By JAMES FINK
jfink@bizjournals.com | 716-541-1611

The challenges facing private businesses are complex and run deep, according to a panel of top executives.

The panel consisted of Joni Stovroff of Stovroff & Taylor Realtors and Stovroff & Taylor Travel; James Deusche, chief financial officer of Rich Products Corp.; Dennis Szefel, chief strategic officer of Delaware North Cos.; and Sealing Devices Inc. President and CEO Terry Galanis Jr,.

They were panelists in a CEO Roundtable sponsored by Business First.

"We're a regional company that had to go outside the area to keep our people employed," Galanis said. "Your employees put their faith in you. It's your obligation to keep everyone employed."

His Lancaster-based company has 149 employees, including 139 locally. It makes seals, gaskets and O rings for industrial and commercial clients.

Galanis said Sealing Devices has grown by expanding its reach and taking advantage of economic development programs such as IDA incentives and New York's "Power for Jobs" initiative.

Some say the political mind-set in Albany can wreck havoc on local companies, however.

"Albany is tough place to navigate," Szefel said. "You need patience and a good sense of humor."

Delaware North, meanwhile, isn't just a Buffalo-based company with global operations; it has a client relationship with New York through its gaming, hospitality and concessions divisions. Like Rich Products, the company frequently recruits employees for its Buffalo headquarters. But that can be a tough sell, according to Szefel and Duesche.

"But the opposite side is it is equally difficult when we want to transfer them elsewhere," Szefel said. "Our community sells itself."

Stovroff said out-of-towners like the housing prices but gasp at property tax bills. Until taxes are reduced, she said, businesses in the region and statewide will continue to be hard-pressed.

"Property taxes are horrendous," Stovroff said.