Exhibit 31.1



                    Certification of Chief Executive Officer
            Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

I, Michael R. Kallet, President and Chief Executive Officer, certify that:

(1)   I have reviewed  this  quarterly  report on Form 10-Q of Oneida  Financial
      Corp.;

(2)   Based on my knowledge,  this quarterly  report does not contain any untrue
      statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to
      make the statements made, in light of the  circumstances  under which such
      statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by
      this quarterly report;

(3)   Based on my  knowledge,  the  financial  statements,  and other  financial
      information  included  in this  quarterly  report,  fairly  present in all
      material respects the financial condition,  results of operations and cash
      flows of the  registrant  as of, and for,  the periods  presented  in this
      quarterly report;

(4)   The  registrant's  other  certifying  officers and I are  responsible  for
      establishing  and  maintaining  disclosure  controls  and  procedures  (as
      defined in Exchange Act Rules  13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the registrant
      and have:


      a)    designed  such  disclosure  controls and  procedures  or caused such
            disclosure   controls  and  procedures  to  be  designed  under  our
            supervision,  to ensure that  material  information  relating to the
            registrant,  including its consolidated subsidiaries,  is made known
            to us by others  within  those  entities,  particularly  during  the
            period in which this quarterly report is being prepared;

      b)    evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's  disclosure controls
            and procedures and presented in this quarterly report our conclusion
            about the  effectiveness of the disclosure  controls and procedures,
            as of the end of the period covered by this  quarterly  report based
            on such evaluation; and

      c)    disclosed in this  quarterly  report any change in the  registrant's
            internal  control over financial  reporting that occurred during the
            registrant's   most  recent  fiscal   quarter  that  has  materially
            affected,   or  is  reasonably  likely  to  materially  affect,  the
            registrant's internal control over financial reporting; and;

(5)   The registrant's other certifying officers and I have disclosed,  based on
      our most recent  evaluation of internal control over financial  reporting,
      to the  registrant's  auditors and the audit committee of the registrant's
      board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

      a)    all significant  deficiencies and material  weaknesses in the design
            or operation of internal control over financial  reporting which are
            reasonably  likely to adversely affect the  registrant's  ability to
            record, process, summarize and report financial information; and


      b)    any fraud,  whether or not  material,  that  involves  management or
            other  employees  who have a  significant  role in the  registrant's
            internal control over financial reporting.


November 14, 2007                         /s/ Michael R. Kallet
-----------------------------             -------------------------------------
Date                                      President and Chief Executive Officer