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BUSINESS JOURNALBUSINESS JOURNALVol. IX • No. 4 August 22, 2014 • $2.00

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THE LIST: SOUTHERN TIER CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE / 7

John G. Ullman: A financial-planning pioneer. Page 2.

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UHS Home Care anticipates growth as demand rises

BY NORMAN POLTENSONJOURNAL STAFF

JOHNSON CITY — UHS Home Care has settled into its new home, allowing it to centralize its operations and set the stage for future growth.

The home-health-care provider is now headquar-tered at 601 Riverside Drive in Johnson City, just off the Route 201 traffic circle. The parent organization, UHS, owns the building. UHS Home Care occupies 28,000 square feet of the 35,000 square feet available and moved to the new location

in May.“The move enabled us to

centralize our operations,” says Greg Rittenhouse, vice president and COO of UHS Home Care. “[Prior to the move] … we had mul-tiple locations in Endicott and Vestal, which made it difficult to deliver our ser-vices to patients scattered throughout a four-county region (Broome, Chenango, Delaware, and Tioga). This site features a spacious retail showroom, as well as offices for the health-care staff and plenty of parking.”

Rittenhouse is not think-ing just of the advantages of

See UHS, page 6BY NORMAN POLTENSONJOURNAL STAFF

Success comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it. — A sign posted in Ryan Brooks’ office.

ONEONTA — Brooks Bottling Co. just took delivery of a new bottling line. The machinery should be in-stalled and operational by the end of August.

Driving this latest capital invest-ment is consumer demand for new sauces and marinades. The Mintel Group, a global market-research

provider, is forecasting an annual growth rate of 3 percent for most sauces. Five-year projections by IBIS World, an industry market-research organization, indicate that demand for hot sauces will grow annually at a 9.3 percent rate. Insistence on product versatility by millennial or Generation-Y consumers is a major factor propelling the “dip, sauce, and dressing category.”

Ryan Brooks, the managing mem-ber of Brooks Bottling Co., LLC and president of its sister company, Brooks’ House of Bar-B-Q, Inc., both located on State Highway 7, just east

of Oneonta, is well-positioned to take advantage of the industry’s growth. The company already produces and bottles 16 liquid proprietary sauces, rubs, and marinades and is introduc-ing two more designed for profes-sional kitchens.

Currently, Brooks Bottling ships six to eight pallets weekly of its own sauces and another 10 pallets as a co-packager (contract manufacturer) for 300 private-label brands located from Vermont to Arizona. “An average pallet contains 1,440 bottles, which [translates] … into 23,000 to 26,000 bottles a week,” says Brooks.

“Not bad for a company that used to cook its batches in 3-gallon con-tainers and bottle by hand. We didn’t

NORMAN POLTENSON/THE GREATER BINGHAMTON BUSINESS JOURNAL

See BROOKS, page 4

Brooks’ Bar-B-Q is hot

Ryan Brooks, president of Brooks’ House of Bar-B-Q and Brooks’ Bottling Co., stands next to a 1951 truck his father bought to mark the year the com-pany opened its catering operation.

Greg Rittenhouse, vice presi-dent and COO of UHS Home Care, stands in the show-room of Professional Home Care, one of its agencies.

NORMAN POLTENSON/TGBBJ

Mud Is Our Bud: Obstacle events, Mud Runs gain in popularity. Page 8.

2 • The Greater Binghamton Business Journal August 22, 2014

TGBBJ BRIEFS

Binghamton design busi-ness, Idea Kraft, formally opens renovated office in Lackawanna Train Station

BINGHAMTON — The contempo-rary design business, Idea Kraft, for-mally opened its new office at the former Lackawanna Train Station property Aug. 11 with a Greater Binghamton Chamber of Commerce ribbon-cutting and grand-opening ceremony.

Ewelina Zajac-Holdrege, owner and creative director of Idea Kraft, moved her contemporary design business to the his-toric train station in October 2013, but just recently completed all interior design work, according to a news release issued before the grand opening.

Idea Kraft specializes in branding, iden-tity, surface design, packaging, and website design. The business has a diverse client base that includes Fortune 500 companies as well as local startups, the release stated.

“By opening an office in the historic Lackawanna Train Station, we are paying homage to the history of the city and look forward to playing a role in re-energizing the economy. We are thrilled to be a part of the revitalization of downtown Binghamton,” Zajac-Holdrege said in the release.

