Dannible & McKee joins international alliance

Get our email updates

Stay up-to-date on the companies, people and issues that impact businesses in Syracuse, Central New York and beyond.

SYRACUSE — Accounting firm Dannible & McKee, LLP of Syracuse is now an independent member of the Geneva Group International (GGI). GGI is a worldwide

NBT-Alliance deal to close today

Banks & Credit Unions

SYRACUSE — Shareholders this week approved the planned acquisition of Alliance Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: ALNC) of Syracuse by Norwich–based NBT Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: NBTB). The

CNY Construction Projects

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Subscriber Only

In the past year, numerous commercial construction projects — some just started, some ongoing, and some completed — give evidence to the fact that Central New York is still building and growing. They include the retail, hospitality, education, health care, manufacturing, municipal, transportation, and fitness sectors. See what Central New York is

Already an Subcriber? Log in

Get Instant Access to This Article

Become a Central New York Business Journal subscriber and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.

Learn More and Become a Subscriber

Job count rises statewide, picture mixed Upstate

Employee Benefits & Human Resources

New York added jobs in January, although the growth was not enough to put a dent in the unemployment rate and parts of upstate New

Dupli acquires Lettergraphics

Small Business, Subscriber Only, Technology

Creates new service division in direct mailing SYRACUSE — Dupli Envelope & Graphics recently acquired business mailing supplier Lettergraphics, Inc. to create a new service division named Dupli Direct. Lettergraphics located at 433 West Onondaga St., has been providing marketing mailing services in Syracuse since 1910. This acquisition brings traditional mailing experts to

Already an Subcriber? Log in

Get Instant Access to This Article

Become a Central New York Business Journal subscriber and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.

Learn More and Become a Subscriber

Creates new service division in direct mailing

SYRACUSE — Dupli Envelope & Graphics recently acquired business mailing supplier Lettergraphics, Inc. to create a new service division named Dupli Direct.

Lettergraphics located at 433 West Onondaga St., has been providing marketing mailing services in Syracuse since 1910.

This acquisition brings traditional mailing experts to Dupli, according to J. Kemper Matt, Jr., president and co-owner of Dupli.

“It allows us to continue to expand on our direct-mail offering,” Matt says in a phone interview. “Now we can take the traditional direct-mail expertise and combine it with new technology to help make our customers’ direct mails more effective.”

Dupli approached Lettergarphics last December and the merger closed in mid-January. Dupli acquired Lettergraphics’ six employees, customer list, office space, and manufacturing equipment — including two traditional ink-jet printing machines. Matt declined to disclose the financial terms of the acquisition.

Lettergraphics’ employees have moved to work at Dupli’s headquarters — a 5-story 160,000-square-foot building in Syracuse’s Franklin Square. Dupli is currently looking for a buyer for the roughly 20,000-square-foot building Lettergraphics used to occupy.

“All of the Lettergraphics employees are grateful to know our legacy of high standards in both service and customer relations will be continued,” Nancy Osborn, former president and owner of Lettergraphics, said in a news release from Dupli. The Business Journal couldn’t reach Osborn for an interview by press time.

The Dupli Direct division will be led by Gary Valik. According to the news release, Valik has been working in the print advertising industry for more than 25 years.

Dupli, founded in 1965 and purchased by its current management in 1980, offers on-demand production of envelopes, corporate stationery, and marketing materials with multiplatform printing technology. It now has 152 employees and three offices in Syracuse, Trumansburg, and Malvern, Pa. (near Philadelphia). The Matt family owns the company, Matt says, declining to be more specific about the ownership structure.

Dupli’s revenue rose to $26 million last year from $25.5 million in 2011, according to Matt.

The primary objective of Dupli, Matt says, is utilizing new technology to help customers achieve their marketing goals. The company has been working with Winkler+Dünnebier GmbH Corp., a printing machine manufacturer in Germany, to develop technology of high-speed envelope publishing. In 2012, realizing that more and more customers read only the outer envelope, Dupli purchased a high-speed inkjet machine from Winkler+Dünnebier that can print marketing pitches and other information on the front of an envelope.

Dupli has a tradition of investing in cutting-edge technology, Matt says, and it will continue to do so in the future.

