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Granger Construction Company, Inc

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By Sarah Hall

Les Granger, President, Chris Montrose, Vice President of Construction

Dig Safely NY, Corporate Headquarters, East Syracuse NY

1 Empower Federal Credit Union, Central Square, NY

Hannaford Supermarket and Pharmacy, Rome, NY

Microtel Inn & Suites, Altoona, Pennsylvania

Tractor Supply Store, Central Square, NY

Les Granger has no use for people who misrepresent the truth.

Granger, CEO of Granger Construction Company, Inc., values trust and integrity above all else, and those values form the foundation of his company.

“There is an understanding among the staff—this is how we want to present ourselves to our clients,” said Chris Montrose, vice president of construction at Granger. “They know they are fully supported in making decisions, providing straightforward and honest information to our clients.”

Granger went into the construction industry after he graduated from high school and his family sold the farm on which he grew up. He learned carpentry and masonry and later opened his own firm, working as a subcontractor, general contractor, and developer.

By the early 1990s, Granger was looking for something more.

“At a certain point in my life, I said, what do I enjoy doing the most? The answer was constructing buildings,” he said. “I love the creative process of putting a building where there once was nothing. I still have a passion for that.”

Thus, Granger Construction Co. was born in 1992. The company focused almost solely on retail construction up and down the East Coast until 2008, when, as Granger said, “retail business did not slow down—it stopped overnight.” The crash forced Granger to diversify; now the firm also works with clients in the hospitality, multi-residential, healthcare, light industrial and most general commercial markets. The company is also focusing more on what sales and marketing manager Don Kowell calls “pre-construction services.” This service provides real-time input on cost, constructability, and schedule during the planning and design phase.

“We’re good at managing and coordinating a project,” Kowell said. “While we still participate in the private commercial bid market, we’ve been doing more of the pre-construction/ construction management approach on projects.”

Under this approach, the firm, led by Montrose, will evaluate a project to determine the needs of the customer and put together a team of subcontractors that will best fulfill those needs. Granger said it is faster and more efficient than the traditional means of putting a project out to bid, and it often nets better results.

This has proven to be a successful approach for anyone looking to build or develop.

“If you can put the right team together of owner, designer, and contractor, I can almost guarantee you we can come up with a more successful project than doing it the traditional way of hiring an architect to draw something, then going out for competitive bids to general contractors,” he said. “The process can get there that way, but it takes longer, and it is harder to get the value placed in the right spot. If an owner can articulate what they would like to get out of a project, what their goals are, and in turn have the right architect who can put their vision on paper while working with the general contractor, this will ensure the design is both conceptually and financially in line with the owner’s expectations. Putting together the right team of people up front will generate the best value for the owner’s investment.”

While Granger Construction Company does some travelling, the bulk of their business is local, which is the result of a conscious effort to focus on the central New York region.

“We are focusing on trying to stay in New York,” Granger said. “But at the same time, repeat customers ask us to go and look at opportunities in different places. We still have solid resources up and down the East Coast.”

Granger Construction also does a lot of repeat business, made possible by the good relationships the company maintains with its clients.

“I think our relationships are built based on the fact we are just a group of hardworking people who are straightforward,” Montrose said. “We do not pull punches with our clients. We tell them facts—not always what they want to hear. We give them the information they need to make the best decisions possible to achieve the overall outcome they desire.”

Granger Construction also strives for complete transparency with others in the construction industry.

“We try very hard amongst ourselves and with our subcontractors and our suppliers to do what we say we are going to do—treat them fairly, pay them correctly,” Granger said. “This attracts quality subcontractors who seek to work with us on our projects.”

The culture based on trust and integrity permeates everything Granger does, including his interactions with his employees.

“It is really important that I can trust everyone I work with,” he said. “Everybody in the company has wide open access to everything, but that requires a trust that they will treat that information with the confidentiality that it should have.”

That culture accounts for the longevity of Granger’s staff, many of whom have been with the company for a decade or more. Kowell said that is what has kept him there for more than 15 years.

“It Is the family atmosphere, the trust and the faith that we have in each other,” he said. “When we get busy, we all help each other out. This attitude is across the board.”

That said, Granger emphasized that employees’ real families must always come first.

“We view ourselves as our employees’ second family, but their real families come first,” he said. “We recognize the importance of this, and we adjust for it.”

“When someone has a medical issue or something like that, we all cover for each other, help each other out, that type of thing, and it has just been a refreshing situation to experience,” Kowell said.

Montrose joined the company more than 20 years ago as a project manager. He worked his way up through the ranks to his current position as VP of construction. He sees his future as being at Granger, something that pleases Les Granger as he looks toward the end of his working days.

“I considered myself retired about 10 years ago,” he said. “Now I only work five days a week.

Montrose, the team builder, has been an active part of the growth process. In that focus, Montrose’s responsibility is to look for new talent to help lead Granger into the future. Among his picks is project manager Mike Eger, who joined the company about 13 years ago.

“He came in and started by coordinating subs on a job site and pushing a broom. He soon after became a project manager,” Montrose said. “His character, skill set, and his drive match up well to how we want the future of the company to be shaped. He will be one of the people who helps shape it.”

“Mike is a future leader in training,” Granger said. “He came here out of school. Right now, he is operating in project management, but we expect him to play a full leadership role down the road.”

As a leader, Granger does not micromanage his people. He understands that while different employees take different approaches on various issues, everyone at the company is headed to the same destination.

“If an employee knows what the target is, and he approaches it with integrity, he does not have to do it the same way I do it,” Granger said. “But there is integrity to what he does. We do not have rules that before Chris approves a contract, there are 32 different signatures to get. He has the authority to do his job. I can trust that he is making the right decisions.”

“For ourselves and our clients, we feel we have the right team to be successful—a team you can trust has the customer’s best interest as its priority,” Montrose said. “We have a good group of people who are all driven for the company and our clients to be successful.”

TDO- The Community’s Best Kept Secret; Serving Central NY Since 1988

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By: Janelle Davis

Jim D’Agostino – CEO / MEP Center Director

Mike Metzgar – Business Development Manager

Scott Laundry – Senior Project Manager

Sarah Burlingame – Senior Project Manager

Marc Bicknell – Senior Project Manager

“We’re not the traditional consultants,” says Jim D’Agostino CEO and MEP Center Director for TDO (Train Develop Optimize).

Jim is a degreed mechanical engineer who has been working in manufacturing for over 20 years. He has a Master of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix, in addition to his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Syracuse University.

D’Agostino has worked in several manufacturing jobs. Some of these jobs include quality roles, plant manager, and working in operations management. He has also worked in a variety of industries including automotive, precision machining, paper manufacturing and the furniture industry.

D’Agostino was recruited to TDO by a headhunter. “I was happy with my current role, but the allure of TDO, its mission, and the ability to assist numerous manufacturers in the CNY region was too much to pass up,” he admits.

