"Food for Thought"

The Emerging Business Leaders facilitate meals with targeted successful leaders of their industry. This is an opportunity for 8 - 10 young professionals to meet in a small group with some of Western New York's most influential residents. The meetings are held monthly at the Amherst Chamber of Commerce offices. The Chamber circulates a schedule of hosts, dates and times to EBL members. Participation is on a first-come, first-served basis.

We kicked-off this event in January 2011 with Dottie Gallagher-Cohen of the Convention & Visitor's Bureau. Other guests in 2011 included: Dr. Donna Fernandes of the Buffalo Zoo, Bill Collins of Travers Collins & Company, Thomas Kucharski of Buffalo Niagara Enterprise, Robert Gioia of The John R. Oishei Foundation, Margaret Sullivan of The Buffalo News, Paul Ciminelli of Ciminelli Development Corporation, former Erie County Executive Chris Collins and Jim Kaskie of Kaleida Health.  

In 2012 Emerging Business Leaders hosted Clotilde Perez-Bode Dedecker of the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, Thomas Dee of the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation, Jack Connors of Business First and Tim Herzog of Flying Bison, Matt Enstice of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, Dennis Elsenbeck of National Grid, Anthony Conte of Shea's Performing Arts Center and Jody Lomeo of the Erie County Medical Center.

Guests in 2013 included Christina Orsi of Empire State Corporation and Laura Zaepfel of Uniland Development Corporation.

Here is the schedule for our upcoming meals:   

• June 4, 2013 at 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.: Marnie LaVigne, Associate Vice President for Economic Development at UB

Pricing varies depending on if the event is a breakfast, lunch or dinner. 

To sign-up for this exciting event, please contact Sonia Sloan at 716-632-6905 or ssloan@amherst.org.

For photos from these events, visit the Emerging Business Leaders' Facebook page