March 2010 News Makers

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James Connors, P.E.; James A. Rymph, RLA, LEED^® AP; Roger Keating, P.E., LEED^® AP; and William (Bill) Reim, P.E., LEEP^® AP have become associates with the Chazen  Companies.

“Collectively, these four gentlemen have more than 40 years of experience with us,” said the firm’s President Mark Kastner, P.E. “They’ve proven themselves to be leaders within their fields of expertise, and will play integral roles in the future success of our company.”

The four have a variety of experience within the company. Connors joined the firm in 2003 and currently leads a multi-disciplinary group of staff in the Land Development Group as Senior Director. Rymph oversees projects and staff as Director of Landscape Architectural Services. He has been with the firm since 2004. Keating joined Chazen in 1999 as a staff engineer and has risen to Director of Engineering Services, managing civil engineers within the company’s Troy office.  Reim is the longest-tenured of the new Associates, with more than 16 years of service at Chazen. He has worked on a number of projects in these years as Director of Specialty Engineering Services in the Poughkeepsie office.

 

 Aaron Bennett has been hired by Catskill Mountainkeeper as its Regional Director for Greene, Ulster, and Delaware counties. Bennett, a life long resident of the area, was previously employed by The Catskill Center for Conservation and Development for more than 11 years, most recently as the Director of Programming, where he oversaw their education and natural resource programs. He brings extensive knowledge of the issues facing the northeastern Catskills, the "high peaks" region, the Catskill Park and Forest Preserve, and the NYC Watershed to Mountainkeeper. Bennett will augment the work that Catskill Mountainkeeper is doing regarding the challenges of the proposed Belleayre Resort at Catskill Park development, sustainable energy projects, ridge-top development, land preservation, the revival of our town centers, advancement of recreation opportunities and other important issues.

"What I respect so much about Catskill Mountainkeeper is that they are honest brokers. While their primary goals are to protect the resources and wellbeing of the region as well as pursue much needed sustainable growth, they have the integrity and courage to acknowledge both the pros and cons of complicated and difficult issues and work toward realistic and satisfactory resolutions. They are beholden to no one, do not follow any other organization's agenda and are dedicated solely to what's in the best interest of the region," Bennett said.

Ramsay Adams, Executive Director of Catskill Mountainkeeper, is excited about Aaron's ability to contribute to Mountainkeeper's mission, "Aaron is the right person at the right time. He brings over a decade of community activism, extensive knowledge of the issues in the region and achievement to us. He is a great fit for Mountainkeeper."

 

Robin Vaccai Yess, a Certified Financial Planner™ and Certified Divorce Financial Analyst,  has opened Hudson Valley Divorce, LLC, a financial consulting firm specializing in separation and divorce. Yess has worked with divorcing individuals and couples for the last ten years. She helps to sort out the marital finances and come up with various scenarios of equitable settlements.

“I frequently get calls from a husband or wife who wants to know what it means financially if they get divorced even though nothing is happening yet,” Yess said.

Hudson Valley Divorce, LLC clients include individuals using litigation and couples using mediation or collaborative separation and divorce. The firm provides litigation support for attorneys with Yess sometimes serving as an expert witness where she presents summaries of the proposed financial settlement to help strengthen the attorney’s case. In mediation and collaborative divorce, Yess provides analyses showing the tax impact of various settlement options and the post-divorce net worth of both spouses, which usually helps the parties to reach a settlement agreement. In mediations where the process has stalled, Yess has helped move discussions forward.

Yess, who is trained in mediation and collaborative divorce, prefers both of these methods to litigation because they typically cost the clients less, but she works on all three types of cases depending on client need and preference. Seventy-five percent of Yess’ clients are women with an average length of marriage of approximately eighteen years. The firm’s clients are generally from Ulster, Dutchess and Orange counties. For more information, visit hvdivorce.com.

 

Sherry Saturno, DCSW, Director of Social Services at Sprain Brook Manor in Scarsdale, has been named the Social Worker of the Year by the National Association of Social Workers of NY, Westchester Division. Saturno, a diplomate in clinical social work, will receive the award on March 25th at the Davenport Country Club in New Rochelle. She is also being featured in the NASW national marketing campaign celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Academy of Certified Social Workers. She has Master's degrees from Columbia and Long Island Universities, and is on the Board of Directors of Columbia University School of Social Work Alumni Association and Careers for People with Disabilities, Inc. She has been published in Social Work Today and New Social Worker magazines, as well as Columbia University's Spectrum newsmagazine

 

David Calo, CPA, an accounting, audit and tax professional, has joined Goldstein, Lieberman & Company.

Most recently a senior manager at Weiser, LLP , headquartered in New York City, Calo brings to his position over twenty five years experience in public accounting.  His expertise extends to a variety of industries including manufacturing, wholesale, retail distribution, heavy equipment dealers such as Komatsu and CAT, trucking companies and lighting distribution companies. He also excels in the array of technological skills required for research, accounting applications and presentation purposes.

“Our growing client roster is diverse and Mr. Calo brings the range of skills required to fulfill an assortment of accounting and business advisory needs,” Goldstein remarked.

