CAMPUS NEWS

    As founder and president of Commerce Technologies, Inc., a flourishing young company that promotes e-commerce, Frank Poore might be described as something of a cyber-wizard. But when he isn’t working on the ‘Net, the 33-year-old entrepreneur is networking - building his staff by tapping into a vast and enormously talented pool of University at Albany alumni. Poore knows where his employees are coming from, so to speak: He himself is a UAlbany graduate who earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology and philosophy in 1990 and his M.B.A. three years ago. He established CTI - which facilitates business-to-business transactions on the Internet - in late 1997. CTI provides such services as Web-based supplier-retailer connectivity; Electronic Data Interchange (EDI); and secure credit card payment, translations, and transmission systems. The firm's clientele include amazon.com, JC Penney, Kmart, Montgomery Ward, Sears, Target, Toys 'R' Us, Wal-Mart, and other major retailers.
    CTI's president credits UAlbany's academic programs with helping him “pick up a good, broad understanding of business fundamentals.” The lessons he learned in the classroom “certainly factor into the dealings we have here each day with bankers, attorneys, marketers, and the rest of the business community,” Poore observes.
    And the University also influences CTI's day-to-day operations in other ways. According to Poore, the company's CESTM location has allowed it to realize numerous benefits, including a partnership with the Center for Advanced Thin Film Technologies and its director, Alain Kaloyeros. “I can't say enough about Alain and the CAT,” notes Poore. “They've been very good to us.” He praises University administrators, as well, for their tremendous support. “They're very interested in our success and have been helpful since Day One.”
    In addition, said Poore, “the SPIR (Strategic Partnership for Industrial Resurgence) program awarded us matching funds to hire and offer fellowships to University students.” Adds CTI Vice President of Technology Richard Jones: “Our first SPIR intern was a master's student in computer science. As soon as he graduated, we hired him full time.”
    That former student is Aaron Jarvis, who completed his combined B.S./M.S. program in 1999. During an internship that began last March, he was able to discern that CTI “offered something better than what other people were offering.” With other employers, he might have been expected to “focus on developing one product and getting trained in only one piece of software.” Instead, at CTI, “I've had a chance to work on technologies that were very new to the market. Also, with a smaller company, I have a better chance to define my own role and move up the ladder.”
    Jarvis is likewise grateful to CTI for accommodating his needs. At the time he began working with the company, he was also employed by a local health-care software provider. Juggling study, work, and the internship was possible because CTI was “very flexible,” explains the Air Force brat, who's lived in Sicily, Turkey, and North Dakota but “came home” to Albany because he has family in the Capital Region.
    Asked what he perceives as one of the strengths of his employer's affiliation with UAlbany, Jarvis cites “the link between Richard [Jones] and the University. Richard is an alum, and he talked with some of his former teachers about students who might want to work for CTI.” In fact, Jones's networking paid off, attracting Jarvis to the company as its first intern.
    Jones, a 1996 master's graduate of the computer science program, also praises the University for what it has done for CTI - and for him, personally. Albany, he says, welcomed him “with open arms.  I was given an assistantship in the computer network services office. Working and going to school here certainly enabled me to upgrade the status of my career. I don't think I could have done this at another school.”
    As was the case with Jarvis, networking led Jones, who earned his undergraduate degree at Birmingham-Southern College in Alabama, to CTI. Frank Poore discussed e-commerce in an M.B.A. class; a friend told Jones about the presentation and urged him to contact the entrepreneur. Jones, who worked as a programmer for InfoEd Software in Guilderland at the time, remembers:  “I e-mailed Frank that day, and we had lunch that afternoon. We spent two months talking, then I quit my job.  Now, I'm responsible for CTI's technology.” He has been with the company since November 1998.