“The printing industry is definitely changing; print has to be updated to work better and to work smarter,” says Matt. “There is going to be less printing, but printing documents is still one of the most effective ways to communicate.”

Contact The Business Journal at news@cnybj.com

New investment commitment in place for this year’s StartFast firms

Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE — In an increasingly crowded field of startup accelerators, leaders at Syracuse’s StartFast Venture Accelerator know they need to work hard to make their program stand out. Early-stage companies have more and more options on where to turn for help, says StartFast Managing Director Nasir Ali. And accelerator programs like StartFast can draw applicants

Already an Subcriber? Log in

Get Instant Access to This Article

Become a Central New York Business Journal subscriber and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.

Learn More and Become a Subscriber

SYRACUSE — In an increasingly crowded field of startup accelerators, leaders at Syracuse’s StartFast Venture Accelerator know they need to work hard to make their program stand out.

Early-stage companies have more and more options on where to turn for help, says StartFast Managing Director Nasir Ali. And accelerator programs like StartFast can draw applicants from around the world, meaning Syracuse isn’t just competing with accelerators down the Thruway for the best participants

A commitment from Sarasota, Fla.–based Sand Oak Capital Partners to invest $250,000 in this year’s StartFast companies will help separate the local program from the pack, Ali says.

“There’s been a very large increase just in the last 12 months in terms of the number of accelerator programs coming online,” he says. “We have to differentiate ourselves to rise above the noise and be seen as people who are serious and committed and able to drive results.”

More partnerships like the one with Sand Oak are likely in the future, he adds.

StartFast is a private capital-backed accelerator for software, Internet, and mobile startups. Teams already receive $18,000 in seed funding and then spend the summer working with mentors and coaches in Syracuse.

Its focus is on helping the young companies develop and validate a prototype product and secure enough funding for them to move forward with their work.

The commitment from Sand Oak is above and beyond what teams get just for participating in StartFast and the investments will come after firms have been through the program. But not all the companies will get a piece of that capital.

Sand Oak Managing Partner Jeremy Schwimmer says he’ll look for the same things in potential StartFast investments as he does when looking any possible deal. Schwimmer joined StartFast earlier this year as an entrepreneur in residence.

“I want smart, driven people who will listen, who will take advice, and are passionate about what they do,” he says. “It’s energy. It’s passion.”

Schwimmer led the successful turnaround of a metal-recycling business in Central New York and has made investments in six other companies in the area, according to StartFast. He is a member of the Seed Capital Fund of CNY.

Schwimmer has lived and worked in New York, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and Los Angeles. He currently lives in Skaneateles.

As an investor, it’s appealing to target firms that have been through an accelerator like StartFast, Schwimmer says. It’s like a finishing school for promising startups, he notes.

“Most companies don’t go in and leave with an entirely different view of their business,” he says. “The acceleration comes from buttoning up the final points of execution.”

StartFast is part of the Global Accelerator Network. The network grew from the TechStars program that began in Boulder, Colo. in 2007. TechStars has since expanded to Boston, Seattle, and New York City and includes a separate program for companies working on cloud computing and infrastructure.

The network includes 45 accelerators around the world.

StartFast investors receive a 6 percent stake in exchange for the money program participants receive. The businesses also get access to a number of in-kind contributions from national sponsors like Google and Rackspace through the Global Accelerator Network.

Teams receive regular coaching with mentors from around the country and from Ali and the program’s other managing director Chuck Stormon.

The Seed Capital Fund of CNY (SCF) is providing 40 percent of StartFast’s $2 million in funding. The rest is coming from private investors. The initial funding round will allow StartFast to run for four years.

This is the second year of the program.

Contact Tampone at ktampone@cnybj.com

Baldwinsville, businesses plan curb-appeal project

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Energy, Environment & Sustainability, Subscriber Only

BALDWINSVILLE — Village officials and at least one area business owner are hoping a four-way partnership is soon cemented officially so work can begin along the village’s main intersection on East Genesee Street to improve pedestrian traffic and safety. “It’s a nice project,” Baldwinsville Mayor Joseph Saraceni says of the planned work and partnership between

Already an Subcriber? Log in

Get Instant Access to This Article

Become a Central New York Business Journal subscriber and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.

