8th Annual David Awards

 

AKRAM BOUTROS, M.D. FACHE
President, Long Island American Heart Association
BY MAUREEN TRAXLER

A champion of hospitals’ evolution as learning organizations, Dr. Akram Boutros has served for more than 15 years as a progressive leader building clinical programs and successfully managing hospital operations. During ten years of service at South Nassau Hospital, he led a team that transformed the institution into the fastest-growing hospital of its size in New York State.
In 2007, he was named Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer, St. Francis Hospital, The Heart Center—a position that dovetailed with his interest in providing care for people with heart disease and stroke. Boutros practiced internal medicine for 12 years, the last three as a diagnostician, serving physicians and patients by focusing on difficult diagnoses.
After receiving his medical degree from SUNY Health Sciences Center at Brooklyn in 1990 and completing his residency in internal medicine at Winthrop-University Hospital, Boutros’s goal was to become an academician. He received a faculty appointment at Stony Brook Hospital, while concurrently accepting the position of Associate Program Director of Winthrop’s Residency Program. Boutros soon realized that his greatest value and impact would be in healthcare administration. He went on to manage the Winthrop internal medicine residency and training programs for 81 residents—raising the number from 50. He reorganized the program to reflect the need for primary care and ambulatory medicine, and prepared the first house staff manual and residency recruitment material.

“It gives me tremendous pride to see how my former students and residents are doing when I travel around the country,” remarks Boutros, who was responsible for the education and training of over 400 physicians.

Boutros was recruited at age 35 by South Nassau Hospital as its first full-time Medical Director and was later named first Vice President for Medical Affairs. Recognizing the hospital’s loss of market share, he shepherded its re-creation, dubbed the Renaissance Project. “We had to completely change the image of the hospital, its core values, and its business structure,” notes Boutros, who commends “the skills, time, effort and teamwork of the folks I was fortunate to work beside” in achieving reduced bureaucracy, improved quality and profitability. When he interviewed at South Nassau, he says, “the entrance was hidden behind houses.” But during his tenure, “a modern, sleek 180,000-square-foot pavilion, including a 32,000-square-foot Cardiac Center, has become the new face of South Nassau to the surrounding communities.”

Most notably, Boutros partnered with Johns Hopkins School of Medicine to bring to New York its research project called Atlantic C-Port, under which “South Nassau Hospital became the first hospital in the state to perform acute angioplasty without an open heart surgery program,” says Boutros. With his relentless advocacy, the hospital also became the first in New York State to successfully establish an elective angioplasty program without on-site surgery. By convincing the Department of Health that it was time to permit hospitals to do acute and elective angioplasty, and helping develop a roadmap for hospitals, Boutros improved the care delivered to many patients—most significantly, those living in rural upstate communities.
As a member of the Health Organization of New York State’s Quality Council in 2003, Boutros led the charge to get every hospital to adopt the Institute for Health Improvement’s 100,000 Lives initiative to decrease deaths due to hospital mistakes. He and his South Nassau team meaningfully reduced medical errors and helped ensure patient safety. Throughout the country, 150,000 lives were saved that year.

Boutros expanded South Nassau’s graduate residency program in family practice to include surgery, podiatry, psychiatry, pathology, pediatrics and OB/GYN. “The programs allow physicians to share their clinical knowledge with students, while the students challenge and keep them up to date,” says Boutros, adding, “and the community receives the benefit of additional services provided by students and residents.”

At St. Francis Hospital, Boutros aimed “to help St. Francis become the country’s most recognized heart hospital” by partnering with the highest quality physicians, totally engaging staff and providing unparalleled services to patients. He notes that during his two years of service, St. Francis was been named as one of the Best Heart Hospitals in the country by U.S. News and World Report and, among all private sector businesses across the board, it was the only hospital in the state to be chosen by its employees as one of the top 30 companies to work for.
A graduate of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program, Boutros says he worked with top executives from L.L. Bean, Warner Brothers, TIAA-Cref and international companies like Mitsubishi, spending “three months retooling ourselves for the next leadership role.” Boutros served as a lecturer for Adelphi University’s School of Business MBA program and Harvard Business School, and is an advisor to multi-national and Fortune 500 executives. A popular keynote speaker, Boutros is the author of numerous articles on topics such as leadership, employee recognition, forecast modeling in healthcare, and some articles that are a bit unusual, like hardwiring trust into an organization.

Boutros serves on the Regional Policy Board of the American Hospital Association, advocating for the health care system to transform treatment of illness into maintenance of wellness. He is president of the American Heart Association, Long Island chapter, and past board member of Helen Keller Services for the Blind. In 2007, he was certified as a Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE), the premier credential in healthcare management. The recipient of numerous honors, he was named a 2008 Healthcare Hero by Long Island Business News. A St. John’s University graduate with a bachelor’s in biology and chemistry, Boutros was awarded the President’s Medal for Outstanding Achievement. He says, “At St. John’s, I began seeing the joy that comes from serving others.”
A native of Cairo, Egypt, Boutros’s family moved to Queens when he was 13 in large part because of his desire to enter the medical field. Glen Cove
residents, he and his wife Suzanne have three teenage daughters, Jasmine, Shannon and Tess. Boutros is a voracious reader of periodicals, saying they “give not only explanations of what happened in science and medicine, but also ideas on how to move forward.”

