SARATOGA SPRINGS — You can find him standing behind the barber’s chair, five days a week, inside of the red brick building on Washington Street where the front door entryway is flanked by the spinning red, white and blue colors of a barber pole, and a flat metal sign that tells you you’ve arrived at Larry’s Barbershop. 

It is a station where he has stood for more than 50 of his 77 years, and since the year The Beatles broke up, since actor George C. Scott played U.S. General George Patton on the silver screen, when a gallon of gas set you back thirty-six cents. 

“I worked in Glenville when I first started, then I came up to Saratoga and bought the barber shop on Van Dam Street from Tom McTygue,” Jenks recalls. “There was about 10 years there, 20 years across the street from Wendy’s where the hospital property is now, and then I came over here, about 20 years ago.”   

He was born in Corinth grew up in his mother’s native village of Ballston Spa, and after high school joined the Navy where he was stationed on an aircraft carrier overseas during the 1960s. He came home and secured a job with GE working in the turbine business when he made the career shift. 

“My wife was a beautician, and I was working at GE when she suggested, ‘Why don’t you try barber-ing.’”  He went to barber school in Schenectady and that was that. 

“Back then, the young men had long hair, but there was always a certain amount that had traditional haircuts,” he muses. “The styles change, but other than a term, they come back to be the same as they always were.” 

He has had longtime customers over several decades and has watched a generation of local kids grow up and have their own kids. 

What’s most surprising? “You’ll be talking to a group of young men and realize that they’ve never been in a barber shop before, because they’d always gone to a salon. College kids especially. Salons for years now have done men and women,” Jenks points out. “The barber shop caters to men, whereas the salons cater to both.”    

There is also the traditional barber’s pole out front. “Oh yeah, that’s how we’ve always been identified.”  The history books teach that the red, white and blue identifier dates back several centuries to a time of the barber-surgeons – when haircutting was offered in addition to medical procedures performed. 

Like most businesses, the era of COVID has been difficult.  “There’s no hollering back and forth like it usually is, because of the virus. Now it’s pretty subdued,” he says, gesturing to a board that hangs on the outside of the front door where people sign one at a time, and noting capacity restrictions in line with safety protocols.  “We’re very careful with masking and sanitizing and only one person per,” he says. The business was temporarily shuttered last year until hair salons and barber shops were allowed to re-open. Those first few weeks were exceptionally busy, with many in need of attention to their hair. Overall, he estimates there has been about a 60% loss of business compared to the time before the pandemic. 

Jenks says if he hadn’t gone into the barber shop business, he most likely would have stayed at GE. 

“I probably would have retired a long time ago,” he says, with a laugh. Someday, he will retire. “I don’t think about it, but I will someday, probably sooner than later for sure.”

For more on Larry’s Barber shop visit https://www.bestprosintown.com/ny/saratoga-springs/larrys-barber-shop

SARATOGA SPRINGS ­— Ferraro, Amodio & Zarecki, CPAs (FAZ) announced the addition of Duff W. Driscoll, CPA/ABV as Director in its Business Valuation Group. 

Driscoll is a Certified Public Accountant with over 35 years of public accounting experience, including several years with Big 4 firm, Ernst and Young. 

Having specialized in valuation and litigation support services for over 25 years, he has participated in more than 600 litigation cases performing valuations and/or economic damage assessments and ancillary services. Valuation subjects have included closely held businesses, professional practices, licenses and pension plan benefits for use in domestic relations and shareholder dispute cases. His economic damage assessments have been performed in connection with matters that include, but are not limited to, business interruption, breach of contract, fraud, professional malpractice, and personal injury claims. 

In addition, he has participated in more than 400 independent business, professional practice license, and pension benefit valuations for a variety of purposes including litigation, mergers and acquisitions, buy and sell transactions, and estate and gift tax matters. 

Driscoll is qualified as a financial expert and has provided in-court testimony in support of his valuation and other economic findings and opinions in New York State Supreme Court in several different counties, U.S. District Court, New York State’s Court of Claims and in New York and Vermont Family Courts. 

Ferraro, Amodio & Zarecki, CPAs, are located on Division Street in Saratoga Springs. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Michael J. Toohey has been elected chairperson of the Saratoga Hospital board of trustees. 

“Our hospital and the Saratoga region benefit enormously from Mike Toohey’ s leadership, experience and perspective, especially during these uniquely challenging times,” Saratoga Hospital President and CEO Angelo Calbone said. 

The prominent attorney and community leader has served on the board since 2013, most recently as vice chairperson. He also is a member of the board of directors of Albany Medical Center, Saratoga Hospital’s affiliate in the Albany Med Health System.

Joining Toohey on the executive committee of the Saratoga Hospital board are Theresa M. Skaine, vice chairperson; N. Keith Stewart, treasurer; and Heather M. Ward, secretary.

