Cargill-Cramer to keep the COG turning

Holly Cargill-Cramer stands proudly in front of the Tech Valley Center of Gravity building, a repurposed, once-abandoned department store in Troy. The New Scotland native is the center’s new executive director.

NEW SCOTLAND — Holly Cargill-Cramer grew up in a shingled cottage on Indian Ladder Farms.

“I have marvelous memories of living there; it was a blessed childhood,” she said. “There was always something to get into.”

What she’s into now is directing the Tech Valley Center of Gravity. Located in Troy, in an abandoned space that was once a department store, the center was founded three years ago.

“One of the founders, who worked at RPI for years, wanted to find ways to keep brilliant students engaged in the area — a place they could grow and be creative and have a fulfilling lifestyle...There should be a pull to stay here,” Cargill-Cramer said, explaining the name Center of Gravity.

The acronym COG fits, too, she explained because a cog is a wheel that transfers motion and keeps things running; a literal cog has become the not-for-profit center’s logo.

The first part of the center’s name is important to Cargill-Cramer, too: Tech Valley. In the late 1970s, she started her career, she said, as “a lowly word processor” at the Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce “back when floppy drives were cutting edge,” she chuckled.

After a decade of varied work in public relations and not-for-profits, Wally Altes lured her back to the chamber of commerce when the Center for Economic Growth was born. “I worked for Wally when he coined the phrase ‘Tech Valley.’ We laughed at the time,” she said. “But it came to pass in a big way.”

Being named the executive director of HVCOG a month ago “feels like a great opportunity,” said Cargill-Cramer. “It’s like coming home, like coming full circle. I’m using all the experience I’ve had with not-for-profits and in communications and economic development and with SUNY Cobleskill where I worked on a very high-tech waste-to energy project.”

At the State University of New York College of Agriculture and Technology at Cobleskill, Cargill-Cramer secured a $1.35 million grant from the federal departments of Energy and of Defense to develop a gasifier that makes clean energy from animal manure.

She finds herself now in what she describes as “a high-tech playground.” The redesigned building has a light and open first floor “with floor-to-ceiling windows” where zones are set up for 3D printing, fiber arts, electronics, and a “think-ubator,” she said. The basement level has shops for woodworking, welding, and machine-making.

“It’s developing at lightning speed, fueled by the passion and commitment of volunteers,” she said of the center.

TVCOG has been certified by the state as a business incubator. Under a state program, it gets up to $125,000 each year for five years to expand services for early-stage companies.

In December, TVCOG was awarded $75,000 to set up the area’s first Rapid Prototyping Center to make manufacturing equipment available to startups that otherwise couldn’t afford it.

Members can join online through the center’s website, Cargill-Cramer said. There are several membership levels, with the standard being full membership at $60 per month. Also available are family memberships — the center has a space set up for kids — and super memberships, which grant access 24/7 because, said Cargill-Cramer, “Creative juices flow at all hours.”

Members come from across TechValley, she said. “We have 500 people in our membership database,” she said, with 150 members currently paying monthly fees.

“Members join for access to equipment,” she said. “They also join a creative community. We have social nights very week. They find other people that have gifts...someone to collaborate with, to take the project to the next step.”

In addition to being “a fun place,” she said, “There’s also an economic driver.” She gave two examples: “A gentleman comes every day and uses a laser cutter to make things for local shops” and, “A woman sells furniture she makes here from shipping pallets.”

Cargill-Cramer calls herself “a lifer” when it comes to living in New Scotland. “I’ve been a booster of this area for years,” she said of the greater Capital Region, now frequently called Tech Valley. “What a fabulous cultural crossroads — a cluster of small metropolitan communities with medical centers, colleges, and the center of government.”

And, it’s all within reach, she said. “Altamont or Voorheesville are not that far from Troy. I drive less than half an hour to this place every day. It’s not the other side of the world. There’s a river in between, but we have bridges.”

She concluded, “I can’t encourage people from our area enough: Stop by and see this place. It’s amazing.”

Tags:

More New Scotland News

The Altamont Enterprise is focused on hyper-local, high-quality journalism. We produce free election guides, curate readers' opinion pieces, and engage with important local issues. Subscriptions open full access to our work and make it possible.