Crain's New York Business

SMALL-BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT Helping New Yorkers deck the halls

CRAINSNEWYORK.COM

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PAGE 6

SWEET RELIEF Tenant-harassment victims to receive rent credits PAGE 3

DECEMBER 21, 2020

NYC CHAMPIONS Crain’s salutes the workers who have kept New Yorkers safe and the city running during the pandemic PAGE 7

BUCK ENNIS

JAN LEE, a landlord in Chinatown, made sure his elderly tenants were well cared for during the lockdown.

HOSPITALITY

‘We’re destroyed’: Restaurant owners say new restrictions will lead to ruin

BY BRIAN PASCUS

W

hen Gov. Andrew Cuomo decided to end indoor dining this month, restaurant owners felt that it sig-

NEWSPAPER

VOL. 36, NO. 44

naled a death knell for their industry.

“We’re teetering on folding for the winter in the next couple of weeks if there isn’t some sort of financial help from the government,” said Nick DiFrisco, owner of Tambour Bistro

© 2020 CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC.

in Brooklyn. “I’m building outdoor seating, but at this point, what for?”

DiFrisco estimated that no more than 10% of the city’s restaurants will survive the lack of indoor dining this winter.

Although Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio have said they will allow outdoor dining and delivery to continue, both options come with See DINING on page 46

OUT OF OFFICE

LAST-MINUTE GIFT IDEAS FOR THE FOODIES IN YOUR LIFE PAGE 47

PAGE 21

REAL ESTATE

Long Island City developer plans 19-story residential tower

BY EDDIE SMALL

Rockrose just purchased 43-14 Queens St. and 43-12 Queens St. in November for $13 million, property records show. The adjacent sites are currently home to an industrial building and a parking facility, according to the city.

Rockrose is run by the father and son team of Henry and Justin Elghanayan. Its other residential properties in Long Island City include Linc LIC at 43-10 Crescent St. and Hayden at 43-25 Hunter St. The company also purchased 2734 Jackson Ave. for $26 million in February, shortly before the pandemic upended the city’s real estate market.

T

he pandemic has hit Long Island City’s residential market extremely hard, but that does not appear to be slowing down Rockrose Development’s plans for the Queens neighborhood.

The company, which already has multiple luxury high-rise buildings in the area, has filed plans

with the city for another project, at 43-14 Queens St. The development will span almost 200,000 square feet, with 301 residential units, and it will stand 19 stories and 229 feet tall. It will include about 4,000 square feet of commercial space as well.

This project will be a second phase of Rockrose’s 790-unit Eagle Lofts building, which is located right by its new site at 43-22 Queens St., according to Rockrose Vice President Paul Januszewski.

Hard times The pandemic has hit New York apartments hard across the board, but Long Island City has felt its impact especially hard. Rents are dropping at their highest rate in more than four years, and the market share of landlords offering concessions to tenants has reached a record high, according to Douglas Elliman’s November report on the

BLOOMBERG

JUST 183 NEW LEASES WERE SIGNED IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD IN NOVEMBER

city’s rental market.

However, northwest Queens still has not seen the corresponding increase in leases that has started to occur in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

There were just 183 new leases signed in the neighborhood in November—compared with 233 in November 2019—the 16th month in a row that leases have dropped year over year, the report states.

Jonathan Miller, CEO of Miller Samuel and author of the Elliman reports, has attributed the area’s struggles in part to the decline in commuting, as being one subway stop away from Midtown becomes less important when so many people are working remotely.

A recent report from the Real Estate Board of New York found that developers filed plans for 1,187 new

buildings during the first three quarters of the year, the lowest number since the Great Recession’s aftermath. Projects in Queens made up the greatest percentage of total square feet during the third quarter, at 38.6%, and the largest project in the borough was a mixeduse building in Jamaica that spanned roughly 500,000 square feet. ■

National Grid’s massive Coney Island lot hits the market

BY NATALIE SACHMECHI

N

Other projects

JLL

ational Grid is selling a 16acre site with nearly 1.5 million square feet of building potential at the southern tip of Brooklyn.

The undeveloped land at 2731 W. 12th St. comes with an M3-1 zoning condition, making it ideal for a manufacturing facility, a power plant or, with special exceptions, a large retail space.

It’s in a qualified opportunity zone and is eligible for tax abatement under the industrial and commercial abatement program.

The program reduces the percentage of taxes paid for 15 to 25 years, said JLL broker Stephen Palmese, who is marketing the property.

“This is an extraordinary opportunity for investors seeking a truly large-scale development opportunity with flexibility of use in a location that provides easy access to the city’s highways, bridges, airports and mass transit,” Palmese said.

“The tax benefits that accrue for the site offer additional incentives to developers."

Palmese was tapped by the utility to market the property for lease in 2014, when it would have been suit-

ed to large-scale retail. Now that the pandemic has called into question the future of in-store shopping, things may be different.

Contamination and cleanup The site was once home to the Brooklyn Borough Gas Co., which produced heating gas there from 1908 until 1966, when the plant was decommissioned and subsequently demolished. The plant had dan-

gerously contaminated the soil and groundwater around it, according to a city environmental review in 2001.

Nearly three decades after the demolition, the Brooklyn Union Gas Co., which took over Brooklyn Borough Gas, was forced to clean up the area by the city’s Department of Environmental Conservation. The cleanup took more than two years.

Other developers have shown interest in the area. LCOR recently filed plans with the city’s Department of Buildings to build a mixeduse property with 322 residential units at 1515 Surf Ave. The project will include 222,000 square feet—212,000 square feet of residential space and 10,000 square feet of commercial space. According to the plans, the 26-story building will stand 270 feet tall and include 193 parking spaces.

Taconic Investment Partners, L&M Development Partners and BFC Partners are building a property down the street from LCOR’s: a mixed-use project with 1,000 residential units at 1709 Surf Ave. that will include 125,000 square feet of retail space and 80,000 square feet of office space.

Hall Oster, Brendan Callahan, Braedon Gait, Gabrielle Harvey, Teddy Galligan, Andrew Posil and Jordan Yarboro are part of the JLL team that is working to market the property. ■

ISTOCK

National Grid acquired Brooklyn Union and its land in 2006. With the DEC’s demands met, the site is ready for development.

