Category Archives: Business News

The Wesley Community announced a series of management promotions among its senior leadership team. 

Katie Lahoff was named chief financial officer, Katelynn Ethier was appointed executive director of The Wesley Foundation and Greg Dixon was promoted to chief development and marketing officer. 

In addition, Heather Roselan was hired as director of assisted living at Woodlawn Commons.

“We are pleased to announce the promotions of these exceptional individuals to their new leadership roles at The Wesley Community,” said J. Brian Nealon, CEO of The Wesley Community. “It is always a source of great pride when our existing leadership team members advance with us in their careers. Additionally, we remain committed to identifying and recruiting new talent as we embrace the future of senior care.”

Lahoff began her career at Wesley in 2006 as controller before being promoted to director of finance in 2018 and charged with overseeing all business office operations. In her new role as CFO, Lahoff will expand her oversight of business office operations to include admissions to The Wesley Health Care Center.

“Working for a mission-driven organization has given my career more meaning and purpose. The compassion Wesley provides to our residents, their families and our staff makes me proud to be part of a community that cares for all who walk through our doors,” said Lahoff.

Ethier joined The Wesley Community in 2016 as a foundation assistant. She earned a series of promotions beginning in 2017 to marketing and advancement associate, development manager in 2018 and assistant director of The Wesley Foundation in 2021. During her tenure as assistant director, Ethier led The Wesley Foundation’s event series and oversaw its grant program. 

In her new role as executive director of The Wesley Foundation, she will work with Wesley’s Senior Management team and the foundation’s board of directors to generate funding to enhance the lives of Wesley’s residents and clients.

By Paul Post

Cohoes-based Prime Companies has a project approved in Saratoga Springs and is waiting for the stars to align, financially speaking, before going ahead with construction.

That’s the firm’s strategy for a proposed upscale apartment and townhouse complex to be called Saratoga Station Square on the south side of Station Lane, off West Avenue, in Saratoga Springs, near the Amtrak station.

Plans call for a 2024 construction start on four, four-story apartment buildings with 338 units, 48 townhouses, a 376-space underground parking garage and amenities such as a saltwater swimming pool, outdoor fire pits, pizza ovens and kitchen, putting greens and bocce courts.

“Saratoga Springs is arguably the best place in Capital Region to live,” Prime Companies principal Dean Devito said. “It’s regularly voted one of the best small cities in America. When you get people coming in from out of town, deciding where to live, Saratoga constantly gets ranked as having the best quality of life.”

“Anybody who wants to take a train, you can just walk from the property and go to Montreal or New York City,” he said.

By Paul Post

The largest athletic competition in Lake Placid history—the World University Games—is coming to the north country on Jan. 12-22. It will have a large positive economic impact on the area, officials say.

There will be activities from Clarkson University, where some hockey games will be played, to Gore Mountain in North Creek, which is hosting free-style skiing and snowboarding competition.

About 2,500 athletes and coaches from 50 countries will take part, much more than the 1,072 competitors from 37 countries at the 1980 Winter Olympics.

The Lake George Regional Convention & Visitors Bureau said the Games are expected to generate about 3,700 hotel room nights, including some right in Lake George for activity taking place at Gore Mountain.

“It factors in not only athletes, but potential spectators who might be drawn here,” said Amanda Metzger, chamber marketing director. “It is an incredible opportunity to showcase North Creek and Gore and we look forward to welcoming these top athletes and helping spread the word about businesses that are open and all there is to do après-ski.”

The Games coincide with the already busy Martin Luther King Jr. holiday week, when many schools are on winter break, which should benefit area hotels, restaurants and retail shops considerably.

“It is definitely benefiting the local area, North Creek and surrounding towns,” said Julia Johnson, Gore Mountain marketing director.

All athletes competing at Gore Mountain will be housed and fed at a Lake George lodging establishment, which cannot be named for security reasons, Johnson said.

The health group aptihealth, a tech-driven behavioral healthcare provider built for higher acuity care based in Saratoga Springs, has named Tim Koehler as president and chief operating officer.

Koehler was chief operating officer at Bluestone Physician Services, where he spearheaded the company’s market expansion and transition from fee-for-service to value-based care, including the creation of Bluestone ACO. 

At Bluestone, Koehler built and led teams responsible for on-site medical care for high-risk patients living in residential care settings. As CEO and founder of Bluestone ACO, he created one of the highest performing ACO’s in the country when measured by savings per beneficiary.

Prior to Bluestone, Koehler spent nearly two decades at UnitedHealth Group (UHG), the 11th ranked company on the 2022 Fortune Global 500, in executive and management roles, the last of which was as president of the Diabetes Prevention and Control Alliance (DPCA). At DPCA, Koehler  lead development of the business model to support all core operational functions including call center, claims, eligibility, payments, network operations, fulfillment, capacity planning, product development and a proprietary technology platform. 

DPCA contracted with 27 UHC health plans and five non-UHC plans including three independent BCBS plans and over 350 self-funded employers.

By Christine Graf

After more than a decade spent working at the Dead Presidents Lounge in Albany, tattoo artist Krystal Ingram has opened her own studio in Ballston Lake.

Sans Souci Tattoo is located at 318 Ruhle Road South, just off Exit 11 of the Northway.

According to Ingram, she became interested in tattoos after her uncle got one when she was ten years old.

“I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen in my life. I became super fascinated by tattoos and the whole culture surrounding them. My parents were completely not into tattoos at all, and I think that’s what made me want to be a part of it even more.”

A graduate of Albany High School, Ingram received a B.F.A. in print making from SUNY New Paltz in 2011. Two weeks after graduating, she began working as an apprentice to a tattoo artist at the Dead Presidents Lounge. After two years as an apprentice, she began building her own client base.

“I always felt like I wanted something that I could call my own, and I wanted to build a community that I could call my own as well,” she said. “I also knew that it was a good idea from a business perspective. I don’t have a retirement plan, so I need to invest wisely.”

The Gene Haas Foundation recently awarded the local Employment Training for Adults (ETA) Machine Tool Technology program a grant to assist with student tuition and program needs.

ETA is affiliated with the Washington-Saratoga-Warren-Hamilton-Essex BOCES. The grant will help people enroll in the  Machine Tool Technology program and prepare themselves for a successful career. 

Dave Sharpe, local sales engineer with Allendale Machinery, recently presented the check to ETA instructor Jason Viele and Michelle Stockwell, administrator for adult programs.

Allendale Machinery Systems supplies manufacturing solutions for local businesses with a main product provided by Haas Automation, the largest supplier of American-made machine tools in the country. Both Allendale and Haas are big supporters of education.

“If you look around, you won’t see a product that didn’t have a machine tool involved in its creation,” Sharpe said. “For example, your toaster, refrigerator, or furnace all had machine tools making components or tooling. Medical products like the MRIs used in diagnosis are made locally. The list seems endless. The demand is behind the supply for trained people to operate the manufacturing equipment for industry.