News of note for and about Greater Binghamton businesses

email your company newsto news@tgbbj.com

John G. Ullman: Financial-planning pioneerBy NormaN PolteNsoN

Journal Staff

CORNING — Flash back to 1978. The financial landscape was clearly delineated. Bankers collected deposits and made loans, insurance companies sold property and life policies, accountants conducted audits and filed tax returns, stockbrokers bought and sold stocks and bonds, and attorneys created trusts to preserve accumulated wealth. Someone seeking financial plan-ning had to assemble a gaggle of advisors to create a plan.

On Aug. 28 of that year, a 30-year-old finan-cial visionary, operating from his apartment with one manual and one electric typewriter and driving to his clients in a ’68 Firebird, opened John G. Ullman & Associates, Inc. (JGUA). The firm’s eponymous president had an idea to offer comprehensive fi-nancial planning by assembling a team of specialists in one location. But organizing a team with a range of skills was only part of the concept. John G. Ullman saw himself, and still sees himself, as a “country doctor” offering financial prescriptions not only to his clients but also to their families, and being on-call whenever needed.

From one employee whose first office was the size of a walk-in closet (monthly rent was $35.50), Ullman has grown his firm to 55 employees. “Headquarters is housed in five buildings covering more than 12,000 [square] feet, four of which are contiguous and three of which the firm owns, in downtown Corning, and the enter-prise includes an office in Rhinebeck and an affiliate office in Rochester,” says the company president. “Our staff of specialists includes nine MBAs, 17 CFPs (certified financial planners), three CFAs (chartered financial analysts), five CPAs, and five at-torneys. We service 1,180 client families living in 42 states and eight countries … The company has 60 shareholders.” The Business Journal News Network estimates the business generates annual revenue of about $15 million.

Ullman’s startUllman exhibited a skill for numbers in

his childhood. “I was a big baseball fan as a kid,” he remembers. “Growing up on Long Island, I memorized the batting stats of all the players. When my father came home from work, he would find the sports page missing from the newspaper. To divert my

attention away from sports, he bought me one share of Texas Gulf Sulphur, hoping that I would memorize stock prices instead of baseball numbers. It didn’t work. He now found both the sports page and the finan-cial pages of the paper missing.”

Ullman’s fascination with stocks began at the age of 7 or 8. By the time he was in high school, he not only “managed” funds for people but he also hired neighborhood children to work for him selling greeting cards for the Elmira Greeting Card Co. Ullman, who knew in high school that he wanted to be an investor, pursued his bent for mathematics by earning a bachelor’s degree in economics from Johns Hopkins University and an MBA from the University of Chicago. In 1972, he joined Corning, Inc., a Fortune 500 company then known as the Corning Glass Works, as the “M&A guy” and held five positions in six years before launching his own venture.

Ullman’s simple idea“My idea is simple,” declares Ullman.

“JGUA is a registered investment advisor that provides comprehensive financial-man-agement services combining customized planning with discretionary portfolio man-

agement. By philosophy, I am a balanced manager who requires each client to invest at least 50 percent of his or her account in the conservative category; i.e., outside the stock market. We charge a fee [based on as-sets] for our service that covers everything (except unusual travel), even the 1,500 tax returns we prepare annually; consider it an unlimited retainer … We don’t sell anything. Our clients know that JGUA is a value-based manager, recommending securities based on low-to-moderate risk. (Value-based in-vesting involves buying securities that are underpriced according to different forms of analysis; e.g., companies trading at dis-counts to book value, high-dividend yields, low price-to-earnings or price-to-book ra-tios.) I like to think of us as the quarterback of the estate-planning process.”

Ullman attributes his success to the uniqueness of Corning and its people, tim-ing, his shareholders and directors, and his staff. “Corning [, Inc.] is helpful in at-tracting talented people,” opines the JGUA president. “In addition to those hired by Corning, there is a ripple effect that draws others to the area. Many of them have

John G. Ullman, the pres-ident of John G. Ullman

& associates, head-quartered in Corning,

pioneered the concept of comprehensive financial

planning in 1978.

norman poltenson/the greater binghamton business Journal

see UllmaN, page 6

August 22, 2014 The Greater Binghamton Business Journal • 3

BY NICOLE COLLINSJOURNAL STAFF

VESTAL — White Knight Productions, a marketing and advertising agency in Vestal, is seeking local nonprofits for its annual PSA (public-service announcement) competition.

Now in its fourth year, the contest al-lows Southern Tier 501(c)(3) organizations that would like an opportunity to advance their marketing efforts to apply for free designated-marketing services from White Knight Productions.

“It’s a way for us to give back to the community,” says Ashley Depew, director of marketing at White Knight Productions. “Nonprofits do such good work, but don’t often have the marketing budget to pro-mote themselves. We lend a helping hand with that.”

