WIRED National Awarded $50,000 in Oswego’s Next Great Idea Contest

Go ahead. Check the mirror.

Chances are you don’t see a light bulb’s silhouette or a storm cloud hovering overhead.

But a certain type of electricity occurs when “need” meets “innovation” between the confines of our ears. It’s a spark that can generate change within us and within our community.

The 2018 Next Great Idea Competition (NGI), an Oswego County Business Plan Competition, challenged residents to spot a gap, a lull or an obstacle and develop a company-oriented solution to benefit our neighborhood. 

Thirty-three talented and passionate applicants stepped up with 33 diverse concepts to enrich Oswego. The top four finalists included CHARTA, Hope Springs, Oz Angling and Ed Alberts’ spark, a solution to installation and tech frustrations, WIRED National

After 7 months and three formal business proposal phases, a panel of 11 esteemed judges crowned WIRED the 2018 NGI winner.

This community-wide recognition is a tremendous honor and mile marker for our organization.

“Earning the 2018 NGI Award through an esteemed professional panel’s evaluation is a catalyst for WIRED.  We are creating jobs for Oswego County and bringing revenue from nationwide franchises back to Oswego County.  We service franchises across the nation with reliable IT and communication systems. This Award helps us provide new jobs, paid training, and major equipment WIRED needs to grow,” said Ed Alberts, owner of WIRED National.

WIRED’s goal is to take the generous NGI reward money and apply it to our core mission. We will continue to service franchises across the nation with reliable, standardized IT and communication systems and bring the earned revenue back to our Oswego neighborhood in the form of diverse job opportunities.

“We are thrilled to be honored with the $50,000 Next Great Idea Award and will use it to grow our team with local job opportunities and training for installers and IT support professionals,” said Abby Weaver from WIRED National. “We would like to thank the committee and sponsors including the Shineman Foundation for bringing the NGI to Oswego County," continued Abby.

This memorable achievement is the result of the dedication and hard work of many individuals and local companies. WIRED extends our sincere thanks to Operation Oswego County, Austin Wheelock, Event Chair and the rest of the 2018 Partners who put forth enormous amounts of energy into The 2018 NGI:

Pamela Caraccioli, SUNY Oswego
Steve Chirello, Chirello Advertising
John Halleron, SUNY Oswego Small Business Development Center
Evelyn LiVoti, Operation Oswego County
Tim Stahl, City of Oswego Community Development Office
Katie Toomey, Greater Oswego-Fulton Chamber of Commerce
John Trimble, C&S Companies

The generosity of the NGI Competition Sponsors made this incredible Oswego event possible. We sincerely appreciate:

Title Sponsor
Richard S. Shineman Foundation

Platinum Level Sponsors
Operation Oswego County and Oswego County IDA

Gold Level Sponsors
NYBDC, SUNY Oswego, Pathfinder Bank, C&S Companies, Small Business Development Center, Lake Ontario Event & Conference Center and National Grid

Silver Level Sponsors
Centerstate CEO and Greater Oswego-Fulton Chamber of Commerce

Media Sponsors
Steve Chirello Advertising and Oswego County Business Magazine

Our gratitude also goes to the business plan competition judges for their effort and diligent assessment of each proposal idea:

George Broadwell Jr., Broadwell Hospitality Group
David Dano, Operation Oswego County, Inc.
Carla Desshaw, Cayuga Community College
John Fitzgibbons, Fitzgibbons Agency
Adam Gagas, Breakwater Asset Management
Vinny Lobdell Jr., Healthway Home Products
Sarfraz Mian, SUNY Oswego School of Business
Allison Nelson, Nelson Law Firm
Shane Stepien, Step One Creative
Ron G. Tascarella, Pathfinder Bank
Chena Tucker, SUNY Oswego OBCR

And finally, we want to thank the home team, WIRED’s sales staff and veteran technicians, especially Ryan Baldwin and Brandon Breitbeck. A ginormous thanks goes to Ed for following his intuition with his vast business savvy and experience to create WIRED. A special thanks goes to Abby Weaver and Kait Mitchell for pouring themselves into the proposals and finer details of this competition.

The 2018 NGI experience left our staff motivated, inspired and asking, “Hey Oswego, how many more great ideas can we bring to life in our neighborhood?”

These eureka, light bulb moments spark positive change in our community. So keep brainstorming, Oswego.

We promise we will too. 

For information on WIRED IT services and nationwide installation, visit www.wiredtelcom.com/thank-you or call 315-326-0001.