DEADLINE: JAN. 8 NOTABLE BLACK LEADERS AND EXECUTIVES Crain's New York Business is seeking executives to be featured in our 2021 Notable Black Leaders and Executives special section. We will recognize Black men and women who have impacted New York City in major ways. The selected honorees will be featured in a celebratory section within the Feb. 15 issue that will recognize their professional, civic and philanthropic achievements.

Visit CrainsNewYork.com/nominations to nominate a notable candidate today.

WE’LL BE BACK! The next print issue of Crain’s New York Business will be the Jan. 11 edition. Happy holidays!

Vol. 36, No. 44, December 21, 2020—Crain’s New York Business (ISSN 8756-789X) is published weekly, except for bimonthly in January, July and August and the last issue in December, by Crain Communications Inc., 685 Third Ave., New York, NY 10017.

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2 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | DECEMBER 21, 2020

REAL ESTATE

Madison Realty Capital reaches $1M agreement for victims of fraud and tenant harassment

BY NATALIE SACHMECHI

all the tenants harassed and pushed out of their homes by a fraudulent landlord and the lender that financed his unlawful operation,” James said. “Madison Realty Capital aided one of our city’s worst landlords in his unlawful scheme, but we’re holding the company to account and delivering real relief to the many victims through rent credits and housing placement.”

M

adison Realty Capital has reached an agreement with Attorney General Letitia James to take control of 15 buildings and assume $1 million in rent credits for tenants who were victims of notorious landlord Raphael Toledano of Brookhill Properties.

The company knowingly originated more than $100 million in loans to Toledano, who used the money to buy 15 East Village buildings where he was accused of using fraud, harassment and other illegal conduct to push out rent-stabilized tenants, according to James’ announcement.

As part of its punishment for financing the scheme, the Joshua Zegen-led private equity firm will have to take over the buildings and swallow the credits for rent arrears

The agreement requires Madison to take ownership of the portfolio, which filed for bankruptcy in March 2017.

In addition to the credits and housing placements, the investment firm will also need to register almost 200 of the 280 apartments in the portfolio with the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal at or below a rent of $2,000 per month. Around 50 of those will be registered at or below $1,000 per month.

The firm expressed relief over the settlement.

“We are pleased to have resolved this matter without admitting or denying any of the allegations raised and will continue to work with the tenants and community stakeholders to continue to improve the buildings and bring posi-

“WE ARE GRATEFUL THAT THE ATTORNEY GENERAL WAS ABLE TO NEGOTIATE THIS” accrued during the pandemic as well as housing for 10 homeless families, nearly 18 months after James and Toledano came to a $3 million settlement agreement last year.

“Today’s agreement stands up for

ISTOCK

Relief on both sides

tive change to the community," said Nathaniel Garnick, a company spokesman.

Tenant advocates also lauded the agreement.

“Prior to AG James’ intervention, Madison Realty Capital planned to profit from Mr. Toledano’s illegal harassment of tenants. We are grateful that she was able to negotiate this agreement,” said Liz Haak, a member of Tenants Taking Control, formerly Toledano Tenants Coalition.

James’ first investigation into Toledano began after the state’s Tenant Protection Unit began receiving numerous complaints from tenants and community members about unsafe construction practices and harassment.

The investigation found that Toledano designed renovations in the buildings in order to increase rents above the threshold needed to remove apartments from rent stabilization and charge tenants more.

Under the terms of his settlement, his real estate business will have to be supervised by an independent monitor to make sure he doesn’t engage in more fraud or harass other tenants. He’s also banned from having any direct contact with tenants and will have to use an independent management company to oversee his properties.

If he breaks any of those rules, James has vowed to permanently ban him from real estate and file a $10 million judgment against him. ■

HEALTH CARE

Phase 2 Covid vaccinations could start in late January

P

hase two of the Covid-19 vaccine distribution plan could begin in late January, assuming no supply interruptions, said Gov. Andrew Cuomo in a briefing last week.

Workers in phase two include first responders, school staff, essential frontline workers who regularly interact with the public and individuals at high risk because of other health conditions, according to the state’s website.

Regional vaccination hub coordinators have been chosen to assist with local distribution, Cuomo said. The Greater New York Hospital Association has been appointed for the city, Northwell Health for Long Island and Westchester Medical Center for the mid-Hudson region. The coordinators are expected to submit their local distribution plans in the first week of January,

GOVERNORANDREWCUOMO/FLICKR

BY SHUAN SIM

CUOMO

and they will then be reviewed and approved by the state, Cuomo said.

The state also will ensure the vaccine is made available to the public at no cost, and the Department of Financial Services will be instructing health insurers to cover all vaccine costs, Cuomo said.

The governor also provided an update that Moderna’s vaccine allocation of 346,000 doses is expected Dec. 22 for phase one workers. ■

Connect with us on social media @georgearztcomm:

DECEMBER 21, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 3

chief executive officer K.C. Crain senior executive vice president Chris Crain group publisher Mary Kramer

EDITORIAL

publisher/executive editor

Covid Alert app suffered from lack of promotion doesn’t use the same invasive techniques employed in South Korea. The software uses Bluetooth technology to communicate with other phones. If a New Yorker with the app on her phone comes within six feet of another person with the app on his phone for 10 minutes the two phones communicate. If one of those two people has tested positive in the past, one phone tells the other phone that its owner could have been exposed.

This kind of warning would hopefully prompt more testing and more social distancing among the population. There’s no location information shared with the government or big tech companies.

The problem is that only a million New Yorkers have downloaded the app, about 7% of the population. As Crain’s reporter Ryan Deffenbaugh found recently, less than 1,000 users have been alerted that they may have come in contact with an infected person. Only 2,631 users have reported contracting the virus.

For the technology to be successful, it must be adopted by a wider swath of the population.

THE PROBLEM IS THAT ONLY A MILLION NEW YORKERS HAVE DOWNLOADED THE APP it’s worth a second look when you compare the loss of 24,000 New Yorkers to South Korea’s death toll of 634.

