the paper flow of your customer billing process – everything is a process. Accepting that premise, the technique we use to improve a process comes from the Lean Manufacturing System used by most successful manufacturers.

Developed by Dr. W. Edwards Deming, the father of Total Quality Management, it is based on the concept of Plan-Do-Check-Act. The philosophy of continuous improvement is to embrace “finding problems” as opposed to implementing a “work around” and other temporary solutions that do not address the root cause of a problem. The concept is a simple, effective way to solve

problems and find the root cause.

It is a continuous cycle, one that should never end. We live and operate in a world that continuously changes and is doing so ever Bill Murray more rapidly.

What works best this year may not work best next year.

Here’s the process in more detail:

Step ONE: Plan — Define the process you wish to analyze. A common mistake is to select a process that is too large. For example, in our organization we wanted to analyze our customer support system from the first time we meet a potential customer through project completion and final billing.

We quickly determined that this was too broad. We asked ourselves what subsections of this process are causing us, or our customers, the greatest issues? We realized that the majority of our problems were hiding in the system we used to process a client project. Together, we created a Value Stream Map, a visual representation of every step in the process. Many lean practitioners see value stream mapping as a fundamental tool to identify waste, reduce process cycle times and implement process improvement.

Step Two: do — By seeing each step of our process through value stream mapping, we determined where opportunities exist for improvements. We work to implement changes that develop from our value stream mapping exercise: the “Do”

Reg Carter

part of Dr. Deming’s cycle. Before you implement change, it’s important to define how you’ll measure the change. An old mantra in continuous improvement states that “you cannot fix what you cannot measure.”

Step THREE: check — Once you have implemented change, you need to know how effective it was. Rarely does a change correct a process 100 percent, nor is it expected to. Analyze results using measurements you defined in the previous step. If it didn’t work, why didn’t it? Can you tweak the process and continue forward or should you step back and re-analyze the process?

Step FOUR: act — Implement the changes that you identify in the previous check phase. What did you learn during this first cycle? What worked? What didn’t work? What percent improvement did you realize? Then start the process all over.

The key word in process focus is continual. As change in the world around us continues to escalate, so must we continually and vigilantly focus on our business processes so we successfully achieve another important aspect: customer focus. n Reg CartER & Bill Murray are executives with CITEC Business Solutions, a Cantonbased nonprofit economic development consulting organization, with more than 60 years of business and management experience between them. Their column appears quarterly in NNY Business.

April 2015 | NNY Business

| 45

S T R AT E G I C PLANNIN G

Risks can cost you your business

I

f you are in business, I suspect you would agree that most everything costs something. Readily apparent are raw materials used to make products, employee wages, utilities, taxes, machinery, rents and office supplies. Costs can sometimes be negotiated but generally they are what they are.

In some cases though, the cost of certain items can vary widely depending on when the decision is made to purchase those items. For example, buying life insurance when you are in your 20’s likely will be vastly cheaper than waiting to buy a policy when you are 60. Life events that occur between age 20 and age 60 may even make obtaining life insurance too costly, if not impossible. That’s the risk you take by waiting. Hopefully, the risk was taken consciously, not by error of omission.

Business owners, by definition, are risk takers. Risks exist in every business. Risk is never good, but known risk can be managed. Uncontrolled, or unknown risk, can very well cripple a business. When risk is not controlled, business value is impaired.

If you are a business owner, I guarantee you need to know the risks in your business. But wait, you say, I know my risks.

I hope you are right. Experience says the majority of business owners do not know.

Think about it in terms of preventative maintenance. It’s always cheaper to maintain a machine than it is to repair it after a breakdown. Identifying and controlling a risk is better than having the risk impair your business value. The cost of taking a complete inventory of your business’s risks

now will certainly be cheaper than reacting to blowouts caused by unknown, uncontrolled risks.

In fact, not controlling risks could cost you your business.

Paul Luck A story about a food cooperative that sold locally grown fruits and vegetables was recently in the local news.

Its customers were a few large institutions along with a handful of small stores and restaurants. Recently, two of the large institutions sharply reduced their purchases.

As a result, the cooperative suspended operations and the farmers that depended on it are scrambling to find homes for their produce. The cooperative had a concentration risk – that is, a reliance on a couple of customers for the majority of its sales. The risk was apparently uncontrolled.

OK, you say, I have a lot of customers.

That’s great. But there are other risks.

Consider the following questions: n Do you depend on a couple key employees’ skills or knowledge? If they left, would you feel their absence; would you stumble? n Do you count on a few products for the majority of your sales or a few suppliers for the majority of your raw materials? n If you or your business partner became disabled, would the place run just fine without one of you?

n Do you have a capable, deep management team that truly manages daily operations? n If your business partner died, would you be happy to have their spouse as your new partner? n Do you have a buy-sell agreement with your partner? Is it funded? n Are you confident in your financial system? n Do you know your cash needs for the next six months? n Are your inventories lean or is your warehouse filled to the ceiling? n On a personal note: how are you feeling these days? Never better? n In short, do you know — really know — just how much stronger and more valuable your business could be if risks were known and managed?

Fact: Each and every one of us is getting older — every day. Fact: Waiting even a day to address a risk, whether it be related to your health or your business’s health, increases the likelihood the cure will be more costly when it is needed — if a cure is even available.

Make a conscious decision: if you need life insurance, buy it early. Do not wait. If you want to protect your business, take an inventory of your risks, face them head on and control them. Do not wait. Risks exist in every business. Risks impair value.

Knowing and managing risks increase profits and business value. And that’s how risk takers define success.

n Paul Luck is a principal partner in The Succession Partners, Clayton. Contact him at (315) 7785257 or PaulLuck@thesuccessionpartners.com.

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Maintain clear shareholder pacts

I

n February’s column, I discussed options of an owner who wants to withdraw from a Limited Liability Company when there is a falling out between any of its members.

If the LLC operating agreement has contract language on member withdrawal, the matter is easy since the method has been established. However, when an operating agreement fails to address it, the member who wishes to withdraw faces an uphill legal battle.

