Prominent members of the Cayuga County business community will sit down and swap ideas and suggestions this week with students in the Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!) at Cayuga Community College.
Designed to help the middle and high school students in YEA! learn from successful local business leaders, the CEO Roundtable promises to provide students with essential advice and experience. The students, all hailing from local school districts, are preparing to start their own businesses in the spring as part of the 30-week entrepreneurial academy.
The CEO Roundtable, which is open to the public, is 5:30 p.m. Thursday, March 5, 2020, in the Student Lounge on Cayuga’s Auburn Campus. LOCATE Finger Lakes, which provided full $1,000 scholarships for the students, organized the event.
“The greater Cayuga County business community is filled with bright, successful leaders with plenty of experience, and we appreciate our CEOs meeting with the YEA! students,” said former New York State Senator and Chairman of the LOCATE Finger Lakes Board of Directors Mike Nozzolio. “I applaud Cayuga Community College President Dr. Brian Durant for his vision in recognizing the incredible potential of YEA!, and I thank Lyons National Bank Chairman of the Board and CEO Bob Schick for sponsoring our YEA! program.”
“We thank Senator Mike Nozzolio and LOCATE Finger Lakes for sponsoring our YEA! students, and we deeply appreciate the local business leaders who are taking the time to meet with our students this week,” said Dr. Durant. “I’m sure their wisdom and advice will help our students as they launch their first businesses.”
Business leaders joining the YEA! students for the roundtable are:
Emcee is Bruce Sherman, Director of Development for Sessler Wrecking Inc., who previously served as Economic Development Specialist for the Cayuga County Development Agency;
Paul Lattimore Jr., President of the Paul L. Lattimore Jr. Agency and a local business leader for more than 50 years;
Joseph Calarco, Regional Sales Coordinator for AFLAC Insurance and an active community member;
Jerry Goodenough, Vice President of Development for Heorot Power;
Richard Ward, a Certified Public Accountant with Cuddy & Ward.
The business panel will exchange ideas with students who have worked since October to research and start their own business through the YEA! program. This spring students will pitch their ideas to potential investors for start-up funding and formally launch their own enterprises.
Since 2004 YEA! has helped students build entrepreneurial skills by working with instructors and local business leaders. Students design their own proposal, conduct market research, write a business plan and present the plan to investors for potential funding.
YEA! graduates have launched more than 6,000 enterprises, and have been featured in The New York Times, CNN, USA TODAY and the business TV show “Shark Tank.”
For more information about YEA! at Cayuga, contact Program Manager Pam Heleen at Pamela.Heleen@cayuga-cc.edu.