Toohey recently retired after more than 45 years with the Law Offices of Snyder, Kiley, Toohey, Corbett & Cox, where he earned a reputation for his expertise in land use, planning, project financing and industrial development. As the author of Planned Unit Development legislation for cities and towns throughout Saratoga County, Toohey has shaped land use and development across the region. 

In addition to the hospital boards, the longtime Saratoga Springs resident currently serves on the board of the Double H Hole in the Woods Ranch. He was past president of the boards of the Saratoga Springs City Center Authority, the Saratoga County YMCA, the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce, the Saratoga Springs Rotary Club, and the Saratoga Springs Friendly Sons of St. Patrick. He also served on the boards of Catholic Charities of Saratoga, Warren and Washington Counties and the Historical Society of Saratoga Springs. He has earned local, state and international recognition for his professional and civic contributions.

Other Saratoga Hospital trustees are Angelo G. Calbone, Saratoga Hospital president and CEO; Raimundo C. Archibold Jr.; David J. Collins; Kari P. Cushing; Susan Law Dake; Dr. Kevin Dooley; Judith A. Ekman; Dr. Steven M. Frisch; Michael H. Iacolucci; Frank L. Messa; Dr. Marianne A. Mustafa; Alan C. Oppenheim; Elizabeth Wood Pustolka; J. Thomas Roohan and Janice M. White.

Saratoga Hospital Medical Group provides care at more than 20 locations. The hospital is an affiliate of the Albany Med Health System, which also includes Albany Med, Columbia Memorial Health and Glens Falls Hospital. For more information: www.saratogahospital.org or www.facebook.com/SaratogaHospital.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Saratoga National Bank and Trust Company has announced that Lisa Wichelns has joined the bank as Branch Manager of the West Avenue Office in Saratoga Springs.

In her role as Branch Manager, Wichelns will oversee operations and develop banking relationships for the West Avenue branch. She brings 10 years of financial services experience to Saratoga National, most recently in mortgage lending and previously in bank management. 

Wichelns is a graduate of the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce Executive Institute and is a former board member of the Stillwater Community Center. She is originally from Albany and currently lives in Stillwater. 

Part of the Arrow Family of Companies, Saratoga National Bank and Trust Company provides banking, wealth management and insurance through 12 locations across the Capital Region. Saratoga National Bank is rated a 5-Star Superior institution by BauerFinancial. To learn more, visit saratoganational.com.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Continuum Wealth Advisors was established in 2010 by Timothy Smith with the goal of providing more than just investment management. 

With comprehensive planning in mind, Smith started the firm with a belief that all investors, not just the wealthy, deserve access to personalized, comprehensive financial planning and investment advice. 

“The goal is comprehensive planning,” said Stephen Cutting, CPA, who recently joined the firm as vice president Investment Advisory Services. “In addition to investment management, there’s the estate planning, the tax planning and preparation and insurance. Typically, someone might go out and hire an investment management firm to manage their assets, but that’s all they do. They don’t have the expertise, they don’t have a staff with a CPA, with a CSA, with investment advisors that can provide the full-fledged comprehensive retirement planning, estate planning, tax planning and preparation,” Cutting said.  “That’s what sets us apart. We’re a small boutique firm, but we’re comprehensive with the services we provide.”         

Cutting was recently hired to join Continuum Wealth Advisors in Saratoga Springs, as was David Rath, CFA as director Portfolio Strategies.  Both Cutting and Rath were most recently members of the senior wealth management team at Bouchey Financial Group. The two hires exponentially increase the scope and depth of services that Continuum offers, Smith said. 

“In my role, I strive to provide the optimal client experience by offering technical knowledge while avoiding Wall Street jargon while communicating with clients,” Rath said. “What really excites me about Continuum is the convenience for clients of having everything under one roof when traditionally there would be four separate appointments to handle their finances.”

As a CPA, Cutting leads and manages the tax planning and preparation services of the firm, which are offered to clients. “We work with our clients, getting to know them beyond their finances, designing and providing them with a wealth management strategy that integrates investments, taxes, estate planning, trust and insurance solutions,” Cutting said.  “We can be a one-stop shop for people in need of financial tax and estate planning services. 

“We truly believe that each client, no matter the size of the assets, deserves high quality financial planning – it’s not just for the millionaires.”

Continuum Wealth Advisors, LLC, is located at 18 Division St., Saratoga Springs. For more information, go to: contwealth.com.

ALBANY — Capital Region native, and persons with disabilities activist, John Robinson, CEO of Our Ability, with collaboration from Syracuse University iSchool and BlueGranite, Inc., has developed a chatbot to help persons with disabilities update their professional profiles to gain access to jobs that are better suited to their abilities, called Jobs Ability. The website launched last month. 