Here, I will examine some legal options if a shareholder wishes to withdraw from a closed corporation. A closed corporation is one in which there is a restriction on the sale of stock to anyone outside its ranks. Closed corporations are generally small family-owned businesses that employ family members who have significant roles in the corporation. More than likely, the closed corporation is also a sub-chapter S corporation, which means shareholders or owners do not derive any income from dividends, but are taxed on the amount of income that they receive from the corporation in the form of salaries. This business model represents many of the north country’s small businesses.

There are two statutory methods by which a shareholder can ask a court to order dissolution. The first is pursuant to Business Corporation Law section 1104.

Under terms of the statute, the aggrieved shareholder must own 50 percent or more of the stock in the corporation and it must be established that either the board of directors are so divided that the corporation cannot be managed; the shareholders are so divided that a board of directors cannot be elected; or there are two or more factions of shareholders

that create so much dissension that the dissolution of the corporation would be beneficial. The major problem with the statute is that it requires holders of 50 percent or more Larry Covell of the stock in order to file the petition for dissolution. In most cases, it’s minority owners who are frozen out of management of the corporation.

In the second method, a shareholder with as little as 20 percent or more ownership in the corporation can file for dissolution. Pursuant to BCL section 1104a, a shareholder must establish that either the directors are guilty of illegal, fraudulent or oppressive actions; or assets of the corporation are being looted, wasted or diverted for non-corporate purposes.

The benefits of this action are twofold.

First, holders with 20 percent or more shares can get justice if the majority shareholders use their superior status to deny them a return on their investment.

Secondly, the statute provides a remedy for a broader range of a grievance than under the first option.

Once the action is filed, other shareholders or the corporation may elect to purchase the shares from the complaining shareholder. The election must be made within 90 days after the filing of the petition, and the complaining shareholder will receive “fair value” for their shares.

If the parties cannot agree on “fair value”

for the shares, the majority shareholders are obligated to pay the amount as established by a court.

If the majority shareholders decide to defend against the action under BCL 1104a and do not offer to buy shares of the complaining shareholders, they face the possibility of a court-ordered dissolution. This outcome exists if the complaining shareholders prove that majority shareholders use “oppressive actions” to defeat the “reasonable expectations” held by the minority shareholders when they invested in the business.

This legal theory was created in the famous case of “In the Matter of the Judicial Dissolutions of Kemp & Beatley, Inc.” In this case, two complaining shareholders, who were also long-time employees of the corporation, were pressured to resign. The majority shareholders used their status to deny the complaining shareholders income from profits and decision-making authority in the corporation. This is a classic illustration of shareholders who are frozen out of corporate ownership.

Actions to dissolve a corporation pursuant to either BCL section 1104 or 1104a are expensive and time-consuming matters. There is no practical way to keep shareholders from becoming fractionized and freezing other shareholders out of the corporation. Drafting appropriate shareholder agreements is perhaps the best method to prevent one fraction from freezing out another. n LARRY COVELL is a professor of business at Jefferson Community College and an attorney.

Contact him at lcovell@sunyjefferson.edu. His column appears bimonthly in NNY Business.

April 2015 | NNY Business

| 47

commerce corner

Family businesses need a solid plan

W

hen many people think of businesses, they often ask if it’s a non-profit, a for-profit, or a corporation. We rarely really ask if it’s a family-run or owned business. Family-owned businesses are all around us, from small momand-pop stores to local restaurants such as Momma’s Kitchen or Shorty’s Diner, or larger ones like BMW, Walmart and Raymour and Flannigan.

But what does it mean to be a familyowned business?

Simply put, family businesses are businesses in which the family owns a significant share and can influence important decisions, such as the election of a chairman and CEO. Running a family business is not easy and many families face challenges such as achieving strong business performance, agreeing on key decisions and being committed to and able to act as the owner.

According to the Conway Center for Family Business, Columbus, Ohio, 35 percent of Fortune 500 Companies are family controlled. Family businesses account for 50 percent of U.S. gross domestic product, generate 60 percent of the country’s employment and account for 78 percent of all new job creation.

Harvard Business Review studied family-owned businesses and, after much research, it concluded that family-run businesses focus on resilience more than performance. A CEO of a family-controlled business might have financial incentives similar to those of nonfamily firms, but the obligations he or she feels lead to different strategic choices.

Within the study, there were seven different ways family-owned or run businesses manage resiliency.

They are frugal in good times and bad and maintain a philosophy that the firm’s money is the family’s money.

It has to last, and decisions have to made that will affect generaLynn Pietroski tions to come.

They keep the bar high for capital expenditures. Simply stated, they do not spend more than they can earn.

They carry little debt. What a great practice that all businesses should follow.

Family-run businesses often view this as high-risk.

They acquire fewer and smaller acquisitions and may expand their footprint, but prefer organic growth.

Many show a high level of diversification, but stay focused on their mission and core business principles.

They are more international. Familycontrolled businesses have been ambitious about their overseas expansion.

They retain talent better than their competitors. Family companies promote longevity and the value of their employees to the family. There is a higher trust and familiarity with individuals who work within a family-owned business and they want to stay with them.

Family-owned businesses now make up 19 percent of the companies in the Fortune Global 500, which tracks the world’s largest firms by annual gross sales. According to new research conducted by the

consulting firm McKinsey, that is up from 15 percent in 2005.

With the many good things that can come with a family-owned business, there are several things families need to be cognizant of, so as not to lose sight of the end goal: success.

Family feuding can lead to many problems, and often results in complete dissolution of a business.

Nepotism. Not all employees will have familial connections. However, all employees must be treated equally and fairly, or larger problems may arise.

Don’t let your emotions run your business.

Although this can be difficult as you are protecting your family assets, you still have to run the business and do your best not to allow your personal connection to get in the way of making sound business decisions.

Losing non-family employees can be a common theme among family businesses, as some employees may be stifled by the concept that as a family-run business, there may not be the opportunity for growth.

Succession planning is critically important for family-run businesses, as much as it is for any business. Many businesses may not have a written succession plan or even a plan, if future generations are not interested in continuing in the family business.

