JANUARY 18, 2016 I MOHAWK VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL I 1CNYBJ.COM

BRIEFS 2

MOHAWK LTD. STORY 3

THE LIST 7

WOODLAND HOP FARM STORY 6

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MOHAWK VALLEY COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES

Ranked by Full-time Enrollment (undergrad./grad.) 2015-2016

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THE LIST:MV

COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES

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HEIDELBERG BREAD KNEADS MORE DOUGH

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ROI OFFICE INTERIORS SET TO OPEN ITHACA OFFICE

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ConMed completes acquisition of Connecticut company

UTICA — ConMed Corp. (NASDAQ: CNMD) has completed its acquisition of SurgiQuest, Inc., a Connecticut–based surgical-device maker.

SurgiQuest will become part of the ConMed advanced-surgical business, the Utica–based surgical-device maker said in a news release issued Jan. 4.

ConMed paid $265 million to purchase SurgiQuest, the company said when it first announced the acquisition on Nov. 16.

Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Milford, Connecticut, SurgiQuest develops,

manufactures, and markets the AirSeal sys-tem, the first “integrated,” access-manage-ment technology for use in laparoscopic and robotic-surgery procedures.

ConMed expects that the acquisition will add $55 million to $60 million to the firm’s total revenue in fiscal

year 2016, with net cost savings of about $15 million per year.

The company will use a new line of credit to fund the acquisition.

ConMed said it would have more to say about the transaction’s financial impact when it reports its fourth quarter financial results in late January.

UTICA — ADHD & Autism Psychological Services and Advocacy has recently pur-chased the professional office building at 122 Business Park Drive in Utica and will move its offices there from New York Mills.

First Niagara Realty LLC sold the 18,315-square-foot building, formerly called the Niagara Mohawk Building, situated on 2.2 acres in the Utica Business Park. Jeffrey D’Amore and Michael Kalet of Cushman & Wakefield/Pyramid Brokerage Company brokered the sale of the property, accord-ing to a news release from the real-estate firm. They say they began marketing it for sale in May 2015. The firm didn’t disclose the final sale price, but the property was listed at $795,000.

ADHD & Autism Psychological Services and Advocacy, which also has a Syracuse office, is an agency that specializes in pro-viding assessment, treatment, educational, and advocacy services for persons with emotional, behavioral, social, and academic difficulties. As its name implies, it specializes in ADHD and Autism Spectrum disorders.

The agency will occupy about 6,000 square feet in its new home. It will share the building with co-tenants Ascent Wealth Partners, M.A. Polce Consulting, and Pearson Education, according to the news release. D’Amore will be the exclusive agent for leasing out the remaining 4,500 square feet of vacant space available in the build-ing.

ADHD & Autism Psychological Services and Advocacy buys building in Utica Business Park

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Herkimer County HealthNet names Curnow as new executive director

HERKIMER — Herkimer County HealthNet announced it has appointed Dr. Thomas C. Curnow as executive director.

He has more than 30 years of administrative experience in operations management, regulatory compliance, and program development in the non-profit sector, and more than two decades of experience as a faculty member in higher education in various areas of health.

Curnow replaces the previous executive director, Adam Hutchinson, who left for a job at Herkimer BOCES. Phyllis Spinner served as interim executive director of Herkimer County HealthNet through the end of 2015, according to a news release from the organization.

Curnow has a doctorate in education from Syracuse University. His past jobs in-clude serving as chief operations officer for Cerebral Palsy of Westchester County as well as in leadership positions with other non-profit organizations.

Herkimer County HealthNet, which started in 1990, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corpora-tion under New York State law, according to its website. It operates as a New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) Rural Health Network. NYSDOH and charitable foundations provide it with grant funding.

Curnow

MVHS to consolidate urgent-care services at Faxton Urgent Care

UTICA — Mohawk Valley Health System (MVHS) plans to consolidate all urgent-care services at Faxton Urgent Care at 1676 Sunset Ave. in Utica.

MVHS is an affiliation between St. Elizabeth Medical Center and Faxton St. Luke’s Healthcare in Utica. The two organiza-tions came together in March 2014.

Genesee Urgent Care, located at 1904 Genesee St. in Utica, will relocate and com-bine with Faxton Urgent Care on Jan. 15, MVHS said in a news release.

The consolidation will help MVHS “make better use of resources, avoid duplication of services and reduce costs in the system,” the organization said.

MVHS, in a follow-up email, said it did not cut jobs in the consolidation.

“Faxton Urgent Care has recently been ex-panded and renovated in preparation for the change,” Edward Reynolds, a registered nurse and MVHS’ urgent-care operations manager, said in the release. “The Faxton and Genesee Urgent Care centers each have nearly 17,000 patient visits annually and our providers and staff are committed to continuing to meet the community’s health-care needs.”

People should use urgent-care centers for minor medical problems, such as seasonal allergies, coughs and colds, flu, pink eye, sprains, minor burns and lacerations, urinary-tract infections, minor back pain, rashes, and nausea, according to the release.

january 18, 2016 I mohawk valley busIness journal I 3 Cnybj.Com

BY norman poltensonnpoltenson@cnybj.com

NEW HARTFORD — Cathy Mary Newell, president and CEO of Mohawk Ltd., says there is a solution for everything.

In 1959, Newell’s father, Gordon J. Newell, Jr., founded Mohawk Communications, Inc., a repair, calibration, and supply company that primarily served two U.S. Air Force bases: one in Rome and the other in Dayton, Ohio. This was the height of the Cold War when bombers were America’s primary line of de-fense. By the 1970s, however, missiles were replacing bombers in the primary national-defense role, with a subsequent reduction of the bases and their eventual closing.

“I got a call from my father while an undergraduate at the Rochester Institute of Technology,” recalls Newell, who was an accounting major. “His bookkeeper had just passed away, and he wanted me to come home to help out in the business. My moth-er, on the other hand, urged me to finish my degree. My mother won the argument. As soon as I graduated in 1979, I did join the company, and began its reinvention.”

First, Newell had to find some new mar-kets that could utilize the company’s talent and knowledge in electronics. “At the time, Western Electric was repairing New York Telephone Company’s equipment,” recalls Newell. “This first venture into the Telco industry led to Telco customers across the country. A variety of other markets followed: utility, power, cable, construction, homeland security, municipal, and hospitality. In the 1980s, the company expanded into custom trailers and truck bodies serving a new group of customers in the law-enforcement, enter-tainment, and food-services industries.”

New name “The company changed its name to

Mohawk Ltd. to reflect its diversity in prod-ucts and services,” says Newell. “In 1999, the company expanded into the alpine-track-vehicle business as a dealer for Kassbohrer — PistenBully snow groomers and tracked vehicles. Next, we added our custom fleet trailer line, providing fiber-optic trailers and command centers in the mix after 2000. In 2009, we added the rental business — LMR — luxury-mobile restrooms. In reinventing the company, the focus was not just on grow-ing the business but also on diversifying the revenue streams using our existing talent pool.”

Newell leveraged the company’s experi-ence in the repair and calibration of electron-

ic-test equipment. “Our staff became very experienced in

circuit boards, digital and analog meters, Ethernet and fiber-optic test equipment, gas detection, and cable-locating equipment, to name just a few, and we supported dozens of OEMs (original-equipment manufacturers),” she says. On the hydraulic/pneumatic/mechanical side, Mohawk was experienced in air tools, saws, grinders, jack-hammers, generators, heaters, and a variety of outside plant equipment and tools, again supporting dozens of OEMs.

GrowthNewell bought the business from her fa-

ther in 1991. At the time, the company had 13 employees, occupied one 20,000-square-foot building, and posted $2 million to $3 million in sales. Today, Mohawk Ltd. employs 55 peo-ple, occupies more than 100,000 square feet of space in four buildings, and generates annual sales between $10 million and $16 million.