New York’s Covid Alert app was rolled out in October with the help of Google and Apple, which have helped fund the effort. The app

associate publisher Lisa Rudy EDITORIAL editor Robert Hordt assistant managing editors Telisha Bryan,

Janon Fisher audience & analytics manager

Gabriella Iannetta associate editor Lizeth Beltran art director Carolyn McClain photographer Buck Ennis senior reporters Aaron Elstein, Eddie Small reporters Ryan Deffenbaugh,

Jennifer Henderson, Brian Pascus, Natalie Sachmechi, Shuan Sim executive assistant Devin Cavallo to contact the newsroom:

www.crainsnewyork.com/staff 212.210.0100 685 Third Ave., New York, NY 10017-4024 ADVERTISING ALAMY

G

ov. Andrew Cuomo missed a golden opportunity to use tech to get ahead of the coronavirus infection rate.

As the national death toll tops 300,000, many countries have successfully curbed the virus by exploiting the capabilities of cellphone apps to trace those infected with the virus as well as citizens exposed to them.

In South Korea, which was hit with Covid-19 months before the U.S., they used cell phone location, credit card payments and surveillance cameras to track its people.

This level of scrutiny doesn’t sit well with Americans already suspicious of big government, but

Frederick P. Gabriel Jr.

There’s where Cuomo dropped the ball. The governor has been an effective communicator in the fight against the virus with his press conferences. He drills home the importance of wearing masks. He extolls the benefits of social distancing. He threatens and charms everyone to do their part to save lives. But he rarely mentions using the Covid Alert app. There’s been little in the way of public service announcements on what the technology does and why it’s beneficial. Additionally, the elderly, who are more at risk for infection, tend to be less proficient

when it comes to technology. State officials could win more users by providing better instructions and by making it part of their regular pitch.

We’ve truly made some great strides in science this year. In less than a year, the pharmaceutical industry has discovered, tested and rolled out vaccines for Covid-19. It goes to show what we can accomplish when citizens and their government work together. The governor should put some of that same can-do spirit behind promoting the Covid tracing app. ■

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dstein@crain.com CUSTOM CONTENT director of custom content

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What ‘The Jeffersons’ taught us about fair housing

212.210.0707, lmelesio@crain.com PRODUCTION production and pre-press director

Simone Pryce media services manager Nicole Spell SUBSCRIPTION CUSTOMER SERVICE

BY ERIC ADAMS

W

hen I was a young man growing up in Queens in the 1970s, “The Jeffersons” was a hit show. The sitcom— which was about a Black family from Queens who “made it” and moved “on up” to the Upper East Side—was a hilarious comedy.

But it was based on a tragedy.

It was so rare that a Black working-class family like mine could earn enough to live in a wealthy white neighborhood in New York that the mere concept was entertainment.

Here we are, more than 40 years later, and the challenges are the same. Our neighborhoods are still segregated. The racial wealth disparity is still wide. And nobody should be laughing.

The one good thing about Covid-19 is that it has raised the public’s consciousness around how fundamentally unbalanced our city is. Lower-income Black

and brown New Yorkers are much more vulnerable to the virus, economic uncertainty, and declines in quality of life and public safety.

We must use this moment to finally fix these historic injustices.

A recent report on the dire state of affordable housing makes clear how much more the city must do.

Some—but not enough—of its recommendations are starting to move forward.

The city recently announced it was finally backing a rezoning that I pushed for in SoHo and NoHo, where antiquated rules have strangled progress on affordable housing for generations. That’s a good start. Upzoning there would allow lower-and middle-income New Yorkers to move into nice, safe neighborhoods connected to public transit.

But adding housing in SoHo and NoHo is not nearly enough. For years we have had our land-use policy backward. Our rezonings have been mainly in lower-income

4 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | DECEMBER 21, 2020

areas, which has moved wealthier people into working-class neighborhoods, when we should be moving working-class folks into neighborhoods with a high quality of life.

Displacement Failure to add needed new affordable housing in gentrified areas has led to gentrification and displacement elsewhere. Meanwhile, massive, sudden increases in density in lower-income areas have changed neighborhoods overnight, often raising the cost of living for longtime residents or forcing them out.

This flawed and unfair approach contributed significantly to an urgent affordable housing crisis before Covid-19. Now, building more housing in more areas is an existential challenge for the future of this city. We must build a lot of affordable units, fast.

The good news is that large, untouched swaths of our city are home to trapped potential for new

housing in desirable places to live.

In particular, there are old industrial spaces in Manhattan that should have been converted to better uses years ago. That is where we should start our transformation.

Instead of rezonings that only target working-class communities, why don’t we also build affordable housing in these underdeveloped areas that have the high quality of life and infrastructure desired by lower-income and middle-income New Yorkers, and let them move in by removing the “community preference” rule there that has historically kept them out?

New York may be a group of communities, but it is also one city, and we should all be in this recovery together. So let’s start acting like it. Housing—including affordable housing—can be and should be put anywhere it can go as long as it benefits those who need it. ■ Eric L. Adams is the Brooklyn borough president.

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OP-ED

BY ANDREW LUBASH

A

vital resource for New York City’s small and midsize businesses and their employees that was enacted in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act expires at the end of this month—unless Congress renews it.

The act was the first piece of legislation passed by Congress to address the impacts of Covid-19. Before its passage in March, there was essentially no sick-leave protection for those employed at companies with fewer than 500 employees.

This meant businesses had the

reports almost $500,000 in wages paid to employees on sick leave or family leave because of Covid-19— all of which was eligible for reimbursement through the act-mandated tax credit.

Potential hardship Families First, which took effect in April, states that businesses with 500 or fewer employees must continue paying employees on leave as a result of Covid-19. This not only includes sick leave for those diagnosed with Covid-19, but also time off in order to care for a loved one affected by Covid-19. With business grinding to a halt for many employers, however, it was going to be difficult to continue paying employees without federal assistance.

Recognizing the potential financial hardship for businesses temporarily closed or otherwise affected by Covid-19, Congress also approved a dollar-for-dollar tax credit on wages paid to employees on leave as a result of Covid-19. Small and midsize businesses have come to rely on this

SMALL AND MIDSIZE BUSINESSES HAVE COME TO RELY ON THIS TAX CREDIT right to—and often did—withhold pay if an employee was out of work for an extended period of time because of illness.

Our company, which handles human resources and payroll for hundreds of small and midsize businesses throughout New York,

tax credit to maintain operations and keep their employees on the payroll throughout the pandemic.

Designed to keep money in the pockets of American workers, Families First succeeded by enabling employers to continue paying their employees.

