Business First of Buffalo articles from February 1997

Business First of Buffalo archives from February 1997

New trade opportunities for WNY. (Western New York)
February 3, 1997... Talks would join Canada and U.S. in cooperative overseas missions Companies from both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border may soon travel abroad together in the nations' first combined trade mission, designed to bring back more export deals to...

Space age technology orbits above area roads.
February 3, 1997... Things are looking up on Buffalo roadways. In four Western New York projects, high-tech systems are poised to keep traffic moving by shooting signals skyward to defense satellites that locate cars, trucks or buses. In two separate projects,...

NationsBanc regional office opening in Williamsville. (NationsBanc Mortgage Corp. in New York)
February 3, 1997... NationsBanc Mortgage Corp., which has a mortgage servicing center in Amherst, is opening its first origination offices in the Northeast - 10 locations in four states, including an office and regional headquarters in Williamsville. Lease...

Buffalo plunges into swimming's fast lane. (bid for the holding of a national swimming championship)
February 3, 1997... Conventional wisdom says Buffalo's chances of attracting a national swimming championship in February are about as likely as scheduling a snowball fight for July. Yet with the help of a suburban aquatic club, Buffalo continues to be one of the...

BankAmerica seeks niche in WNY mortgage market. (BankAmerica Mortgage; Western New York)
February 3, 1997... Fifteen months after planting its flag in Western New York, BankAmerica Mortgage is still trying to build a presence. That is no easy task. The area residential mortgage market is dominated by hometown lenders M&T Bank and Marine Midland Bank....

WNY lawyers are on list of nation's best attorneys. (Western New York)(Industry Overview)
February 3, 1997... About 120 attorneys from Western New York are on an exclusive list of Best Lawyers in America for 1997-98. Lawyers make the list based on nominations of their peers in the legal community in which they practice. Overall, the 1997-98 list...

Nike Tour, Brierwood CC scuttle 1997 tournament.
February 3, 1997... Once again Buffalo says goodbye to the only professional golf tournament the area has hosted. The Nike Tournament, a 30-event tour - now 29 - open to young pros looking to make the leap to the prestigious PGA Tour, didn't take the area by...

Join the stock club. (women investors)
February 3, 1997... More women are banding together as savvy investors When her husband passed away six years ago, Marilyn Rodems found herself faced with many additional tasks, including running her husband's distributing firm and handling investments....

Define your financial needs before you begin investing.
February 3, 1997... Much investment advice in books, newspapers and magazines focuses on investment selection: how to pick specific stocks, bonds or mutual funds. Individual investors tend to put more emphasis on this aspect of the investment process than any other....

Club has the horsepower to make cash for investors. (Financial Garden Investment Club)
February 3, 1997... It was literally a scene out of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous." In fact, film crews were at the flashy party in Thorold, Ont., where Mary Sue Weber and several friends celebrated their participation with other investors in a prize Arabian...

HealthCarePlan doctors leaving HMO: physicians look to merge with Buffalo Medical Group. (Buffalo Medical Group P.C.; health maintenance organization)
February 10, 1997... HealthCarePlan doctors are amicably leaving the HMO to form their own medical group and are discussing the possibility of merging with the Buffalo Medical Group P.C., the area's largest private practice. The 90 HealthCarePlan doctors will be...

Carroll's magic touch is all business. (magician Harrison Carroll as trade show performer)
February 10, 1997... Harrison Carroll acts for a living. But you won't find him on the boards of Broadway or a soundstage in Hollywood. Rather, look for him working a little magic in "business theater," the playhouse for trade show performers. Carroll's stage is...

Printer sees return in missionary investment. (Swyers Printing Inc.)
February 10, 1997... Clarence "Buz" Swyers was returning from a trip to the Philippines in 1976 when he realized just how lucky he was to live in the United States. An immigration official looked at his passport and saw it was the first time he had been out of the...

Flat: WNY Economic Index stays the course. (Western New York)
February 10, 1997... Western New York's economy ended 1996 on the same plateau where it spent most of the year. The Business First Economic Index slipped 0.6 percent during the fourth quarter to a score of 1,079 points. The year-end figure was just six points...

How to implement no-smoking rules in your office.(Column)
February 10, 1997... Thanks to a law that went into effect Jan. 1, smoking will no longer be permitted at Erie County worksites. Employers are responsible for implementing the new no-smoking rule no later than April 1. The only exceptions are bars, restaurants,...

Innovative financing cuts costs for Bona. (St. Bonaventure University)
February 10, 1997... St. Bonaventure University has found an innovative cost saving end-around to finance two multi-million dollar projects. The university's strategy of approaching the Town of Allegany to form a housing authority to obtain tax exempt bonds could...

