Saratoga Business Journal - December 2022

SARATOGA BUSINESS JOURNAL

VOL. 27 NO. 010

HH The Business Newspaper of Saratoga County HH DECEMBER 2022

www.saratogabusinessjournal.com

State’s Innovation Summit Will Be Held At Saratoga City Center In October Of 2023

West Mountain And Gore Ski Centers Anticipate Strong Season Based on Early Sales

Next year’s New York State Innovation Summit will be held in October in Saratoga Springs, presenters of the event NYSTAR and FuzeHub announced last month.

The event will be held Oct. 16-17 at the Saratoga City Center.

The multi-day event is for New York state organizations that want to showcase and discover new and emerging technologies that support innovation and drive business growth.

It serves as an opportunity to foster collaboration; introduce industry to experts that can assist growth, strengthen our statewide innovation ecosystem and showcase promising early stage companies.

“Whether you’re a startup, an economic developer, or an established manufacturer, the NYS Innovation Summit is for you,” organizers

said.

The 2023 New York State Innovation Summit will showcase companies and researchers at the forefront of emerging technologies and new advancements in production capabilities.

The event celebrates New York State leadership in technology-led economic growth with experts in biotechnology, new materials, energy innovation, and artificial intelligence that will explore current technology convergence opportunities, ways to accelerate commercialization, and issues of manufacturing sustainability.

The decision by the organizers — Empire State Development’s Division of Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR), and FuzeHub, the statewide center for the New York

BY CHRISTINE GRAF

With ski season officially underway, staffs at Gore Mountain and West Mountain are gearing up for what is likely to be another very busy winter. Last season, Gore had a record-breaking year for both revenue and season pass sales.

According to Gore’s general manager James “Bone” Bayse, pass sales for the 2022-2023 season have been strong.

“I’m not sure that we will break last year’s record because it was so high, but we will be very close. At the moment, we are tracking that way.”

Meanwhile at West Mountain in Queensbury, “Last winter was a good, solid, profitable year,” said co-owner Spencer Montgomery. “Coming into this year, revenue-wise which includes season passes, we are up about 20 percent over last year. We presell school programs, and that has been really

strong this year. We’re on a fiscal year that starts May 1 and we’re probably pushing a 30 percent increase in sales for the same period last year.”

During the off season at Gore, an additional 230 snow guns were added to the snowmaking fleet. Some of these guns will be used on the new trail that was cut into Burnt Ridge Mountain.

This 60-foot-wide, intermediate-rated trail with grooming and snowmaking capabilities is called Backwoods. It will enter near the top of the Burnt Ridge Quad and run alongside the Barkeater Glades, ending just uphill of the Roaring Brook Bridge at the bottom of the Pipeline.

Others snow guns will be used on the interconnect trails that lead to Gore’s North Creek Ski Bowl area.

In January 2022, officials at Gore unveiled

Motif Opens As Showroom For Interior And Architectural Designer Kennedy

BY SUSAN ELISE CAMPBELL

Only one year after starting her own residential interior and architectural design business, Stuidio K owner Kennedy Taylor has opened a retail showroom called Motif Home Gallery that she says “bridges the gap” for homeowners, design professionals and vendors.

The new venture comes at a time when home renovation has been in high demand, especially for the large scale remodels and luxury construction that is Taylor’s niche.

“Motif is a one-stop shop where homeowners can have their spaces deigned from the ground up,” she said. “We display some favorite vendors of lighting, fixtures, wall coverings, fabric and furniture and assorted items of cool and unique home décor, all under one roof.”

Taylor plans to introduce cabinetry displays in the spring, she said.

Describing her style as “a mix of classic Americana and modern with some rock ’n roll,” Taylor said, “I like high-end glamour and elegance with a little glitter among the refined.”

It’s a style that was informed in part by her education at Academy of Art University in San Francisco and her career training after graduation under Kevin Sawyers, whose work has been acclaimed and featured in both trade and national publications.

“I

Taylor

SARATOGA CoWorks Opens Third Branch In Saratoga Springs; Space Filling Fast

BY CHRISTINE GRAF

In response to the growing demand for coworking spaces, SARATOGA CoWorks has opened its third location at 92 Congress St. in Saratoga Springs.

SARATOGA CoWorks provides fully remote, hybrid, or independent professionals with a shared workspace that features all of the amenities of a traditional office. The company’s other locations are at 462 Broadway and 153 Regent St.

Owners Dan Bullis and Dorothy Rogers-Bullis also own drb Business Interiors, a commercial design and furniture company. That company designed and outfitted each of the three SARATOGA CoWorks spaces.

After purchasing the building at 92 Congress Street, the couple transformed the second floor into a state of the art coworking space. It features private offices, suites, private desks, best in class internet, security, kitchen and on site parking. Falkbuilt wall systems were used for floor to ceiling privacy and reduced sound.

Before going into business for themselves, Bullis was the director for a large commercial design and furniture company out of NYS. He and RogersBullis purchased a division of the company and moved it to Saratoga Springs, NY.

“We leveraged everything – out house, our kids’ college education money – during the worst eco-

nomic downturn in history,” said Rogers-Bullis. “IT was the scariest thing we ever did.”

They moved their newly-established business to Saratoga Springs where they had virtually no business. Although the store was losing money every month, they managed to hold on.

“We got through it,” said Bullis. “They say when

However, Taylor said another mentor, John Witt of Saratoga-based Witt Construction, “taught me everything I know about design. Witt Construction does not take on a lot of interns, but I had an internship since the age of 16 designing floor plans and exteriors.”

had learned the architectural software and

Kennedy Taylor, left, sits in Motif with Rachel Gac, a designer. Taylor owns Studio K.

©2022 Saratoga Photographer.com

Owners Dorothy Rogers-Bullis and Dan Bullis opened a new SARATOGA CoWorks location.

©2022 Saratoga Photographer.com

This is one of the exhibits at the 2022 Innovation Summit held in Buffalo. Next year’s event will bring exhibitors and attendees to Saratoga Springs.

Courtesy FuzeHub

West Mountain installed a radio-frequency identification system that will help with the staffing shortages by reducing the need for ticket takers. The anticipated opening is Dec. 24.

Courtesy West Mountain

Skidmore College Selects New Dean Of Faculty, Vice President Of Academic Affairs

Skidmore College announced that Dr. Dorothy E. Mosby will serve as the college’s next dean of the faculty and vice president for academic affairs following a national search.

Mosby will join the Skidmore community on or around June 1. She will succeed Michael Orr, who will return to a faculty role in the Department of art history.

“Dr. Mosby brings exceptional experience, skill, and leadership that will be key in supporting and leading our faculty and staff,” President Marc C. Conner said. “She also prioritizes students, will be a wonderful addition to Skidmore’s leadership team, and will act as an integral partner in the College’s efforts to support a more welcoming, diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible campus community.”

Mosby most recently completed a two-year term as interim dean of faculty and vice president for academic affairs at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass., where she has been a faculty member since 2003 in the Department of Spanish.

She earned a master’s degree in Spanish and a doctoral degree in romance languages from the University of Missouri-Columbia. At Mount Holyoke, she served in a wide range of leadership roles, including chair of the Spanish, Latina/o and Latin American Studies Department, faculty director and resident director of the MHC-Goucher Costa Rica Program, chair of the African and African American Studies Program, and the inaugural associate dean of faculty for faculty diversity, inclusion, and development.

Mosby developed the Racial Equity Research Action (RERA) grants program as part of Mount Holyoke’s Anti-Racism Action plan; worked with faculty governance committees to develop new charges to support faculty diversity; increased hiring of BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ faculty and staff; led curricular and co-curricular reform and initiatives; and es-

tablished data-driven practices for improving equity, student diversity, and student success in academic departments. She is also the author or translator of three books in AfroCosta Rican Studies, in addition to dozens of essays, chapters, and conference papers.

“Skidmore’s motto, ‘Creative Thought Matters,’ resonates with who I am and the work I have chosen to support. I knew I wanted to be at a college where I could work collaboratively to make a difference and where the dedication and creativity of the students, staff, and faculty would inspire me,” said Mosby.

The national search was assisted by Storbeck Search, an executive search firm specializing in leadership hiring for colleges and universities.

Tourism Group ‘Discover Saratoga’ Honored At Northstar Meetings Group Stella Awards

Discover Saratoga was named a bronze winner in the Northeast category for Best CVB/DMO.

The Stella Awards are the meeting industry’s highest honor, recognizing hotels, convention centers, conference centers, airlines, cruise lines, DMOs/CVBs and DMCs that consistently deliver quality service and innovation to meeting and event professionals.

A total of 220 organizations from around the globe are honored for consistently delivering quality service and innovation to meeting and event professionals.

“What an honor,” said Darryl Leggieri, president of Discover Saratoga. “We are thrilled to be recognized as one of the top Convention and Tourism Bureaus in the industry. We’re so grateful to our hospitality partners for their service, and for making Saratoga Springs a popular destination for meetings and events.”

This year, nearly 6,000 votes were cast from around the world for the 561 destinations, hotels and service providers nominated in 16 categories across six regions in the United States and worldwide. Winners were selected for achieving overall excellence, superb food and beverage, professionalism of staff, sustainability initiatives, and other critical aspects of the meetings and event experience.

“Congratulations to all of the 2022 Stella Award winners and finalists,” said Loren Edelstein, vice president and content director for Northstar Meetings Group. “The strong resurgence we’re now seeing in

meetings in the U.S. and around the world indicates meetings are back. And this year’s honorees demonstrate they’re not only back, but they’re better than ever. Thank you to the 2022 Stella Award winners for demonstrating their commitment to excellence in meetings, incentives, conferences, and events.”

Discover Saratoga, known as the Saratoga Convention & Tourism Bureau, is a key economic development engine for this community; our mission is to contribute a positive impact on the local economy by promoting and marketing Saratoga Springs and Saratoga County as a world-class destination for meetings, conventions, and groups.

For more information about Discover Saratoga, visit discoversaratoga.org.

Northstar Meetings Group is the leading B2B information and marketing solutions company serving all segments of the business meetings, events, sports, and incentives market, including full- and part-time meeting planners, as well as corporate, association, sports and not-for-profit decision-makers, and incentive professionals, facilitating their professional development and achievement of business goals.

The company’s influential brands—Meetings & Conventions, Successful Meetings, Associations Meetings International, Meetings & Incentive Travel, Meeting News, Incentive and SportsTravel—currently serve over 500,000 active meeting and event planners and incentive professionals, across an integrated suite of data, digital, events and print products. For more information, visit NorthstarMeetingsGroup. com.

Dr. Dorothy E. Mosby will be dean of the faculty and vice president for academic affairs.

Courtesy Skidmore College

Discover Saratoga was honored by the Northstar Meetings Group at the organization’s sixth annual Stella Awards.

Darryl Leggieri, president of Discover Saratoga, poses with staff in the group’s Saratoga Springs offices. The organization was awarded a Stella Award for its outstanding promotional work.

©2022 Saratoga Photographer.com

Havana Cigar Lounge In Ballston Spa Offers Two Spacious Suites For Enjoying A Smoke

BY CHRISTINE GRAF

Less than six months after selling his Ballston Spa Citgo station, longtime village resident Matt Akari opened Havana Cigar Lounge in the former Stewart’s building on Route 50 and Northline Road.

Before establishing his own lounge, Akari visited cigar lounges throughout the United States.

“I’ve been visiting cigar lounges all over the country for the past 18 years,” he said. “I was invited by vendors because I was selling tobacco products at the gas station.”

Akari found the cigar lounge experience to be so relaxing and enjoyable that he resolved to one day open a lounge of his own. After selling his Citgo station in May, he realized that day had come. He purchased the former Stewarts building that same month and got to work remodeling it.

“It’s a good location and a good-sized space, and it has plenty of parking,” he said. “There was nothing in there. It was wall-to-wall empty. We built some walls and redid the whole insulation and all of the electrical and ventilation.”

Once the renovations were completed, the interior of the building was transformed into a cigar shop with two comfortable lounges. The largest lounge is reserved for those who purchase VIP memberships.

“The room has about 30 chairs, four big-screen TVs, a fireplace, and a lot of art on the wall,” said Akari. “It also has 75 large lockers for the mem-

bers to store the cigars that they buy from me. My sign on the window says ‘What you smoke here you buy here,’ and there are no exceptions.”

Havana Cigar Lounge offers both gold and silver VIP memberships. For $800 a year, gold members receive 24/7 access to the VIP lounge, a large cigar locker, free water and coffee, and 10 percent off cigars and accessories. Silver members pay $650 a year to receive all of the same benefits except for the locker. For those who don’t want to commit to an entire year, monthly gold and silver memberships are also available.

In order for VIP members to have 24/7 access to the lounge, they are issued a key fob that allows them to visit the lounge during non-operating hours.

The cigars that Havana Cigar Lounge sells are stored in a walk-in humidor. Humidors are necessary to set precisely-controlled temperature and moisture levels necessary to maintain the quality and freshness of cigars. Without proper storage, cigars lose quality in just two weeks.