FREDERICK BREWINGTON, ESQ.
Law Offices of Frederick K. Brewington
BY MAUREEN TRAXLER

Frederick Brewington’s “intellectual curiosity” about the outcome of his failed 1987 bid for election to the Hempstead Town Board awakened his interest in possible infringement on minority representation and sparked dramatic changes in the systems of government in the Town and Nassau County. After speaking with friends and associates at the Center for Constitutional Rights in Manhattan where he interned during law school, he worked with the Center and its Constitution and civil rights lawyers and “collectively formed a voting rights case using models from the South and applying them to what was going on in New York,” he recalls.
As a result of the successful Goosby v Town of Hempstead case, which Brewington calls “the Mother Voting Rights Case” on Long Island, the Town of Hempstead’s at-large voting system was dismantled. In its place, the Federal Courts created six Councilmanic districts, allowing African-American voters the chance to elect candidates of their choice. Brewington assisted in a subsequent case, NAACP v Nassau County Board of Elections, which stopped the discriminatory purging of African-American voters who were stricken from the voting roles at a rate three times higher than that of whites. The Goosby decision also served as a foundation for Jackson v County of Nassau, which, based on the one person, one vote standard, invalidated the Board of Supervisors and created the County Legislature, allowing the opportunity for persons of color to have representation through new Legislative Districts.
“We tried to correct some of the problems that seemed to be discriminatory in their application,” says Brewington, a respected lawyer, lay preacher and community advocate. He continued his enthusiasm for challenging injustices throughout his distinguished 25-year legal career through litigation, writing, lecturing and efforts to build meaningful relationships among all people.

After working briefly with C. Vernon Mason and operating his own practice in Manhattan, Brewington relocated his offices to Hempstead. He notes that his offices have been cited as the largest African-American owned law firm on Long Island. But, he then qualifies largest by saying, “We have only six lawyers.” The juxtaposition of “his small minority owned practice against the many Long Island law firms with page upon page of lawyers seems to make us all scratch our heads,” he says.

“I often, because of my faith beliefs and involvement in the United Methodist Church, consider the work we do as a staff to be a form of ministry,” remarks Brewington, and he references the words of the prophet Amos, that he seeks to have “justice run down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.” His receipt of the Nassau/Suffolk Law Services Commitment to Justice Award reflects his endeavors—a sustained focus on affordable housing, community revitalization, employment and civil rights, environment, and especially, voting rights and fair presentation in government. ikewise, his commitment to peace and community was recognized by Morehouse College, which awarded him the Gandhi, King, Ikeda Community Builders Award in 2007.

Brewington has published scholarly articles in law reviews, magazines and newspapers, which often address serious issues from an engaging prospective. He discussed Rosa Parks’ contribution in “More than a Bus Seat,” and compared racism and discrimination in America, learned behaviors, ingrained in our culture, to an inane action in “Hopping on One Foot: An Evaluation of Race in America.”

A sought-after and dynamic lecturer, keynote and commencement speaker, conference moderator and panelist, Brewington has engaged audiences at colleges and universities, professional, service and religious organizations, bar associations, community groups, and NAACP and Civil Liberties Union chapters. He has spoken at countless annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. celebrations and Black History Month programs. He has addressed gatherings of adults and young people in multiple settings, including—law schools, the Nassau County Caucus of Black Democrats, League of Women Voters, Interfaith Alliance of Nassau County, Hempstead Boys and Girls Club and Leadership, Education and Athletics in Partnership (LEAP).

Raised in Lakeview, Brewington played varsity football at Malverne High School and graduated, with honors, with a BA in sociology from SUNY Albany, where he continued his interest in football. He was selected as the student commencement speaker at graduation from Northeastern University School of Law in 1982.

Brewington says, “An important component of my giving back to the community is interacting with young people who are going through a process and trying to figure out this whole life thing.” In an extraordinary 26-year-run, Brewington has served as an assistant football coach at Malverne High school—renting trucks and hauling equipment to training camp and routinely supplementing camp fees for team members. As Vice Chair of Lakeview Youth Federation, Brewington works with teen athletes. He says their annual Friendship Games, a winter track meet held on Dr. King’s birthday, brings together over 1200 high school students “to learn the lessons of mutual cooperation and friendly, healthy competition.” He adds, “If you come to the Nassau County College Field House you’ll see a sea of young people grouped together and talking. It’s like an organized beehive.”

Brewington chairs the Board of Directors of ERASE Racism, serves as trustee of the Hempstead United Methodist Church and Adjunct Professor, Fuchsberg Law School, Touro College. He has provided pro bono legal services to the community and not-for-profit organizations. He served as president of the SUNY Albany Alumni Association and is currently a member of the Council of Classes. He was recently appointed by New York Governor David Paterson as a member of the Commission on Judicial Nomination, evaluating candidates for the Court of Appeals, and is expected to play a key role in recommending a replacement for retiring Chief Judge Judith Kaye.

Brewington’s wife, Adrienne, is a former attorney who served as a District Attorney and worked in the Attorney General’s office and in her husband’s practice. She served as pastor of Westbury United Methodist Church, before being elevated to district superintendent, Long Island East Division, New York Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church—“a pastor to the pastors and part of the Bishop’s Cabinet,” adds Brewington. Dog lovers and Freeport residents, the Brewington’s enjoy singing in the Shepherd Singers, a gospel group he helped form while attending the Church of the Good Shepherd United Methodist. A fisherman and outdoor enthusiast, Brewington has an interest in going back to school to study music. He says, “I consider the world an ongoing classroom.”

