Small Business Development Center at OCC announces new regional director

ONONDAGA, N.Y. — The Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Onondaga Community College (OCC) has a new regional director.

Robert Griffin assumes the role that Joan Powers previously held before her retirement at the end of January.

Griffin most recently served as a certified small-business advisor at the SBDC at Binghamton University. In that role, he 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 those clients 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.