BNE Upbeat on Several Projects

by James Fink

The Buffalo Niagara Enterprise has a message for the region: things are looking up.

"We're getting into things that will make a difference," said Thomas Kucharski, BNE president and chief executive officer. "There's a lot going on and it is diverse in nature."

The BNE, during its mid-year investor update conducted Thursday morning, touched on a number of advancements made during the past six months, using the recently announced expansion by IntelliRisk Management Corp. in Cheektowaga as its poster child.

IntelliRisk chose to expand in Cheektowaga after considering a number of other cities. The company was lured here by an aggressive outreach effort orchestrated by the BNE and a handsome incentive package crafted by the Erie County Industrial Development Agency and Empire State Development Corp.

IntelliRisk has grown from a small office in Amherst to a full-fledged center that is moving into Cheektowaga and creating 300 jobs initially with prospects for that to double or triple, according to Vikas Kapoor, its chief executive officer.

Kapoor was the keynote speaker at the meeting.

Kapoor said the Buffalo Niagara region was selected after his company's senior executive team noted the area's strong work ethic and pool of workers.

"When you got 14 people in a room talking about Buffalo, you listen," Kapoor said in an interview after the meeting.

IntelliRisk is a fast growing call center operation with about $300 million in annual revenues and a client base that includes the likes of Capital One, Direct TV, AT&T and American Express.

The New York City-based company, with worldwide offices in such diverse locations as Delphi, India, the Philippines, Phoenix, Columbus and San Diego, is looking to its Cheektowaga operation to handle a number of clients including the Bank of America and student loan collections for the U.S. Department of Education.