About TDO

TDO, based in Syracuse, NY, is a not-for-profit consulting and training organization working primarily with manufacturers.  Founded by local economic development officials in 1988, TDO began as The Central New York Technology Development Organization. Covering the five-county Central NY region (Onondaga, Cayuga, Cortland, Madison and Oswego), TDO became the New York State CNY Manufacturing Extension Partnership center designation (MEP). 2018 brought to TDO (Train, Develop and Optimize), a new logo, and more determination and passion than ever to reflect their mission.

“Our mission is to help those small to mid-size manufacturers,” says D’Agostino. “We help with a lot of those nitty gritty engineering and technical consulting projects that deliver hard impacts and savings for our clients,” he continues. TDO offers this assistance in order to grow the local economy. They achieve this goal by helping companies increase revenue, reduce costs, and increase productivity. A lot of the work TDO does is technical consulting and engineering support.  They also look for ways to improve productivity and reduce costs.

TDO helps their clients grow by offering certifications, like the Lean Six Sigma Green and Black Belt Certifications. The Lean Six Sigma is a combination of the best attributes of “Lean Manufacturing” and “Six Sigma.” TDO offers these in-house trainings and workshops with the model to empower your company, innovate new paths, transform your organization, optimize for continuous improvement and bring to light your growth potential.

One of the more popular certifications TDO offers is Toyota Kata. “With Kata, we teach our manufacturers how to think scientifically and how to tackle those everyday obstacles to achieve their target condition or goal. It’s a structured scientific approach to continuously improve,” says D’Agostino. The Toyota Kata is offered with several options, including half day and full day simulations.

To further enhance your company, TDO offers access to free webinars via their website. These webinars cover relevant topics to move your company forward. You will learn from professionals like CEO’s and Client Development Specialists on topics such as, finance during the pandemic, grant information, and help to upskill your current workforce.

What makes TDO different

 “We have shared skin in the game,” D’Agostino says.

What he means, is that after TDO finishes a project with a client, six months later the client will receive a survey from a third party asking them if TDO helped them with any of the following; create/save jobs, grow/save their sales, develop cost savings, etc. All this data is compiled into a report card they get from the federal government every quarter. This report rates them on how good of a job they are doing at hitting those impact categories. It also provides them with an assessment that they can evaluate.

“It’s a neat model we have at TDO,” D’Agostino says. He continues, “This makes us a little different because if we find that we didn’t help a client be more competitive and achieve savings and productivity improvements, then we will get a subpar score and that will affect our grant funding. We are accountable, so when we go into a job, we see ourselves as an integral part of the team and are right there alongside them.”  

TDO has impacts to prove that they are making a difference with their clients. “The number of repeat clients that we have is incredible,” D’Agostino said.

Grant Assistance

Another benefit working with TDO are the multiple grant funding opportunities. As the regional MEP center, they have access to two exclusive grant funds. There are productivity funds through National Grid and NYSEG (Rochester Gas and Electric). Both companies have a reimbursable grant program offering funding between 40% and 60% of project costs. Both programs offer grants up to $40,000 for eligible applicants.

If you are a manufacturer in the five-county region working with TDO, then you can have access to those funds. From which source is dependent on who the client’s utility provider is. “40%-60% funding could make a huge difference for a manufacturer.”  D’Agostino explains that a lot of times this funding is the difference between a project getting approved.

Grant funding can help small to mid-sized manufacturers reinvent themselves, increase profits, create jobs, and establish a foundation for long-term business growth and productivity.

TDO can also connect clients with the Workforce Development Institute (WDI), who also has manufacturing funds available. CNY Works has really good lucrative funds as well. Each grant application is different and TDO will help you navigate through the process.

D’Agostino says, “We are able to connect clients to a bevy of funding partners depending on their need.”

Staff

D’Agostino made sure not to miss the opportunity to highlight his team. Speaking with respect and admiration, he explains that they all have similar skills. They have two, soon to be three, senior project managers, as well as a business development manager.

“We are all degreed in engineering and computer science, and heavy with technical confidence,” He explains. “We are all experienced in lean manufacturing.” He goes on, “We have an electrical engineer, an industrial engineer, a computer scientist and I am a mechanical engineer.”

“We are a very well-rounded team!”

‘Everyone in the organization is critical to success’ AmeriCU Credit Union President & CEO Ron Belle talks about leading through growth, challenges, and community focus.

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By Martha Conway

Ron Belle, President & CEO

AmeriCU Financial Center located at Griffiss Technology Park, Rome

Belle presents Lisa Posselt, Consumer Loan Underwriter III, with an AmeriCU Service Award recognizing her 30th anniversary with the credit union.

Ron Belle, originally of Camillus, joined the AmeriCU team four years ago; as of last year and coinciding with AmeriCU’s 70th anniversary, he is now leading the team.

Belle graduated from Utica College of Syracuse University as well as earned executive management certifications from University of Wisconsin at Madison and Case Western Reserve University. After graduation, he entered the world of financial services before accepting a job at a Syracuse-area bank as a branch manager. From there, he worked his way up, securing increasingly responsible positions and managing greater numbers of people and teams.

During his career, Belle has moved five times living in four states as his career advanced; in 2017, he came home to central New York and AmeriCU. He’s been the president and chief executive officer there since May 2020.

“My wife is originally from Poughkeepsie, so this was a great homecoming opportunity for our family.”

His progress on the way up the financial institution ladder allowed Belle to observe and learn from several managers; two he considers mentors and speaks with regularly.

“At every level, you hone your management traits,” Belle said, adding that management skills evolve as you mature with experience and age.

To lead people through the realities of adapting to change, Belle said the most important functions of his job at AmeriCU are maintaining a strong foundational culture, having a well-designed strategy, and consistently communicating how change supports AmeriCU’s vision, mission and strategic plan.

“You have to focus on individuals,” he said. “You have to get to know the team and what drives them.”

Belle believes in a ‘shadow of the leader’ philosophy, with the understanding that people at every level in an organization can provide a positive influence that can affect sustainable change.

And one place AmeriCU’s nearly 350 teammates are focused on continuing to lead is in their respective communities. With 19 financial centers across nine counties, there are plenty of opportunities for the AmeriCU team to continue to engage with their communities through volunteerism and serving on boards for a variety of non-profits. AmeriCU is committed to providing comprehensive financial wellness, working with schools, colleges and businesses to provide financial resources on a variety of topics from home ownership to caregiving for aging parents, as well as learning about loans and building credit, all provided through in-person or live video seminars and online training programs.

“Across our central New York footprint, financial wellness education has grown and expanded, and participating schools and businesses have grown each year,” Belle said. “We often hear from teachers, students and businesses owners that the financial information we provided made a positive impact on people and families; that makes you really proud.”

AmeriCU’s growth has more than doubled in the past decade, and Belle said investing in technology is a necessity that has helped fuel that growth. Online features such as easier loan applications and better online banking services, attractive to new and long-tenured members, have been widely accepted and implemented.

