Westchester County Good Things Happening, 6.29.2015

Newburgh hotel wins Hilton award

Homewood Suites Newburgh, a 125-room all-suite, extended-stay hotel at Stewart International Airport, has been recognized for the third consecutive year with the 2014 Connie Pride Hotel Award of Merit. Named after Hilton Worldwide”™s founder Conrad Hilton, the Connie Pride is awarded to the top hotels of the year based on key criteria.

Based on performance results of the prior year under the management of former general manager Kathy Russo, who has been promoted to vice president of Browning Hospitality, the company managing Homewood, the award was accepted by present general manager Edward French.

French was appointed to succeed Russo in January. He has more than 20 years of hospitality experience with management and sales experience at Caitlin Gardens, Dolce Hotels & Resorts, Benchmark Resorts and Hotels and Marriott.

New partners at Eckert Seamans

Brian S. McGrath and Christopher F. Graham have joined the White Plains office of Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott LLC as partners. McGrath is a complex commercial litigation attorney who focuses on financial services litigation, intellectual property litigation, antitrust litigation and white-collar criminal investigations.

McGrath started his career at an international law firm working on high-stakes commercial litigation matters in a variety of business sectors, including landmark biotechnology patent litigations. McGrath has years of complex commercial litigation experience and has tried cases in a variety of settings.

McGrath previously served as a special assistant district attorney in the Kings County district attorney”™s office. He received his juris doctorate from The State University of New York, University at Buffalo Law School, and his Bachelor of Arts degree from The State University of New York at Geneseo.

Graham has been practicing bankruptcy and insolvency-related law since 1982. He primarily represents secured creditors in Chapter 11 matters, but also acts as counsel to creditors and shareholders and purchasers at bankruptcy 363 sales among others.

Since 1999, Graham has served as an adjunct professor of bankruptcy law at St. John”™s University School of Law in New York. He received his juris doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania and his undergraduate degrees from Georgetown University. He also studied at the London School of Economics and the University of Reims, France.

Westchester CPA elected society director-at-large

Barbara Marino, a Westchester CPA and director at The Hackett Group Inc., has been elected a director-at-large by the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants, which has 28,000 members residing and practicing in New York state.

Marino, who began her three-year term June 1, is a member of the society”™s Manhattan/Bronx chapter, where she served as president, president-elect and vice president.

She previously served on the group”™s board of directors as vice president and as a director representing the Manhattan/Bronx chapter. She is a member of the finance, scholarship and curriculum committees, the Manhattan/Bronx chapter executive board and the Manhattan/Bronx chapter promoting CPA careers committee.

She joined the society in 1992 and resides in Yorktown Heights.

Grand opening of learning center

Cerebral Palsy of Westchester recently opened its William “Bill” Hallenbeck Learning Center that contributes to the agency”™s mission to ensure children and adults with disabilities receive needed services and enjoy activities regardless of the level of their abilities.

For more than 65 years, Cerebral Palsy of Westchester has provided essential services for those with autism, neurological impairments, intellectual disabilities, mental retardation, epilepsy and cerebral palsy.

And for more than 40 years Hallenbeck supported Cerebral Palsy of Westchester as an executive board member and friend. With assistance from him and others, the necessary funds for renovations were raised.

Celebs turn out for fundraiser

Mookie Wilson, John Franco and John Starks, along with Chris Simms, Wally Szczerbiak, Constantine Maroulis, Chris Algieri and others recently played in foursomes that raised more than $200,000 for Craig Carton, New Rochelle native and WFAN radio show host of “Boomer & Carton,” and his TicTocStop Foundation.

More than 125 guests and 95 golfers showed their support of TicTocStop and helped the foundation raise money to improve the lives of those living with Tourette syndrome, which is currently undergoing a clinical trial seeking FDA approval for an oral appliance that has shown to reduce the tics associated with it.

TicTocStop also fully funds a one-week sleep-away camp in upstate New York for more than 40 children with Tourette syndrome.