Akari, who operates the lounge with help from his wife, Ranan, said business has been steady and that weekends have been busy.

“Overall, I’m very happy with it. I get a lot of members who have never joined a cigar lounge before.”

Havana Cigar Lounge is open Monday through Saturday from 11a.m. to 9 p.m. and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays.

Dark Gem Shoppe Offers Jewelry Mostly Designed, Made By Owner Jessica

BY JILL NAGY

One could easily get lost browsing in the Dark Gem Shoppe, jewelry designer Jessica Boshek’s new shop at 30 Beekman St. in Saratoga Springs.

There is jewelry everywhere, much of it designed and made by Boshek, and trays of jewelry-making supplies including pearls, precious stones, silver and gold.

Elsewhere, there are crystals, candles, incense holders, and enough skeletons and moons for year-round Halloween celebrations.

She describes the decor as “dark academia” mixed with “steam punk.” There are pillows, a bird cage, paintings and other wall hangings, beauty products and shelves of odds and ends. On the whole, more jumble shop than Harry Potter.

Boshek makes custom jewelry and also

offer

Boshek

For the latter, she will invite local restaurants to provide food. She will also offer minor repairs and redesign for existing jewelry.

Boshek has been making jewelry for 20 years. She said that she was not really looking to open a shop but “this spot kind of opened up.” She was pleased with the idea of joining the Beekman Street art district.

Hours are Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Monday, noon to 6 p.m.; open only by appointment Tuesday and Wednesday; Thursday, noon to 6 p.m.; and Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 7p.m.

The shop is on Facebook and Instagram as @thedarkgemshoppe. The telephone number is 518-879-5131.

classes for the do-it-yourself crowd. She plans “design and wine” and “design and dine” classes, probably beginning in January.

Havana Cigar Lounge owner Matt Akari finds time to relax in his new shop. It was a Stewart’s Shop on Route 50 that he completely renovated.

©2022 Saratoga Photographer.com

Jessica Boshek displays some of the items she sells at Dark Gem Shoppe, a business she owns in the Beekman Arts District in Saratoga Springs.

©2022 Saratoga Photographer.com

Saratoga National Bank and Trust Co. recently appointed A. Kishani Choudhury as branch manager of the Clifton Park office.

Choudhury joined the bank in 2018 as a business development officer and was most recently branch manager of the Schenectady Office.

In her Clifton Park Office role, she manages the staff and branch operations to deliver quality customer service while strengthening established relationships. She brings almost 20 years of banking experience to the position.

Choudhury is active in her community, serving on the Women In Business committee for the Southern Saratoga Chamber, as a member of Schenectady Business and Professional Women’s Club, a member of Business Network International and as a children’s ministry leader in her church. She currently lives in Malta.

Upstate Agency LLC part of the Arrow Family of Companies, recently welcomed Matthew S. Ellis as senior commercial lines account manager.

Ellis is responsible for servicing a dedicated book of existing clients, which includes processing servicerelated needs and marketing renewals, as well as developing new business.

Ellis brings more than 10 years of local commercial lines insurance experience as an account manager and in commercial lines marketing. He is a licensed property and casualty agent and broker and is a designated certified insurance service representative.

He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from The College of Saint Rose and lives in Schuylerville.

Monika Cronin , Alex Cooley and Melissa Shufelt of the Monika Cronin Team have joined up with Sterling Homes Real Estate, the Ballston Spa brokerage.

Cronin began her real estate career in the Capital District after her move from Chicago 15 years ago. She holds several designations, including Certified Real Estate Team Specialist (C-RETS), Real Estate Negotiation Expert (RENE), Seller Representative Specialist (SRS) and Certified New Home Sales Professional (CSP).

She has been the co-chair of the Saratoga Hospital Gala since 2021 and has been active with the committee of Equine Advocates since 2008. She and her husband are longtime supporters of organizations including the American Cancer Society, The Center for the Disabled, Saratoga Hospital and Albany Medical Center, and Siena College.

Cooley, of Saratoga Springs, holds the Military Relocation Professional (MRP) designation that allows him to help active duty and retired veterans with their real estate needs.

Shufelt has experience in real estate from Albany to Lake George and surrounding counties. She resides in Gansevoort with her husband, Matthew, and their children. *

Carmen Aybar has been appointed assistant vice president, market manager of retail banking and Laura Stewart has been named assistant vice president, market manager of retail banking at Ballston Spa National Bank.

Aybar will be responsible for aligning retail strategic goals in the bank’s southern

branch locations to daily activities and deliverables that drive production and colleague engagement.

Bringing more than 10 years of banking experience to BSNB, Aybar worked most recently as a branch manager for a regional financial institution. Aybar also brings experience from managing her own small business located in the Dominican Republic.

In her past roles, Aybar was responsible for evaluating business structure, workflow, organization, training programs for employees, and overall efficiency. She provided clients with plans objectively outlining strategies and business model solutions for growth and success. Aybar earned a liberal arts degree from St. Petersburg College located in Florida.

With more than 20 years of experience in retail management, Stewart joined BSNB in 2015 in the retail banking department. Most recently she held the position of relationship manager in both the Milton Crest and Galway offices where she provided client services and operational leadership. She earned an associate’s degree in business administration from Schenectady County Community College. Stewart also completed the Bishop House Leadership Program and is the former president of the Galway Lioness Club. She is now an active member of the newly forming Galway Rotary Club.

* * *

The Moreau Community Center recently announced the appointment of four members to the board of directors. This brings the number of board members to eleven.

Liz Wilcox is a 20-year resident of South Glens Falls and has a long history of volunteerism with arts and cultural organizations in the area.

She is the co-founder of Art in the Public Eye and former co-owner of Samantha’s Cafe and Catering. Formerly, with the Girl Scouts, Wilcox now works in community engagement for Glens Falls National Bank.

Gail Crandall brings over twenty years of experience as a staff member and volunteer with the Painted Pony Ranch and Adirondack Stampede Committee.

A lifelong resident of the area, Crandall plans on retiring from a career with New York state at the end of the year and dedicating her energies to family and helping others.

Amy Palmer is an 18-year resident of South Glens Falls and has an extensive background in healthcare as a registered nurse with training in emergency care, dialysis, and conscious sedation training.

Currently, she is a field staff supervisor for HCR Homecare located in Glens Falls.

Dan Biddiscombe is a graduate of South Glens Falls High School, holds a degree in Sociology and Ethics, and currently is part of the management team at Common Roots Brewing.

Biddiscombe has vast experience in event coordination and is a long-time volunteer with the South High Marathon Dance Volunteer/Events Committee.

The Fingerpaint Group announced the hiring of Leo Tarkovsky as chief commercial officer.

Tarkovsky, a transformative business leader, joined Fingerpaint Group from WPP where he led enterprise-level healthcare growth efforts across all operating companies and disciplines worldwide.

At WPP, he also chaired the Healthcare Community, composed of all global healthcare agencies and client leaders.

Prior to WPP, Tarkovsky served as group president at IPG’s McCann Health, building and running several McCann Health agencies that, under his leadership, grew a stunning 300 percent.

Salerno Law PC Now Operating Out Of New, Spacious Offices In Ballston Lake

BY CHRISTINE GRAF

After eight years of being located in downtown Ballston Spa, real estate attorney Kimberly Salerno has relocated Salerno Law PC to 16 Round Lake Road in Ballston Lake.

She has been practicing law for 20 years and specializes in residential and commercial real estate. Salerno also owns a title company that operates out of her law office.

It was after outgrowing her leased space in Ballston Spa that Salerno began looking for a larger office. Although she initially planned to remain in the village, finding a space with adequate parking proved impossible.

“For closings, sometimes we have 10 people coming,” she said. “I needed a parking lot.”

Salerno lives less than a mile from her new office which is conveniently located just off Northway Exit 11. Before purchasing the building—a former Stewart’s shop—she drove by it every day on her way to work. It sat empty for many years.

While driving by one day she realized the empty building could function as a law office. She purchased the property in April and embarked on a major renovation project. Prime Construction is the contractor and Jenna Burger is the interior designer.

“I just had my grand opening, and everyone just loved the design of the office. You wouldn’t even know it was a Stewart’s,” said Salerno. “We completely renovated it. We’ve now got two conference rooms, a kitchen, and six offices.”

Salerno and her staff of three paralegals occupy four of the offices. She plans to rent the additional two offices in the near future.

Although not yet finished, the exterior of the building is also being completely transformed. The roofline is being squared off, and a vestibule is being constructed. The existing brick will be covered in gray siding, and the vestibule will be made of Douglas fir.

Although Salerno isn’t disclosing the amount she spent on renovations, she said it was significant.

It was because of the recent real estate boom that she was able to afford the sizable investment the property required. Although the market has cooled, her office remains busy.

“It’s very seasonal, so we were busier in the summer, but nothing like what we experienced

during COVID. Things have slowed down a little bit, but I’m not too worried. It always comes back,” she said. “Prices are coming down a little bit, and interest rates are going up a bit. But historically, the interest rates are still not that high.”

As a result of the increase in interest rates, many of the residential buyers that Salerno works with are choosing 10-year adjustable rate mortgages.

“They are doing it with the goal of refinancing before the first change date,” she said. “In the past month, I’m seeing a lot more adjustable rate mortgages—almost everyone is going for the adjustable rate.”

During COVID, the demand for adjustable rate mortgages was non-existent, and Salerno saw more cash buyers than ever before. The majority were from out of the area, and they were purchasing very expensive homes.

Salerno has noticed a decline in the commercial market but said that she is still closing deals.

For more information, visit www.salernolawny.com

Spoken Boutique In Saratoga Sees Ownership Change, Continues On With Its Same Vision

Spoken Boutique, located at 27 Church St., Saratoga Springs,is under new ownership.

Pam Worth created the business in 2010. With over 40 years of experience as a buyer and merchandiser, she made it her goal to provide an extraordinary customer experience for patrons of the boutique.

The new owner is Tina Powell.

“I am excited to announce that I am taking a step-back to start a new chapter in my life,” said Worth. “I have decided to transfer the continuation of my vision to someone I feel completely comfortable handing the reins over to—Tina Powell.”

Worth will work with Powell in the store as buyer, merchandiser and sales associate. She plans on spending extra time with her husband and family, with opportunities to travel.

“I feel privileged that Pam trusts me to carry on her legacy,” said Powell. “I have been working as a full-time employee at Spoken for the past year. During that time, I have grown to love our staff, our customers, our vendors, and of course the fabulous clothing. I am excited to have Pam by my side as I continue to build relationships and grow.”

Worth’s decision to launch her business in an off-Broadway location was facilitated by the incubator program offered by the Adirondack Trust Co. The program was initiated by the bank, to place first-time business owners in their storefront on Church Street at a fair price.

“I am very grateful to the Adirondack Trust Co. for the opportunity to grow in this beautiful space, while keeping my costs down and focusing on establishing my new business,” said Worth.

About coming on the scene as a new retailer in the Saratoga Community in 2010, Worth felt her prior experience working for Mabou in Saratoga in the early 1980s, in addition to Suttons Market Place in Queensbury for nearly three decades, equipped her with what she needed to take on the task.

“I found the local response to be positive from the start,” Worth said. “We presented unique choices that no one else offered. We welcomed our customers with warmth and honest customer service and they responded. I have customers

who have been consistent since we opened. I am so appreciative and grateful for all my customers, the relationships we’ve created and the time we’ve shared over the past 13 years.”

In regard to Spoken, she said “I feel fortunate to have the satisfaction of looking back upon a successful venture. Going forward, I have every confidence that it will continue in the same way. I have found the right person to carry the torch. I look forward to helping Tina and to watching Spoken continue to prosper.”

Spoken Boutique is dedicated to helping women discover the best fashion to fit their lifestyle needs. They are known for a unique collection that is “out of the ordinary and always in style.”

Spoken Boutique is open Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For more information visit spokensaratoga. com or call 518-587-2772.

Kimberly Salerno in her new offices at 16 Round Lake Road in Ballston Lake. ©2022 Saratoga Photographer.com

Tina Powell is the new owner of Spoken Boutique in Saratoga Springs. ©2022 Saratoga Photographer.com

Tim Healy Owner, Floral Designer Posie Peddler Reads

Annual Showcase Of Homes Event Results In Donation Of $48,000 To Two Local Charities

Economic Impact Of ‘Ice Castles’ Expected To Grow When It Returns In January

BY PAUL POST

Local officials welcomed Ice Castles with open arms last year, hoping it would help fulfill the long sought-after goal of making Lake George a year-round tourist destination

It did that and more, by generating enough occupancy tax to bring four brand new attractions to Charles R. Wood Park’s Festival Commons in 2023, exponentially increasing Ice Castles’ economic impact by drawing even more people to the village, according to local officials.

