Let’s dance: Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers, as we penetrate the defenses of another tough workweek, set up our best shots and hustle to finalize our NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament brackets.
The wait is over: Head coach Speedy Claxton (Hofstra University Class of 2000) has led The Pride to its first NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament berth in 25 years.
Islanders have lots to root for in this year’s March Madness competition, which marks the first time ever that two Long Island-based men’s teams have qualified for the Big Dance (alas, none of LI’s women’s teams made the Women’s Division I tournament). Hoop logic suggests neither the Hofstra Pride nor the Long Island University Sharks will make a deep run, but you never know – that’s why they play the games!
Either way, kudos to both Hofstra and LIU for qualifying. And if they do get bounced, we can all get behind St. John’s University – we’re predicting a dark-horse Final Four performance by the Red Storm.
New … and improved! Today is March 18, and while we’re waiting for the tourney to tip off, we’re absolutely thrilled to announce Innovate Long Island’s newest sponsor – topnotch public-relations boutique Jody Fisher PR, owned and operated by the one-and-only Jody Fisher, among the all-time greats of regional communications. More on our new sponsor below.
We’re also separating our plastics and papers – Job No. 1 on Global Recycling Day, the annual homage to reducing and reusing and not wasting Earth’s dwindling resources.
All in: It would be easy to make a witty reference here about lives wasted in unjust wars, but instead we’ll simply remove our caps and offer a solemn salute to soldiers, police officers, volunteers and others who give their all – literally – in service of worthy causes: the heroes of National Supreme Sacrifice Day.
Pivoting from that to today’s holiday menu – National Sloppy Joe Day and National Lacy Oatmeal Cookie Day – is gauche at best. Fortunately, it’s also National Awkward Moments Day, stumbling and fumbling every March 18.
There’s gold in them thar razors: Pivoting from gold prospecting to newfangled electronics was U.S. Army veteran Jacob Schick, who created the world’s first electric razor, which hit the markets on this date in 1831.
Tunnel vision: Also clearing a new path was America’s first railway tunnel (the world’s third), which opened to traffic in Pennsylvania on March 18, 1834, in the Allegheny Mountains.
All-American: Nobody blazed trails better than American entrepreneurs Henry Wells and William Fargo, who would later launch Wells Fargo and Co. – but got busy 176 years ago today when they founded American Express.
High anxiety: Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov almost didn’t make it back into his capsule after conducting humanity’s first spacewalk 61 years ago today.
All-Russian? Meanwhile, in space, humanity’s first spacewalk was executed on this date in 1965 by Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, who bravely floated out of his Voskhod 2 space capsule (and barely survived the excursion, for those keeping score).
Go wild: And it was March 18, 1970, when the largest wildcat strike in U.S. history kicked off in New York City, with 200,000 postal workers across the nation eventually walking off the job.
The eight-day wildcat strike – denoting a work stoppage executed by employees without the official authorization, approval or support of union leadership (in this case, eight separate unions) – flummoxed President Richard Nixon and ultimately led to substantial pay increases, new bargaining rights and the creation of the modern U.S. Postal Service (which may now be on its last legs, see below).
Mail-dominated business: German American entrepreneur, businesswoman and philanthropist Lillian Vernon (born Lilli Menasche, 1927-2015) – who fled from Germany to Amsterdam to America to escape the Nazis, launched a mail-order empire from her Mount Vernon kitchen and became the first woman to take a company public on the American Stock Exchange – would be 99 years old today.
Short reign: Williams was dethroned — but not deterred — by bad actors.
Also born on March 18 were American politician Stephen Grover Cleveland (1837-1908), the 22nd and 24th President of the United States; German thermal engineer, linguist, social theorist and art aficionado Rudolf Diesel (1858-1913), who invented the internal-combustion engine; American businessman and philanthropist Ernest Gallo (1909-2007), who founded E J Gallo Winery, currently the world’s largest winemaker by volume; American novelist, poet and art/literary critic John Updike (1932-2009), an uber-rare multiple Pulitzer Prize-winner; and Brooklyn-born, Merrick-raised American businessman, activist and philanthropist Bennett Cohen (born 1951), co-founder of global-sensation ice cream brand Ben & Jerry’s.
There she is: And take a bow, Vanessa Lynn Williams! The American singer, actress, model, producer and dancer – the first African American woman crowned Miss America, a title she was later forced to relinquish because of an unholy deal between unscrupulous photographer Tom Chiapel and sleezy publisher Bob Guccione (a scheme so underhanded even legendary misogynist Hugh Hefner passed) – turns 63 today.
Send your best to the dethroned pageant queen – who never looked back – at editor@innovateli.com, where we always see the beauty in your news tips and calendar events.
About our sponsor: PR is writing your history. Jody Fisher PR helps organizations across Long Island and Greater New York tell their stories with clarity and purpose. We provide strategic media relations and a compelling voice to leaders in healthcare, construction, real estate, higher education, financial services, nonprofit industries and other critical sectors. Let us elevate your voice – and help you reach the audiences that matter most. Learn more here.
BUT FIRST, THIS
One of a kind: Ernie Fazio spent a lifetime advocating for Long Island (and occasionally singing).
Fond farewell: Long Island has lost a great socioeconomic champion.