Another reason for AmeriCU’s growth has been team. Belle said the company has expanded significantly, with a good mix of long-term, tenured professionals who have grown with the credit union, and new teammates who have brought new ideas and process changes from their experience at other organizations.  

“We always talk about how valuable teamwork is,” Belle said. “It is possible to grow too fast and put too much pressure on our people to meet the added demands. As processes change, you can’t do things the same way or even use the same technology, so it’s crucial to communicate these changes to all team members and remind them how critical they are to our success.”

 

In addition, visionaries at the top of the organization must look at all facets of implementing new programs or services and weighing technologies against each other to see if the benefits and growth support the cost of the planned innovations. One of the biggest challenges facing credit unions right now is striking the right balance between banking entirely online using self-serve technology or the more traditional in-branch model.

“We will always strive to maintain that balance between technology and personal human interaction,” said Belle.

AmeriCU is reimagining its vision and mission statement, which Belle said will build upon its community-focused and community-based ideals. The organization is focused on increasing its community involvement and leveraging the expertise of its team members in the communities where they are located.

“AmeriCU’s name is synonymous with members’ prosperity and growth, and every day we make sure the breadth and depth of services dovetail with our vision and mission, as well as align with our core values,” Belle said. “Our visibility in the community aligns with our strategic plan.”

Belle said he is proud to have AmeriCU based in central New York, a local full-service financial institution that provides members services and advice, from a new member’s first account up to and including retirement and insurance needs.

Belle said some people are uncomfortable with the word ‘member’ versus ‘customer’ or ‘depositor’ at other financial institutions; simply stated, credit unions are non-profit cooperatives owned by members.

Membership is available to anyone who lives, works, worships, or attends school in AmeriCU’s nine-county field of membership and their immediate family; anyone who works for a number of employer partners; and active or retired military and their immediate family.

“We’ve built a great brand with AmeriCU,” Belle said. “We’re working hard to ensure AmeriCU is the best financial institution, and along with our community support and involvement, we strive to be one of the most admired organizations out there.”

For more information on AmeriCU, visit AmeriCU.org or call 800.388.2000.

An Opportunity To Design New Hybrid Workforce Models

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By: Pierre Morrisseau, CEO, OneGroup

Pierre Morrisseau headshot

Remote work for many appears to be here to stay. The pressing challenge for CEO’s is finding the right hybrid mix of remote work and in-person collaboration to sustain the corporate culture, values and mission.

Connecting people remotely with technology has had a profound impact on business. In many ways, it has increased focus and productivity. The bad news is we can’t quantify what we are losing. Are we really connecting? Are we truly developing strong relationships? Are we missing the many casual opportunities to mentor and teach that happen when we are together?  I believe that finding the right balance between remote work and returning to the workplace is critical to our success. We need to find the best way to gathering around the proverbial water cooler.

We’ve seen that remote work calls for additional skills development and communication techniques. We’ve learned that further innovation is needed to make remote work more productive and engaging. We question: How do we re-engineer in-person activities? Is this a chance to create new work models and facilities that enhance the focus on relationship building, learning and engagement when we do come together?  I believe there is tremendous opportunity for innovation here as well.

When OneGroup built its new building, we wanted to create a truly innovative space that facilitated teamwork, collaboration, innovative thought, engagement, and holistic solutions.  Not just for our employees, but for our clients, our partners, and our communities.  The innovative workspaces allow teams to collaborate to ask better questions. It facilitates diverse groups of our employees, vendors and our community coming together.

One of my favorite parts of that journey was taking a group of employees to the Herman Miller design studio in Michigan where they explained, demonstrated, and lived the concept of deconstructing the office.  They asked these questions (and many more): What is the true use of the space? What is the impact on human psychology in that space? How will it enhance the users’ objectives?

They realized that an office was meant to be highly functional for everyone.  Their model defines several types of work, yet 80% of an employee’s time is spent doing just one of these.  They showed us that you can build your primary space for the 80% of work and build other spaces in the building that fit your other types of work—to build in flexibility and creativity. To see some of this in action you can go to www.hermanmiller.com/stories/why-magazine/.

In the end, the journey to learn and open our minds to new ways of working was as valuable for our culture as the final construction of our new facility. We learned there is real power in teams. They are more impactful in quickly bringing solutions, and they create a more rewarding experience for our team members. The process—although we had no idea at the time—also prepared us to easily transition to remote and safe in-office work while not missing a beat in serving our many clients.

I think the quest for the hybrid work environment follows the same thought process: deconstruct the workplace and perhaps even the total work concept. As CEO’s it provides a great opportunity to ask better questions and to collaborate with each other, our employees, our partners, and our communities. Every organization is different and will want to develop their own specific solutions, but our challenges are remarkably similar. We share business fundamentals that can be applied in each of our organizations. I see this as a tremendous opportunity for each of us to take our organizations to a higher level.

J&B Installations, Inc. Commercial & Industrial Roofing Contractors; Celebrating 40 Years of Success

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By Sarah Hall

J&B Installations has come a long way from its humble beginnings. The roofing company got its start as a two-man operation in 1981. Now, celebrating their 40th anniversary, they employ upwards of 100 people during peak season and are known as one of the most reputable and safest roofing companies in Upstate New York.

Majority owner and President Robert Parker says he owes that growth to his team. “We employ good people” he said. “Our company is productive and safe because of our employees’ commitment—it’s a team effort.”

J&B specializes in commercial and industrial flat roofing. Their 16,000-square-foot corporate office/warehouse in Skaneateles Falls includes an in-house sheet metal/fabrication shop and a top-of-the-line plan room using cutting edge estimating software. They also have satellite offices in Ithaca and Rochester and are looking to increase their presence in those areas. All roofers, foremen, and superintendents are OSHA-certified. J&B’s full staff of 12 roofing crews, facilitating a 25-vehicle fleet, including its own crane and 8- 42’ to 55’ forklifts, allow the company to provide clients with complete roofing services and 24/7 roofing repairs.

J&B’s 5,000-plus clients include office parks, warehouses, supermarkets, schools, municipalities, and production facilities, among others. “We’ve performed work on over 200 Aldi’s stores,” Parker said. “Aldi’s insists on quality when selecting a contractor to install in their region. They chose us and that’s a huge compliment.” 

J&B’s reputation has netted the firm a number of clients. “Most of our work is word of mouth,” Parker said, “which is the best form of advertising. We strive to exceed clients’ expectations and have gained many loyal customers as a result.” 

The company, which typically does work all across New York State, has ventured into Pennsylvania and Massachusetts as well. They even followed a client to Colorado Springs. “We were doing work for a company in Fulton,” Parker said. “They had a roof problem at their plant in Colorado Springs and they were very happy with our work here, so they asked us to re-roof their plant in Colorado. It was a new type of long-distance challenge we had yet to experience, and the crews and superintendents that ran the project ultimately brought it in on time and budget.