Learn More and Become a Subscriber

“It’s a nice project,” Baldwinsville Mayor Joseph Saraceni says of the planned work and partnership between the village, KeyBank, property owner The Widewaters Group of DeWitt, and the B’ville Diner. While a formal agreement has not yet been signed, Saraceni says he expects one in the near future so work can begin this spring. He did not provide financial details on the project.

For the village, work will include reducing the number of curb cuts (breaks or ramps built into a curb to ease passage to the street) along East Genesee Street, installing new granite curbing, and making sidewalk improvements. The overall goal, Saraceni says, is to make the area safer and more attractive for pedestrian traffic. Currently, that stretch of road has about 35 curb cuts, making it challenging for pedestrians to travel. Following the village’s central business district plan, Saraceni says a number of those cuts will be removed to improve pedestrian flow. Included in that work is the current double-lane entrance to KeyBank, which is slated to drop to a single-lane entrance.

Diner owner dishes on plans

The B’ville Diner, located at 16 E. Genesee St., will launch its own project that will tie into the village’s efforts, co-owner James Orlando says. Work has already begun to eliminate the diner’s outdoor grease trap and will also include moving dumpsters into an enclosed, landscaped area.

But the big project for the diner will be the addition of a 20-foot by 40-foot outdoor patio area that will add an additional 30 to 40 seasonal outdoor seats, Orlando says. To make this happen, Orlando will purchase land adjacent to the diner from The Widewaters Group, which owns the former Eckerd Drugs building next to the diner. He declined to disclose any financial details.

Orlando is excited about the project, not only because it will provide additional seating for his 120-seat diner, but because it will bring some much-needed greenery to the area. “There’s not a tree or a bush on our property, so I’m excited about it,” he says. Orlando purchased the diner, which employs 52 people, in 2003.

Once everyone is signed on for the project, Orlando says he’s ready to get to work and hopes to complete the work this year or by early 2014.

That falls in line with the village’s schedule, Saraceni says. “The village is looking to complete its work this spring,” he says.

The Widewaters Group, which did not respond to press inquiries, will look for a tenant for the former Eckerd building, Saraceni says. The building has been vacant for about five years.

This project is just the first of many for Baldwinsville this year, Saraceni adds. Other projects include a new $6 million housing project, a Byrne Dairy, a possible Tim Horton’s location, and an expanded senior-living facility. He expects to hold a press conference in the near future to announce further details on these projects.

The Widewaters Group (www.widewaters.com) is a real-estate development and management company with offices in DeWitt; Park City, Utah; and Charlotte, N.C. Other area Widewaters properties include the Northern Lights Plaza in North Syracuse, the Route 57 Plaza in Liverpool, and the Hinsdale Plaza in Camillus.

Contact The Business Journal at news@cnybj.com

Sequester talk doesn’t dampen consumer sentiment in Upstate

Subscriber Only

Consumer confidence among upstate New Yorkers continued to lag behind the rest of the state and nation in February, although it rose from January, according to the latest index from the Siena Research Institute (SRI). Upstate New York’s overall consumer-sentiment index rose 1.6 points to 69.9 in February, compared to the previous month. But it

Already an Subcriber? Log in

Get Instant Access to This Article

Become a Central New York Business Journal subscriber and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.

Learn More and Become a Subscriber

Upstate New York’s overall consumer-sentiment index rose 1.6 points to 69.9 in February, compared to the previous month. But it still lagged behind New York state’s 77.3 reading and the metro New York City area’s 82.4. The state’s index was up 2.8 points from January and the New York City area’s rose 4.4 points.

The indexes have a break-even point of 76, at which consumers express equal levels of optimism and pessimism.

The nation’s consumer-sentiment index for the month was 77.6, according to data from the University of Michigan. SRI, located at Siena College near Albany, surveyed 808 New York residents over age 18 to develop its sentiment indexes.

SRI’s overall index combines consumers’ current feelings and thoughts about the future. Upstate New Yorkers feel better about the current environment, with an index of 73.5, but are more pessimistic about the future, with an index of 67.6.