Advocate, author and longtime co-chairman of business-booster Long Island Metro Business Action Ernie Fazio passed away March 13 at the age of 86. The Howard Beach native and U.S. Coast Guard veteran – an outspoken pundit on government, energy, climate change, small-business development and various transportation issues, particularly the creation of maglev transportation systems – was a longtime LIMBA member who took the organization’s reins in 2002, leading it through decades of roundtable discussions with lawmakers, captains of industry and other regional influencers.
Survived by his wife, Marguerite; his sons, Andrew and Glenn; and a loving extended family, the mustachioed marvel – an AT&T lineman, insurance salesman and enthusiastic amateur crooner, among other legacy pursuits – will be sorely missed, according to Kevin Law, chairman of the Empire State Development Board of Directors. “Ernie had a deep passion and commitment to Long Island,” noted Law, also executive vice president of Ronkonkoma-based TRITEC Real Estate Co. and a former president/CEO of the Long Island Association. “He was a terrific advocate and an amazing singer … and a good friend of the LIA, as well as all the other business organizations on Long Island.”
Bringing it to the table: A high-wattage cabal of employers, educators, lawmakers and social-services providers will join forces to advance regional workforce-development solutions.
The Long Island Association and the Institute for Workforce Advancement, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization advancing manufacturing-related workforce-development initiatives across the Northeast, have announced the inaugural roster of the Long Island Workforce Roundtable. Co-chaired by LIA Acting President/CEO Stacey Sikes and IWA President Phil Rugile, the roundtable – funded by JPMorganChase and The New York Community Trust-Long Island – actually launched late last year, but this week finalized the impressive roster of cross-sector leaders contributing to the development of a Long Island workforce “action plan.”
The roundtable’s top priorities include the creation of pilot programs that identify highest-in-demand skills, equip workers with requisite hands-on experiences and otherwise pave career pathways that keep Long Islanders on the job – and keep regional industries in the fight. “The LIA is proud to be a part of this data-informed initiative to cultivate a robust workforce talent pipeline for our region’s business community,” Sikes noted. “The cross-sector input during the Workforce Development Roundtable process will advance an action plan that is focused on results.”
TOP OF THE SITE
…doomed to repeat it: With the history of the Information Age still fresh, Fair Media Council CEO/Executive Director Jaci Clement has some stark warnings about the rapidly evolving Digital Age – particularly regarding AI in the workplace.
Infinity loop: Keep your entire innovation team looped in (now and always) – individual subscriptions to Innovate Long Island’s educational, entertaining, thrice-weekly newsletters are always easy, always free.
VOICES
With the Long Island population aging fast, the lack of a unified strategy for creating appropriate senior-living accommodations is hurting Island residents and damaging regional socioeconomics – and Voices Real Estate/Development Anchor Scott Burman is warning lawmakers, planners and other decisionmakers to get it together before it’s too late.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Debt spiral: Interest on the ballooning national debt will soon outpace GDP – a deficit disaster, insiders warn. Fortune cautiously calculates.
Safety patrol: Only government regulators can keep social media and AI in check – but will they? The World Economic Forum stipulates safeguards.
Funds-for-all: Thousands of small-time innovators have big-time ideas – and they need a sturdy stage to scale up. Fast Company loves the little guy.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ AgZen, a Massachusetts-based agricultural-spraying pioneer, raised $10 million in Series B funding led by DCVC Bio, with participation from Material Impact and Astanor Ventures.
+ Certiv, a Washington State-based cybersecurity startup, raised $4.2 million in Pre-Seed funding led by Aviso Ventures, Founders Co-op and Fortson.
+ Eileen Inc., a Pennsylvania-based, AI-infrastructure retail platform, raised $1 million in Pre-Seed funding led by Top Shelf Ventures.
+ Nadia Care, a Washington-based medtech focused on maternal health, raised $12 million in funding led by First Trust Capital Partners and RH Capital.
+ Great Sky, a Colorado-based provider of computing hardware solutions, raised $14 million in Seed funding led by Bison Ventures, with participation from Matchstick Ventures, Range Ventures and angel investors Mark Leslie, Adam Pritzker and Ivan Vendrov.
+ Halcyon, a California-based software maker creating an AI-powered management and operations platform for energy providers, raised $21 million in Series A funding led by Energize Capital, with participation from Zero Infinity Partners, Congruent Ventures, Obvious Ventures and Sabanci Climate Ventures.
Like this newsletter? Innovate Long Island newsletter, website and podcast sponsorships are a prime opportunity to reach the inventors, investors, entrepreneurs and executives you need to know – on Long Island, and soon, across New York State (just ask Jody Fisher PR). Gregory Zeller can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (The Check Is In The Mail Edition)
Going (going, gone?) postal: Those “forever” stamps might have an expiration date after all.
Out of service: This really could be the end of the road for the U.S. Postal Service.
Past posting: Amazon overtakes the USPS as the largest domestic parcel carrier.
Back in the saddle: The Old West’s famous Pony Express only ran for 18 months.
He delivers: Please continue supporting the amazing agencies that support Innovate Long Island, including Jody Fisher PR, where your best message is always delivered – on point, on time, every time. Check them out.
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