9th
Annual David Awards
Click on a portrait to read about that David Honoree
All Biographies by Maureen Traxler
ANTONY
A. ALBANESE
Chairman and Co-Founder Albanese Organization, Inc.
Chairman and co-founder
of The Albanese Organization, Anthony A. Albanese has successfully led the
company for 60 years, infusing projects of ever-ambitious scope with his
innovative spirit, vision and creativity. “With my brothers Vincent
and Joseph, who have been with me every step of the way, I borrowed $1,000
to buy a vacant parcel of land down the street from where we grew up in South
Ozone Park, Queens. We started building one house, then two,” Albanese
recalls. “We built homes in Jamaica, Queens Village, Bellerose and
our first six-story apartment house in Jamaica Estates.” Their sister,
Mary, has added her expertise as an interior designer to many of her brothers’ projects.
But what makes Albanese special
is that his goal has never been solely developing buildings. Where others
see a static edifice, he envisions an organic structure that affects
the people within the building and interacts with the surrounding community.
“When designing our commercial
buildings, we look to utilize space wisely, maximizing window areas.
It’s good for the occupants, creating more productive workplaces,
and it’s good for business. In our residential projects we constantly
seek to do something that provides more comfort for the people living
there,” says Albanese. “In all our projects we want the building
to be a positive addition to the community, strengthening the fabric
of the neighborhood.”
This enlightened
view of real estate development has guided the company through many market
cycles.
Albanese expanded onto Long Island in the 1960s, began investing in Manhattan
real estate in the following decade, and in the 1980s, transformed 12
underutilized and marginal parcels on Manhattan’s eastside into
the iconic, 52-story pyramid-topped condominium known as 100 United Nations
Plaza. The genesis of the design reflects his bold thinking. “During
the design process the idea of the pyramid crown started with my desire
to create multiple apartments with roof-top penthouse terraces,” he
notes. “A rough sketch of mine during a family vacation was transformed
into a sleek, modern form by our architect,” greatly enhancing
the building’s value and the residents’ living experience.
With its forward
looking philosophy, AO took this concern for environment to the next
level, becoming pioneers
in sustainable (“green”) development. Russell Albanese, Anthony’s
son and AO President, who has grown with the firm’s ethos for the
last 30 years, embraced the green approach. In an effort led by Russell
and Albanese’s nephew Christopher, the fourth AO principal, the
firm competed for and won development rights for a sustainable residence
in Manhattan’s Battery Park City. The result was The Solaire, America’s
first environmentally responsible residential tower, which in 2004 received
the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design) Gold rating and the AIA/COTE Top Ten Green Projects
Award. In 2007, the company was awarded the “Designing the Sustainable
and Secure World” Building Green Award by Global Green USA.
Also in Battery Park
City, the firm’s second residential tower, The Verdesian, completed in
2006, was awarded LEED Platinum, the USGBC’s highest designation
and the nation’s first award to a structure of its kind. The Visionaire,
a luxury “green” condominium achieved LEED Platinum, received
the AIA New York Committee’s “2009 Award for Outstanding
Green Project” and was awarded the Grand Prize of the “Green
Building Competition” held jointly by the US EPA and NYC Mayor’s
Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability.
When AO went “green,” development
carried a significant cost penalty. Reflecting his father’s holistic
view of development, Russell states, “Although it was more costly
to build, we knew it was the right thing to do. The final product is
healthier for residents and, over the life cycle of the building, reduces
impacts on the environment, making it a better global neighbor. It’s
the way all buildings should be developed today.” As more green
buildings are built and more experience is gained by the industry, the
incremental cost is coming down every year.
The Albanese Organization
believes its advocacy and leadership in green building development is
helping
accelerate the pace at which green building practices are becoming the
acceptable standards for the industry. As part of his commitment to be
a change agent, Albanese encourages employees and executives to participate
actively in professional and trade associations, speaking at conferences
and supporting green movements. Leading by example, Russell serves on
the Boards of Sustainable Long Island and The Nature Conservancy, Long
Island Chapter, and was a founding member of the USGBC’s New York
Chapter, in which other employees have served.
AO and its joint venture partner, Castagna Realty Company, brought “sustainability” closer
to home by transforming a 1960s vintage Garden City office building into Long
Island’s first Class A “green” office building, featuring
a state-of-the-art HVAC system that conserves energy and provides a high-quality
filtration system to remove contaminants and other potential allergens in the
air. This project continues a 10-year effort, spearheaded by Russell Matthews,
Albanese’s nephew and AO Executive Vice President, and undertaken in
cooperation with the Village of Garden City to revitalize the community’s
commercial core.
Improving the communities
in which he works, lives and develops comes naturally to Albanese, who
has
personally been involved in numerous community and philanthropic activities,
including service on the Board of St. Francis Hospital for 20 years.
Fundamentally, he’s a developer of people, not buildings. He continues
to inspire, motivate and empower his associates and employees, many of
whom have been with the firm for decades. Under his leadership, AO has
volunteered time and talent to numerous nonprofit organizations to foster
protection and preservation of the environment, support health and human
services, advance educational opportunities, and promote arts and cultural
programs. Through these efforts the firm has advanced the missions of
the Mental Health Association of Nassau County, the Coalition Against
Child Abuse and Neglect, the Interfaith Nutrition Network, New Ground,
the Thomas Hartman Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, Telecare,
Adelphi University, the Nassau County Museum of Art, and the Tilles Center
for the Performing Arts.
