Cattaraugus Cutlery Company Cattaraugus Cutlery Company The Cattaraugus Cutlery Company began as the New York distribution company J.B.F. Champlin and Son, founded by John Champlin and his son Tint in 1882. The Champlins expanded into knife production, and along with William R. Case and his brothers, they formed Cattaraugus Cutlery in 1886, based in Little Valley. The company hired expert cutlers from Germany, England, and other U.S. manufacturers, to produce high quality cutlery. Admiral Byrd selected Cattaraugus knives to take on his expedition to the South Pole. Over time, the Case family separated from Cattaraugus to form W. R. Case & Sons Cutlery
Heidi Messer recognized a core problem that existed on the World Wide Web making it difficult to value online traffic. They set out to create an online distribution network that would allow websites to monetize their traffic through performance based links. Messer served as President and COO of LinkShare until its sale in 2005 to Rakuten Inc. for $425 million. In 2006, Messer exited the company, which was later renamed Rakuten LinkShare. In 2008, Messer co-founded Cross Commerce Media with her husband, Tad Martin and brother. She currently serves on its board of directors as the company's Chairman. Messer and her co-founders