The last two winners of the competition, SCORE Chapter 217 of Greater Binghamton and the YMCA of Broome County, each re-ceived a 30-second professionally produced PSA. White Knight, which specializes in video marketing, expanded the scope of the prize this year to include a 15-second PSA, one month of social-media content, and a professionally designed print piece. The total value of those services is about $7,500.

Last year, White Knight received about 20 to 25 ap-plications from non-profits, and Depew hopes to draw at least that many en-tries this year.

An internal review panel evaluates the applications based on a rating system of a wide variety of factors, including quality of the entries and the needs of the nonprofits.

Depew says the White Knight team can assist in the idea process if need be, but it’s better if the nonprofits have a direction or

target in mind for what they would like their PSA to cover.

Once the judges choose the win-ning organization,

Depew says the team aims to have all three components of the prize completed by the end of the year.

Elin Barton, president and CEO of White Knight Productions, launched the competi-tion in 2011. Southern Tier Alternative Therapies, an organization that offers equine-assisted therapy and recreation pro-

grams across the Southern Tier of New York and part of Pennsylvania, was the first winner of the competition.

“I am not aware of any other ad agency that offers up their services for free as a competition,” says Depew. “I think it’s safe to say that we are the only ones in the area that offer a competition.”

Applications for the contest will be ac-cepted through Aug. 29 and can be found on the White Knight website, www.whi-teknightpro.com. The winner will be an-nounced on Sept. 12. q

Contact Collins at ncollins@tgbbj.com

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White Knight Productions seeks nonprofits for PSA competition

Broome County hotel occupancy rebounds

BY NICOLE COLLINSJOURNAL STAFF

BINGHAMTON — Broome County hote-liers have been filling more of their rooms

in recent months, ac-cording to STR, Inc., a Hendersonville, Tenn.–based provider of hotel data.

The county’s occupan-cy rate, based on data for

32 hotels with more than 2,600 rooms, rose to 65.1 percent in June, from 60.8 percent in May and 55.9 percent in June 2013.

Broome County posted year-over-year in-creases in its occupancy rate in April, May, and June. That’s a big improvement from the 21 straight months between July 2012 and March 2014 in which the county saw year-over year declines in its hotel-occupancy rate.

Hotels in Broome County also generated substantial increases in RevPar (revenue per available room) in each month of the second quarter. RevPar, a key hotel industry indica-tor, was up 15.5 percent in June, 5.6 percent in May, and 7.9 percent in April, respectively, compared to the year-ago periods.

The Broome County hotels included in the STR data generated total revenue of nearly $20.3 million in the first six months of 2014, up 3.2 percent from the same period in 2013.

Contact Collins at ncollins@tgbbj.com

4 • The Greater Binghamton Business Journal August 22, 2014

add a foot-pump filler until 1994 or 1995, and the first automated line wasn’t installed until 2008. The new [equipment] line will run three times faster (5,400 bottles per hour) than our current equipment, giving us both added capacity and the backup we need in case of equipment failure,” he says. Anticipating future growth, Brooks is already looking for a new site for the bottling company.

How it all startedThe Brooks’ story began in 1941 with

chickens. Ryan’s grandfather, Griffin, married Frances McClelland, whose father owned a poultry farm in Stamford. The newlyweds bought the farm to raise chickens for eggs and meat and set up a retail store on the farm to supply dressed and packaged poultry and eggs. In 1951, they began catering barbeques

between April and September. The next step was to open a concession

stand in 1958 at the miniature golf and driving range, which were connected to a drive-in. The dream of owning a restaurant came true on June 10, 1961, with the opening of Brooks’ House of Bar-B-Q. The restaurant passed to the second generation in 1975 when John and Joan Brooks purchased the eatery from Griffin and Frances. Three decades later, Ryan and his wife Beth bought the restaurant and catering business.

The Brooks’ enterprise has come a long way since the restaurant opened with 15 em-ployees. “We employ 115 people at Brooks’ House of Bar-B-Q,” notes the company presi-dent, “and another eight at the bottling com-pany.” The Business Journal News Network estimates consolidated revenue of $10 million to $12 million.

“Brooks’ House of Bar-B-Q serves 250,000

meals a year, the take-out another 150,000, and we cater 200,000 (600 to 625 jobs per year). That translates into 900,000 pounds of chicken, 140,000 pounds of pork, and 180,000 pounds of ribs, or roughly 1.25 million pounds of meat per year. In preparing these meals, our 38-foot charcoal pit burns 42,000 pounds of charcoal weekly along with our onsite catering. (The company also sells its private-label brand of charcoal.)

“The entire operation is located on 26 acres and contains 29,000 square feet of covered space,” Brooks says.

