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AGENDA
Q2 2013
POWER POINTS
Shine a (Cheaper) Light
THERE’S NOTHING BETTER FOR BUSINESSES THAN SAVING green. And there’s no better way of saving it than going green. Con Edison’s Small Business Direct Installation Program (SBDI) can help you do just that. How does the program work? According
to Paul Lippolis, green project manager at Pelham-based Lippolis Electric, Inc., one of only three contractors in the County involved
in the program, a participating contractor comes to your business
and performs a free energy survey to determine whether or not your lighting is efficient. If it’s not, the contractor can completely replace your business’s lighting with flourescent bulbs that use almost half the wattage of regular bulbs (for example, 28 watts versus 40 watts for a four-foot bulb). The contractor can also install electronic ballasts, de- vices that can further reduce the wattages those bulbs use. And that small change can lead to more change in your business’ pocket. On av- erage, businesses save about 30 percent on their electric bill, accord- ing to Lippolis. Even better: Businesses that upgrade through the SBDI are only on the hook for 30 percent of the cost of the upgrade; Con Ed will pay the other 70 percent. That translates to a return on investment in about six months to a year on average, says Lippolis.
—Scott Simone
POWER POINTS
Westchester Online
The County Center holds a one-day Westchester Digital Summit to bring together professionals.
THIS SPRING, THE WESTCHESTER COUNTY
Center in White Plains will be transformed from a
convention center into a technological melting pot
when it hosts the first Westchester Digital Summit, a
one-day, “hardcore” tidal wave of information about
all things digital, according to Chappaqua resident
Chris Dessi, the brains behind the event. “I had read
about the Long Island Digital Summit, and I thought
it was a great idea,” says Dessi, CEO of White Plains-
based social media marketing firm Silverback Social.
“I had run little tutorial-type summits with my former business partner in Westchester, but there was always interest in doing something [more].”
Dessi, who started Silverback in 2012, has worked in digital media for
the last 13 years. Passionate about the rapidly evolving digital world, he saw a need for businesses to learn how to use the changing digital environment
to their advantage. “My goal is to have local businesses be exposed to all the national digital minds that I’ve been lucky enough to encounter throughout my career,” he says. “I want people’s heads to be spinning when they leave the event and be like, ‘Oh my God, I just learned so much and I have so much to think about. I can’t wait to run back to my desk to tell everybody about it.’”
The summit began to take shape this past fall, when Dessi spoke to John Zanzarella of Ossining’s Zanzarella Marketing Consultants about the prospect of teaming up on the event. “The first week, we got 67 applicants for speakers, which was unheard of,” Dessi says. The event, which will run from 10 am to 6 pm, will include panel discussions, smaller group sessions, booths with ven- dors, and a keynote speech from Gary Vaynerchuk, a bestselling author and owner of online marketing firm VaynerMedia in Manhattan, as well as other speakers and panelists. Topics of discussion will include social media advertis-
ing, email marketing for small businesses, and application development.
“We’re looking at a broad swath of interesting media personalities,” says Dessi, though the demographic is “anyone doing
are $215 for general admission, with group and student rates available. Dessi adds that he wants to turn the summit into a biannual event, held once in the spring and once in the fall. “Why not make
Coffee Break With...
Bill McGrath
Pace University's Bill McGrath is leading one of the region's biggest construction projects.
14
Westchester a digital hub in the country?” he says.
—Matt Spillane
th
which will accommodate up to 3,000 people,
As senior vice president
and chief administrative officer of Pace University, Bill McGrath was one of the major forces behind the green-mind- ed expansion plan that Pace’s Pleasantville campus is set to begin this summer. The first phase of the two-phased project, which corresponds with the 50th anniversary of the Pleasantville campus, is slated to take three years and cost up to $150 mil- lion to complete and will result
in the transfer of all functions and students from the soon-to- be-shuttered Briarcliff campus. We spoke with McGrath about why he chose education for his second career, why it’s important to go green, and what changes students can expect.
When and why did you join Pace?
I joined Pace in 2007. I had worked at Con Edison for the prior 30 years and was seeking a second career where I could make a contribution to a
cause that’s important to me. Education had a dramatic impact on my life. My generation was the first in my family to go to college. In getting an under- graduate and a graduate degree, I was able to start as a blue- collar meter reader and retire as a regional vice president. Pace
is a school where a lot of our students are the first generation in their family to go to college. So it’s a place where I thought I could very much make a differ- ence for people who are very much like myself.
What are the expansion’s key goals?
One is to combine the Briarcliff and Pleasantville campuses. We have close to 600 students who reside in Briarcliff who take the shuttle back and forth. We have roughly 3,000 bus trips back and forth per year. So we’re building enough residence hall capacity to replace everything in Briarcliff on the Pleasantville campus. Having the students split, it’s hard to have activi-
ties that appeal to everyone. College is much more about 24-hour learning experiences than it was 20 years ago. We’re also going to have a strong, beautiful system of pedestrian pathways. In terms of the athlet-
ics program, we’re going to be converting our football field to turf. Rather than being solely a football field, it’ll be multi-use. We’re putting in bleachers for over 2,000 spectators. We’re adding women’s lacrosse and field hockey. We’re also going to convert the baseball field to turf and add lighting. We have a softball team and they play over in Briarcliff, so we’re going to build a softball field.
What about the project is going to be green?
We plan on planting 1,200 trees, and we want to provide a variety of species that are compatible with the habitat. About 60 per- cent of the campus is wooded, and it’ll stay that way. We’re going to be getting the majority of the envelope building com- ponents from within 500 miles of the campus, and we’ll use as much recycled materials as we can. We will have windows that will keep the use of energy low, bicycle storage for students, wa- ter conservation units, and more.
When will this all be done?
We still have other regulatory hearings, but we’re on track to get shovels in the ground by August. Then we would have all of the first phase, which is the new residence halls and the athletics fields, done by fall 2016, which would allow us to be completely out of the Briarcliff campus.
Are there any programmatic expansions in the works?
One of the things we’re re-
ally good at providing is that experiential-learning compo- nent. We’re one of the top 10 schools in the nation according to US News & World Report, and we’re going to increase that even further.
What do you see as Pace’s future?
I think that our future is very
tied to our strong history. This
is going to be one of the top residential suburban campuses in the region. It’s going to be increasingly known for preparing students for careers. Our athlet- ics programs are going to be improving dramatically. And our students will improve as a result of these changes.
—Ben Brody
business.” Tickets for the May 14
summit,