But now, with no end to the pandemic in sight, New York’s small and midsize businesses face an uncertain future once again. The sickleave relief is set to expire Dec. 31, which means businesses that have relied on the tax credit offered through the program will be forced to find another way to compensate employees affected by Covid-19. Indeed, without Families First, employers may be forced to make tough decisions about their employees in 2021. Perhaps most significantly, it will expose frontline workers and thousands of others affected by Covid-19 to further financial harm.

President-elect Joe Biden has already made it a top priority to provide some sort of relief to the American people, but it remains to be seen whether a new stimulus package will include a renewal of Families First. Its passage will ultimately depend on bipartisan efforts in

BLOOMBERG

Small-business tax credit for sick leave must be extended

Congress, and the act expires before the president-elect becomes president.

While Families First and the protections it provided didn’t necessarily affect large, white-collar enterprises, it provided a critical safety net for the small businesses and individuals that form the backbone of New York City.

Renewal of the sick-leave act is a

key part of the effort to keep New York’s small businesses thriving during and after Covid-19. ■ Andrew Lubash is the CEO of Prestige Employee Administrators, which helps small and midsize businesses by offering employee benefit plans, payroll administration, workers’ compliance and strategic advice.

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DECEMBER 21, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 5

SMALL- BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT

Selling holiday cheer to a weary city Greg’s Trees helps New Yorkers deck the halls

BY RYAN DEFFENBAUGH

I

s a city beset by a pandemic and an economic crisis in the mood for a little holiday cheer?

That question for months followed Greg Walsh, a Queens native who for 35 years has sold Christmas trees to New Yorkers through his company, Greg’s Trees. He has done so in recent years while sporting a long white beard and dressing as Santa Claus.

“I’ve never had anxiety before like I’ve had leading up to this,” Walsh, 58, said.

A special education teacher when he is not pricing balsams and Fraser firs, Walsh needed to order his supply of trees by spring. At that point, most of the city was shut down, and there was no clear timeline for when that would change.

Between the 5,000 or so trees, supplies and labor, each one of Walsh’s tree stands—he had seven last year in Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan—carry up to $40,000 in risk.

“We went back and forth, thinking about not doing it, maybe doing fewer locations,” Walsh said. “We ended with five locations and I’m really happy about it—because they have never been so busy.”

New Yorkers stuck at home are proving more anxious than ever to deck their halls with trees and wreaths. Also, individuals who typically travel for the holidays are staying put—meaning more living rooms in need of a tree.

Roots in the business Walsh started Greg’s Trees out of a tree stand in College Point shortly after graduating college. The first year, “we did a terrible job,” he said. “It is not an easy business.”

He slowly learned to source supplies and price a good tree. That first outlet sprouted into several, including at McCarren Park in Williamsburg and Washington Market Park in Tribeca.

Christmas trees are big business.

In just over a month last year, Greg’s Trees sold about 6,000 conifers, worth about $500,000 in revenue.

But it takes time to become profitable.

“We are all dinosaurs, everyone who does this,” Walsh said. “When you open a stand, you start by losing money until you build the clientele and reputation. Young kids don’t always want to do that.”

The trees are a rare unregulated market in New York City. Anyone is free to sell them on the sidewalk—so long as they don’t block pedestrians and get the permission of nearby businesses.

Walsh said there is a code among the longtime sellers.

“My closest competitor right now is helping me buy trees,” Walsh said. “That’s because I never put down trees anywhere just to hurt another guy, like ‘Oh, that’s a good spot. Let me go a block down.’ ”

“WHEN YOU OPEN A STAND, YOU START

BY LOSING MONEY UNTIL YOU BUILD THE CLIENTELE AND REPUTATION”

WALSH dresses as Santa and takes pictures with Greg’s Trees customers.

Workers with Greg’s Trees arrive from all over and stay in trailers during the Christmas tree sales window.

“It is a lot of people coming from this sort of vagabond lifestyle: ski bums, surfers, travelers,” said Eric Kang, who for six years has managed the Greg’s Trees market in McCarren Park.

He arrived from Quebec and is staying in a converted van with a bed—“urban glamping,” he called it. Kang works ski patrol the rest of the winter and helps manage a watershed in Quebec in the spring.

“We do 40 days on the streets here, 24/7 from setup to takedown," Kang said of the selling season.

Walsh said he followed city guidance this year to have each employee Covid-19-tested before and after they arrive. There have been no cases among his employees, he said. His workers can make a few thousand dollars, plus tips.

Walsh makes the rounds between the five locations, letting patrons take photos from a distance with him dressed as a masked-up Old Saint Nick. This year’s Santa beard is a merger with a quarantine beard, started back in March, so it’s a little too long, Walsh admits.

But customers don’t seem to mind.

“I have seen grown-ups giggling, and kids are happier than I’ve experienced before, just to see Santa,” Walsh said. “Christmas, the holidays, the New Year are symbolizing a sort of rebirth right now.” ■ 6 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | DECEMBER 21, 2020

PHOTOS, BUCK ENNIS

Santa and the surfers

FOCAL POINTS COMPANY Greg’s Trees ESTABLISHED 1985 LEADERSHIP Greg Walsh LOCATIONS Old Essex Street Market on the Lower East Side, Washington Market Park in Tribeca, Greenwood Beer Garden in Park Slope, McCarren Park in Williamsburg and The Springs beer garden in Greenpoint 2019 SEASONAL REVENUE $500,000 2019 TOTAL TREES SOLD 6,000

NYC CHAMPIONS A

s 2020 ends, we want to recognize all those who sacrificed so much on behalf of their fellow New Yorkers in the past 10 months—one of the most trying times in the city’s history.

In that spirit, we have selected a handful of essential workers—our champions—to profile in this special section. They represent a cross section of industries and occupations, but they all share one thing in common: their willingness to put their lives at risk or careers on hold to help others survive the pandemic.

On the following pages you will meet people such as Amparo Sullivan, a nurse at Mount Sinai Queens, who began writing letters to the families of her Covid-19 patients, offering them a lifeline when they were unable to visit their loves ones in the hospital. Valerie Hawkins, a subway operator for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, never considered staying home from work despite her apprehension as her fellow employees fell ill. She eventually contracted the virus herself, but she reported back to work three weeks later. And Marcel Botha, a design engineer, helped develop and produce 3,000 low-cost ventilators for the city.