Family is at Albanese’s
core. This February Anthony and his wife Annette will celebrate 60 years
of marriage, surrounded by their four children—Deborah, Toni, Russell
and Elena, together with 13 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. A
man of integrity and great achievement, Albanese says, “In many
respects, my company, too, is my family. That’s why I come to work
every day.”
JOHN
D. CAMERON, JR., P.E.
Founder, Managing Partner, Cameron Engineering & Associates, LLP
Under John Cameron’s
leadership, Cameron Engineering & Associates is celebrating its 25th
year as one of Long Island’s premier consulting engineering firms.
Cameron says that he began his company with a part-time secretary, Donna
Sinram, now his assistant, as a vehicle to fulfill his personal dreams
and goals to bring innovation to the engineering field. “While
engineering is typically a very conservative profession, I wanted to
develop different solutions to societal
and technological challenges,” he adds.
Cameron’s love
of nature and the environment started when he grew up in Long Beach,
working on the beach and at beach clubs. He got his first surfboard at
14, and surfing remains a passion. An engineering graduate of the United
States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, he spent a year in the
Academy sailing around the world. “The experience exposed me to
different cultures and environments in Europe, Africa and Asia and gave
me a unique opportunity to see the beauty of those world environments.”
Following the Academy,
Cameron worked on the construction of the upstate Indian Point nuclear
power plant. Inspired by Earth Day, he become a public health and environmental
engineer at the Nassau County Health Department, and earned a Master’s
degree in Environmental Science from Long Island University. He worked
for an environmental engineering consulting firm and was a manager of
a resource recovery and wastewater treatment plant complex that burned
garbage and made electricity to run the plant. He also taught environmental
courses at Nassau Community College.
As a licensed professional engineer, Cameron’s expertise lies in various
disciplines in which the company specializes—planning, sustainable design
and civil, electrical, mechanical, security and environmental engineering.
His personal specialty is environmental engineering and planning, particularly
wastewater treatment and solid waste management, recycling, land use planning
and environmental preservation. He and his firm hold seven U.S. process and
apparatus patents for recycling technologies. The firm employs 25 LEED (Leadership
in Energy and Environmental Design) Accredited Professionals, facilitating
the company’s prominence in green building and sustainable design.
“As engineering
designs evolve,” says Cameron, “you’re always learning
and working to make designs more efficient. We developed a series of
designs that accomplishes recycling in a more cost-effective manner,
enabling us to reduce the amount of material that is rejected for disposal
and improve the quantity and quality of recaptured materials for higher
levels of recycling.”
A leader in waste management, Cameron Engineering completed some large, innovative
projects on Long Island. The company designed and built the Town of Islip’s
Materials Recovery Facility over 20 years ago, as well as the privately-owned
Omni Recycling Facility in Westbury. Fifteen years ago, the company designed
and built the Sanitary District #1 Materials Recovery Facility in Inwood—their
most advanced facility, processing recyclables out of mixed garbage.
“Cameron Engineering
has always tried to push the envelope and stay ahead of the curve,” notes
Cameron. A speaker at the 2009 Sustainable Development Conference, he
says he follows a pathway in his career and business where “development
on Long Island should work in consonance with the environment rather
than in conflict with it.”
For over thirty years,
Cameron has been an active member of the New York Water Environment Association,
a member organization of the International Water Environment Federation,
serving in state and local elected positions, and ultimately, State President.
In recognition of his accomplishments, Cameron was inducted into the
Association’s Hall Of Fame in 2007.
Cameron serves as chairman of the Long Island Regional Planning Council, a
leading advocate for public policy. The Council focuses on major issues affecting
sustainability—affordable housing, transportation, environment, economy
and social equity—and, assisted by national, regional and local consultants,
is developing a Sustainability Plan, entitled “LI 2035.” A strong
supporter of non-profits, Cameron gives groups prominent exposure at Council
meetings to advance their agendas.
Cameron is vice chair
of the Long Island Chapter of Legatus, an organization of Catholic CEOs.
He is vice chairman of the SUNY College of Old Westbury Foundation board,
supporting the mission of the college, and currently exploring the creation
of affordable housing on campus for young faculty and administration
staff. He served as State Vice Chairman of the New York League of Conservation
Voters, and board member of Sacred Heart Academy High School and the
St. Agnes Cathedral parish and school. With his wife Loretta, he supports
Catholic Charities (she’s a board member), Wounded Warriors for
physically or psychologically wounded veterans, Erase Racism, Rockville
Centre Community Fund, among others. Cameron’s company supports
various charities and nonprofits, and has adopted a two-mile stretch
of Peninsula Boulevard in Rockville Centre, where they have the roadway
cleaned bi-weekly and plant seasonal flowers and shrubbery.
Cameron has received
numerous awards and recognitions in the area of community and environmental
stewardship, among them, the Catholic Charities’ Caritas Award
(along with his wife), the Anne and Charles Lindbergh Award, SUNY Old
Westbury’s Ellie Simpson Award and Business Person of the Year
by the Long Beach Martin Luther King Center. He was selected Consulting
Engineer of the Year in New York State and Entrepreneur of the Year for
Long Island by Inc. magazine, Ernst & Young and Merrill Lynch, and
received the Alumni Outstanding Professional Achievement Award from his
Alma Mater, Kings Point.
Rockville Centre residents,
the Camerons have two children: Andrew and Christine. He and his wife
attend concerts, visit museums and travel internationally. Cameron is “into
sports big time,” recalling that at age 10 he won an NBC contest
to be a Yankee Bat Boy, working along side Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris
and other Yankee greats for “the day of a lifetime.” He considers
music and art “two of the great elements of life; they expand the
human spirit.” Cameron says he has spent hours studying Michelangelo’s
extraordinary work, The David, at the Academia Museum in Florence, Italy,
which gives special meaning to his receipt of Networking® magazine’s
2010 David Award.
LAWRENCE
E. DAVIDOW, ESQ.,
Managing Partner, Davidow, Davidow, Siegel & Stern, LLP
When Lawrence Davidow
attended Tulane University School of Law, he took every tax class possible.