Brooks House of BBQ is owned by Ryan and his wife, who also own Brooks’ BBQ Realty, LLC, and the bottling company shares are split: 70 percent owned by Ryan and 30 percent by a family trust.

Ryan Brooks says he is very careful to pro-tect the eponymous brand created by three generations. “The reason for our success is the quality of the product and the service we offer,” he says. “This is the concern I share daily with the employees. It begins with hiring people who have a great attitude and ethic. That’s why we only hire one of every 20 … [interviewees]. I prefer that they not come with previous experience; I would rather teach them. Next, I insist that there is always management coverage to ensure that things go smoothly. It’s a formula the family has used for 63 years (since the Brooks began catering), and it has worked well. Our man-agers, which include six for the restaurant and seven crew bosses, train the new staff and work with them closely to monitor their progress. Finally, as much as I appreciate technology and the need for efficiency, this is a human-interaction … [business]. I want my staff to take orders, process them, and deliver the product. You can’t take the [human] con-tact out of the business.”

In addition to his staff, Brooks relies on local professional firms to manage the op-eration. “We’ve worked with NBT Bank for years,” he says. “This is really a capital-inten-sive business, and NBT has been a partner in meeting our financial needs. For example, to accommodate our growth and comply with regulations, I need to install a waste-water-treatment system that will cost $1 million. I also work with Carol Ronovech [CPA] in Oneonta for our accounting. When it comes to legal matters, the business utilizes two Binghamton–based firms: HH&K (Hinman, Howard & Kattell, LLP) for general labor updates, and Levene, Gouldin & Thompson [LLP] for general business.”

Growth strategyThe Brooks’ strategy calls for growth. “I

have no interest in franchising the restaurant business, so we will continue to be a single-location, full-service restaurant. Also, I don’t want to extend our geographical catering reach to more than 100 miles from the res-

taurant. Still, there is room for new products to sell, such as a home barbeque pit. We are setting up the distribution system now for this product,” Brooks says.

“My goal is to make Brooks’ House of Bar-B-Q a destination for families. That’s why I installed 28 feet of glass in the gift shop so visi-tors can actually watch the bottling process. At Halloween, we’ll sponsor [pumpkin] carving; in July, a family day with entertainment for the kids. Another option is to offer cooking class-es, including a specialty class on barbequing. There is room for growth in the restaurant/catering business, but the real growth will come from the bottling operation.”

Brooks currently works with a packaging consultant to help build the bottling business. “We ship our sauces, rubs, and marinades to over 300 stores, working through distribu-tors,” adds the company president. “The po-tential to increase this distribution is huge. We also sell our products online and directly to restaurants as well as offering them in our own restaurant. The timing couldn’t be better with consumers concerned about the quality of food that’s available. There is a clear prefer-ence for locally grown produce that is fresh and not loaded with additives. Also, grown-in-America food is in demand, especially with the scare over Chinese products. We plan to grow, but it will be controlled growth.

“Everything I do is tied to family,” Brooks declares. “The ice-cream store is called ‘Generations,’ and the new sauces we’re pro-ducing are under the C&A label, named after my children, Carter and Abigail. As hard as I work, I have created a work/life balance to be with my family. That’s why I only live 7 min-utes from the restaurant. I feel very comfort-able with my management which allows me the opportunity to spend time with my family. My children are only 1½ and 3½, but I want them to be involved with the business the way I was with my parents. It would be wonderful to see a fourth generation of Brooks running the business.”

Brooks is a 1996 graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he majored in food management. He is a member of the Association for Dressings and Sauces, the National Restaurant Association, the New York State Restaurant Association, the Small Scale Food Processors Association of New York, and the National Barbeque Association. According to IBIS World, Brooks’ House of Bar-B-Q is part of a $141 billion industry that employs more than 3 million people in 200,000 businesses. With the average restau-rant generating about $700,000 in revenue an-nually, Brooks is clearly an industry leader.

Ryan Brooks isn’t looking for success. He’s too busy. That’s why success has found him. q

Contact Poltenson at npoltenson@tgbbj.com

Continued from page 1

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BROOKS: The entire operation is located on 26 acres and contains 29,000 square feet of covered space

BY JOURNAL STAFF

BINGHAMTON — Southern Tier Harley-Davidson on Aug. 6 announced it has ac-quired Independence Harley-Davidson in College Station, Texas, its first store outside New York.

The acquisition also represents Southern Tier Harley-Davidson’s third location with stores locally in Binghamton and Painted Post, the motorcycle-dealership business said in a news release.

Southern Tier Harley-Davidson in June

2013 acquired and renovat-ed American Twin, a dealer-ship located at 300 Town Center Road in Painted Post.