Hiring the disabled: agencies exist to help match loyal, dependable employees with a job.
February 10, 1997... Years ago agencies serving disabled people had a slogan, "Hire the Handicapped. It's good business." Though the phrase has largely faded, it contains a truism that many companies are discovering. Thanks in part to the 6-year-old Americans with...

New president of Roswell sets hospital's priorities. (Roswell Park Cancer Institute Pres./CEO David Hohn)
February 10, 1997... When Dr. David Hohn comes to Roswell Park Cancer Institute, he'll be trading the care of a few patients for the care of many. The new president and CEO of Roswell Park will come to Buffalo on March 1 from Houston's M.D. Anderson Cancer Center,...

Racetracks assess viability in wake of casino defeat. (Yonkers Raceway)
February 10, 1997... Just 24 hours after state lawmakers rejected a measure on casino gambling, operators of Yonkers Raceway said they would put the track on the real estate market. From Buffalo to New York City, tracks were banking on passage of the casino...

Hard work brings honor to area hospital crib maker. (HARD Manufacturing Company Inc.)
February 10, 1997... Attention to detail helped Hard Manufacturing Co. Inc. - makers of cribs and youth beds - achieve the prestigious Seal of Acceptance by a national coalition of children's hospitals. The recognition by the Alliance of Children's Hospitals Inc....

The transportation link makes long-term care possible. (wheelchair vans)(Column)
February 10, 1997... As you zoom down the Kensington Expressway in the morning, passing numerous wheelchair vans along the way, have you ever wondered what it might be like to ride in one? Where are they going anyway? How many passengers can the van hold? Do the...

Cannon awarded design contracts in China, Turkey. (Cannon Architects and Engineers)
February 10, 1997... Cannon Architects & Engineers, the area's largest such firm, landed two contracts that will further cement the company's image in the international market. Cannon has been retained to design the Sabanci University campus master plan. Sabanci...

Measuring outcome critical to behavioral medicine.(Column)
February 10, 1997... Because behavioral medicine is not an exact science, it requires standards of practice, treatment protocols, benchmarking, creative program design and a way to prove its value. The astute health care professional understands early behavioral...

Congress hands out weapons to battle health care fraud. (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996)(Column)
February 10, 1997... The Cold War may be over but Congress has found a new enemy: the estimated $100 billion a year lost to health care fraud. Congress is aggressively stockpiling legal weaponry to combat the costly battle against reimbursement wrongdoers. The...

1st person. (Postmaster/cancer victim Nancy Ceisner promotes breast cancer postal stamp)
February 10, 1997... Nancy Ceisner once believed breast cancer wasn't her problem. But the time would come when she would campaign for women and their employers to take it much more seriously than she once had. Ceisner, now postmaster of the tiny Basom post...

Banking on computers: brothers create software for community banks. (Suchak Data Systems Inc.)(Small Business Profile)
February 10, 1997... What's going on: The private company's speciality is selling and installing technology, such as its in-house banking software package and item processing systems, to small community banks and thrifts mostly in upstate New York but also in...

Adelphia joins cable TV revolution. (Adelphia Communications Corp.)
February 17, 1997... Faced with competitors ranging from satellite dishes to telephone companies, the cable television industry is fighting back. Once the exclusive domain of pay-per-view movies, ESPN and HBO, cable operators are branching into home security...

Labor union organizers making their pitch in WNY. (labor union petitions in West New York)
February 17, 1997... As labor unions pushed to add members in New York state last year, they pushed more in the Buffalo area than any other part of upstate New York. A Business First study of 1996 labor election petitions filed with the National Labor Relations...

Designing a career: despite forecasts of economic doom, area architects weather the storm. (Lauer-Manguso & Associates Architects)(Special Report: Architects & Engineers)
February 17, 1997... In 1982 James Manguso and Conrad Lauer took a leap of faith. They left the architectural and engineering firm of Rupley Bahler Blake to hang up their business shingle as Lauer-Manguso & Associates Architects. Considering the economic...

Engineering takes a family path for the Frandina clan. (Philip Frandina of Frandina Engineering P.C.)(Special Report: Architects & Engineers)
February 17, 1997... Philip F. Frandina's late father was a concrete contractor, a fact that seems to have cemented the destiny of the junior Frandina and so many others in his family in the engineering profession. Engineering is a "problem-solving occupation,"...

Independent Health to expand. (Independent Health Association to build new office building in Amherst, NY)
February 24, 1997... HMO plans $10 million project The need for more detailed data and patient information is fueling Independent Health Association's $10 million expansion plans in Amherst. The project could also increase Independent Health's area employment...

Enduring entrepreneurs adapt with the times. (Buffalo, NY)
February 24, 1997... Most of their 19th century contemporaries are dead, forgotten by all except historians. But as Western New York edges closer to the 21st century, a select fellowship of businesses continues to endure, 100 years and more after the end of the...