 

HON. THOMAS GULOTTA
Former Nassau County Executive;
Special Counsel, Albanese andAlbanese LLP; CEO, Executive Strategies
BY MAUREEN TRAXLER

Through 24 years in elected office at the state, town and county levels, Thomas S. Gulotta has become a legendary figure in Nassau County. He launched his distinguished political career when he was elected in 1977 to the New York State Assembly, and went on to serve six years as Presiding Supervisor, Town of Hempstead, the largest township in the nation. His most notable public service was his 14-year tenure as Nassau County Executive. Through policies that targeted crime, unemployment, the environment, housing, healthcare and the creation of vibrant local business districts, he changed the face of Nassau County.

During his administration, “Nassau County became one of the safest communities in which to live,” notes Gulotta. “That’s the glue that keeps it all together.” The County reduced the crime rate to a 26-year low, and through extensive education and police enforcement programs, lowered drunk-driving incidents by almost one-third. Working with local businesses to educate the unemployed and lead them to private sector jobs, his administration cut the welfare rolls by 37%. “Nassau County experienced the lowest unemployment rate in the region, and in some of those years, we had the lowest unemployment in the state, lower than any of the state’s 62 counties.” He also instituted incentives to attract private sector businesses from other regions and around the country to relocate to Nassau County. “We had one prerequisite,” he adds, “that they create jobs for people who reside in Nassau County.”

An innovator and visionary, Gulotta helped develop an extensive environmental program that addressed land preservation, water conservation, air quality and visual pollution. The program resulted in the protection of environmentally sensitive land by setting aside tens of thousands of acres as green space; the establishment of a water purification and water conservation program to reduce water waste and filter water back down to the County’s aquifer system; the creation of the largest natural gas mass transit system east of the Mississippi through a combination of converting buses from diesel to natural gas and purchasing new natural gas buses with federal funds; and a crackdown on litter and other visually polluting elements, making the County a more pleasant place for residents and visitors. Many of the program’s elements were “firsts” in the region and served as models for other municipalities.

In addition to expanded healthcare services, Gulotta is most proud of his administration’s creation of a no cost, breast and prostate cancer-screening program that educated people to the benefits of early detection and eliminated the economic barrier. With state funding, he added several mobile breast cancer-screening units. Gulotta’s housing initiative made vacant, non-environmentally sensitive County land available to developers at minimal cost for the construction of affordable housing. This effort made it possible for senior citizens to downsize and save some of their investment, while young people were given the opportunity to stay on Long Island.
The keystone of Gulotta’s public service accomplishments was his philosophy of inclusion. He credits “the many individuals, community, charitable and civic organizations who participated in the policy and decision-making process of government” for the achievements of his administration. “Government is not here to decide for people what they should do; it’s here to represent the interests of the people.”

The County’s successful Operation Downtown, which created cohesive downtown business districts, is directly attributable to Gulotta’s partnering with local community groups. Suggestions from residents like façade changes, the addition of benches for shoppers, brick paver sidewalks, and old-fashioned lighting were welcomed by government. “Shoppers were encouraged to shop locally and businesses prospered,” says Gulotta. “The downtown business districts became a mirror reflection of what the residents wanted.”

Under his leadership, these and many other initiatives were achieved while streamlining County government. These efforts won praise from the National Association of Counties for reducing the size of government by the largest percentage of any county in the country.

Recognizing the value of all-volunteer community, civic and charitable organizations, Gulotta frequently highlighted their good works. “By fulfilling their goals and objectives, they not only adequately meet people’s needs, but also save the taxpayers’ money,” he notes. Relentlessly pursuing interaction with citizens, Gulotta maintained a strenuous schedule of public appearances and meetings with community-based organizations and encouraged residents to share their ideas.

“Many of the programs we implemented were originally proposed by citizens,” Gulotta says. A suggestion made by his wife Betsy, a Nassau Community College biology professor and Conservation Project Manager for the Friends of the Hempstead Plains, brought about the County’s sump conversion program—turning many of the unsightly sumps that dot the County into nature sanctuaries and athletic fields, without disrupting their function.

“What motivated me in public service,” remarks Gulotta, “was that I loved the work and the feeling of satisfaction derived from helping people. It was our goal to treat each resident with the dignity and respect that he or she deserves. We handled each person’s issue as though it was the most important issue facing us because to that person, it was.”

He brings that same motivation to his law firm, Albanese and Albanese where he serves as Special Counsel and as CEO of his consulting firm, Executive Strategies, which he started when he left public office. Using his knowledge and skills, he brings development projects from inception to ribbon-cutting by overcoming permitting and other hurdles; breaks through government bureaucracy to achieve solutions; builds corporate clientele; and uses his own database to match one company’s resources with the needs of other corporations and individuals. “Every project is a little bit different,” he adds.

Gulotta’s personal involvement with scores of community organizations has continued. He currently serves on the Boards of the Association for the Help of Retarded Children, the Order Sons of Italy in America and the Stephanie Joyce Kahn Foundation for the Blind, as well as, serving as a member of countless other charitable organizations. He has received awards and honors from over 235 organizations for his wide-ranging efforts, including the Ellis Island Congressional Medal of Honor, Pope John XXIII Humanitarian Award and Israel Peace Award.

