New regional director begins work at Onondaga SBDC

ONONDAGA, N.Y. — Robert Griffin has started his work as the new regional director of the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Onondaga Community College (OCC).

SBDCs provide counseling and training to small businesses, including working with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to develop and provide informational tools to support business startups and existing business expansion, per the website of the SBA.

Griffin assumes the role that Joan Powers previously held before her retirement at the end of January. He most recently served as a certified small-business advisor at the SBDC at Binghamton University. In that role, Griffin worked with hundreds of new and aspiring entrepreneurs, assisting them with acquiring more than $31 million in capital and helping them create or save more than 1,800 jobs, the Onondaga SBDC said.

He is also a certified exit-planning advisor, capable of helping existing business owners navigate the challenges of creating sound strategies for small-business succession plans. Griffin additionally has more than 20 years of management experience in the hospitality and food-service industries. His work in the sector has focused on convention and visitors’ bureaus, hotels, restaurants, casinos, and contract food services.

About the Onondaga SBDC

The Onondaga SBDC serves a six-county region that covers Onondaga, Oswego, Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, and Seneca counties. It is located in Mulroy Hall at OCC on Route 173.

In the last three years, the Onondaga SBDC office has served more than 3,400 clients and helped them create or save more than 8,300 jobs. More than 400 of those clients became new business owners and Onondaga SBDC clients secured more than $63 million in investments including loans, grants, or other sources of funding, the SBDC said.