By MATT CHANDLER
mchandler@bizjournals.com | 716-541-1654

Here's the first thing you might wonder while scanning the resume of Jonathan Dandes: When does this guy sleep?

As president of Rich Baseball Operations, he oversees three teams and attends 200 games a year. Dandes also chairs the Buffalo Niagara Partnership, works as an adjunct professor at Niagara University and serves on a handful of other boards, usually in a leadership role.

We sat down with Dandes in his office overlooking Coca-Cola Field and touched on topics ranging from the Buffalo Bisons' recently signed two-year extension with the New York Mets to the gubernatorial hopes of Partnership critic Carl Paladino to Dandes' role as chair of the March of Dimes Signature Chefs Auction. The following is an edited version of that conversation.

The March of Dimes, chair of the BNP, adjunct professor, Buffalo Zoological Society, UNYTS Foundation, chair of the Buffalo Sports Commission and a day job running baseball operations for three professional baseball teams. How do you find time to do everything?

Dandes: I'm very fortunate in that the things that I get involved in, I really enjoy. I don't know that you could do these types of things if you didn't really enjoy being part of the different organizations.

Talk a little about teaching at Niagara University and why that is so special to you.

Dandes: The teaching, for me, is a real challenge. I teach at Niagara with some great kids, great students. What it allows me to do, in a very real-life situation, is to apply all of the things that we try to do here at the ballpark on an everyday business basis to some kids who have not been through the business world yet. It's an opportunity to validate our business ideas with the students. I've found myself, at various times, changing the things we do here because in trying to validate them with the students, they really didn't pass muster. Bottom line, it's good for me, and it's good for the organization. So I'm happy to do it.

You will be chairing the gala for the the March of Dimes. How did you get involved with that organization?

Dandes: The March of Dimes is one of those sort of iconic organizations in the community that has done such a good job for so many years, focusing on infant health and prenatal care. I had become friendly with some of their board members and one day they came to me and said, "Hey, we'd like you to consider doing this." And I said, "Of course, I'll do anything I can." It's a fun event with great food and a chance to raise some money for a wonderful cause, and I am so happy to do it.

Given the difficult economy, does it put more pressure on you - as the face of this event - to bring out the donors and draw a big crowd?

Dandes: Oh, of course. Absolutely. And for me, it works both ways because I am also the recipient of a lot of those requests. I choose to believe that most people would like to do all of them, but of course, in a business sense, you can't. You've got to pick and choose which ones fit into what you're doing. In our case, our business is all about kids and families. It's what we focus on, so it became an easy thing for us to back the March of Dimes.

Let's talk some baseball. Overseeing three teams, answering to three big-league parent clubs - give me a sense of what a typical workday is like for you during baseball season.

Dandes: It changes from day to day, which is the part I really enjoy. It starts with whether or not the Bisons are in town. If they are not, I very well may be in Arkansas (home of the Northwest Arkansas Naturals) where, by the way, tonight is the first game of the championship series. (The Naturals won the opener that night, 7-2, en route to winning the 2010 Texas League Championship over the Midland RockHounds. 3-1.) I could also be in Jamestown (watching the Jamestown Jammers, the Class A franchise of the Florida Marlins).

I tend to move around a lot between the three teams during the season (Dandes estimates he takes in 200 or more games each year). We are very fortunate. We've got a great relationship with the New York Mets, and we have a lot of our players playing for them right now. So to be able to see that is a lot of fun. There is a real sense of partnership in watching the players progress and also in providing our fans with what we think is a real solid, affordable entertainment option for the summer.

Were you a baseball fan growing up as a kid and is this a dream-come-true job for you?

Dandes: I was, but you sort of take a different perspective. This is very much a business for us and we look at how we can provide a service to our fans. This has become a very competitive job. Like I told our staff the other day, there was a time when on a Saturday or Sunday in June and July, the Bisons were pretty much what you had to do. Now there is so much more to do, and that's competitive for us. So from a business standpoint, we've got to be on our game all the time.

To that point, when you look out over the ballpark on a beautiful summer evening and you see empty seats, is it frustrating? Or is that just the nature of minor-league baseball and part of the business?

Dandes: We look at it in terms of the big picture, of the entire season. You know, on that night when it might be light, we look at July 3 (the team's annual Independence Eve Celebration featuring the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra) when there wasn't a seat to be had and the place was electric. We recognize that we aren't going to be July 3rd games 82 times a year - that just isn't going to happen. But there are plenty of Friday nights when the ballpark is rocking and rolling and this is the place to be.

You talk about striking a balance. Is it difficult in your position to find that balance between wanting to win, but knowing that if you are doing your job well, in terms of player development, your guys may get those call-ups that hurt your team down the stretch?

Dandes: I'd be lying to you if I didn't say we are all about winning. We like to win here. I've said this to the Mets and before them, to the Cleveland Indians. If you take one of our players up, and they are playing, that's what it's all about. But when they take one of our players and he sits on the bench for three games, that's what makes us crazy. That's when we start burning up the phone lines and saying, "Hey, he could be playing down here."

Shifting gears, you also oversee the Palm Beach National Golf and Country Club in Florida. Are you a golfer? Do you find time to get out and play? What's your handicap?

Dandes: Yes, no, and awful.

Let's turn to your role as chair of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership. Where do you see Western New York in terms of economic recovery?

Dandes: I do think we are seeing the economy starting to soften and really starting to come back. We see it in our fans, in their disposable income. We see it in the building that's going on downtown and we see it in the housing right around the ballpark. I believe that there has been a real remarkable change that I hope will continue, and I think it will.

As times got tough in the last few years, did the role of the Partnership change? And was there more pressure to deliver for your members?

Dandes: Yes, the role of the Partnership has changed in that we are far more aggressive in our advocacy as it relates to government relations than we have ever been. That's part of the ongoing need to have many of the things that guide the growth of business in New York state changed.

Looking back at everything that went on last year with Carl Paladino and his threats to form his own business chamber, he was critical of (BNP President) Andrew Rudnick and of the Partnership as a whole. Once the dust settled, did you - as an organization - evaluate his criticisms and make any changes?

Dandes: Let me put it to you this way: Yesterday, Carl made history in terms of his Republican nomination (for governor), and Carl is also my friend. But I think a lot of the criticisms that he made at the time were not correct. We have always been self-evaluators. I don't know that what he was saying caused us to do any more or less than what we already do, but it was certainly a difficult time.

Calling the Paladino victory "historic," were you shocked when you were watching the numbers come in?

Dandes: I don't know that I was shocked. I thought he was going to win, but I was shocked at the degree with which he won. I thought clearly Long Island would have done better for (Rick) Lazio than it did, so that surprised me. But I've been out to dinner with Carl and lunches over the past year and I've seen the response people have to him. People everywhere slapping him on the back and saying, "Go get ‘em."

Will the Partnership endorse him in the election?

Dandes: Well, we are way ahead of ourselves. I don't know if he has asked, or if wants it, but we will certainly consider it, for sure.