Both readings were higher than January’s, according to SRI.

Given all the recent negative talk about rising gas prices and the automatic federal budget cuts that took effect March 1, the sentiment indexes could have been much worse, says Douglas Lonnstrom, professor of statistics and finance at Siena College and SRI founding director.

“The stock market went up,” Lonnstrom notes. “The other big factor is home prices. There are signs the home market is starting to come back. That’s making people feel better.”

In fact, SRI found in its survey that 4.8 percent of respondents plan to buy a house in the next six months, up from 3.7 percent n February 2012. Even if consumers aren’t planning to buy or sell a home, recovering property values will help people underwater on their mortgages.

Plenty of homeowners continued to make payments during the downturn and avoided foreclosure in the hope that prices would eventually recover, Lonnstrom says.

Democrats and Republicans displayed some of the biggest disparities in sentiment level.

Democrats’ overall sentiment index for the month was 93.8, up eight points from January. Their future index of 95.8 was up 5.6 points and their current index of 90.6 rose 11.8 points.

Republicans on the other hand are feeling much worse about things. Their overall sentiment index was 58.7, up 1.5 points from January. Current sentiment among Republicans fell three points from January to 61.4 while future sentiment rose 4.3 points to 56.9.

Democrats displayed the highest sentiment level of any group survey by SRI in February while Republicans registered the lowest.

With a Democratic president in power, members of the party are hearing plenty of things they want, Lonnstrom says. President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address and inauguration speech likely contributed to the positive feelings among Democrats, he adds.

The gap between the two parties probably contributed some to the gulf between upstate New York and New York City as well, Lonnstrom says. The city is a Democratic bastion.

SRI also polled the state’s consumers on the effects of gas and food prices on their finances.

It found that 68 percent said their grocery bills were having either a very serious or somewhat serious effect on their finances, down from 71 percent in January, while 58 percent said the same about gas prices, up from 54 percent in January.

Half said both gas and food prices were having a serious or somewhat serious effect, up from 47 percent.

Contact Tampone at ktampone@cnybj.com

Vicks: A printing company adapting in the digital age

Manufacturing & Engineering, Regional News, Small Business, Subscriber Only, Technology

What if I should fall right through the center of the earth … oh, and come out the other side, where people walk upside down? — Alice in Wonderland YORKVILLE — Anyone operating a printing company today understands how Alice felt. In the past 13 years, over 10,000 establishments have vanished as the industry

Already an Subcriber? Log in

Get Instant Access to This Article

Become a Central New York Business Journal subscriber and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.

Learn More and Become a Subscriber

What if I should fall right through the center of the earth … oh, and come out the other side, where people walk upside down? — Alice in Wonderland

YORKVILLE — Anyone operating a printing company today understands how Alice felt. In the past 13 years, over 10,000 establishments have vanished as the industry shrinks in the wake of the Internet and digitization. The consolidation has been hastened by the Great Recession of 2008 and early 2009, but structural changes have certainly redefined the industry.

No one understands the impact of this upside-down world better than Dwight E. Vicks III. Vicks, who is the president and third-generation owner of Vick’s, Inc., has reinvented his operation, headquartered at 5166 Commercial Drive in Yorkville. The digital revolution has forced him to respond to his publishing customers. “Vicks [Inc.] doesn’t live in the world of denial,” says the company president … The business model for book publishers has changed … [Formerly], 20 percent of their titles produced 80 percent of their sales, which meant that most books sat in inventory or were [ultimately] shredded. The digital age allows publishers to produce only those copies that sell, which eliminates obsolescence, reduces their inventories, and frees up cash.”

In 2003, Vicks made a major investment in digital publishing. The company allocated thousands of square feet of its 200,000-square-foot facility to new, high-speed, digital presses whose output matches the quality of offset printing. The printing operation is complemented by a full-service bindery as well as a fulfillment and distribution center. “We run three shifts in the digital [department] to be responsive to our customers,” says Vicks … They expect us to offer a [turn-key] service where they simply send us instructions and a digital file; we do the rest.”