When he began to practice law in the 1980s, he wanted to talk to clients
about taxes and estate planning, but he says, “They were asking
me, what happens if I get sick and I lose my house to a nursing home?
What about Medicaid?” He adds, “I didn’t know anything
about that…nobody did.”
Davidow spent seven years in New Orleans, graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Tulane
University School of Arts and Sciences and pursuing his law degree, but notes, “I
always knew I was coming home; always knew I was going to be part of the family
firm.” His grandfather founded a general practice law firm in 1913, and
his father and uncle ran the company for 30 years before Davidow joined in 1986.
By 1992, Davidow redirected the firm, Davidow, Davidow, Siegel & Stern, located
in Islandia, into one of the first and most successful Elder Law, Special Needs,
Estate and Business Planning practices on Long Island.
“I had a passion
for elder law; I love working with seniors and their families,” remarks
Davidow, who traces this passion to his first job as a senior in high
school. He worked as a recreational director in an adult home in his
home community of Patchogue. “I worked every day, talking to the
seniors and playing games with them, taking them for car rides and facilitating
discussion groups.”
With these fond memories,
Davidow started growing the firm, taking ads, marketing and hosting seminars. “Nobody
knew what I was talking about,” he says. “When I showed up
to speak, people were expecting someone with gray hair, not a kid in
his twenties. But the subject was new, people were interested, and our
firm started giving the answers.”
Davidow quickly immersed
himself in the Long Island “senior” arena. He served as the
founding president of the Suffolk Chapter of the American Parkinson’s
Disease Association and partnered with the not-for-profit communities
to spread the word about elder law. He joined the Alzheimer’s Association,
served on its board, and was chair of the Legal Advisory Committee.
“Alzheimer’s
affects so many families and is so devastating to families caring for
persons who have it,” says Davidow. “It’s worth spending
time with these families and raising money to get rid of this horrible
disease.”
The term “elder
law” was coined in the 1980s when the National Academy of Elder
Law Attorneys was founded by 36 attorneys around the country. Davidow
was one of the first 100 members—membership now numbers about 5,000—and
served as president three years ago. Elder law deals with issues of incapacity,
managing assets, a person’s health condition, affordable health
care, getting the best health care, deciding who takes care of the older
person and where—all without losing a home that the person worked
a lifetime to acquire. About half Davidow’s practice prepares people
for long-term care and half deals with people in crisis in long-term
care. “It’s complicated,” he says, pointing out that
the Medicaid laws keep changing. “The state says one thing; the
county says another. The federal government says something else. There’s
no coordination between Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance. There’s
not one set of laws; they’re all over the place.”
Davidow built his career and practice on his two passions: elder law and public
speaking. His involvement on the national level sparked his awareness of the
public’s need for Elder Law education. Now a dedicated and accomplished
speaker, he says, “I try to make my presentations enjoyable and entertaining.
I have lectured free of charge to senior groups, homemaker clubs, churches,
temples, bar associations, accounting groups, financial planners, social workers,
doctors, service clubs like Kiwanis and Rotary, unions, retired teachers, and
corporation employees.”
“Elder law will probably become one of the general practice areas of the
new millennium; no family is immune,” remarks Davidow. “Every family
wants the best healthcare for their elders and wants to protect the assets.” He
continues to speak locally and nationally informing seniors, individuals with
disabilities and their families about their rights. In addition to serving on
the National Academy board of directors, Davidow is a National Elder Law Foundation
Certified Elder Law Attorney.
A full-time practicing
lawyer, Davidow has served as past chairman of the Suffolk County Bar
Association Elder Law Committee, past president of the Suffolk County
Estate Planning Council, and board member of the Maryhaven Center of
Hope, helping people with disabilities, youth through adults. He is also
a past newsletter editor and officer of the New York State Bar Association,
Elder Law Section.
Davidow says there are two nonprofits that he has “clung to over the
years,” the Alzheimer’s Association and the Long Island Community
Foundation, of which he serves currently as Board Chairman. He is proud of
the LICF’s initiatives, including LEAP—Leadership, Effectiveness,
Action and Partnership, launched as a pivotal point in the evolution of communities
that have not shared Long Island’s overall prosperity—Erase Racism,
Sustainable Long Island, the environment and the arts. He adds that LICF provides
leadership for the philanthropic community and is “a great resource for
philanthropists and grantees to help spearhead the answers to some of the Island’s
problems.” He applauds its capacity to build nonprofits—all of
which have “a large, long-acting impact on Long Island.” He adds, “We’re
trying to be a community-wide community foundation. We help the whole community,
the neediest of all of us.”
A published author
on the subject of Elder Law, Davidow contributed a chapter, called “Tax
Implications of Transfers of Assets,” to the Elder Law Portfolio
Series (Little Brown). He also contributed to the handbook “Essential
Facts, Estate Planning and Family Wealth Transfers.” He supplied
various outlines for national Elder Law symposia and wrote a column for
the New York Law Journal.
A native of Patchogue-Bellport,
Davidow has more recently been raising his three children, Nicholas (15),
Ryan (14) and Rebecca (12), in communities from Setauket to Mt. Sinai,
and is engaged to Sharon Scott. An avid Yankee fan, this “Long
Island guy” enjoys the beaches, theater, reading and traveling.
