Former State Senator Mike Nozzolio to lead the effort The Stardust Entrepreneurial Center of the Finger Lakes recently announced that it says is a major new initiative to promote the Finger Lakes region as a “great place for business enterprise.” The center has chosen former New York State Senator Mike Nozzolio to lead the effort. […]
Former State Senator Mike Nozzolio to lead the effort
The Stardust Entrepreneurial Center of the Finger Lakes recently announced that it says is a major new initiative to promote the Finger Lakes region as a “great place for business enterprise.”
The center has chosen former New York State Senator Mike Nozzolio to lead the effort.
The Stardust Entrepreneurial Center said in a news release that with the region’s growing numbers of tourists and wine and craft-beverage enthusiasts, and growing national and international attention, now is the “ideal time to launch a promotional and collaborative effort to enhance business and career opportunities for present and future generations of the Finger Lakes region.”
The Stardust Initiative says it seeks to partner and collaborate with all of the Finger Lakes county and city IDAs, chambers of commerce, workforce-development boards, tourism boards, both four year and community colleges in the region, Finger Lakes BOCES and Cayuga BOCES, Cornell University, the Farm Bureau, wine trails, and all other business, labor, agricultural, tourism, and job-producing organizations.
“As the Finger Lakes tourism brand is growing, the time is ripe to further identify our region as the place to recruit new business ventures, as well as highlight our robust environment for innovation, business opportunity and entrepreneurship. The Finger Lakes region is not only a great place to visit, but a perfect location to create new business and career opportunities, live, work and raise your family” Jack Bisgrove, co-founder of the Stardust Entrepreneurial Center, said in the release.
The Stardust Finger Lakes Initiative is designed to assist the established economic-development initiatives across the Finger Lakes region by focusing “targeted attention” upon the region as a place to conduct business, as well as a great place to launch and grow a business.
The initiative, seeks to nurture job development in the region in not only the tourism business sector, but also in other industries.
“Our initiative does not seek to reinvent the wheel, but rather we want our efforts to help make the wheel turn faster to move the Finger Lakes economy forward,” Bisgrove said. “We want this Initiative to enhance collaboration and develop partnerships that will maximize the assets of our great region.”
Nozzolio was elected to represent this region for more than 34 years in the New York State Legislature, serving 10 years in the Assembly and 24 years in the State Senate. Prior to that service, he worked as a counsel for the House of Representatives in Washington D.C. While serving in the State Senate, he helped obtain funding for the Finger Lakes Institute, the Institute for Food Safety at Cornell, as well as the retention and recruitment of many important job-producing businesses in the Finger Lakes region, the release stated. He is a partner in the Harris Beach law firm.
“Our region has great job producing potential, but also faces significant challenges. It is my strong belief the Finger Lakes region can economically benefit from focused and targeted attention, and the Stardust Institute is to be commended for providing this essential branding of the Finger Lakes as an excellent place to grow business enterprise. This initiative will engage in extensive collaboration with all the Finger Lakes region’s numerous stakeholders who either contribute to or have the potential to assist in the targeted promotion of job development efforts for our region. The key is to provide assistance to their work by promoting our region’s significant assets,” said Nozzolio.
The initiative is planning to sponsor events, projects, and programs relating to job creation in the Finger Lakes region. Additionally, the initiative anticipates creating internships that will provide “practical hands-on” business experiences for students attending established business and entrepreneurship programs at area colleges and universities, the release stated.
The Stardust Entrepreneurial Center was co-founded by brothers Jack and Jerry Bisgrove, both originally from Auburn, as a “tribute to the region,” which gave birth to the Red Star Express Lines trucking company. The company began in 1932 as a family business in Auburn. Red Star’s founder, John Bisognano, later known as John Bisgrove, started the business by hauling sawdust in a horse and wagon to local meat markets. In time, he established Red Star Express Lines, a fleet of trucks serving businesses throughout the Finger Lakes region and the New York City market. The business grew into a large multi-state trucking company, employing over 3,000 people and hauling freight across the Northeastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec.