Bill Stroh

The Business Council of New York State, Inc. announced today that Bill Stroh has joined the staff as director of member communications. His responsibilities will include enhancing The Business Council’s member outreach programs and coordinating grassroots issue advocacy campaigns.

“Bill’s experience with leading-edge techniques for raising awareness on important issues makes him an ideal addition to our staff,” said Heather Briccetti, President and CEO of The Business Council. “He comes to the organization with nearly 20 years of experience that began in broadcast newsrooms. We are thrilled to have him on board.”

Bill has been a news producer in Miami, Albany, Boston and Hartford. He also wrote articles for the Miami Herald and the Miami Times. In recent years, Bill has worked with hospitals and medical device companies who sought innovative ways to market their products and services.

He received his undergraduate degree from SUNY Albany and his master’s degree in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Miami.

Bill resides in East Durham.

According to a press release from the Marist Poll:

“New York State voters see a light at the end of the financial tunnel. A majority of registered voters statewide — 52% — believe the worst of the state’s economic woes are behind them. 44% think the worst is yet to come, and 5% are unsure.

This is in stark contrast with voters’ views from November. In that NY1/YNN-Marist Poll, a majority — 54% — thought there were more tumultuous economic times on the horizon while 42% said the worst was over. Four percent, at the time, were unsure.

‘More New York voters are beginning to see an improved economic picture,’ says Dr. Lee M. Miringoff, Director of The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. ‘It’s not exactly rosy but the gloom is lifting.’”

To read more click here.

To view the poll click here.

The following Business Council members made Fortune Magazine’s list: Wegmans, Chesapeake Energy, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, American Express, General Mills, Deloitte, Microsoft and KPMG.

For the full list click here.

Federal Specialty Crop Funds Support Regional Efforts in Promoting “Buy Local”

New York State Agriculture Commissioner Darrel J. Aubertine today announced the availability of $200,000 in funds to support new and existing regional “buy local” food and agricultural campaigns throughout the State. This program is funded by a USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant and will be conducted in coordination with the State’s Pride of New York Program.

“There’s no doubt that consumers want to buy locally produced food,” the Commissioner said. “What we have found is that regional “buy local” campaigns further raise the profile of local products in a specific region and they often have the opportunity to provide a range of services and activities that help local producers market their products and assist consumers in identifying local products.”

The goal of the Regional “Buy Local” Campaign Development Program is to increase consumer awareness, increase recognition in the marketplace, and increase sales of locally produced foods and agricultural products in eleven defined agricultural regions.

Eligible proposals must reflect each region’s geography, agricultural production, local cultural identity and other unique attributes or specialties. They must help promote a broad-range of USDA-defined specialty crops, and they must also work synergistically with other regional “buy local” campaigns in the State, as well as the Pride of New York Program.

With $200,000 in federal Specialty Crop Block Grant funds, each region is eligible to receive $18,550, of which $2,800 is allocated to create a regional brand, and up to $2,750 for the development of a marketing/media plan. The remaining $13,000 can be used for implementing the marketing/media plan, which can include advertisements, the creation of promotional materials, website design, public outreach and more. As part of the grant award, the Department will provide professional and creative services for each region to help develop their regional brands, create individual websites and develop a multi-year marketing/media plan.

Government entities, not-for-profits, tourism boards and Industrial Development Authorities are all eligible to apply. Applications are available online at www.agriculture.ny.gov or by calling 518-457-7229. Applications are due into the Department by February 23, 2012.

Matt Glynn of the Buffalo News reports - “Moog Inc., which made a change at the top last month, let shareholders know Wednesday that it has every expectation of maintaining its growth of the last couple of years.

The motion-control equipment maker’s annual meeting was the first since John R. Scannell took over the CEO’s duties from Robert T. Brady on Dec. 1.

Scannell, 48, has moved into the CEO’s role at an upbeat time for Moog. The Elma-based company has shaken off the 2009 drop-off in results that disrupted its growth curve, posting record sales of $2.3 billion and record profits of $136 million in its 2011 fiscal year, which ended Oct. 1.

For fiscal 2012, the company forecasts an 8 percent increase in sales, to about $2.52 billion, and a 12 percent increase in net earnings, to $152 million.”

To read more click here.

Larry Rulison writes in today’s business section of the Times Union - “If the Capital Region is going to become a major center for advanced manufacturing and renewable energy technologies, the workforce has to be trained even before college.

That’s the approach educators at Questar III’s Columbia-Greene Educational Center here in Hudson are taking with their students.

The school, part of the state’s BOCES system, provides hands-on training for some of the most sought out careers in the country even before the students graduate high school.

And these aren’t run-of-the-mill vocational courses, but high-level training in solar electricity, wind power, batteries, semiconductors and high-tech manufacturing and robotics. While some students go straight into industry, others move on to schools like Hudson Valley Community College and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy.”

To read more click here.

Brian Nearing writes in the Times Union - “A former executive with the timbering and forest products industry — who a decade ago helped the state preserve hundreds of thousands of acres of timber company land in the Adirondacks — is the new regional director for the state Department of Environmental Conservation in the eastern Adirondacks, DEC announced Friday.

Robert Stegemann replaces former Region V director Betsy Lowe, who resigned last month. Stegemann is a former executive at International Paper and was part of efforts last decade that led the company to sell conservation easements on more than 250,000 acres in the Adirondacks to the state.”

To read more click here.

According to the latest poll by the Siena College Research Institute:

New York State consumer confidence increased 3.1 points in November, while the nation’s confidence increased 3.2 points, according to the latest poll by the Siena (College) Research Institute (SRI). At 62.2, New York’s overall consumer confidence is 1.9 points below the nation’s* 64.1 confidence level.

“As holiday lights brighten the season, and national economic indicators including jobs reports, stock market increases and early holiday spending offer cheer, consumer confidence rose this month for the first time since May,” according to Dr. Doug Lonnstrom, professor of statistics and finance at Siena College and SRI Founding Director. “Good news, but hold your reindeer. Although we see confidence gains among Democrats and older New Yorkers, the overall willingness to spend remains well below the point at which optimism simply equals pessimism and the index is nearly five points under where the state’s confidence was this time last year. New Yorkers continue to be more pessimistic about the current financial landscape than the rest of the country but are more, albeit not very, positive about the future than the nation. This split exists within our own state as well with Upstate being more optimistic currently than New York City, but the city seeing a better future than Upstate.”

To read the entire release click here.

Larry Rulison of the Times Union writes:

“The University at Albany’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering graduated its largest class ever Sunday, and three-fourths of the students will remain in the state for work or further graduate study.

The class of 23 included 11 who received a Ph.D. and 12 who earned a masters degree. The school said that 75 percent will remain in New York after landing high-tech jobs at places like IBM and GlobalFoundries or landing post-doctoral research positions at other schools.”

To read more click here.

Stephanie Clifford of the New York Times writes:

“Spurred by aggressive promotions from retailers, American consumers opened their wallets over the holiday weekend in a way they had not since before the recession, setting records in sales and traffic.

The National Retail Federation said Sunday that spending per shopper surged 9.1 percent over last year — the biggest increase since 2006 — to an average of almost $400 a customer. In all, 6.6 percent more shoppers visited stores on the Thanksgiving weekend than last year. ”

To read more click here.