Davidow remarks, “I’m lucky to have found an area of law
that is very gratifying. I feel privileged to know that I really love
what I do.”
DR.
SEAN A FANELLI,
President, Nassau Community College
This month, Dr. Sean
Fanelli steps down as the fourth president of Nassau Community College
(NCC). During his 27-year tenure, which distinguishes him as the longest
serving college president of a Long Island higher education institution,
he transformed NCC from a college in turmoil with low faculty morale
and a campus designed for 8,000, into a bustling, diverse campus of 21,000
full- and part-time students offering more than 65 degree and certificate
programs—the largest community college in the state.
Typical of his “we-oriented” management
style, Fanelli immediately established communication between the faculty
and college leaders and his policy of shared governance made the difference. “I
don’t think the people at Nassau recognized their own strengths
and value,” he says. “I reassured people inside and outside
the college that this was a good institution, could right itself and
prosper.”
While community colleges
have been known as colleges of last choice, Fanelli notes, “With
our honors program, Nassau is the college of first choice for many students,
and our hallmark liberal arts program is a stepping stone to students’ future
goals. We’re always promoting the idea of transferability. 70%
of our students go on to four-year institutions, without any loss of
credits, and earn baccalaureate or professional degrees. We can do that
because we have great relationships with these institutions; we’re
head and shoulders above other community colleges.”
With many grads continuing
education on the Island, Fanelli says, “That’s a distinct
economic benefit and reverses what we call the brain drain. Community
colleges have an important role to play with regard to affordability
and accessibility. That’s what a community college should be doing,
serving its residents and community by preparing enlightened persons,
good citizens and skilled workers.”
NCC continues its
strong developmental education program, giving students the basic skills
for a successful college experience, and offers a “weekend college.” Fanelli
initiated new programs in fashion, interior design, criminal justice,
office technology, art and business. Nassau has an extraordinary allied
science program, he adds, including radiologic technology and surgical
technology (the only community college that offers these courses).
“We take ‘community’—our
middle name—very seriously,” Fanelli remarks. “We reach
out to businesses and industries and offer credit or non-credit programs…your
place or ours.” Without profit to the college, Nassau has partnered
with Geico, King Kullen, Verizon, unions, airlines and banks, bringing
in workers to spend a day a week getting an associate’s degree.
His most poignant
legacy, and an accomplishment of which he’s most proud, is his
ability to withstand onslaughts to academic freedom and curtailment of
curriculum. In recognition of his preservation of academic freedom at
Nassau, Fanelli received the prestigious American Association of University
Professors’ Alexander Meiklejohn Award for Academic Freedom; The
Thomas Jefferson Center’s William J. Brennan, Jr. Award for great
courage and clear and consistent commitment to the principles of free
expression and academic freedom; and the New York Library Association/Social
Issues Resources Series Intellectual Freedom Award.
Under his leadership,
NCC completed the “G building,” containing classrooms for
social sciences and art, and the College Center, housing a food court,
meeting space, and student clubs and activities. A fully-funded, fully-designed
third building for the nursing program and chemistry department is ready
for bid—all without capital campaigns. Informed and articulate,
Fanelli not only built bridges to lobby state and county governments
for funding, but also has been a forceful advocate for the college in
the private and nonprofit sector.
At commencements,
Fanelli tells students: “To whom much is given, much is expected.” Following
this philosophy, Nassau has a thriving Service Learning program, using
student talent to improve community. NCC participates in Toys for Tots,
hosts Prom Boutique to help teens get ready for their “special
day,” and designed and outfitted MOMMAS House in Glen Cove to make
it more attractive to mothers and children.
A St. Francis College
graduate with a B.S. in chemistry, Fanelli received a National Defense
Education Act Fellowship at Fordham University, going straight through
to his Ph.D. in biological sciences. His dissertation was in the field
of physical and chemical limnology (fresh water environment). He started
as a classroom science teacher at St. Francis Prep and Bishop Ford High
Schools, before joining the staff at Westchester Community College, moving
up from chair of the Biological Science Department to Dean of Academic
Affairs/Deputy to the President.
Fanelli contributed
five biographies of Italian American scientists for “Italian American
History and Culture, An Encyclopedia,” has written book chapters
and papers on higher education topics, and received numerous awards.
His professional affiliations include service as member and chair on
evaluation teams and commissioner for the Middle States Association of
Schools; member of the executive committees of the American Council of
Education and the National Junior College Athletic Association; and chair
of the Institute of Community College Development, Presidents of Community
Colleges, and Long Island Regional Advisory Council on Higher Education.
He chairs a national group that promotes leadership development for women,
following his interest in women’s advancement in business.
Fanelli’s nonprofit
service includes The Dante Foundation and Order Sons of Italy scholarship
programs; he’s a founding member of the Cradle of Aviation Board;
and, in recognition of his longtime service as a judge, the Fair Media
Council named a Folio Award in his honor.
Westbury residents,
Fanelli and his wife Marion, a volunteer at St. Bridget’s Church,
have three grown children: Elizabeth and Thomas, both adopted from Korea,
and Jim, who Fanelli says “was a very pleasant surprise.” Elizabeth
and her husband adopted Tiana (3½) from Korea, and have two sons,
Thomas (1½) and Zachary (6 months). Fanelli’s son Thomas
manages a clothing store, and Jim is a New York Post enterprise reporter
on the Sunday desk. Fanelli collects German-made Marklin model trains,
and enjoys building scenery, operating his 24-foot-square computerized
train display and photographing the trains for his website. In retirement,
he plans to teach undergrad courses in oceanography and graduate courses
in higher education administration, as he did while serving as NCC
president.