The firm has taken on some significant projects, including the 1 million-square-foot Tops Distribution Center in Lancaster, New York, and a $5 million roofing project for the Webster Center School District.  J&B will be starting a $4.9 million roof project for Ithaca City School District, a $750,000 project for Community Hospital in Hamilton and a $650,000 project for JMA in Syracuse, to name a few upcoming projects in 2021.

It’s a far cry from Parker’s kitchen table, where he first drew up plans for his own company back in 1981. As a 23-year-old newlywed who had worked for Rochester Roofing & Sheet Metal Co. for three years after college, Parker couldn’t find anyone local who was hiring. So he decided to start his own company, “to be outside,” he said. When the business outgrew his “home office,” he moved into an office building down the street, where he slowly added staff, an administrative assistant and an estimator.

 

In 1988, the warehouse caught fire after being struck by lightning, making it unusable. In 1989 the current office/warehouse was built. In 1993, Mark Anderson, the owner of a local competitor, came on board as vice president and part owner, and he has been with the company since. By 2014 the company had again outgrown its space. A 6,000-square-foot addition was completed that year. Keeping up with the consistently changing industry and company growth has kept Parker and his employees extremely busy over the last 40 years.

Longevity has also brought recognition to J&B; the company is the recipient of numerous honors. J&B has been named Firestone Master Contractor 25 times. “The award is only bestowed on the top 125 contractors in North America,” Parker said. “It’s based on the quality of installation and workmanship.”

J&B has also been a Sarnafil Partners Club member for more than two decades, receiving Sarnafil’s Elite Contractor Award for a number of years. In addition, J&B has earned Carlisle Syntec’s Excellence in Single Ply Award, which Parker said is only awarded for “perfect work.”

Parker said his employees undergo rigorous training, both to ensure they’re producing top quality work and to guarantee everyone’s safety.  “We are a safe company,” Parker said.  “We preach to them by saying, ‘we want you to come to work on time, rested ready to work, and we want you to go home to your family safe.’”

Community and family are important to J&B, which is why the company makes sure to give back on a regular basis. The firm has done pro bono work for a number of local charities, including the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Southern Cayuga Observatory, the Elbridge Fire Station, and the American Legion Post 317 in Skaneateles Falls. And their generosity doesn’t stop there.

“We like to give back to the community,” Parker said.  “We donate to a variety of causes.  Locally we’ve contributed to the Christmas Basket for the elderly and to the Jordan-Elbridge Central School District, which helps families in need of Christmas presents for kids.  We’ve donated to several cancer charities and have helped raise suicide awareness, both of which have personally affected our J&B family. We also try to take care of our employees if they need something, such as help with funeral expenses or food for a benefit. We try to give where we can.”

Parker said J&B has been fortunate during the pandemic to not have faced as many losses as other businesses. “We were considered essential,” he said. “We had a lot of work going on. As far as the pandemic went, yes, it affected us somewhat in sales and with labor. Navigating the legalities of the ever-changing landscape and day-to-day updates in the beginning took a lot of focus and our office team really came to the plate. We wanted to ensure that our staff was safe and compliant. We got hurt a little bit, but not as harshly as other companies. Your smaller businesses, they really took a hit.”

That’s not to say the business is without challenges. As the new administration takes over, Parker said there is some concern that the tax bill passed as part of the 2017 Tax Cuts & Jobs Acts may be repealed. The tax bill allows for 100 percent expensing of a new roof in the first year up to $1 million per property instead of the old 39-year depreciation schedule it replaced.

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Job Act also helps with the cost of bringing existing buildings up to the new energy code. The new building code requires R-30 minimum insulation on all new construction and re-roofs. Parker estimates that 90 percent of existing buildings presently do not meet the code.

Parker also states that “multiple metal buildings/roofs built in the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s are leaking and are at the end of their life cycle.” These buildings are easily re-roofed using fill insulation between the flutes and adding additional insulation to bring the system up to the new energy code. The building owner then receives a 20- to 30-year leak-free warranty from the roof system manufacturer.

As for the future of the company, Parker says it looks pretty green. “People are getting more conscious about the environment, which they should,” he said. Parker is so invested in the green movement that he also owns a green roofing company. Chatfield Green Roofing supplies the northeast with Xeroflor mats grown at Chatfield Farms in Elbridge. These mats consist of sedum, which are flowering succulent plants meant to withstand the harsh weather conditions of the Northeast. The mats are non-biodegradable, lightweight, low maintenance, economical and can be removed 10, 15, or 20 years down the road to perform roof service/maintenance and then be reinstalled, making them a truly “sustainable” product. Chatfield and Xeroflor have supplied their products on a number of large-scale green roof projects throughout the East Coast, including the 294,000-square-foot Jacob Javits Convention Center roof in New York City. Other recognizable landmarks using these living mats are Binghamton City Hall, the Empire State Building and Duke University Medical Facility. Eventually, Parker said he plans to retire from J&B and devote himself full time to Chatfield Farms, but that’s still at least two to three years away. Right now, he’s fully invested in J&B.

“I’m really happy about our reputation as roofing contractors,” he said. “I’m proud of my team. They really work hard to get to a common goal and they do a very, very good job.” 

Parker marveled at how far the company has come since the day he sat down at his kitchen table to sketch out the plan for his company. 

“I cannot believe this is our company,” he said. “Our employees are here for a long, long time. We have people that have been here for over 30 years and we count multiple generations among our crews. Our CFO, Lynn Proulx, has been with me for 33 years. There are several other employees that can say the same. We have had very little turnover… I am proud of that fact and when I see my employees living in nice homes, supporting their families that now, in some instances include grandkids, I feel like we’ve all grown up together. We’ve helped support a lot of families, and it’s nice to see that.” 

The business is transforming to the younger generation. Chris Bacon, Parker’s nephew, will be taking over as majority owner in the near future with Brian Anderson, Anderson’s son, taking over his interest. This will happen over the next few years but both have been with the company for 20 and 15 years respectfully. “No one knows what the future holds, but one thing’s for sure—J&B will continue to provide the best quality and workmanship for years to come,” Parker says. “I have loved coming to work every day even after 40 years.”

 

Tim DeLany joins Five Star Equipment as its Used Equipment Manager

Camden Group Conquers the Difficult Projects

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By: Tami Scott

As the sole shareholder of Camden Group, Ken Scherrieble’s company has earned itself a prestigious place in the world of environmental services and infrastructure restoration. Established in 2011, clients have come to know it as the solution to their most halting problems.      

Camden Group specializes in water and wastewater operations; grouting and waterproofing; and infrastructure restoration, including manhole rehabilitation and concrete rehabilitation and coatings. Its northeast and mid-Atlantic client base is comprised of municipalities, utility companies, and public sectors in the northeast and mid-Atlantic.

