The Founding Committee of the Western New York Investors Conference (WNYIC) announced today that Patrick J. Healy, CEO, of Issuer Advisory Group will be the Keynote Speaker at this year's conference. Mr. Healy will address "the impact of current developments in the equity capital markets upon publicly traded companies". The WNYIC is scheduled from 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, November 5, through lunch on Thursday, November 6, at The Buffalo-Niagara Marriott Hotel in Amherst, N.Y. Mr. Healy will be speaking at the closing lunch on Thursday.
After over a decade as a CFO in the banking industry, Mr. Healy served as a Director of the NASD/Nasdaq, developing issuer driven products and services among other responsibilities. Having literally stumbled upon the idea that publicly traded companies needed an independent market expert upon whom to rely for listing decisions and trading issues, Mr. Healy launched the Issuer Network in 1995. Major corporations weighing their market listing decision utilized his service, to include America Online, Gateway Computer, and Coors. Specialist firms and market makers also utilized the Issuer Network as a way to build stronger business relationships with issuers. In 2002, Mr. Healy became Vice Chairman of Bear Hunter Holdings / Bear Wagner Specialists where he led the firm's overall NYSE business development and issuer services program. In 2005, Mr. Healy relaunched the issuer business as Issuer Advisory Group to address the many changes occurring with the major exchanges.
Mr. Healy received his BA in accounting and economics from Baldwin Wallace College and his MBA from Cleveland State University. A CPA, Mr. Healy appears periodically on CNBC as an issuer expert, is frequently quoted about NYSE and Nasdaq developments, and is a featured character in a recent book "King of the Club - the Survival of the New York Stock Exchange".
The conference was organized in 2002 by the public companies in the region to help promote Western New York and its wide variety of highly successful public companies. The WNYIC Founding Committee, comprised of representatives from The Bullfinch Fund of WNY (BWNYX), Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE: STZ), Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE: EK), Graham Corporation (AMEX: GHM), Gibraltar Industries (NASDAQ: ROCK), Greatbatch, Inc. (NYSE: GB), Kei Advisors LLC, M&T Bank Corp. (NYSE: MTB) and Sovran Self Storage, Inc. (NYSE: SSS), organizes and executes the conference.
The Western New York Investors Conference provides an excellent opportunity for investors and analysts to meet the managers of dynamic, growing public companies of the region and learn more about the success stories that continue to emerge.
Many companies from the area have grown at a faster pace than the regional economy through diversification, distinct competitive strategies, and strong management teams. These publicly traded companies have customers in national and international markets and span a broad range of industries, years in business, and market capitalizations.
At this year’s WNY Investors Conference, 19 companies will present their strategies, financial performance, and future outlook to investors and analysts from throughout the area and the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.
Companies making presentations this year include the following:
| Astronics Corporation (NASDAQ: ATRO) | National Fuel Gas Company (NYSE: NFG) | |
| Columbus McKinnon Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCO) | Sharps Compliance (SCOM.OB) | |
| Computer Task Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTGX) | Stockhouse Inc. (STKH.OB) | |
| Ecology & Environment (NASDAQ: EEI) | Sovran Self Storage, Inc. (NYSE: SSS) | |
| Evans Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: EVBN) | Tompkins Financial Corp. (AMEX: TMP) | |
| First Niagara Financial Group (NASDAQ: FNFG) | Transcat, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRNS) | |
| Graham Corporation (AMEX: GHM) | Ultralife Batteries, Inc. (NASDAQ: ULBI) | |
| IEC Electronics (IECE.OB) | Veramark Technologies, Inc. (VERA.OB) | |
| M&T Bank Corporation (NYSE: MTB) | Virtualscopics Inc. (NASDAQ: VSCP) | |
| MOD-PAC CORP. (NASDAQ: MPAC) |
The strong performance of the Bullfinch Fund of Western New York (ticker: BWNYX), which invests primarily in companies with an economic significance in the region, reflects the accomplishments of these businesses. As of 9/30/08, the Fund has been rated either #1 or #2 for Year-to-Date, Last 12 Months, and Last 3 Years for the multi-cap value category as calculated By Lipper, a leading provider of mutual fund research.
Attendees can learn more about the compelling and diverse investment opportunities all in one place: meet senior management of the Western and Upstate New York companies; and be provided the time and attention to better understand their strategies, capabilities, and outlook.
Institutional investors, analysts and financial advisors who would like to attend the conference can register online at www.wnyinvest.org or contact Craig Mychajluk, Kei Advisors LLC at 716.843.3832. There is no attendance fee for the conference.
The site for the 2008 conference is the Buffalo-Niagara Marriott Hotel, 1340 Millersport Highway, Amherst, NY 14221.
Sponsors for this year’s conference include: Deloitte, Business Wire, Freed, Maxick & Battaglia, Jaeckle Fleischmann & Mugel, LLP, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Bowne of Cleveland, Bob Wright Creative, Constellation Brands, Inc., Kei Advisors LLC, ViaVid Communications, Weir Financial Resources LLC, Financial Edge Executive Resources, PR Newswire, Shareholder.com and Rotenberg & Co., LLP.
The Western New York Investors Conference was formed by the public companies in the Western New York region to broaden the exposure of the quality and potential of these businesses with headquarters or major operations in the area with an audience of institutional investors, analysts and financial advisors. These companies feature a variety of industries, represent a full range of market capitalization and have, in most cases, well exceeded the economic growth of the region through diversification, distinct competitive strategies and strong management teams.
For more information and conference registration please log on to www.wnyinvest.org.
Contacts:
Deborah Pawlowski, 716-843-3908
dpawlowski@keiadvisors.com