“As an individual with Tourette”™s and now a parent of children with TS, the mission of TicTocStop is very personal. It gives me such satisfaction to know that our foundation, founded just two years ago, has made such a tremendous positive impact on the lives of many with Tourette syndrome,” Carton said.

Executive promoted at Heineken

Tara Rush has been promoted to senior vice president of corporate relations at Heineken USA in White Plains. In her new role, Rush reports to the company”™s president and CEO, Dolf van den Brink, and joins the company”™s management team.

“Tara is a dynamic leader who has elevated the (corporate relations) function within our business,” said van den Brink. “Her passion for Heineken USA”™s purpose and emphasis on fostering strong cross-functional relationships throughout our organization make her the right choice to lead the corporate relations function during this time of extraordinary growth across our portfolio.”

Rush has been serving as the interim corporate relations leader since March. She joined the company in 2013 as senior director of corporate communications.

Previously she was with Emanate, a midsize public relations agency and prior to that she led public relations at Mars Inc. and held roles in the consumer marketing practices at Ketchum, Edelman and Weber Shandwick in New York City.

WPH honored with cancer care award

White Plains Hospital has received the Women”™s Choice Award for America”™s Best Hospitals for Cancer Care.

“Our hospital has an outstanding cancer program and this award reflects our ongoing dedication to providing top-notch cancer care and recognizes our very high standards for excellence,” says Cynthia Chin, director of women”™s cancer program services and thoracic surgeon at White Plains Hospital.

White Plains Hospital is among 331 hospitals that have earned the 2015 award by meeting the highest cancer care accreditation standards of the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer, as well as for excellence in clinical performance with regard to patient safety measures and for their high recommendation rate, a measure that is very important to women in choosing a hospital.

F.D. Rich Co. CEO receives NAIOP award

Thomas L. Rich, president and CEO of the Stamford-based F.D. Rich Co., was honored with the Impact Award by the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties Connecticut & Suburban New York (NAIOP) for his dedication and contributions to the real estate community at its annual night of the stars awards gala. David Genovese, CEO of Baywater Properties, hosted the event March 19 at L”™escale Restaurant in Greenwich.

The evening”™s winners include Vineyard Vines, Stamford; Ironworks, South Norwalk; MasterCard, Purchase; 520 White Plains Road, Tarrytown; and Steve Lash, RFR Realty, Stamford.

Ameriprise assists in hunger initiative

Ameriprise Financial advisers, employees and clients from its local office recently came together to help feed Westchester area families. Organized by Leopizzi & Associates in White Plains an associate of Ameriprise, nine people volunteered at Food Bank for Westchester to stock food shelves, repackage bulk food items and assemble meal packages.

The event was part of the semiannual national days of service arranged by Ameriprise in partnership with Feeding America, the nation”™s largest hunger-relief organization. On June 19, 4,000 Ameriprise financial advisers, employees and clients spent the day participating in more than 200 events across 43 states.

Osborn CEO honored

The Osborn CEO Mark Zwerger received the James W. Sanderson Memorial Award for Leadership at the LeadingAgeNY annual conference in Saratoga Springs.

The award was named for the late James Sanderson, longtime counsel to LeadingAgeNY, the New York state branch of the national association of 6,000 not-for-profit organizations dedicated to advancing opportunities for the aging. The Osborn in Rye was a founding member of the organization.

The Sanderson award was created “to honor personal leadership and commitment by a New York state resident devoted to the field of long-term care, housing and services, who is employed by a non-for-profit long-term care organization.”

“I was deeply moved to be chosen for this award, in part, because I had a close personal relationship with Jim Sanderson,” said Zwerger who has spent more than 40 years working, leading and mentoring in organizations that care for, and care about, the aging population. He started working at The Osborn in 1988 when the institution was struggling financially and served a population of 115 residents. He spearheaded Pathway 2000, the 10-year, $120 million expansion project that restored the institution to fiscal solvency and enabled The Osborn to serve hundreds of additional residents with a wider array of living arrangements and health care services. Today, The Osborn is a modern continuing care community with 430 residents on its 54-acre Rye Campus. Pathway 200 included the construction of the Osborn Pavilion, an 84-bed, all-private rooms, licensed skilled nursing facility and rehabilitation center on campus, and built 188 entry-fee apartments and garden homes.