“Over the years we have become known as the firm you call when others have tried and failed,” Scherrieble said. “We have an exceptional corp of experienced craftsmen with well over 200 years of experience in water infiltration. We have been on many projects where the client or engineer has said there is no way we could do the job, only to hear them exclaim they would have never believed it if they did not see it with their own eyes.”

These jobs have included manhole restoration projects in the Metro NY/NJ area and in the suburbs of Philadelphia where water is pouring in and engineers are convinced nothing can be done to fix them. When Camden Group comes in, they turn it around and make it work. When the aquarium at the Dream Mall of America in East Rutherford, NJ was leaking and nobody could stop it, they called on Camden Group. The team got it to stop.

“Those are the fun things that we get into when other people just can’t solve the problem,” he said. “Pretty much anything that’s got to do with water moving, we can figure it out — [we can] stop it or move it in another direction.”

National recognition

Just last year, Camden Group earned national recognition for its role in a progressive pipeline project with the Public Service Electric & Gas Company (PSE&G) in the Metro NY/NJ area.

It involved establishing a cured-in-place lining (CIPL) of a 573 lf, 42-inch, high pressure cast-iron gas main leaking under the Garden State Parkway at Central Avenue Bridge in East Orange, New Jersey. Several challenging obstacles had to be overcome to complete the project, one of which was water infiltrating the deeply buried gas lines. Scherrieble said they had to find a way to stop the water before a liner could be put in place.

“We created a means by which to drill through and then grout the pipe so that the grout surrounded the pipe from the outside to stop the infiltration of water,” he said, and due to the complex pipe configuration, Scherrieble’s crew had to travel inside the pipe on a skateboard-type conveyance, on their backs, down 300 feet at a 45-degree angle, then straight, and then another 300 feet down, before they could begin their “patchwork.”  

According to project officials, CIPL was the only option, yet lining a very large 42-inch cast-iron pipe had never before been done.  Camden Group played a critical role in the project’s successful outcome.

This PSE&G project was named the 2020 Trenchless Technology Project of the Year runner up and was showcased at the National No Dig Show. It was also set to be highlighted in Denver but the pandemic pushed it to a virtual show like many others.

“We were proud to be a part of it,” Scherrieble said.

Holistic approach

Unique to other companies, Camden Group began as a water and wastewater operations firm and over the years was involved as a client for the infrastructure restoration services that it now provides.

“That experience allowed us to see the good and the bad and since our focus as operators is assuring clean water, we used that experience and determined that we could perform the services we were contracting better (in our mind),” Scherrieble said. “We take a more holistic approach to the contracting side since we were, and in many cases still are, the client of these construction services. This gives us a different perspective and allows us to work with clients showing them how to meet their I&I, water intrusion, coatings, or soil stabilization goals.”

Large company expertise, small company values

Camden Group is based in Camden, NY, which is part of Central New York in Oneida County. Here they have a 9,000 square foot warehouse for the infrastructure restoration division and a separate 2,000 square foot office which serves as the company headquarters. In 2019, the company opened a second location in Butler, New Jersey, located in the Metro NY/NJ area. That location specializes in chemical grouting, soil stabilization, waterproofing, and concrete repair. The addition welcomed a 26-year veteran to the waterproofing division, and grew the employee base from three to 13. Due to this new and enjoyed growth, Scherrieble is on the lookout for more space in the New Jersey area, specifically, about two thousand square feet for both an office for staff and a warehouse to accommodate vehicles and product they utilize.

A family-oriented company, Camden Group has 38 full-time employees. The number climbs to about 50 during the peak summer season. Scherrieble takes pride in providing large company expertise with small company values. Each year, employees and their spouses gather for a large holiday party (minus 2020) where Scherrieble gives everybody a chance to meet and get to know each other.

“The company is stretched over such a distance that sometimes people think they’re just a core group of four to six, they don’t realize that there are 38 people that are part of the organization,” he said, adding he was disappointed he couldn’t bring his team together as often as he had planned last year due to the new COVID-19 protocols. He looks forward to bringing the family back together again.

Company philosophy

The Camden Group company philosophy, which Scherrieble attributes to his German upbringing, stands out front and center in the work they do every day, no matter how big or small is the job.

“No. 1, if you’re not gonna do it right, don’t do it at all. No. 2, if you are going to do it, do it right and don’t do it a second time,” he said, noting his grandfather was first-generation German. “Sums it up. Our philosophy is very much that philosophy.”         

Scherrieble’s father, Otto, owned his own machining company for which Scherrieble did some work. In a humorous yet accurate account of his family’s work ethic, he told of an encounter he had with an inspector from the National Regulatory Commission (NRC) while touring his father’s facility. It takes place in the QA/QC room:

“[The inspector] says to me, ‘What’s your sample size for your QA/QC program?’ And I said, ‘100 percent.’ ‘I don’t think you understand me. Out of 100 pieces, how many pieces do you measure to make sure they meet the QA/QC?’ ‘One hundred percent!’ ‘Nooo, you don’t understand me. I don’t mean what measurements you take. I mean how many of the pieces do you take? So, if you made 100 pieces, how many of those pieces do you measure?’ And I said, ‘100 percent!’ And he looked at me, and my father was standing in the doorway, and my father says, ‘Did you see the name on the sign when you came in? OttoTech. My name is Otto. Every single piece that leaves this facility is measured.’ And the NRC inspector turns around and he says to me, ‘Okay, 100 percent!’”

   “That’s the way I was brought up,” Scherrieble said. “You do it right. You do it right the first time.”

Ken Scherrieble has been in the water and wastewater treatment and infrastructure business since 1991. He is a Certified 4A NYS wastewater treatment plant operator and a member of various organizations including NACE (now known as AMPP) WEF, NYWEA, NYSRWA and AWWA.

To learn more about Camden Group, visit https://camdengroupusa.com/.

 

Tim DeLany joins Five Star Equipment as its Used Equipment Manager

Advocating for the Construction Industry

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Earl R. Hall, Executive Director

Earl Hall headshot

Return on investment (ROI).  How many times have you asked yourself what is the ROI on various items?  Kitchen renovation, professional Association membership, club membership, bathroom renovation, etc.  Many people want to know, which may not always be easy to quantify, but typically you can determine an estimated ROI.

Association Executives had better keep ROI at the top of their priority list when evaluating the goods and services delivered to a membership of individuals or employers.  While many of the services the Syracuse Builders Exchange (“SBE”) delivers to the construction industry, our member employers and their employees are well known, one not so well-known service is our advocacy efforts.  How does one quantify the value of “advocacy” into the ROI determination?  It is a good question which I will address.

Advocating on behalf of the construction industry and our member employers remains a vital service SBE provides.  Although SBE does not have a lobbyist, as Executive Director I do participate with my construction industry Association peers across New York in identifying items of importance to the industry throughout New York State.  The group consists of construction industry Association executives from western New York, Rochester, central/northern New York, the Mohawk Valley, Albany, Hudson Valley, New York City and Long Island.

