Dean L. Balsamini Honored for his Dedication to Small Businesses

By Michael Anderson, the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce

Countless Staten Island small businesses can credit their success to Dean L. Balsamini.

Balsamini’s 35-year career began in the Logistics and Human Resources Department at Western Electric Company Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of AT&T. He moved to Cupertino, Calif., to run the west coast purchasing operations, learning valuable buying experience along the way.

He then transferred to New Jersey to run a regional operation in Newark, and later set up operations for AT&T in a new location in North Carolina. Balsamini was selected to run the Public Relations department in the company’s Manhattan office, transferred to the Marketing Department, and then moved into international relations before retirement.

“I didn’t really work for one company,” said Balsamini. “Those jobs provided the experience that I would use later in life, whether it was getting involved in teaching, planning and dealing with businesses and the different parts of businesses.”

After retirement, Balsamini’s wife, JoAnn, suggested he find some new activities to keep him busy. He decided to join the South Shore Rotary Club, where he realized he could offer his wealth of knowledge to the local business community. The Pleasant Plains resident became a professor at St. John’s University and the College of Staten Island (CSI), and later joined Staten Island SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) for a year before becoming its chairman for the next four years.

“When I went to SCORE, it put me back into more of a business routine,” said Balsamini. “As chairman of SCORE Staten Island, I had new responsibilities, and I was traveling into Manhattan and other places. I was able to get back into the realm of thinking in a corporate way.”

While still serving as an adjunct professor at CSI, Balsamini was approached about applying for the position of director at the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) on the school’s campus. In August 2005, he was appointed director of that organization, which provides customized solutions through advisement, education, research and advocacy for entrepreneurs, innovators, and the small- and medium-enterprise community. The New York SBDC is administered by the State University of New York and funded by the U.S. Small Business Administration, the State of New York, and host campuses.

“With that corporate experience, I had the opportunity to look closely at things like a small business would. I could see which components were missing and which were not being focused on,” he said.

Following President Obama’s 2009 signing of the Recovery Act and the Small Business Jobs Act, Balsamini seized on an untapped area of the Staten Island SBDC. He felt the time was right to reach a new potential.

“I saw an immediate need for us to serve the rest of the congressional district in Brooklyn,” he said. “I met with then-Congressman Vito Fossella, and I told him I feel we’re missing out. I said the rest of your district needs coverage, and we don’t have it. I wanted someone who would be responsible for Brooklyn, including Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, Bay Ridge and those surrounding zip codes.”

Approval was granted, and the Staten Island SBDC hired staff to cover the area, nearly doubling the organization’s reach. Today, the SBDC reaches close to 500,000 residents in Staten Island and 400,000 residents in Brooklyn.

When Hurricane Sandy devastated Staten Island in 2012, Balsamini turned a negative into a positive. He said he knew that it was a golden opportunity to teach businesses the importance of crisis management.

“When one of my advisers or I meet with small businesses, we would tell them that you have to put together a disaster plan. We’re not looking for an academic exercise, but the what-if scenarios,” he said. “What if your place gets flooded out? What if they do construction around your area? What do you do then? Do you have an alternate plan for how you will serve your clients? There are a lot of different things that could happen.”

Following the successful response to Hurricane Sandy, Balsamini and the Staten Island SBDC were prepared for the recent coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and served as a crucial lifeline for businesses. With its own disaster plan in place, the organization immediately and seamlessly shifted to working remotely, ensuring small businesses would receive the help and answers they needed during a critical time.

“We far exceeded our numbers by one-and-a-half times that we had during that period last year. We have close to 2,000 clients in our database who we were able to reach during this time,” he said.

Balsamini added that the Staten Island SBDC provided almost $25 million through financial loans and economic impact during the COVID crisis. Furthermore, the organization assisted in creating and saving almost 1,200 jobs, generating an estimated $90 million in income, he explained.

“In general, when you combine all those numbers, we’re talking about a very, very significant amount of dollars that we were able to assist the community through,” he said.

For his accomplishments, Balsamini is being honored with a Louis R. Miller Business Leadership Award, which he will receive in the Not-For-Profit Businessperson category. The awards -- which are presented by the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce and the Staten Island Advance -- honor the memory of Louis R. Miller, a businessman and West Brighton resident who was also a community leader.

While joining the South Shore Rotary Club paved the way toward Balsamini’s journey in helping Staten Island businesses, it also jump-started his community service after retirement.

“Joining the South Shore Rotary Club energized me, because we would do various functions that helped people. For example, when we made the Thanksgiving Day turkey donations, we would make deliveries to different spots and see how we helped those people in need,” he recalled.

Balsamini eventually served as president of the South Shore Rotary Club and was awarded the Paul Harris Award, the highest honor presented by Rotary International, for demonstrating “service above self” in life as well as work. He also taught at the local colleges, volunteered at SCORE, and currently serves on the board of directors at the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce. Giving back is important, and he is quick to point out that most of his staff members at the Staten Island SBDC are also involved in the local community.

“We live here. We understand it. We understand the nature of what makes this community tick. And Staten Island is definitely a community-oriented place to be,” he said.

Below, Balsamini shares more about his goals, job and life:

Current occupation/Title: Regional director of the Staten Island Small Business Development Center at the College of Staten Island

Hometown: Brooklyn

Past Occupation: Over 35 years of management experience in domestic and worldwide markets as a former executive at AT&T.

Community Involvement: Former chairman of SCORE Staten Island; past president of the South Shore Rotary; member of the board of directors at the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce; adjunct professor of marketing at the College of Staten Island; appointed by then-Judge John Fusco to serve on the grievance committee for the New York State Supreme Court’s 2nd and 11th judicial districts dealing with complaints against attorneys; selected by the Hon. Vito Fossella as a delegate to the White House Conference on Aging, held in Washington, D.C., in December 2005.

Some of my life goals: “Pay it forward” and observing loyalty to the triad of “faith, family and friends.”

The best part of my job: Seeing SBDC clients progress and succeed.

The most difficult part of my job: Seeing businesses fail because they failed to plan.

My life philosophy: Live life fully and do not fear the ride!

Most Proud of: The love of my life, my beautiful wife Joann; my sons Dean and David, and my grandkids, Stella and Derek.

Something that no one knows about me: “I’m a world traveler and traveled extensively internationally and domestically, as I’ve visited 49 U.S. states; I pitched against Joe Torre in high school.”

The qualities I like about myself: Loyal, goal-oriented and determined.

Personal Interests and Hobbies: Baseball, golf, football, soft rock and classical music, and reading.

I laugh at: Myself! Larry David, Mel Brooks and a good comedy show.

I Admire: Winston Churchill, who said “The Price of Greatness is responsibility!”