Leadercast Live is the largest one-day leadership event in the world, and the Columbia Montour Chamber is making this inspiring and educational event available for the first time in the Columbia/Montour region. Central Columbia High School will host the event in its auditorium, while Service 1st Federal Credit Union is the Leadership Sponsor. 

This year’s theme is Leading Healthy Teams. What defines a team’s success? Is it based solely on achievement, or is there more to the story? The best leaders know a successful team is made when focus, care, attention and development is directed to its members. Healthy teams yield fulfilled employees, effective collaboration, high organizational engagement and greater long-term success. In 2019, Leadercast Live will bring experts in organizational health to help attendees master the art and science of developing and leading healthy teams.

Feature speakers include:

Register today and use the promo code “VBiz” for a special 20% off registration. The registration cost includes lunch. 

Chamber members – $75
Non-members: $95

Media sponsors

Silver sponsors
Bloomsburg University
Geisinger
Kawneer
PPL Electric Utilities
SEKISUI SPI
USG

Front: Fady Smouni, Marketing Intern; Keara Hozella, Corporate Storyteller; Max Good, Office Administrator (black shirt, khakis); Dennis Kelso, appLab™ Manager
Second row: Angie Beaver, Administrative Assistant; Jeff Otter, Costing Manager
Third row: Keri Lebo, Marketing Manager; Jym Kauffman, Infused Imaging™ Manager
Back row: Dr. Bashar Hanna, President Bloomsburg University; Brooke Felker, Accounting Specialist; Kristin McVicar, Financial Controller; Kahla Manning, Customer Collaboration Specialist; Ronn Cort, COO & President

From Bloomsburg University and SEKISUI SPI

The Bloomsburg University Foundation announces that SEKISUI SPI made a $500,000 gift to construct a state-of-the-art professional experience workspace for students in downtown Bloomsburg.

“For us, it was an easy decision,” said SEKISUI President and Chief Operations Officer Ronn Cort. “We already partner with the university in campus events, panels and professional development opportunities for students. Our deeper connection to BU and the local community is part of our business strategy. We were considering building a space like this at one of our manufacturing campuses, but when we learned of BU’s plans for a Professional Experience Lab at the Greenly Center, we thought it would make perfect sense to help them build it there. This allows us to enhance our partnership with BU while also helping them to better serve students, the community and local businesses.”

Construction of the SEKISUI Professional Experience Lab (PEL), which will be located on the third floor of the Greenly Center, will begin in May. The goal is to have the space ready for returning BU students and community members to use in fall 2019, with a dedication ceremony set for September.

“We cannot thank SEKISUI enough for this tremendous gift and their continued commitment to growing their partnership with the university,” said BU President Bashar W. Hanna. “This facility will serve as a collaborative learning space for our students, faculty and community members to share ideas and experiences that will improve professional development opportunities.”

The PEL will include five individual soundproof rooms designed to provide students and community members with the opportunity to practice, record and receive feedback on professional interactions via in-person interviews along with virtual interviewing and meeting tools such as Skype and Zoom. These facilities will provide students with resources to help them train in several areas including job interviewing, virtual presentations, competitions, and conflict resolution.

The creation of the PEL is the result of discussions that began several years ago when an innovation committee comprised of BU faculty and staff, board members and community volunteers came together to share ideas on how to increase student activity in downtown Bloomsburg. The group began exploring opportunities to maximize the Greenly Center’s location in a way that could best benefit BU students and the overall Bloomsburg community.

The gift from SEKISUI brings the BU Foundation’s total amount raised in the 2018-2019 fiscal year up to more than $9M, putting the fundraising arm of the university on pace for a record-setting year of giving.

Joining BU President Bashar Hanna and Ronn Cort, SEKISUI COO and president, were employees and interns at SEKISUI who are BU graduates and current students.

• Lightstreet Rd. will be closed and a detour will be in place beginning on Monday, April 29 and running through Wednesday, May 15 for construction of the new pedestrian bridge. The Bloomsburg University campus and surrounding local roads will still be accessible, and crews will be working seven days a week to keep the closure and detour as short as possible. The formal detour will go down East Street, U.S. Route 11 and up Central Road. 