Merrick residents, he and Betsy have two grown children, Chris and Elizabeth. A graduate of Trinity College and Columbia School of Law, Gulotta enjoys horseback riding, boating, fishing, gardening, and spending time with his golden retriever, Yogi.

ROBERT ISAKSEN
President, Long Island Market, Bank of America
BY MAUREEN TRAXLER

As Long Island Market President, Robert Isaksen brings to Bank of America his 25 years of experience in the financial industry and his sincere interest in community service. As coordinator of the Bank’s activities in the region, he draws on his solid understanding of the region’s strengths and needs to ensure that the market is served well and that all resources of the Bank are focused appropriately.
In addition, Isaksen serves as senior manager of the Bank’s Healthcare and Institutions group for the Northeast markets—from Pennsylvania to Maine. This position extends the experience he gained serving healthcare providers and nonprofits in New Jersey, metropolitan New York, and the northern suburbs during his prior tenure at Fleet Bank. Today, he oversees the financial needs of more than 1,200 premier acute and long-term care facilities, social service organizations, cultural and higher educational institutions.
Following his graduation from State University of New York at Oneonta with a BA in Business Economics, Isaksen began his career with Metropolitan Life Insurance Company before joining NatWest USA. After completing its training program in 1985, he was appointed Relationship Manager in the Leasing and Finance Company Specialty Lending group, and continued his education at Pace University’s Lubin Graduate School of Business, receiving an MBA in Finance. From 1993-96, Isaksen served as Senior Credit Officer for the National and Structured Finance Divisions. NatWest’s National Division focus included its for-profit national healthcare specialty. He moved to Fleet Bank following its acquisition of NatWest, and expanded his service to the healthcare and nonprofit sector in metro New York, the northern suburbs and Long Island.
The business, civic and philanthropic leadership he demonstrated throughout his career made Isaksen an outstanding partner and advocate for Long Island communities. He says, “A large part of my role as Long Island Market President has to do with community involvement and managing the Bank of America Foundation.”
While the Foundation wasn’t active on Long Island until the merger with Fleet Bank, Isaksen says, “Bank of America has one of the top ten corporate foundations in the country.” In the last four years, Bank of America has supported a host of nonprofit organizations on Long Island from health and human services to museums.

“Having grown up on Long Island and lived most of my adult life here, I have a pretty good sense for the Island and its needs,” adds Isaksen. “Bank of America looks to ensure the economic, social and health fabric of the communities we served. To be able to grant funds to organizations that fill those needs is a very satisfying part of the role I play as Market President.”

The Bank of America Foundation annually presents two organizations with its Neighborhood Builders’ Award. The recipients participate in the Bank’s Neighborhood Excellence program and receive a $200,000 grant to further their mission. He cites several Neighborhood Builders as Long Island Cares, Family and Children’s Association, EAC and Island Harvest. In addition, the Foundation names five Local Heroes—individuals who work with nonprofit groups or otherwise serve their communities in an outstanding way. These “heroes” are given a $5,000 grant that they can distribute to a nonprofit of their choice. And thirdly, the Foundation chooses five high school students who participate in a leadership training program and are given a stipend to work with a nonprofit organization of their choice during the summer between their graduation and entrance to college or other institution of higher learning.

Nominees for these awards go through a competitive process, and Isaksen explains that the Foundation reaches out to community leaders to participate in a panel of judges who make the selections. Notable judges have included Adelphi University President Dr. Robert Scott, St. Joseph’s College President Sister Elizabeth Hill, Suffolk County Community College President Dr. Shirley Pippins, Long Island Association President Matt Crosson, and Long Island Business News Publisher John Kominicki.

Last year, the Bank established the Elena Perez Memorial Award. “Elena was instrumental in kicking off the Neighborhood Builders program,” says Isaksen, adding that she was “a long-time employee of the Bank and a special person on Long Island.” The inaugural grant award of $25,000 was given to Pronto, a nonprofit serving the communities of Brentwood, Central Islip and Bay Shore. “Elena helped Pronto get off the ground, not only through funding, but also managerial direction and assistance to the Executive Director,” notes Isaksen.

Isaksen serves on several community organization boards, and says, “Each is unique and fulfilling in its own way.” A former trustee of St. Joseph’s College, he has been a longtime member of the Association for the Help of Retarded Children Foundation and a past AHRC honoree. On the Long Island Association Board he sees his opportunity to shape LIA’s business and economic program. He serves as a board member for United Way and the Long Island Philharmonic, and serves on the Corporate Advisory Board of the Cold Spring Harbor Lab, with a particular interest in the DNA Learning Center, which encourages interest in science education among children of all ages. He says, “The fundraising work of this board supports outreach to the more challenged economic areas on Long Island so that their children have the same opportunities. You never know, a child who walks through the door might be the next scientist to discover some important advance in medicine or science.” It’s also a source of community pride to serve as a board member of Mather Hospital, his local hospital. Isaksen adds, “Running a community hospital is a 24/7 business, providing a necessary service for which not all are able to afford to pay. It is a difficult task in a challenging environment. Serving on the Mather board allows me to see how well it can be done.”

Isaksen was raised in Setauket, and recalls, “It was a very different place then, and I remember riding my bike to visit friends and going through farm fields and corn fields, trying to avoid the farmer.” After marrying Suzanne, a physical therapist and native of Connecticut, the couple searched from the Delaware Water Gap to New Haven looking for a place to call home before settling back in Setauket, which he calls “a special place.” The couple has twin sons, Erik and Kristofer, sophomores in college, and a daughter Lyndsay, a sophomore at Ward Melville High School. He enjoys snow skiing, golfing with his wife, sons and daughter, and vacationing with the family.