There is something else that these champions share: Many of them are people of color—Black, Latino and Asian. It is a reminder that just as their communities suffered disproportionately from the coronavirus, so too have they responded in force to battle its effects. We owe them a debt of gratitude, as we do all of our champions.

— Robert Hordt, editor

DECEMBER 21, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 7

NYC CHAMPIONS

HEALTH CARE

Amparo Sullivan, nurse IN MAY a woman in her 80s hospitalized with Covid-19 held the hand of Amparo Sullivan, a nurse at Mount Sinai Queens.

“I was telling her that everything will be OK,” Sullivan said. “She started telling me that this must be so tough on us and that she appreciates all the help I’ve been giving her.”

The woman died soon after, and Sullivan felt compelled to write a letter to her family.

“I told them that she inspired me—thinking of us even though I knew she was scared of what was going on,” Sullivan said. “I wanted to tell the family that patients were not just a number to us.”

Members of the family appreciated the handwritten note, and they told Sullivan she was their loved one’s “angel.”

SULLIVAN

A new idea Sullivan pitched the idea to her colleagues of writing letters to patients’ families, because many families are not able to visit during the pandemic. The idea was picked up enthusiastically.

She recalled one patient who had been brought in by ambulance. The man hadn’t wanted to go to the hospital, but his girlfriend insisted, and they had an argument.

“He was very upset and said some very harsh words to her,” Sullivan said.

That turned out to be the last

BURGOS condition rapidly deteriorated, but before he died he told his nurse that he hadn’t meant those words he said to his girlfriend and that he loved her very much.

The nurse wrote to the patient’s girlfriend, and she wrote back, thank-

“I WANTED TO TELL THE FAMILY THAT PATIENTS WERE NOT JUST A NUMBER TO US” time he talked to his girlfriend. His

ing her. “She thought he was still mad at her after their last conversation, ” Sullivan said, adding that the woman said the letter meant the world to her.

Writing the letters helps the nurses too.

“There’s a peace of mind knowing we helped patients communicate to their loved ones during their stay,” Sullivan said.

— S.S.

Mary Rzeszut, clinical social worker FROM MID-MARCH to June, Mary Rzeszut, a clinical social worker in the psychiatry department at NYU Winthrop Hospital, almost single-handedly manned the mental health hotline for the hospital’s health care workers six to seven days a week.

“Providers and nurses were getting post-traumatic stress disorder from seeing so many patients die,” she said. “And it wasn’t just patients; we had staff that died from Covid-19 too.”

“There was a resident who suffered from anxiety from Covid-19.

He was in such a heightened state, treating patient after patient in an area of medicine he wasn’t familiar with,” Rzeszut said. He felt out of control, doubting whether he

“it gave him a better idea of how to tackle his anxiety.”

Education on hold

RZESZUT was giving patients the best care he could provide, she said.

“Once he could recognize where his tension came from,” she said,

8 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | DECEMBER 21, 2020

Rzeszut, herself, has felt mental strain during the pandemic. She had to put her education for her doctorate of social work on pause, juggle being a wife and mother, and run the hotline week after week.

“Part of my training as a clinical social worker is self-care—doing my own meditation and learning to debrief after talking to someone on the hotline,” she said.

“Just as my frontline co-workers felt good about helping people with the pandemic, my satisfaction comes from helping my co-workers,” Rzeszut added.

— S.S.

Valerie Burgos, intensive care unit nurse She figured out a way to discover what her patients were really like

BY SHUAN SIM

D

uring the pandemic, everything about Mount Sinai’s intensive care unit changed.

“It used to be that we could speak with the family to learn about the admitted patient, or at least a social worker who had spoken with them,” said Valerie Burgos, a nurse in the ICU. But at the height of the Covid-19 outbreak, family members and

social workers weren’t allowed into the ICU, and many patients were sedated or intubated.

“It felt like I was missing something, trying to care for someone I knew nothing about,” Burgos said.

As a result, she came up with an idea to elevate patients to beyond just a person in a bed.

Getting personal It began with a social worker who told Burgos she was going to

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NYC CHAMPIONS

Dr. Joseph Herrera, rehabilitation doctor

BY JENNIFER HENDERSON

One of the toughest things was calling family members who s chairman of rehabilitation hadn’t seen their loved one in medicine at the Mount Si- weeks because of strict visitation nai Health System, Dr. rules, he said, and “sharing their Joseph Herrera spent his days be- grief when you tell them their loved one has passed fore the Covid-19 crisis away.” treating sports injuries.

In June a drop in But as the number of cases across the city cases started to rise and allowed Herrera to hospitals reached catransition off the pacity in a matter of Covid-19 inpatient days, Herrera was redefloor. But the pracployed to a coronavirus tice to which he reinpatient floor, where turned was much he worked to save the different from the lives of the sickest paone he left. tients, young and old.

Herrera is back to “I don’t think anytreating sports injubody can ever prepare ries. But he is also you as a physician for caring for a caseload the amount of grief and HERRERA of post-Covid-19 padeath that’s happened here during the pandemic,” Herre- tients. “I would call my practice ra told Crain’s during the height of sort of a hybrid practice,” he said.

“There are a number of patients the crisis.

A

we’re seeing that have had prolonged symptoms.”

These patients range in age from 19 to over 70, he said, and some are marathon runners and professional athletes.

He calls his patients motivated people whom he is working with to manage their ongoing symptoms, which can include fatigue, heart palpitations and cognitive fogginess.

“They are trying to get back to their normal activities,” he said.

‘Better prepared’ Herrera said it’s devastating when he hears people downplay the severity of the crisis he and his colleagues have witnessed firsthand. But he remains steadfast that the city and the nation will recover.

“I hope we never go through that again,” Herrera said. “But if we ever do, we are better prepared now.” ■

Shawna Townsend, patient care director

call a patient’s family, and asked if Burgos had any specific questions. “I had just one question: Was there anything the patient would have wanted me to know about him?” she said.

The family responded by conveying tons of information: the patient’s favorite type of music, hobbies, the names of his family members.

would like to meet.

“The doctor said, ‘We need to keep going. We need to give him more chances to get the heart going,’ ” Burgos recalled. Unfortunately, however, the patient didn’t make it.

Burgos’ favorite “About me”?

“There was a patient who treated his wife like a princess,” she said. His job in the relationship was to do all their laundry. When asked what should be conveyed to the patient, his wife said, “You need to get better because the laundry is piling up,” Burgos recalled.

