New economic development specialist at Operation Oswego County keeps a busy schedule
By Stefan Yablonski
Nate Emmons resigned as county legislator, moved into a new house in the country and just got a new job — economic development specialist at Operation Oswego County.
“It is a happy life; I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” he said. “I was born and raised in the country — just outside Sackets Harbor.”
Emmons and his wife, Lisa, have four children: Alexander, 23; Dan, 21; Olivia, 14 and Sam, 12.
He met his wife while he was in college. She is originally from Iowa, but grew up in North Syracuse.
She went to SUNY Potsdam, he went to St. Lawrence University — they both ended up in graduate school at Syracuse University. That’s where they got married.
He earned a Master of Science in higher education at Syracuse University, 1999 and Bachelor of Science in biology at St. Lawrence University, 1997.
He and his wife are co-owners of Mother Earth Baby, LLC – Curious Kidz Toy Store in Oswego. He helps out as financial and operations manager.
“My wife has a great staff at the shop,” he said.
On the job trail
He lived in College Park, Maryland, for a few months while he was working at the University of Maryland. Then they lived in North Syracuse for a few years while he worked at Syracuse University.
“Then I got a job in Geneva at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. And then, after Geneva, we came to Oswego,” he said.
He worked at SUNY Oswego — as assistant dean of students.
“Orientation was one of my responsibilities. I was an academic adviser and I also served in the capacity of assisting students who were interested in withdrawing from college,” he said. “I was one of just two people at the university that…I hate to use the word ‘assisted,’ but that is kind of what we did.”
“I think they’ve kept the term Laker Leaders. That was my brainchild — the idea of using it more expansively, the term Laker, to describe not only the athletic teams but to broaden that to include all students. Before, it was used exclusively for sports,” he added. “I remember some of the conversations we had. They were like, ‘why would we call our students Lakers?’ I was like, ‘why wouldn’t we?’ I pushed for the term Laker Leaders for our orientation teams. That kind of spun some other things from that.”
“Hobbies? What are those?” he quipped. “Not a lot of time for those right now. But we can’t wait to garden come next spring and summer. And we have some other plans as well.
“Lisa and I plan family outings and vacations with the kids as well. It’s so important to have that quality time.”
Emmons and his wife home school their children, “which brings such a richness to our relationships with our kids. That kind of adds a little bit of flavor to the mix — it helps us quite a bit as a family in terms of scheduling,” he added. “I think that number one, we are a close-knit family. So we find our time.”
He said they recently “have sort of taken a survey of where we’re at, what we are doing, what we are not doing and what we are involved with.”
The day-to-day —he and his wife are a team. “We do everything as a team. It keeps everything together and flowing. Not always as smooth as we would like — but flowing nonetheless,” he explained.
Emmons said their faith in God guides them.
“We are very blessed to have the lives we have. With moving and getting a new job, it’s been a challenge over the past month or so. But we are looking forward to settling down a little and enjoying life a little bit more in our new home,” he said. “We have three cats right now. We used to have a dog before she passed away.”
Emmons said he will keep working as a DJ as the owner of Oswego-based Just Push Play Productions. He has been in business for nine years and, according to his website (https://justpushplayproductions.com), he does 32 weddings a year
He said the DJing has scaled down quite a bit in the last few years.
“I’m fairly selective in terms of the weddings that I DJ now, which is good for me. DJing, yes, it’s getting different or I am — one of the two. COVID had an impact, for sure; smaller weddings since. The basics are the same, however — excellent customer service, excellent communication with the couple, great music and good presence on the mic. Weddings need to be treated very professionally, he stressed.
Emmons said his favorite music is probably county music.
“But as a DJ, you gotta play everything and to a degree enjoy everything. I like all types of music,” he added.
Bitter sweet
“I resigned from the county legislature. That was bitter sweet in terms of giving up that position. It was always busy. I’ve had some people call me ‘Citizen Nate’ at this point. I’m still getting used to that after being an elected official for so long. It’s been just a couple of weeks right now, but Citizen Nate has a good ring to it,” he said.
“We go to, every year we’ve been consistent in doing this for — gosh — I don’t know maybe 17 or 18 years, we go to … I don’t know — we do take a trip to the beach in North Carolina — I’m not going to reveal what town it is because I don’t want people to know how magical it is,” he said, “We take a family vacation once a year and so that is always my idea of paradise and relaxing time That’s wonderful and we are going to do it again in a couple of weeks when things get settled down a little bit.”
In early September, Emmons was in the process of moving.
“We just spent our first two nights in the new house. It’s a relaxing place out in the country. It helps focus more when you have less on your plate It’s been a pretty dramatic change over the past year,” he noted.
“Just spending time with my family and our new house — it is absolutely gorgeous where it is situated (in Central Square-Hastings area) —we have a nice creek that actually runs right through the property. Kids have already been out kayaking on it,” he said. “It’s enjoyable just to kind of be able to be outside and enjoy nature a little bit. I grew up as a country boy, so for me it’s going back to my roots. It’s relaxation in and of itself.”
Before taking a new position at Operation Oswego County, Emmons worked for several years at the Fulton Community Development office. When he resigned the position, he was the director of the agency.
“Nate Emmons is a class act and will be greatly missed in Fulton,” said Fulton Mayor Deana M. Michaels. “Under Nate’s leadership he was able to revamp our housing programs, build an economic development foundation for the city, introduce new small business programs, secure millions in funding and successfully rollout DRI projects. I’ve worked with Nate for many years and have seen the strength he brings to the table. It’s unfortunate that it didn’t resonate with other local elected officials because Fulton was certainly better positioned with Nate on the team. I have given my full support to Nate in his next endeavor and wish him and his family nothing but the very best.”
Lifelines
Name: Nathan Emmons
Age: 48
Title: Economic development specialist at Operation Oswego County
Current home: Central Square
Education: Bachelor of Science in biology at St. Lawrence University, 1997; Master of Science in higher education at Syracuse University, 1999
Career: Recent positions include: executive director at Fulton Community Development Agency; director of economic development in the city of Oswego; Oswego Common Council member; Oswego County legislator (15th District); constituent services for Assemblyman William A. Barclay; interim executive director at Greater Oswego-Fulton Chamber of Commerce
On the side: Owner of Just Push Play Productions, a DJ business; co-owner and financial and operations manager at Mother Earth Baby, LLC/Curious Kidz Toy Store
Hobbies: “Hobbies? What are those?”
Personal: Married to Lisa Emmons. They have four children: Alexander, 23; Dan, 21; Olivia, 14 and Sam, 12