Collaboration among a small group of Association Executives has proven beneficial as our strength in numbers approach has illustrated a unified message to elected officials and bureaucrats in Albany.  I would be remis to say as a group we have any political power to overcome opponents which generally donate thousands of dollars to the same elected officials; however, we do have the intellect to deliver a thoughtful message that is not only in the best interest of the construction industry, but in most cases, taxpayers.

Examples of successful advocacy efforts in 2020 include implementation of new Substantial Completion legislation signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo.  Substantial Completion is now defined by law and will prevent project owners from withholding retainage for extended periods of time after a project has been fully occupied or utilized for its intended purposes. 

SBE successfully advocated for changing onerous provisions in State University Construction Fund (SUCF) project specifications relating to COVID-19 contractor liability on job sites.  The language essentially stated contractors would be responsible for any Executive Orders or orders by public health officials which were not present at the time of bidding but may be imposed during the project.  Those unknown costs would be the burden of the contractor.  SBE opposed such language and I engaged in discussions with SUCF legal counsel.  As a result, SUCF amended the language to mitigate the contractor’s liability on all SUCF projects, including the SUNY Oswego project in question.

Not all advocacy efforts result in favorable outcomes.   I remain frustrated that those of us advocating for Labor Law 240 reform (Scaffold Law) have failed.  The trial lawyers lobby and the lobbying efforts of organized labor continue to be too powerful to overcome.  In addition, some legislators in Albany are also attorneys who remain very reluctant to remove this absolute liability statute.  New York remains the only state that maintains an absolute liability statute.  Reform advocates simply request New York remove the absolute liability standard and replace such with a “comparative negligence standard”.  As long as our elected officials who continue to maintain control in the New York State Assembly and Senate, Labor Law reform is highly unlikely. 

Although New York State Labor Law reform is highly unlikely, I am working with Congressman Chris Jacobs (NY-27) in supporting his effort to remove the absolute liability standard on all federally funded projects in New York and replace such with the comparative negligence standard.  As you can imagine, unfortunately, he is not getting the support from his colleagues on the other side of the aisle.

Quantifying the ROI of advocacy efforts is difficult, especially in instances as illustrated above.  I suspect the ROI is valued differently and varies from member to member; however, it remains important the construction industry and our member employers understand that such efforts will continue as representing the best interest of contractors and the industry is outlined in the SBE By-Laws.

Advocacy efforts will remain one of the top priorities at SBE.  Dues dollars are not taken for granted but are appreciated especially during the tail-end of a pandemic, and challenging economic times.  While the pandemic may be retreating and our return to “normal” just around the corner, the economic damage done by the pandemic and our elected officials in Albany will be felt for quite some time. 

I welcome and encourage contractors, engineers, architects, and project owners to contact me with items of importance.  All items will be reviewed and discussed to determine if such impacts the industry throughout New York, or just at the local level. 

 

Tim DeLany joins Five Star Equipment as its Used Equipment Manager

Three Pillars of a Good Cybersecurity Plan; The best way to prepare for a cyber-attack is to know exactly what you would do if one occurred.

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By Dennis Ast, CPUC, CCIC, OneGroup

Cyber-attacks and their corresponding insurance claims are on the rise. We all spent more time in the virtual space last year than we ever had before, making it imperative that we really think about the increased risk that virtual work, school and living presents.

As our lives rapidly shifted into the digital space last March, hackers got to work. Cloud breaches, “Zoom bombing” and misleading links promising coronavirus cures and statistics costs companies billions in claims and ransom payments. Virtual schooling and telecommuting forced cybersecurity professionals to work in high gear.

You should be thinking about your cybersecurity plan more than ever, and if you are, make sure you are including cybersecurity measures, contingency planning, and risk transfer with a solid cyber insurance policy.  The worst time to try and establish a cybersecurity plan, or to put an insurance policy in place is after the breach has occurred.

Cybersecurity measures

Make sure you have done all you can to prevent cyber incidents. 

 

Keep your software up to date, use and be familiar with multi-factor authentication and strong password protocols, and train your team regularly on how to spot phishing or malware attacks. Install reputable NextGen anti-virus software and establish protocols for remote employees. Keep your data backed up and test these backups often.

Be sure to consider all possible goals of a cyber attacker, too. Some want money, others want trade secrets or patents, and still others could want something entirely different. Be sure your risk management plan addresses any possible motive.

Contingency planning

If 2020 taught us anything, it is that we need strong contingency plans for every circumstance. Talk with your team about what you would do if you could no longer access your network or files. Know how you would reach your team, your clients and how you would access your backed up data if necessary.

Risk transfer with a solid cyber insurance policy

Cyber-attacks can be incredibly costly. After you are through paying for legal services, tech services, fines & penalties, ransom, etc., you could be looking at a bill in the millions. Cyber insurance can cover your business’ cyber liability, the costs of restoring or repairing your systems or data and more. Insurance carriers often impose certain exclusions and sublimits, though, so be sure to work with a trustworthy broker who can explain your policies to you in a complete and understandable way.

In the end, the most important phase of your cyber response plan is knowing what you will do immediately after you discover it. Know who you will call first and know what you will need to ask them. You do not have to face these incidents alone, and in fact, you should not face these incidents alone. Have the phone numbers of people like the police, your lawyer, your insurance broker and policy number and cyber claim reporting handy. Make sure you have got a team that will have your back if the worst were to happen to you.

For more information on Cybersecurity you may reach out to Dennis Ast, Senior Account Executive Cyber Risk Specialist at OneGroup.  He can be reached at DAst@onegroup.com or 716-572-2410.

 

 

Tim DeLany joins Five Star Equipment as its Used Equipment Manager

Dr. Robert Corona, CEO Upstate University Hospital; Digging Deeper for the Greater Good

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By: Sarah Hall

Medical staff showing vaccines

Upstate University Hospital CEO Dr. Robert Corona and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Amy Tucker are part of a “lead by example” campaign for the COVID-19 vaccine. Upstate was named a hub by the Governor’s office to facilitate the vaccine rollout for five counties in Central New York.

Medical staff

Upstate Medical University President Mantosh Dewan, MD, (center) and Hospital CEO Robert Corona,  MBA, (right) receive an update from staff during an on-site vaccination clinic. As the hub, Upstate vaccinated staff from other hospitals as well.

Photo Credit: Kathleen Froio

“When things are tough, like in a tough game, you’ve got to dig down,” said Robert Corona, DO, the CEO of Upstate University Hospital.  “You do not want to let your teammates down, so you keep digging deeper.”

Digging deeper is what Dr. Corona’s team—the thousands of doctors, nurses, technicians, lab workers and others—has been doing since the COVID-19 pandemic reached Central New York. The hospital has treated hundreds of patients who contracted the virus, implemented new tests, developed new therapies, and—as part of SUNY Upstate Medical University—was alongside the creation of one of the most accurate and affordable COVID-19 tests and the first vaccine approved for use by the FDA.