“Where we used to focus on the Northeast geographically, the company now covers the entire U.S. and then some,” stresses Newell. “Our capabilities today include repairing, re-furbishing, and calibrating [more than] 2,000 different types of equipment, tools, and product lines. Mohawk Ltd. is a designated authorized repair center for a number of leading manufac-turers. Currently, 90 percent of our business comes from the private sector with another 10 percent from the public sector. Repairs and calibration still represent 70 percent of our busi-ness with 30 percent in product sales.”

Mohawk Ltd. has plenty of competition, including some of its own customers.

“Our ability to compete is based on our expertise, customer care, and product of-ferings to our customers,” exclaims Newell … “We strive to offer [one-stop] shopping; … [hence] our motto is ‘one source, many solutions.’ The entire staff excels at customer service. When you call Mohawk Ltd., you get immediate, personal customer service and technical support. We also offer weekly pick-up and delivery service from Maine to Virginia. There is no fee for evaluations, and we don’t require return-merchandise authorizations. We’ll track the warranty sta-tus for our customers and provide logistical support to OEMs, if required. In addition, we maintain a large parts inventory to provide fast turnaround time for our repairs. That’s another reason why our customers keep returning to us.”

The teamNewell is particularly proud of her man-

agement team. In addition to Newell as president, the team includes Diane Fetterolf, CFO; Christine Celia, director of human resources; Kathy Cianfrocco, director of quality assurance; Linda Lane, director of marketing; David Gray, director of sales; and Randy LeFave, director of national Telco accounts. Newell also notes the support from her professional advisers: Celia & Allen of New Hartford handles the accounting, Richard G. Parker of New York Mills serves as the company’s attorney, and First Niagara provides the primary financial services.

Attracting and retaining talented employ-ees is a concern for Newell. “It’s hard to find trained mechanics and electronic technicians in this area,” she laments. “At Mohawk Ltd.,

we have worked hard to create a pleasant environment with competitive salaries and a generous benefits package. The employees also appreciate the flexibility we offer in creat-ing their work schedules and the investment we make in their training and education, all at company expense. I think it’s safe to say the employees appreciate the work environment here, because we have almost zero turnover. We have also reached out to Mohawk Valley Community College and created internships in our production departments. In addition, we are creating internships with my alma mater to help develop market plans and do research and engineering projects. These in-

See mohawk ltd., page 6 4

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Newell reinvents Mohawk Ltd.

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Cathy Newell, president of Mohawk Ltd., stands in the company’s 100,000+ square-foot facility located in New Hart-ford. Newell, who joined the firm in 1979, has not only reinvented the business, but also grown it from a $2 million operation to a $10 million-plus operation.

4 I Mohawk valley busIness journal I january 18, 2016Cnybj.CoM

BY NORMAN POLTENSONnpoltenson@cnybj.com

HERKIMER — In Deuteronomy, we learn that “man lives not by bread alone.” Boyd Bissell might disagree. Bissell is presi-dent, owner, and chief baker at Heidelberg Baking Co., better known by its d/b/a name: Heidelberg Bread. Since he opened his first bakery in 1983, the chief baker has focused on producing fresh, artisan breads that are handcrafted and devoid of chemicals and ad-ditives. Bissell’s philosophy is both simple and unchanged: “I want to offer the supermarket public a natural and tasty alternative to the mainstream breads available out there. The secret is using the highest quality, natural ingredients, and making every loaf by hand

— from the mixing to the shaping to loading and unloading the ovens, to packaging.”

New buildingGrowing consumer demand has neces-

sitated moving the operation to a new facil-ity. “We spent eight months trying to find a building that would suit our expansion needs, but were unsuccessful,” says Bissell. “We then contacted the [Herkimer County] Industrial Development Authority (IDA) to ask for their assistance, which resulted in our becoming the first tenant in the Route-5S South Industrial Park.” The site is Herkimer County’s newest industrial park.

Heidelberg Bread turned to Charles A. Gaetano Construction Corp. of Utica to con-struct the new building on a design-build basis that includes site, structural, architec-tural, and mechanical/electrical design and construction.