That location is now known as Corning Harley-Davidson.

Since buying the dealership in Painted Post last summer, Southern Tier Harley-Davidson says its sales have increased about 46 percent.

“We evaluated a number of stores over the past year and based on synergies be-tween our group and their store, we felt it

was a great opportunity and we look forward to assisting them in con-tinued success,” Jeff Coghlan, a partner in Southern Tier Harley-

Davidson and Corning Harley-Davidson, said in the news release.

The management and staff of the Texas store will remain the same.

Both Coghlan and business partner Larry Brooks attribute the success of their dealer-ships to “the customers and communities

they serve.”The Binghamton dealership started with

operations at 1149 Front St. in 1983. The store moved to its current location at

1152 Front St. in April 1993. Larry Brooks acquired the dealership in 1995.

More than a decade later, Brooks brought Jeff Coghlan in as a partner in the dealership in 2006.

Coghlan had gained a reputation as a “successful restaurateur and entrepreneur,” according to the news release.

Since that time, the dealership has ex-panded its showroom, service area, product lines, and merchandise to meet the needs of a “growing” Harley-Davidson enthusiast popula-tion, the business said. q

Southern Tier Harley-Davidson acquires Texas dealership

August 22, 2014 The Greater Binghamton Business Journal • 5

consolidation. He is anticipating a radical change in the way America delivers its health care and expects an increased de-mand for home-health-care services.

“A person’s home is one of many settings in which he or she may receive care today, and it’s growing in importance,” observes the company COO. “Care can be provided safely and effectively in the familiar, com-fortable surroundings of home, where it’s a bit easier for family and friends to visit. Traditional hospital and nursing-home set-tings are still the right options for many pa-tients and situations, but home care can be both a low-cost and beneficial option. There is a shift toward community-based organi-zations like ours, which are growing and redeploying our home-health services.”

A continuum of careUHS, has long focused on developing a

continuum of care. “This home-health-care division was formed in 1986 to respond to the demand for DME (durable medical equipment),” notes Rittenhouse. “Today, [under the UHS Home Care/Professional Home Care name], we sell [and rent] wheelchairs and walkers, hospital beds, bathroom items, patient lifts, support ho-siery, cushions and pillows, canes, oxygen, infusion meds, blood-pressure units, incon-tinence supplies, and aids to daily living.

“Everything you need to recover, stay safe, and independent at home is here, including a retail pharmacy. UHS Home Care/Professional Home Care conducts 17,000 patient transactions a year and gen-erates $9.5 million in annual, net revenue … In addition to our Riverside Drive location, we lease 5,000 square feet in Ithaca and an-other 2,000 feet in Norwich … [from which] we sell and rent DMEs,” Rittenhouse says. The original focus on DMEs has been ex-panded to include a certified home-health agency (CHHA) called UHS Home Care/Twin Tier Home Health. CHHAs provide part-time, intermittent health care and sup-port services to individuals who need in-termediate and skilled health care. “Twin Tier serves patients requiring a short-term stay (fewer than 60 days): for example, people recovering from illness, surgery, a recent hospitalization or those living with a chronic condition,” Rittenhouse continues. “The special-care services we offer include nursing, physical and occupational thera-py, home-health aides, speech and sleep therapy, nutritional advice, and even Home Emergency Alarm Response (HEAR), which operates 24/7 with 650 subscribers. Our annual budget includes $9.5 million of net revenue to support 20,000 patient-visits annually.”

UHS Home Care also offers long-term services through a program called Ideal Long-Term Home Health Care. “Think of this as a nursing home without walls,” continues Rittenhouse. “This home-care program provides a coordinated plan of care and services for those over the age of 21, who do not qualify under a CHHA or who need additional services to stay in their homes.”

He adds: “The legislation was created by State Sen. Tarky Lombardi (of the Syracuse area) to provide comprehensive, coordinat-ed care for the Medicaid-eligible, chronical-ly ill and disabled who are qualified to enter

a nursing home but would rather remain in their homes. These patients require more than 120 days of continuous care, receiving assistance from home health aides and are often provided with social day-care, home-delivered or congregate meals, house im-provements and moving assistance, respite care, and transportation to and from medi-cal appointments. UHS Home Care has budgeted $1.5 million in net revenue to support 83 patients.” (The normal case load is 105.)

UHS Home Care’s growth has expanded the organization beyond its original mis-sion.

“What began as a small ‘downstream provider’ of durable medical equipment has blossomed into a full-service agency con-sisting of UHS Home Care’s Professional Home Care, Twin Tier Home Health, and Ideal LTC,” asserts Rittenhouse. “Our consolidated annual budget is more than $20 million, and we employ 242 people (230 operate from headquarters in Johnson City).”

