Emphasis on family, employees and community, not on competitive business
strategy, has been the driving force behind James Sedore Jr. during his 33
years in business.
For his commitment to his employees, Sedore, senior partner of the
Sedore,
O'Sullivan, Letterio & Barschi CPAs, will be presented with the Dutchess
County Economic Development Corp.'s 1998 Business Excellence Award for best
work environment on Oct. 6. The awards are sponsored by EDC and the
Poughkeepsie Journal.
"When you get an award like this," said Sedore, "it's an award from
your
peers. Your peers recognize you for doing something a little different."
Perched on a corner in the Village of Wappingers Falls, the gray
Victorian
with an inviting "Welcome" flag on the spacious porch looks more like a
country home than an accounting firm. Inside, the reception area is similar
to
a family room. The atmosphere couldn't be more appropriate, given Sedore's
commitment to promoting the family.
"Just because people go to work, doesn't mean they forget their
family,"
said Sedore. "We've built our practice around that."
Keeping the family in mind with all corporate decisions, Sedore and his
partners -- Mark O'Sullivan, Jim Letterio and Theresa Barschi -- not only
offer
generous vacation time to employees, but encourage them to spend time with
family.
`Keep the firm as a family'
When Barschi gave birth last November, the baby and caretaker did not
stay
at home, but accompanied Barschi to work. The partners recognize the
integral
role of their employees in running a successful firm.
"You develop a good faith relationship with employees because you know
if
you treat them fairly, they'll treat you fairly," said Sedore. "We try to
keep the firm as a family. If we keep our family together, the stronger the
firm will be.
"It's like my second home, like an extended family," said Rose Story,
the
firm's secretary for the past six years. "It's a great place to work. The
other places I've worked, it seemed they didn't care (about you) as long as
you did your job, they didn't care."
Along with family, community involvement is equally important to Sedore.
His commitment to the community includes representing Dutchess County on the
Metro Transit Authority Board. He also serves on the boards of several local
business and community organizations and last Friday completed a term as
president of the Dutchess County branch of the American Cancer Association.
"Jim is very active in the community," said Gerry di Pierno of Phoenix
Marketing Services in Wappingers Falls, who nominated Sedore for the award.
"He has the opportunity to bring before the (MTA) Board the needs of our
community. He can be very forceful in his own quiet way."
"The community is where we draw most of our revenue, so we should always
give something back," said Sedore, who encourages employees to be active in
the community. To help them do so, the firm sponsors employees in Leadership
Dutchess, GSDCC's program that trains people how to become effective
community
leaders.
This is the fifth in the series of profiles of the EDC's Business
Excellence Award winners.
