Erie 2016 Section M

SUNDAY

February 14, 2016

ERIE 2016

4

40

UNDER

Annual economic report for the Erie region

By JIM MARTIN jim.martin@timesnews.com

O

ne grew up in rural poverty and went on to serve two tours of duty in Iraq before eventually finding his way to Erie, where he works today as a social worker and serves on Erie County Council.

Another is a medical doctor who quit practicing after inventing a device that could help people sleep better at night. Today, she runs a growing, award-winning company with 25 employees.

Yet another was born in Kuwait and worked as an engineer in Buffalo before going on to become a lawyer. Today, he specializes in patents and intellectual property and devotes much of his time to working with entrepreneurs.

The fourth is an Erie native and graduate of

Erie’s Central Career and Technical School who found herself with plenty of choices after she graduated from Colgate University. She chose Erie, where she serves as a vocal advocate and fundraiser for the city’s public schools.

In a community not known as a magnet for outsiders, three of these four people, all of them under the age of 40, moved to Erie as adults.

We won’t suggest for a moment that these four 30-somethings are the only members of their generation chalking up successes in the business community or helping to shape Erie. We sorted through a long list of other compelling suggestions, including leaders in business, government, education and medicine to arrive at this list.

All four of these people have one thing in common: They’re aren’t waiting for their moment to arrive. STORy CONTINUES, 2M

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIGHT: Daria Devlin, 38, is executive director of the Partnership for Erie’s Public Schools and the School District’s coordinator of grants and community relations; Jonathan D’Silva, 39, is a patent lawyer and owner of MMI Intellectual Properties; Wei-Shin Lai, 38, is chief executive of AcousticSheep; Jay Breneman, 33, serves on Erie County Council for the 4th District. Photos by Christopher Millette, Erie Times-News.

QUICKSTARTER: A local program is helping big ideas get funding. 3M

CONSTRUCTION: E.E. Austin & Son has built a legacy in Erie, and in the city’s projects. 4M

ENTREPRENEURS: A local cafe has a new enterprise — custom blends. 8M

SECTION

M

J

ay Breneman, 33, is known by many as a member of Erie County Council.

Fewer know the forces that drive him and how a man who spent much of his early life in Montana cattle country came to think of Erie as his hometown.

More than anything else, Breneman said, he was shaped by his military service and a childhood spent in poverty.

“For a while, we had no running water or electricity.” As a result, he said, “A lot of things are deeply ingrained in me.”

If his childhood taught him about empathy, it was his service in the military, where he reached the rank of staff sergeant, that spurred him to take action.

“I sat over in the hot desert looking around. I might be serving my country, but I wanted to do something more,” he said.

And he wasn’t inclined to waste time.

“I was almost afraid to die without having left something,” he said. “I didn’t want to wait 30 years to find myself in a role ... where I could make positive changes.”

Breneman, who was elected in 2013, said he’s trying to do that as a member of County Council, where he sees it as his role to “push the conversation forward.”

But talk that only maintains the status quo isn’t worth much, he said.

“I don’t think the community is where it should be,” he said. “You have a lot of people who are afraid to push things. You have (leaders) who view themselves as more of a caretaker.”

Collaboration is often suggested as the answer to Erie’s challenges, including growing concerns about violence.

Breneman agrees, but only to a point.

“It’s easy to get people to talk about a problem. But it’s hard to get people to commit to a certain action or a timeline.

I think we spin our wheels quite a bit as a community.”

Still, Breneman said he’s happy to be part of this particular community.

“It was home for me from the first day,” he said. “I really love this town, and I don’t see myself going anywhere else.”

W

ei-Shin Lai trained to be a medical doctor, but she was always an inventor at heart.

Lai, 38, began marketing her first invention when she was studying anatomy in medical school. As a study aid, she crafted an origami version of the human pelvis that she marketed as the Paper Pelvis.

It wasn’t a product for the masses, but it was purchased by students and midwives.

A bigger idea came in 2007 when she and husband Jason Wolfe, a Cambridge Springs native, lived near State College.

Continued

The story is that she was having trouble getting to sleep and her husband suggested she listen to some soft music.

Their inability to find comfortable headphones led to designing and making their own. It was the beginning of what would become AcousticSheep, an Erie company that employs 15 people full time and 10 part time.

