Paladino to Speak at SBU

Carl Paladino, CEO of Buffalo’s Ellicott Development Company, will speak at 4 p.m. Monday, May 4, in the amphitheater of St. Bonaventure University’s William F. Walsh Science Center.

The talk is part of the Entrepreneur in Residence lecture series sponsored by the School of Business.

Paladino will present an overview of his family enterprise with a concentration on strategy and execution, said Dr. Carol Wittmeyer, assistant professor of management sciences at SBU. The program is open to the public and a hallway reception will follow the talk.

A 1968 graduate of St. Bonaventure and a former member of the university’s Board of Trustees, Paladino founded Ellicott Development Company in 1973. The property management, leasing and development firm owns Buffalo’s Ellicott Square and manages over 4.5 million square feet of office, retail and residential space, making the company the largest private landlord in downtown Buffalo.

School of Business faculty and students will mark the occasion of Paladino’s visit to announce creation of a fund in honor of his son Patrick, who died tragically in an automobile accident on March 30. In the fall of 2009, Patrick Paladino, an employee of his father’s firm, worked with university professors to create a case study of the Paladino family enterprise. Patrick, like his father, uncle and brother, attended St. Bonaventure.

The Patrick Paladino Fund for St. Bonaventure University Student Family Enterprise Programming will help students study and work with family operated businesses, and fund creation of a family business club at St. Bonaventure.

Establishment of the fund will be announced Monday by Peter M. Certo, a graduating St. Bonaventure senior who is about to become a fourth-generation member of his family’s business, Certo Brothers, Inc., Buffalo’s largest beer distributor. Certo and his family helped start the fund in Patrick Paladino’s honor.

Carl Paladino, a life-long advocate of the city of Buffalo, is a risk-taker who consistently invests in Western New York. He has pioneered strategic retail developments in the most economically depressed areas of Buffalo, Syracuse and Albany.

Paladino earned a law degree from Syracuse University College of Law in 1971, then traveled to Fort Bliss, Texas, to serve in the U.S. Army. He returned to Buffalo to practice law, eventually undertaking the management role for the New York City-based owners of Ellicott Square and establishing the law firm of Paladino, Caan and Quinlivan.

Paladino is director of Buffalo Place, Inc.; a former trustee of Bishop Timon/St. Jude High School; a director of Buffalo Civic Auto Ramps; and a former director of the Horizons Waterfront Commission. He is a member of the executive board of the Niagara Frontier Council of Boy Scouts of America, and the advisory boards of Erie Community College and D’Youville College.

As a St. Bonaventure trustee, he chaired the Buildings and Grounds Committee, presiding over the planning and construction of many of the physical improvements and renovations seen on campus today.

Paladino was Buffalonian of the Year in 1991 and was named Alumnus of the Year at St. Bonaventure in 1993. Most recently, Leadership Buffalo honored him with the Leadership Impact Award for his efforts to remove Thruway tollbooths.

Paladino is married to Mary Catherine Hannon. In addition to his son Patrick, he has a son William and daughters Danielle and Sarah.