MARTIN
S. KARPEH, JR., M.D.,
Chairman, Department of Surgery, Beth Israel Hospital
Nationally
renowned surgical oncologist Dr. Martin Karpeh is currently serving in his
third year as chairman of the Department of Surgery at Beth Israel Medical
Center, and as Associate Director and Director of Surgical Oncology of the
Continuum Cancer Centers of New York (CCCNY), a nonprofit healthcare network
comprised of five historically distinguished New York City hospitals: Beth
Israel, St. Luke’s Hospital, Roosevelt Hospital, NY Eye and Ear Infirmary,
and Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn. While CCCNY is comprised of leaders
in medical, radiation and surgical oncology who coordinate cancer care across
the network, Karpeh’s responsibility includes recruiting top cancer surgeons
into the center. At Beth Israel, he works to develop all aspect of surgery,
including cardiac, plastic, pediatric, vascular, critical care, thoracic and
general surgery. He maintains an active clinical practice that he limits to
patients with cancer concerns.
An alumnus of the
University of Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania State University College
of Medicine, Karpeh served his internship and residency at the Hospital
of the University of Penn, while conducting basic research in cancer
and nutrition supported by a Fellowship in nutrition and cancer at Children’s
Hospital in Philadelphia. After his residency, Karpeh secured a Fellowship
in surgical oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC),
where he developed the gastric cancer database and focused his research
in that area. At the time, the research into gastric cancer was changing,
and researchers and physicians were seeing more gastric cancers involving
the distal esophagus above the perimeter of the stomach.
Karpeh notes, “This
rising cancer seems to affect males in their most-productive years (50-60),
and those in the higher socio-economic class. While the causes are still
unknown, there is a known correlation with esophageal reflux disease
and obesity. Some studies have explored a possible connection to consumption
of preservatives in food.” Karpeh has lectured extensively to increase
awareness of gastro-esophageal cancer. Following the Fellowship, Karpeh
joined the staff of MSKCC on the Gastric and Mixed Tumor Service and
the surgical faculty of Weill Cornell Medical College. He’s an
expert in surgical procedures and management of gastric and esophageal
cancers and other cancers affecting the gastrointestinal tract.
Prior to joining Beth
Israel, Karpeh served as chief of Surgical Oncology at Stony Brook University
Medical Center and Director of their Cancer Center, where he assembled
highly qualified physicians from various departments into disease management
teams, which developed protocols to enhance the Center’s ability
to serve patients. In addition to a “robust clinical trials office” that
seeks out active trials to bring to Stony Brook, Karpeh helped supervise
the development of Stony Brook’s new state-of-the-art Cancer Center
facility, overseeing the continuation of cancer research and cutting
edge cancer treatment programs. “The Cancer Center offers patients
a sort of one-stop shopping where they can see all their doctors under
one roof,” remarks Karpeh. “Imaging, treatment, cancer supportive
services such as social work and nutrition are also available.”
Karpeh has continued
teaching surgery at Beth Israel and has a faculty appointment at Albert
Einstein College of Medicine. His department has a highly sought after
surgical residency program, and actively integrates the simulation of
surgical procedures into the surgical training program to ensure technical
proficiency and enhance patient safety. The department recently received
a $1.5 million gift from the Singer Foundation to expand and develop
a state-of-the-art Simulation Lab at Beth Israel’s Petrie Division.
Karpeh has garnered
numerous research grants, including several from the National Institutes
of Health. Continuum is moving ahead with a grant application to conduct
stem cell research in wound healing, and Karpeh is a principal investigator
of a clinical trial involving tumor vaccines against pancreatic cancer.
Named one of New York
Magazine’s “Best Doctors” for 2008 and 2009, Karpeh
has served with the American Cancer Society, and is currently president
of the New York Cancer Society where he coordinates academic meetings
and seminars. “It’s a great social networking activity connecting
doctors. I believe this is good for patient care because it exposes doctors
to current literature and cutting edge technology, and they become more
aware of cancer clinical trials that might not be available in their
institutions.”
Author of hundreds
of peer-review papers, book chapters and abstracts, Karpeh is a member
of numerous professional organizations, including the New York Surgical
Society, the International Gastric Cancer Association, the American Surgical
Association, the American College of Surgeons, and the Society of Surgical
Oncology. He’s a board member of Fighting Chance, a nonprofit organization
that promotes the growth of services, at no cost to cancer patients living
on the East End of Long Island.
“Fighting Chance
is interested in partnering with groups across Long Island,” notes
Karpeh, and has worked with Harlem Hospital’s Navigator program,
a successful initiative to bring breast cancer treatment to individuals
in the surrounding community. The program trains healthcare providers
to go into the community and interact with patients to help them work
through the process of getting treatment. “Fighting Chance has
sent people through the training program to bring a similar effort to
Long Island,” says Karpeh. “We believe this will be helpful
to the hospitals in Southampton, Peconic Bay and Eastern Long Island
in getting patients to use their resources.”
Karpeh volunteers
his services with the Witness Project of Long Island, a breast health
and breast cancer education program launched in partnership with the
Town of Babylon in 2003 that reaches out to women in African American
communities. “The project features women who have been successfully
treated. They speak at Sunday services about their experiences and bear
witness that they are survivors, dispelling many myths about breast cancer.”