“When Ice Castles was open, the streets had as many people on them as we’d see normally and all the accommodations I’m aware of that were open were full on weekends,” Mayor Robert Blais said. “So many people stayed at Fort William Henry Hotel, Holiday Inn, Quality Inn and the Marriott Courtyard that our occupancy tax collection for that period was up 40 percent. That will go toward increasing the number of special events the village can support and expanding the special events we have here presently.”

The Saratoga Builders Association presented proceeds totaling $48,000 from its annual Saratoga Showcase of Homes to the local nonprofit groups Rebuilding Together Saratoga County and Habitat for Humanity of Northern Saratoga, Warren and Washington Counties.

The Saratoga Builders Association has been able to contribute nearly $1.5 million to local charities from the event.

The 2022 edition of the Saratoga Showcase of Homes had only five homes on the tour due to labor and material shortages in the industry, officials said. Belmonte Builders, DSG Construction & Remodeling, Kodiak Construction, Trojanski Builders and Witt Construction participated.

This annual community event is made possible only with the generous support of over 75 corporate and media sponsors.

This year’s awards were announced at the a presentation and celebration event held on Oct. 19.

Awards were given in the basic categories, Executive Home Awards, People’s Choice Award and Realtor’s Choice Award .

In addition, this year featured a “Women in Trades” shed build on the first Saturday of the event, where 9th and 10th grade female student teams from six area high schools built six 4×8-foot lean-to sheds. The schools were Corinth, Greenwich, Northville, Mechanicville, Schuylerville and Stillwater. The sheds were sponsored by CTE/BOCES, Curtis Lumber, DA Collins Companies, Hoosick Valley Contractors, LeChase, Teakwood Builders, United Brotherhood of Carpenters, Whitbeck Construction and Witt Construction. The sheds were auctioned off raising money for charity.

The Saratoga Builders Association is a specialized professional trade association. Its membership includes residential and commercial builders, developers, remodelers, building material suppliers, sub-contractors, financial institutions, architects, engineers, realtors, attorneys and other industry professionals.

For more information, visit www.saratogabuilders.org or contact Barry Potoker, executive director at 518-366-0946 or bpotoker@saratogabuilders.org.

Warren County Tourism expected last year’s inaugural Ice Castles to give the local economy a $4 million boost. That figure should be much larger in 2023, both directly and indirectly, thanks to more attractions throughout the year, officials said.

Plans call for adding a garlic festival, Christmas holiday festival, country living craft show, and Jeep rally and car show to a lineup that already includes major draws such as the Adirondack Wine & Food festival, a tow truck show, craft producers event and barbecue festival. Each one brings large crowds to Lake George.

Buoyed by last year’s positive response (more than 88,000 tickets were sold), Ice Castles will be even bigger this year with space around the perimeter allocated for an ice bar serving winterthemed alcoholic beverages, a concession area and colorful light walk.

“At night there will be an area where you’re immersed in lights hung in trees and large light features will surround you as you walk through,” Ice Castles marketing director Melissa Smuzynski said. “We’re also going to be creating snow features like igloos and snow carvings. We’re just hopeful the weather will cooperate. Last year the

weather was definitely a challenge for us.”

Ice Castles didn’t open until Jan. 23 last season. The company would like to get started by early-to mid-January in 2023 and stay open through at least the end of February.

Toward that end, a new water line is being installed at Charles R. Wood Park and it is hoped that National Grid will put in three-phase power so Ice Castles can use a snowmaking machine to build and maintain frosty attractions.

Blais said Ice Castles is footing the $80,000 bill for the work. Because it’s taking up more space, the Utah-based company has also agreed to a $10,000 rental fee increase (from $50,000 to $60,000) for using the park.

“It’s a big investment for Ice Castles,” Blais said. “I would guess it’s a signal that they’d love to stay here for several years. I was told last year that they had a tremendous season, but it was a little bit shorter than they would have preferred. Let’s just hope we get the weather.

From left, Barry Potoker, Michelle Larkin of Rebuilding Together Saratoga; Dave Trojanski; Adam Feldman Habitat for Humanity and Lisa Licata at the Showcase of Homes donation ceremony. Courtesy Showcase of Homes

More than 88,000 tickets were sold last year for people to walk through Ice Castles.

Paul Post

Saratoga Botanicals Organic Spa & Store Rebrands Itself, Relocates To Excelsior Ave.

plans for a $30 million expansion of the Ski Bowl. Their proposal includes construction of an 18,300-square-foot year-round base lodge.

“As far as our Ski Bowl expansion, we are still working through permitting processes,” said Bayse. “Ideally, we will be able to hook up to the town (North Creek) sewer, but that is a town project and they are multiple years away from that. We’re hoping that we are able to find a solution to be able to move forward with the Ski Bowl project.”

In October, the hamlet of North Creek approved the community’s first public sewer system. The project is expected to span multiple years and cost $7.6 million.

In addition to working on the Ski Bowl proposal, Gore is preparing to host the World University Games in January. In what will be the largest event ever to take place on the mountain, intercollegiate athletes from all over the world will compete there. The majority of the games are being hosted at Lake Placid, and Gore is hosting the freestyle events only.

“It is a huge event for Gore,” said Bayse. “It’s an international event that will be televised, and some of the days of competition will be ESPN Live broadcasts.”

need for ticket takers. The $400,000 system uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify cards that skiers wear in their jackets.

RFID cards will work across the resort and can be used for accessing ski lifts as well as purchasing food or renting equipment. The cards can be purchased ahead of time and will be dispensed by an on-site dispensing machine. The same card can be used for the entire season and can be recharged online.

“It will really be seamless for the public. There will be fewer lines,” said Montgomery.

The RFID system will be especially beneficial to those purchasing timed tickets. Timed tickets will not begin until a skier passes through an RFID ticket-reading gantry for the first time. In the past, timed tickets started from the moment of purchase at the ticket counter. In addition to the 4- and 8-hour tickets that were sold in previous years, West is reintroducing the 2-hour tickets for non-holiday week days and evenings.

“Bringing back the 2-hour ticket will be big for us,” said Montgomery. “We’ve also added some new lessons, and we hired Thomas Vonn last year. We have a really strong race program.”

The spa’s new name is Botanicals Spa.

“One of the major reasons for our move was to have a setting closer to nature as well as better parking,” said Franesa Pyle, owner of Botanicals Spa. “Our new location is set on the Spring Run Nature trail, and we have designated parking now just for our business.”

The new location is designed as a “concept spa”, a place where customers can enter the spa and feel like they’re stepping into nature, she said.

“Our new spa build is modern, but also keeps with a theme of nature-inspired décor, such as tree installations, living walls and water features,” said Pyle.

Botanicals Spa will continue to offer the same services in its 2,600-square-foot space. That includes facials, massage, waxing, body treatments, lash and brow services, and energy healing, reiki, chakra balancing and guided meditation.

All of the products used at Botanicals Spa are plant-based and non-synthetic.

“We will be making the transition of our move in different stages,” said Pyle.

The company also manufactures two skin care brands: Spa City Organics, an organic skin care brand formulated for all skin types; and Apothic Timeless Skincare, a professional skin care brand focusing on the science of youthful looking skin. The skin care manufacturing lab is located in Ballston Spa.

For more information visit saratogabotanicals.com. The phone number is 518-306-4108.

Although Gore faced a staffing shortage last year, Bayse is hopeful that they will be fully staffed for this year’s ski season. The mountain has 70 fulltime employees but needs a total of 550 employees in order to be fully staffed during the winter. They were more than 100 employees short last season.

“We don’t have all the staff that we need, but we are in better shape this year than we were last year,” said Bayse. “We’re seeing improvement there, and more people are willing to come back to work.”

At West Mountain, they are also grappling with staffing shortages. The mountain has 30 full-time employees but needs an additional 350 employees during ski season.

“Hiring has definitely been a challenge,” said Montgomery. “Ski areas are in very employmentintense industry. Staffing is one of our biggest challenges.”

According to Montgomery, a resort-wide RFID (radio-frequency identification) system that was installed at the mountain during the off season will help with the staffing shortage by reducing the

Vonn is an elite alpine racing coach and former member of the U.S. ski team. Since hiring him as the Alpine FIS and program director, West Mountain has established a boarding academy on the mountain.

“That was a big add for us to have a boarding academy,” said Montgomery. “It plays into the long-term goals of our race program.”

The addition of the FIS program and boarding academy, as well as an off-season ropes course and summer camps, have contributed to what it shaping up to be a profitable fiscal year.

According to Montgomery, he and his team continue to move forward with their previously announced plans for a ski-and-stay development project on the northwest side of the mountain.

“We’ve done a lot of work on that conceptualizing and getting the plans ready for that. But that’s still a way down the road. Best case scenario for breaking ground would be next fall.”

The website for gore is goremountain.com and for West Mountain, westmountain.com.

Saratoga Botanicals Organic Spa & Store, formerly located on Henry Street in downtown Saratoga Springs, has rebranded and moved to 130 Excelsior Ave., Suite 106, in Saratoga Springs.

Franesa Pyle is the owner of Botanicals Spa, the new name for her business that offers facials, massage, waxing, body treatments, lash and brow services, meditation services and more.

©2022 Saratoga Photographer.com

Nonprofit

Knitt LLC Helps Companies Analyze Charitable Giving, Helps Nonprofits Prosper

BY SUSAN ELISE CAMPBELL

Knitt LLC, a subscription-based service that connects donor businesses with a specific mission and appropriate nonprofit organizations, formally hit the philanthropic world at the end of October.

The soft launch follows two years of development, three months of beta testing, and a short time building up the funds for founder Lisa Munter to kick off the service regionally.

The service helps plan, make and track charitable donations.

“While the platform is designed to be scaled worldwide, we in the Capital District, Saratoga and the Adirondacks are the first on this journey because this is the area where we live, work and play,” said Munter. “Knitt is a different way to handle philanthropy and it is going to take some time to grow it.”

Munter said “when you launch a service into the world there are a lot of questions about what the infant business is going to be.”

But feedback from the two dozen-plus companies and nonprofit organizations who were first to try out the Knitt platform enabled her staff and team of software developers to make refinements and introduce features that will add value for both sides of the client base, Munter said.

“Knitt should be a win for both,” she said. “The donor should receive just as much benefit as the charitable organization receiving the gift.”

What Munter calls “the match-dot-com portion” of Knitt “connects warm leads” between likely donors and likely nonprofits while filtering out unlikely partners. Once “knitted,” it is up to the charity to nurture the relationship and sustain giving, she said.

Munter’s concept for what she believes is a unique service came in part out of her own experience in philanthropy. A former special education teacher, she has served on boards of directors locally and understands the trials of raising awareness for and maintaining connections with charitable organizations in any economy.

On the business side, she experienced her husband’s company, Munter Enterprises, inundated with requests for donations year after year, and conceived Knitt to streamline the charitable giving for companies.

“You can put a charitable gift into your budget but if giving is only reactionary, the next thing you realize is it’s six months in and you’ve gone through your budget,” said Munter. “Now you have to either say ‘no’ or go over budget. But Knitt allows users to

see in live time where they are in their giving goals while showing the types of organizations they are giving to.”

One of the features of the Knitt platform is that businesses can be sure that the groups they may be looking to partner with are bonafide nonprofit organizations. To be on the platform as a subscriber, all organizations are vetted.

Knitt is also a time-saving tool to identify organizations with specific causes that the owners of the donor business or their employees are passionate about.

For example, a company or its employees with a backstory that attaches them to children’s causes wants to “know at the end of the year when they’re looking through their Excel spreadsheet” that their gifts aligned closely with their intent, she said.

“Some donors think they are giving to children’s causes and then realize $50,000 went to food insecurity and only $5,000 to kids,” she said. “Is that what they wanted their giving to look like?”

Especially is uncertain economies, “donors are trying to be more purposeful and mindful in their giving,” Munter said. Knitt streamlines the process by helping donor businesses distill the hundreds of nonprofit organizations in the Capital Region down to “a curated list” of those with shared missions.

When first subscribing to Knitt, donors fill out a

Habitat For Humanity Changes Its Model To Build Condominium Units In Queensbury

BY ANDREA HARWOOD

Habitat for Humanity of Northern Saratoga, Warren & Washington Counties is working hard to expand the traditional one- and two-family homes model they’ve been utilizing for years.

Its new project is called Fairfield, a 25unit, mixed-income development project intended to do that.

The property is located on Baybridge, off of Bay Road near SUNY Adirondack in Queensbury, at Fairfield Properties.

“Habitat for Humanity is thrilled to start moving beyond our standard operating model of single family residences. We want to support as many humans as possible. To do that, we need to think beyond one or two homes a year,” said executive director Adam Feldman.

The condo project is intended to create more home-buying opportunities to more low- to moderate-income families in the area. Standard condominium models of separate ownership of individual units and joint ownership of common areas, such as stairways and yard spaces ,will be followed. Owners receive a deed in the same fashion as purchasing a single-family property.

This is not the first time a Habitat for Humanity affiliate has executed a project like this. Habitat for Humanity Sarasota in Florida successfully created a 72-unit mixed-income condominium development intended for home ownership in 2002.

