Kingston, New York, November 16, 2005 - Two powerful not-for-profit agencies, The Ulster County Development Corporation (UCDC) in Kingston, and the Hudson Valley Technology Development Center (HVTDC) in Fishkill, announced today the official opening of a regional business and technology incubator, the Hudson Valley Center for Innovation, Inc. (HVCFI) (www.hvcfi.com). Headquartered in the Hudson Valley Business Center in Kingston, this not-for-profit corporation has been established to foster growth and development of emerging, high value businesses and technology development firms, and the creation of high-value jobs throughout the Hudson Valley region. "HVCFI is a collaborative effort of business and economic development, academia, and investment communities throughout the Hudson Valley to create jobs; assist emerging companies get established and organized through professional mentoring; and once established, encourage those companies to remain in the region, employ area residents, and restore a proud legacy of technology research and development throughout the Hudson Valley", states Chester J. Straub, Jr., President of the Ulster County Development Corporation, Vice Chairman and Director of the HVCFI Corporation.

"What differentiates this incubator," states Thomas G. Phillips, Sr., HVCFI’s Chairman and Director of the Corporation, and Executive Director of the Hudson Valley Technology Development Center, "is that in addition to being supported by a stellar Board of Directors and committed Board of Advisors from various regions, HVCFI offers its licensees the benefits of a full-time, in-house Executive Mentoring Team comprised of experienced executives disciplined in finance, business development and marketing. These seasoned professionals will work hand in hand with licensing companies to ensure their success. The Center is also being supervised day to day by a full-time Managing Director, Mr. Les Neumann, Founder and President of Business Forensics, LLC, a business consulting company in New City."

"Our ambition," continues Phillips, "is that this newly-established incubator Center will become a leader in Hudson Valley business initiatives by being a facilitator for technology development through a series of physical and virtual locations that will foster intellectual and knowledge-based expansion by connecting fledgling businesses to higher learning institutions along with collaborations within and outside the entire Hudson Valley’s social and professional networking community."

World-Class Board of Directors
To reach those leadership ambitions, HVCFI’s creators have attracted the notable expertise and extensive experiences of a regionally diverse Board of Directors and a Board of Advisors. Members of both boards were recruited from Straub’s and Phillips’ accomplished leadership roles and through Les Neumann. "Our world-class Board of Directors," explains Phillips, "consists of highly accomplished senior level business leaders from the Hudson Valley region, Connecticut, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. Our newly created Board of Advisors includes members of academia, technology-related businesses, financial and industry specific consultants who are also based in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Our Board member disciplines range from accomplished attorneys, advisors, and researchers to industrial corporate consultants, college leaders and administrators, presidents and chief executive officers of regional, national and international companies."

The HVCFI Board of Directors include Clifford M. Miller, President and CEO, Ulster Savings, Kingston, NY and HVCFI Treasurer; Rick W. Diehl, Principal, Strategic Technology Group, Wilton, CT; Dr. Andres Fortino, Dean, School of Management, Marist College, Poughkeepsie, NY; Jay Gartlan, Esq., Founder of Gartlan & Associates, Clifton, NJ; Irwin Glen, Chief Technologist for the Public Sector of Salesforce.com; Glen L. Heller, Esq., attorney with Drake, Sommers, Loeb, Tarshis, Catania & Liberth PLLC, Newburgh, NY; Dr. Donald C. Katt, President of SUNY Ulster, Stone Ridge, NY; Arnaldo J. Sehwerert, PHD, Regional Director of the Mid-Hudson Small Business Development Center, Kingston, NY; Stephen S. Young, Chairman of Mentor Business Group, Weston, CT.

HVCFI’s Board of Advisors include Steve Crandall, PhD, Chief Technical Officer, and Steve Greenspan, PhD, CEO of Omenti Research in Scotch Plains, NJ; Frank S. Falatyn, President/CEO, FALA Technologies, Inc., Kingston, NY; Mary Ann Hoffman, Director of Business Development, Marist College Center for Collaborative and On-Demand Computing (CCODC), Poughkeepsie, NY; John Koski, Director of Information Technology for Dominican College in Orangeburg, NY; Alan G. Labouseur, President of 3NF Consulting, Inc., Beacon, NY; Mark V. Laurenzi, President and Founder, Fulcrum Strategies, LLC, Mountain Lakes, New Jersey; Laszlo I. Nemeth, President of Dynamic Decision Systems, LLC, Bethany, CT; and Howard Reis, Hudson Valley DataNet, Newburgh, NY.