• Bloomsburg University’s IT Outreach Webinar Series has a pair of upcoming webinars on IT-related issues scheduled in the coming weeks. On Wednesday, May 1, at 1 p.m., Jim Walker, chief security officer at Syntervision Inc. will present “The Real Cyber Threats a Big OS Vendor Won’t Tell You.” Then, on Wednesday, May 22, at noon, Ronald Fussell, program manager at Zel Technologies, LLC, will present “Software Systems Design Considerations. BU’s IT Outreach Webinar Series engages its local constituents in a purposeful manner about the trending topics in the IT field. Webinars are approximately 30 minutes in length. There is no cost to participate, however participants must register. For more information on these webinars or the series, visit BU’s dedicated website page. 

• PA CareerLink Columbia/Montour Counties will host its annual job fair on Thursday, May 2, from 1-5 p.m. at Columbia-Montour Area Vocational-Technical School, located at 5050 Swpeenheiser Dr., Bloomsburg. The entire event is open to both the general public and students. Employers interested in attending as an exhibitor/vendor should register online. For more information, see the flyer. 

• The Northern Tier Partners for the Arts, a partner of the Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts, will provide a free workshop on Wednesday, May 15, at the Bloomsburg Public Library, from 2-3 p.m., on grant writing for arts programming. This workshop will educate attendees on grant guidelines, application processes and criteria. For additional information, call 570-268-2787 or email. 

Attendees had an opportunity to enjoy a relaxing and laid back late afternoon over music from a local band and delicious food from Lucy’s Craft Catering while also having an opportunity to hear some information about business growth financing and assessing net worth at April’s Business After Hours held at G.S. Woods Financial Solutions in Danville on April 17.

A local acoustic band, Damon & The Gregs, which includes a realtor from fellow Chamber member RE/MAX Edge, performed a series of 80’s selections throughout the evening. G.S. Woods owner Graeme Woods also gave a brief presentation about business growth financing.

Business After Hours provide regular opportunities to build business relationships while learning about the services offered by other Chamber members. The next Business After Hours will be held at Ken Pollock Ford Lincoln, located at 1120 West Front St., Berwick, on Thursday, May 9, from 4:30-6:30 p.m.  

More than 400 businesses and organizations belong to the Chamber to receive benefits and support efforts to strengthen their businesses and our region. Increased membership allows us to offer additional programs and benefits, have a stronger voice in advocacy and be involved in more activities and initiatives in our communities. The Chamber welcomes its newest member, Hilltops Services, LLC, to help us fulfill our mission.

Hilltops Services is an excavation, hauling and materials business that is locally owned and based in Bloomsburg. Founded in 1990, it provides excavation services, as well as sales and delivery of materials such as mulch, sand, stone, topsoil and much more. It can provide quantities from as small as one scoop of those materials to several dump truck loads, with discounts available based on quantity. Located at 105 Cross Rd. in Bloomsburg, HillTops Services is open Monday-Friday from 7 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Saturday from 7 a.m. – 3 p.m. It can be reached at 570-387-1772 or by email, or visit its website.

Jeff Emanuel, Foundation director

Jeff Emanuel, director of the Foundation of the Columbia Montour Chamber of Commerce, has been selected to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Business Leads Fellowship Program.  The program will consist of interactive classes taught by expert faculty on a variety of education and workforce topics, and includes a field trip to an innovative school. The agenda will include plenary classes, breakout classes, and is designed to provide grounding on the issues, as well as, practical tools that can be used to advance policies and programs in our communities. The first workshop focuses Fellows’ attention on early and K-12 education, as well as college and career readiness. The second workshop completes the talent pipeline with coverage of post-secondary education and a wide range of workforce development topics.

From ChamberChoice

On March 7, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a proposed rule increasing the minimum salary threshold for overtime-exempt employees to $35,308 from the current level of $23,660. Employers may recall prior proposed rulemaking under the Obama administration that would have raised the minimum salary threshold to $47,476. The Obama-era rule was never implemented due to litigation, but employers should prepare to comply with the new salary minimum salary of $35,308 if they have not done so already.

The increased salary level may require employers to classify currently exempt employees as non-exempt. Employers may need to review and evaluate who may be eligible for overtime based on the new federal rules. Also, employers may want to look into rescheduling their employees so that they do not sustain overtime hours. Employers can take many other actions such as hiring new employees to spread the workload so that each employee has less overtime or no overtime hours at all, cutting costs in other areas in order to afford overtime hours for their employees, or increasing the salaries of employees to surpass the new requirement.