“The plan for the new 28,800-square-foot Butler building calls for separate production and packaging areas, a high-R value insulated metal wall and roof panels, staff offices, and support facilities,” notes Kevin Phillips, proj-ect manager for Heidelberg. “Anticipating expanded production, the building has a usable ceiling height of 25-feet, 6-inches to allow room for flour silos, and the building is sited on 6.6 acres, which allows for any future expansion. Currently, Heidelberg is baking 65,000 loaves [of bread] a week, run-ning two shifts in a 7,800 square-foot build-

ing, part of which serves as a café and a retail bread outlet. The new building will easily let us grow by a factor of four, and it is located only five miles from our current production facility and just five miles from Utica.”

The groundbreaking ceremony was held on Aug. 13, and construction is projected to be completed by June 2016. The coffee shop will continue to operate at the Herkimer location after the move to the South Industrial Park, and Heidelberg Bread may continue to use the Herkimer plant for limited operations.

The Herkimer IDA approved a basket of incentives to Heidelberg Bread at its May meeting, including a 10-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (or PILOT) agreement, a sales-tax exemption, and a mortgage exemption. The mortgage-recording-tax exemption is anticipated to total about $52,000 and the sales-tax-exemption another $165,000. Bissell has committed to spending $52,000 for the property, $2.9 million to construct the

plant, and another $1.3 million for machinery and equipment. Financing is provided by Adirondack Bank.

The 5S South Industrial Park project and the Herkimer plant are both owned by Cobblescote Associates, LLC., which was registered with New York State on Jan. 2, 2002. Bissell is the sole stockholder of both the real estate and operating companies.

Heidelberg Bread currently employs 50 people at the Herkimer plant and generates more than $6 million in annual sales.

Growing distribution“We’re focusing on expanding our dis-

tribution,” says Cheryl Phillips, the com-pany’s chief operating officer and Bissell’s sister. “We ship daily to both supermarket chains and independents as far away as the Capital District, Hudson Valley, the Southern Tier, and Syracuse. You can find Heidelberg products in the bread section at Big M, Hannaford, BJs [Wholesale Club], Price Chopper, and many other outlets. Currently, we are focusing on expanding our geographi-cal reach to New York City, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. The key is to get to the dis-tribution people: That’s the … [avenue] for obtaining shelf space to display our breads.”

Boyd Bissell adds that “… New York City is a natural market. The customers are health conscious and read the labels to verify that the contents are natural. That’s why our ingredients and packaging should appeal to a number of independent outlets, such as bodegas and Korean stores.”

As Heidelberg’s leaders consider expand-ing its distribution geography, they are also studying flash freezing as a method for en-suring freshness to more distant locations.

Heidelberg Bread now boasts 15 variet-ies, including French peasant, marble rye, baguettes, Italian, sourdough, and Jewish rye. “Grain breads are popular today,” explains Bissell. “Our last few creations are grain breads, including the latest which is a 12-grain bread.” Bissell, as the chief baker, watches bread trends closely. “I never want to be a trend setter, but I am very conscious of what customers are choosing. I have spent years experimenting with different bread recipes. It takes a long time to get the perfect balance.”

How Bissell got startedBissell, 71, grew up on the shores of Lake

Otsego. His path to baking was serendipitous. “As a youngster growing up in Cooperstown, I was accustomed to working long hours,” he reminisces. “At age 14, I worked on a cauli-flower farm for 40 cents an hour. I thought $16 a week was a lot of money. Later, I took a sab-batical from college and went to Paris, where I spent 2 1/2 years [collectively] over multiple

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Heidelberg Bread kneads more dough

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Heidelberg Bread bakes 65,000 artisan loaves weekly that are all handcrafted and made with natural products. The company is building a new 28,800-square-foot facility in the Route 55 South Industrial Park to accommodate grow-ing demand for its 15 varieties.