Lai, who no longer practices medicine, has sold her products at the Consumer Electronics Show, been mentioned on television by Dr. Oz and seen annual sales climb into the millions.

Although Lai said she’s making more money than she did as a physician, financial success has never been her key motivation.

“We kind of have the feeling that by doing what we are doing and getting the word out, it means a lot of people could go to sleep more naturally. It’s almost like we’redoingtheworldabetterservicethan by just focusing on one person at a time.”

Lai said she’s excited about introducing more products to a line that already includes headphones for sleeping and running.

Lai, whose company has won awards from the Governor’s Office and at the Consumer Electronics Show, said she’s embracing all aspects of her company, including working with employees.

“I have a lot of trust in them, and I think it goes both ways,” she said.

A native of Taiwan, Lai said she’s become an enthusiastic fan of Erie — even the weather.

“The snow is really a lot of fun,” she said. “Once we got our all-wheel-drive vehicle, we were set.”

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ERIE 2016

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2M | Erie Times-News | GoErie.com | Sunday, February 14, 2016

here was little to suggest that Jonathan D’Silva, who was born in Kuwait of Portuguese descent, would

from

1m

wind up working in Erie as an intellectual property lawyer.

D’Silva, 39, who was trained as an engineer, never intended to become a lawyer and certainly didn’t plan to move to Erie.

It was work that brought him here.

While working as a civil engineer for a Buffalo firm, he laid out the sewer lines on Erie’s bayfront and did some work on a sewage treatment plant in Corry.

That work led to a relationship with Erie law firm MacDonald Illig, where his contacts encouraged him to attend law school and offered him a job after he graduated.

D’Silva said Erie struck him as a place where he could live a balanced life.

“I knew I didn’t want that big-city life,” he said. “I wanted to spend time with my family.”

D’Silva, who first visited the U.S. at 14, retains a newcomer’s appreciation for the country’s freedoms.

“You can do a heck of a lot here that people take for granted. The fact that I have to wait in line for a half-hour at the DMV? You mean I don’t have to bribe someone?”

The opportunities seemed almost endless in a community where he could quickly become a key player in the field of patent law and intellectual property, winning the designation of Super Lawyers Rising Star in 2013 and 2014.

For D’Silva, a father of four, finding balance has never meant sitting on the sidelines.

He was the planner and curator in November for TEDxErie; he serves as chairman of Innovation Erie design competition, vice president of the Purple Martin Conservation Association and president of the board of the Startup Incubator; and he is a former board president of the International Institute of Erie.

D’Silva, who likes working with entrepreneurs, has moved into proximity with

a number of Erie’s up-and-coming business owners. He recently left his position at MacDonald Illig to start his own firm, MMI Intellectual Properties, inside the Erie Technology Incubator at 900 State St. He’s encouraged by the progress being made by Erie entrepreneurs, especially in the area of technology.

“I feel there is energy here,” he said.

It was that energy that prompted D’Silva to take a risk of his own by leaving a job he loved.

“It seems to me if everyone else is going to roll the dice, I should, too.”

D

aria Devlin, an Erie native, graduated with a dual major from Colgate University.

She’s far more likely, though, to tell you how proud she is to be a 1995 graduate of Erie Central Career and Technical School.

A mother of two, she and her husband, Neil, an Erie lawyer, have the means to send their children to private school.

Devlin, 38, said, “I felt as a person who had a choice it was important for me to invest in the district that gave me so much.”

Her involvement with the district can be traced back to 2010 when it was in the midst of a budget crisis.

Devlin, who had been writing grant proposals for nonprofit organizations, wondered why a public school district couldn’t raise funds the same way.

In 2012, after gaining the support of Erie schools Superintendent Jay Badams, Devlin founded the Partnership for Erie’s Public Schools.

So far, fundraising efforts have allowed the group to provide a number of minigrants for initiatives that might not otherwise be funded. There’s been money for handbells for Emerson-Gridley Elementary School, and grants to send students at Edison and Perry elementary schools to performances at the Warner Theatre and Erie Playhouse.

Devlin, who also works as the district’s coordinator of grants and community relations, hopes to step up those efforts to the point of conducting a capital campaign. She doesn’t think the current funding model leaves much choice.

