Crains New York - May 28, 2012 - (Page 21)

BUSINESS LIVES HOT JOBS GROWING CONCERN: Ben Flanner opened a second rooftop farm this month. Private-sector jobs NY state has added since November ’09 Source: New York State Labor Department 335K EXECUTIVE INBOX CHIEF BUSINESS OFFICER ORGANIZATION Mercy Home JOB DESCRIPTION Manage and oversee all financial and business planning activities MOST IMPORTANT TASKS Coordinate audits and ensure legal and regulatory compliance CREDENTIALS NEEDED B.S./C.P.A. in accounting or business management required; M.B.A. preferred; experience with systems related to Department of Social Services SALARY $110,000 to $120,000 RECRUITER Internal DOWNSIDE Working weekend and evening hours as needed UPSIDE Maintaining effective relationships with the local civic, business and residential communities Located in Brooklyn, Mercy Home provides residential, supportive and respite programs for people with developmental disabilities. Mercy Home marked 150 years of service this spring. —SUZANNE PANARA Anne Fisher Bringing tech jobs back OVER THE PAST DECADE or so, nearly one-third of all high-tech manufacturing jobs in the U.S. moved to cheaper labor markets overseas, the National Science Board reported earlier this year. Manhattan-based tech staffing and consulting firm Genesis10 is working on reversing that trend. Started by Chief Executive Harley Lippman in 1999, the company is expanding its tech centers in the city, and in Missouri, Michigan, Georgia and Florida. It is doing this to accommodate clients who want to bring helpdesk and other IT functions back home. Recently, Mr. Lippman explained the shift. EXECUTIVE MOVES Catholic Medical Mission Board: Bruce Wilkinson, 57, joined the Catholic charity, which focuses on global health care, as president and chief executive. He was previously regional vice president, southern Africa, at World Vision International. The Community Preservation Corp.: Sadie McKeown, 48, was promoted to chief operating officer of the nonprofit lender for affordable housing. She was previously senior vice president and director of Community Preservation Corp.’s Hudson Valley region. AccentHealth: John Curbishley, 36, joined the health-education waiting-roomtelevision network as executive vice president, business and product development, a newly created position. He was previously senior vice president, business development, at iVillage, a division of NBCUniversal. Harris Beach: Terryl L. Brown, 50, joined the law firm as partner in the government compliance and investigations practice group. She was previously counsel to the attorney general and chief ethics officer in the New York state attorney general’s office. LCOR: James M. Driscoll, 49, joined the real estate investment and development buck ennis Farmer on the Roof This year, his farms will grow about 35,000 pounds of vegetables As a business consultant in Manhattan, Ben Flanner flew to Australia to do a cost-analysis project for a winery. During his four months there, he realized he was more fascinated by the process of growing the grapes than the balance sheet behind the operation. ¶ A few years later, that initial interest in agriculture led the 31-yearold Wisconsin native to leave his desk job and start one of the city’s first rooftop farms. From there, he raised $200,000 to create a much bigger operation, the Brooklyn Grange Farm, growing heirloom tomatoes and veggies. The 40,000-square-foot spot in Long Island City, Queens (its “Brooklyn” moniker notwithstanding), became profitable after the first year. ¶ Last week, Mr. Flanner opened a second urban farm, a 45,000-square-foot space on a rooftop in the Brooklyn Navy Yard—which, in addition to the usual crops, will house the city’s first commercial beehive operation. This year, the farms will grow about 35,000 pounds of vegetables to sell to restaurants and at farmers’ markets. ¶ “I cook a lot,” he said. “My favorite thing is to take home produce from the farm and make a healthy dinner.” —miriam kreinin souccar GOTHAM GIGS Why are more companies now deciding to buy your tech services here at home rather than outsource? With the tremendous, rapid growth of the middle class in developing countries, labor costs in other places are not as low as they were. At the same time, we’ve deliberately located our IT service centers mostly in parts of the U.S., like Michigan, where the recession has kept wages down. And some companies have been unpleas-antly surprised by the hidden and indirect costs of outsourcing. What are those hidden costs? There are so many. For one thing, turnover is much higher in developing countries. That means you have to constantly train new people, which leads to expensive delays. Then there are a whole bunch of communication issues. Do you expect more companies will start bringing their in-house IT operations back to the U.S.? I think so, yes. And some companies may really have their hand forced by security issues. Most emerging countries don’t have the same standards as we do here when it comes to intellectual property and cybersecurity. Read the full interview online at http://mycrains.crainsnewyork .com/blogs/executive-inbox/. See EXECUTIVE MOVES on Page 22 May 28, 2012 | Crain’s New York Business | 21 http://mycrains.crainsnewyork.com/blogs/executive-inbox/

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - May 28, 2012

Crains New York - May 28, 2012
Contents
Kids’ Lines Behave Badly for Retail Industry
City’s Scarcest Resource These Days? Engineers
Taxi! Follow That Cab’s Fare Increase
Nasdaq Attack the Facebook Fallout in the Markets
Bronx Retail Strip Goes From Famously Bad to Bustling
It’s the Return of the Automat
The Insider
Real Estate Deals
Opinion
For the Record
The Week on the Web
Classifieds
Taking Urban Farming to a New Level
Anne Fisher: Manufacturing Jobs Make a Comeback
Hot Jobs
Movers & Shakers: Russian Banker Shares His u.s.plans
Gael Greene: Fighting the Crowd at Primola
The Week Ahead

Crains New York - May 28, 2012