For more than 30 years, women leaders in Westchester have been recognized through the Women”™s Hall of Fame, which is sponsored by the Women”™s Research and Education Fund.
The latest honorees and their accomplishments will be celebrated during the 2015 Women”™s Hall of Fame luncheon, March 27 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Tarrytown.
This year”™s edition, the 31st of the annual event, will pay tribute to attorney Barbara Finkelstein, CEO of Legal Services of the Hudson Valley, as the recipient of the 2015 Women”™s Hall of Fame award.
- Barbara Finkelstein
Special tributes will also be offered to Nancy E. Fitch, former city clerk of Mount Vernon, and Tao Porchon-Lynch, yoga teacher and author.
Ӣ As CEO of Legal Services of the Hudson Valley, Finkelstein heads up the largest provider of free civil legal services to almost 600,000 underserved and low-income people in Westchester and surrounding counties. She is the first woman to lead this organization. A longtime advocate for social justice, Finkelstein also founded a domestic violence unit that has provided legal aid to more than 16,000 survivors of domestic violence, as well as family law and childrenӪs advocacy units, which champion the rights of entire families in need of legal support. She is also a member of state Court of Appeals Chief Judge Jonathan LippmanӪs Task Force to Expand Access to Civil Legal Services in New York, the New York State Bar AssociationӪs PresidentӪs Committee on Access to Justice and the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel.
”¢ Fitch was the first woman and first African-American to hold the position as city clerk in Mount Vernon when sworn into the post in 1981. With a long career in community service, Fitch has a long list of many other “firsts” marking her accomplishments, including first African-American president, Westchester County Women”™s Republican Club; founder and first president, National Council of Black Republicans of Westchester/Putnam/Rockland counties; and founder and first president of National Black Women”™s Health Project.
Ӣ Porchon-Lynch has also been an actress, peace activist, screenwriter and filmmaker. She founded the Westchester Institute of Yoga, and trained and certified hundreds of yoga instructors. With 70 years of yoga practice, she has spent 50 years teaching yoga to students around the world. Her life and work have been featured in Prevention and Oprah magazines, and Porchon-Lynch has also appeared on the NBC Today and Martha Stewart shows and on CNN with Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
The event will also honor Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, a longtime Hall of Fame partner and sponsor, with the 2015 Corporate Leadership Award. The company has been an active partner of the Women”™s Hall of Fame for more than two decades and is a supporter through education scholarships that have helped launch numerous young women on their paths to becoming business and community leaders in Westchester County.
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and U.S. Rep. Nita Lowey are serving as the event”™s honorary co-chairs.
Now entering its fourth decade, the Hall of Fame not only celebrates accomplished women but also enhances the educational opportunities of women and girls striving to take their places as community leaders. This year”™s event will feature the presentation of 14 scholarships, with honorees joining more than 700 others, including returning women veterans, survivors of domestic violence and others from underserved communities in the county.
Camille F. Murphy, executive director of the Women”™s Research and Education Fund, said in a statement, “We have spent more than 30 years working to improve the lives of women and their families in the county and we couldn”™t be more excited to celebrate this year”™s amazing honorees, who in the spirit of WREF”™s mission have made significant contributions to our community ”” and to the next generation of women leaders.”
For ticket information, call 914-305-5111 or email info@wrefny.org.
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