Even employers who currently pay salaried, exempt employees in excess of the proposed minimum of $35,308 should use this proposed rulemaking as an opportunity to reassess compensation and employee benefits companywide. This is especially the case for employers located in states or municipalities where the minimum wage may be increasing or already has increased above the federal hourly rate of $7.25. Coupled with nationally low unemployment, these salary and wage floor increases mean that it is vitally important to offer competitive benefits packages in order to attract and retain workers.

Of course, the rising minimum salary threshold for overtime employees and federal, state, and local minimum wage requirements apply to employers regardless of what benefits they offer. For employers who are forced to increase compensation due to the increased salary threshold for overtime employees, this may mean that employers should seek out more affordable employee benefit options to minimize the total increase in compensation and benefits costs. Relatedly, employers should balance the increased benefit costs that may come with hiring additional staff (to minimize overtime hours worked) compared to the increased number of overtime-eligible employees if the employer chooses to not raise salaries to comply with the rule. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to complying with the proposed minimum salary increase, so employers should work with their benefits advisors, human resources professionals, and legal counsel when needed to determine the best way to proceed.

This article gives a basic overview of recent regulation as in effect on the date of the newsletter. Please be aware that the determination of the requirements and the application of these rules to each employer may differ due to a number of variables. Nothing in this article should be construed as legal advice.

Remember a loved one, honor a veteran, record your family’s name for posterity, or display your business name with an engraved brick or paver in the Court House Plaza in Downtown Bloomsburg. Downtown Bloomsburg Inc. is now accepting orders.

From Chambers for Innovation and Clean Energy

Nearly every U.S. state saw an increase in clean energy jobs in 2018, with an anticipated 6% job growth in 2019. Read here about the latest impressive growth of clean energy jobs in America, including the top 10 states in the county. Pennsylvania ranked fourth for growth in clean energy jobs by percentage from 2017 to 2018.

Good for the economy. Good for the environment. Every day, Chambers of Commerce are discovering the positive opportunities for economic growth associated with affordable clean energy. If you are interested in discovering more about these opportunities, please contact Chambers for Innovation and Clean Energy via email.

• Commonwealth Health – Berwick Hospital Center‘s free six-week educational series, “Six Weeks to Better Health,” wraps up this evening, April 17, from 5-6 p.m. at the Hospital’s Conference Room 1 and 2, located at 701 East 16th St., Berwick. Tonight’s session is on Advanced Directives and Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST). For more information, see the flyer, and to RSVP, call 570-759-5337.

• Danville Child Development Center’s April 2019 newsletter is now available. 

• There will be a free showing of the 2018 documentary about the life and legacy of Fred Rogers, titled Won’t you be my Neighbor, next Tuesday, April 23, from 7-9 p.m., at the Berwick Theatre and Center for Community Arts, located at 110 Front St., Berwick. This event is being presented by the United Way of Columbia and Montour County. For more information, see the Facebook event page. 

• PA CareerLink Columbia/Montour Counties will host its annual job fair on Thursday, May 2, from 1-5 p.m. at Columbia-Montour Area Vocational-Technical School, located at 5050 Swpeenheiser Dr., Bloomsburg. The entire event is open to both the general public and students. Employers interested in attending as an exhibitor/vendor should register online. For more information, see the flyer. 

• Representatives from the Berwick Area High School and girls’ basketball team presented the Central Susquehanna Community Foundation with a check for $1,687 to support the Steven Mark Nastelli Scholarship Fund, which awards scholarships to Berwick Area High School graduating scholar athletes attending post-secondary education. 
  

  (L-R): Pamela Hegland, Berwick Area High School assistant principal; M. Holly Morrison, D.Ed., CSCF president and CEO; Megan Dalo, Berwick girls’ basketball captain; Sierra Miedaner, Berwick girls’ basketball captain; Kara G. Seesholtz, CSCF chief advancement officer; and Bill Phillips, Berwick girls’ basketball coach.

  The donation was raised during the Lady Bulldogs Steve Nastelli Alumni Basketball Game. More than 200 people attended to cheer on the former players and coaches. The game was established by Coach Bill Phillips and his staff and is held each year.