Blog

As the regional chamber of commerce, the Buffalo Niagara Partnership is committed to providing employers with the latest information and resources to help deal with COVID-19 and its impact on business, our community, state and nation.

We will continue to follow up as more information becomes available. Given the fluidity of this situation, please feel free to reach out to us with questions at connect@thepartnership.org and even more importantly, if you are willing to share best practices.

Thank you to our members for their expertise:

More about the speakers:

Chris Earle has been in Banking for over 45 years holding positions of increasing responsibility in numerous commercial banks, principally in Connecticut. Chris has been an active SBA Lender since 1986 and has managed SBA Sales for seven different institutions over the course of the last 30 years. He was recognized by the U. S. Small Business Administration as the Connecticut District Financial Services Advocate of the Year for 1999. Chris has been with M & T Bank as SBA Sales Manager since 2015 when he established the SBA Sales Team at M & T Bank.

Cory Van Deusen has over 15 years of experience providing tax services to commercial businesses and individuals. His expertise lies in the myriad of business development incentives offered by various federal, state, and local agencies to encourage regional investment, spur job creation, and foster economic growth. The available incentives include refundable tax credits, tax abatements, grants and forgivable loans. He has extensive knowledge of Start-Up NY, Opportunity Zones, the Excelsior Jobs Program and various local incentives such as Industrial Development Agency (IDA) benefits. Additionally, he spends his time providing services such as compliance, research, transaction structuring and family planning. Cory has experience in all areas of U.S. Federal and NY State Taxation. He has been with Lumsden McCormick since 2001, was named partner in 2015. He is a member of the Firm’s recruitment team and commercial services group.