DR. W. HUBERT KEEN
President, Farmingdale State College
BY MAUREEN TRAXLER

Dr. W. Hubert Keen’s credentials make him well qualified to lead Farmingdale State College to become an outstanding regional institution. He brings to the Office of President his lifelong interests in ecology and sciences, his administrative, teaching and research background, and his five years as Special Assistant to the Provost in the State University of New York system. “Of all the SUNY facilities,” says Keen, “I thought that Farmingdale State had one of the most interesting situations with respect to its potential for development because of its academic programs, its location, and its connection with business and industry on Long Island.”

Beginning his career in 1976 as an assistant professor of biological sciences at SUNY Cortland, Keen went on to serve as Dean of Arts and Sciences. He served as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at City University’s York College for four years, and his duties at SUNY included Interim President of SUNY College at Old Westbury, collaboration with the state’s K-12 schools, and development of the SUNY Urban Teacher Education Center in New York City. In 2005, he joined Farmingdale State as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs.

Keen is overseeing a renaissance of this one-time school of agriculture founded in 1912. Farmingdale State initiated its first bachelor degree program in 1986, and received its formal designation from SUNY as a four-year college in 1993. In addition to expanding its bachelor’s degrees, a few associate degrees—especially the long-standing Nursing and Dental Hygiene—will continue to be offered, Keen says, because of “their great service to the Long Island community.”

The campus is also engaged in its largest construction-renovation effort, including modernization of classrooms, labs and facilities, and the addition of a new child care center and residence hall. The College will break ground next year on a new Student Center, followed by a new School of Business. Tying into the College’s “green” campaign, architects are designing the new construction to Silver LEED rating standards, and with the help of the Long Island Power Authority, the new structures will include additional energy efficiencies. The College proudly opened a new state-of-the art baseball stadium in the spring of 2007, and a new soccer/lacrosse field and renovated tennis facilities were completed recently. “The campus has tremendous natural potential, and we want to make it more attractive,” remarks Keen, adding, “As realtors would say… to give it curb appeal.”

With 90% of its 6,800 students living at home or already established in their work life on Long Island, Keen likes to say the College’s students are “embedded in the community.” Because of its local enrollment and the fact that it’s the largest college of applied science and technology in the SUNY system, Farmingdale plays a critical role in the Long Island economy through its education of the regional workforce and its many internships and partnerships with business, industry, service organizations and higher education institutions.
Farmingdale State has a long history of research collaborations with business and industry—from agriculture to aerospace, electronics and technology. The transition to a four-year college has enabled Farmingdale to hire faculty with advanced degrees, expanding its research capabilities. “A primary goal is to involve students in research,” says Keen, who as a professor at Cortland, conducted 25 undergraduate research projects and four Masters level projects with students.

In the area of biotechnology and bioscience, Farmingdale received its first National Institutes of Health grant to study human immune-system cells. This three-year grant will benefit students and staff in bioscience and health science programs, and articulate with the Island’s growing biotechnology industry. The College’s Broad Hollow Bioscience Park on campus is home to OSI Pharmaceutical’s research facility and some start-up biotech companies. “This important partnership allows faculty to share equipment and collaborate with industry scientists,” notes Keen, “and students work at some of the labs.”

“Farmingdale has been very successful in alternative energies,” remarks Keen. Last year, the College received two patents for research in hydrogen fuel cell technology. And Keen says, “The going green movement is a natural for Farmingdale State.” He adds that he “got hooked on the natural environment as an undergraduate majoring in biology at Pikeville College in Kentucky.” Keen, who grew up in the coal fields of western Virginia, recalls conducting summer field research in the southern Appalachian Mountains. He holds a Masters in physiology and ecology from Eastern Kentucky University and a Ph.D. in ecology from Kent State University.
Farmingdale State’s Solar Energy Center’s utility-scale photovoltaic demonstration project was the first in the Northeast, and its Institute for Research and Technology Transfer is building a small-scale hydrogen-solar powered model home. Keen says, “The College is closely attuned to educating students on the highest standards of green building design and construction.” Farmingdale State is a partner in the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center at Stony Brook University and Brookhaven National Laboratory, developing renewable, portable energy sources for use at disaster sites and military environments. Keen serves on the Center’s Board of Directors.

The Farmingdale campus went “green” more than a decade ago, and its solar panels produce 3% of the college’s electricity. It has the largest fleet of all-electric or flex-fuel vehicles of any college in the region. Keen notes that the College plans to build a solar energy power plant on campus, consisting of a large, ground-mounted photovoltaic array, and install a 300kW hydrogen fuel cell, which together could more than triple the campus’s energy production.
Keen works actively with the health industry, hospitals and health institutions, businesses and corporations. He serves on the Board of Directors of Action Long Island, focusing on its health care task force and Kids in Action program. Keen serves on the Board of the Route 110 Redevelopment Corporation, and is a member of the Nature Conservancy and several professional organizations. He’s an advocate of greater access to higher education among underserved populations. Keen’s teaching and research spans ecology, environmental science, aquatic biology and biostatistics. He was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship; Fellowships from the U.S. Public Health Service and German Academic Exchange Service; and has authored several short biographies of prominent figures in science, technology and education, and articles on topics in higher education. Keen and his wife Sally live on campus with their son Christopher, a Suffolk County Community College student.

