After 30 years of service, David Polino, President of the Better Business Bureau serving Upstate New York will retire. The BBB Board of Directors unanimously selected Mr. Warren Clark as the organization’s new President, effective June 4, 2012. Mr. Polino willretain a consulting position with the BBB for the near future.
David Polino, left, with Warren Clark.
As Mr. Polino launched his BBB career in 1982, Warren Clark had been hard at work as a leader in our community. He began his affiliation with the BBB first as a small business member of the BBB for then famous Brownies Army & Navy store on Main Street in Buffalo, and then as owner of Uniform Namemakers Company, a national embroidery business.
Mr. Clark became a BBB Board Director in 1979 and invested hundreds if not thousands of hours offering his volunteer time and talent to serve in several capacities locally and nationally as well as a Board of Director for the Council of Better Business Bureaus, ending in 2010 as Treasurer. Clark contributed toward strategic planning for the organization and championed programs like BBB Military Line, BBB logo use and BBB Charity Review, which he remains passionate about to this day.
“Warren has been an important part of this organization for a number of years, first as a board member holding every leadership position with ease and two years ago he became part of the staff,” said Phil Toohey, BBB Board Chairman. “He’s more than prepared to lead as our next president.”
Clark has worked with BBB Accredited Business recently helping the maximize their benefits and assisting them with a variety of matters. He was involved with the development of a BBB Foundation initiative, Stop Shoplifting EducationProgram, which began over 20 years ago and remains a valuable alternative program educating adult petit larceny offenders on the consequences of shoplifting. Mr. Clark recently implemented a new business benefit program under the Foundation offering a NYS DefensiveDriving course which will soon expand to serve Military service members.
“There’s never been a more important endeavor for me than the work of the BBB,” saidWarren Clark. “This organization is invaluable on a number of levels. In a world where mistrust can be seen and heard in daily news reporting, I stand proud to become this organization’s next president where the toughest standards must be maintained in order to be affiliated with our trusted name.”
The BBB serving Upstate New York maintains 45,000 business reviews and nearly 6,000 are currently BBB Accredited Businesses. Polino lead the Upstate New York region through major expansion, growing the Western New York and Albany regions to include Syracuse and then Rochester in 2000 to complete the now 48 county region. Mr. Clark served on the BBB Board during this time frame and contributed his guidance while the office became oneof the largest bureaus in the country. Mr. Clark is a graduate of SUNY Binghamton and resides in Amherst, NY. He and his wife Lynn have two grown children.