Karpeh and his wife
Julianne, a nurse in the Three Village School District, have three children:
Quinn, a Fordham University graduate with a degree in economics who is
now matriculating into pre-med at Stony Brook University; Chelsea, a
junior in the nursing program at the University of Scranton and Ashley,
a senior at Ward Melville. In addition to golf and living in Stony Brook,
he enjoys his house on Shelter Island, “which has become a really
special place for the family.”
VINCENT
L. RISO
Principal, The Briarwood Organization, LLC
With a company career
spanning more than 55 years, Vincent Riso is instrumental in maintaining
The Briarwood Organization’s stellar track record of successful
developments that are financially sound and embraced by their respective
communities. Along with Howard Goodman, his brother Raymond and nephew
Jim, Riso is a principal of Briarwood, which was founded by his grandfather
in 1912 as a modest builder of one- and two-family homes, and was subsequently
led by his father.
Riso says it was a “natural
transition” that he should join the firm. “My brother Raymond
and I grew into it. I basically learned from my father.”
The family-owned business
now in the fourth generation develops, builds and manages property throughout
Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan and the Bronx. Riso’s chief responsibility
is spearheading new residential and commercial development, but he is
involved in all facets of the company’s operations. He evaluates
prospective opportunities and identifies ventures with the maximum potential.
During pre-development, he surveys submarket performance and forecasts
demand. He designs the financial framework for each project—aligning
private, government and nonprofit funding. A licensed real estate broker,
Riso supervises Briarwood Properties, a full service property management
corporation.
Over the years, Briarwood
has been able to withstand the economic and political ups and downs faced
by the development industry by anticipating future growth demands, using
innovative materials, and remaining committed to communities. The company
survived the Great Depression, and during World War II, applied its construction
skills to assembling aircraft for the war effort. Following the war,
Briarwood began building homes in the open farmlands of Queens. During
the tough economic times of the 1970s, Briarwood, under the leadership
of current management, became one of the first New York City builders
to incorporate concrete plank, a durable medium allowing faster construction,
into new projects. “Today, we continue to be specialists in that
building technique,” Riso notes.
In the 1980s, Briarwood
boldly embraced urban renewal, completing the first market-rate development
in the West Side Urban Renewal area. At the same time, Briarwood was
one of the first companies to predict demand for multi-family housing
in Queens. Over 97 years, Riso and his family have built Briarwood into
a trusted developer and general contractor of new homes, cooperatives,
condominiums, apartments and commercial properties.
“We’re
not over anxious…we’re very conservative,” Riso says
in crediting Briarwood’s longevity. “We’re known for
our ability to take care of homeowners’ problems. Briarwood likes
to do the job right the first time; we’re full service, from developers
and general contractors to property managers.”
Riso and his company
have also engaged in public and nonprofit initiatives, partnerships and
joint ventures to create affordable housing where it’s most desperately
needed, developing over 2,500 low and moderate income homes.
“Many nonprofit
organizations have served as Briarwood’s community sponsors,” remarks
Riso. “Whenever you come into a community, you have to be aware
of the community’s needs and address them. We work with community
boards, local businesses and nonprofits that are creditable associations
in those communities.”
Affirming its commitment
to “green” building, Briarwood has been incorporating new
technologies and materials in each of its projects. “Last fall,
our company was selected to partner with the New York City Community
Preservation Corporation to build an affordable housing project of a
couple of hundred units in the Bronx, called Melrose Commons,” notes
Riso. The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver
project will be Briarwood’s first “all green” development
and will include “green” building materials and supplies,
recycled water, and other resources. Jim Riso serves as Briarwood’s
LEED certified professional.
Starting at the grassroots
level with the New York State Association for Affordable Housing, Riso
went on to serve as a board member for many years. He was a founder and
past president of the Queens and Bronx Builders Association, and is a
member of the New York State Builders Association and National Association
of Home Builders.
As a responsible builder
with a sense of community, Riso has been involved in numerous civic and
charitable causes. In the 1960s, he served with the Lion’s Club,
and through that association, joined the board of St. Mary’s Children’s
Hospital in Bayside. He continues to serve on that board and, in appreciation
of his long service, was honored at the hospital’s 2007 Tribute
Dinner.
Riso served on the
executive board of the former Catholic Medical Center and was a trustee
for the heathcare system’s St. John’s Queens Hospital. In
1995, he was tapped by the Most Reverend Thomas V. Daily, the driving
force behind the Campaign for Human Development, to be the sole Diocesan
trustee on the board of the Nehemiah II Project, an interfaith program
that created housing for low-income families in Brooklyn, garnering national
attention. “Various religious communities donated operating capital
to Nehemiah during that period, and with the nonprofit Housing Development
Corporation, thousands of housing units were built in the City,” Riso
remarks.
Riso has long served
with the Arthritis Foundation, was honored at the 2001 Queens Leaders’ Award
reception, and now serves as the foundation’s honorary chairman.
In 2006 he received an East Harlem Community Service Award from Hope
Community for his contribution to making East Harlem a better place.
He has served on housing and construction committees during the administration
of Mayor Ed Koch, and was recently appointed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg
to the Office of Operations Committee; served with the New York City
Building Commissioner’s Industry Cabinet; Department of Environmental
Protection’s Advisory Cabinet and Citizens Housing and Planning
Council.
“At Briarwood,
we’ve all volunteered in our communities, giving of our time and
talent,” says Riso. “It comes back ten-fold in the satisfaction
of being able to do something for others.” Riso’s brother
Raymond was a former member of the local community board; Jim Riso is
currently president of the local Bayside BID (Business Improvement District).