ROBERT PASCUCCI
President, Jobco Incorporated
BY MAUREEN TRAXLER

A Professional Engineer, Attorney and Licensed Real Estate Broker, Robert M. Pascucci, president of Jobco, Incorporated, has been the driving force behind the company’s significant expansion and growth into one of the leading construction, development and real estate management firms in the Northeast. Jobco’s expertise includes the construction of schools, churches, commercial buildings, medical and hospital facilities, and single and multi-family housing units.

Pascucci notes that in addition to working as a private developer, Jobco has worked on federal, state and local government-assisted housing projects. Through the New York City Housing Partnership, Jobco constructed first-time home buyer, one-, two- and three-family developments in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens. Jobco has constructed HUD projects and completed projects for New York State’s low-income housing program.

“Jobco assisted the City of Yonkers in establishing a nonprofit organization, the Yonkers Housing Development Fund Company, which we modeled on the New York City Housing Partnership,” says Pascucci. Working with the Fund in a public-private venture relationship, Jobco is constructing 62 median income, two-family homes. With the Glen Cove Housing Authority, Jobco looks forward to partnering on a unique 60-unit project, which will combine market rate housing, first-time home buyer housing and below-median income for sale housing. “We’re at the stage where we are gathering the funding to make it happen.”

“There’s nothing like the joy a family gets when they move into home ownership for the first time,” says Pascucci. “It shapes their lives.” Jobco takes pride in having constructed or renovated over 10,000 units of housing in the New York tri-state area.

Noting that senior citizens are the fastest growing demographic in the Northeast, Pascucci says Jobco built one of the first Golden Age senior citizen condominiums in the Town of North Hempstead—Port Harbor—in the mid 1980s, and more recently, the 250-unit Mill Pond Acres Community in Port Washington. In addition, Jobco constructed Woodbury Meadows with the Town of Oyster Bay, and senior condos in northern New Jersey and Westchester.

With a desire to follow in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps as a builder, Pascucci attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute, earning a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering. He joined the well-known builder, HRH Construction, working on a project in the Bronx and learning the industry “from the ground up.” At the time, his boss’s frustration with his lawyers’ lack of engineering and construction knowledge nurtured a seed in Pascucci, who then applied for and was accepted to St. John’s School of Law, where he attended classes at night.

“I’m probably one of a few people who went to law school thinking he might be a construction lawyer,” Pascucci remarks. During law school, he worked for the Glen Cove Community Development Agency, before joining the prestigious law firm of Max E. Greenberg, Cantor & Reiss. Six months into the profession, Pascucci was approached by Mike Puntillo, founder of Jobco, whom he had met while working at the Community Development Agency. Puntillo offered him a job in construction; he hesitated, but six months later, joined the Jobco firm.

Twenty-eight years later, Pascucci oversees all aspects of construction, development and residential property management operations; employees 20 people in the home office in Great Neck, and another 20 on-site employees. “It’s very much like family,” says Pascucci, who has had employees on the job for 20, 25 and 30 years, not losing a day of work before retiring. Under his management, Jobco has twice expanded its office space.
“I’ve had a good career, and enjoyed its progression,” remarks Pascucci, a man of many interests. “I have two ideals,” he continues, “supporting the communities in which I live and work, and giving special attention to the needs of children.”

During his early career in the Bronx, Pascucci became a member of the board of directors of the Bronx Boys and Girls Club, a division of the Madison Square Boys and Girls Club in Manhattan. “I saw the positive impact that the club had on children from inner City neighborhoods, and the respect they gained for themselves and others.” Today, he is an active member of the Glen Cove Boys and Girls Club Board of Managers, serving as vice president. He also sits on the Facilities Committee, which is engaged in a building improvements campaign. In 2007, he offered his home as the setting for the Club’s annual dinner, hosting a couple of hundred attendees.

When he was asked to join the AHRC Foundation board, he declares, “There was no way I could say no.” Pascucci knows first-hand of this nonprofit’s services, as his sister, who is developmentally disabled, lives in an AHRC group home in Glen Cove. He was also the 2006 Foundation Rose Ball Leadership Award recipient, sharing the evening’s honors with the Humanitarian Award recipient, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Pascucci is an active member of the World Presidents Organization (WPO). He had originally joined the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), a peer group founded for individuals who had become presidents of their companies before the age of 40 (those companies are also required to have a certain sales volume and number of employees). After 50, members “graduate” to the WPO. A current member of the Metro New York chapter, Pascucci has continued to participate with his family in week-long international events with featured guest lectures. “It’s been wonderful,” he says. “My children have traveled the four corners of the world, learning about the cultures of the host cities.” Pascucci is affiliated with the American Bar Association, National Society of Professional Engineers, American Society of Civil Engineers, and served for eight years as a trustee of the Green Vale School, where his sons attended.

Pascucci and his wife Lisa Puntillo live in Glen Cove with their sons Rob, a student at Ithaca College, and Will, a student at Portledge School. Lisa has an MBA in finance from New York University and works as a financial advisor to high net-worth individuals. Pascucci is the father of Matthew of Glen Cove, and Brian of Virginia, who with his wife Jennifer brought him his first grandchild, Liam. A self-proclaimed “lousy golfer and good skier,” he decided at age 40 to learn how to ice skate and play hockey, and took up riding a motorcycle. He says he soon quit the motorcycle, but continued skating and hockey for 15 years before “hanging up my skates.”