    Another UAlbany graduate, Jason Stevens, also joined CTI last fall. Leaving behind a job with cfX, Inc. - where he structured more than $400 million in tax-exempt housing bonds for state and local housing finance authorities - and a “Manhattan lifestyle,” he relocated to Albany to accept a position as CTI's director of finance. “It has been absolutely the best decision of my life,” says Stevens, who received his undergraduate degree in finance in 1994 and his M.B.A. in 1997. “For me, this is a most exciting and energizing endeavor.”
    Stevens feels that his studies at Albany “gave a 'real world' application” to his choice of career. Business people, he points out, “have to be nimble enough to adjust to any situation that arises. There is no textbook that tells how to handle every issue, and there isn't a lot of room for error. The practical applications I learned at Albany are exactly what I'm utilizing now on the job.” 
    According to Stevens, the UAlbany-CESTM-CTI partnership has been “an outright perfect marriage.” The University has afforded CTI “entrée to the entire local business community” - and enabled Poore to “use money to grow the company” rather than pay exorbitant rent. “If you look at [commercial] space, there's no way you can find anything near the quality of CESTM. Even if you found something, the rates are way, way out of line. It's so helpful to a young company not to have to worry about a huge rent payment every month,” maintains Stevens.
    CTI, in turn, is doing its part for the University - by hiring UAlbany graduates. The firm, which expanded from three employees to 16 last year, is still growing:  In late January, CTI's website (http://www.commercehub.com) posted 20 position openings, including vacancies for an administrative assistant, a quality assurance technician, three vice presidents, and two interns. 
    Poore's success in attracting outstanding staff from the ranks of University at Albany alumni is evidenced not only by his company's growth, but by its excellence. Since March 1999, CTI has received two honors: the “Promising New Enterprise” award from the Capital Region Software Alliance and first place in the fourth annual Rensselaer Business Plan Competition. And Poore himself will be recognized February 10 with the University's Excellence in Entrepreneurship award, to be presented during the third annual Internet Symposium. The honoree will also serve as a speaker for the program, which is sponsored by The University at Albany Foundation's Council for Economic Outreach. 
    Poore stresses, however, that he and CTI are “going less for awards and more for contracts from major retailers.” He appreciates the support UAlbany and CESTM have given him and his company. Their success is “as much about the people as it is about the facility,” he notes.

    The Career Development Center reminds faculty members that now is the time for seniors to post their resumes on InterviewTRAK, the University's powerful, Web-based, on-campus recruiting system. The program makes the process of scheduling and coordinating on-campus interviews, as well as transmitting resumes, more efficient. And since it is online, the service is accessible to students, employers and staff 24 hours a day.
    “The system is highly beneficial to all parties involved with on-campus recruiting,” said Shirley Downey, director of the Career Development Center. “It allows students to view a list of employers who are coming on campus to recruit, submit their resumes and, if they have been selected, to sign up for interview time slots online. It lets employers view resumes, select the students they wish to interview and then watch as their schedules fill up.”
    Downey said that after looking into other systems of this nature, the center found the service given by JOBTRAK.COM and the technology used in its InterviewTRAK component to be the best option available to serve the needs of students and employers. “Using this technology gives our students an advantage in the competitive job market. Many seniors have already had responses to their resumes and have already had interviews with potential employers as a result,” she said. Between August and December 1999, use of InterviewTrak resulted in 1,383 on-campus interviews between students and prospective employers, according to the Career Development Center. From April to December 1999, 722 students with graduation dates of December 1999 or May or August 2000 registered with the system.
    The entire process is streamlined, with resume submission deadlines posted on the Web. “Students have a deadline by which to sign up for the interview, and employers have a deadline by which to respond. Everything is done via the Web,” Downey said.
    According to a recent survey by the Student Monitor LLC, finding a job is the number one concern among college students and recent graduates. Posting one's resume on the Web is one step in the right direction to finding a job. Faculty members are asked to encourage seniors to check out the CDC's Web site (www.albany.edu/cdc/) or visit the office (ULB 69) for more information.