“It’s not about equality; it’s about justice,” she said. “You see the facilities and the opportunities that exist elsewhere.

The disparity is the greatest challenge.”

Devlin said she wouldn’t be fighting so hard if she didn’t believe in public education and the exposure to people and ideas that it provides.

“I honestly believe this is the best education for our children,” she said.

ERIE 2016

Sunday, February 14, 2016 | Erie Times-News | GoErie.com | 3M

Big idea, quick results

CROWDFUNDING: Quickstarter helps local campaigns get attention, funding

ABOUT THE

PROJECTS

By KARA MURPHY Contributing writer Quickstarter was the brainchild of a Mercyhurst University professor who saw local entrepreneurs coming up short when they tried to use crowdfunding to finance their new ventures.

Kickstarter, one of the best known crowdfunding websites, reports an overall success rate of 36.5 percent for those who seek funding for their ventures.

Kris Wheaton, an associate professor of intelligence studies at Mercyhurst, was convinced that a team of students with a range of skills — including video production and copy writing — could help Kickstarter participants succeed far more often.

It turns out he was right.

So far, the Mercyhurst-based Quickstarterprogramhashelped13 entrepreneurs and nonprofits with crowdfunding campaigns since the end of 2014. Of those, 12 have been successful — a 92 percent rate.

“Their knowledge and expertise gets you excited to build your campaign,” said Humble Elephant owner Lisa Van Riper, who used Kickstarter to raise money to produce child-sized patterned rolling pins. “Their guidance and drive goes beyond Quickstarter — their team wants to see you succeed and helps you get there.”

Humble Elephant’s team — like most of the other projects — included college students. Depending on the project, Penn State Behrend and Mercyhurst students are hired to help create a successful crowdfunding campaign, Wheaton said.

Dozens of students have worked on campaigns, Wheaton said.

“It’s all about getting students real work,” he said. “They’re getting paid. They’re expected to be

FILE PHOTOS/Erie Times-News

TOP LEFT: An effort to preserve artifacts at Hornby School raised $1,565 on Indiegogo with 21 backers, 155 percent of the goal. BOTTOM LEFT: Carolyn Beck, left, and Emily Beck dine at Like My Thai in July. The restaurant received $13,684 in Kickstarter funding with 140 backers, 342 percent of the goal. RIGHT: Richard Eisenberg, left, and Jamie Trost are helping to restore the Porcupine, shown under construction in August. A Kickstarter campaign to build and install a deck on the schooner raised $13,177 with 175 backers, 264 percent of the goal. professional. It’s not for a grade, and they have to understand how to manage clients and work with them. This is real-life experience.”

Wheaton has been approached by 79 people in the region about starting crowdfunding campaigns.

Of those, 13 projects have been completed. Another dozen are currently in the pipeline, he said.

While Wheaton can provide plenty of numbers and data on how to make a crowdfunding campaign work, his ultimate goal is less quantifiable. By embracing and encouraging entrepreneurial success, he’s hoping to begin to change the negative mindset he said he believes permeates the region.

“My whole goal here is to start to create an environment where people change the way they think of Erie,” he said. “I think we can do

that by not only generating creativity, but by supporting it, embracing it and celebrating it.”

Wheaton’s enthusiasm, buoyed

by Quickstarter’s success, has led to Quickstarter being recognized as a legitimate enterprise by the Erie County Gaming Revenue Authority and Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Central and Northern Pennsylvania.

Both have awarded funds to Quickstarter so it can build on its success. ECGRA awarded $50,000 a year for three years to the Quickstarter program through its Ignite Erie: Industry-University Business Acceleration Collaborative, led by Mercyhurst and Penn State Behrend. Ben Franklin Technology Partners, meanwhile, upped the $10,000 grant it awarded Quickstarter in 2015 to $35,000 in 2016.

“Quickstarter is not only a remarkable vehicle for fundraising, but also for prepping a business for product and service launch,” said Perry Wood, ECGRA executive director. “It’s intimidating to start the entrepreneurial process, and Kris and his team carefully lead business owners to answer critical questions — who will they sell to, how will they sell it, how does that model compare to the competition. ... That type of mentorship can be the difference between early success and failure.”