See HEidELBERg, page 6 4

JANUARY 18, 2016 I MOHAWK VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL I 5CNYBJ.COM

BY NORMAN POLTENSONnpoltenson@cnybj.com

ROME — According to Dave Barry in his book, “Taming of the Screw,” “the only really good place to buy lumber is at a store where the lumber has already been cut and at-tached together in the form of furniture …”

Robert Angelicola, (pronounced An-gel-i-CO-la), VP at ROI Office Interiors, would pre-fer to insert “office” before “furniture.” Then again, he would point out that wood furni-ture only represents a fraction of the nearly $10 billion in USA office-furniture sales in 2014. “And that’s just furniture sales,” he notes.

Business has been good at ROI. “We sealed an agreement with Cornell University in July 2015 that designated us as a preferred vendor,” says Angelicola. “A condition of the agreement is to open an office locally to bet-ter serve the university. We’re not new to the Ithaca area, however; for years we have sold and serviced accounts from our Syracuse office. Now it’s time to hire local residents to staff the Ithaca office, which will be sited on the South Hill Business Campus.” The com-pany has leased 2,800 square feet for the new office and plans to open the doors on Feb. 1.

ROI also leases space in Syracuse (2,200 feet), Albany (3,700 feet), and at its head-quarters in Rome (8,700 feet). In addition, Angelicola owns five buildings, comprising a total of 19,600 square feet, of which three tenants lease 12,800 feet. All the buildings are located in the Griffiss Business and Technology Park.

According to Angelicola, ROI, which is a d/b/a, was certified as a woman-owned busi-ness enterprise in 2012. The company was in-corporated as Roberts Office Interiors, Inc.

ROI currently employs 18 people and is projected to post $9.5 million in sales volume by year-end. The Rome office is located in an economic-development zone. The three corporate stockholders include Angelicola’s wife Lynne, who as president is the majority shareholder, and Angelicola and his daugh-ter Marina as minority shareholders.

“Our sales are diversified into four differ-ent sectors,” states Angelicola. “Higher edu-cation represents approximately 40 percent, corporate and government sales another 40 percent, health care is 15 percent, and hospitality is 5 percent. We have a long list of [blue-chip] customers: Oneida Healthcare, Birnie Bus, L-3 Communications, Mohawk Valley Community College (MVCC), Upstate Bone and Joint, Colgate University, Syracuse University, Le Moyne College, and the Air Force Research Laboratory, just to name a few. With multiple offices spaced throughout the region, we can service accounts from Poughkeepsie to Vermont, the Canadian border to the … [outskirts] of Rochester, and the Greater Binghamton area. With Cornell’s announcement to set up Cornell Tech in New York City, we’re now spending a lot of time in the metro area consulting on this new project.”

Angelicola’s excitement about the project is understandable. Cornell Tech is currently operating in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighbor-hood, but future plans will site the cam-pus on Roosevelt Island. The first phase of construction ends in 2017, when the new campus opens with 800,000 square feet of space situated on 2.5 acres serving an aca-demic community of nearly 600 people. The full build-out is projected for completion in

2043, when the campus will include 2 million square feet of space sited on 12 acres serving about 2,500 people.

When asked why ROI has been success-ful, the company’s VP points to its long-term business strategy. “[Except for Manhattan,] … our territory is made up of pockets of business. That means we have to drive a lot in order to see our customers face-to-face. Success comes from building relationships that are not just corporate but personal. We

support these relationships by offering a va-riety of benefits. The first is a written, lifetime service guarantee. The terms are simple: ‘If it breaks, we fix it.’ Even if we didn’t sell the product, when a customer calls, we fix it. Maybe it costs us $20,000 or $30,000 a year; we would rather invest the money this way than spend it on advertising. We also guar-antee a maximum 24-hour response time to any [customer] problem. If a customer wants to reconfigure company space, there is no charge for the first 16 man-hours, nor is there ever a charge for space planning.”

Process and the employeesAngelicola next talks about the company

policy of being process driven. “The rule

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ROI Office Interiors set to open Ithaca office

Rob Angelicola, VP and dealer

principal at ROI Offi ce Interiors,

stands behind an adjustable desk

in the Rome showroom.

