Month: September 2021

NBT Bank Names Mahoney Executive Vice President And Wealth Management President

September 17, 2021

Ruth H. Mahoney is NBT executive vice president and president of wealth management.
Courtesy NBT Bank

NBT Bancorp Inc., the parent company of NBT Bank, has appointed Ruth H. Mahoney executive vice president and president of wealth management.

Mahoney will join NBT’s executive management team. She has more than 30 years of experience in financial services, including wealth management, private banking, retail banking and regional leadership.

Mahoney comes to NBT from KeyBank where she served most recently as Capital Region market president.

“We are thrilled to welcome Ruth Mahoney to NBT as leader of our wealth management business,” said company President and CEO John H. Watt, Jr. “Her diverse and extensive experience in banking and her skill at building partnerships across business lines to provide clients with the most comprehensive suite of financial services position her well to lead our team of wealth management professionals.” NBT Wealth Management is a division of NBT Bank and a provider of investment services and consulting to individuals and businesses and organizations of all sizes.

She is a graduate of Marist College with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and marketing.

General Contractors Of America Says Finding Workers To Fill Jobs Is Still Problematic

September 17, 2021

Construction firms are struggling to find enough qualified workers to hire, even as they continue to be impacted by pandemic-induced project delays and supply chain disruptions, according to the results of a workforce survey conducted by the Associated General Contractors of America and Autodesk.

The survey results underscore how the coronavirus pandemic has created constraints on the demand for work even as it limits the number of workers available to hire, association officials said.

The association and Autodesk conducted the Workforce Survey in late July and early August. Over 2,100 firms completed the survey from a broad cross-section of the construction industry, including union and open shop firms of all sizes. The 2021 Workforce Survey is the association’s ninth annual workforce-related survey.

“Market conditions are nowhere near as robust as they were prior to the onset of the pandemic,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “At the same time, the pandemic and political responses to it are limiting the size of the workforce, leading to labor shortages that are as severe as they were in 2019 when demand for construction was more robust.”

NYS Changes Pandemic Recovery Funding To Make It Easier For Businesses To Apply

September 17, 2021

New York state has made changes to its $800 million COVID-19 Pandemic Small Business Recovery Grant Program that it says will enable more small businesses to apply for funding.

Businesses with revenues up to $2.5 million can apply for grants, up from the previous threshold of $500,000. Additionally, the limitation for businesses that received Federal Paycheck Protection Program loans has been increased from $100,000 to $250,000.

“Supporting the small businesses across our state that got hit hard by the pandemic is a top priority for my administration,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said. “We simply cannot have a full economic recovery if the small business community continues struggling to survive. With the Pandemic Small Business Recovery Grant Program opening up to a greater pool of businesses, I strongly urge all the owners who qualify to submit their application so they can access this funding.”

Launched in June, the program initially focused on small and micro-businesses across New York state, which were largely left out of federal business recovery initiatives.

Business Report: What Eviction Moratorium Means For Landlords

September 17, 2021

Ryan J. McCall is an associate at Tully Rinckey PLLC.

By Ryan J. McCall, Esq.

Since former Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the initial New York Eviction Moratorium on March 20, New York state landlords have received little to no assistance from state government.

Landlords, many of whom rely on their income producing properties in order to pay their own mortgage, have been saddled with tenants who are over 18 months behind on rent, presumably most of whom have little to no intention to pay.

While New York state has gone above and beyond to extend already very generous protections afforded to tenants, landlords have been mostly left out in the cold.

During the initial eviction moratorium enacted by former Cuomo, one of the most controversial changes was the COVID-19 Tenant Hardship Declaration form. The form gave an individual facing eviction an automatic stay on their case until August 31. This has now been extended to Jan. 15, 2022, so long as they alleged that they experienced some level of financial hardship as a result of the pandemic.

Adirondack EAP Provides Employees In The Area With Counseling And Training Services

September 17, 2021

By Susan Elise Campbell

The Employee Assistance Program of Warren, Washington, and Saratoga Counties (Adirondack EAP) will turn the corner on 40 years with a new executive director at its helm.

Richard J. Demers is soon to retire as executive director after 36 years.

Over the decades Demers and his staff established Adirondack EAP as a valuable community resource providing free and confidential assessment, counseling, and referrals for employees of member organizations and their families, according to Tracey Riley, president of the board of directors and vice president of human resources at Finch Paper.

Adirondack EAP is a local, rather than a national EAP, with its main office at 559 Glen St. and affiliated offices in Plattsburg, Saratoga Springs, Albany, Clifton Falls, and other locations.

Today there are 60 member companies and 25,000 employees and their families have been served, Riley said.

EAP counselors work in a consultative role with managers and supervisors of member companies, providing them mindfulness training or other assistance, such as helping with transitions if there has been a tragedy in the workplace, McManus said.