The development of the Fairfield property will create owner-occupied units between $175,000 and $350,000, all varying in floor plan and square footage. Roughly 30 percent of the units will be sold to lowto moderate-income Habitat for Humanity partner families.

The mixed-income housing model is specifically designed to create a living environment of diversity and inclusion. Studies reveal that the model raises the standard of living for all inhabitants of the community, said Feldman.

Instead of utilizing primarily volunteers to build this particular condominium project, the Fairfield development will utilize professional contractors for the sake of time, funds and skill set. Volunteers will still have ample opportunity to give of their time at other build sites.

Habitat for Humanity of Northern Saratoga, Warren & Washington Counties has a goal to utilize the economy of scale

in its approach to home ownership. The 25-unit condominium project will be a quicker, more efficient and more affordable per unit approach than building one single family home at a time, Feldman said.

The influencing factor to changing the traditional approach is the current affordable housing crisis, said Feldman. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find starter homes in the area, which makes it difficult for the workforce population to find affordable housing in proximity to their place of employment.

In turn, the availability of workers in places such as cafes, eating establishments and healthcare facilities is decreased, said Feldman. Places of business are forced to decrease their hours of operation, which impacts the business, the workers and the community, said Feldman.

“The workforce is exiting our community because there is nowhere for them to live where they can afford and COVID only made things worse,” said Feldman.

“Habitat has been pondering away for the past three or four years on how to support as many people as possible in our community,” said Feldman. “We took ideas of scale from the for-profit market and applied them to the non-profit market to support the workforce in our community.”

Habitat for Humanity is also partnering with the WAIT House, the local homeless youth shelter serving homeless individuals up to age 24 years old. The partnership will result in providing transitional rental housing to young families exiting the WAIT House and working toward getting on their feet. The collaboration will allow both nonprofits to serve multiple families at a time and utilize the economy of scale to human services.

Habitat for Humanity wants to build additional mixed-income condominium projects similar to the Fairfield property in the Northern Saratoga, Warren and Washington counties area. It is looking for additional building and development partners and municipalities who are interested in building condominium developments.

Minimum density for collaboration would be -12 units, with no maximum to speak of.

Builders, contractors and other interested partners should contact Feldman at executivedirector@glensfallshabitat.org.

Lisa Munter, left, shares informaton about Knitt with Catherine Hover of the Palette Community. ©2022 Saratoga Photographer.com

Saratoga Casino Hotel Donates $120K To A Dozen Nonprofit Groups In Capital Region

BY SABRINA HOUSER

Many nonprofits rely heavily on securing grants to fund the programs and initiatives that serve our communities. Grant writing services for nonprofit organizations are often handled by staff that have many other responsibilities as well.

One strategy for success that is often overlooked or dismissed as too expensive is to contract with a grant writer or grant consultant. A grant writing consultant can work with existing staff to maximize the chances of success.

A nonprofit grant consultant reviews the organization’s mission and finds grants that fit the mission. An outsourced grant consultant will also work with staff to make current grant applications align with funding requirements. A consultant can review, edit, and make suggestions to increase the  chances of submitting a successful grant application.

Grant management for nonprofits requires skill, time, and experience. Every grant comes with funder expectations for reporting, tracking of expenditures and program outcomes. Restrictions may also be placed on what the funds may be expended on. Tracking and reporting expenditures, properly allocating funds to allowed expenses, as well as measuring and evaluating program outcomes fall under the purview of grant management.

One of the critical functions of a nonprofit grant consultant is in strategizing funding support for specific initiatives and programs. A grant consultant’s experience with Federal, State, and private or corporate foundations can be an invaluable asset to a nonprofit that is struggling to secure grant funding or would like to increase their grant success rate.

It takes a well written, compelling grant application that is closely aligned with a funder’s social investment priorities to stand out from the many, many grant applications that funders receive each year. A grant consultant can be the difference between an application that is merely adequate and one that rises to the top and is awarded funding.

To write a competitive application for funding, a grant writer must understand the organization’s programs, goals, and mission. The grant writing process requires skillful management of narrative, word count, budget information, as well as close adherence to funder guidelines.

Grant makers’ decisions are based on the strength of the written grant application and supporting documents. A strong, well-written application that adheres to the funder’s application guidelines is imperative. Also critical is matching agency mission with a funder’s philanthropic priorities.

This is the piece that many organizations miss. Submitting grant applications in a scattershot approach wastes time and resources and is rarely successful. Knowing this, a grant consultant can be a valuable addition to your grant writing strategy. For any grant, application deadlines are critical. It is a rare funder that does not require report-

ing on grant expenditures and program or project outcomes. Funders want to know that their investment has had an impact. As mentioned, financial reports are required in conjunction with program goals. How did you do? Did you meet your goals and the program goals? How have you managed the funds, and was the program successful? What are the outcomes? How did you measure it?

Often, the grant consultant plays a role at various stages of the grant process. A grant consultant may advise, review, or create the financial goals of the nonprofit; communicate with the organization’s legal and accounting firms if the information is needed during the grant writing process; do strategic planning to include goal development and stakeholder engagement; do outreach and communication to develop the organization’s community presence and increase engagement through messaging and activities.

For these reasons, a grants consultant may be a solid investment as part of your organization’s overall fund development strategy.

The best way to find a good grant writer is by word of mouth. Use your network of fellow nonprofit executives or board members to find a grant writer that has been helpful. Networking organizations such as your local Chamber of Commerce and BNI are also great places to start.

You can go to websites for professional membership organizations that grant writers often join.

One of the best ways to learn about a writer’s experience is by asking for examples and references. Grant writers should have a portfolio that includes different types of grants they have written and their success rates

Just as a small business owner cannot successfully wear multiple hats, a nonprofit executive director is also challenged with competing priorities and roles. The value and importance of securing grants requires time, attention, and, most important, skill and experience.

Saratoga Casino Hotel celebrated Giving Tuesday in November by donating $120,000 to 12 Capital Region nonprofit organizations.

“We have some amazing organizations in the Capital District that give back in so many ways to make our community stronger,” said Skip Carlson, vice president of external affairs at Saratoga Casino Hotel. “It seems fitting that on Giving Tuesday, we can give back to them so they can continue to make a difference in the lives of so many every day.”

The following organizations each received a $10,000 donation: AIM Services Inc., Albany Medical Center Foundation, Capital Roots, the Donna M. Crandall Memorial Foundation, Folds of Honor, Franklin Community Center, Jake’s Help from Heaven, Saratoga Community Health Center, Saratoga Sponsor-A-Scholar, SNACpack Program (Saratoga Nutrition Assistance for Children), Wellspring and the Wesley Community.

“AIM Services is honored to be among this incredible group of recipients for Make a Difference. This generous commitment from Saratoga Casino Hotel toward our 2023 endeavors is going to make a huge impact in the lives of the people we support with developmental and intellectual disabilities and traumatic brain injury by offering them

access to more adventures, experiences, and meaningful opportunities,” said Bo Goliber, AIM Services chief development and communications officer.

Cindy Hollowood, executive director of Sponsor-A-Scholar, said “Saratoga Casino Hotel continues to be a major sponsor of our organization each year. Because of their generosity and our successful annual Derby Day event held at The Lodge, we were able to accept more students into our program in 2022. We are forever grateful for their ongoing support.”

Over the last 19 years, Saratoga Casino Hotel has donated over $3.2 million to different charitable groups in the Capital Region. The Make a Difference initiative that started in 2004 has since been their main charitable event to honor and provide funding to local nonprofit organizations.

Located on Crescent Avenue in Saratoga Springs, Saratoga Casino Hotel, features slot machines, electronic table games, a luxury hotel, Vapor, Morton’s The Steakhouse, a casual dining restaurant, three full-service bars, deli and a variety of guest services. Simulcast wagering is available and live harness racing runs February through mid-December. For more information, visit www.saratogacasino.com or call 800-7272990.

Bo Goliber, second from left, and Christopher Lyons of AIM Services hold a donation check from Saratoga Casino Hotel executives Skip Carlson, left, and Sam Gerrity.

Courtesy Saratoga Casino Hotel

Sabrina Houser is the owner of Capital CFO+ in Saratoga Springs.

Courtesy Capital CFO

Cyber/Tech

GlobalFoundries Will Work With Purdue University On Tech Development, Education

Purdue University, with its semiconductor workforce development and R&D programs, and Malta-based GlobalFoundries have entered into a strategic partnership to strengthen and expand collaboration on semiconductor research and education.

The announcement was made in a ceremony in late November with Dr. Mung Chiang, presidentelect and executive vice president of Purdue University, and Dr. Thomas Caulfield, president and CEO of GlobalFoundries.

“Purdue launched the semiconductor degrees program (SDP) earlier in 2022, continued to grow world leading research in semiconductors, and welcomed multiple companies to our new Discovery Park District. We are excited to partner with GlobalFoundries to crystalize our offerings into programs relevant to the foundation of digital economy,” Chiang said. “We are intensifying our efforts not only to scale-up the talent pipeline, but also to create the depth of innovation expertise needed to advance U.S. leadership in semiconductors.”

The agreement “underscores the widespread appreciation of how GlobalFoundries’s featurerich chips enable many of the devices and technologies humanity relies on every day, and evergrowing recognition of the strategic importance of semiconductors to global supply chains and economic security,” Caulfield said. “To accelerate this forward momentum, GlobalFoundries is proud to partner with Purdue on jointly advanc-

ing semiconductor research and development, working together with Purdue’s talented faculty and students.”

For GlobalFoundries, the partnership with Purdue will be overseen by GlobalFoundries Labs, which leads the company’s research and development efforts to advance GlobalFoundries’s differentiated technology portfolio in partnership with leading academic, government, and industry collaborators.

Earlier this year, Purdue launched the first large-scale comprehensive semiconductor degrees program in the U.S., with a set of innovative, interdisciplinary degrees and credentials in semiconductors and microelectronics.

GlobalFoundries Chief Technology Officer Gregg Bartlett is an inaugural member of Purdue’s Semiconductor Degrees Leadership Board, which advises on the program and its curriculum.

The area is among the critical topics under Purdue’s Next Moves, strategic initiatives that advance the university’s competitive advantage.

Purdue University is a top public research institution developing practical solutions to today’s toughest challenges. It has been ranked in each of the last five years as one of the 10 Most Innovative universities in the U.S. by U.S. News & World Report

Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue has frozen tuition and most fees at 201213 levels, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free.

Small Businesses Must Be Aware Of Ransomware And Problems It Can Cause

BY CHRISTINE GRAF

In 2021, an estimated 37 percent businesses were the target of ransomware—a type of malicious software designed to block access to a computer system until a sum of money is paid.

The price tag for these worldwide attacks was a staggering $20 billion. The dollar amount is expected to reach $265 billion by 2031, experts say.

In order to combat ransomware and other cybersecurity attacks, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has partnered with members of the private sector. Through a program called InfraGard, they work together to protect the country’s critical infrastructure.

Craig Stephenson, senior cybersecurity analyst at Tech II Business Services in Saratoga Springs, is a member of InfraGard. Tech II provides managed information technology services to small and medium sized businesses.

According to Stephenson, cyberattacks represent a clear and present danger to all companies regardless of size.

“We are being inundated on a daily basis by bad actors from around the world. They are trying to steal the intellectual property from businesses or trying to get money from them. The FBI put together an unclassified video, and it’s an eye opener on how China is specifically and systematically trying to attack the United States in regards to stealing intellectual property.”

When it comes to ransomware, Stephenson said what he calls the “human firewall” is to blame for most attacks.

“The way that most ransomware is getting into systems is when someone is clicking on an email they aren’t supposed to.”

He said it is vital for companies to educate their employees on how to avoid falling victim to ransomware. One way that Tech II Business Services works to educate their clients is through the use of phishing campaigns. By sending out bogus phishing emails, they are able to determine if any employees within an organization click on what is designed to resemble a suspicious link.

“What this does is that it trains employees,” said

Stephenson. “One of the things that small businesses need to understand is that they are required by New York state law—the SHIELD Act—to do this type of training for their employees on an annual basis.”

As part of the SHIELD Act, administrative, technical, and physical safeguards must be adopted by any person or business that maintains private information.

Bryan Brayton, director of managed services at Layer Eight, agrees that employee training is essential. His company provides managed informational technology services to small and medium sized businesses in the Capital Region and North Country.

“At the end of the day, the most vulnerable portion of the business IT infrastructure is the user,” said Brayton. “One of the most important things that small businesses can do is to educate their employees and have formal cybersecurity training programs. When you hear about these ransomware attacks or breaches, in rare cases it is an actual hack or vulnerability. Normally what happens is that a

Craig Stephenson, senior cybersecurity analyst at Tech II Business Services.

$50 Million Available In NYS For Firms Developing Cyber Safety Programs

New York state has opened applications for $50 million to strengthen safety and security measures at nonprofit, communitybased organizations at risk of hate crimes or attacks because of their ideology, beliefs, or mission.

The funding is the greatest amount ever available through the program, state officials said. Nonprofit organizations that have previously received grants may now apply for new security projects, and for the first time, cybersecurity projects will be considered for funding.

The state also announced $46 million in federal funding for 240 nonprofit organizations across the state facing an increased risk of terrorist attack. This critical funding will assist in strengthening the security of their facilities, as well as enhance overall preparedness.

“Hate has no place in New York, and we will continue to support organizations that are most vulnerable to vicious and violent attacks,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said. “With this new round of unprecedented funding, these at-risk facilities will be able to fund safety precautions, including cybersecurity projects, to protect vulnerable people from those who would lash out against them due to their ideology, belief or mission.”

Officials said the announcement came as hate and bias incidents persist throughout New York and federal authorities have warned of security threats in neighboring states targeting faith-based institutions. Hate crimes adversely and disproportionately affect entire communities, not just the intended targets.

While the number of hate crimes reported to police in the state represents a small fraction of total crime, these incidents traumatize and instill fear in the greater community. New York state tracks these incidents separately from other crimes so trends can be monitored, and steps can be taken to prevent them from occurring in the first place, officials said.

Provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency through its Nonprofit Security Grant Program, $46 million in federal funds are being allocated to New York through two separate awards—$38.8 million for organizations within the New York City Metro Area and $7.2 million for organizations throughout the rest of the State.

The state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services manages these programs in close coordination with local

stakeholders. The 240 nonprofit organizations that are receiving federal funding are allowed to use those grants for plans detailing security risk management, continuity of operations, and incident response; physical security enhancement equipment, and inspection and screening systems; active shooter training, and security training for employees, members or the congregation; response exercises; and contracted security personnel.

Administered by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS), the state-funded Securing Communities Against Hate Crimes program is seeking proposals for the $50 million, which is anticipated to support approximately 1,000 projects across the state.

State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Commissioner Jackie Bray said the top priority is keeping New Yorkers safe and the funds “will help protect our nonprofit institutions from those driven by hateful extremism. We look forward to continuing to work with our nonprofit partners to ensure New York remains a safe place to provide services and conduct business.”

Created in 2017, the program provides funding to strengthen security measures and prevent hate crimes against nonprofit community and civic centers, cultural museums, day care centers, and other nonprofit organizations that may be vulnerable because of their ideology, beliefs, or mission.

The funding can be used to support exterior or interior security improvements, including but not limited to lighting, locks, alarms, panic buttons, fencing, barriers, access controls, shatter-resistant glass and blast-resistant film, public address systems, and for the first time, measures to strengthen cybersecurity. Funds can also cover costs associated with security training. To date, a total of $83.1 million has been awarded to more than 600 nonprofit organizations to support approximately 1,700 projects.

DCJS will accept applications for up to $50,000 per project. Each eligible organization may submit up to three applications for a maximum of $150,000. An eligible organization also may submit a separate application for up to $50,000 to fund a cybersecurity project.

Applications must be submitted to DCJS by Tuesday, Jan. 31. Visit the Grants/Funding page of the DCJS website for eligibility requirements, instructions, guidelines and additional information.

Local Company’s Technology Allows People To Make Digital Purchases Using Ring Finger

BankWise Technology, a Saratoga Springs developer of advanced custom programming for banks, announced that it has provided the system development, integration, and support for the nation’s first wearable payment ring launched by the award-winning digital bank Quontic.

The Quontic Pay Ring is an innovative payment technology that allows Quontic customers wearing the ring to conveniently wave their hand near a contactless terminal to make retail purchases. Officials said the process is like tapping a credit or debit card and can be used worldwide at any payment terminal that accepts contactless payments.

The launch of this product required significant development effort to integrate the systems, streamline the operational processes and implement the safeguards necessary to both deliver the rings and to ensure their usefulness once deployed, according to BankWise. It provided the code and systems to manage key components of the product including customer authentication, ring ordering, sizing and fulfillment, ring activation, inventory management, integration with the bank’s core system, and customer communication updates via email or SMS on the pay ring’s order status.

“We are honored to be part of Quontic’s newest

and very innovative product launch and for it to be the first of its kind in the U.S.,” said Sergei Morgoslepov, co-president and chief technology officer of BankWise. “We were brought into this complex project to help design, implement, and manage a middleware solution that allows Quontic to offer this payment device to their customers.

“Our team thoroughly reviewed the project’s scope and then designed a middleware solution to address all requirements, from order and inventory management to integration with its core system.”

Quontic’s Chief Technology Officer Felix Todd said his company had been working with BankWise Technology on multiple projects and “knew that they had the technical experience and expertise to help us get this product to market. They have an intimate knowledge of what our projects require, and we knew that their programming skills and knowledge in the banking sector would fit well into this product’s design, development, and rollout.

“We are pleased with this collaboration and to be the first in the U.S. to bring this innovative, wearable payment technology to market.”

To learn more about the Quontic Pay Ring, visit www.quontic.com/pay-ring.

Rochester-Based Company Buys Homewood Suites In Saratoga; Renovations Are Planned

BY PAUL POST

In 1999, a Rochester-based company passed up an opportunity to build a hotel in Saratoga Springs, just when the Spa City was arguably becoming the hottest year-round resort destination in upstate New York.

But that company, DelMonte Hotel Group (DHG), never lost interest in the market, which it entered last year by acquiring the downtown Hampton Inn & Suites at 25 Lake Ave. Now the group has strengthened its local presence by purchasing the 113-room Homewood Suites by Hilton on South Broadway, in partnership with XSS Hotels of Hooksett, N.H.

Alex DelMonte, DHG president and chief executive officer, said plans call for a light renovation of the Homewood Suites, but a major overall of the Hampton Inn beginning next fall. “The scope of the renovation will touch all areas of the hotel allowing the Hampton to remain the premier downtown hotel for those traveling to Saratoga,” he said. “DHG is excited to be the owner and manager of the two premier properties in Saratoga.”

DHG now owns or co-owns six Capital District hotel properties, with three more in Albany and one in Troy, joining a portfolio that stretches to Pittsburgh and Cleveland as well.

“There’s a significant increase in the awareness of the rich history and cultural hotspots the Capital District has to offer,” said DelMonte. “This has driven demand for quality hotels that are in close proximity to these attractions for visitors.”

DelMonte declined to disclose the Homewood Suites sale price, which would include the business, furniture and equipment. But published reports say the real estate was acquired for $15.25 million and that DHG is responsible for an $18.7 million consolidated mortgage.

The four-story Homewood Suites was purchased from Latham-based Turf Hotels and Pioneer Companies of Syracuse. It has 56 studios suites, 53 one-bedroom suites and four two-bedroom suites, each with an in-suite kitchen complete with a full-size refrigerator, sink, dishwasher, microwave, cooktop, cooking utensils and place settings.

Onsite amenities include an indoor swimming pool, fitness center, outdoor basketball court, outdoor patio with a fire pit, business center and guest laundry. The hotel also has more than 490 square feet of event space.

DHG bought the downtown Hampton Inn & Suites, including a two-story parking garage, from Turf Hotels and co-owner Frank Parillo for $28.25 million.

Having two hotels in close proximity allows

the properties to share staff, as needed, because the hospitality industry like many other businesses has been greatly impacted by a severe nationwide labor shortage.

“There’s no question the hospital industry took a hard hit at the height of COVID,” DelMonte said. “We’ve been working on the best solutions and new ways to address staffing challenges to ensure our hotels can continue to provide the service our customers deserve and expect.”

DHG’s first hotel in the Capital District was the Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott, which opened at 169 Wolf Road in January 1996. A year later the Courtyard by Marriott Albany Thruway opened at 1455 Washington Avenue.

In September 2018, DHG expanded to Troy by opening the Courtyard by Marriott AlbanyTroy/Waterfront at 515 River Street. Then it built a second hotel near Albany International Airport, at 227 Wolf Road, a Courtyard/Residence Inn that opened in October 2019.

“We are always open to new possibilities in the market,” DelMonte said. “We expect that we will have exciting news to share regarding additional acquisition opportunities in the near future.”

DelMonte was one of the first Marriott franchises and has grown from a single full-service hotel in 1973 to a portfolio that now includes 16 hotels in addition to a spa and several restaurants and event venues.

XSS Hotels owns numerous hotels in New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York.

Saratoga RV Park Will Expand From 154 Spaces To Almost 300 By 2024

BY PAUL POST

A Florida firm is creating more opportunities for affordable vacations in the pricey Saratoga market by almost doubling the size of a local recreational vehicle park.

Saratoga RV Park, on Route 50 just south of Gansevoort, is growing from 154 to 297 sites to keep up with fast-paced demand for both long-term seasonal and shorter, transient-type stays.

“It’s a substantial undertaking,” said Richard O’Brien, CEO and founder of Orlandobased Athena Real Estate, the park’s owner. “RV ownership has greatly increased, some of it driven by demand during the pandemic, folks looking to have leisure activity close to nature.

“This provides an affordable vacation for the wonderful summer activities that Saratoga Springs offers. Part of it is the track and track season. In addition there’s a beautiful downtown with tremendous restaurants We also have the (Saratoga Spa) state park with its springs and concert series.”

Work is already under way and some sites should be ready by April, when the park opens, with the rest scheduled for completion in 2024.

“It essentially means putting in roads, sites, gravel for each site, utilities, bathhouses and we plan to expand our swimming pool,” O’Brien said. “We have a strong cadre of local contractors.”

A Siena College graduate, he founded Athena in 2004 after three years as CEO and executive vice president of Irving, Texasbased FelCor Lodging Trust, which was then the second largest public hotel real estate investment trust in the U.S. with more than $4 billion invested in approximately 160 hotels in 35 states and Canada.

Before that, he was managing director of business development with GE Capital Real Estate, the commercial real estate division of GE Capital Corp.

Athena also invests heavily in manufactured home communities and self storage facilities and operates 10 RV parks under the Applebrook brand in New York, New Jersey, Florida and New Orleans.

It purchased Saratoga RV Park in 2018 for $1.7 million and acquired Adirondack Camping Village, now called Lake George Camping Village, last March for $4.5 million.

Saratoga National Bank & Trust Co. approved a $5.82 million construction loan for the Saratoga RV Park project. “Tourism and outdoor recreation are two strengths of

Saratoga County and the areas surrounding it. This expansion could bode well for related businesses and an expansion of employment opportunities, said bank chairman Raymond F. O’Conor, a past county Planning Board chairman.

O’Brien said plans call for upgrading the recently-acquired Lake George property, too.

“We will often buy property that has been with the same owner for a long time,” he said. “We take a fresh look and make it the best it can be. We may be able to expand that property subject to approvals.”

Saratoga RV Park seasonal rates, from mid-April to mid-October, range from $3,645 and $3,895. About 70 percent of these patrons come from the Capital Region and Hudson Valley, ranging from Albany, Saratoga and Columbia counties to Dutchess, Ulster, Orange and Putnam counties.

“We have a waiting list for seasonal sites,” he said. “The rest of our customers are transient, from a day to a month. We get some Canadian campers headed to or coming back from Florida.”

In addition to a large swimming pool, Saratoga RV Park amenities include a clubhouse, pickle ball courts, playground, horseshoe pits, WiFi, walking trails and storage for RVs on site.

It accommodates all types of RVs. This includes large a Class A motor coach, capable of towing a small car; fifth-wheelers towed by a large pickup truck; travel trailers, toy haulers

DelMonte Hotel Group has purchased Homewood Suites in Saratoga Springs.

©2022 Saratoga Photographer.com

Saratoga RV Park, on Route 50, south of Gansevoort, is growing from 154 to 297 sites.

Courtesy Saratoga RV Park

Owner Of ‘Life Made Simple Boutique’ Opens A Second Retail Gift Shop In Wilton Mall

BY SUSAN ELISE CAMPBELL

Life Made Simple Boutique, a retail gift shop that opened in Burnt Hills two years ago, now has a second shop in the Wilton Mall on Route 50.

Owner Nicole Wilson said that despite “a scary economy,” she opened a second store in the mall, where there is “a diversity of stores and services, including Saratoga Hospital, to attract customers.”

Wilson is also hoping to benefit from increased traffic if and when the proposal to construct apartment buildings behind the mall, now under review, is approved.

“I decided in July that despite slow sales earlier in the year, I was motivated to open a second store,” said Wilson. A month later the second boutique had taken up residency at the mall.

“I love retail, shopping for retail, stocking funny and sarcastic items, and hearing customers laugh,” she said. “People are feeling stressed out these days and we have items that cheer them up.”

Both boutiques sell clothing, jewelry, gifts, home décor, self-care products, and more. Wilson said she wants people to walk into either shop and find an assortment of items they are looking for under one roof.

“There is something for everyone, including a healing station, a feel good space” that she hopes will “build repeat business,” she said. “In this economy, I’m trying to think outside the box.”

Wilson has a history of entrepreneurship. As part of her commitment to help simplify the lives of households with child cancer victims, she started a nonprofit business wherein she would clean their homes, freeing up time to take care of those young patients. She forayed her endeavor into a profitable business called Life Maid Simple, which now has 15 employees.

