SBDC

Our Counselors

North Country Small Business Development Staff

Regional Director

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.

Andrew (Andy) Allison
Certified 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.

Kim Manion
Business Advisor
Kim was born and raised in Plattsburgh. Wanting to experience life outside Champlain Valley region, Kim went to Boston College to study finance. Her entrepreneurial spirit blossomed as she pursued several micro-enterprises during her college years including pizza delivery and lawn services. After college she moved to CA, VA, OH, NJ and MD where she worked with several medium and large businesses to develop her business skills in organization development and human resources. She received her MA in Human Resources Management along the way.

After two years of living and working in Egypt, Kim and her husband, Dennis, also a Plattsburgh native, chose to return to the North Country to live and work. “We both love the quality of life in Plattsburgh and we’re thrilled to be back.”

Kim’s most recent entrepreneurial ventures include launching a child development center with an emphasis on creativity and exploration of the natural world. This is a work-in-progress with an anticipated opening of the Fall of 2011.