Business Report: Cyber Insurance Is Important

September 17, 2021

Melissa Davidson, licensed sales executive at Northern Insuring Agency.

By Melissa Davidson

Cyber insurance, which not too long ago was thought of as a want and not a need, is now considered a primary component in many business insurance policies. Cyberattacks are on the rise with breaches becoming more frequent and losses becoming more severe.

According to AM Best, “The loss ratio for cyber insurance rose dramatically in 2020, [up] to 67.8 percent from 44.8 percent in 2019. However, the increase was not limited to just a few insurers—the loss ratio rose for 15 of the 20 largest cyber insurers.”

Cyber liability insurance generally covers a business’s liability for a data breach involving sensitive customer information: such as Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, account numbers, driver’s license numbers and health records.

Those costs can include lost income due to a cyber event, costs associated with notifying customers affected by a breach, costs for recovering compromised data, costs for repairing damaged computer systems and more. Moreover, cyber coverage is not automatically included in general liability coverage and is generally excluded. This coverage needs to be purchased separately.

Fingerpaint Helps Pay Workers’ College Debt

September 17, 2021

By Lisa Balschunat

Ninety staffers nationwide at Fingerpaint Marketing are getting help paying off their college student loans.

Edward Mitzen, founder of the Saratoga Springs-based company, saw an opportunity to assist employees in reducing or paying off their student loans. He gave each of them $30,000 for that purpose, with no strings attached.

“We recruit the best and the brightest,” Mitzen said. “We always look for ways to do right by staff. We cover 100 percent of their health care premiums. We offer paid sabbaticals … We had student loan program that paid out about $100 per month to a staffer. It was a nice program, but it wasn’t helping enough. It barely covered the interest on a monthly loan payment.”

Fingerpaint is a health and wellness marketing firm with a global team of more than 580 people. Known for its innovate and data-drive approach, the firm provides marketing solutions to healthcare clients specifically in the pharmaceutical, rare disease and gene therapy sectors.

“We conducted a staff survey about how much debt people were carrying due to college student loans,” he said. “What we found was that some people’s monthly payments were bigger than a monthly mortgage payment. Someone with a $40,000 loan who is paying into it for five years will still owe $40,000 in five years due to the interest.”

State Lowers Employer Retirement Payments

September 17, 2021

State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli has announced reductions in employer contribution rates to the New York state and Local Retirement System (NYSLRS) for both of its systems—the Employees’ Retirement System (ERS) and Police and Fire Retirement System (PFRS).

He said the adjusted rates will impact payments in the State Fiscal Year 2022-23.

In addition, DiNapoli lowered the long-term assumed rate of return on the Fund’s investments from 6.8 percent to 5.9 percent.

“The fund’s strength gives us the ability to weather volatile markets. Our prudent strategy for long-term, steady returns helps ensure our state’s pension fund will continue to be one of the nation’s strongest and best-funded,” DiNapoli said. “While the reduction in employer contribution rates is welcome news for taxpayers, our investment decisions are always made based on what is best for our 1.1 million working and retired members and their beneficiaries.”

Stewart’s Shops Offers Its Employees Free Access To CDTA Route Network In The Area

September 17, 2021

Stewart’s Shops has partnered with CDTA to offer the Universal Access program to its employees.

The partnership provides Stewart’s Shops employees in the Capital Region with unlimited access to the CDTA route network. The pilot program, which began in August, allows them to ride CDTA buses free of charge with just a swipe of their CDTA Navigator card.

The program already has 150 people using the benefit. The company anticipates that number to climb to nearly 1,000 in the coming months.

“We are proud to welcome Stewart’s Shops to our growing CDTA family,” said CDTA CEO Carm Basile. “Universal Access lets tens of thousands of Capital Region employees, students, faculty and staff navigate to and from their designated destinations using everything that CDTA has to offer.

CEG Launches Region’s Largest Offshore Wind Industry Attraction Initiative

September 17, 2021

The Center for Economic Growth (CEG) is involved in an initiative to bring more offshore wind (OSW) development to the Capital Region and beyond in New York state.

The agency, dedicated to driving economic growth in an eight-county region that includes Saratoga, Washington and Warren counties, said there are two companies that are working with the technology. Through them, CEG will help bring the energy source to the region.

“With Equinor and Ørsted/Eversource planning major offshore wind component manufacturing operations in the Capital Region, we have the wind at our back. We want to further build out here the supply chain for this emerging industry on the East Coast that will drive the creation of thousands of jobs,” said CEG Chief Economic Development Officer Katie Newcombe.

CEG promoted local OSW opportunities at the Business Network for Offshore Wind’s International Partnering Forum (IPF) in Richmond, Va., in August. IPF is the largest offshore wind conference in the Western hemisphere, bringing together the global offshore wind supply chain for business growth and networking opportunities.