Our Counselors

North Country Small Business Development Staff

 

Rick Leibowitz
Regional Director


Rick Leibowitz grew up in Edison, New Jersey and started his first business at the age of 17. He has a degree in Environmental Planning/Design from Rutgers University. After working for two years as a planner, he decided to open up a bagel store in Ewing, New Jersey back in 1991. He continued his foray in the food and beverage industry as the owner and operator of four other food establishments in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Alaska over a 16 year period.

In addition to managing his own operations, he served as a consultant for the opening of privately held food establishments and as food and beverage executive for two international corporations. He has managed operations that generated over $6 million in annual revenues and staff levels that exceeded 100 employees.

Recognizing his passion was small business development, Rick took a position as a business counselor at Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) in Alaska, Arizona, Indiana and now here in the North Country. He currently resides in Plattsburgh with his wife and three children.

 

Andrew (Andy) Allison
Business Advisor


Andy Allison began working at Disneyland while in high school and was promoted and transferred to Walt Disney World in Florida, where he worked in Food Administration. He left Disney and began his own business, a retail and wholesale meat market.

His diverse food industry experience as a manager and food & beverage director.  In addition to Disney, his experience includes managing operations at a five-star hotel, managing supermarket bakeries, resort porperties, managed food service programs and catering operations.

Andy has experience in counseling, leadership in small and large group settings and in public speaking. He uses his talents in many different capacities since coming to the North County in 2000.

 

Karen Stehlin
Business Advisor


Karen has been with the North Country SBDC since January 2002.  She grew up and attended college on Long Island, where she obtained her bachelors degree in Business Administration from New York Institute of Technology.  After college she completed Macy’s management training program, which led to a Sales Manager position with the company. After Macy’s she went on to work for General Mills and Chase Manhattan Bank. 

A job offer from KeyCorp brought her to the Albany area, where she worked in the marketing department in the areas of product development and product management.  KeyBank later moved her to Plattsburgh, where she was a Small Business Relationship Manager and later a Sales Manager.

 

Linda Willett
Office Manager

 

Linda, a native of the Adirondacks who grew up in nearby Saranac Lake, returned from Texas in 2000.  While living in Texas, she was a silver-level amateur competitive ballroom dancer in international Latin and American rhythm.  She began working at the North Country SBDC in January 2002 after working locally in the printing and publishing industry.

She has owned her own graphic design business and has diverse experience that includes international business, marketing, sales, and entertainment.  She holds a Bachelors degree in History/French and a Masters in Business Communication from SUNY Plattsburgh.
 

 

News

02/18/2010-Champlain Bridge Business Assistance Center Opens

No-cost services for small-business owners will be available at the new Champlain Bridge Business Assistance Center in Port Henry.

01/07/2010- North Country Small Business Development Center here to help

The center is holding an open house to spread the word about the free services it provides to businesses in Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Hamilton and War...

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Blogs

Rick's Small Business Blog

NYS SBDC Research Network Blog


 

 

  

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