According to a report by the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2019, only 19.3 percent of persons with disabilities were employed. These statistics have increased since the pandemic. However, a report by Accenture, found that if the number of people with disabilities in the labor force grew just 1 percent, the nation’s gross domestic product could expand by as much as $25 billion. 

“Before the development of our chatbot, certain professional networking sites would enable you to create a button to let potential employers know that the applicant has a disability,” said John Robinson, CEO of Our Ability, “but I wanted people to be able to build their profiles based on abilities, as a pathway to employment through technology.” 

An alumnus of Syracuse University, Robinson knew that the iSchool had the same passion to execute his idea. The iSchool is home to the iConsult Collaborative at Syracuse University, an experiential learning program that deploys teams of student volunteers to provide community partners with transformative information technology. Art Thomas, the iSchool’s Associate Dean for Career Services and Experiential Learning and Director of the iConsult Collaborative, first met with Robinson in the summer of 2018 to plan how to engage an iConsult team in designing the technical solution for his idea. 

BlueGranite, Inc., is the engine that created the digital path from Robinson’s idea to the iSchool’s technology. 

The process is driven by artificial intelligence; it’s a chatbot on the front end of the site enabling users to build a profile towards employment. It will ask all of the normal questions about history and preferences, but then also ask about skills and disabilities for those who are more disabled. It becomes more than just a profile; it’s the culmination of hundreds of skill questions to ensure that someone is considered as more than just a work history. 

To learn more about Our Ability and Jobs Ability, visit www.ourability.com.

SARATOGA SPRINGS —Saratoga Bariatric Surgery and Weight-Loss Program, a service of Saratoga Hospital, has once again been awarded the Blue Distinction Center designation as part of the Blue Distinction Specialty Care program.

The designation, from BlueShield of Northeastern New York, is reserved for nationally accredited bariatric surgery programs that meet rigorous, objective standards for quality of care, patient safety and outcomes.

“Our Blue Distinction status is a source of pride for everyone on our team,” said Dmitri V. Baranov, MD, PhD, FACS, Medical Director of Saratoga Bariatric Surgery and Weight-Loss Program. “Even more important is the message our Blue Distinction designation delivers to our patients—that they can count on us for the highest quality care and the best possible outcomes throughout their weight-loss journey.”

Bariatric surgeries are among the most common elective surgeries in the U.S.—and the most effective treatment for severely obese patients. These procedures allow patients to achieve substantial, sustained weight loss. That, in turn, can improve or resolve serious obesity-related conditions, such as type 2 diabetes.

For more information about the Blue Distinction program and a list of designated facilities, visit www.bcbs.com/bluedistinction.

CLIFTON PARK — A local attorney and a retired chief information security officer for NY State have joined forces to form a new company aimed at protecting small and medium-sized local businesses from cyber-attacks. 

“What I tell people all the time is that it’s not if you’re going to be hacked, it’s when you’re going to be hacked,” says Rick Cobello, who along with Jacqueline Goralczyk have formed Global Cybersecurity Solutions.       

“There are a lot of large businesses that have cyber security programs. But if you’re a small business or a medium business with under 100 employees, if you get hacked or you get information taken, most likely you’re done, because you don’t have the resources to withstand something like that. What we do is offer those same services that the large companies get to smaller companies, but not for the large company price,” he says. 

Originally from Niagara Falls, Cobello relocated to this region in 1974. “I helped start the high school hockey team and I was the first technology director for the Saratoga School District. That was at the beginning of Apple computers. It was rudimentary at best,” says Cobello, who has more than 30 years of experience in enterprise technology and security solutions in a career that includes local and state governments to Fortune 500 companies. He is also professor of Supply Chains and Cyber Security program at Albany Law. 

A focus on data privacy and cybersecurity by partner Jacqueline Goralczyk, Esq., stems from her legal practice in banking and real estate. Goralczyk got her start at the law firm of Ianniello Anderson, P.C. in Clifton Park, where she worked closely with the partners and administration to grow and enhance their focus on security and privacy. 

“Since part of the roots of this company have come out of the law firm, the strategy we’re going to identify is risk. So, it’s not just: you need new computers, or you need hardware, technology. It’s going to be you have these risks that you need to satisfy because your business is vulnerable. Here are your risks and here’s how you can fix them,” Cobello says. 

The process includes evaluating informational, physical and technological security for small and medium sized businesses, deciding what needs to be remediated and creating a plan. Businesses also receive a cyber security playbook. “That will outline what we did, how we did it and what they need to do in the future.” 

For more information go to: globalcybersecuritysolutionsllc.com. 