Born and raised in Queens, Riso and his wife Sophie live in Garden City. They
have two children, Daria Ward and Lonnie Duka, and three grandchildren, Kelly
Meagan Ward, and Daniel and Roxanne Duka. Riso enjoys reading, giving time
to various causes and spending leisurely time with his wife.
DR.
STEVEN STRONGWATER
Chief Executive Officer, Stony Brook University Medical Center
Although he has served
as a professor, administrator and practicing physician for 25 years,
Dr. Steven Strongwater embraces his position as Chief Executive Officer
of Stony Brook University Medical Center, saying it affords him “a
way to do more good for larger numbers of people than I could do on a
one-on-one basis.” Strongwater comes to Stony Brook with extensive
experience in patient safety and quality performance, and he predicts, “If
we organize the structure of medicine correctly, we will dramatically
enhance patient experience
in populations that need care.”
Only 18 months after
Strongwater’s appointment, Stony Brook University Medical Center
received the Healthcare Association of New York's (HANYS) Pinnacle Award
for Quality and Patient Safety, and the Nassau Suffolk Hospital Council’s
inaugural Excellence in Patient Safety Award. “We have reduced
mortality successively over three years and we’re getting better
every year,” he remarks. In the late 1980s, Strongwater participated
in an early quality performance improvement program set outside the business-oriented
arena. His book, “A Facilitator’s Guide for Implementing
Changes in Healthcare,” is one of the first books on quality performance
improvement programs geared to the healthcare industry.
In addition to patient
safety, Strongwater has brought on board staff to provide services not
previously available at Stony Brook, such as interventional stroke treatment,
bringing the advantages of heart stents to the brain, and non-invasive
imaging of coronary arteries, yielding results through CT scan and low
dose radiation rather than stress tests and invasive dye tracking. Under
Strongwater, the hospital implemented an electronic patient record system,
an important part of the future of medical care. And, under its tertiary
partnership with Eastern Long Island Hospital, Peconic Bay Medical Center
and Southampton Hospital, Stony Brook is making an effort to initiate
electronic connectivity between the hospitals and nursing homes, physicians’ offices
and rehabilitation facilities to make patients’ records more accessible.
“On my watch,” says
Strongwater, the hospital has opened a new Cancer Center—phase
one of a major modernization program that includes part of the emergency
department, a women’s pavilion and operating rooms. In November
2009, the hospital opened a pediatric emergency department, and is slated
to build a new psychiatric emergency department. “We have also
modernized technology,” he adds, “particularly in the area
of imaging, enhancing non-invasive diagnoses.”
Despite difficult
economic times, Strongwater says the hospital is working to retain employees
and develop their career paths. Noting that improved patient care starts
with the staff, he has instituted a “high reliability organization” program,
or HRO. “Driven by the staff on the units,” Strongwater says, “ideas
are proposed to improve care and make the environment better for patients.
Administration helps them move that forward.”
“We view our
role as a resource to the community and a part of the quality of life
in Suffolk County,” notes Strongwater. Stony Brook Hospital organizes
about 1,000 community-based programs annually for family members of all
ages. Strongwater works closely with organizations like Rotary and its
Gift of Life program, and is proud to have chaired last October’s
American Heart Association “Heart Walk.” Most importantly,
Strongwater conveys to residents that “in Stony Brook University
Medical Center, the community has an academic medical center in their
backyard.” He adds, “Academic medical centers discover new
knowledge and transfer that into the community, bringing new technologies
that are not available at community hospitals.”
Born and raised in
the Bronx, Strongwater was encouraged to get involved with “the
sciences” when he attended Bronx High School of Science. He attended
the University of Rochester, leaving there after three years to go to
SUNY Upstate Medical Center for his degree and residency in internal
medicine. After suffering a slipped disk lifting a patient during his
internship, he was reassigned to “light duty” in rheumatology,
and he found a “new love.”
“Rheumatology
dealt with the medical mysteries of health care. I found that fascinating
and still do,” remarks Strongwater. “We tended to see things
that people couldn’t explain—unknown causes of fever, funny
rashes, and unusual symptoms. Many cases turn out to be rheumatologic
conditions, in part, because rheumatology is not really one disorder.
Most of the major recent advances in the treatment of immunologic disorders
came through study in the field of rheumatology.” He went on to
complete a Fellowship in rheumatology at the University of Michigan Medical
Center.
Strongwater was appointed
Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical
Center, Worcester. “It was a new medical school and I did a little
bit of research, but also became involved in running the curriculum for
the undergrad medical school, the fellowship and internship program in
internal medicine, and outpatient practices for the Department of Medicine,
and eventually, all practices.”
Strongwater would
spend the next 10 years at the University of Connecticut Health Center
in Farmington, entering service as Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs.
After a restructuring, he was appointed Hospital Director. In Connecticut,
his responsibilities included operating the state prison healthcare system,
consisting of some 18,000 inmates at 21 sites.
A prolific author
of book chapters and articles for medical journals, Strongwater has also
served on numerous committees and has been a speaker, panelist and lecturer
locally and around the country. His professional service includes membership
on the board of Greater New York Hospital Association and the national
University Health System Consortium, and he chairs the American Hospital
Association’s committee on health professions. He serves on the
board of the Nassau Suffolk Hospital Council where the number one issue
is preventing budgetary cuts.
East Setauket residents,
Strongwater and his wife Elaine, who works at the Huntington Arts Council,
have two sons: Dan, a college student, and Ian, who is participating
in a research project on dementia at a veterans’ home. He enjoys
reading and walks with his wife. “Medicine’s been a great
career for me,” remarks Strongwater. “We touch people’s
lives. I consider it a gift and privilege to practice medicine.” And
he adds, “Coming to Stony Brook was like coming home. It brought
me back into the SUNY system, back to New York State, closer to my family,
and returned me to my roots.”