 

Sandy Cotthaus,  Broker/Owner of ERA 1^st Independent Realty has recently obtained the prestigeous designation of “Accredited REO Agent. Sandy specializes in foreclosure properties and has been since the mid 1990’s. REO stands for Real Estate Owned properties. This is a challenging and demanding aspect of the real estate industry and Sandy and her REO Team are up to the challenge.

 

Kevin Nelson, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Hudson Health Plan, has been elected to a three-year term as President of the Association of Yale Alumni in Public Health (AYAPH). He is also a member of the Board of Governors of the Association of Yale Alumni, an umbrella organization for all Yale University alumni organizations and programs, including Yale College and the university’s graduate and professional schools.

Nelson has been active in Yale alumni affairs since he earned a Master in Public Health from the Yale University School of Medicine in 1992. In 1999, he became the youngest person to join the school’s Alumni Board. Prior to assuming the presidency, he served as vice president of AYAPH, and helped establish the school’s first endowed scholarship fund for students of color.

He’s already begun work on one of his first priorities as president: to revitalize and restructure the Board. “I want to link board members to specific roles that will allow them to exercise their passions,” Nelson says. “When people are involved in things they truly care about, they do their best work and are willing to go that extra mile to get things done.” Once the restructuring is complete, Nelson plans on developing a strategic plan for AYAPH, beginning with a mission statement.

In addition, he’s eager to involve recent graduates and current students in association events and initiatives. At his first Board meeting eleven years ago. Nelson quickly realized he was the youngest person in the room.

“I immediately thought I had nothing in common with the other Board members, who where all at least 20 years older than I was,” he says. “But, after a meeting or two, I discovered how happy they were to have me on board, and I was just as happy to be there. The more alumni we can engage, the stronger, broader and more diversified our organization will become, making us better able to identify the critical issues we need to address.”

At Hudson Health Plan, Nelson is responsible for Hudson’s overall operation. He has prioritized creating a rewarding, meaningful, and productive environment for all employees, while working toward the company’s ideal of universal health coverage.

In addition to his MPH degree, Nelson, 48, received a B.A. in Health Care Administration from the University of Pittsburgh. A resident of Yorktown Heights, New York, he is a member of the American Public Health Association, the National Association of Health Care Executives, the American College of Healthcare Executives, and the Health Care Compliance Association. He serves on the Board of Directors of Open Door Family Medical Centers, a Federally-Qualified Community Health Center; the African-American Parents Advisory Council for the Spence-Chapin Services, an adoption agency in New York; and the Camp Combe YMCA. In addition, he volunteers with Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America, and the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship for Children. In June 2000, Nelson received the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) Young Healthcare Executive Award for Eastern New York State, which recognizes its affiliates who have contributed significantly toward the advancement of health care management.

 

HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley celebrated their one year anniversary at Wiltwyck Golf Club in Kingston on March 11^th. It has been one year since HealthAlliance became the active parent of Benedictine, Kingston and Margaretville Hospitals, Mountainside Residential Care Center and Woodland Pond at New Paltz. Joining the festivities were many local community leaders and government officials such as Kevin Cahill, Michael Hein, Dr. LaMar Hasbrouck and Elliot Auerbach to name a few.

In the last 12 months, HealthAlliance has simultaneously worked on 15 construction projects costing approximately $24 million dollars. Some projects include aligning the departments of Physical Rehabilitation, Detox, Sleep Center, Maternity and Wound Care; building two new lobbies at Kingston and Benedictine Hospitals; and constructing a new addition to the Kingston Hospital emergency room. The last phase of the new emergency room at Kingston Hospital is in its final stages of construction with a late April early May opening.

During the celebration came a changing of the guard. The first year of the HealthAlliance Board of Directors was led by William A. LeDoux. He was honored for his leadership, dedicated service and commitment as the first chairman of the HealthAlliance Board of Directors. “We are very proud of Bill’s leadership to the HealthAlliance board,” said David Lundquist, CEO of HealthAlliance. “He has given a great deal of his time and is dedicated to the success of this organization.” New incoming chairman will be Dr. Eugene Heslin. Both Mr. LeDoux and Dr. Heslin were instrumental in the success of bringing the alignment of all the facilities together under one organization.

 

The memoir of Reamy Jansen, Professor of English at SUNY Rockland Community College, was published in March by Hamilton Stone Editions.Jansen’s book, “Available Light, Recollections and Reflections of a Son,” encompasses all family relationships—fathers and sons, mothers and sons, brothers, husbands and wives, and covers topics such as generations and mortality.

Reamy Jansen of Highland Falls has been teaching English at the College since 1971 and is the advisor to RCC’s award-winning student magazine, Impulse. He is the Creative Nonfiction Editor of The Bloomsbury Review and Hamilton Stone Review and past Vice President of the National Book Critics Circle. An essayist, poet, and critic, he has published work in The Washington Post, 32 Poems, Fugue, The Evansville Review, Oasis, The Literary Review, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, American Book Review, LaPetiteZine, Ducky.com, and many others. Eight of his essays have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize.

Jansen is recipient of the 2003 SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Creativity and Scholarship and was the 2000 recipient of the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. He has held residencies at Yaddo, The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Kunstlerhaus in Schwandorf, Germany, New York Mills Creative Arts, and Writers & Books.