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))  and  internal
      controls  over  financial  reporting  (as  defined in  Exchange  Act Rules
      13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) 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 report is being prepared;

      b)    designed such internal controls over financial reporting,  or caused
            such internal controls over financial reporting to be designed under
            our  supervision,  to provide  reasonable  assurance  regarding  the
            reliability of financial  reporting and the preparation of financial
            statements  for  external  purposes  in  accordance  with  generally
            accepted accounting principles; and

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

      d)    disclosed  in this  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 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  controls which could adversely  affect the
            registrant's  ability  to  record,  process,  summarize  and  report
            financial data and have identified for the registrant's auditors any
            material weaknesses in internal controls; 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.


August 14, 2009                           /s/ Michael R. Kallet
---------------                           ---------------------
Date                                       President and Chief Executive Officer

                                  Exhibit 31.1