Doing the rest also means “… having the capability to repurpose content for customers anywhere in the world,” says Vicks. [To accomplish this], we have created a strategic alliance with Absolute Services, Inc. of Towson, Maryland … This gives us the capability of providing editorial services such as content development, template setups, and data conversions … Absolute also owns a production facility in the Philippines to support content customization, editing, layout, and printing.”

Vicks has also struck up an alliance with Caligraving, Ltd., a specialist book printer located in Thetford, UK, 85 miles north of London. The British company has been involved in book publishing since 1956, specializing in the same field as Vicks – music and educational books.

“Caligraving gives us access to the Euro Zone … It also allows us to respond to a publisher who wants 2,000 books shipped in the United States and say 250 to England. Vicks can print and distribute the U.S. copies … Instead of printing 250 books and shipping them to England, Caligraving can handle the [European] order … We simply send them a [digital] file … [On the other hand], if Caligraving receives an order, the process also works in reverse.”

Change is not new at Vicks. Dwight Vicks III remembers his father’s gamble in 1957 when he bought a 29” Miehle press, thus introducing offset printing into a letterpress plant. Dwight E. (Duke) Vicks, Jr. mortgaged the company against the wishes of his father’s advisers. The gamble paid off as offset printing rapidly replaced letterpress. In the 1950s and 1960s, Duke Vicks also had to gamble on a new direction for the company as the old customers, many in the defense business, left the area. He diversified by entering the book-printing business with regular trips to New York City.

Today, Vicks, Inc., formerly Vicks Lithograph & Printing Corp., “… employs 80 and generates annual revenue of around $15 million,” says Dwight Vicks III … “We carry an inventory of paper that exceeds a million pounds … Vicks is a Sub-Chapter S corporation which owns the building.”

In addition to Vicks as president, the executive team includes Leo McCoy as CFO, Frank Driscoll as general manager, Michael O’Donnell as manager in charge of continuous improvement and digital print, and Gary Nelson, marketing analyst. “We run a flat organization, and we’re not big on titles,” quips Vicks. “Some titles I just make up.”

Vicks also relies on local professionals to help steer the business. “Vicks works with NBT for operating cash and for [purchasing] equipment … For legal advice in the area of human resources, we turn to Nick Fiorenza [Ferrara, Fiorenza, Larrison, Barrett, & Reitz, P.C. in DeWitt] and for corporate law we use Peter Rayhill [Martin & Rayhill, P.C. — Utica] … Our accountant is Mike Fitzgerald [from Fitzgerald, DePietro & Wojnas, CPAs, P.C.] in Utica,” says Vicks.

Vicks notes that his business is in a continuous state of change. “I would like to do [long-term] strategic planning,” says the MBA graduate from the Johnson School of Management at Cornell. “Three years would be my goal, but in reality, I plan for only one year because things move so fast. It’s not clear where the industry is going, since the introduction of electronic readers like the Kindle … So far, educational products, particularly in the music industry, have continued [to be produced] in print form, but the pace of change is so dramatic it’s unclear where things are headed … Our strategic challenges also include finding young people as employees … Unfortunately, our industry does not attract them … [And of course], we are always concerned with our major competitors who are the 20 largest book publishers, mostly located in the Midwest … Perhaps our biggest challenge is to find more niche customers.”

“Today, digital and offset book manufacturing still represent more than 85 percent of our revenues with fulfillment at 10 [percent] and content management at less than five [percent] … I think that our future growth will come in the fulfillment and content-management areas,” says Vicks. “Currently, our revenues from exporting are less than 10 percent … I think this is another growth area for us.”

Dwight Vicks III, 50, joined the company in 1991 after working in New York City at the Bank of New York. “I became president of Vicks around 2000,” he says. “My father [Dwight, Jr.] joined the firm in 1957 after graduating from Cornell, serving in the navy, and returning to Cornell for his MBA. … Dwight, Sr. founded the company 1918 when he and his brother bought the internal print shop of a large textile mill.”

After 95 years in business, Vicks, Inc. continues to adapt to change. “We have to listen to our customers and continue to invest in digital technology … We’re not putting our money into iron anymore but into software … We lease our digital presses to keep up with the upgrades and changes … Our sales representatives are no longer sales people but consultants who need to help our customers run their businesses better … We have to be sure our transaction costs are low so we can compete,” says Vicks III.