Wheaton said the funding will help pay operating costs for the campaigns, conduct research, and market the program to creators.

K A R A M U R P H Y is a freelance writer in Erie. Contact her at www. karawrites.com.

Here’s how several of the projects Quickstarter was involved with performed on Kickstarter: ▀ “Unearth,” a feature-length horror film created by John C. Lyons.

Funding: $22,620 with 257 backers, 151 percent of the goal. ▀ Acoustic Sheep’s SleepPhones Effortless: Wireless Headphones and Chargers.

Funding: $65,609 with 496 backers, 656 percent of the goal. ▀ ReCap Mason Jars’ Explore Bug Catcher Kit. Funding: $2,722 with 101 backers, 136 percent of the goal. ▀ Build America’s next highspeed railroad.

Funding: $5,222 with 54 backers, 174 percent of the goal. ▀ Kid-sized rolling pins by Humble Elephant.

Funding: $1,237 with 25 backers, 494 percent of the goal.

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ERIE 2016

Building a legacy

CONSTRUCTION:

AROUND THE REGION

Company has played a key role in region’s big projects

By DAVID BRUCE david.bruce@timesnews.com Photos of some of the area’s most iconic structures line the walls at E.E. Austin & Son Inc. Some are nearly 100 years old, like the 1924 photo of workers using horse-drawn carts to build Veterans Stadium.

Other photos are more recent, such as one of the Tom Ridge Environmental Center’s elevator tower as it was being constructed.

“Veterans Stadium was our first big job, along with a similar stadium in New Castle,” said Clemont “Cle” Austin, president of E.E. Austin & Son. “Before that, we were mostly building homes.”

It has been 110 years since E.E. Austin, a former schoolteacher and farmer, moved to Erie from southern Erie County and began using wood from his farm to build houses.

Now, the company run by his great-grandson helps build multimilliondollar structures, such as the Courtyard Waterfront Hotel on Erie’s bayfront, and renovates historic buildings, such as the former Pennsylvania Armory and the Chautauqua Institution Amphitheater.

“Our main business is building,” said Austin, 69.

“We supply concrete to

CHAUTAUQUA INSTITUTION: Jason Muscarella, of E.E. Austin & Son, installs boards on the amphitheater ceiling in June.

DAVID BRUCE/Erie Times-News

Clement “Cle” Austin is president of E.E. Austin & Son, the Erie company that his great-grandfather founded more than a century ago. While the founder made his mark building houses, the company today focuses on larger-scale construction. other companies, but our main interest is construction. We focused our efforts in the 1980s, after we got out of the aggregate (sand and gravel) business. We also used to run a hardware store until the 1950s.”

Erie-based E.E. Austin & Son currently employs 135 people. The number is down from 190 workers in 2011, due to a decline in company revenue.

The downturn is attributed to a reluctance in both the public and private sectors to invest in new buildings, Austin said.

“This appears to be the new normal,” Austin said.

“We see that municipalities and private companies are very conservative with construction investment. For example, the

Erie School District has announced $200 million of needed improvements, but there is no funding for them.”

The company survives by being flexible, Austin said. It helps build and renovate schools, wastewater treatment plants, retail stores, college buildings, hospital expansions and industrial buildings.

It also prides itself on doing the job correctly and safely, Austin said.

E.E. Austin & Son recently completed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Challenge Program.

The program improves workplace safety and health through a process that includes lessons about safety planning and the implementation of safety

and health-management programs.

“The most important part of the program is that every single person with E.E. Austin & Son and our subcontractors will be able to go to work and be comfortable, and not worry about being injured,” Austin said.

Austin, a civil engineer, said he plans to lead his great-grandfather’s company for another seven or eight years, if his health is good.

“This job energizes me,” Austin said. “I like to get out. I like Erie, and I like the people.”

D A V I D B R U C E can be reached at 870-1736 or by e-mail. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ ETNbruce.

LORD CORP.: Eric Andree, a concrete finisher with E.E. Austin, works at the company’s new Summit Township facility in 2013.

PRESQUE ISLE DOWNS & CASINO: Avery Schou, of E.E. Austin,delivers concrete grout into a pump at the Summit Township site in 2006.

