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Stachowski, Greatbatch Inc. honored at Business Partners Day

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By ELLEN GOLDBAUM
Published: June 5, 2009

New York State Sen. William T. Stachowski and Greatbatch Inc. were honored by UB for their longstanding enthusiastic support at UB’s Business Partners Day luncheon on June 4 in the Adam’s Mark Hotel in Buffalo.

The annual Business Partner’s Day event celebrates the companies, organizations and individuals who have played key roles in partnering with UB in order to strengthen the economy in Buffalo Niagara and throughout New York State.

Stachowski received UB’s Reaching Others Award for his leadership and advocacy on behalf of the university and its many partners. This was demonstrated most recently by his introduction and support of the UB 2020 Flexibility and Economic Growth Act, a new bill before the Legislature that is intended to give UB the financial flexibility to pursue the ambitious goals of UB 2020: to build a great public research university that is the catalyst for a thriving knowledge-based economy in our region.

Greatbatch Inc. received UB’s 2009 Vital Partner Award, the highest honor bestowed on a company by UB, in recognition of its longtime support of, and collaboration with, the university.

During the luncheon, Robert W. Black, a UB graduate and group president of Kimberly-Clark, spoke on “The Global Economy and the Role of University Partnerships Helping to Meet the Needs of the Global Marketplace.”

John Eisner, associate professor emeritus in the Department of Pediatric and Community Dentistry, School of Dental Medicine, received the UB Faculty Entrepreneur Award for his creation of Academic Management Systems, a UB spinoff company located in the UB Technology Incubator. The award recognizes the important role UB scientists and scholars play in creating inventions and other discoveries that benefit society.

More than 50 companies and organizations were represented at Business Partners Day 2009, with more than 500 businesspeople expected to attend.

President John B. Simpson said that Stachowski’s effective and valuable partnership with UB has helped shape understanding in the Legislature and the community of how a public research university fuels regional economic development.

“In supporting the UB 2020 Flexibility and Economic Growth Act, Sen. Stachowski has been a stalwart and thoughtful proponent of the many ways that UB can fuel creation of a knowledge-based economy in our region, without additional cost to the taxpayers of this state.”

Stachowski also has been a strong advocate for the construction of the UB-Kaleida medical research building in downtown Buffalo, a key project in the creation of a vibrant downtown campus for UB.

Simpson noted that Stachowski’s efforts resulted in the restoration of budget support for various university-wide programs, including the Research Institute on Addictions, MCEER and the Strategic Partnerships for Industrial Resurgence.

Thomas Hook, president and chief executive officer of Greatbatch Inc., accepted the Vital Partner Award for his company, a worldwide leader in the design, development and manufacture of critical components for implantable medical devices.

Simpson said that it was fitting that Greatbatch was being recognized during a time when the university is seeing a significant increase in faculty efforts to develop spinoff companies and other kinds of partnerships with companies.

“This legendary Western New York company grew out of a single patent awarded to Wilson Greatbatch when he was an assistant professor of engineering at UB,” said Simpson. “From that first patent, Greatbatch Inc. has become a major force in the international implantable medical devices market, one of the world’s most exciting and rapidly advancing fields.

“As one of Western New York’s most important high-tech companies, Greatbatch clearly exemplifies how science and engineering research at a public research university fuels business creation, job development and economic development.”

Greatbatch employs numerous UB graduates and interns, and participates in collaborations on research projects and volunteer and advisory committees; it also provides mentoring to UB students.

In addition to the awards presentation, the event featured more than 20 workshops on a wide range of subjects of interest to businesspeople in Western New York.