Promotions, Announcements & Appointments

QBG appoints four new board members

Queens Botanical Garden’s (QBG) Board of Trustees welcomed new members Lee-Lee Chang, Anthony Lui, Rebecca Schmutter, and Jenny Zeng.

They will be part of a team of 15 board members who will apply their expertise and strong ties to their communities to support the garden’s mission of bringing people, plants, and cultures together.

Chang is an attorney specializing in commercial and residential real estate transactions, serving the metropolitan New York area and the Chinese immigrant community. Prior to her own law practice, Chang was an associate attorney at the Law Firm of Wise, Lerman and Katz, P.C. specializ-

CHANG ing in business law and litigation. Chang attended Taiwan National Chung Hsing University and CUNY Law School in New York.

“QBG is a hidden treasure,” said Chang. “QBG has played an important role in conserving our community’s environment, as well as providing various educational activities to make connections with the community.”

Lui joined the Marine Corps after high school. He served three years overseas in Okinawa, Japan, and spent his fourth year training reserve Marines at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn.

After his Honorable Discharge, he went back to college and graduated from Baruch College’s Zicklin School of Business.

Lui joined Bank of America in 2005 and transferred to Flushing Bank in LUI 2010. He has managed five different branches within the 10 years he has been with Flushing Bank. He is currently the vice president branch manager of the Broadway Station Branch.

Schmutter works at Farrell Fritz PC, where she counsels corporate entities, family-owned businesses and individuals on a wide range of domestic and international tax matters. Prior to joining Farrell Fritz, Schmutter was counsel at Pryor Cashman LLP and an associate at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. She attended Columbia College and Columbia Law School.

Schmutter was born and raised in Queens and currently lives in West Hempstead with her husband and their two children.

“I’m very excited to be joining the board,” said Schmutter. “I grew up in Queens and know how important the Garden is to the community.

Zeng is president of East SCHMUTTER Grandview Inc. in Flushing. She graduated with a degree in Landscape Architecture from Tongji University in 1986 in China. She worked in comprehensive planning and designing for multiple national parks after graduation.

After coming to the United States in 1993, Zeng worked as a textile designer and contracted with many highprofile fashion companies, including Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein. In 2008, she started her own business to introduce traditional Chinese silk embroidery art to the United States. She also ZENG has worked as a manager in the medical field. She and her husband reside in

Forest Hills.

“As we look ahead in 2021, we recognize that the Garden is more important than ever in providing our community with a place for peace, rejuvenation, and inspiration,” said QBG executive director Susan Lacerte. “We are absolutely delighted to have Lee-Lee, Anthony, Rebecca, and Jenny come on board and help guide our exciting initiatives.”

Gupta to head LGCC’s Adult Ed programs Grillo named city’s first ‘recovery czar’

Sunil B. Gupta has joined LaGuardia Community College as vice president of Adult and Continuing Education.

Gupta joins LaGuardia from Borough of Manhattan Community College, where he served as dean of the Center of Adult Continuing Education and Workforce Development. In this role, he oversaw training programs for 10,000-plus adult students and managed more than $18.2 million in workforce training grants.

Gupta received worthy recognition for his efforts in developing innovative career pathways in health care and in specialized information technology-based programs.

Born and raised in Queens, Gupta has a B.A. from St. John’s University, an M.S. from NYU, and is currently completing a Doctorate in Educational Leadership at St. John’s.

“Sunil is a visionary, innovative leader, who is sure to do great things in this new role, particularly to help Queens residents recover from the economic devastation caused by COVID,” said LGCC President Kenneth Adams.

Adult and Continuing Education at LaGuardia serves thousands of individuals annually in a broad array of programs, including one of the largest English as a Second Language programs in the Northeast, a comprehensive set of services for adult basic education and high school equivalency certification, and occupational training in sectors ranging from advanced GUPTA industrial manufacturing to building management and sustainability.

Gupta serves on the boards of the COMBASE consortium, Hispanic Educational Technology Services, Department of Education’s Advisory Council for Career & Technical Education, and Jobs First-NYC.

Mayor Bill de Blasio appointed Lorraine Grillo as senior advisor for recovery, also known as the city’s “recovery czar.” Her role involves monitoring the city’s progress on recovery efforts.

“As New York City’s first-ever recovery czar, Lorraine will cut through bureaucracy, coordinate across all agencies and reach out to

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PROMOTIONS, ANNOUNCEMENTS & APPOINTMENTS

nonprofit and private partners to make sure our makers, nonprofits and labor unions. Tom recovery is felt in every borough, every neigh- Grech, president and CEO of the Queens Chamborhood and every block,” de Blasio said. ber of Commerce, said this is a move they have

Grillo, an Astoria native, will transition out been advocating “for quite some time.” of her current roles in the de Blasio administra- “As a daughter of Queens, Lorraine Grillo is tion. She has served as president and CEO of uniquely qualified to understand the needs of the School Construction Authority (SCA) since Queens and the entire city of New York,” he 2010. said.

Several years ago, she also assumed the role of commissioner of the Department of Design and Construction (DDC).

Grillo said every job she’s had in city government, from responding to Hurricane Sandy to expanding Universal Pre-K, has required “intense coordinaGRILLO tion across different agencies, companies and nonprofits.”

She said she will take the same approach when it comes to the city’s recovery.

“I build things, that’s what I do,” she said. “And together, we are going to build a recovery that lifts up every New Yorker.”

Grillo’s appointment drew praise from law-

Rajkumar to chair new Assembly committee

Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar of south Queens was appointed chair of the Subcommittee on Diversity in Law. This newly created subcommittee is part of the influential Assembly Judiciary Committee.

“The Assembly Majority is committed to balancing the tilted scales of justice, and part of that is ensuring that our criminal justice system reflects the diverse state it serves,” said Speaker Carl Heastie. “Assemblywoman Rajkumar’s work throughout her career and her commitment to diversity in our legal system will be an asset to New York State.”

Rajkumar formerly practiced civil rights law, and has stood up for the vulnerable and the disenfranchised throughout her career. She litigated class action cases on behalf of workers, tenants and women at a national public interest law firm.

She also focused on combating corporate fraud and excess in “qui tam” suits against multinational corporations, saving millions in taxpayer dollars. In 2015 and 2016 she was selected to Super Lawyers’ New York-Metro Rising Stars List.

In 2017, she built and led the New York State RAJKUMAR Liberty Defense Project, a first-in-the-nation multimillion dollar state project to assist immigrants across the state with legal counsel. She is a graduate of Stanford Law School.

“I will focus on access to justice for minority voices in our courtrooms, on diversity in the judiciary, and on creating a pipeline of young, diverse leaders in the state’s legal system,” said Rajkumar.