SBA to host business conference for veterans Thursday at OCC

ONONDAGA — More than 150 veteran and active military members are expected to attend the 7th annual “Operation: Start Up & Grow” business conference on Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Gordon Student Center at Onondaga Community College (OCC).

The free conference, put on by the Syracuse district office of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), features speakers, workshops, networking with 36 exhibitors, and an award presentation, the SBA said in a news release.

The event will include a morning keynote address from Lee Buttolph, president of Buttolph Lumber Co. of Phoenix, N.Y., who is also a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, the SBA said.

The schedule also includes a noon-hour presentation of the veteran-owned business- achievement award. The event’s master of ceremonies will also conduct a “sit down” interview with Jerry Garritillo, president of the Garritillo Agency of Syracuse and a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, according to the SBA.

Several organizations are sponsoring tomorrow’s conference. They include the SBA; OCC; the Falcone Center for Entrepreneurship at Syracuse University’s (SU) Martin J. Whitman School of Management; and SU’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families, the SBA said.

The sponsoring organizations also include the New York Business Development Corporation; Onondaga Small Business Development Center; the Syracuse chapter of SCORE, a Washington, D.C.–based nonprofit that provides business advice to startups; Syracuse Tech Garden; and the WISE Women’s Business Center, located at the Syracuse Tech Garden, the agency added.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com