Author: Saratoga TODAY

ALBANY — Cardona’s Market celebrated the season of giving on Dec. 9 by combatting food insecurity in the Capital Region with the delivery of complimentary lunches to those served through the Community Connections program at Interfaith Partnership for the Homeless (IPH). The donation is the result of Cardona’s National Sandwich Day fundraising campaign on Nov. 3, 2021. 

Cardona’s Market Co-Owner August Cardona was joined by IPH Program Director Cleveland Morgan to hand-deliver the market’s signature sandwiches to more than 50 individuals and families served by IPH at The Hoffman Family Center, home of the Community Connections program, on Sheridan Ave. in Albany.

For more information about Cardona’s Market, call 518-434-4838 or visit CardonasMarket.com. For more information about IPH, visit www.iphny.org. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Fingerpaint, biopharma’s global commercialization partner for analytics-enabled integrated solutions, announced that it acquired Engage, a London-based, award-winning, data and analytics-enabled healthcare marketing firm. Details of the transaction were not disclosed. 

Engage will expand Fingerpaint’s European footprint and complement the company’s current data and analytics expertise. 

“Strengthening our global infrastructure is reflective of the diversified biopharma industry we serve worldwide,” said Ed Mitzen, Founder of Fingerpaint. “Our combined global omnichannel marketing solutions guided by – and rooted in – data will further Fingerpaint’s position as a transformative digital partner to biopharma’s commercialization needs.” 

Mary McGregor and Dave Chandler, both founders and managing partners of Engage, will continue to lead day-to-day operations. 

“Integrating into Fingerpaint will allow us to leverage its award-winning creative and digital talent and maximize omnichannel campaigns as we continue to work with global brands at every stage of the commercialization process,” said McGregor. 

“Combining our expertise with Fingerpaint’s will create best-in-class, performance-based digital capabilities for clients across the company’s integrated firms,” said Chandler. 

Engage joins integrated Fingerpaint firms MedThink, a company that empowers healthcare providers through medical communications; Leaderboard Branding, a leading global naming and branding business; 1798, a market access and commercialization firm that specializes in healthcare consulting services, including patient and provider access services; and Photo 51, a consultancy focused solely on advanced therapeutics, such as gene and cell therapies. 

ALBANY — Capital Region employers will keep hiring in the new year, but they’re not likely to find recruiting relief, according to the results of the Fall 2021 Alaant Hiring Index released on Dec. 15 by Alaant Workforce Solutions, the region’s leading professional workforce services firm. The survey finds that while hiring top talent will remain a major priority for 2022, the new year will also bring the most difficult recruiting environment employers have seen in modern times. 

Even though 86% of employers expect recruiting to be difficult – the highest figure since the Index began in 2015 – 3 in 4 companies forecast hiring to increase in the new year. 

“As we head into 2022, recruiting remains a good news, bad news situation: employers are itching to hire as the economy picks up, but the challenge of finding top professionals is more difficult than ever,” said Miriam Dushane, Managing Partner of Alaant Workforce Solutions. “We’re encouraged that nearly 4 of 5 companies say they adjusted their recruiting process this year, from improving the candidate experience and streamlining the interview and hiring processes to expediting job offers. Not only is that essential in the current environment, but employers will need to sharpen those strategies as the competition for employees heats up in the new year.” 

Read the full brief on Saratoga Business Report (www.saratogabusinessreport.com).

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Saratoga National Bank and Trust Company announced it has earned the national Bank On certification for its new checking product, Smart Steps. The bank is one of just 166 in the country to earn this distinction from the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund (CFE) to serve the unbanked and underbanked. 

The CFE works directly with national and regional financial institutions to encourage the widespread availability of safe, low-cost, transactional products within their community. The Bank On certification provides account standards and a review process that ensures everyone has access to an affordable bank account. 

Smart Steps is a checking account designed to help individuals who don’t have easy access to affordable banking services and have a goal of achieving economic independence and security. The account will be available throughout the bank’s service area in early 2022. 

For more information visit cfefund.org/bankon. 

One week ago, I was invited to testify before the New York State Assembly’s Racing and Wagering Committee chaired by Assemblyman Gary Pretlow. Joining him at the hearing were local Assembly members Carrie Woerner and Angelo Santabarbara. Besides my testimony, the committee heard from locals like James and Tina Bond, of the Bond Racing Stables, Dr. Scott Ahlschwede of Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital, and David O’Rourke, the CEO of NYRA.

We were all there as part of a near day-long fact check on the status of both the state’s thoroughbred and Standardbred racing industries. To me, the best news of the day was hearing Chairman Pretlow state: “One of my stated goals is to make New York State the horse racing capital of the world.” As he said this, I watched as all of the committee members shook their heads in agreement.

Not everyone in the Assembly feels this way, however. Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, a Manhattan Democrat, has filed legislation to redirect VLT revenues away from horse racing. When asked about her bill by David Lombardo, on a recent Capital Press Room broadcast, the Assemblywoman made several comments which indicated she is not yet fully informed about the importance and value of horse racing in New York’s economy, particularly here in Saratoga. 

“The stands are mostly empty,” Assemblywoman Rosenthal said. “Horse racing is not a year-round industry,” she added. She appeared to suggest that Saratoga would not suffer if horse racing at the Saratoga Race Course and Saratoga Casino Hotel were eliminated. She then called the franchise agreement between NYRA and the state, in which the state gained ownership to the race track properties in Saratoga, at Belmont and Aqueduct, as a “secret arrangement.”

It’s no secret to anyone that follows horse racing that we had paid attendance at this Summer Meeting in Saratoga that topped one million. We had a record all-sources handle. We had unprecedented media coverage. The popularity of horse racing in our community at just the Saratoga Race Course showed not only at the track but also in our hotels, bars, restaurants and retail stores all summer long. 

In her interview, Assemblywoman Rosenthal added that she had only heard negative comments from the horse racing industry to her legislation so far. That’s why I want to invite her to Saratoga. I think before she advocates for legislation that would do harm to Saratoga that she should come and talk with us directly face-to-face. Maybe we could do this next summer when she could see the track filled with thousands of fans every day. I’d love to expand this tour to include SPAC, the Casino, UPH, Caffé Lena, our parks and historic properties, our downtown stores, shops, hotels and restaurants, our horse farms, golf courses, and the City Center. 

It would be great if we could talk with her about how devastated we were when all of these destinations were closed in 2020. Maybe such a discussion and tour would make it clear to her that the secret to our success in Upstate New York is that we’ve built a multi-faceted ecosystem. Perhaps she’d then understand that doing harm to anyone of these civic institutions is a threat to all of them and to our quality of life as well as our economic sustainability.

During my testimony, I veered from the text that I had prepared. “If you look at the tie I’m wearing today, it is a horse tie purchased a Dark Horse of Saratoga,” I told the committee. “If you were to call my cell phone right now, you’d hear my ring tone which is the Call to Post. I’m probably the only Chamber President in the country where this all makes sense. But this speaks to just how important this industry is to Saratoga.” Our story is important. She needs to come see and hear it.