Pressure to expand community-based health care in New York is driven by the cost of the program. In 2013, the Empire State included more than 5.3 million people enrolled in the Medicaid program from a

population of about 19.5 million. The state spends $53 billion annually on Medicaid, or approximately 40 percent of the $133 billion total budget. New York, with 6.3 percent of the nation’s population, consumes nearly 13 percent of the total cost of the U.S. program.

The DSRIP programOn April 14, Gov. Andrew Cuomo an-

nounced final terms of a ground-breaking waiver with the federal government that allows New York to reinvest $8 billion in federal savings generated by Medicaid

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UHS: Home Care’s growth has expanded the organization beyond its original missionContinued from page 1

See UHS, page 6

6 • The Greater Binghamton Business Journal August 22, 2014

become our clients … I am also fortunate to have a dedicated board of directors and long-term stockholders who share my eth-ics and values in guiding the company.

“[But] … success ultimately comes from the staff that advises and services our clients. They are exceptional. We hire people to spend their career here; we want them to retire from the firm. Many have been here for decades.

That’s how we build a [multi-generational] relationship with our clients; we truly under-stand their family histories. Success is also dependent on the leadership team we have assembled at JGUA, including Tom Snow, Karen Meriwether, Cary Muggleton, and Jason Nickerson as senior vice presidents, and Jerry Horton as controller.”

Ullman has seen his pioneering concept adopted as the model of the financial-planning industry. “It’s [heartening] … to see financial

planning elevated to a profession,” intones Ullman,” especially in light of how much more complex the process has become. We have to plan now for things such as blended and non-traditional families, long-term care, multiple careers before retirement, and fi-nancing college, along with a much more complex tax code and increased regulatory environment. Despite all this, we continue to grow steadily by referrals.”

At age 66, Ullman looks back on the posi-

tive impact he has had on his clients and looks forward with optimism to the future of JGUA.

Ullman resides in Corning with wife Barbara (Bobbie), whom he met in high school. The couple has three “young-adult” children. Bobbie Ullman is a director of the company. q

Contact Poltenson at npoltenson@tgbbj.com

ULLMAN: Has seen his pioneering concept adopted as the model of the financial-planning industryContinued from page 2

Redesign Team reforms. The dollars invest-ed for comprehensive reform are known as the Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment (DSRIP) program.

“The purpose of DSRIP is to promote community-level collaborations and focus on system reforms,” posits Rittenhouse. “The goal is to achieve a 25 percent reduc-tion in avoidable hospital use over a five-year period.”

Performance will play a big role in fund-ing decisions.

“The funds will be based on performance linked to achievement of the projected milestones. Of the $8 billion [invested over five years], $500 million is designed to en-sure that the Medicaid safety-net providers can fully participate [without disruption]; $6.2 billion covers planning grants, provid-

er-incentive payments, and administrative costs; and a little over $1 billion will support home-health development, investments in long-term care, and workforce and en-hanced behavioral health services.”

UHS Home Care is required to ascertain the community’s health-care needs.

“As a provider, we are required to con-duct a community-needs assessment to determine a description of the population served, an assessment of its health status and clinical needs, and an assessment of the health care and community-wide sys-tems currently available to address these needs,” Rittenhouse says.

Reimbursement systems are changing. “In long-term care, we are moving away from a cost-based reimbursement system with a two-year lag and no trend factor,” states Rittenhouse. “Reimbursements for this program will now go to managed long-

term care (insurance) companies (MLTC), which are responsible for managing the payments. UHS Home Care has already ne-gotiated contracts for Broome County with Fidelis and United Health Care, and we ex-pect to operate in Chenango, Delaware, and Tioga Counties in the coming years. We also expect to sign contracts with two other MLTC companies this year. The MLTCs operate on a capitation system. This is still a work-in-progress, so it’s not entirely clear how our agencies will coordinate with the MLTCs.”

UHS Home Care’s leadership Rittenhouse grew up in Endicott and

graduated from Binghamton University with a major in applied social sciences and an MPA from Marywood University in Scranton. He began working at age 16, washing dishes in the kitchen of Ideal

Hospital. His career path led to the manager of food services at the hospital. When UHS was formed, Rittenhouse became the man-ager of registration (admissions) and later took on the title of administrative director of medical services at UHS Hospitals. His next position was as vice president of op-erations at Professional Home Care, before assuming his current position as vice presi-dent and COO of UHS Home Care in 2011. Rittenhouse reports to the CEO and the UHS Home Care board of directors.