Family-owned businesses have the ability to succeed. There is a lot of thought and hard work that goes into the success of a business. Being able to balance all facets of work and life can be a hefty challenge. This is not an unattainable prospect, but one that is seen by so many.

n Lynn Pietroski is president and CEO of the Greater Watertown North Country Chamber of Commerce. Contact her at ceo@watertownny.com.

Her column appears monthly in NNY Business.

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Our region is one with the military

O

n March 20, we saw an enormous effort by the Northern New York community to demonstrate support for our men and women who serve at Fort Drum. Much is at risk for our community with potentially 16,000 soldiers being removed from the north country. Even if the Department of Defense cut 5,000 soldiers, our community would suffer devastating economic and social impacts. Before the March 20 public rally, someone asked me how a troop reduction would affect our agricultural industry. I explained that because we, unlike many military bases, are one community, agriculture would also feel a significant impact from a troop reduction.

Agriculture is a land-based business. In order to feed livestock and grow crops, a farmer needs land. Our average farm size is about 300 acres, placing us near the top in the state as having the largest farms in terms of average acres. Property taxes are a significant part of annual farm expenses.

If an average-size farm pays $100 per acre in property taxes, they are looking at a $30,000 tax bill. Some of our larger family farms own several thousand acres and are significant contributors to their local municipality and school tax base. If we lose troops, we lose sales tax revenue, potentially shifting more of the tax burden to property owners.

But there is more to the issue than just a rise in property taxes. Having Fort Drum in the community is not an “us-and-them” issue. We enjoy the integration of soldiers and their families into our communities.

Military families visit our farmers markets.

During peak growing season, there are farmers markets in Jefferson County almost

daily. Many people frequenting our markets are military families. With a reduction in troop strength, the customer base for many smaller farms would be drastically reduced.

Jay Matteson We often hear about the soldier who will be stationed at Fort Drum for the first time hearing stories about our area being one of the coldest assignments. Many quickly find that our community makes Fort Drum one of the warmest places to serve. The Fort Drum Regional Liaison Organization indicates we have one of the highest retention rates of any Army base of soldiers retiring here. Steve Conaway, owner of Thousand Islands Winery, was a major at Fort Drum and decided that the Thousand Islands region would make a great place to start a winery. In fact, Steve tells of how he drafted plans for his “retirement gig” while serving on a deployment in Afghanistan. The winery Steve started was the second in Jefferson County and now employs approximately 20 people and continues to grow. Six wineries are in business in Jefferson County with several in St. Lawrence and Lewis counties. We frequently see soldiers wanting to pursue agriculture once they retire locally from the Army. Our agricultural agencies are looking for ways to help the military have easier access to the ag industry.

One recent experience demonstrated viv-

idly how the post and native residents have become interwoven into one community.

I spoke at Indian River High School for a career day program.

One class had a young gentleman interested in renewable energy careers. He said he did not have a farming background.

With an assumption he was probably from a military family, I included information on opportunities in the renewable energy field and its strong relationship to agriculture. After class I spoke with the young man. It was fairly obvious he was an athlete. I shared how I enjoyed working on a neighbor’s farm during the summer hay season to get in shape for the upcoming football season.

After the students left the class, the ag teacher shared with me that the gentlemen was a star player from last season’s championship football team. She went on to say that he had, just as I talked about, looked up a local dairy farm and asked the owner for a job so he could get in shape for football. The farmer relayed to the ag teacher that he was very pleased with the young man and two of his football friends who also came to the farm to get in shape.

This story demonstrates how we have grown together. Our community is a tight fabric of military, agricultural and other economic sectors. That fabric has become one community, socially and economically.

Any major reduction in force will tear our fabric, shredding our local community. n Jay M. Matteson is agricultural coordinator for the Jefferson County Local Development Corp. He is a lifelong Northern New York resident who lives in Lorraine. Contact him at coordinator@comefarmwithus.com. His column appears monthly in NNY Business.

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business tech bytes

Wait and see with Microsoft in ’15

S

ince, at times, my column’s subject seems to follow my day job, I’ve been spending a lot of time poking around Redmond lately.

You know Redmond, Wash., the home base of software giant Microsoft.

Last year brought change to Microsoft’s top leadership post with former cloud computing chief Satya Nadella taking the helm. This ended the 14-year reign of Steve Ballmer, making Mr. Nadella only the third CEO after Microsoft’s legendary co-founder Bill Gates.

Fortunately for Mr. Nadella, Microsoft is finally moving past some mobile and desktop product failures to emerge as a strong cloud player, leaving him to preside over a forward-looking product strategy.

Challenges still remain and some missteps typical of Microsoft have happened along the way, but a solid footing on the massive, globe-spanning Azure cloud computing platform is now a reality. You need only to look at Microsoft’s financial reports to see that its efforts to draw large and small enterprises to its Azure cloud offerings are finally paying off.

“I’m proud that our aggressive move to the cloud is paying off — our commercial cloud revenue doubled again this year to a $4.4 billion annual run rate,” Mr. Nadella announced last July.

Still, where would Microsoft be without a court battle simmering behind the scenes? This time, the company is fighting the federal government in a case that could have major ramifications for U.S.-based cloud services providers. Interestingly enough, Microsoft is experiencing a rare show of industry-wide support as it battles the court order this time. The order would

force Microsoft to hand over to the U.S. Department of Justice cloud-based Outlook.com emails stored in a data center in Ireland. Microsoft’s top lawyer, Brad Smith, warned, “if the Jill Van Hoesen U.S. government reaches into data centers in other countries, we have to assume that other governments will follow.”

Where do you think this could lead?

Besides lawsuits, there are other signs that it’s no longer business as usual at Microsoft under Mr. Nadella. The longawaited release of native Microsoft Office apps for Apple’s iPad — Word, Excel and PowerPoint — is now a reality. Another surprise is the release of the larger-sized successor to its Surface Pro 2. This was a surprising choice, instead of going the mini tablet route. But even with this move, the Surface Pro 3 is still unlikely to outsell the iPad anytime soon. Microsoft is staking the success of the Surface Pro 3 on mobile productivity while catering to enterprise IT departments, business professionals and consumers looking for the power of a fullfledged PC in a tablet.