With every New Year, the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce thanks the outgoing volunteer Chair of the Board for their service to our Chamber and the community. We then simultaneously recognize and celebrate the new volunteer Chair who takes on this role. So today, I want to thank Kevin Hedley, of Hedley and Company, for his extraordinary leadership in 2020. I also want to recognize Skip Carlson, of the Saratoga Casino Hotel, who is now the Chair of the Chamber’s Board, a leadership role that will span all of 2021.

I’d like to think that Skip Carlson’s year will be simpler than Kevin Hedley’s. I suspect we all hope that 2021 will be better than 2020. I, for one, believe that 2020 might have been the Chamber’s finest hour. When faced with a pandemic, we moved immediately to help everyone ­— members and non-member. We joined forces with Discover Saratoga, the DBA, Prosperity Partnership and the City Center to help everyone. We relentlessly communicated via email and social media to share the most important local information we had about loans, reopening protocols, special promotions, health metrics, and how everyone could help save our locals.

Looking forward, Skip Carlson asked the 27 volunteers who will serve on the Chamber’s Board of Directors to take a brief survey. We asked these leaders that represent small and large businesses, nonprofits and educational institutions, to rate what we had done in 2020 and to suggest what new initiatives should be added for this year. From this survey, we developed this list of five goals to help guide our work this year:

1. Get as many Saratoga County residents vaccinated as possible. This may seems like a strange goal for a predominantly business focused organization. The reality, however, is that until we achieve some form of herd immunity that many of our local businesses will remain closed or substantially restricted. We started work right after New Year’s on this goal. First, we were a visible and vocal advocate for local vaccination sites across Saratoga County and for a mass vaccination site at the Saratoga Springs City Center. To get people vaccinated, we need local sites and a place in Saratoga where we can do them in bulk. Second, we will soon announce a new partnership to help people celebrate getting the vaccination shot and hopefully inspiring others to follow their lead.

2. Relentless communication to share timely, locally focused, useful information to those in our email database and those who follow us on social media. Last year under Kevin Hedley’s leadership, there were times where we sent an email every day to everyone in our database. Nearly 500,000 people opened one or more of our emails in 2020. The number of emails opened — which means they were read — was ten times higher than in 2019. You know an email is valuable if the email open rate is high. Our open rate skyrocketed in 2020.

3. Promote. Promote Promote. We’re going to continue to promote locally all businesses and nonprofits in Saratoga County as long as they need help. We’re going to expand our promotion of all of the Villages, Towns, and Cities across Saratoga County and beyond. We’ll also ready to promote Saratoga County as a great place to visit, to live, to work as well as to start, grow or expand your business.

4. SAVE OUR LOCALS – This campaign has worked. Look us up on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. We’re promoting locally owned businesses via social media every day. In any given week on Facebook alone, we’re doing 75 to 100 individual posts. We’re boosting many of them to expand the reach to even more prospective customers or clients. Local businesses that need more than just promotion can also access free small business counseling via SCORE. You can also call or email the Chamber to share whatever it is you need or to ask any question. We’ll do our best to respond with the best information or ideas we have.

5. Personal, impactful outreach. In 2020, we delivered recovery kits filled with PPE as businesses reopened. We distributed posters this past year that said “Stronger Together” and pumpkins etched with our Save Our Locals logo. We continue to distribute posters reminding people to “Mask Up.” As employees at local businesses and nonprofits get vaccinated, we will be distributing posters that will say #IGotTheShot. We hope you will see these everywhere. It will be a sign that we are all stronger together and that healthier more prosperous days are ahead of us.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — After 42 years of helping his patients recover from aches and pains, physical therapist Anthony DeMatteo has retired from the practice he founded – Saratoga Physical Therapy Associates – to focus on family and fun. 

DeMatteo leaves the practice in the hands of his long-time partners, Michael Cudahy, PT, in Saratoga Springs, and Matthew O’Neil, PT, in Malta, as well as other clinicians and staff associated with SPTA who work in both locations. 

DeMatteo established the first private PT practice outside the hospital in Saratoga and has been such an icon in the field that people would refer to “going to Tony” as a synonym for “going to PT.” 

A city of Saratoga Springs native who graduated from Saratoga Springs High School in 1974, DeMatteo, who will be 65 years old this year, played many sports as a student. He learned about PT the hard way, as a young patient, after serious baseball and football injuries. “I enjoyed helping people, I enjoyed sports, and I was thinking about a career, so I knew from the time I was in high school that I wanted to be a physical therapist,” he recalls, citing the time he broke his hip playing baseball, which put him in the hospital for several weeks, as a turning point.

For now, he’s going to get vaccinated and continue to work per diem for SPTA, and, in fact, has found a reason to go into the office every day since his official retirement, the last day of 2020. “I can’t wait to get back to life like it was pre-pandemic,” he says. “Meanwhile, I suggest that people don’t let their guard down, find safe ways to stay busy, and stay strong.”