SBA Syracuse honors two local business owners at annual luncheon

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The Syracuse district office of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) on Monday honored two area entrepreneurs during its awards luncheon.

The SBA Syracuse district office selected Theresa Slater, president of Empire Interpreting Service (EIS) of Syracuse, as the winner of the 2015 Small Business Person of the Year Award.

The WISE Women’s Business Center nominated Slater for the honor. The local SBA office chose Slater “based on her company’s longevity and increase in sales and employees,” the agency said in a news release.

The SBA Syracuse district also picked Matthew Magrisi, president of ECO-Foam Insulators, Inc. of Oswego, as the winner of the 2015 Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

The Oswego Small Business Development Center (SBDC) nominated Magrisi for the honor. The SBA chose Magrisi for the award based on his company’s “increase in sales and profits and his demonstrated long-term potential as a successful business owner,” according to the release.

As part of National Small Business Week, the SBA Syracuse district office highlighted “the impact” of Slater and Magrisi during its annual awards luncheon on Monday at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, near Carrier Circle in DeWitt. The SBA also handed out Small Business Excellence Awards to 23 Central New York area businesses. 

 

About EIS

Slater in 2003 started EIS in her home, the SBA said. Since then, EIS has grown to employ seven people full time.

It also has a roster of more than 310 subcontractors who are able to interpret onsite in more than 100 sign and spoken languages and translate written 

materials in “virtually any language,” according to the SBA news release.

EIS occupies 4,000 square feet of office space at 220 S. Warren St. in downtown Syracuse.

The firm also has a presence in Charlotte, North Carolina; New York City; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Richmond, Virginia, the SBA said.

Some of its “well-known customers” include the United Nations; Time Warner Cable; HBO; and dignitaries such as Vice President Joe Biden, the Dalia Lama, and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Among its 700 clients served annually, EIS has contracts with the New York State Department of Education and SUNY campus and medical facilities.

Slater graduated from the SBA Emerging Leaders program in 2011 and used it to develop a “strategic” growth plan for her company.

As a result, EIS has expanded into new areas partnering with a company in Vancouver, British Columbia and has added 60 new interpreters and translators.

 

About ECO-Foam Insulators

Magrisi and his wife Stephanie in 2012 began ECO-Foam Insulators, after they graduated from the Oswego SBDC’s small-business training class.

The company seeks to “help home and business owners conserve energy,” according to the SBA news release.

With continued counseling from SBDC senior-business advisor John Halleron, the 27-year-old Magrisi accessed funding from a local development agency to purchase equipment and obtained a line of credit for cash-flow management, the SBA said. It didn’t name the development agency.

Besides “environmentally-friendly” insulation products, ECO-Foam also offers energy-efficient windows, doors, and construction materials.

In its fourth year in business, ECO-Foam employs a “factory-trained” staff with two full-time and two part-time employees.

Before starting ECO-Foam, Magrisi previously worked as an estimator with a construction business. He also operated his own lawn-care business after high school, the SBA said.

 

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com

 

STORY UPDATED May 11, 1:45 p.m.