Mobile still continues to be Microsoft’s nemesis. The company has acquired Nokia, renaming it Microsoft Mobile, but it is still not making serious inroads into the smartphone market. While Microsoft is still behind the curve in the smartphone and tablet markets, it isn’t letting “wear-

able” opportunities pass it by. Band, the company’s health and fitness tracker, was sold out and unavailable until early 2015. Microsoft continues to venture into software development of wearable apps for Android Wear, including a companion app to OneNote.

Cloud computing, Surface Pro 3 and wearables might finally be beginning to pay off for Microsoft, but desktop computing is still its bread and butter and highly relevant to the bottom line. Most businesses are still running PCs with a Microsoft operating system. Remember last year at this time when Microsoft ended support on the 12-year-old Windows XP operating system?

According to Web analytics firm Net Applications, “Microsoft ended support while XP was still the second-most popular desktop operating system, right after Windows 7, with more than 26 percent of the desktop OS market at the time.” One year later, this gamble has seemed to pay off with the latest XP OS figures plummeting to 13 percent. Microsoft now hopes this will allow Windows 8.x — Windows 8 and 8.1 — to gain some market share. Not sure how that will play out with Windows 10, which is due out in April.

Wayne Rash of eWEEK, summed up this latest OS release in his recent review, “Windows 10 Preview Shows What Windows 8 Should Have Looked Like.”

Haven’t we seen this from Redmond before with Vista or ME? My advice: wait for Windows 10 if you can. n Jill Van Hoesen is chief information officer for Johnson Newspapers and a 25-year IT veteran. Contact her at jvanhoesen@wdt.net. Her column appears monthly in NNY Business.

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50 | NNY Business | April 2015

small business success

Set an effective marketing strategy

A

s spring dawns and businesses prepare for the summer season, it’s a good time to review your marketing strategies and evaluate their effectiveness. The goal of marketing is to get your name out there and have your brand become more recognizable in the marketplace. More importantly, you want to reach the right customers, make sales to them and help them turn into referral sources for future customers. As Andrew Klausner wrote in an April 2013 Forbes. com article, “developing awareness of your brand — who you are, what you do and why you are uniquely qualified — should in turn help you generate leads which will lead to more clients.” As you begin to lay out your marketing plan, be clear on specific goals and action steps, timing, your budget and message.

First, when marketing a new product, service or business, you must ensure that it meets a need in the market. Be sure there is a strong potential customer base for your product or service, and that a competitor isn’t already meeting the need.

You can find this out through market research, including Internet searches, customer surveys and general demographics research. Your local Small Business Development Center has access to a research network to obtain some of this information. Also, identifying customer needs or wants can help you craft an advertising message that positively engages with them emotionally.

Second, identify who your customers are and how to target them by direct

marketing efforts. Identify customers by geographic area and other demographics such as gender, age, income level, marital status and home ownerJennifer McCluskey ship. Different product lines may have different target customers.

Once you identify target customers, you can focus your marketing strategy, as it can feel overwhelming to try to reach everyone. Evaluating target customers can also help in other areas, such as developing price points attractive to potential customers while also covering costs and hopefully turning a profit.

Also, if you haven’t previously identified your company’s brand and unique selling points, this may be a good time to clearly define them. What makes your company unique? Why should your customers buy from you rather than a competitor? Are there certain areas of your company, product or service that you want to emphasize in this specific marketing campaign? Make a written list of the specific advantages of your products and services. Think of this as your one-minute selling statement or “elevator pitch.”

Third, fully craft your message and decide which vehicle will best deliver it to your customers. Are your target customers more likely to read a magazine,

watch TV, listen to radio, surf the Internet or look for coupons in the newspaper?

Are there any co-marketing opportunities available with other businesses that serve the same target market?

Fourth, identify strategies used by your competition that appeal to you. Putting your own spin on some of these methods can increase the effectiveness of your marketing plan. Don’t forget to look at the strategies used by leaders in your field around the country, not just local competitors. While some of the marketing techniques used by companies in say, California, will not work in the north country, others could prove to valuable additions to your marketing plan.

Finally, put in place methods to measure the performance of your marketing over time. To succeed, your marketing should have measurable positive impact on performance, preferably through increased sales and profits. Review your progress and make changes to the marketing plan. The market constantly changes. As you see which advertising areas are most effective, your plan may also change.

If you would like to develop a marketing plan and need help, contact the Small Business Development Center at SUNY Canton, 386-7312, or Jefferson Community College, Watertown, 782-9262, for an appointment for free business counseling. n JENNIFER McCLUSKEY is a certified business advisor with the New York State Small Business Development Center at SUNY Canton. Contact her at mccluskeyj@canton.edu. Her column appears bimonthly in NNY Business.

April 2015 | NNY Business

| 51

COMMUNITY / BUSINESS CALENDAR

Adams Saturday, April 25

n RecruitNY open house, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Adams Center Volunteer Fire Department, 13401 North St. Includes food, station tours, crafts, demos. Free.

Information: fire department, 583-5533.

Alexandria Bay Saturday, May 23

n Grape Blossom Festival, noon to 8 p.m., Thousand Islands Winery, 43298 Seaway Ave. Includes wine, beer, local vendors, food, hay rides and live music. Free admission. Information: Thousand Islands Winery, 482-9306, info@thousandislands winery.com, thousandislands winery.com.

Clayton Sunday, May 3

n The River in Bloom, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., 1000 Islands Harbor Hotel, 200 Riverside Drive. A day of crafts and artists is planned. Information: Fifty-One Events, 777-1495 or events@fiftyoneevents.com.

Saturday, May 9

n May Days Festival, noon to 5 p.m., Coyote Moon Vineyards, 17371 County Road 3. Includes live music, wine and activities and fun for the family. Cost: $3; military, $2; club members and under age 21, free. Information: Coyote Moon Vineyards, 686-5600 or coyote moonvineyards.com. n Thousand Islands Land Trust Spring Stewardship Day, 10 a.m., Zenda Farms Preserve, 38973 Zenda Farm Road.

Wear work clothes, bring gloves and tools. TILT will provide water and Subway of Clayton will provide lunch. Information/register: TILT, 686-5345, volunteer@ tilandtrust.org or tilandtrust.org.