Most recently, Upstate University Hospital was named the vaccine hub for five counties in Central New York. These hubs, established by the governor’s office, are led by local hospital systems to work with the counties and community leaders and to guide the stages of the state’s vaccination plan.

Dr. Corona said Upstate has been able to handle the COVID-19 challenge because the institution has always focused on people, both those it employs and those in the community. “When our people work hard, they do it for the greater good, not because of a bonus check or hazard pay,” he said. “As a [state-regulated hospital] their compensations are negotiated at the state level, but they still do their jobs with courage and caring. I could not imagine being on any other team.”

Dr. Corona brings a range of experience to his role as CEO. He holds a doctor of osteopathic medicine degree (DO), an alternative to an MD with an equal scope of practice and licensing requirements to MDs. Among his fellow DO alumni is Dr. Kevin O’Connor, who is President Joseph Biden’s personal physician and a decorated Navy physician.

Dr. Corona’s clinical training started in neurology at Upstate, but he quickly realized his interest was in the pathology of neurological diseases. This led to a residency in anatomic pathology and fellowship in neuropathology. He also did a special fellowship in neuropathology, concentrated in neuromuscular diseases at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. That fellowship was under the direction of Dr. Joe Parisi, another Upstate alumnus, who went on to be the chief of neuropathology at the Mayo Clinic. 

In addition, he has earned an MBA from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

After his fellowship, Dr. Corona came to work at Upstate. He served as one of the region’s only neuropathologists and started Upstate’s Telemedicine and Medical Informatics Program in 1995. He then spent 16 years on the business side of medicine as chief medical officer and vice president of medical and scientific affairs at Welch Allyn. During his time there, he remained involved with Upstate and returned in 2012 to chair the department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.

At Upstate, he continues to serve as a named professor, and awards for teaching include the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. His past positions at Upstate include chief innovation officer and vice president for business development. He also led the development and implementation of the Upstate MIND (Medical Innovation and Novel Discovery) at the CNY Biotech Accelerator.

Dr. Corona said he was drawn back to Upstate because he loved being part of a teaching hospital and was honored to be appointed to the CEO role in 2018. “I missed the unique stimulation of being in an academic medical center,” he said. “It also may sound a little unusual in referring to a place of this size, but Upstate is a family.”

In addition to the officers in his hospital C-suite, Dr. Corona says that excellent working relationships with Upstate President Mantosh Dewan, MD, and College of Medicine Dean Lawrence Chin, MD, has made his job enjoyable, even as they all face challenges from the pandemic.

“We feel like we are the go-to institution for the most complicated and complex problems,” Dr. Corona said. “I mean, imagine an institution of medium-size in a medium-sized city having such an impact on the world.”

Upstate Medical University is the region’s largest employer and is composed of four colleges; the clinical system overseen by Dr. Corona, which includes two hospital sites and a biomedical research enterprise. The COVID test called Clarifi COVID-19 was developed by the Upstate research team, led by Dr. Frank Middleton, and Quadrant Biosciences. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced in December that the test is among the most sensitive in the world in detecting the virus in its earliest stages. The saliva test is also cost-effective and easy to use, as patients can administer it themselves. The SUNY system has used the tests and Upstate’s unique pooled testing system to process up to 200,000 tests a week.

On the therapeutic side, Upstate Chief of Infectious Disease Dr. Stephen Thomas served as the coordinating principal investigator for the worldwide Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine trial. Upstate is one of the global phase-three trial locations. The vaccine was the first to be approved for use against COVID-19; the first doses were administered in December.

While COVID currently dominates the headlines, the hospital is advancing other medical care with new treatments and procedures in the fields of neurological disorders, surgery, cancer and many others.

Those innovations will help serve patients the numerous clinical services and specialty centers that are unique to Upstate, from the Cancer Center to Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital to the Comprehensive Stroke Center to the Upstate Heart Institute, and more. And because those centers are connected to a larger facility, multiple departments can address patients’ needs.

“That multidisciplinary collaboration is the huge benefit of being a teaching hospital,” Dr. Corona said. “That collective expertise means you have physicians who are at the top of their fields to discuss the cases across departments, so you get additional expert opinions. They also are teaching the next generation of the profession. That keeps everyone on the forefront of skills and knowledge. All this goes to the benefit of the patients in our community.

“The environment changes every day, and in this pandemic, it changes dramatically every day,” he said. “You have to have a tool set that you can call on depending on the environment you encounter that day. Because we have so many talented staff, we are able to optimize for the problem we are confronting.”

He’s confident Upstate’s team can overcome any challenge.

“In the hospital, I think the future is very bright,” Dr. Corona said. “We are in the midst of deploying the vaccine, and we will build upon the innovations that came with COVID-19. We have come into our own in the past couple of years, and I think we are on a flight path that is allowing us to do great things.”

In service to the mission

As a leader at SUNY Upstate Medical University, Dr. Corona is responsible for upholding Upstate’s mission and values. “Upstate’s mission is to improve the health of the communities we serve through education, biomedical research and patient care,” he said. “The hospital intersects with all parts of the mission.”

Dr. Corona said Upstate leadership relied on input from thousands of employees across education, research and patient care to develop its core values, which are to:

  • Drive innovation and discovery
  • Respect people
  • Serve our community
  • Value integrity
  • Embrace diversity and inclusion

Those values dictate everything Upstate does, he said. They also helped him establish the four strategic pillars specific to the clinical system. These are:

Quality of Care

“These are the objective measures to show that we’re always striving to care for our patients with the greatest expertise, in the safest environment,” he said

“We also reach goals for awards set by external agencies. We are accredited by DNV Healthcare, and this process helps us live up to national and international best practices.”

The Upstate Experience

“This is about the subjective experience, or how you feel when you are a patient here,” he explained. “We want to ensure that our people are courteous and that your clinical team is communicating with you in the way you need.

“The Upstate Experience also relates to the work environment for our employees. We all want our employees to feel valued, protected and safe.”

Advanced Technologies and Innovation

“When patients come to Upstate, they are expecting the most advanced and expert care—it’s a hallmark of being a teaching hospital,” he noted. “In addition to offering the latest technologies, we are also looking to be innovative in our setting. We have teams of employees who are looking at new ways to improve and fine tune how our system works.”

Sustainability and Growth

“We strive to grow strong and be sustainable for healthcare and employment, and we also want to be a system that supports a healthy planet. We are a big place, so how we handle our resources really matters,” he said. “Doing the right thing for the environment directly ties to doing the right things for the health of our patients, of our employees and for Upstate.”

Donna Tupper, Owner/President, Infinity Northeast, Inc. : Approaching 40 years and still growing.

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By: Martha E. Conway

Donna Tupper - Headshot

Donna Tupper, President, Owner, Infinity Northeast Inc.