FILE PHOTOS/Erie Times-News

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Joel Secundy, Erie Management Group

Amy Bridger, Director, Research & Business Development, PSU Behrend

Jeff Parnell, Erie Technology Incubator at Gannon

Maggie Horne Gannon SBDC

Brad Gleason, Mercyhurst, Tom Ridge School of Intelligence Studies and Information Science

Dr. W.L. Scheller, Dean of Engineering and Business, Gannon University

Beth Zimmer, Innovation Collaborative

Amanda Sissem, Dr. Ken Louie, Erie Arts & Economic Research Institue Culture of Erie, PSU Behrend Steve Findlay, BlueTree Allied Angels

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Mike Noble, President , Hero BX

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Katrin Smith, Katrina Dev DevelopErie Dr. Greg Dillon, PSU Behrend, Director of Applied Research

Dr. Nathan Ritchey, VP of Strategic Initiatives and Dean of Edinboro’s College of Science and Health, Innovation Collaborative Board of Directors

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ERIE 2016

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ENTREPRENEURS: Fairview coffee enterprise gets boost from accelerator program

Business is perking up

By KARA MURPHY Contributing writer

Out of the Grey Coffeehousecafe in Fairview has become a favorite meeting spot — and for good reason.

On a recent Saturday night, the fireplace blazed, warming a backroom where deep couches and chairs welcomed visitors to curl up and chat, a warm mug in hand.

Now that the coffeehouse, 6990 West Lake Road, is a success, owners Jack and Sheila Barton have set their sights on a new challenge. They’ve launched an online business — also called Out of the Grey — that allows customers to create their own coffee, choosing roasting preferences, flavorings and even a name for their custom blend.

In the coming months, the Bartons plan to add additional customizable features — such as creating labels — to the site, which can be found online at www.outofthegreycoffee. com.

“When people can create their own coffee, give it a name, it gives them a sense of ownership,” Jack Barton said. “They love the concept of fully customizing their drinks.”

‘People can be skeptical’ The Bartons’ unique business idea caught the attention of Jeff Parnell, executive director of the Erie Technology Incubator. Parnell invited Jack Barton and 11 other entrepreneurs to take part in Gannon University’s inaugural Technology Business

ANDY COLWELL/Erie Times-News

Out of the Grey Coffeehousecafe patrons line up to place orders with co-owner Jack Barton at the Fairview Township shop. Barton and his wife have launched a new effort to allow customers to create custom blends of coffee.

Accelerator in 2014.

Barton said when he first got the call inviting him to take part in the accelerator program, he thought it was a sales pitch. He avoided the calls and e-mails until Parnell finally convinced him it was a legitimate opportunity.

Parnell said he gets that reaction from entrepreneurs frequently.

“People can be skeptical,” he said. “Entrepreneurs aren’t used to trusting other people with their information or ideas, and they think we’re calling to try to get them to reveal information, to take ideas,

or compete. I have to convince them that, no, we really want to help.”

The entrepreneurs who go through the eight-week accelerator course pitch their ideas to a panel of judges at the end of the program. Barton won the inaugural year, taking home a $10,000 check and six months of residency, coaching and strategic mentoring from the Erie Technology Incubator.

Now, more than a year later, Barton still meets regularly with his mentoring team, a benefit he now pays for.

“They really care about

what we’re doing. They’re encouraging. They hold us accountable. They’ve inspired us to go further,” Barton said. “What they’ve done for us is priceless.”

‘Life-changing experience’ The fifth accelerator class begins Feb. 17, Parnell said.

Barton said he has a simple message for the new participants, and other area entrepreneurs or people who have a business or want to start one: Use Erie’s resources.

“I never went to (Gannon’s Small Business De-

velopment Center) before the accelerator program,” he said. “I didn’t know what it had to offer. And it’s not just money. That’s a shortsighted look — it’s the accountability, the direction, the excitement from other entrepreneurs.

People are so generous with their ideas and their knowledge — they’ve changed what I think about, what questions I ask myself — it’s really been a life-changing experience for us.”

They really care about what we’re doing.

They’re encouraging.

They hold us accountable.

They’ve inspired us to go further.

What they’ve done for us is priceless.”