Friday, May 15 — Sunday, May 17

n Fifth annual Two Nations 1000 Islands

52 | NNY Business | April 2015

Extravaganza, 5 to 8 p.m. Friday; 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Cerow Recreation Park and Arena. Car, truck and bike show includes door prizes, awards, car model contest, displays, car parade, food, games, raffles, vendors, live music and demos. Free admission. Information: highwaylegends.us.

Thursday, May 21

n Volunteer breakfast, 9 to 11 a.m., Antique Boat Museum, 750 Mary St. Includes signup at 9 a.m. and breakfast shortly after. RSVP at least one week in advance. Free. Information: volunteers@ abm.org or abm.org.

Fort Drum Monday, May 4 & Tuesday, May 5

n Boots 2 Business, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day, Clark Hall, Mount Belvedere Blvd. Course for soldiers transitioning out of service includes market research, licensing, funding and operating a business. DOL ACAP briefing required.

Information: ACAP, 772-3434.

Thursday, May 14

n Build Your Own Business, 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., ACS Building. Course includes market research, licensing, funding and operating. Information: ACS, 772-9611.

Lowville Saturday, May 9

n Second annual Walk/Run for a Healthier Community, 8 a.m., Lewis County General Hospital, 7785 N. State St. Registration check-in scheduled for 8 a.m.; walk/run, 9 a.m.; super hero challenge for ages 3 to 10, 10 a.m. Sponsored

by Lewis County Hospital Foundation and Lewis County Public Health Agency.

Proceeds will assist in purchase of automated breast ultrasound machine. Cost:

race, $25; challenge, $10. Information: Hospital Foundation, 376-5110.

Massena Saturday, May 2

n Spring Bazaar, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Salvation Army, 178 Victory Road. Hosted

by The Salvation Army. Information: Salvation Army, 769-5154.

Syracuse First Wednesdays

n Business Innovation Days meeting, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., The Technology Garden, 235 Harrison St. Opportunity for small businesses and entrepreneurs to meet one-on-one with SBDC counselor. Appointment required. Information/register: Onondaga Community College SBDC, 498-6070 or SBDC@sunyocc.edu.

First Fridays

n Toolkit Day with SCORE, by appointment, The Technology Garden, 235 Harrison St. Counselors provide mentoring to business owners. Information/register: Lynn Hughes, 579-2862 or Lynn@ TheTechGarden.com.

Thursday, May 7

n Effective Community Leadership, 8 to 9:30 a.m., CenterState Corporation for Economic Opportunity, 115 W. Fayette St. Leadership Greater Syracuse executive director Pam Brunet plans to share her insights and more than 20 years of civic engagement experience. Cost: members, $10; non-members, $20.

Information: CenterState CEO, 4701800 or CEO@centerstateceo.com.

Friday, May 15 & Saturday, May 16

n Swan Lake, 7 p.m. Friday; 2 p.m. Saturday, Mulroy Civic Center Theater, 800 S. State St. Presented by Syracuse City Ballet. Cost: balcony, $23.75; orchestra and mezzanine, $42.85 to $63.30.

Tuesday, May 19

n Rosamond Gifford Lecture Series presents Erik Larson, 7:30 p.m., Mulroy Civic Center Theater, 800 S. State St. Mr. Larson, American journalist and author, has won awards and been published worldwide. Cost: balcony, $36.55; mezzanine, $41.65; orchestra, $41.65 to $51.90. Information: Friends of the Central Library, 435-1832 or foclsyracuse.com.

Potsdam Friday, April 24 & Saturday, April 25

n The Really Big Show, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday; 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Cheel Arena, Clarkson University, 8 Clarkson Ave. Seventh annual show featuring craft, food and wine vendors.

Information: St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce, northcountryguide. com or 386-4000.

Wednesday, May 13

n Potsdam Chamber of Commerce Spring Luncheon, noon, Jake’s on the Water, 5726 State Highway 56, Hannawa Falls. Recognizes Business of the Year and milestone business anniversaries. Cost: $20; cash bar available.

Register to chamber by May 8. Information: chamber, 274-9000 or potsdam chamber@slic.com.

Pulaski Sunday, April 26

n Bridal Showcase, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Pulaski American Legion, 3350 Maple Ave. Hosted by Twin Towers Music, Far View Images and Helping Hands Event Planners. Includes 60 vendors, 50/50 raffle to benefit Julian Ross and family.

Portion of proceeds to benefit Pulaski American Legion Ladies Auxiliary. No registration fee. Information: Helping Hands Event Planners, 385-1622, 5294893 or helpinghandsmic@gmail.com.

Watertown Saturday, April 25

n 2015 North Country Heart Walk, 8 a.m. to noon, McVean Gymnasium, Jefferson Community College, 1220 Coffeen St. Includes food, kid’s zone, photos, performances and health screenings. Registration scheduled for 8 a.m.; survivor ceremony, 9:30 a.m.; 1- and 3-mile walks, 10 a.m. Information: Stacy

Spaziani, 783-4116, or northcountry heartwalk.org. n Muse 2015, 5 p.m., Arts on the Square, 52 Public Square. Celebrating four years of the North Country Arts Council’s Arts on the Square, features performance troupe Fire Magick, band Oceans Below, poet Bianca Ellis, visual artist Kathleen Mereand, hors d’oeuvres and cash bar. Art on display through Saturday, May 30. Cost: free; $5 suggested donation. Information: NCAC, 661-6361or nnyart.org. n Taste of the Town, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Dulles State Office Building, 317 Washington St. Includes samples from more than 40 local food and beverage vendors. Benefits Victims Assistant Center of Jefferson County. Information: Watertown Sunrise Rotary, 782-3381.

Wednesdays, April 29 & May 6

n Fundamentals of Grant Writing, 6 to 9 p.m., Extended Learning Center, E-129, Jefferson Community College, 1220 Coffeen St. Course covers grant proposal elements and templates. Instructor: JoAnne Rhubart. Cost: $85. Information: continuing education, 786-2438.