Jeffrey Schoonover - Headshot

Jeffery Schoonover, Peninsula Lifestyle Capital

After 37 years in construction, Infinity Northeast, Inc., owner, and President Donna Tupper, 59, is continuing to diversify; she is branching out into owner-developer properties and a partnership with principals in IRL Social.

Tupper studied business then attended Cayuga Community College. At 22, with her husband traveling extensively for work and unwilling to hire daycare, she said she had to get creative.

“I went to a few friends at the Small Business Administration and in the real estate industry to see if they could use any help,” she said, adding that she started by cleaning and performing minor repairs before graduating to a full-blown handyman service for the properties. “I painted, hung wallpaper, did trim and hung doors.”

Because the buildings were vacant, she said she could do the work at any hour.

“My mom would watch the baby, and I would work evenings, sometimes all night, eventually growing into having an all-girl crew.”

After expanding her menu of capabilities, Tupper worked for other construction companies starting as commercial project management then into construction executive positions. She decided to go out on her own and learned very quickly that she did not care for the residential work.

“The clients can be very demanding in residential work with minimal financial benefits,” she said. “I love everything about commercial projects. The people who work for Infinity are loyal and dedicated, and I wanted to take care of them.”

She did not want them out working in inclement weather and she could control that.

“Commercial work allows me to take care of the Infinity team,” she said.

“I want to ensure my own future without my daughters worrying about taking care of me, but I also want to make sure the business is stable, and they are taken care of – if and when I decide to get out of the company,” explaining that this year has been something of a challenge, but she is confident she can keep her people busy by moving toward the development end of the business.

Tupper said she has a core group of permanent team members (she doesn’t like to call them ‘employees’) between superintendents, administrative positions and field crews, and they are another reason she’s moving into development.

“Their future is also important to me,” she said.

Property development, ownership and management initiatives are on the horizon, as is entry into the IRL and PropTech arenas.

“I am planning a comprehensive medical center in Naples, Fla., where I will be in the own-developer position,” she said. “I am planning to have physical therapy, a high-tech wellness gym, offices for specialists and possibly a pharmacy, to lease space out.

PT is sorely lacking in Naples. I want to end the necessity of people having to make multiple stops to take care of themselves by consolidating medical services in one building.”

In addition, she is in the initial stages of acquiring land in North Carolina to build single-level, high-end housing for the 55-and-older crowd, and she is planning a resort in Clearwater, Fla. Both will have wellness gyms and a focus on comfortable living.

“There are people, singles and couples, who don’t want the hassle of taking care of properties or climbing stairs anymore,” she said. “I want to give them a great experience and help them really enjoy the last 10 or 20 years of their lives. This will also provide a safe secure environment for the residents.

“After I’m settled into development, I will have set myself up for when I’m no longer working and out of the business. All three daughters reside out of state, so there is really nothing tying me to stay in New York, but the corporate office of Infinity will remain in Syracuse. I can work remotely from anywhere.”

Within the IRL Social field, Tupper said she will invest and partner with Jeffrey Schoonover of Peninsula Lifestyle Capital to assist in the construction development and management pieces of the businesses, with maintaining a financial investment. Schoonover, who is well-versed in e-sports, said Infinity Northeast is ideally placed to identify franchise and emerging market entertainment opportunities due to its work in the gaming/resort/hospitality and food-and-beverage markets. Their partnership, he said, provides an opportunity for investors to get in on the ground floor of these emerging prospects and enjoy a one-stop shop for the digital-IRL Social integration concept.

According to Schoonover, the IRL Social concept drives foot traffic and can play a vital role for malls that have an urgent need to re-purpose unoccupied retail spaces.

“Donna chose the partnership because the founders of IRL Social have in-depth knowledge of the retail real estate sector in closely held investments, recently acquiring more than seven million square feet of commercial retail space in 17 states over the past 18 months,” Schoonover said. “In addition, founders also have stakes in a top-12 professional e-sports organization globally and vast experience in content creation. Founders also have stakes in the PropTech sector, which is growing.”

‘PropTech’ is defined by Vincent Lecamus on Medium.com as a collective term used to define startups offering technologically innovative products or new business models for real estate markets. It includes all available technology to help find properties and investors, match clients to properties, manage properties, finance the business transactions and more.

Development may be in her immediate future, but Tupper said her long-term vision and a career highlight converge in her outreach work: informing young people and displaced workers about the opportunities available in the construction trades.

“I’ve learned a lot over the years, and I’m very proud of the work I’ve done getting younger generations involved in the construction trades,” Tupper said. “It’s one of the most important things I can do.”

Tupper attends and presents at various events. She has led women’s classes within the Carpenters Union, the SBA’s Women in Construction program and with Girls’ World, a 21-year-old national program that aims to connect girls to resources and partners in their communities to help them realize their potential. Syracuse has been a host to the organization in 2018 and 2019 and Tupper spoke, hoping to inform and educate those in attendance.

“The girls come to look at opportunities that are available,” she said. “If you have no idea about construction, how would you know the opportunities that are out there? We try to explain what is out there and the vast avenues for girls to become involved in the construction industry.”

“The union is a good place to start,” she said. “All kids don’t want to go to college; lots of schools have eliminated shop classes. Displaced adult workers have opportunities, too, and construction has been relatively COVID-proof. We only stopped operations for four days.”

Tupper said success is finishing the project and hearing the compliments; on the workmanship, yes, but more so on the integrity of her firm and the workers who represent it.

“I’m experienced, knowledgeable and have a reputation for success in my projects,” Tupper said. “I don’t bid competitively because I believe we have a specific purpose on certain projects. People with experience having Infinity on their projects seek to contract us because of the team’s performance. We all have very good reputations for our knowledge, experience and getting the projects done successfully.”

“We’re one of the few companies that have a record of consistently leaving a project without a punch list. Our crews have always been directed to never leave a site without getting a detailed punch list, so they can complete any discrepancies and will not have to return. A timely completion is an important part of every project.”

Her advice for those thinking about striking out on their own is simple.

“Don’t get too comfortable, work hard and always look ahead,” she said. “As an owner, when you receive your first big check, plan its use. People new to business tend to think they are rich at the start. But they must know not to mismanage funds if they want to stay in business. You need the cash flow to keep the business moving forward.

“Always remember, never treat anyone badly; money isn’t worth your integrity. If you do things underhandly, you will eventually fail. You cannot cut corners and communication is key. You can always look at a way to make yourself and your company better – and that may cost a little more – but you cannot compromise safety or integrity.

 “As long as you use these key points, clients will come, and your company will grow. I love what I do, and most of the time it does not feel like work. Challenges are only a perspective and should be handled with confidence.”

For more information on Infinity Northeast construction and development projects, call 315.657.2381. Tupper said, anyone interested in investing in IRL Social or Ultra Starz should contact Jeffrey Schoonover at 407.474.6244.

Editor’s note: Molly English-Bowers contributed to this story.