It was a nice way to bring humor into the room, she said.

And for that patient?

“We thought we going to lose him on three occasions. But he actually made it out of the hospital in the end,” she said. ■

“WAS THERE ANYTHING THE PATIENT WOULD HAVE WANTED ME TO KNOW ABOUT HIM?” “I basically wrote an ‘About me’ of the patient on walls,” Burgos said.

That idea caught on throughout the department.

She recalled a patient whose heart had stopped, and the doctor saw on the walls that the patient had a new grandchild he

SHAWNA TOWNSEND, a patient care easy thing to see,” Townsend told director at Hospital for Special Crain’s during the initial months of the pandemic. “Even havSurgery, oversees a team ing a conversation is a luxof nurses who care for ury they don’t have. patients when they have “We’re not used to paorthopedic surgery. tients dying at HSS,” she But the Covid-19 casadded. es Townsend and her Townsend and her team team took on to help members banded together ease the strain on other to support one another in hospitals were different the toughest of times and from any other complex helped many of those papatients she had cared tients recover and get back for before.

TOWNSEND on their feet.

“When you see a paNow she’s hoping to do the same tient who is struggling to breathe because their lungs are being in- with the team’s regular roster of vaded by this virus, that’s not an patients.

“We have a lot of patients who needed musculoskeletal care that had been put off,” Townsend said recently. “It was really nice to get back to those patients.”

As someone who has been on the front lines of the crisis, she said, she wants to encourage the public to be patient with the new normal and public health measures.

“When you’re going through the storm, it’s hard to see the sunshine,” Townsend said. “But we can be hopeful that if we hang on a little longer, we may one day be able to put this behind us.”

— J.H.

Michelle Meneses, nurse manager MICHELLE MENESES WAS used to affected. “I would leave at 5 a.m. managing a team of about 20 nurse and return at 9 p.m., and when I practitioners in her role as manag- returned home, my 3-year-old wanted to come hug me, er at NYU Langone Orbut I had to go through thopedic Hospital. my decontamination But then came the panprocess first,” she said. demic, and suddenly she It was worse for some had to onboard an addiof Meneses’ colleagues. tional 40 nurse practi“I had co-workers who tioners and physician ashad to send their family sistants into her workflow away and didn’t get to see as her unit was converted them for two months," to treat Covid-19 patients. she said.

“I had to brief them all MENESES The orthopedics unit within a week,” she retreated at least 400 patients during called.

Her family life dynamics were its conversion into a Covid unit,

which ended in May. “People were wondering, ‘When is this going to end?’ ” she said. “But we’re stronger for it, and we remain ready to do it again if the need arises.”

— S.S.

DECEMBER 21, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 9

NYC CHAMPIONS

MANUFACTURING/PPE

RE

Marcel Botha, design engineer

B

B

Michael Bednark, manufacturer THE BROOKLYN NAVY Yard returned to its wartime roots in the spring, pumping out desperately needed medical supplies for the city’s fight against Covid-19.

At the center of that effort was Michael Bednark, the owner of a fabrication company based in the Navy Yard. When the company’s business of designing display material for corporate events dried up, Bednark had to cut about a third of his staff.

Soon he would have enough work to bring those employees back—plus, about 200 more.

After hearing about the need for protective face shields at hospitals, he worked with his Navy BEDNARK Yard neighbor, Duggal Visual Solutions, to secure enough plas- many people rose to the occasion.”

The company is now producing tic, foam and workers to pump out plastic shields for cabs and Uber 2.7 million shields in 90 days.

“I don’t think I’d ever in my life vehicles and that can be used as make a million of anything,” Bed- dividers in restaurants.

— R.D. nark said. “It was amazing how so

J

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L S O

Rhonda Roland Shearer, volunteer

d t w h

SoHo woman distributes PPE to hospital workers

BY RYAN DEFFENBAUGH

R

honda Roland Shearer has been on the front lines of tragedy before.

Shearer went nearly $1 million in debt after 9/11 to secure respirator masks and other protective equipment for first responders and spent months on the ground handing them out.

When Covid-19 gripped the city in March, she stepped up

huge banners that read, “Show your hospital ID: Get free PPEs.” “It was so eerie because no one else was there,” she said, “just us and the workers.”

Called to help Her urgency to help was driven in part by personal tragedy. Her husband, Stephen Jay Gould, died of cancer in 2002. Her partner of 15 years following Gould’s death, New York City Fire Chief Ronald Spadafora, in 2018 died of cancer related to 9/11 toxins.

Her daughter, London Allen, who stood with her mother at Ground Zero, earlier this year was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, also linked to 9/11 exposure.

“I did not want to see health care workers having exposures where the price will be paid both

“PEOPLE ARE COMPLETELY UNSELFISH WHEN IT COMES TO HELPING OTHERS” again, using an $800,000 equity line of credit to buy personal protective equipment such as masks, gloves and hand sanitizer.

Shearer and a team of nearly 50 volunteers stood outside hospitals during the spring in front of

now and probably later,” she said.

Her daughter’s condition has improved since she underwent surgery in the spring.

“Right after surgery, she called me and said, ‘Mom, we really need to do something,’ ” Shearer recalled. “But I knew she was really not able to.”

Using contacts from her response to 9/11, Shearer has purchased and distributed about 3 million items of personal protective equipment to more than 175,000 New Yorkers since the start of the pandemic. The Washington Post dubbed her the “patron saint of PPE.” She is still distributing equipment around the city. A GoFundMe effort to pay back her loans has raised $470,000. She said her biggest inspiration came from the people who have helped her.

“People are completely unselfish when it comes to helping others in an emergency,” Shearer said. “That's what I’ve learned.” ■

BUCK ENNIS

grant to build the model to a team that included the New Lab in the Brooklyn Navy Yard and Botha’s 10XBeta design company.

Working 20-hour days at Boyce Technologies in Long Island City, another partner on the project, the team developed a model that the city bought a month later. In fact, it bought 3,000 of them for $10 million, priced around a tenth of the typical cost for a ventilator.

“We learned a lot about what we can do together,” Botha said. “I don’t think any of us in 2019 would have said it was a good idea to build a ventilator company.”

— R.D.

BUCK ENNIS

IN MID-MARCH HOSPITALS filled with Covid-19 patients, and administrators warned they could run out of ventilators to keep the most critically ill alive.