Saturday, May 2

n Out of the Darkness walk, 11 a.m., McVean Gymnasium Lobby, Jefferson Community College, 1220 Coffeen St. Three kilometer walk to benefit American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Preregister, afsp.donordrive.com/event/jcc; sign up event day, 9 a.m. Information: JCC, 786-2200. n Immaculate Heart Legacy Gala, 6 to 11 p.m., Hilton Garden Inn, 1290 Arsenal St. Semiformal event includes cocktails, dinner, dancing auction and presentation of the “Foundation for Life” Distinguished Alumnus Award, Community Service Award and “Friend of Immaculate Heart Central Schools” Award.

Proceeds to benefit instruction and the Immaculate Heart Scholarship Fund.

Cost: $50. Information/tickets: school, 221-3785; lisa.west@ihcschools.org.

Sunday, May 3

n Walk! MS, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Alex T. Duffy Fairgrounds, Agricultural Hall, 970 Coffeen St. Raises money to support programs and research. Information: Hillary Upton, 1- (585) 271-0805; Jessica Joanis, 1- (585) 271-0805 ext.

70701 or Jessica.Joanis@nmss.org.

Tuesday, May 5

n PTSD Awareness Series event, 10 a.m., Commons, Jefferson Community

College, 1220 Coffeen St. Four-hour interactive program featuring speakers, videos, training and more. Information: student activities, 786-2431.

Saturday, May 9

n Mother’s Day spa Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Ramada Inn, 21000 State Route 3. Event plans to include drinks, food, local vendors and crafters and more.

Cost: $40; in advance, $35. Information: facebook.com/helpinghandsmic. n Run to the Sun race, 9 a.m., Davidson Nissan, 18423 U.S. Route 11. Participants have choice of 5k run/walk, 10k run or 13.1 mile half marathon to honor the life of Heather A. Freeman. Checktime time scheduled from 6:30 to 8:15 a.m.; half marathon check-in ends at 7:30 a.m. Half marathon scheduled to begin at 8 a.m.; other races at 9 a.m.

Cost: 5k/10k, $25; half marathon, $50.

Information: Heather A. Freeman Foundation, heatherafreemanfoundation.com, 778-5482, haff.foundation@gmail.com. n Ready, Set, Fun Bookfest, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Bruce M. Wright Memorial Conference center, 1291 Faichney Drive.

Presented by WPBS-DT. Features community vendors and local children’s authors.

Free with donation of canned good or non-perishable food item. Information: WPBS-DT, 782-3142 or wpbstv.org.

Sunday, May 10

n Mother’s Day brunch, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Hilton Garden Inn, 1290 Arsenal St. Information: Hilton Garden Inn, 788-1234.

Wednesday, May 13

n Armed Forces Day Luncheon, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Hilton Garden Inn, 1290 Arsenal St. Honors military service members, both in service and retired.

Cost: $22. Information: Michelle Carpenter, events@watertownny.com.

COMMUNITY / BUSINESS CALENDAR

Information: Syracuse City Ballet, 4874879, syracusecityballet@gmail.com or syracusecityballet.com.

Wednesday, May 20

n Business After Hours, 5:30 to 9 p.m., Boldt Castle. Departing from Boldt Yacht House, Wellesley Island. Hosted

by Thousand Islands Bridge Authority.

Ages 21 and older. Cost: pre-registered members, $10; non-members, $15; payment in advance required. Information: Michelle Carpenter, 788-4400 or events@watertownny.com.  GOT A BUSINESS EVENT or calendar item? Email nnybusiness@wdt.net.

Deadline is the 10th of each month for the following month’s issue. Visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NNY Business or www.nnybizmag.com for events calendar updates.

April 2015 | NNY Business

| 53

business scene GWNC Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year Luncheon at Savory Downtown

First Round Bar & Lounge, Watertown, earned the 2014 Entrepreneurial Award. From left, employee Angela Niger and owner Frank Danielsen.

Tina M. Cobb, executive director of the North Country Prenatal/Perinatal Council, which earned the small nonprofit Business of the Year award.

LORNA OPPEDISANO PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

LORNA OPPEDISANO PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

The Development Authority of the North Country, Watertown, earned the large nonprofit Business of the Year award. From left, board member Thomas H. Hefferon, DANC CEO James W. Wright and board members Alfred E. Calligaris and Alex MacKinnon. On March 5, the Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce hosted its 2014 Business of the Year awards luncheon at Savory Downtown, Watertown.

Barrett Paving Materials, Watertown, earned the large for-profit Business of the Year award. From left, employees Mickey Shepard, Sue Ann Messick and Crystal Bovay. M&T Bank, Westelcom, Timeless Frames, Décor &

Expressions, Rose & Kiernan, Slack Chemical, NNY Business Magazine and the Watertown Daily Times sponsored the annual luncheon.

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business scene GWNC CoC Business of the Year Luncheon

Four River Valleys Historical Society, Carthage, earned the Farm & Craft Market Vendor of the Year award. From left, Sandy Hubbard and Nelson Eddy.

SBDC Women’s Business Bootcamp luncheon

From left, Tracy Charleson, Commercial Press, Canton, and Nance Arquiett, 2 Mama Birds.

LORNA OPPEDISANO PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

JILL VAN HOESEN PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

Watertown Audiology earned the small for-profit Business of the Year award.

From left, Watertown Audiology employees Sarah Brady and Sarah Sugden.

From left, Mary Beth Burnham, Burnham Reporting, Canton, and Shelley Mae, Everlastings from the Heart and Heart ’n Soil Landscaping, Potsdam.

The SUNY Canton Small Business Development Center hosted its annual Women’s Business Bootcamp luncheon on March 10 in the Richard W. Miller Campus Center, SUNY Canton.

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business scene SBDC Women’s Business Bootcamp luncheon at SUNY Canton

From left, Amanda Crump, Key Bank, Potsdam, and Erin Groebler, 29 Design Studio.

JILL VAN HOESEN PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

From left, Mary Harding, maryhardingjewelry.com, and Maureen Ring, 4 Paws Training, Canton. The SUNY Canton Small Business Development Center hosted its annual Women’s Business Bootcamp luncheon on March 10 in the Richard W. Miller Campus Center, SUNY Canton.

