16
Jan
Transfinder CEO Joins Other Executives as Member of RPI’s BOSS Mentorship Program
- Category Featured, Announcements
Transfinder President & CEO Antonio Civitella’s message to more than 400 businesspeople attending the inaugural Business Opportunities to Success Summit (BOSS) last month was not the typical takeaway from a tech executive: Sow the right seeds, grow where you’re planted and raise more chickens.
“To reap the rewards of a successful business, we need to sow seeds with the right ingredients,” Civitella told the crowd of CEOs and high-level executives. That starts with picking the right employees to create the right product.
Civitella said Transfinder, a leader in bus routing software for school districts throughout North America and Puerto Rico, is making a push globally in 2014. “I believe the more visible a company is in its local community, and the more it expands where it’s located, the greater its reach will be nationally and globally,”
Civitella said the $8.6 million company’s expansion into international markets comes at a time when the firm is increasing its presence locally as well. In October, Transfinder moved from a small office on Erie Boulevard in Schenectady to a new, high-profile $7 million glass-and-steel modern building on State Street, the epicenter of the city. The software company has grown from 54 employees in 2011 to more than 77 today and Civitella anticipates hitting 125 employees within five years.
As for raising more chickens, Civitella said the focus is on speed to market. A Formula 1 racing fan, Civitella said he prefers accelerating business by “attracting more chickens instead of waiting for eggs to hatch. If we want a technology ecosystem to emerge, we need to attract a critical mass of tech savvy people now.”
Civitella is launching a business accelerator to play a role in doing just that. The NYBizLab, located a block from Transfinder, is being launched in 2014 with well-respected business executives joining a team of advisers to assist startup tech companies.
“It will help build that ecosystem,” Civitella said of the NYBizLab. “Besides retaining and nurturing our talent here, it will also attract new chickens from all parts of the world, which will benefit the entire region.”
Civitella also is joining other executives in the BOSS initiative to help mentor the next generation of business leaders in the Capital Region.
"One critical component of the BOSS framework is to bring successful executives with entrepreneurial experience and mindsets to the table so they can help startups navigate around potential pitfalls," said James Spencer Jr., the executive director of the Rensselaer Technology Park and New Venture Development who launched BOSS in 2013. "Tony Civitella gets that. He will play a valuable role in helping a growing community of entrepreneurs create and grow the next MapInfo or Transfinder."
The first BOSS event of 2014 is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. on Jan. 22 at the Rensselaer Technology Park.
About Transfinder
Founded in 1988 and headquartered in Schenectady, New York, Transfinder is a national leader in student transportation management systems and services, offering routing and scheduling solutions for optimal transportation logistics.