“No child in my family has had cancer, but a good friend’s child was born with a very rare brain cancer,” she said. “I joined the board of

the Logan Strong Foundation for raising child cancer awareness and three years later was promoted to vice president.”

Another way she supports the community in and around her Burnt Hills home is by getting all her merchandise from small businesses, either locally or throughout the U.S.

“At least 90 percent of what I sell comes from a small or woman-owned business,” she said. “It’s always important that small businesses support each other.”

She also helps the 75 or so vendors she works with by purchasing items wholesale and reselling them “so that they are not waiting 45 days for payment,” she said.

Wilson also personally fashions some items to sell by hand, such as wreaths, mugs, and bottle lamps. Walk-ins can have tee shirts customized on the spot.

The Wilton boutique offers tables and chairs to meet or relax with a complimentary cup of coffee or tea, or a pastry from the Swedish Chef in Ballston Spa. However, the newer location does not offer private cubicles to meet with clients like the Burnt Hills location.

Both boutiques host parties where guests can shop and play board games or do crafts. Until she is licensed to prepare food on site, customers having parties may bring in their own, she said.

“Parties were very popular during COVID,” said Wilson. “Kids could see their friends and get out of their houses.”

Once licensed, Wilson will have “a full kitchen and probably expand into food-to-go,” she said. In the future she may also have a traveling boutique to bring the Life Made Simple shopping experience to events and expos, she said.

“I want people to come in and have a good time every visit,” she said. “We are open seven days a week.”

Visit Life Made Simple Boutique in the center of the Wilton Mall and Facebook for more information.

Motif Home Gallery

was hired as an assistant to do 3D modeling,” she added. Summer employment turned to full-time and Taylor became director of design for Witt Construction, “a dream job where I got to work on amazing projects with a professional with a unique eye. It was both hard and sad to leave.”

Taylor started some projects on the side and by October 2021 had too many clients to handle on her own, she said, and so she opened Studio K as its sole proprietor and principal designer. A year later with two businesses to manage, she has one employee, “a full-time designer and jack of all trades who designs for Studio K and assists at Motif.” A Now, she is securing more projects “from the foundation and up, rather than a one-room refresh,” she said.

According to Taylor, the new design showroom expedites that goal by making a range of options and samples available to clients in one centralized place.

Taylor is designing all the cabinets, flooring, tile, lighting and more to create customized spaces. Her process is “a little bit trial and error” as she cultivates an understanding of each client’s personal vision, she said.

“Some designers design for themselves, but we design for the lifestyle clients have in mind for their spaces,” she said. “We prepare a look and feel book of inspiration pieces and really get to know them, so that when we see something, we’ll know it will appeal to that client.”

Taylor’s portfolio is not limited to residential buildings. Her first commercial project was a new Frank Adams Jewelers building in Albany and she recently finished High Rock Jewelry in Saratoga.

Last summer Taylor and Witt completed Downtown Walk Lane, a condominium complex on Jumel Place in Saratoga, the concept for which Witt came up with while on a trip to England, she said.

“My mission is to create spaces that clients will make their best memories in,” Taylor said. “I always knew that was what I wanted to do. Home design has been my passion since I was 10 years old.”

Visit Motif Home Gallery at 18 Division St., Suite 103 and FaceBook for more information.

Ice Castles

"Every full-service restaurant was open last year plus the pizza places, and they all reported that they did very well. We also had at least six retail outlets that opened up last year and I’m hoping the rest of them will see their way clear to open again. You don’t get 80,000 people to come to Lake George over a seven-week period without having an impact."

Most visitors came from the throughout Greater Capital Region, Metropolitan New York and across upstate New York including Syracuse and Buffalo, officials said.

“This year we’ll also be promoting the attraction to Montreal,” Smuzynski said. “Last year, the border was still closed so we didn’t generate much traffic from there. Hopefully this gives them a great reason to come to Lake George.”

More than 4 million people have visited Ice Castles at sites across the U.S. and in Canada since its inception in 2011. Founder Brent Christensen crafted his first icy creation in his home’s front yard, for his children, after moving from sunny California to snowy Utah. Similar attractions are in Minnesota, Wisconsin and New Hampshire.

Lake George was the company’s first foray into New York.

Ice Castles also helps the economy by creating jobs. About 60 workers—some local and others from across the country—built last year’s mammoth structure, which covered 1.5 acres with 25-foot high walls.

The construction process starts by growing 5,000 to 12,000 icicles per day, formed by spraying water onto horizontal sections of chain link fence. Icicles are then harvested by hand and individually added onto existing formations, which keep growing as a fine spray of water, from nozzles located throughout the grounds, turns small icicles into tall upright pillars.

“We’re hiring for both build and event crew positions,” Smuzynski said. “We prefer to hire locally. It helps out the community and provides jobs to people who need seasonal opportunities.”

People can apply for jobs at Ice Castles online at www.icecastles.com/work.

Nicole Wilson opened her second Life Made Simple Boutique in the Wilton Mall. Her first such shop is located in Burnt Hills.

©2022 Saratoga Photographer.com

Planning Ahead, Making Informed Decisions Are Vital To Amassing Funds For Retirement

BY PAUL POST

John Shartrand helps clients contemplating retirement prepare for their own personal Fourth of July or Financial Independence Day.

Deciding when to leave is never easy, especially for business owners during uncertain economic times.

“As we deal with a huge amount of money in motion and supply chain challenges creating rates of inflation we have not experienced since the 1970s, the question you might be asking is, ‘How can I possibly retire in 2023?’ ” said Shartrand, chief investment officer at CAP COM Financial Services.

“If you are just starting to think about retiring now, we may tell you it’s not the right time. But if you have been planning to retire, we are picking a date.”

Steve Bouchey, president and CEO of Bouchey Financial Group, said there two things every business person needs to do. “One: fully fund a pension plan, somehow, some way because retirement depends on their ability to save enough money to be prepared. The other thing is having disability insurance because if you become disabled who’s going to pay the bills? Bills will still come in.”

There are three main concepts and strategies to consider, Shartrand said.

First, as business professionals or owners, clients are urged to target their Financial Independence Day, even if they plan to stay on to help the next generation. “We develop an income plan together,” Shartrand said. “We work with our clients to transition from balance sheet-focused to income statement-focused.”

Next, defense and controllables are considered.

“We strengthen our balance sheet by paying down debt and accumulating safe investments,” he said. “We expect a bear market in retirement, so we plan. You may be in a position when you retire where withdrawing from your investments may not be necessary.”

Lastly, prudent asset allocation is used to develop investment strategies designed for retirement. “We should treat our investments like an individual pension fund,” Shartrand said. “Unlike a pension check, we must generate the pension check from

the assets you have accumulated in your investments and/or investments in your business.”

He said high inflation with volatility is a person’s friend during the accumulation phase of retirement planning. “Time and volatility give you an opportunity to accumulate assets and investment at various prices and the time may allow them to bounce back and grow over time.”

But inflation and volatility is a foe during a retiree’s income phase.

“As we position our assets to produce a check we want stability,” Shartrand said. “Volatility has a direct impact on the amount of income we can draw now and how long our check will last. It’s called sequence of return risk. High inflation over a long retirement erodes your stand of living in retirement. Think about your property taxes 25 years ago versus today.”

“Ultimately, you need to build a plan and a model with financial independence in mind, knowing you will face sequence of return and longevity risk,” he said.

Bouchey said, “the sooner you get started the better off you are. If you want to become a millionaire at age 65, if you’re 30 years old, you only have to put away about $260 per month. That’s earning 10 percent a year, year in and year out. If you wait until 50, you have to put away bout $2,500 per month. So the sooner you get started the better.”

For whatever reason, some people feel they can’t afford putting money into a retirement plan. “But the simplest way to look at it is—make believe you get a pink slip today at work,” Bouchey said. “You’re devastated. No job, no income. Then tomorrow they hire you back at 90 percent of your salary. You’ll jump at taking that job. It’s the same as forcing yourself to put 10-15 percent into a retirement plan.”

Setting up a retirement fund is quite easy for self-employed business owners with no employees, using a Simplified Employee Pension plan or 401K Sole Proprietor Plan.

“You can put over $50,000 away that gets taken off your taxable income,” Bouchey said. “With a

BY CARISSA A. CONLEY, CPA

This year has seen a lot of legislative proposals and a lot of speculation, but not too many new changes to employer-sponsored retirement plans. The most recent set of changes came from the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act (SECURE Act) of 2019.

Congress has been working on what’s being tagged as the SECURE Act 2.0, but nothing has yet to make it through. From the 2019 legislation, these are the updates that could affect your retirement plan and employees.

• The age at which Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) must begin is now 72, instead of age 70 ½.

• Long-term part-time employees will be eligible to participate in employer retirement plans after three years of employment. Since this provision went into effect 2021, the earliest their participation can begin is 2024.

• Inherited retirement accounts must now be fully distributed within 10 years and can no longer be stretched out over the beneficiary’s life expectancy. (There are certain exceptions to this for surviving spouses, minor children, disabled taxpayers, or beneficiaries not more than 10 years younger than the participant).

• New parents can withdraw up to $5,000 from eligible retirement plans without incurring the normal early withdrawal 10% penalty – if this is not incorporated into your plan, the employees can still take advantage of this on their personal tax return.

Keep in mind, if you sponsor a 401k, you must ensure the plan is amended to include the required changes from the SECURE Act. Make sure to check that your plan administrator is taking care of this now.

Encouraging taxpayers to invest in retirement is still a hot item in Congress and there are certain topics that keep surfacing which would impact

be included in every bill introduced – this would require employers to automatically enroll its eligible employees in the plan. The auto enrollment would likely start with a 3 percent contribution and increase annually.

One of the latest proposals required the increases to continue until it reached 10 percent of the employee’s income. All proposals have allowed for employees to opt-out of the enrollment or adjust the withholding percentage.

Other recent proposals include establishing emergency savings accounts for employees in which unused funds would be rolled into the 401k plan, allowing penalty-free withdrawals from retirement accounts for emergency expenses, allowing Roth match contributions, and further increasing eligibility for part-time workers.

While the rules seem to be getting more and more complicated, offering a qualified retirement plan is a valuable benefit to your employees, and

Carissa Conley, CPA, co-managing partner, Bucknam & Conley CPAs. Courtesy Bucknam & Conley CPAs

Simplified Employee Pension you can contribute up to 25 percent of net earnings from self-employment up to a maximum of $66,000.”

This can be done at just about any financial institution from commercial banks to investment firms.

Self-employed, one-person business owners that do a great deal of cash transactions should be especially prudent about setting up a retirement plan, Bouchey said.

“Cash may be king, but when it comes to retirement plans and Social Security you need to have reported income,” Bouchey said.

Business owners with employees may still set up pension plans, but workers must also be taken into consideration. The most popular plans are those in which the employer matches a certain percent of money as an incentive for workers to put money away.

“You can’t just put money away for yourself without offering to put money away for your employees,” Bouchey said.

One of the most important decisions retiring business owners have to make is whether they plan to cease operations, sell the firm or stay on as a consultant. If selling, do you want a large lump-sum payment or have it spread out?

“Spreading it over time is usually better for

Employer Retirement

increases employment longevity. It allows them to contribute to their retirement on a pre-tax basis, or if preferred, make Roth contributions that they may otherwise not be qualified to make.

Employer contributions made to the plan, through a match provision or profit-profit sharing element, provide employees with pre-tax compensation. All contributions made for your employees is a tax deduction against your business income, as is all the costs associated with administering and maintaining the plan. In addition, in the first few years after you establish the plan, you may qualify for the federal Retirement Plans Startup Costs Tax Credit which could reduce your tax by up to $5,000 for three years.

For 2023, the amount employees can contribute to eligible retirement plans have been increased significantly for inflation. These include an increase to $22,500 or $30,000 for those 50 and over for contributions to a 401k and an increase to $15,500 for employee contributions to SIMPLE plans.

By sponsoring a company plan, you provide your employees the ability to save for retirement at much quicker rate than they could individually, since IRAs only allow for contributions up to $6,500 or $7,500 for those 50 and older.

As alluded to earlier, certain taxpayers may be

the tax side of things,” said Cory Laird, a certified financial planner at Saratoga Springs-based Minich MacGregor Wealth Management. “Because of how our tax system works, if you get a big lump sum, typically, it can put you into higher tax brackets, making the income more and more taxed at higher and higher rates. Federal capital gain tax rates, for example, can go from 0 to 15, to as high as 23.8 percent just at federal levels.

“Plus, New York treats capital gains as ordinary income, which might be 4-8 percent higher. If we are talking about ordinary income tax rates, they are even higher than capital gain rates,” he said.

“On the other hand, to delay receiving the entire payout on your business, you increase the risk that the buyer doesn’t pay all that is due, for one reason or another. For example, you might lose three years worth of payments if they go out of business. So it’s really a balance between trying to save on taxes, and do you trust whoever’s buying the business. These two risks can compete with each other.”