DR. YACOV SHAMASH
Vice President for Economic Development;
Dean, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Stony Brook University
BY MAUREEN TRAXLER

Since coming to Stony Brook University in 1992, Dr. Yacov Shamash has played a major role in transforming business and industry and building the local economy by taking the lead in establishing Long Island as a national center for the convergence of technologies. His influence has secured lasting relationships among business, industry and academia.

As Director of the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Washington State University in 1989, Shamash was instrumental in creating the Center for Design of Analog-Digital Integrated Circuits (CDADIC), as part of the National Science Foundation’s (NFS) Industry-University Cooperative Research Center program. CDADIC brought together 15 companies and two universities supported by federal funding. “Government can act as a catalyst, and its funding is critical,” says Shamash. “It helps companies to see the benefit of working with academia.”
“In my mind,” Shamash continues, “the Center solidified the importance of university-industry collaborations.” Under his leadership, Stony Brook became the fourth university to join the CDADIC. Using the same model Shamash formulated at Washington State, Stony Brook now has two NSF centers: the Center for Cyber Security in the Computer Science Department and a recently established center focusing on biofuels.

“We are seeing many more multi-disciplinary, multi-faculty, multi-university collaborations with business and industry,” notes Shamash. “That’s the way to go.” He adds that the collaborations often provide a “boost” when proposals for funding are submitted to NSF, the National Institutes of Health or the Defense Department.
In 1994, Shamash and Stony Brook University jointly developed the Strategic Partnership for Industrial Resurgence (SPIR) with SUNY’s Buffalo and Binghamton Universities, sharing resources to assist industry around the state to compete more effectively. “With defense diversification and the downsizing of Grumman, SPIR enabled Stony Brook to help companies develop new products and modify their technology,” notes Shamash. Over the years, SPIR has worked with nearly 400 companies on over 2,000 projects, creating or retaining well over 11,000 jobs.

In his capacity as Stony Brook’s Vice President for Economic Development since 2000, Shamash supervises the University’s three incubators, which house 30 to 40 tenant companies—the Long Island High Technology Incubator, established in 1990 and focusing on biotechnology; the Stony Brook Software Incubator, established in 1998, with the support of Computer Associates, and the more recent Calverton Business Incubator, which focuses on environment, energy, sustainability, agriculture and aquaculture.

In 2003, Shamash worked with then Governor George Pataki and New York industry to obtain Stony Brook’s designation as a Center for Excellence, one of only five in the State. The Center of Excellence In Wireless Internet and Information Technology (CEWIT) conducts first-class interdisciplinary research in the emerging, critical technologies of the Information Age.

Shamash is co-vice chair of the Advisory Board of Stony Brook’s Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center (AERTC), a partnership with National Grid USA. The AERTC building is designed to achieve the U.S. Green Building Council’s Platinum LEED rating. Along with CEWIT, AERTC will anchor Stony Brook’s Research and Development Park, which Shamash calls “an incredible shot-in-the-arm in supporting economic development on Long Island.”

“AERTC consists of a slew of centers within the Energy Center,” says Shamash, “focusing on photovoltaics and battery cells, collaborating with Brookhaven Labs and Farmingdale State College faculty on biofuels and hydrogen cells, and engaging in major activities in computational modeling and simulation of energy systems.” He adds, “On Long Island, we have huge energy related activities, including small companies working on minimizing the power consumption in data centers,” which use 6% of the country’s electricity for power, heating and cooling.

In the aftermath of 9/11, Shamash was appointed chair of a SUNY systemwide Homeland Defense Infrastructure Task Force. The task force raised the visibility of various special training programs for emergency responders at the system’s Community Colleges and activities in the areas of health and disease taking place primarily at the Stony Brook, Buffalo and Downstate Medical campuses. At Stony Brook, electrical engineering projects resulted in the areas of infrastructure sensor systems and the detection of radioactive materials.

As Dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Shamash oversees the Engineering 2010 initiative to grow the College’s research program and building the quality of students. The College has a proposal in Albany to create a civil engineering program, the “first” on Long Island. The College is the recipient of an NSF Alliance for Minority Participation Award, a multi-million-dollar program comprised of 18 universities and colleges across the state, many on Long Island, and designed to bring minority students into science and engineering.

“I am most proud that Stony Brook has worked well with people in academia and industry on a number of joint programs,” says Shamash. “We play the role of a regional, national and international academic institution. That’s how you build a great university.”
Shamash is a resource for the receipt of grant funding, has authored more than 130 publications, and serves as a member of the University President’s “Kitchen Cabinet.” A highly respected engineer, he is a Fellow of the IEEE, the organization that developed the 802.11 standards for wireless LAN computer communications. He is a founding member of LISTnet, and served on the Boards of the Hauppauge Industrial Association, LIFT, and several science and technology companies. He currently serves on the boards of United Way of Long Island, the Blood Drive of Long Island and the Ward Melville Heritage Organization in his home community of Stony Brook.

Born in Iraq and schooled in England, Shamash received his undergraduate degree and Ph.D. in Engineering at the Imperial College of Science and Technology in London. An avid reader, he was a post-doctoral Fellow and then a senior lecturer at Tel Aviv University before coming to the United States in 1976 as a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania. As a faculty member at Florida Atlantic University in the early 1980s, he began building business-university relationships. He and his wife Linda, an Iranian native, have been married for 32 years, and have a son Aharon and daughter Hela.