NORMAN POLTENSON/BUSINESS JOURNAL NEWS NETWORKSEE ROI, PAGE 6

6 I Mohawk valley busIness journal I january 18, 2016Cnybj.CoM

BY JOURNAL STAFFnews@cnybj.com

MARCY — Woodland Hop Farm & Fermentation, a locally owned and operated farm brewery, will hold its formal grand-opening event on Friday, Jan. 22 at 4:30 p.m. at its facility at 6002 Trenton Road in Marcy. The Greater Utica Chamber of Commerce will be on hand for a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The business, which includes a tap room, first opened to the public in early January.

Woodland Hop Farm is starting with a one-quarter acre plot of hops and plans to expand to three acres within the first few years, according to a Greater Utica Chamber notice about the grand opening. The owners — Keith Redhead, Nick Natishack, and A.J. Spado — will make handcrafted beer, includ-ing barrel-aged beers and cask ales.

Woodland Hop Farm & Fermentation’s business hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and noon to 8 p.m. on Sunday, according to its website. n

The three owners of Woodland Hop Farm & Fermentation, a farm brewery located in Marcy, which opened to customers

earlier this month. The business will hold a formal grand-opening event on Friday, Jan. 22 at 4:30 p.m. with the Greater

Utica Chamber of Commerce.

ternships will be 10 to 20 hours a week. The goal is to attract new talent to the organiza-tion and to learn the latest and greatest.”

Newell stresses both in the company’s literature and in person that Mohawk Ltd. is a Woman Business Enterprise (WBE) di-versity supplier. “Mohawk was certified as a WBE in 1993, shortly after I purchased the company,” intones the company CEO. “This has opened the doors to a number of large customers, which are required to set aside a percentage of their outsourcing for woman- and minority-owned businesses. The per-centage has recently expanded under Gov. [Andrew] Cuomo to more than 30 percent. Mohawk was also certified by the [Women’s Business Enterprise] National Council

(WBENC) in 2010. We promote throughout New York our WBE and WBENC certifica-tions, which are accepted by more than 1,000 corporations.”

The WBENC is also an approved third-party certifier for the U.S. Small Business Administration federal-contracting pro-gram. WBE and WBENC certification re-quire not only extensive documentation but also a site visit. Newell has also been recognized by DiversityBusiness.com as one of the Top 100 women business own-ers in New York state and among the Top 500 nationally.

ConfidenceNewell’s optimism is irrepressible. “I’m

optimistic about the economy,” she asserts. “The regional economy is poised to grow rapidly with all of the high-tech focus on nanotechnology, drones, and cybersecurity. I see big opportunities right here in the [Mohawk] Valley. In addition to growing our existing multiple lines of business, I plan on further diversification into other areas, such as light manufacturing, as an avenue to leverage our capabilities. I also have a vision to turn our current location into a business park. For me, every day is an adventure and a new opportunity.”

Newell grew up in New Hartford where she currently resides with her husband. The couple has a son in college and a daughter in junior high school. Mohawk Ltd.’s CEO has

no plans to retire: “I still have so much I want to accomplish, and I’m having too much fun.” In addition to running a business and raising a family, Newell somehow has found time to be active in the community, serving on many boards throughout the years, including the Mohawk Valley Chamber of Commerce (now the Greater Utica Chamber), Boys and Girls Club, Mohawk Valley EDGE, and the Fort Schuyler Club. She is currently the trea-surer for the area Cerebral Palsy association, and she is the entrepreneur-in-residence for Utica College.

It looks like Newell, who confesses to being in her 50s, still has plenty of time to keep reinventing the company and to keep finding a solution for everything. n

MOHAWK LTD.: Newell: “I see big opportunities right here in the [Mohawk] Valley” Continued from page 3

visits. I worked in restaurants in Paris as well as in the states, where I started as a ‘kitchen utility’ at The Otesaga [Resort Hotel] and later became the chef at a local restaurant. My interest in cooking wasn’t a surprise, because I grew up in a food family; both parents were accomplished cooks.”

Bissell’s epiphany to become a bread baker came in 1982.