From left, Joy Hastings, Key Bank, Potsdam, and Yen H. Huynh, U.S. Postal Service, Albany.

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business scene GWNC Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours at 1000 Islands Harbor Hotel

David J. Malone, The Stebbins Engineering and Manufaturing Company, Watertown, and wife, Sue, Nikken, Pillar Point.

From left, Janessa Kucik, Key Bank, Watertown, and Ginnie E. Savage, Key Bank, Clayton.

LORNA OPPEDISANO PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

From left, Jeany Danielsen, Rose & Kiernan Insurance, Surety & Benefit Services, Watertown, and Judi Plante, GYMO Architecture, Engineering, Environmental and Land Surveying, Watertown. The 1000 Islands Harbor Hotel, Clayton, hosted the March Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours on March 18.

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business scene Women’s Council of Realtors leadership luncheon at Italian American Civic Association

From left, Colleen Knuth, town justice, Town of Cape Vincent, and Hester Chase, Town of Cape Vincent.

From left, Vickie L. Staie, Staie on the Seaway Real Estate Services, and Cheryl Schroy, First Niagara Bank, Women’s Council of Realtors, Tri-County NY Chapter.

JILL VAN HOESEN PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

JILL VAN HOESEN PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

From left, Janet Handschuh, Heart Homes Real Estate, Hammond, and president, Women’s Council of Realtors Tri-County NY Chapter, and Lisa L’Huillier, Hefferon Real Estate, Watertown, and president-elect, Women’s Council of Realtors, New York State Chapter.

From left, Maura Christman, Margaret Farone, and Amanda Baker, all of Community Bank The WCR Tri-County NY Chapter held its annual “Got Leadership?” membership luncheon and panel discussion March 20 at the Italian-American Civic Association, Watertown.

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business scene St. Lawrence County Chamber Business Spotlight at Parker Maple Farm

Joe Goliber, St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce, and wife, Nikita, nurse practicioner student, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse.

Erin Lassial, Coco Lasssial Apron Co., Canton, and SUNY Canton, and husband, Troy, SUNY Canton.

KEN EYSAMAN PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

From left, Alicia Murphy and Hilary Emerson Lay, both of St. Lawrence County Arts Council, Potsdam.

KEN EYSAMAN PHOTOS | NNY BUSINESS

Joshua Parker, Parker Maple Farm, Canton, and Brooke Rouse, St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce. Parker Maple Farm hosted the St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce March Business Spotlight. Mort Backus & Sons, Ogdensburg, is scheduled to host the chamber’s April Business Spotlight on Wednesday, April 22.

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business history

A family dairy dynasty F.X.Baumert and Co. introduced Muenster cheese to the U.S.

By LENKA WALLDROFF

F

NNY Business

rom the mid-19th century until about 1930, Jefferson County reigned as the “Cheese Capital of the World.” In fact, at the time, more cheese was bought and sold on the Watertown Cheese Exchange than anywhere else in the world.

Jefferson County’s cheese notoriety came from humble origins, however, with the first dairy farm opening in Rutland in 1834 with 20 cows. As road conditions were often poor, or roads were nonexistent, travel took significantly longer in previous centuries than it does today. In pre-refrigeration times, this proved problematic for farmers trading in perishable goods like milk.

American author Clifton Fadiman once quipped, “Cheese is milk’s leap toward immortality”— and indeed it is. Cheese making was a solution to a problem north country dairy farmers faced. Cheese became a way for dairy farms in the remote areas of Northern New York to ship their product to more densely populated downstate markets without spoiling.

Cheese making also proved to be a profitable home industry for small farms that sold their milk locally. The manufacturing of artisan cheeses was so popular in the north country, in fact, that most villages had their own cheese making cooperatives. Cooperatives pooled milk and resources from several neighboring farms, which made the production and marketing of cheese more affordable.

Considering the gender roles and socioeconomics of the 19th century it may surprise some to learn that women were front and center in the north country’s cheesemaking tradition. Perhaps it was because “home industries” fell under the purview of women anyway, or maybe men were occupied with other aspects of farm life, but for whatever reason there is a history of women managing cheese production in Northern New York. Historical accounts abound of women living on and managing cheese cooperatives with their families and

60 | NNY Business | April 2015

Above, the F.X. Baumert and Co. cheese factory and office, Antwerp.

At the turn of the 20th century the factory was the largest of its kind in the country. Left, F.X. and Christine Baumert.

WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES ARCHIVES

even the occasional example of dairy farms and cheese factories run solely by women.

One such “cheese mistress” was Christine Baumert. This dynamic, competent, and determined woman was the second wife of Francis Xavier Baumert, a German immigrant and dairyman who opened a cheese factory in the village of Sanford Corners, now Calcium, in 1857.

In addition to his cheese interests, which resulted in the production of the very first Muenster cheese in the United States, Mr. Baumert was also a furniture maker, tobacconist, and real estate speculator. In August 1861, shortly after the death of his first wife, F.X. Baumert married 24-year-

old Christine Ackerman. Between 1863 and 1875, Christine gave birth to seven children — six boys and a girl, which, in addition to the children from F.X. Baumert’s first marriage, brought the family’s grand total to 10 children. Besides running a busy household in Sanford Corners and another home in New York City, Mrs. Baumert also commuted back and forth to New York with her husband to assist with business matters. Within the span of a few years, under the Baumerts’ watchful eyes, the small family cheese factory in Sanford Corners flourished and expanded.

In addition to her family and business endeavors, Mrs. Baumert was also

business history a devoutly religious woman. A strong German Catholic, she had a priest come every morning to the Baumert household to celebrate Mass in the family’s chapel.

She also arranged for Mass to be celebrated regularly at the cheese factory for the convenience of the workers there. Mrs. Baumert’s pious and charitable example was not lost on her daughter, Mary Christine Baumert, who eventually made her religious professions and joined a convent in Montreal, Quebec.

When F.X. Baumert died in 1882 at age 60, he left behind six minor children, 11 cheese factories in Northern New York, and one in Quebec. In fact, between the years of 1890 and 1920, the Baumert’s Antwerp factory had the distinction of being the largest cheese factory in the United States, employing approximately 100 people. The Baumert family legacy couldn’t have been left in more capable hands.

