A Taste of New York


Photo courtsey of Kathryn Bamberger	Kathryn A. Bamberger SGS ’01 joined the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets as an international trade and marketing specialist in 2001 – the same year she received her M.B.A. from Sage Graduate School. She helps raise awareness of and demand for foods that are made, grown, or have “significant value added” within New York state. The latter category includes such products as bread or chocolate; while the raw ingredients are not grown in New York state, they are blended and made into their final form here. New York companies sell bagels to Japan, ice cream to Singapore, flatbreads to Canada, and cheesecake to the Philippines. New York growers ship apples to Israel, the United Kingdom, the Dominican Republic, and Honduras. And many products are being sold to fast-growing markets in the Middle East, where there is little domestic production.

Photo courtsey of Kathryn Bamberger

Kathryn A. Bamberger SGS ’01 joined the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets as an international trade and marketing specialist in 2001 – the same year she received her M.B.A. from Sage Graduate School.

She helps raise awareness of and demand for foods that are made, grown, or have “significant value added” within New York state. The latter category includes such products as bread or chocolate; while the raw ingredients are not grown in New York state, they are blended and made into their final form here.

New York companies sell bagels to Japan, ice cream to Singapore, flatbreads to Canada, and cheesecake to the Philippines. New York growers ship apples to Israel, the United Kingdom, the Dominican Republic, and Honduras. And many products are being sold to fast-growing markets in the Middle East, where there is little domestic production.

“The fact of the matter is that there are many parts of the world where they don’t produce enough to feed their population,” Bamberger explains. “In New York, someone here grows, makes or packages almost everything you can imagine. We sell a lot into Canada, Mexico, Japan, and the European Union. It’s pretty exciting and energizing.”

The Department is responsible for the highly visible Pride of New York program (www.prideofny.com) with its green-and-white seal sporting our Lady of Liberty and farmlands. The program offers membership to New York farmers and processors, retailers, distributors, restaurants, and related culinary and support associations. Members who meet certain standards of quality may use the Pride of New York logo on their products and take advantage of the Department’s client services.

Bamberger helps members find resources for selling their products in different countries, by analyzing data and advising them on trade barriers and exporting. The Department also provides educational programming for school students; promotes consumer awareness regarding harvest times in New York; and coordinates consumer ad campaigns and business campaigns, including member recruitment, advertising, and retail outreach. The job requires a great deal of domestic and international travel. She has been to Canada, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates most recently.

Bamberger leveraged her 15 years of experience in the publishing industry selling and marketing textbooks and trade publications internationally to prepare her for this job.

It was in fact while working for a publisher that she decided to pursue her M.B.A. “Sage Graduate School was the most flexible option in terms of scheduling and program design.” The program made important connections between practice and theory, and prepared students to make better decisions, she recalls. “It was very practical, not ivory tower-ish at all.”

When Bamberger is not bringing a taste of New York to other parts of the world, she is taking on leadership roles in the community; she is president of the Junior League of Albany, a women’s organization dedicated to educational and philanthropic pursuits to build better communities.

The Albany League founded the Albany Blood Bank, the first area daycare and domestic violence shelters, and Albany’s Ronald McDonald House and Race for the Cure. Her focus has been on growing membership and conducting community assessments to uncover pressing needs that are not being met.

Her accomplishments at the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets and her volunteerism were recognized in 2007, when she was named one of the Capital District Business Review’s Forty Under 40. She used the opportunity to promote the good works of the Junior League; she had her photo taken mid-stride with a briefcase in one arm and a Junior League shirt hung over the other.