Better Health Plan for sale, North American interested. (North American Administrators Inc.)
February 24, 1997... Better Health Plan, one of the area's largest HMOs for Medicaid recipients, is for sale. The HMO is among assets put on the block by its parent, Coastal Health Physician Group Inc., a publicly traded company that needs to raise capital to get...

Skills training programs focus on aging work force. (Erie Community College)
February 24, 1997... Erie Community College is teaching a new generation of students. These students aren't necessarily straight out of high school or looking toward a two- or four-year degree. Students in this group take classes such as shop math, meteorology and...

Amherst dental complex, nursing home proposed.
February 24, 1997... Two separate building projects, about a half-mile away from each other, are currently being reviewed by Amherst officials. The projects include a new dental office venture anchored near the University at Buffalo campus and an assisted living...

Oxy spending $70 million to improve Falls complex. (Occidental Chemical Corp. to buy new equipment for its Niagara Falls factory)
February 24, 1997... Occidental Chemical Corp. will spend more than $70 million in 18 months to boost production at its Niagara Falls plant. The investment, mostly for equipment, is in addition to $10 million to $15 million that OxyChem already has spent since 1995...

Nonprofits sprouted to serve community's growing needs. (Buffalo, NY)
February 24, 1997... In Buffalo, you're never really that far from the Erie Canal. In many cases, the region's oldest nonprofit agencies were started to serve the people who ran the towpath, drank in Canal Street's taverns or toiled in industries spawned by water and...

Hey, taxi. (South Buffalo Cab Inc.) (Company Profile)
February 24, 1997... Make the call when you have to be there What's going on: Like all taxi services. South Buffalo Cab Inc. is in the people-moving business across Buffalo and many outlying suburbs and towns. "We do our best to give service to anybody that needs...

Elements of a cold call that can make them hot.(Sales Moves)(Column)
February 24, 1997... Cold calling is one of the most difficult parts of selling. To be successful at the science of cold calling, first define the elements, functions and formulas that comprise the call. Then, like all other sciences, experiment (practice) until you...

8 human service agencies form network for disabled. (Human Service Alliance of Western New York)
February 24, 1997... Eight area human service agencies have formed a network to better manage services for the disabled. The network, called the Human Service Alliance of Western New York, is composed of agencies serving 6,500 people with developmental...

SGL Carbon rebounds with plan to expand in Falls.
February 24, 1997... A few years ago, SGL Carbon Corp. in Niagara Falls was running at bare minimum employment and was in serious danger of closing. This week, the company's plans to add 44 people to its 120-person work force was bolstered by the adoption of a $4.9...

Salamanca furniture maker sold to Pa. firm. (Fancher Furniture Co. has been sold to Philadelphia Furniture Manufacturing Co.)
February 24, 1997... One of Salamanca's largest employers, Fancher Furniture Co. Inc., has agreed to sell its assets to Philadelphia Furniture Manufacturing Co., a new Pennsylvania company. The deal, expected to become effective Feb. 28, will lead to a 28 percent...

Interdisciplinary thinking enhances learning. (Buffalo Seminary, Buffalo, NY)
February 24, 1997... Outside of school, learning and thinking aren't compartmentalized into discrete topics such as history, chemistry or art. People solve problems by drawing on information from many disciplines. Yet schools assign teachers to teach specific...

Dan Kohane meets needs of diverse groups in jobs. (attorney at law firm Hurwita and Fine)
February 24, 1997... Will the real Dan Kohane please stand up? Is he the person County Executive Dennis Gorski calls "a tremendously bright individual, the consummate attorney, and a very compassionate individual" who is also "the moving force behind the...

Handy guidelines can help get most from a meeting.
February 24, 1997... The incentive world is changing. Companies are demanding motivational programs to help employees reach a new level of thinking that will stimulate healthy change within an organization. To thrive in this new arena, companies should prepare to...

Niagara Falls gambles on its future with Casino.
February 24, 1997... Will Canada's Casino Niagara have a positive impact on the travel and convention industries in Western New York, particularly in the Niagara Falls area? Players in the field generally say it's too early to tell, they're waiting for Casino...

Ronald K. Zoeller, president and CEO, North American Health Plans, Inc. (winner of the Executive of the Year Award)
February 24, 1997... Ron Zoeller founded the company, now known as North American Health Plans (NAHP), in 1983 as a third party administrator of self-insured medical plans. NAHP's subsidiary, North American Administrators, is the largest independent claims...

Students follow letter of the law in Bennett program. (Law Magnet Program at Bennett High School, Buffalo, NY)
February 24, 1997... Ever since Sarah Kostrzewa was very young, she knew she wanted to be a lawyer. Now, at age 17, the Kaisertown resident is getting a jump on her career at the Law Magnet Program at Bennett High School. The program provides students in their...