Mrs. Baumert carried on after her husband’s passing, deftly managing her large family, multiple households and various business interests. She continued to and from New York City to market the family’s cheese and upon her return home didn’t hesitate to roll up her sleeves and get back to overseeing cheese making. In addition to the Muenster cheese that her husband introduced to the American markets, in the years after her husband’s passing, Christine Baumert herself developed local varieties of Camembert, Neufchatel, and cream cheeses.

Mrs. Baumert died in 1897 at age 60.

After her death, the Baumert cheese empire was successfully run by two of her sons for the following 30 years. In 1928 the company and its holding were sold to Borden Inc., at the time one of the largest producers of dairy and pasta products in the United States.

Christine Baumert’s life was a picture of the American Dream, a vivid example of the fruits of hard work and self-determination, both in business and in family life. n Lenka P. Walldroff is former curator of collections for the Jefferson County Historical Museum. She is a former museum specialist and conservator at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. She lives in Jefferson County with her husband and two children. Business history is a monthly feature. Visit watertown dailytimes.com to access digital archives since 1988, or stop by the Times, 260 Washington St., Watertown, to research materials in our library that date back to the 1800s.

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WH AT ’ S happening here ?

South Jeff Wine & Liquor What: Retail wine & liquor store.

LOCATION: 32-34 W. Church St., Adams, next to Dunkin’ Donuts.

OWNERS: William J. and Gordon G. Bonisteel, former owners of Big M Markets in Adams and Sandy Creek. South Jeff Wine & Liquor is presently located in the South Jeff Plaza, Route 11, Adams.

Size: 5,250 square feet.

Cost: $175,000 to $200,000, estimated construction value.

Builder: D.C. Building Systems, Watertown.

Completion: Late spring 2015 Local Jobs: Several dozen construction jobs; handful of full- and part-time retail jobs upon opening.

AMANDA MORRISON | NNY BUSINESS

Construction continues on the new South Jeff Wine & Liquor, 32-34 W. Church St., Adams, next to Dunkin’ Donuts. The 5,250-square-foot retail outlet is slated to open as early as late spring. Owners William J. and Gordon G. Bonisteel are moving their existing wine and liquor store at South Jeff Plaza.

Features: Open floor plan.

Family Owned & Operated For 60 Years

Seaway Sales

The Logo Shop

Advertising Specialties Wholesale Division • Paper Products • Restaurant Supplies • “Spartan” Chemicals • Sanitary Paper • Janitorial Supplies • Industrial Packaging • Food Service Disposables • Packaging Supplies

• Screen Printing • T-Shirts • Glassware • Pens

• Embroidery • Hats • Wearables • Imprintables

Over 6,000 Items To Promote Your Business!

James & Anne Cox

135 Fairbanks St., Watertown, NY 13601

Phone: (315) 788-6460 • Fax (315) 788-2377 Email: seawaysales@earthlink.net Web: www.seawaysales.com 62 | NNY Business | April 2015

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N E X T M ON T H

n our May issue, NNY Magazines staff writer Lorna Oppedisano examines several north country redevelopment projects that have breathed new life into our towns and cities recent years.

Also coming next month: n Q1 Real estate REPORT: A look at first quarter real estate sales and median home prices in the tri-county region.

n SMALL BIZ STARTUP: A feature story about a recently opened north country small business in St. Lawrence County. n 20 QUESTIONS: An in-depth interview with Jeff Proulx, owner of Save-A-Lot markets in St, Lawrence and Franklin counties and New York’s Southern Tier. n PLUS: NNY Snapshot, Economically Speaking, Commerce Corner, Nonprofits Today, Business Tech Bytes, Small Business Success, Real Estate, Agri-Business, Business History and Business Scene. n VISIT US ONLINE at www.nnybizmag.com.

Follow us on Twitter for daily updates at @NNYBusinessMag, like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nnybusiness, and view eEditions at www.issuu.com/NNYBusiness.

Watertown’s Oldest - and Newest - Irish Pub! • Guinness On Tap! • Harp On Tap! • Offering Daily Specials!

• Take-Out Available!

Open Daily at 11:00AM • Sunday at Noon

Family owned and operated since 1978 Happy Hour .......Monday-Friday 4-7pm

Gourmet Sandwiches, Pizza, Wings, Steaks, Chicken, Soups and Salads 852 COFFEEN ST., WATERTOWN • 315-782-7335

849 Lawrence Street, Watertown, NY 782-6888 Serving Lunch & Dinner Monday-Thursday 11:00am to 10:00pm Friday & Saturday 11:00am to 11:00pm

Coffeen St.

Shuler’s Restaurant

(Exit 46 off I-81)

Watertown

SPECIALIZING IN STEAK & SEAFOOD

Business Lunches or Banquets. In House or your Location Call for Information

SERVING LUNCH SPECIALS DAILY!

802 Mill Street • Watertown, NY 13601 • 315.782.1429 www.shulersrestaurant.com

HOURS: MON-SAT 6-8PM • SUN 7AM-2PM 315-782-7878 BREAKFAST • DAILY LUNCH SPECIALS • DINNER

Outer Washington St. US Route 11 South 788-5234

315-686-1110

DOWNTOWN CLAYTON, NY Lunch & Dinner Specials Every Day Starting at 11am Friday Fish Fry • Late Night Menu

Don’t Forget to Try Our Weekend Breakfast Buffet!!!

Featuring Sausage gravy & biscuits, scrambled eggs, homefries, corned beef hash, pancakes, French toast, bacon, sausage, and homemade muffins. Includes a two egg, two topping omelette. Add $1.44 for omelette.

Open 7 Days a Week • Live Weekend Entertainment

$8.99 adults/$7.99 seniors & children Served Saturdays and Sundays 8am-12pm

Download Momma’s Mobile App

SIGN UP FOR TEXT ALERTS TO WIN! 566 State St., Watertown, NY

315-782-2520

What’s a Scan? No problem just go to: www.mommas.gomobile411.com

April 2015 | NNY Business

| 63

BusIness

www.nnybizmag.com

260 Washington St. Watertown, NY 13601

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