In addition to Rittenhouse, UHS Home Care’s leadership team includes Joseph Cerra as senior vice president, physician practice management and president and CEO of UHS Home Care; Karla Dotts as vice president of clinical services; and Cynthia Wine as CFO.

The locally owned, locally governed UHS health-care system was formed in 1981. It has grown to include four hospitals and a senior-living campus in addition to UHS Home Care and is affiliated with the UHS Medical Group and the UHS Foundation. From 60 locations around the Southern Tier, it employs 5,557 people and has a medical staff of more than 500 physicians and other providers. UHS posted 2013 annual revenue of $647.7 million, with a surplus of $9.6 million.

“Home health care is on a path to move to the forefront,” opines Rittenhouse. “As care becomes more community based, home care will be in increasing demand. UHS Home Care is anticipating the changes in how we deliver health care, and focused on getting ahead of the curve.” q

Contact Poltenson at npoltenson@tgbbj.com

Member FDIC

H E R E ’ S W H A T C O U N T S

M A K I N G I T W O R K .When it comes to business, it takes a team to make it work. At NBT Bank, we’re committed to understanding your business and being a responsive and valuable member of your team. Your NBT business banking team can provide for all your deposit, lending, cash management, retirement planning and investment needs.

So, when everyone else is counting on you, you can count on us.

Jeff Lake, Regional President, 607.797.3553David Theleman, Regional Commercial Banking Manager, 607.337.6144Thomas Sutton, Retail Market Manager, 607.337.6233

UHS: The locally owned, locally governed UHS health-care system was formed in 1981

“Home health care is on a path to move to the fore-front,” opines Rittenhouse. “As care becomes more community based, home care will be in increasing

demand.”

The Greater Binghamton Business Journal

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Continued from page 5

August 22, 2014 The Greater Binghamton Business Journal • 7

SOUTHERN TIER CHAMBERS OF COMMERCERanked by No. of Members

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THE LISTResearch by Nicole Collins

ncollins@tgbbj.com(315) 579-3911

Twitter: @cnybjresearch

Look for the Manufacturers list

in the next issue of the Greater Binghamton

Business Journal, out on September 26.

ABOUT THE LISTInformation was provided by representatives of listed organizations and their websites. Other groups may have been eligible but did not respond to our requests for information. While The Business Journal strives to print accurate information, it is not possible to independently verify all data submitted. We reserve the right to edit entries or delete categories for space considerations.

WHAT CONSTITUTES THE GB REGION?For this purpose of this list, Greater Binghamton includes Broome, Chemung, Chenango, Delaware, Schuyler, and Tioga Counties.

NEED A COPY OF A LIST?Electronic versions of all our lists, with additional fi elds of information and survey contacts, are available for purchase at our website, cnybj.com/ListsResearch.aspx

WANT TO BE ON THE LIST?If your company would like to be considered for next year’s list, or another list, please email ncollins@tgbbj.com

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8 • The Greater Binghamton Business Journal August 22, 2014

BY NICOLE COLLINSJOURNAL STAFF

OWASCO — Three years in, the Finger Lakes Mud Run, described as a “challeng-ing, military-style trail run,” continues to see a surge in interest.

Registration is expected to exceed 2,000 people for the Sept. 27 event held at Everest Park in Owasco, says Robb Bonilla, director of operations for the event. That’s up 33 per-cent from last year’s 1,500 participants, and more than double the 900 who partook in the run in its inaugural year in 2012.

The Finger Lakes Mud Run includes between 15 and 24 obstacles and between 40 and 100 elevation changes greater than 20 feet to challenge participants. Runners have a choice between a 5K or 14K course. A third course, the Mini Muddy, allows for children ages 6 to 12 years old to partake in the mud activities. Registration prices range from $15 to $85, depending on date of regis-tration and event.

Eighty percent of the course is new this year, expanded from the park’s 160 acres to now encompass 750 acres, says Bonilla. The additional acreage comes from adjoining property owners allowing their land to be used in the event.

But the key is the obstacles.

“We don’t just rely on the natural terrain,” says Bonilla. “Our goal is to create obstacles that no one else has.”

Bonilla, who works full time as a design engineer at Pall Corp. in Cortland, draws the concepts for the obstacles and hands them over to the construction-services team to build. He relies on feedback from the con-struction team leader, Mike Lowe, who is also an avid obstacle-run contestant, to see if the obstacles will work logistically on the course.

Besides a construction-services team, Bonilla works with 11 other teams and more than 200 volunteers in total to organize the mud run.

“We strive to be as organized as possible. We make a significant investment to do it the right way,” says Bonilla. It’s why he has a 200-plus page handbook on how to operate the event. “Customer experience has been the first priority since day one.”