“I drove to Montpelier [Vermont] to visit the New England Culinary Institute about a staffing situation. The director of the institute asked me whether I was aware of the Upland Bakers, located in nearby Plainfield. He con-vinced me that a visit to this bakery was … [mandatory]. I tried the Upland sourdough bread and was simply astonished. It tasted just like the bread I ate in France.”

The owners of Upland Bakers were Jules and Helen Rabin. “The two [socialist com-

munitarians] began baking bread in a wood-fired, brick oven,” recalls Bissell. “The only ingredients were flour, salt, water, and a sour-dough starter. I was a … [convert] with the first bite: the bread was heavy, chewy, crusty, and nutritious; but best of all, delicious. Their bread was so good that the Rabins developed a cult following.”

Bissell wasted no time upon his return from Vermont. In 1983, he incorporated and opened his first bakery at King Cole Plaza on Genesee Street in Utica. “After my bread ‘awakening,’ I began experimenting with Pillsbury all-purpose flour. It was tough going in the beginning,” confesses Bissell. “We had one power account, a health-food store in Cooperstown. They bought $500 a week, which covered the rent for the bakery. I purchased [baking] pans at the Family Dollar store and used to ship unsliced loaves

in flour sacks. We regularly put out-of-town shipments on the Trailways Bus. After re-locating in Utica two more times, we finally bought the plant in Herkimer in 1992. At the time, our annual sales were $350,000 and, in the beginning, we only utilized perhaps 15 percent of the new building.”

Management teamHeidelberg’s management team includes

Bissell as president and chief baker, Cheryl Philips as the COO, Kevin Phillips as the head of manufacturing, and Salvatore Valente, as VP of sales and marketing. “We have a great team of employees,” intones the company COO. “Our challenge is to attract and retain employees as we grow into the new plant. Boyd is a perfectionist, and that means a great deal of training and attention to the quality of our breads. The training is done right on the

baking floor. Boyd would like to be baking 24 hours a day. Our growth can come, in part, through automation, but we never want to lose the handcrafting that makes our breads distinct. That means we will have to hire more people to keep up with the demand. Training our staff is a priority focus.”

Bissell has set up a trust to ensure the continuity of the business. “My mission has been to bring delicious, healthful bread to the American public,” he posits. “The grow-ing interest in natural foods is spurring our growth. I want to be sure my mission contin-ues well into the future.”

Despite his long hours at work, Bissell finds time to pursue his favorite hobbies: pre-paring gourmet meals, cycling, playing the accordion, and collecting art and antiques. Not surprisingly, he specializes in collecting copper, cooking utensils. n

HEIDELBERG: Bissell has set up a trust to ensure the continuity of the business Continued from page 4

here is first come, first served,” he explains. “If a customer contacts us to fix the casters on a chair and the next call is for a [six-figure] sale, the casters come first. Period! There is no differentiation … The longevity of our staff is another reason we compete so well and are successful. A number of our employees have been with us more than 15 years, and that helps us work well as a team. And finally, ROI is design-heavy. Of 18 employees, six are designers, and we’re looking for two more. The designers bring a strong level of creativity to our customers. They also are assigned to a project from the beginning and follow it right through the punch list. This prevents a lot of mistakes from happening when the project is handed off to someone new … You [just] can’t buy relationships; you have to build them.”

Angelicola attributes ROI’s success largely to the firm’s employees. “We have a great se-nior-management team,” asserts Angelicola,

“starting with Lynne as the president. I serve as the dealer principal, Jennifer Christmas is the director of sales, Kristen Merrill is our lead designer, and Joe Geffert is the installa-tion manager. All of our designers are hired with the requisite certification, but each is still required to spend the first eight weeks training here at headquarters. New installers are also required to spend considerable time learning how to install properly, and each is under the tutelage of an experienced installer.” In addition to touting the employees for ROI’s success, Angelicola cites several professional advisers who have helped the business grow: NBT Bank, which provides financial services; the law firm of McMahon & Grow located in Rome; and Fitzgerald, DePietro & Wojnas of Utica, which handles the accounting.