— JACK BARTON, CO-OWNER OF OUT OF THE GREY, ON HELP FROM MENTORS

K A R A M U R P H Y is a freelance writer who lives in Erie. Contact her at www. karawrites.com.

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The Cowboy Co-op This year marks Northwestern RECʼs 80th anniversary, so it seems fitting for the co-op to look back to its beginnings and reflect on the reasons for the creation of electric cooperatives. This is a remarkable story that demonstrates the exceptional nature of the Americans who populated rural America, then and now.

Nineteen hundred and thirty five. Itʼs hard to imagine what life was like outside urban areas in those days, especially today – news taking days to reach you, dirt roads, manual labor and no electricity. Life for a large portion of the America was, pretty much, a frontier life.

Rugged people making a living by strength, persistence and hard work. Relying on their neighbors when things got tough. While 95 percent of urban dwellers had electricity, only one in 10 rural Americans was so blessed.

It was in this same year on May 11, when President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) into law. Immediately “cowboy” cooperatives took the bit in their teeth and started popping up all across America, Northwestern REC getting its start on February 13, 1936 - the first in Pennsylvania.

Tough, self-reliant, hardworking, honest, resilient men and women willing to take bold action to serve their interests and create a better life for their families, their neighbors and their communities. The term “cowboy” conjures up Hollywood images of hard fighting, hard drinking, rugged individuals fighting injustice against great odds. While the actual character of the cowboy cooperative didnʼt reflect the Hollywood image, the cooperative model matched the cowboy ethic perfectly. A book written by a retired Wall Street executive, James Owen, captured this ethic and boiled it down to the following 10 points .

1) Live each day with courage.

2) Take pride in your work.

3) Always finish what you start.

4) Do what has to be done.

5) Be tough, but fair.

6) When you make a promise, keep it.

7) Ride for the brand.

8) Talk less and say more.

9) Remember that some things arenʼt for sale.

10) Know where to draw the line.

Seems just another way of laying out the cooperative principles that we run our businesses by to this very day. It appears that cowboys and cooperatives were a natural fit.

So these cowboys got busy organizing electric cooperatives and began the work of bringing light to rural America.

They dug holes by hand. They walked the poles up into place to carry the electric lines. All this had to be done with picks, shovels, ladders and whatever else was handy. Most of us have seen these poignant images of remote places with men scrambling to light the rural landscape. Wires had to be man handled into place on the poles and cross arms. Creating the proper tension and securing the conductors to the insulators was all done by man strength and by sight. Safety equipment was non-existent. Many of these cowboys gave their lives to bring the benefits of electricity to their homes and communities.

Given all that has happened, some might think the cowboy cooperative is a thing of the past. But they would be wrong to think that. The cowboy cooperative is needed just as much today as it was in 1935. Changes are sweeping through the electric utility industry, and if the cooperatives are to retain the benefits that electrification has brought to rural America, bold, decisive action by a new breed of cooperative cowboy will be required.

A new generation of members is coming onto cooperative lines. Members who saw electric co-ops as “saviors” by bringing in the simple benefits of light, refrigeration and other appliances are fading into memory.

Community involvement is a staple of Northwestern REC. Today, we are actively involved in Kiwanis, local Chambers of Commerce, the Community Improvement Center, 4-H, FFA and so on, as a means of improving where we live and work beyond the simple provision of power. As these efforts continue, we recognize that community for many of our new members resides on the Internet - a collection of electronic representations of individuals rather than meeting in person. New members expect immediate response and limitless information. It is a challenge worthy of a cowboy response.

Engaging our membership in the future will be challenging, but so was bringing electricity to rural America. While the tools differ, the cowboy cooperative mindset and ethic have not changed.

Think about the points James Owen identified. They reflect values still consistent with the seven cooperative principles and underscore the relevance of the cowboy co-op in facing todayʼs challenges.

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The frontier life of today is different indeed. In the 21st century, co-ops will continue to work in their self-interests. This means employees and members alike pitching in and doing whatever they can individually and collectively to be sure that the interests of our community are well served and that electricity remains affordable and reliable. Just as it was in the 1930s, working in our self-interest wonʼt be selfish, it will be for the benefit of the families in our communities - and thatʼs who we, at Northwestern REC, are here to serve.

10M | Erie Times-News | GoErie.com | Sunday, February 14, 2016