Helping small businesses grow and succeed is his goal
By Stefan Yablonski
Robert Griffin, the head of Onondaga Small Business Development Center, is in charge of a territory that includes eight counties, including Onondaga and Oswego.
The SBDC provides with no cost, individualized and confidential business consulting to start-up and existing businesses.
“I was born in California and lived most of my youth in Texas; I kind of call Texas my home,” Griffin said.
He graduated high school there and graduated from Angelo State University in San Angelo with a degree in business administration, specializing in market research.
“My father was a businessman. I always had some kind of interest there,” he said. “At one point I thought I was going to go into accounting and then realized there were way too many rules there. Decided I wanted to be a little more flexible in terms of my career. Business administration was broader.
“I did have some interest in business management and strategy and things like that. I think that is why I ended up more in the business administration side of things.”
He got his professional start in New York in the tourism industry, as deputy and then director of the Tioga County Tourism Office, an agency of the Tioga County Local Development Corporation.
“I spent the next few years in various marketing leadership roles in the hospitality industry, overseeing teams in corporate food service, a hotel convention center and even a casino,” he said. He became regional director of the Onondaga SBDC in March of 2022.
“I have a wonderful group here,” he said. “Just making sure we are present, available and accessible so that the people who do need help know that they can come to us. We have the expertise and knowledge in order to be effective.
“I’m surrounded by a very talented team for which I am eternally grateful. I sometimes learn as much from them as they do from me,” he added. “Collectively I think that has a lot of benefit for the people that we are here to help.”
Just coming out of college, he met his wife; “she brow-beat me into moving to New York,” he quipped.
He’s been in New York since 1996.
“Until 2022, I was a resident of Endicott,” he said. “I have two grown children: 26-year-old daughter, Lydia (SUNY Cortland ’21) and a 24-year-old son, Alex (SUNY Oswego ’22). She works primarily in human resources and is really good at it. My son is an extremely talented videographer, photographer and multi-media editor.”
“I get around a little bit. A lot of it involves camping and the outdoors. I do a lot of kayaking. I estimated that I kayaked around 200 miles this past summer. It was phenomenal; I loved every minute of it,” he continued. “I’m not a huge fan of hanging out in the elements during the wintertime, like I used to. For the most part I’ll do a little hiking during the winter, but that’s about the extent of it. At some point I probably will be heading south to do a little more kayaking where it’s a little warmer.
“I play tennis. I’ve been remodeling a house; that takes up a fair amount of time. I do follow sports, I am a football fan. I follow the Green Bay Packers and I’m a huge hockey fan. I love the sport of hockey — and I am a long-suffering Buffalo Sabers fan. I enjoy going to hockey games anytime I get the opportunity.”
Micron ready
The reality is that the ripple effect of Micron really won’t be felt for a while yet, he said, adding, “We are trying to be as ready as we can be.
“I think we have reason to be optimistic. Based on the work being done by all the economic partners in the area I think that optimism is well-founded,” he continued. “Now is our time. There is so much collaboration happening; I don’t know if that’s ever been seen before around here. That’s very cool and exciting.”
Business ideas vary widely, he pointed out.
“You’re not going to always have the same outcome even if it is a similar skill set. There are so many variables,” he said. “We always have to tailor how we communicate to perspective business owners or existing business owners.”
Something that he has been beating the drum on for a while now, for a couple years — “is existing business owners could avail themselves of the services and support that we provide by addressing a number of problems and business challenges they might have,” he said. “But they don’t and the reason I think that is is a lot of them think they already have all the answers and don’t know that they are in trouble. Or they know they are in trouble and don’t know that we can help them. They’re just afraid to have the conversation because they don’t want to know.
“Business owners come in all shapes and sizes. Existing business owners can benefit from talking with us. ‘How am I doing compared to others?’ We can help them develop plans that will help them become more efficient and more profitable or whatever.”
There are plenty of ways they can help existing business owners, he added. They might not be well prepared for the future; with the coming of Micron for example and the impact on their workforce — “have they thought about that?”
Only about 25% of the people that the Small Business Development Center sees are existing business owners.
“We typically see 1,600-plus clients per year. A lot of existing business owners aren’t talking to us and that keeps me up at night,” he said. “A lot of businesses close unnecessarily.”
The SBDC has a staff of eight: seven business advisers plus a coordinator and the director. “So a total staff of nine. The team loves what we do, that’s why we do it,” he said. “I get a lot of satisfaction out of the knowledge that as I drive down the road and I see this business or that business and think, ‘you know what, we helped that business change their life and succeed.’”
Lifelines
Name: Robert Griffin
Position: Regional Director, Onondaga SBDC
Birth Date: December 1972
Birth Place: Chico, California
Residence: Syracuse
Education: BA, Business Administration
Affiliations: Exit Planning Institute (certified exit planning Adviser), board member, Greater Syracuse Business Development Corporation
Personal/Family: two kids
Hobbies: Hiking, tennis and traveling