For information on the newly launched Hudson Valley Center for Innovation, Inc. incubator, contact Les Neumann, Managing Director, at 845-634-1911, and visit www.hvcfi.com.

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Ulster County Development Corporation (UCDC) and the Hudson Valley Technology Development Center (HVTDC) Partner to Create Regional Business and Technology Incubator

Kingston and Fishkill, New York, June 16, 2005 - Two powerful Hudson Valley based not-for-profit business entities are joining forces to create what will be known as the Hudson Valley Center for Innovation. The Ulster County Development Corporation (UCDC) in Kingston, and the Hudson Valley Technology Development Center (HVTDC), a NIST network and Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) affiliate in Fishkill, announced today the collaboration of their two organizations’ expertise to finalize plans for the creation of the Hudson Valley Center for Innovation. "While both our organizations are the facilitators in the development of the new Center," explains Chester J. Straub, Jr., president of the Ulster County Development Corporation, "in the long run it will be a collaborative effort of business and economic development agencies, academia, and the investment community focusing on fostering the growth and development of emerging, high value business and technology development firms within the Hudson Valley region."

As Ulster County’s lead economic development agency, the not-for-profit Ulster County Development Corporation (UCDC) (www.ulsterny.com) is a catalyst for creating wealth, improving the quality of life, and fostering economic opportunity for new and existing Ulster County-based businesses. The not-for-profit Hudson Valley Technology Development Center (HVTDC) (www.hvtdc.org) is the business and technology resource center for manufacturers, technology-based companies, inventors, entrepreneurs and other businesses throughout the seven counties comprising the Hudson Valley region. It is one of ten regional technology development centers funded cooperatively through the NYS Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR) and the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST). HVTDC works directly with small and mid-sized companies to help them adopt new technologies and business practices that will grow their business and be competitive.

The epicenter for the proposed Hudson Valley Center for Innovation is scheduled to be based in Kingston, however both permanent and virtual satellite facilities will be located within other participating mid-Hudson counties that will ultimately comprise the Center’s complete network. Each satellite office will be connected via high-speed data, audio and visual communications links to provide all of the Center’s tenants with an electronic umbilical connection to the main office in Kingston. Once physically established, the Center will provide full-time on-site management and an Executive Mentoring Team (EMT). The primary function of the EMT is to work with each member tenant and provide management guidance and expertise not found in traditional business incubator models and is deemed most important for yielding an improved return on investment. These management services are designed to increase the number of jobs created, reduce the time required for an incubated company to become self-sustaining, and to increase the probability of their sustained performance over time. These services will include:

• The full-time, on-site executive mentoring staff, including a CEO, CFO and Marketing Executive, who all possess experience in starting and growing successful entrepreneurial entities;
• Creation of a Board of Directors that includes community leaders from regional economic development agencies, businesses, academia, and financial institutions;
• Professional on-site personnel to manage facilities, basic services, and to serve as a focal point for existing and potential tenants;
  Establishment of a diversified Board of Advisors to screen potential tenants and continually monitor and evaluate the performance of members companies;
• Creation and maintenance of on-going affiliations with regional academic, business, and investment partners;
• Provision of additional support services such as financial services (bookkeeping, audits), human resources services (insurances, benefits, staffing), and shared information technology (hardware, software, and service support).

"The Center will serve a total of 25 companies at any one time, starting with 5 in the first year, and adding 10 during the second and third years of operation. Once the Center is operating," explains Straub, "we plan to establish at least 6 additional smaller satellite facilities housing or having access to all of the same essential services." Thomas Phillips, executive director of the HVTDC states, "By offering a broad spectrum of technical and financial services in a structured fashion, and through an interconnected array of facilities, the Center will become part of the business fabric of the entire Hudson Valley region. In doing so, it will become a facilitator for technology development as well as an environment fostering intellectual and knowledge based expansion; a conduit to higher learning institutions: and a connected social and professional networking community throughout the Hudson Valley."

For more information on the Hudson Valley Center for Innovation, contact Chester J. Straub, Jr., president of UCDC, at 845-338-8840, or Thomas Phillips, executive director of the HVTDC, at 845-896-6934.

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