Category Archives: Business News

By Andrea Harwood Palmer

Death Wish Coffee Co. has added a vice president of supply chain to its staff as the company continues to grow. 

Jason Mazzotti joins the Saratoga County business from GlobalFoundries, where he led global materials procurement. He will be in charge of the manufacturing plant, working closely with the warehouse team.

The hire was part of three new positions created in the company. Death Wish promoted former wholesale director Eric Donovan to vice president of business development, and former human resources director Lindsey Speech to vice president of talent & culture.

By Andrea Harwood Palmer

OrbitalFire, a managed security service provider headquartered in Queensbury, launched a  new service platform in early June. It is designed to help small businesses.

“OrbitalFire provides cybersecurity solutions specially designed for small and medium-sized businesses, including regulatory compliance, risk management, assessment, training, security monitoring and other services that have traditionally been available only to enterprises,” according to CEO Reg Harnish.

“Cybersecurity is confusing for most businesses—they don’t know where to start. Our goal at OrbitalFire is to redefine cybersecurity for small businesses. Your small to medium business doesn’t look like Target, or Walmart, or Boeing. So you shouldn’t think about cybersecurity in the same way they do,” he said.

By Susan E. Campbell

Shepherd Communication & Security, an electronic security and structured wiring integrator, is helping client companies stop coronavirus “at the front door” by offering thermal cameras it says that screen people for elevated body temperature before they step into a business.

“Thermal imaging is a fairly mature technology that came out of the military 45 years ago,” said Richard Ruzzo, managing partner, who founded the company with Robert Guillerault in 2007. “Infrared thermal imaging today has a broad variety of medical applications for screening and diagnosing a patient in real time.”

Ruzzo said elevated body temperature  levels (EBT ) are being captured extensively with cameras and scanners by first responders during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“EBT is highly correlated with sickness,” he said. “Identifying individuals with EBT as an early warning can dramatically slow the spread of viruses and infections,” he said.

For the first time in its 53-year history, Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) has   canceled its 2020 classical music and ballet season.

This includes SPAC’s summer resident companies New York City Ballet, The Philadelphia Orchestra and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, as well as “Not Our First Goat Rodeo” featuring Yo-Yo Ma, and “SPAC on Stage.”

SPAC, along with its board of directors, made the decision to suspend its programming this summer in recognition of the continued threat to health and safety caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

By Andrea Harwood Palmer

Business Network International, known as BNI, has revamped its networking approach in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The group, which has chapters in Saratoga and Warren counties, refers to the transition as a “brand refresh.”

The international organization has more than 9,500 chapters worldwide. Eleven of these are in the Albany and surrounding region.

Attorney Kim Salerno, of Salerno Law, is the president of the Saratoga Winners Circle chapter in Saratoga Springs. It continues to meet weekly online via Zoom, to network and pass introductions and referrals to members. She has been part of the group for nine years.

“I was impressed with how quickly BNI put together an entire Zoom platform. They also put together a Power Point for our group to use. I’m not that tech savvy, so I was nervous at first because I was the one who would have to run the Zoom meeting for 34 people. But it’s been working out very well,” said Salerno.