How it startedThe concept of the mud run came about

from a committee that met in late 2011 to rethink Everest Park’s potential uses. They came up with ideas ranging from yoga to hot air balloons to a mud run. Once the mud run idea stuck, Bonilla researched and present-ed a proposal for a three-year obstacle run event to the board of Champions For Life, an Auburn nonprofit that operates Everest Park and is the fiscal sponsor for the event. The nonprofit employs Bonilla as director, who is the only paid staff member for the event.

All of the net proceeds go toward extend-ing the mission of Everest Park, which offers a retreat for families with children who are experiencing life-altering health problems. Last year, $19,000 in event proceeds were donated to the park.

The Finger Lakes Mud Run has become the biggest fundraiser, not just for Champions For Life, but also for the area, says Bonilla. Combining that with the continued increase in participation, he anticipates the three-year plan being extended.

More than 55 percent of people travel to the event from outside Cayuga County, and at press time, 6 percent of participants regis-tered are from outside the state.

“We actively try to reach as many peo-ple as possible,” says Bonilla. “We never thought of it as an Auburn thing. It’s a re-gional event.”

Not only will those who travel to the event “bring dollars to Cayuga County” with the need for hotels, gas, and food, organizers make a strong effort to use local vendors

for products and services needed to stage the mud run.

“We buy local as much as we can,” says Bonilla. “We do everything we can to keep the dollars local.” This includes buying construc-tion materials locally, to having local printers produce merchandise, to hiring Auburn–based Crème della Crème Copywriting and Communication, LLC, to handle the public relations and marketing of the event.

Bonilla says the budget to produce the Finger Lakes Mud Run exceeds $100,000.

Area mud opportunitiesBeyond Cayuga County, several obstacle

runs have popped up across Central New York.

In April, the Southern Tier AIDS Program (STAP) in Binghamton hosted the Mud Gauntlet, Broome County’s first hardcore outdoor-obstacle course event. More than 400 people participated in the event and more than $43,000 was raised for STAP, says Mary Kaminsky, director of development for STAP. Kaminsky says the organization plans on holding the Mud Gauntlet again next year.

Then in May, Johnson City’s Family Enrichment Network held the Mud Mountain Rock & Run, 5K at the Broome-Tioga Sports Center in Lisle. The Canton Pee Wee Association held a mud-run fund-raising event in July with an obstacle-course race for children and adults set up on private property in Canton.

On Sept. 7, the Binghamton Mud Gauntlet course will be used again for a “zombie run” to raise funds for Team HopeFull, a nonprofit organization that donates money to various

organizations that help those afflicted with Prader-Willi Syndrome, the most common known genetic cause of life-threatening obe-sity in children.

On Oct. 11, the Syracuse Sports Association will hold its third Run of the Dead 5K obstacle run event.

Despite many communities launching their own independent obstacle races, the top industry organizers, like Tough Mudder, Warrior Dash, and Dirty Girl, together hold 70 percent of the industry’s market share.

Tough Mudder, which has about a 24 per-cent market share, holds an event at the Tall Pines ATV Park in Andover (in Alleghany County). Up to 15,000 people attend an aver-age Tough Mudder event and the company estimates that the local economic activity per event increases by $2 million to $10 million, according to its website.

Nearly 3.4 million people participated in an obstacle-course race in 2013, and the number of participants is expected to ex-ceed 4 million in 2014, according to the new report, “Obstacle Race World: The State of the Mud Run Business.” The report, the first on the obstacle-race industry, also found that obstacle runs generated revenue of $290.1 million from registrations in 2013, and are on pace to produce nearly $362 mil-lion in registration revenue this year.

Standard road running races are one-di-mensional, says Bonilla. A mud run, he says, is an intimate, unique experience where you don’t just “go up and down, but also over and under and through” while helping someone you don’t know over an obstacle. q

Contact Collins at ncollins@tgbbj.com

B U S I N E S S J O U R N A L N E W S N E T W O R K

Obstacle-run craze reaches Central New York

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE FINGER LAKES MUD RUN FACEBOOK PAGE

Participants in the Finger Lakes Mud Run trudge through one of the obstacles on the course. Three years in, the Finger Lakes Mud Run, described as a “challenging, military-style trail run,” continues to see a surge in interest.

By the Numbers: Outdoor Recreation in New York State

$33.8 BillionAmount consumers spend on outdoor recreation

$12.4 BillionWages and Salaries

305,000New Yorkers directly employed in the outdoor recreation sector

$2.8 BillionState and local tax revenue generated from outdoor recreation

53 Percent of NYS residents who partici-pate in outdoor recreation each year

Source: Outdoor Industry Association