HON. ROGER TILLES
Member, New York State Board of Regents
BY MAUREEN TRAXLER

Music and education interests have long laced the life of Roger Tilles, and surely added to the warm reception to his appointment in 2005 as a member of the New York State Board of Regents from the 10th Judicial District, Nassau and Suffolk counties. “Luckily,” he says, “the appointment coincided with the selling of the Tilles family business properties,” which gave him time to devote his energies to fostering arts education through support for the arts and integration of the arts into course studies.

As Tilles explains, the Board of Regents is the widest-ranging education institution in the country, approving all programs for Pre K-12 education and higher education, granting charters to all museums, libraries and public television stations, and licensing every profession in the state, except lawyers. He welcomes the input he receives while visiting schools and the chance to use resources from one arm of the education system to serve the needs of another.
“When I wasn’t in the vocation of education, I was always in avocation of education,” says Tilles. “Being a Regent is an incredibly fulfilling job. You can make a huge difference.”

Tilles’s love of music began in the Great Neck public schools with an enthusiastic music teacher, who was also the teacher of his brother and sister. “We were not a particularly musical family, but Dr. Pinter brought music into our lives,” says Tilles. At Great Neck North High School, he joined the Glee Club and formed a barbershop quartet, singing “all around the Island.” With Amherst roommate David Eisenhower, he says, “We sang our way through college.” Tilles helped start the Smith-Amherst Choral, and at University of Michigan School of Law, he sang with the Ann Arbor Chamber Singers. While earning his B.A. in American Studies and a minor in music, he pursued a New York City teaching certification at Long Island University’s C.W. Post campus, an experience that helped foster his lifelong interest in education issues.

Following his acceptance into the Bar, Tilles was appointed director of law and legislation for the Michigan Department of Education, taught education law courses at several universities in Michigan, was elected to the State Board of Education, and served as Executive Secretary to the Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives. After an unsuccessful run for Congress, he helped manage a winning campaign for Senator Carl Levin, and moved to Washington, D.C. Tilles opened his own law practice, mostly lobbying for education groups, and was a member of the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee. But he found this work ultimately “unfulfilling,” and in 1983, headed back to Long Island and the family business. For the next 20 years, he worked on negotiations, legal matters, civic relations, and the family foundation, and is now a director of Tilles Investment Companies.

Tilles real estate development, started by Tilles’ grandfather Eli, was kick-started on Long Island in the 1960s, when his father Gilbert recognized the value of family property along Hempstead Turnpike and developed a shopping center…the first local shopping area in the new Levittown community. Later, he sold these and other centers to concentrate on development in Woodbury at Crossways Park, Jericho Turnpike and Route 135, which became a focal point for large corporations and a hub of employment.

Shortly after Tilles’s return, the family decided to pursue music and the arts as a way of giving back to the communities that had supported their business. Through family friend, former Chief Judge Sol Wachtler who was nominating committee chair of the Board of Trustees, Long Island University, Gilbert Tilles joined the board in 1984. Roger followed a few years later, and was elected chair in 1998. The family became sustaining supporters of the arts and generous donors to the Rose and Gilbert Tilles Center for the Performing Arts at the C.W. Post campus.

Tilles always believed that people with seemingly competing interests could be more effective if they got together on common goals. Following this objective, he founded and served as chair of the Association for a Better Long Island. He served on the Executive Board of the Long Island Association, and the boards of WNET/Channel 13 and WLIW/Channel 21. He was a member and chair of the Long Island Regional Planning Board, and served as Executive Vice Chairman of the Tilles Center. “What I like to do the most is to bring people’s self-interests together,” says Tilles. “I’m not necessarily a technician, I’m an expeditor.”

Several years ago, Tilles initiated the forming of the Long Island Arts Alliance. LIAA has partnered with Newsday and Roslyn Savings Bank to start the Scholar-Artist Spotlight program and the Scholar-Artist Awards, which honored 20 high school artists at its inaugural ceremony in spring 2008. Tilles notes that an arts fund has been established with the Long Island Community Foundation to benefit collaborative projects within the arts community.

A member and past president of Temple Beth-El of Great Neck, board member of The Jewish Outreach Institute, and recognized religious leader, Tilles joined with Msgr. Tom Hartman in 1987 to form Project Understanding. The interfaith group selects about a dozen high school students each year, and after working on social action projects, they travel together to Israel. He notes, “The experience has profoundly affected the lives of scores of Jewish and Catholic teens.”

“I’ve been very blessed,” adds Tilles. Admittedly “a political junkie,” he reflects on having worked with politicians from both sides of the aisle—hosting fundraisers and advising political leaders at all levels. As a guest conductor at the Long Island Philharmonic, he studied the score and impressed the orchestra, as they naturally followed his lead. He organized and co-produced (with Pope John Paul II) the first Vatican commemoration of the Holocaust.

Tilles lives in Great Neck with his wife Jerry, who while raising a family and pursuing her career, attended C.W. Post, graduating Class salutatorian and receiving her degree in Philosophy. The Tilleses have teenage daughters, Eliana and Hanaleah. The family has a dog and, Tilles says, “a pig that lives in our livingroom; he’s the only pig in Great Neck, I’m sure.” (Pig acquired when Eliana had a veterinary interest). Tilles likes golfing, spending time at their Berkshire, MA, home, walking in the woods and going to cultural events.