MAURICE
"MO" VAUGHN
Co-Founder, OMNI New York, LLC; American League MVP
Maurice “Mo” Vaughn,
affectionately known as the Boston Red Sox’s lovable first baseman,
signed up for a new career after he left Major League Baseball in 2003.
Today, he is co-managing director and co-owner of Omni New York LLC,
a real estate revitalization and development company he founded with
his business partner, Eugene Schneur. Omni’s goal is to provide
quality, well managed affordable housing in neighborhoods that have
historically experienced
a shortage of such housing.
Since December
2004, Omni has acquired and has either rehabilitated or is in the process
of rehabilitating some 2,700 units of affordable housing in New York.
Over eleven hundred (1,142) units are located in the New York metropolitan
area, including the renovation of Noble Drew Ali Plaza in Brownsville,
Brooklyn, and refurbishment of the Whitney Young Manor in Yonkers.
Under Vaughn’s leadership, Omni also completed construction of
40 new units of affordable housing in Seneca County.
Through its
affiliate Omni America LLC, the company has purchased and rehabilitated
94 units of affordable housing in Gillette, Wyoming, and has purchased
and is currently rehabilitating 414 units in Massachusetts. In January
2009, Omni purchased Sycamore Village, the former Bradford Apartments
in the North Boston community of Lawrence, along with two Boston-area
properties. The deal was the company’s first in Massachusetts.
The complex will include renovations to kitchens and baths, new appliances
and exterior improvements, such as new security cameras and safety
lighting in common areas. Vaughn said that the revitalization also
reflects Omni’s long-term commitment to keeping apartments affordable.
“Multi-family
living’s tough enough,” said Vaughn. “At least you
can be secure and safe and walk the property and enjoy it. That’s
one of our things—you don’t want to be a prisoner in your
own apartment.”
Most notably, Omni focuses on the social aspects of revitalizing the neighborhood
by partnering with community groups to provide social services, such as school
programs for children and skill-building seminars and classes for adults. Vaughn
adds that part of Omni’s mission is to promote “the right style
of life” at their properties. He says the company has a “zero tolerance” policy
for guns, drugs and criminal behavior.
Vaughn enjoyed
a successful career in Major League Baseball, playing eight seasons
for the Boston Red Sox, from 1991-1998. Vaughn, who hits lefty and
throws righty, was the hardest hitting batter of the team. In 1995,
he was named “Most Valuable Player,” as a result of his
.300 batting average, 39 home runs, 126 RBIs, 11 stolen bases, team
leadership and community service. He was a three-time All Star selection.
Following the Red Sox, he played for the Anaheim Angels for six seasons
before coming to the New York Mets.
Born to parents
who were educators—his father, a former high school principal
and football coach; his mother, an elementary school teacher—Vaughn
learned to work hard to improve his skills. His mother taught him to
play baseball when he was three years old. A native of Norwalk, CT,
he attended Trinity-Pawling, a rural New York preparatory high school,
and Seton Hall College, where amazingly he broke the career home run
record by a Seton Hall player in his freshman year. The Big East Conference
named him Player of the Decade.
Vaughn inherited
both his competitive nature and his charitable instincts from his parents.
Each year, his family was known to give gifts to the homeless at Christmastime.
He continues to abide by his Omega Psi Phi fraternity beliefs of manhood,
scholarship, perseverance and uplift, and has shared these values with
young people.
Vaughn has been
an active supporter and contributor to various community based organizations
and charities. While playing with the Boston Red Sox, he often spoke
to inner city children and used proceeds from formal autograph signings
to fund cultural outings for under-privileged youth. He supported the
Boston Food Bank and Catholic Charities, assisting the homeless; provided
sports equipment for the local Boys and Girls Club; and worked with
the Jimmy Fund, an organization dedicated to fighting cancer at Dana-Farber
Cancer Institute and helping raise the changes of survival for children
and adults with cancer around the world.
In 1994, he
co-founded the Mo Vaughn Youth Development Program with two of his
childhood friends. The program includes an after school center for
teens, providing help with school work, a safe place to play, and many
opportunities for the development of self-esteem and motivation to
excel in life. He was known to personally arrange outings to the circus,
ballet, opera, science fairs and other cultural activities. As part
of the Red Sox’s Adopt-a-School program, Vaughn sponsored the
Charles Taylor Elementary School in Mattapan, MA.
During the years
he spent with the Angels, Vaughn helped raise over $30,000 for the “Friends
of Kiley,” a foundation assisting the sick child of a California
policeman. He donated the “Mo Vaughn Child Life Playroom” to
the UCI Medical Center Pediatric Department in Orange, CA, and helped
raise funds for the Gene Autry Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities League.
A partnership between the Anaheim Angels and the Boys and Girls Club
of Orange County, the League was committed to giving youth the opportunity
to play baseball. As part of this effort, Vaughn brought 400 children
to Disneyland to participate in a parade.
Vaughn was a
major supporter of the Jackie Robinson Foundation, a national organization
that awards four-year college scholarships to academically gifted students
of color with financial need. He also supported the JP Morgan Chase “Baseball
is for Kids” program.
The author of “Follow
Your Dreams,” Vaughn is the 1995 recipient of the A. Bartlett
Giamatti Award for Community Service, presented by B.A.T., the Baseball
Assistance Team, which helps members of the baseball family. The award
is presented to individuals who exemplify the compassion demonstrated
by the late Baseball Commissioner.