With the new year underway, local leaders and business owners say what they expect

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

 

“New York state must reprioritize its perspectives on assisted living and skilled nursing. Currently, the average Oswego County daily reimbursement rates are hovering around $200 per day. Broken down hourly, this is less than $9 per hour for 24/7 care. Despite much legislative outreach and data sharing, communications continue to fall on deaf ears. Inpatient post-acute care providers are key elements to community-based continuity of services and hospital support. New York state has largely failed to address increased costs and inflation specific to these layers of service despite significant and disproportionate investments elsewhere in the Medicaid system. We really need the attention this year.”

— Joseph Murabito, President and managing member, Elemental Management Group

 

“Healthcare providers across New York continue to face significant challenges in the wake of post-COVID expense inflation. Despite our unwavering commitment to delivering high-quality, safe care to our community, rising costs outpace revenue growth, making it increasingly difficult to sustain a business model that supports essential investments in equipment, technology and aging facilities. To address these pressures, we have taken decisive steps to consolidate and reduce administrative overhead, including joining a national healthcare system. This partnership has provided economies of scale that would have been unattainable on our own.

“Despite these obstacles, we have made meaningful progress in strengthening our position as a nationally recognized leader in areas like cardiac surgery while maintaining vital community-based services such as primary care and behavioral health. We are especially proud to be recognized as a Best Regional Hospital by U.S. News & World Report for the tenth consecutive year.”

— Steven Hanks, MD, President and CEO, St. Joseph’s Health and St. Peter’s Health Partners

 

 

“Our return-to-growth strategy that we implemented three years ago is well on its way and remains on a strong trajectory. In 2024, sales grew 5% year over year, and our backlog of $176 billion reached yet another record, demonstrating the enduring global demand for our superior, scalable and reliable products and systems. Each and every one of our four business areas saw backlog growth and ended the year with a book-to-bill ratio of greater than one. We fully expect these trends to continue in our 2025 outlook with mid-single-digit growth in sales, segment operating profit returning to 11%, and double-digit growth in free cash flow per share.”

— Jim Taiclet, Chairman, president and CEO Lockheed Martin

 

“Universal Metal Works has a very optimistic outlook on 2025. The past three years have been the best years in our organization’s history, and we hope to continue to build off that success in 2025. Additionally, we have an exceptional and dedicated team that is really going to help us to thrive in the upcoming year and beyond. September of 2025 will mark the 15th anniversary of Universal Metal Works which we look forward to celebrating.”

— John F. Sharkey, IV, President Universal Metal Works

 

“CR Fletcher is excited about 2025. The CNY community is in a growth mode, looking ahead at new businesses coming to Syracuse and more established companies looking to maintain and grow. We’re grateful for the opportunity to partner with past and future clients, and we anticipate a great year.”

— Michelle Jevis, President, CR Fletcher Temps and Industrial in Syracuse

 

“Our outlook for 2025 has improved since October, along with our rising value chain performance expectations. In addition to the benefit from the de-risking actions we took in 2024, we anticipate sales growth of 4% to 5% on top of the 5% we delivered in 2024. We expect manufacturing to again lead the way with 8% growth at the midpoint as we continue to ramp production across several programs to support the strong demand for our combat-proven munitions and integrated air and missile defense systems.”

— Jay Malave, CFO, Lockheed Martin

 

“The outlook for EJ in the USA is very bright. Demand for our ‘Made in USA’ products is very strong due to various federal Buy American legislation. EJ products will be used throughout projects like the I-81 construction in Syracuse and the construction of the Micron chip plant. In addition to producing standard products, we are the leader in producing innovative products. Innovation is key to the success of EJ. EJ continues to invest in our people, equipment and facilities. Our Phoenix-Schroeppel facility recently installed and additional state-of-art robotic system. This type of investment positions EJ with a competitive advantage for future success. We also pride ourselves as good stewards within our communities. We remain very active with the Oswego Workforce Development Board, CiTi P-TECH and BOCES programs as well as the surrounding school districts. We also actively support Erin’s Angels and the good work they do within our community. We are thankful to be part of Oswego County.”

— Tim McKernan, Facility manager, EJ USA

 

“We’re kicking into high gear. The winter season in Syracuse is usually slower, but we’re seeing an uptick as days are getting longer.”

— Elvis Mehmedovic, Franchise owner Express, Employment, Syracuse

 

“We expect business to remain strong throughout 2025.”

— Peter F. Russell, President Fulton Tool Co., Inc.

 

 

“We appreciate the governor’s leadership and New York’s ongoing support for nuclear energy, which produces more than 20% of the state’s energy, supporting millions of households and businesses and employing thousands of hardworking women and men in family-sustaining jobs. Constellation has previously worked with NYSERDA to develop leading clean hydrogen production and fuel cell technologies using nuclear power. Now, NYSERDA and Constellation are once again joining together with a commitment to explore advanced nuclear energy technologies and continue the meaningful progress toward New York’s clean energy and economic development goals.”