Lynne and Rob Angelicola are the co-founders of the company. The second gen-eration is already involved in the business. Daughter Marina focuses on marketing for

ROI. Son Nicolas, who just graduated from Niagara University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and logistics, has also joined the firm, starting his career in installation and sales.

Rob Angelicola, 54, is a first-generation American citizen, whose parents immigrated from Italy. He attended Rome Free Academy and MVCC, earning a degree in retail-busi-ness management. He also earned a degree in business and public management from SUNYIT (now SUNY Polytechnic Institute). He started in business with L&L Surplus of Utica, a used-furniture outlet, and became the general manager.

“After 10 years at L&L, my wife, whose background is in accounting, convinced me we should go into business for ourselves,” reflects Angelicola. “We borrowed some money, rented space, and launched the busi-ness in 1995. Our expansion to Syracuse didn’t come until 2008, Albany was in 2012,

and now Ithaca in 2015.”Angelicola doesn’t spend much time remi-

niscing; he prefers to look to the future. “I’m optimistic about our growth, both in

good times and in bad,” he says. “Our first ex-pansion out of the Rome area occurred right in the depths of the recent recession (2008), yet the Syracuse office is very successful. Despite having strong competitors in Syracuse, includ-ing Sedgwick [Business Interiors] and SOE (Syracuse Office Environments), we grew the business there. The same happened in Albany, where we compete with companies such as Accent. Our customers recognize and appreciate the relationships we build over time and our long-term commitment. This is how we differentiate ourselves from the competition. I’m optimistic that we will see the same pattern of growth in Ithaca. And now with the next generation in the business, there are plenty of opportunities for continued growth.” n

ROI: Lynne and Rob Angelicola are co-founders of the company. The second generation is already involved in the business. Continued from page 5

Woodland Hop Farm & Fermentation formally opens Jan. 22

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MOHAWK VALLEY COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIESRanked by Full-time Enrollment (undergrad./grad.) 2015-2016

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THE LISTResearch by Vance Marrinervmarriner@cnybj.com (315) 579-3911Twitter: @cnybjresearch

ABOUT THE LISTInformation was provided by representatives of listed organizations and their websites. Other groups may have been eligible but did not respond to our requests for information. Organizations had to complete the survey by the deadline to be included on the list. While The Business Journal strives to print accurate information, it is not possible to indepen-dently verify all data submitted. We reserve the right to edit entries or delete categories for space considerations. This list includes institutions in Herkimer, Otsego, and Oneida counties.

NEEd A cOpy Of A LIST?Electronic versions of all of our lists, with addi-tional fields of information and survey contacts, are available for purchase at our website: cnybj.com/ListResearch.aspx

WANT TO BE ON THE LIST?If your company would like to be considered for next year’s list, or another list, please email vmarriner@cnybj.com

8 I Mohawk valley busIness journal I january 18, 2016Cnybj.CoM

Mohawk ValleyAWARDSPresented By:

Mohawk ValleyAWARDSPresented By:

LEGACY

The Business Journal News Network and Berkshire Bank announce the 2nd annual Mohawk Valley Legacy Awards. In the spring of 2016, we will recognize local entrepreneurs who have built thriving corporations

and also generously supported their communities, both fi nancially and in terms of their time.

Thursday, May 5, 2016Stanley Theatre, Utica

The purpose of the awards is to emphasize the heritage each generation passes on to the next, and in recognizing the current recipients, remind future generations of their obligation to continue building

strong communities.

Visit bizeventz.com for updates, announcements, and to register!

Announcing Our First Honoree!

Cathy Newell,President & CEO,

Mohawk Ltd.

Stay tuned for the announcement

of our other honorees!

Event Details:Event date: May 5, 2016Location: Stanley Theatre, UticaTime: 6:00 pm-8:30 pm

6:00 pm-7:30 pm: Enjoy delicious food stations, open bar, networking & live music! (Please note: this is not a sit-down dinner, it is open-seating)7:30 pm-8:30 pm: Awards Program, Dessert & Photos

Cost: $75/ticketBlack Tie Optional

Contact Joyl Clance with questions: (315) 708-3303 or jclance@bizeventz.com