This year, The Osborn expanded its home care services into the state of Connecticut.

Fieldhome honors staff and trustees

Fieldhome in Cortlandt Manor, a community of caring services, recently honored 31 of its employees and trustees for their many years of loyal and dedicated service. The ceremony was dedicated to Field Horne, vice president and treasurer of the Catharine Field Home Board, for his 25 years of dedication to Fieldhome.

In 1989, Field joined the Field Home ”“ Holy Comforter”™s Board when he replaced his father, Harold Horne. In 1995, Field became one of the original board members for Catharine Field Home and helped in the development and construction of its assisted living facility, The Seabury, which opened in 2003.

Field is related to Cortlandt de Peyster Field, who in 1887 founded The Field Home, now Field Hall. Field has continued the founder”™s vision of compassion and caring by traveling from his home in Saratoga Springs to attend Catharine Field Home”™s bimonthly board meetings. He is a historian, writer and editor and has been instrumental in organizing and archiving Fieldhome”™s history.

Gardens in Yonkers receive grant

Scenic Hudson will make a $250,000 grant to the Untermyer Gardens Conservancy, enabling restoration of its signature water feature in the Walled Garden at the historic landscape in Yonkers. The contribution is being made in memory of Kathryn Wasserman Davis, the visionary philanthropist, environmentalist and advocate for world peace who lived in Tarrytown. Davis, who died in 2013,was a generous supporter of Scenic Hudson and its work in Westchester County.

The funds will allow the nonprofit conservancy and the city of Yonkers, which owns the gardens, to reline and replumb the crisscrossing waterways symbolizing the Rivers of Life in the Garden of Eden. This garden, whose design incorporates features from several cultures and spiritual beliefs, offers a physical manifestation of Davis”™ goal of uniting nations and respecting diversity. The gift also sustains Scenic Hudson”™s decades long effort to protect and connect people to Yonkers”™ natural beauty as the basis for the city”™s ongoing economic revitalization.

Rotary awards scholarships

The Rotary Club of White Plains has awarded 26 scholarships and added two new named scholarship awards to honor outstanding, long time White Plains Rotarians Ira Bernstein and John Ramsdell.

Nick Wolff presented the awards at the June 16 event to 19 recipients from White Plains High School, four from Stepinac High School and one from Good Counsel Academy. Each student was given a $1,000 award.

Harry Bright presented the music awards of $500 each to two students from White Plains High School.

Cast your vote in video contest

The finalists are in and customers of Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. may now vote for one of two videos, submitted by mid-Hudson Valley residents as part of the utility”™s video contest showcasing community support.

“Our ”˜Ready.Aim.Inspire.”™ contest provides our customers an opportunity to highlight an individual or group who makes a positive impact in the region,” said Denise D. VanBuren, vice president of public relations.

The first finalist features Toni Mazzella and Gloria Bonelli, co-founders of the Hudson Valley Hour Exchange, based in Newburgh and Warwick. The Exchange aims to improve the lives of people living in the Hudson Valley by providing the exchange of services and time while connecting the community.

The second finalist features volunteers from Abilities First, who inspire others every day by striving to attain independence and acceptance. This video highlights a small representation of 67 volunteers who donate their time cleaning or doing culinary duties at more than 20 sites in the Mid-Hudson Valley. While these volunteers learn new skills, it”™s the people they help who are most impacted.

To view the videos and vote, go to CentralHudson.com and click on the Ready.Aim.Inspire. banner, “like” Central Hudson”™s Facebook page and vote by “liking” your favorite video (or go directly to centralhudson.com/videocontest/voting.aspx). Voting ends at noon on June 30. The video receiving the most number of “likes” will be deemed the winner and awarded $500 plus an additional $500 for the individual or group spotlighted.

Information for these features has been submitted by the subjects or their delegates.