5-Borough Business Breakfast Series

SOLD OUT

Sponsored by:
 

 

Confirmed Panelists:

Juliet Papa:  Event Host: 1010 WINS reporter

Alan Rosen: Owner of Junior’s Cheesecake
Robert Walsh: NYC Small Business Services Commissioner
Peter Meyer: Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, and president of NYC Markets, TD Bank
Andy Bregenzer: Regional VP for NY lending, TD Bank
Peter Meloro: Energy Efficiency Expert, Consolidated Edison Company of New York

The most recognized and trusted news brand in New York is about to put its 44 years of experience, connections, and unmatched resources behind a dynamic new series of events for New York City's small business owners!
 
The 5-Borough Business Breakfast will offer a series of unique networking and information filled mornings specifically targeting the needs of the local business owner and local business community. 

The breakfast will bring together business, community, and political leaders from that Borough who can offer specific solutions for the local business owner.  The series will make separate visits to Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx.

Topics will include:

• Parking concerns
• Navigating the beauracracy at the local, state, and federal levels
• Increasing store traffic
• Identifying small business loans and small business grants
• The buzz of e-biz: Marketing your business on the Web and elsewhere
• Cost Of Health Insurance for you and your employees
• Locating Qualified Employees
•  Controlling energy and other costs

Alan Rosen
Co-Owner of Junior's

For those in the know, there is only one cheesecake:  Junior’s.  Indeed, Junior’s has been called the “world’s most fabulous cheesecake” by scores of media, including The Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine, “Today” and “Good Morning America,” not to mention by countless celebrities, entertainers, politicians as well as other notables. But the proof is in the tasting:  Junior’s sells over 10 million slices of cheesecake each year.

The man behind this extraordinary success is Alan Rosen, the third generation of the Rosen family to lead the venerable brand. Born and raised in New York , he grew up watching his father, Walter, run the original Junior's restaurant. While in high school and college, Alan spent his summers learning the business while also acting as manager at the original Brooklyn location. There was little doubt that he would one day guide the company that was founded by his grandfather Harry in 1950.
  
After graduating from Cornell University ’s School of Hotel Management in 1991, Alan spent three years working at other industry restaurants before returning to Junior’s. He started off as the Director of Marketing, with a goal towards growing and expanding the business beyond the original Brooklyn location.

And grow it he has. Now a co-owner with his brother Kevin, Alan celebrated Junior's 50th anniversary in May, 2000 by opening a second location—in Manhattan 's world famous Grand Central Terminal. In 2006, Alan brought the restaurant to a hugely successful Broadway debut, as he opened a new location in the heart of Times Square, and, most recently, in 2008, he opened a restaurant in the new MGM Grand at Foxwoods Resort & Casino. 

In addition, Alan has also grown the Junior’s brand internationally. Through a partnership with Greencore, one of the largest manufacturers of cakes and desserts in the United Kingdom, the cheesecake made in the “Borough of Kings” is now “Fit for a Queen.” Junior's cheesecakes, are currently sold in both restaurants and in retail establishments throughout the United Kingdom.
 
Today, Alan oversees the restaurants, retail bakeries, and mail order operation, which generates over $50 million in sales annually. Junior’s serves over 5,000 customers daily and sells approximately 6,000 cheesecakes every week.

As the public face of Junior’s Alan appears on QVC 60 times every year and has also appeared on numerous national television shows, including “Good Morning America,” “Today,” “Throwdown with Bobby Flay,” and “Emeril Live.”  He is the co-author of two books, including the best-selling Junior’s Cheesecake Cookbook: 50 To-Die-For Recipes for New York-Style Cheesecake (The Taunton Press, 2007). 

Robert Walsh
Commissioner
New York City Department of Small Business Services

Robert W. Walsh was appointed Commissioner of the New York City Department of Small Business Services (SBS) by Mayor Bloomberg in January 2002.  During his tenure, he has redefined how the City serves and responds to the needs of the City’s 220,000 small businesses.

SBS has invigorated the City's 64 Business Improvement Districts– the largest network of BIDs in the country – which collectively invest more than $98 million dollars in the maintenance, development and promotion of commercial districts throughout the City. Under Walsh’s leadership, SBS enhanced the delivery of services to New York City’s small businesses.  Through NYC Business Solutions, SBS provides businesses with business planning assistance, business courses, help accessing financing, hiring and training employees, selling to the government, and accessing incentives.  To make starting, operating and expanding a business simple and easy, SBS launched online tools through NYC Business Express.  SBS has also energized the City’s promotion and support of minority- and women-owned businesses. 

Since Mayor Bloomberg merged the City’s adult workforce development programs with SBS in July 2003, Walsh has led the effort to link workforce and economic development by meeting the needs of both businesses and jobseekers.  Under his leadership, SBS has increased the number of Workforce1 Career Centers from three to eight and implemented data-driven performance management, resulting in an increase in the number of placements made by the Career Centers each quarter from just 127 in 2004 to more than 6,800 during the last quarter.  SBS also overhauled the City’s training voucher program by focusing on training provider accountability and tightly linking training opportunities to jobs. The Workforce1 Career Centers have achieved 66,000 job placements since 2004 and aim to place New Yorkers in 20,000 jobs in 2009.

Prior to his appointment, Walsh spent five years in North Carolina as President of Charlotte Center City Partners, an organization dedicated to improving and growing Charlotte’s central business district.  From 1989 to April 1997, he led the Union Square Partnership, where he played a key role in the neighborhood's revitalization.  During the 1980's, he worked in the administration of Mayor Edward I. Koch.  He began his career in public service as a New York City Urban Fellow, a program he later directed.  Commissioner Walsh holds a bachelor's degree and a master's degree from Fordham University.

Peter A. Meloro
Manager, Energy Efficiency
Consolidated Edison Company of New York

Peter Meloro is an executive manager of Con Edison’s Energy Efficiency Programs.  In this role he is responsible for relationship building with major businesses and trade organizations.  One of the primary goals of the group is the marketing of energy efficient measures.  The introduction of these measures and the inherent reduction in usage has become an integral part of the planning process for Con Edison’s distribution system. 

Prior to his present position, Mr. Meloro was the Manager of Economic Development for the five boroughs and Westchester County and Manager of Energy Service in the Borough of Brooklyn.  There he was responsible for new or additional electric service work.  He previously managed a Customer Service Branch in Brooklyn responsible for telephone service, meter reading, customer inquiries and collection activity.  Mr. Meloro has worked for CECONY since 1970.

He holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Long Island University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Brooklyn College.  He resides in Brooklyn Heights with his wife Christine.