Alumni News & Notes
1980
Andrea P. Thau, O.D., is president of the American Optometric Association (AOA). She previously served as vice president of the same organization.
1982
Betty DiMaria was named chief operating officer at Wojeski & Company CPAs, P.C., in East Greenbush, N.Y. She serves on the board of directors of The Food Pantries for the Capital District and the Marketing Committee of the Capital Region Human Resources Association.
1983
Christopher Murray was elected president of the Nassau County Mental Health Association. He is a partner of Ruskin Moscou Faltischek, P.C., Uniondale, N.Y., and serves as chair of the firm’s environmental and land-use practice group.
1984
Sutherland Asbill & Brennan, LLP Partner Lewis S. Wiener has been appointed to serve as general counsel of the Washington, D.C., Hebrew Congregation, one of the largest reform Jewish communities in the country. Todd Cherches received the 2016 New York University Division of Programs in Business Teaching Excellence Award. He is an adjunct professor of leadership at NYU and owns BigBlueGumball LLC, a management consulting and training company in New York City.
Debra Verbeke was appointed executive vice president of Human Resources at Fairfield County Bank, Ridgefield, Conn.
1986
Howard M. Miller was listed in The Best Lawyers in America 2017, and 2016 New York Super Lawyers Metro Edition in the field of Employment and Labor. He is a member of Bond Schoeneck & King Attorneys New York City office. Sal Perednia is a technical information-security officer at Morgan Stanley. He would like to connect with alumni working in downtown Manhattan and can be reached via Linkedin.com. Paul Schaffer is in his eighth year as CFO at Alterna Capital partners, a private equity firm in Wilton, Conn. He recently completed his sixth year as president of the Danbury Westerners, a summer collegiate baseball team in the New England Collegiate Baseball League. Brian Tolle was recently featured in The New York Times for the recent installation of his artistic reinterpretation of Miss Manhattan
and Miss Brooklyn.
1988
Susan Gazaille Fliss was named dean of libraries for Smith College. She is an accomplished librarian with more than two decades of leadership at Mount Holyoke, Dartmouth and Harvard.
1992
Cressida A. Dixon was listed in The Best Lawyers in America 2017. She is a trust and estate attorney at Bond, Schoeneck & King in Rochester, N.Y. The National Diversity Council named Ingram Micro Inc. Executive Vice President of Finance Gina Mastantuono one of its Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Technology. Christopher Westley is the vice president of marketing for Skanska USA’s Commercial Development team. He previously operated a national real-estate consultancy firm based in Los Angeles.
1993
Matthew Farber earned a doctoral degree in educational technology leadership from New Jersey City University. John Bagyi has been named a 2016 Super Lawyer and 2017 Best Lawyer in America.
1994
Bettyjo Bouchey received an Ed.D. from Northeastern University in April 2016.
1996
Jason Samuels of Farrell Fritz in Uniondale, N.Y. was named a 2016 New York Metro Super Lawyer. He practices in the areas of construction, real estate and commercial litigation.
1997
Denise Lurenz was recently promoted to audit supervisor at Teal, Becker & Chiaramonte, CPAs, P.C., Albany. N.Y.