This is the plan to take the company to the century mark and perhaps to the fourth generation.

Contact Poltenson at npoltenson@cnybj.com

National Water Main Cleaning Co. starts Utica office

Energy, Environment & Sustainability, Manufacturing & Engineering, Regional News, Small Business, Subscriber Only

UTICA — Sewer overflows enticed a New Jersey company to open a new location in Utica. National Water Main Cleaning Co., of Newark, N.J., will hold a grand opening for its new Utica location on March 13. Its new office is at 928 Broad St. The firm provides sewer-system cleaning, studies, inspections, and repairs. It

Already an Subcriber? Log in

Get Instant Access to This Article

Become a Central New York Business Journal subscriber and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.

Learn More and Become a Subscriber

UTICA — Sewer overflows enticed a New Jersey company to open a new location in Utica.

National Water Main Cleaning Co., of Newark, N.J., will hold a grand opening for its new Utica location on March 13. Its new office is at 928 Broad St.

The firm provides sewer-system cleaning, studies, inspections, and repairs. It started looking for a Utica location in order to work on state-mandated repairs to the Sauquoit Creek sewer line in Oneida County, according to Gary Millington, National Water Main Cleaning’s Utica office superintendent.

“It’s the Sauquoit Creek Basin,” he says. “They’re under a consent order to do the whole basin to stop the overflow. It’s a sanitary line, and when it rains too hard, it overwhelms the system and dumps into the Mohawk River.”

In the three months leading up to the office’s grand opening, National Water Main Cleaning hired seven new employees to work out of Utica, according to Millington. Then it hired an office employee to begin work Feb. 25. Millington was previously the company’s only employee based in the area.

Other employees have been in Utica temporarily to work on projects, Millington adds. But they were typically based in a National Water Main Cleaning Co. location in Canton, Mass.

Millington wants to expand the Utica location in the future. Its easy access to Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, Binghamton, and Ithaca makes it an ideal location to serve other cities, he says.

“It’s a central location,” Millington says. “We definitely have to get more work.”

Within Oneida County, an office in Utica’s Broad Street was attractive because it is near the New York State Thruway, Millington continues. Workers will be able to easily travel to the different locations where they will have to work, he says. He estimates employees will not need to travel for any more than 20 minutes to work on the project.

National Water Main Cleaning is leasing 10,000 square feet for its office. About 1,000 square feet of that is dedicated to office space, with the rest set aside to house equipment. The company is leasing the space from property owner David Mazloom, Millington says.

Renovations were necessary to prepare the new office. Crews installed a new floor drain, paved the building’s parking lot, and added fencing. They also built in the 1,000 square feet of office space.

The building’s landlord handled the renovations, according to Millington. The cost is built into National Water Main Cleaning Co.’s lease, he adds.

Millington says he does not have access to sales totals or revenue projections. National Water Main Cleaning Executive Vice President Jim Lounsbery did not respond to requests for comment.

The Sauquoit Creek sewer repairs are estimated to cost over $180 million. The new National Water Main Cleaning Co. office won’t handle all of that work — it has to bid separately on different parts of the job over several years, according to Millington.

He stresses that having an office in Utica is a big move for the New Jersey company.

“We really didn’t have an office here,” he says. “We were parking at the town yards. And then we were renting space at a garage.”

National Water Main Cleaning Co. is a part of Chicago–based Carylon Corp., an environmental-maintenance company with subsidiaries in 18 states.

Contact Seltzer at rseltzer@cnybj.com

Get our email updates

Stay up-to-date on the companies, people and issues that impact businesses in Syracuse, Central New York and beyond.

Get our email updates

What's New

Upcoming Events

CNYSME Professional Development Series Session Four: Emotional Intelligence Fundamentals

2025 CenterState CEO Annual Meeting

Whitman Day 2025

CNYBJ Job Board

Get Instant Access to This Article

Get Instant Access to This Article

Get Instant Access to This Article

Get Instant Access to This Article

Get Instant Access to This Article

Get Instant Access to This Article

Get Instant Access to This Article

Get our email updates