As New Yorkers hunkered down, Marcel Botha would travel between his offices, going to and from the Brooklyn Navy Yard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, near Boston.

“You’d see not a single BOTHA car on the road,” he said. “I can’t explain how eerie that was.”

At MIT, a team of researchers was working on a smaller, cheaper ventilator that could help patients before they became seriously ill.

New York City offered a $100,000

J

Deborah Chusid, designer

M

WITH MEDICAL MASKS in short supply during the spring, an army of homebound seamstresses rose up in New York and across the nation.

Among those that answered the call for face masks was Tembo NYC and Artisan Sewing Cooperative, a group of Bangladeshi immigrant women who sew from home.

“I was hearing from CHUSID

AS A esta Kan esp the sch foun and Vern lapt wou mot H Rud

places: ‘I’ve called the city. I’ve called the state. I can’t get anything,’ ” recalled Deborah Chusid, a designer and the founder of Tembo NYC. “We were in a perfect position to help [with] our ladies sewing from home.”

Tembo flipped its production from colorful tote bags to colorful masks, donating one to hospitals and health

10 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | DECEMBER 21, 2020

care providers for each one sold.

About 2,300 masks ultimately reached health care organizations, such as Lenox Hill Hospital, the New Jewish Home and the Visiting Nurse Services of New York.

With mask supplies at health care centers since improved, Tembo has switched to donating part of its mask sales to Sanctuary for Families, a service provider and advocate for survivors of domestic violence.

— R.D.

MEMBERS OF the Artisan Sewing Cooperative

NYC CHAMPIONS

REAL ESTATE

Jan Lee, Chinatown landlord Building owner delivers groceries, essentials to tenants

BY NATALIE SACHMECHI

J

an Lee’s tenants are also his neighbors.

Lee was born and still lives in one of the 5-story Chinatown tenement buildings his grandfather purchased in 1924 after coming to the city from China.

For the third-generation landlord, his tenants are like family.

During the pandemic he felt a

ER

Lee conducted email and phone checks to make sure they had everything they needed.

“We understand the patterns in the building so well that we know when something is wrong,” Lee said.

Food insecurity Once the city went under lockdown, it didn’t take long for food insecurity to become an issue in Chinatown, and Lee began loading up his car with packages from a local food pantry twice a week.

He enlisted volunteers to deliver groceries and other essentials to low-income tenants.

Lee reached out to Margaret

BUCK ENNIS

LEE GOT GALLONS OF HAND SANITIZER AND THOUSANDS OF MASKS FROM THE CITY deep obligation to take care of them, especially the elderly who were afraid of leaving their homes.

Chin, a member of the New York City Council, for gallons of hand sanitizer, and he received thousands of masks from the mayor’s office that were hand-delivered to neighborhood residents, not just his own.

“We’ve gone through a lot in this community,” Lee said. “This is not something that would happen with a corporate landlord.”

His properties are entirely rent stabilized, and rent collection hasn’t been an issue. His tenants felt so cared for that they didn’t feel the need to stop paying, Lee said, adding that it’s important for the city to make sure landlords also are taken care of.

“There’s a lot of talk about canceling rent as a solution to everything,” he said. “Landlords can easily be foreclosed on and legacy families like mine will end.” ■

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BUCK ENNIS

■

Bryan Lapidus, volunteer EMT A REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER by day and a volunteer emergency medical technician by night, Bryan Lapidus has been on the front lines of the pandemic, responding to emergency calls from New Yorkers.

Lapidus, 26, works full time as a project manager at his father’s real estate firm, L&L Holding Co. In 2017 he joined the Central Park Medical Unit. During the pandemic, the unit became involved with the city Fire Department because of the need for ambulances.

“That’s when things really picked up,” Lapidus said. He would work at L&L until 4 p.m., change clothes and jump onto an ambulance from 5 p.m. until late at night, responding to 911 calls from residents who suspected they had contracted Covid-19.

“I wasn’t scared,” he said. “I thought I was going to get [Covid-19] all along, and I thought, better someone young and healthy than someone old with medical conditions or a family to go home to.”

—N.S.

Charles Gedinsky, Queens landlord

r3 n e h-

r

LAPIDUS

AT HIS QUEENS APARTMENT building, available 24/7, and during Covid longtime landlord Charles Gedin- we’ve really lived up to that name,” sky has deferred three months of Gedinsky said.

At the height of the rent for tenants who have pandemic, he visited the lost their jobs and are unbuilding almost every day able to pay him. to work with his super on Money is tight now, delivering groceries and but he’s making do with mail, and to check on his what he has. He is workelderly tenants. Gedinsky ing with his bank to manalso has had to manage age late payments. When repairs at the property at they can, Gedinsky extimes when his tenants pects his tenants to pay have been too scared to him back with a payment GEDINSKY let people in to work on plan that works for them.

The name of his firm, AM/PM leaks and plumbing problems.

—N.S. Management, “means we are

Min Kang, analyst AS A SERVICE DESK analyst at real estate brokerage Savills, Min Kang’s tech-savvy skills became especially useful during the pandemic. When schools shut down, Kang found out that the Boys and Girls Club of Mount Vernon was in need of laptops for children who would be learning remotely.

He worked closely with Mitch Rudin, the company’s chief execu-

tive, and his wife, Bonnie Rudin, who sits on the board of the children’s organization, to gather

but they were still in good shape.

Together with his team at Savills, Kang refurbished 25 laptops.

“Technology is the de facto tool that’s required for you to communicate in this world and have access to information. [But] there’s a particular subsection of the population that is cut off,” Kang said. “There’s no opportunity for them to take advantage of what the world has to offer.”

—N.S.

“TECHNOLOGY IS THE DE FACTO TOOL REQUIRED FOR YOU TO COMMUNICATE” company laptops to donate. The devices were set to be disposed of,

KANG

DECEMBER 21, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 11

NYC CHAMPIONS

CITY SERVICES

Chris Feliciano, paramedic

FELICIANO one day, and that’s something I’m not used to,” he recalled.

What concerned Feliciano was the relative young age of the New Yorkers he was treating.

“The thing that dawned on me was they were all 50-year-olds,” he said. “I’ve seen a 50-year-old in cardiac arrest, but I have never seen so many in such a small period of time.”