Laird said some owners want to stay involved with their business after selling it. “It’s your baby, your parting ways, but you also want it to succeed. You know the business better than anybody else, which can help smooth the transition.”

But this could reduce the amount of Social Security money a person gets.

Everyone’s situation is different, but planning ahead and making well-informed decisions is vital in all cases.

ineligible to contribute to a Roth IRA. Roth IRAs have lower income thresholds than traditional IRAs, which limit the ability of higher-income earners to contribute. It also disallows contributions to Roth accounts for those filing Married Separately. Currently, tax law does allow for taxpayers to make what is called a back-door contribution to a Roth IRA, but that could result in a large tax liability and is frequently botched, resulting in unexpected tax results.

To provide an additional benefit to your employees, consider designing your 401k plan to allow Roth contributions. This would provide your employees with the ability to contribute after-tax monies to their retirement that they may not otherwise have.

Even if they could contribute to a Roth IRA, this would allow for a much larger contribution. Adding the Roth element to your plan during initial design would not increase your plan costs, nor would the maintenance of the Roth accounts. However, you would need to have your plan administrator amend your plan if it does not currently allow for Roth contributions. It would be a good time to do this now while your plan is currently being amended for the SECURE Act changes so that your costs would be minimal. Unfortunately, SIMPLE plans do not allow for Roth contributions.

Now is a good time to sit down with your plan administrator or experienced professional who can help you with your businesses’ specific plan needs.

Business Report

Begin Estate Planning ASAP

BY ERIC SCARINGE

Recently, the office of the Illinois state treasurer was tasked with handling one of the most bizarre and complicated unclaimed estate cases ever recorded in U.S. history.

Chicago resident Joseph Stancak passed away in 2016, secretly leaving behind $11 million in his estate. Fast forward to October 2022, 119 of Stancak’s relatives have now received a portion of his wealth more than five years later.

With no siblings, children of his own, or nephews and nieces, his lineage had to be traced by going all the way back to his parents before coming back to these relatives who are located in multiple states and even countries. That is a life-changing amount of money, and there is not much information on how he accumulated the wealth, but there is an important lesson to be learned here.

The best time to begin estate planning is as soon as possible. It basically starts with going through “what if” scenarios, some financial housekeeping and then bringing in professionals to finalize the process.

The biggest error you can make is thinking that estate planning is only for those worth tens of millions of dollars and doesn’t apply to your family. Anyone with assets owned in their own names may be subjecting their heirs to a long and expensive probate court process to simply inherit their assets.

Here are steps you can take to start the process:

• Prepare a personal net worth statement and include columns for ownership such as husband, wife, joint.

• Review amounts of death benefits and beneficiaries of life insurance policies.

• Review pension plans, 401K and IRAs and the beneficiaries of those items.

• Communicate a desired plan for assets with your spouse if you were to pass.

• Get it in writing. Meet with a CPA and an attorney to calculate the effects of your planning and have your wishes drafted into a trust document.

• Select trustees responsible for your estate after

Innovation

Continued From Page 1

Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NY MEP) — reflects the Capital Region’s evolution into a hotbed of innovation and technology-led economic development.

“Decades of investment and hard work have put the Capital Region at the forefront of innovation nationally, especially in the semiconductor industry. We’re excited to bring the New York State Innovation Summit to a region that is emerging as a national hub for semiconductors, clean energy, video game development and so much more,” said FuzeHub Executive Director Elena Garuc. “We expect to showcase the Capital Region’s world-class research

your passing. Be sure to select several alternatives.

• If you have young children, decide who will become their guardians if both of you were to pass.

• Transfer assets that are not jointly held with the next generation into your new trusts.

In urging you to begin estate planning as soon as possible, we do so with the knowledge that the current estate tax exemption has been set at $12,920,000 and the annual gift exemption will be $17,000 per person for 2023.

It’s not a guarantee that those amounts will not decrease at some point. With a dynamic political environment, the tools available to your family now to minimize tax liability may not be available tomorrow.

If your family net worth is above the available exemption, there are many strategies to consider implementing to transfer growth outside of your estate today, as well as others to reduce or eliminate your exposure to estate taxes upon your demise.

and technology capabilities, presenting this dynamic community as a model to emulate for regions across our state and nation.”

Officials said the Innovation Summit brings significant economic benefits to its host region. More than 500 attendees from across the state attended the 2022 Innovation Summit in Buffalo. It featured nearly 100 exhibitors, more than 50 speakers from the biggest companies in semiconductors, biotechnology, clean energy and other key industries, and $500,000 in funding was awarded to New York state innovators.

More information will be released over the ensuing months including information for exhibitors and attendees.

The event website is nysinnovationsummit. com.

Eric Scaringe, is a principal at UHY Advisors, Inc.

Courtesy UHY Advisors, Inc.

Stock

Albany Int’l $95.95 $101.11 $101.79 $102.66 $104.24

Arrow $34.40 $34.99 $35.57 $35.39 $106.71

AT & T $18.32 $19.05 $18.97 $19.12 $19.02

Ball $50.85 $56.81 $55.09 $56.17 $55.81

Ballston Spa

National Bank $58.67 $58.67 $58.67 $58.67 $58.67

Bank of America $36.79 $38.41 $37.19 $37.70 $36.08

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Key Corp $18.23 $19.83 $18.61 $19.03 $18.55

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McDonald’s $274.62 $271.39 $273.37 $275.00 $273.40

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NBT Bancorp Inc. $47.80 $46.60 $46.62 $47.46 $46.27

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Starbucks $91.86 $97.38 $97.95 $99.56 $105.05

Sysco $82.25 $84.47 $85.06 $86.45 $85.33

Latham Group Inc $4.32 $4.16 $2.89 $3.54 $3.57

Target $159.63 $173.32 $162.88 $163.38 $164.16

The TorontoDominion Bank $65.26 $66.66 $66.79 $68.06 $68.59

Kaspien Holdings $0.86 $0.85 $0.86 $0.91 $0.82

Trustco Bank $37.22 $37.30 $38.63 $38.86 $38.57

Verizon $37.24 $38.30 $38.55 $39.02 $38.18

Walmart $140.97 $142.58 $150.23 $153.07 $153.22

As Business Grows, BST & Co. CPAs Merges With An Albany-Based Accounting Firm

BST & Co. CPAs, LLP, an accounting and management consulting firm, has merged with O’Connor & O’Connor CPAs, an Albany-based accounting firm that has served clients in the Capital Region and beyond for more than half a century.

O’Connor & O’Connor CPAs offers a variety of professional accounting, financial and tax services to businesses and nonprofit organizations. The team, comprised of four CPAs and administrative staff, counts small businesses, professional service firms, professional athletes, medical practices, real estate agencies, and individuals among its clients.

As the business has grown, its needs have evolved, prompting leadership to seek a like-minded business partner poised for exceptional future growth.

“BST is thrilled to join forces with O’Connor & O’Connor CPAs, whose culture, clients and reputation are second to none. John and I have known each other professionally and socially for 35 years and we are excited for our firms to come together at this time,” said Ron Guzior, BST & Co. managing partner. “We are confident that the many years of expertise the veteran tax specialists from O’Connor & O’Connor bring to our team will benefit our existing clients and enable us to cultivate deeper relationships through expanded solutions for O’Connor & O’Connor clients.”

O’Connor & O’Connor CPAs was originally established more than five decades ago as a part-time practice under the sole leadership of John V. O’Connor Sr., a fulltime professor of accounting and taxation at UAlbany and Siena College. After earning his degree from St. Bonaventure University and getting licensed as a Certified Public Accountant, his son John V. O’Connor Jr. joined the firm in 1981.

LLC

profile and check the main categories of organizations they want to support. Within those are subcategories to select from, which Munter said is taken from IRS business categories.

“Do we have every single sub-category represented? We don’t,” she said. “But the good news is since we launched in October we had a couple nonprofits email me saying, ‘We would really like to see if you can add certain categories that we would fall under,’ enabling them to make more connections with appropriate donors.

After clicking on all the checkboxes and with the entities and subcategories selected, there is a foundation for starting to make matches.

“Now they have a Knitt profile page or a splash page with their logo, important bullet points, information that links to the website, social media links and more,” Munter said.

“If the donor is interested it can send, or accept, a Knitt request,” said Munter. “If a donor wants to do a deeper dive before accepting a Knitt request

from a nonprofit, those details are right there on the organization’s profile page.”

“That’s the warm leads connection, no different than when we are at a function and someone introduces us,” she said. “Then if we want to continue that journey together we’ll set up another meeting. But you don’t have to go to a networking event and you don’t even have to be in the same zip code or spend hours in the hamster wheel of the unknown to make a connection.”

A new implemented feature is the instant donation receipt, another time-consuming task that Knitt alleviates, Munter said.

Munter said she wants to curate Knitt during the soft launch stage to better represent the people who are using it. She is especially working to build the donor side of the client base by letting “businesses that donate to multiple organizations know how Knitt gives them more insight and analytics and information than they would get from a spreadsheet.”

“There is a much bigger vision for Knitt, so keep joining us on our journey,” she said. “In time Knitt will remove the barriers of regional communities and users will be able to discover partners nationwide that fit their requirements for philanthropy.”

Visit getknitt.com for more information.

The father- and-son team formed O’Connor & O’Connor CPAs in 1984. O’Connor Jr.’s sister Mary, an alumnus of Bryant College and Certified Public Accountant, came onboard three years later. Prior to the merger with BST, the sibling CPA team managed the business.

“We are excited to partner with a firm that shares similar client service focus, demonstrated professionalism, and a common culture,” said John O’Connor Jr. “BST’s expansive resources, such as sophisticated information technology, marketing and virtual accounting tools, will give us the edge we need to better compete in today’s global marketplace and offer our staff greater opportunities for professional growth.”

BST & Co. dates back to 1947. Comprised of more than 100 partners and associates, BST offers a broad portfolio of services to clients that include closely held companies, family-owned businesses, notfor-profit and governmental entities, and high-net worth individuals.

The partnership with O’Connor &

O’Connor CPAs marks the second merger for BST in less than two years.

Later this month, BST will move its Albany-based corporate headquarters to 10 British American Boulevard to accommodate its expanded operations within a 25,000-square foot collaborative workspace. The team from O’Connor & O’Connor will join BST at the new location in mid-December.

For more information about BST & Co. CPAs, LLP, visit www.BSTco.com.

BST & Co. CPAs, LLP is a multi-disciplinary accounting and business advisory firm headquartered in Albany serving the needs of closely held companies, family-owned businesses, nonprofit and governmental entities, and high-net worth individuals.

BST offers a broad portfolio of accounting and auditing, tax, consulting, outsourced accounting, talent strategy and marketing services; as well as valuations, forensic accounting and litigation support.

Ron Guzior is a managing partner at , BST & Co. CPAs.

Courtesy BST & Co. CPAs

John O’Connor Jr. is a partner at O’Connor & O’Connor CPAs.

Courtesy BST & Co. CPAs

This list of quotations is provided through the courtesy of Robert M. Schermerhorn, CFP®, Saratoga Financial Services, Securities offered through LPL Financial /Member FINRA & SIPC, located in Saratoga Springs, NY. www.SaratogaRetire.com

Her Rock Jewelry In Saratoga Springs Specializes In Diamond Engagement Rings

BY JILL NAGY

Breanna Chiarello calls herself a “jewelry concierge.”

She is in the business of helping people turn their jewelry ideas into reality at Her Rock Jewelry, recently opened at 10 Lake Ave. in Saratoga Springs.

Chiarello interviews prospective customers about their preferences and price range and then meets with them in person. At the meeting, she presents some stones and sample settings that meet the customer’s specifications. After the customer chooses the desired combination, the jewelry is made to order and delivered in three to four weeks.

The shop sells about 30 rings monthly, Chiarello estimates.

She tries to provide a quiet intimate setting for the meetings. Her suite of offices includes a conference room, a showroom, and her office.

Her Rock specializes in diamond engagement rings, most of them sporting “lab diamonds,” which are manufactured in New York City, not dug out of the ground.

She said the difference between the lab diamonds and natural diamonds is not obvious. Both are made of the same element, carbon, and “they look the same, they feel the same, and they sparkle the same.”

The biggest difference is in the price. The lab specimens are thousands of dollars less expensive than the natural item. For example, a two-carat lab-grown diamond might cost $6,000 while a similar natural diamond might run $18-20,000.

Chiarello’s website, www.her-rock.com., includes a veritable primer on lab diamonds, their shapes, sizes, and elements like color and clarity, and the range of prices for various combinations of them.

The website also shows a line of ready made jewelry, curated by Chiarello from samples she sees at jewelry shows. Those items can be purchased online or in person and are generally priced under $2,000. They include bracelets, necklaces, earrings, and other jewelry items as well as rings. She also offers sapphires, rubies, emeralds and other precious and semi-precious stones in addition to the diamonds.

Her clientele splits fairly evenly between men and women and, because of her emphasis on bridal and engagement jewelry, couples often shop together, she said.