— Joe Dominguez, President and CEO Constellation

 

“We are a third and fourth generation-owned overhead garage door company. This upcoming year, we hold the contracts with Onondaga and Oswego counties. They’re going to be keeping us very busy this year. A lot of the businesses around us are repair-oriented at the beginning of this year. I think that’s a good sign for the area economically. The year is starting off with a bang. We are controlling the overhead garage door business around us. We want to be the best-known overhead garage door company in Onondaga County.”

— Samantha Bonnet, General manager, Bonnet Sales and Service, Central Square

 

“At Loretto, there is currently a high demand for senior care services, especially in memory care and short-term rehabilitation, and we expect that trend to continue in 2025 due to our aging baby boomer population. We will continue to face financial challenges because of the low Medicaid reimbursement rate, which does not cover the cost of care, and we aren’t alone. According to the most recent cost report, 70% of New York state nursing homes had negative operating margins due to nursing home rates falling short of costs. On a positive note, we expect the opportunities surrounding Micron will provide equitable prosperity, improving the health of our CNY population and, over time, improving access to care.”

— Kimberly Townsend, President & CEO, Loretto

 

“Our clients recognize the value of print marketing and its collateral items. They know that print marketing offers a tangible, credible and lasting impression with their customers and we expect they will continue to choose this medium. We anticipate to continue to see strong sales in both traditional print as well as large format signage and direct mail marketing, as the positive results our clients have seen and their repeat choice of print. We are excited for the potential 2025 has for us and for our clients.

— Kathleen Randall Henry, Vice president, Mitchell Printing & Mailing, Speedway Press

 

“Expansion. I want to keep it growing and reach out to get to more jobs and more people as customers. I want to grow the business in general.”

— Carl Richardson, Owner, Carl Richardson Blown Insulation & Painting, Phoenix

 

“For Fulton Savings Bank, we are both eager and optimistic coming into 2025 with the goal to continue to serve as an anchor institution within our branch footprint, which includes all of Oswego County and Northern Onondaga County. We have a strong, reliable workforce, as well as core priorities where we’ve aligned resources that focus on quality and consistently meeting our customers’ expectations. Specifically, we will continue to build out our ‘Universal Banker’ model across our branch footprint and this will both serve our customer needs more efficiently and create a positive, team-oriented work environment.”

— Pamela D. Caraccioli, President & CEO, Fulton Savings Bank

 

“I hope we can keep doing what we’re doing. We had a good year last year and we’re hoping to do the same thing, or better this year. We do HVAC, gas stoves and gas fireplaces. We handle a variety of brands. We do 24-hour emergency service for heating and A/C. We’re looking at hiring one to two more people. We’re growing every year. That ladder keeps getting taller.

— Chuck Chiasson, Owner Chiasson’s Heating and Air Conditioning, Scriba

 

“Right now, it looks pretty good. We’re waiting for what’s going on between Mexico and Canada. Usually, we ship materials to Mexico and they assemble it and ship it back to the United States. We figure they won’t do it anymore with the higher rates. We’re waiting on that confirmation. With Canada, we receive materials and products that come across the border that probably will be higher.”

— Don Kesterke, Owner and president D-K Manufacturing Corp., Fulton

 

“Depending on our business, we have a mixed outlook for the year 2025. For our silicone coated materials business, for which we started up our new operation in Pulaski late 2023, we are very bullish. The new capacity coupled with the right technology is meeting our customers’ needs and we see double digit growth for the year. In our digital imaging business however, our expectations are more pessimistic. Declines in home printing and somewhat lackluster demand for graphics and advertising is creating a challenging environment in 2025. Combined we should see growth, and our great team is motivated and passioned to make that happen.”

— Michael Szidat, CEO, Felix Schoeller, Pulaski

 

“My outlook is positive. I’m a home inspector and I work with both residential and commercial real estate. I’m looking forward to an increase in the real estate market. I have a positive view of that. I’ve seen an uptick in commercial business and less so for residential, but it is increasing. There’s a lot of confusion with the real estate market right now. Some folks have negative outlook in regard to it but I’m hoping to have the ball swing in the other direction.”

— Ryan Mackridge, Owner, Hands On Home Inspections LLC, Pennellville

 

“Prior to Jan. 20, I invested heavily in inventory for my industrial and retail customers. Regardless of tariffs, we have price protection on imports for about six months. Our niche is truly our repair department, where we have added two employees in the past year to keep up with demand for service work. Fulton’s DRI program is beginning to take shape and I’m looking forward to seeing more investment and growth in the community.”

— Joe Cortini, Jr., Owner, Cortini Shoe Zipper Canvas Repair, Fulton

 

“Novelis Oswego continues to be the largest provider of aluminum sheet to the auto industry and produces more than one billion pounds of rolled aluminum products each year. In addition to our commitment to safe and efficient operations, Novelis will continue to expand our support for recycling, STEM education and workforce development through our partnerships with Citi BOCES P-Tech program, The Children’s Museum of Oswego, Rosamond Gifford Zoo, SUNY Oswego and others. Developing the skilled workforce of tomorrow is critical to manufacturing across the region and helps to ensure Novelis will keep rolling in Oswego for another 60 years.”

— Kristen Nelson, Plant manager Novelis Oswego