For Immediate Release — Aug. 4, 2008

Contact:
David Irwin
Media Relations Manager
(585) 245-5516
irwin@geneseo.edu

Barth Named Director of SUNY Geneseo’s Small Business Development Center

GENESEO, N. Y. -- Richard (Dick) Barth has been named director of the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) in the Jones School of Business at SUNY Geneseo.  The SBDC provides confidential, one-on-one counseling services and group training sessions for the public that are either free or very low cost.

Barth, who resides in Perry, N.Y. and is a native of Wyoming County, founded his own business in 1993 after more than 20 years of management experience in corporate and non-profit organizations, as well as agricultural cooperatives. His past duties include managing a training team in Ukraine when it was still a part of the Soviet Union.

Barth has run his own appraisal and brokerage firm and recently served as a business adviser for the Brockport Small Business Development Center at Genesee Community College in Batavia.  At SUNY Geneseo he trains and counsels people to become successful business owners, primarily in Livingston and Wyoming Counties.  He also teaches microenterprise, economics and management courses at Genesee Community College in Warsaw.

In addition to his broad business experience, Barth also served in the U.S. Army as a combat helicopter pilot and platoon leader in Vietnam in 1970-71, earning two Bronze Stars, several Army commendation medals and numerous air medals.  He retired from the Army in 1980 as an infantry  major.  He has served in leadership positions for many community organizations including the State College of Pennsylvania Chapter of the United Nations Association, the State College Chapter of SCORE, and is the founder and past president of the Pennsylvania Business Brokers Association.

Barth holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Ohio State University in dairy science and agricultural economics.   He has earned recognition as a certified business intermediary, a certified business counselor, a certified senior business analyst and a certified equipment appraiser.  He has worked with small business owners in manufacturing, retail, distribution, and service industries and understands firsthand the challenges and problems facing small businesses today.

He is married to Jessie McNall Barth, an artist, educator, author, publisher and community activist. They have five grown children who reside in New York, Texas and California. Both are members of the Perry Rotary Club, and both are active in the Perry Main Street Association for which Mrs. Barth is serving as its first president.

The SBDC is an outreach office of the SBDC Regional office in the Corporate Training Center of Niagara County Community College in Lockport, which is one of 23 regional offices throughout New York.

SBDC assistance is available by contacting the SBDC office at 585-245-5429.