Meetings are by appointment only. The appointments can be made online, at the

store’s website or Instagram site.

Chiarello began working in the jewelry business right after high school. She sold “fashion jewelry” (prices under $1,000) for a few years and then switched to a store selling “fine jewelry" She also studied to become a gemologist. She thought she saw a void between what stores offered and what people wanted and that led her to start her own business six years ago, first in New York City and now in Saratoga Springs.

All the work is done by hand, she said. In addition to items created to customer specifications, Chiarello designs jewelry on contract. A freelance social media expert rounds out the cast.

Her website is www.her-rock.com.

Coworking Space

start a business in really bad times, that everything after that is gravy. That’s accurate.”

After five years in business, they purchased 153 Regent Street which is now the drb Business Interiors showroom. They also made the decision to transform the first floor of the building to the first SARATOGA CoWorks.

“When you have a business and are looking for a professional space you have a tremendous amount of decisions to make and expenses ahead of you. We were there, we went through it.” “You usually have to commit to a long term lease, construct walls, fit out your space with furniture, pay triple net expenses and utilities.” At the time coworking spaces were rare, it was very difficult.

“When we decided to start a coworking space, it was very difficult because no one knew what coworking was. No one,” she said.

During the first six months of operations, business was “terrible.” After that, business grew so rapidly that they opened a second location in leased space at 462 Broadway in 2016. Within one month, it was fully rented.

“We figured out the model that worked,” said Rogers-Bullis. “Our model is to create amazing space that is clean and bright and professional and productive. Because we are in the design and furniture business as well, we make space that is so unbelievable spectacular that all you have to do is come and bring your computer. That’s it. We even deal with the acoustics.”

In order to do that, they utilize the Falkbuilt interior wall systems. The couple operates Falkbuilt’s Northern New York branch as part of drb Business Interiors.

“Using the Falkbuilt wall systems in our coworking spaces with our furniture and our design has changed everything,” she said.

There are currently about 40 people utilizing the offices at SARATOGA CoWorks newest 5,000-square-foot space on Congress Street. It is the largest of their three locations.

“We have waiting lists for private offices, but there are always coworking hot desking avail-

(these have a rear “garage” with ramp-door access) and park models, which are little vacation cottages that look like a home, but must be hooked up to electricity, water and sewer the same as any RV.

“A park model becomes their home away from home or second home,” O’Brien said. “We expect strong demand from campers to set up and say this is going to be their camp for the next 10 years.”

O’Brien is closely monitoring the potential impact of electric vehicle mandates on his business.

“I just got back from a national RV park associations meeting,” he said. “It was certainly a robust topic of discussion. We haven’t committed to adding charging stations yet. We’re not seeing that demand. We were recently in Europe and saw more hybrid vehicles, so I think a series of steps are going to occur before we get there. There’s a lot of discussion, but not a lot happening yet. I think we’re a long ways away from such a change. It is something we’re watching closely.”

able. You can pay to work at a desk or a table,” said Rogers-Bullis. “We get a lot of drop ins.”

There are currently just three offices available across SARATOGA CoWorks’ three locations. Offices vary in size and can accommodate up to five workers. A one-year lease is required, but desks can be rented on a monthly basis. Rates are also available for “day trippers” who want to pay by the day for the use of a desk. Conference rooms can be rented for a half or full day.

While they have no immediate plans for further expansion, Rogers-Bullis said they aren’t ruling it out.

“It just has to be the right place. Saratoga Springs is the perfect spot for what we do, so it would have to be somewhere similar.”

For more information, visit www.saratogacoworks.com

Breanna Chiarello is the owner of at Her Rock Jewelry, recently opened at 10 Lake Ave. in Saratoga Springs which specializes in diamond engagement rings.

Business Briefs

The Ballston Area Community Center (BACC) has received a $2000 grant from the Adirondack Trust Co. Community Fund for its 2023 Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK) program. The grant monies will be used to fund the use of Chromebook and/or iPad technology in the UPK classroom.

BACC board member Molly Pezzulo attended a reception at Longfellow’s Restaurant in Saratoga Springs on Dec. 1 and was honored to accept a check on behalf of the BACC.

The 36th annual Stewart’s Holiday Match Campaign kicked off on Thanksgiving Day and runs through Christmas day at all shop locations.

The program supports nonprofit organizations impacting children. To date, it has raised nearly $34 million for children’s charities.

Last year, customers donated over $1 million to the program, doubling to more than $2 million with the Stewart’s match. The funds were able to support 1,716 local children’s organizations across the 32 counties where Stewart’s Shops are located.

Local organizations impacting children are encouraged to apply for funding online. The deadline for submission is Jan. 31. All groups applying must be locally based, benefit children under 18, and be a qualified, charitable 501c3 organization.

All donations are tax-deductible. Stewart’s accepts funds from groups or businesses, but only matches individual donations. * * *

Barnes & Noble is hosting a book fair to benefit the Academy for Lifelong Learning at its at 3039 Route 50, Saratoga Springs, on Saturday, Dec. 10 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. A portion of the proceeds from purchases on that day will benefit the academy. People can stop by the academy’s table during the event for a voucher.

Founded in 1992, the Academy is a nonprofit, membership organization of nearly 400 members who share a love of learning. An independent entity, A.L.L. offers non-credit courses and social activities for mature learners. A.L.L. also offers special interest groups and special trips and events that are held throughout the year. For more information, contact the Academy office at (518) 587-2100 ext. 2390 or go towww.esc.edu/all.

*

The Ballston Area Community Center (BACC) has received certification from the American Red Cross as a managed disaster shelter that can accommodate as many as 200 individuals.

This process includes the installation of a whole building backup power generator that was partially funded by a Saratoga County Non-Profit COVID Relief Grant Fund.

Ensuring that people have a safe place to stay during a disaster is now a critical part of the BACC’s mission. The emergency shelter offers a safe place to sleep, food, health care and support to victims of disasters.

The BACC, located at 20 Malta Ave. in Ballston Spa, is a nonprofit corporation, licensed by the state Office of Children and Family Services, that provides essential community services to more than 400 children in Saratoga County. It offers child care, universal pre-kindergarten and teen programs to enhance the social, emotional, economic and educational development of area youth and families without regard to their social or economic background.

More information about the BACC and its services is available online at ballstonareacc. org or by calling (518) 885-3261.

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The Saratoga Springs Heritage Area Visitor Center launched its annual Mitten Tree Program which runs through Saturday, Dec. 31.

Members of the local community are invited to contribute warm winter wear to the Visitor Center Mitten Tree located at 297 Broadway in Saratoga Springs. All donations will benefit CAPTAIN Community Human Services, Franklin Community Center and Shelters of Saratoga.

Instead of ornaments or lights, the tree is decorated with warm winter items such as hats, scarves, gloves, and of course, mittens. People wanting to donate can hang new or handmade items upon the tree.

Visitor Center hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Visitor Center will be closed for the Christmas holiday, Saturday, December 24 through Tuesday, Dec. 27. It will also be closed Friday, Dec. 30 and Saturday, Dec. 31 for the New Year holiday.

For more information, visit www.discoversaratoga.org/saratoga-springs-visitor-center.

‘Skin By Ask’ In Saratoga Springs Offers Facial Skin Treatments, Products And More

BY JILL NAGY

Memories of teenage skin problems were part of the motivation for Andrew Kelly to become an aesthetician specializing in skin care. He recognized the need to de-stress and take time for self-care and the importance of diet in treating skin problems.

Today, he is the proprietor of Skin by Ask, a new medical spa at 29 Church St. in Saratoga Springs.

Kelly has been in business as an aesthetician for six years. He has clients in the Saratoga area and in New York City. He has also continued offering virtual treatments, something he developed during the COVID lockdown but has continued for clients who prefer to do their own care under his guidance.

He terms his business a combination of a day spa and a medical spa. He offers facials, nonsurgical facelifts, laser treatment, skin tightening, microneedling, and other treatments. In microneedling, a matrix of tiny pulsating needles are intended to stimulate the production of collagen.

Two common problems Kelly deals with are hyper pigmentation, a skin discoloration, often following pregnancy, and rosacea, a condition that causes the skin to redden, especially on the nose.

Kelly worked as a publicist after college but, he found, “I wasn’t passionate about it.” He signed up for the Christine Valmy School to train as an aesthetician. Subsequently, he undertook further education to become certified for laser, microneedle, and chemical peel treatments.

Currently, he is in the process of becoming a registered nurse. “It’s all about learning and growing,” he said. The RN license will allow him to add more invasive treatments like Botox injections to his repertoire.

Kelly worked for almost 11 years in New York City before moving to Saratoga. He has had his

Ransomware

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user was tricked into clicking on an infected attachment or going to web site that is harvesting their credentials.”

Once an attack occurs, companies that do not maintain regular data backups are more likely to pay the ransom.

“The advice is never to pay the ransom, but at the end of the day, if you need to get your data back, you are probably going to pay the ransom,” said Brayton.

In addition to training employees, businesses should have adequate endpoint protection as well as next generation firewalls. Software and hardware should also be kept up to date.

“That includes all of the latest operating system and application patches. All of that can mostly be automated and should be done at least weekly,” he said.

Password management is another area that companies as well as individuals should pay attention to. Brayton cautions against using the same password for multiple sites or saving passwords in an Excel spreadsheet. Instead, he recommends using a secure password manager that can be accessed through a multi-factor authentication (MFA).

own business for two and a half years. He does all the treatments and his mother, Barbara Kelly, keeps the business running. She answers the telephone, makes appointments, takes care of orders for skin care products (more than 100 shipments a month, he said), and generally acts as office manager.

The products on sale include a line of skin care products from Biologique Recherche in France, for which he is the exclusive area distributor.

Skin by Ask is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. The spa is closed on Sundays.

Further information is available on the website SkinbyASK.com. The telephone number is 518886-1007.

cation or online account. Stephenson recommends using MFA on every application that a person uses whether it is for business or personal use.

Because of the SHIELD Act, it is essential that business owners understand their legal responsibility when it comes to cybersecurity. The laws are designed to protect the customer, not the business owner.

“Your retail stores and small mom and pop businesses weren’t covered by the cybersecurity legislation in New York state until the SHIELD Act was expanded in March of 2020. Every business in the state is now covered by a minimal set of laws related to cybersecurity protection. If you’re not comfortable doing this yourself, you should be reaching out to a managed service provider. It doesn’t matter who it is. Just do it,” said Brayton.

When it comes to protecting personal data, Brayton advises people to pay attention to their online accounts.

“We’re seeing a trend that someone will end up with your user name and password to your IRA or other retirement account,” he said. “They will get access to your retirement accounts and start setting up loans to pay out to themselves. Unless you are paying attention to your 401K, you have no idea that loan even happened.”

NOVEMBER

MFA is an authentication method that requires the user to provide more than one verification method in order to gain access to a computer appli-

“You need to continually educate yourself to what is going on in the world in regards to how these people are trying to steal your money, and your identity.”

Botanicals 76 Salem St. Greenwich NY 12834

Andrew Kelly owns Skin By Ask, a medical spa at 29 Church St. in Saratoga Springs. ©2022 Saratoga Photographer.com

Zobel & Co. Kitchens, a custom kitchen design firm, received the Best Kitchen Design $80,000-$119,000 and Best Kitchen Design $120,000-plus awards from the Capital Region Builders and Remodelers Association (CRBRA) .

The awards were presented at the annual Best of Building awards night in November at the Canfield Casino, Saratoga Springs.

The first project recognized was a Malta kitchen that features rich walnut cabinetry, Calacatta Arno Quartz slab back splash and counter tops, and a stunning Vermont Verde Antique countertop on the island. The new kitchen features generous amounts of light, storage and organization, floating shelves, and a closet converted into a pantry.

The second project awarded to Zobel & Co. Kitchens is a Saratoga kitchen that combines the working side of a kitchen with a large six-person dine-in island and completed with a large wet bar area featuring wine storage and a beverage refrigerator. White cabinetry defines the cooking and eating area, while smokey grey cabinets

showcases the bar. The design incorporates the family’s desire to entertain comfortably while having ample room for food prep and cooking.

“CRBRA provides an unbiased, true judging of projects so these awards mean a great deal to us,” said Arthur Zobel, company president. “We are among many talented design firms in our region, and we are honored when a homeowner chooses us to help them bring their vision to life.”

The Best in Building Awards recognizes CRBRA members for their excellence and innovation in residential building, remodeling, design, marketing and more. The entries are judged by industry experts from out of state. The judges review the entries based on the criteria provided and are not able to see the company that submitted each entry and are able to be completely objective in their scoring.

Zobel & Co. Kitchens is located at 11 Broad Street, Glens Falls, in the Union Square Building.

Its website is www.zobelandco.com.

Arthur Zobel, president of Zobel & Co. Kitchens, holds the two awards his company received from the Capital Region Builders and Remodelers Association at an event in Saratoga.

Courtesy Zobel & Co. Kitchens