Page 44 - 2020 Westchester Economic Development Guide

Emerging entrepreneurs receive top-notch coaching from established business professionals.
Professional Services Top-Notch Expertise
Talented local business leaders offer their time and expertise to the County’s next generation of young professionals.
A New Vision
and Mentorship
Westchester’s professional services sector, com- prising insurance, real estate, legal and other consultative services, accounts for 25 percent of Westchester’s workforce.
We caught up with the founders of two of Westchester’s leading profes- sional service organizations to discuss their companies and their experience with the Element 46 incubator.
STACEY COHEN
Founder, Co-Communications
Established in 1997, Co-Communications (www.cocommunications.com) is a full-service marketing communi- cations firm with offices in White Plains, NYC, and Hartford, CT. The agency serves local and national clients across diverse industries including real estate, education, hos- pitality, healthcare, non-profits and professional services. Representative
services include Branding, Public Relations, Social Media, Speaker Programs, Website Development, and Collateral Material Development.
Her experience with Element 46
“Element 46 is a very impressive pro- gram that offers tremendous benefits to start-ups — mentorship, peer-to- peer networking, programming re- sources and more. The mentors and mentees were highly curated, which was of great value to the start-ups. In essence, the mentees had their own personal board of directors — a group of individuals who had competencies in different areas and were selected based on the mentee’s needs (e.g., fi- nance, human resources, marketing). I have no doubt that Element 46 will have enormous impact on the success of these new ventures and advance the future economy in Westchester County and beyond.”
DOUG SINGER
Singer Law PLLC
Based in White Plains, Singer Law PLLC’s areas of practice include corpo- rate law (working with business own- ers, including women and minority business owners), social enterprise law (working with for-profit and not-for- profit entities), wills, trusts and estate planning, and planning and guardian- ship for individuals with special needs.
His experience with Element 46
“I was excited to have had the opportunity to use my experience in
corporate and social enterprise law to assist several startups with their growth within the structure provided by Element 46. Those companies told me that they benefitted from that assistance. But participation was also rewarding because my law firm is driven by its values: providing opportunities and serving under- served communities. In addition, I am privileged to serve on the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of The Business Council of Westchester and also as its general counsel. I feel that Element 46 is a great way to help grow innovative new or young busi- nesses and in doing so, encourage economic development and job cre- ation in Westchester County. For me, working with Element 46 provided for an extension of the values embod- ied in my firm and complemented my work with The Business Council.”
BANKING & FINANCIAL SECTOR
Currently employing more than 30,000 people, Westchester enjoys a thriving Financial Services sector, anchored by two global Fortune 500 companies: MasterCard and Morgan Stanley.
The County is also served by a host of community banks:
- People’s United Bank
- KeyBank
- The Westchester Bank
- Tompkins Mahopac Bank
- PCSB Bank
- Customers Bank
- Orange Bank and Trust Company - M&T Bank
- Community Capital New York
“An important reason for my service with The Business Council is because of its key role in helping to foster economic development and create jobs – critical elements for building strong communities.” –Doug Singer, Singer Law, PLLC
42
WESTCHESTER COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GUIDE