By Susan Elise Campbell

Some people say that if you follow your passion, everything else in your business will fall into place. Thomas Stock, a Saratoga-based commercial photographer for 30 years, believes the adage works better when you flip it upside down. “First, get really good at something, then you’ll get passionate about it,“ he said. 

And that’s what he did a few years after graduation from Syracuse University where he studied graphic arts and majored in photography. 

“Syracuse had an art photo studies program but they also had a ski team,“  Stock said about another of his passions. He had skied in Germany for the U.S. Army and later received a veterans administration scholarship to help cover the cost of tuition and supplies at art school.

After graduation, he worked in Wilmington,  Del., as a staff photographer and lab manager for several years before starting his own business in Saratoga as the sole proprietor of Stock Studios Photography. 

As live music venues continue to feel the impact of COVID-19, Saratoga Springs’ Caffe Lena is moving its live streams off Facebook and YouTube to a new donate-to-watch platform called CaffeLena.TV. 

“Streaming is here to stay. It has become an essential tool in keeping artists and venues afloat and audiences engaged. We need to make it a great experience for the viewer, and economically viable for the producers,” said Executive Director Sarah Craig.

Heading into a fall when the music industry was hoping to return to normal, the COVID delta variant is once again causing tour cancellations and venue restrictions, Craig said. 

“While our first choice is to have everyone here in person, it’s exciting to be connecting this legendary venue with a worldwide audience,” said Craig. “It feels like the right moment to move our streams off the free platforms. If streaming is going to be a core part of the performing arts, we can’t treat it like a give-away.”

The service launched Sept. 1 with the opening of the Caffe Lena vault containing past shows. The first live show was Sept. 7 with the Chuck Lamb jazz trio performing with special guest saxophonist Luca Pino.

Jane Mastaitis will become the new chief executive officer of Saratoga Bridges effective Oct. 1. 

Mastaitis will replace longtime CEO Valerie Muratori, who is retiring after 38 years of service to the agency. 

Since 1991, Mastaitis has been the agency’s chief financial officer. 

“Valerie Muratori has been not just the face of Saratoga Bridges, but the backbone of the agency. For 38 years, she guided us through tremendous growth as well as recent challenges,” said Dr. Lawrence Fein, the agency’s board of directors president, in a press release. 

He said the group’s succession team conducted an extensive search process and chose Mastaitis. 

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.

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.