— B.P.

Luis Toigo, sanitation worker “DEDICATION” IS THE WORD that comes to mind after speaking with Luis Toigo.

The 17-year veteran of the Department of Sanitation didn’t miss a day on his collection route during the spring, at the height of the pandemic.

He came in, morning after morning, even as fear gripped his entire industry, one that requires workers like him to touch materials possibly contaminated with people’s saliva.

“Everybody’s just trying to get by every day, hoping nobody gets sick and dies,” he said. “There are days that are very good and days that are bad.”

The worst days were when Toigo’s wife, mother and daughter came down with Covid-19. Thankfully, all got well. But then he had to deal with 10 Sanitation workers in his garage who tested positive.

BUCK ENNIS

AFTER 18 YEARS with the New York City Fire Department, only a few things still surprise Chris Feliciano, a paramedic working out of Fort Totten in Queens.

Covid-19 was one of them.

“I was seeing a lot of medical emergencies. Just the frequency of it was unreal this year,” he said. “It felt like sometimes our resources were spread so thin, because we were having trouble keeping up with the volume.”

Feliciano said 90% of his response calls were medical emergencies with respiratory issues. He noted that before the pandemic, he’d have two serious calls per day.

During Covid-19, that call volume went through the roof, and one day he had seven serious incidents in one shift.

“We had four cardiac arrests in

Evelyn Aruz, subway station agent AS A WORKING SINGLE mother of two boys, Evelyn Aruz would come home from her job as a station agent at the Herald Square subway stop and go through a nightly process that would fill her with dread.

“I was scared to hug my ARUZ children,” she said, noting that she didn’t take any days off during the early days of the pan-

demic. “I had to come home, strip, shower and go through a whole routine.”

Only after a 20-minute process of discarding her personal protective equipment would Aruz sit down with her children and breathe easy.

“I had to stop visiting my family. My mom is 70 years old,” she said. “We had to say, ‘Hap-

py Mother’s Day’ outside her building and let the balloons fly up.”

Although Herald Square became a dead zone during the lockdown, Aruz still understood that she could contract the virus if she left her booth without taking proper precautions. After all, her sister had contracted the virus.

“We had to keep our distance from her, but she pulled through,” Aruz said. “She didn’t have to be hospitalized.”

— B.P.

Mike Perez, union representative TOIGO Still, he came in for every shift.

“Work keeps your mind active,” he said. “One of the good parts was seeing people leaving notes for us and telling us how appreciated we are.”

— B.P.

WHEN MIKE PEREZ looks back on the early months of the pandemic, he recalls how tough it was to adjust to an already brutal schedule.

As the Department of Sanitation’s main garage steward at Manhattan East 8 on the Upper East Side, Perez is the union rep of the 130 men and women at his location.

“Picking up garbage is a 6 a.m.to-2 p.m. shift. Once this thing hit, we went 5 a.m. to 1 p.m.,” he said, adding that his team needed to

wake up at 3 a.m. each day under the new guidelines.

“On top of that, you hit us with Covid and we didn’t know what the hell to expect,” he added.

When one of his fellow stewards lost his parents to the Covid-19 in the spring, Perez organized a way to help him.

“We arranged to get his days off,” he said. “We raised some money for him. We got the guys together to help him out with expenses.” — B.P.

PEREZ

Diana Wilson, EMT ALTHOUGH 2020 HAS BEEN a difficult year for all Americans, few have experienced a tougher time than Diana Wilson, an emergency medical technician working with Station 54 in the New York City Fire Department.

Her husband died last year, and as she was still grieving his loss, she had to respond to dozens of Covid-19 calls across the city, all while trying to remain healthy for her two children.

“I have two boys, an 11-year-old

and a 16-year-old, and all I could think about was me trying to be safe for my children and feeling the separation of a loved one,” Wilson said. “I’m going through my own personal issues at home. This past year has been a really trying time for all of us across the board.”

Wilson said that she went from her usual daily routine of treating patients with conditions like abdominal pain or cardiac arrest to having the type of daily emergencies morph into something she had

12 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | DECEMBER 21, 2020

never seen before once the pandemic began spreading throughout the city in March.

“We saw a lot WILSON of death. We saw a lot of families hurting because they couldn’t accompany their family member to the hospital,” she recalled. “It was a scary, scary time.”

Her job continued to evolve,

with her daily ritual becoming not just administering emergency health care to New Yorkers but also providing emotional support to devastated families relying on her and her fellow medical professionals to transport a loved one to the hospital.

“As EMTs, we are in the communities. We see people at their worst and at their best,” Wilson said. “We help people when they have an emergency, and we make sure we take care of them with dignity and

respect.”

As the year comes to a close, Wilson is still haunted by memories of the things she’s seen. The images stay with her: crying family members, scared children, even husbands dropping to their knees praying for the safe return of their wives, speaking in a language she couldn’t understand.

“It’s a visual image that will never leave me,” she said. “I had to put that aside for the city of New York.”

— B.P.

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Valerie Hawkins, train operator

She returned to the F line after recovering from her own diagnosis

BY BRIAN PASCUS

W

hen Valerie Hawkins kept coming to work as a train operator along the city’s F line during the spring, she couldn’t help but feel apprehensive about the coronavirus.

Her six years as an operator hadn’t prepared her for working amid this new disease.

“It was a bit scary, and it was definitely disheartening because every time I turned around, we unfortunately always heard about someone getting sick and falling ill,” Hawkins said.

HAWKINS

taste and smell, stomach problems and chronic fatigue.

“It was definitely one of the most harrowing experiences of my life,” she said. “Walking from my bedroom to my bathroom, which is only a couple of feet, felt like I ran a 5K.” She ended up missing three weeks’ worth of

“IT WAS DEFINITELY ONE OF THE MOST HARROWING EXPERIENCES OF MY LIFE”

Falling ill Then she got sick, and a test confirmed a Covid-19 diagnosis. Her symptoms included a pounding headache, no appetite, a loss of

work because of the virus. But not for a moment did Hawkins ever consider staying home once her health returned. She operates her

train during the 10 a.m.-to-7 p.m. shift. Most of the work is manual and requires her to be in a constant state of awareness.

“I enjoy operating,” she said.

Heavy losses But even as she returned, Hawkins understood that many of her fellow transit workers did not enjoy the same grace and good health. No city agency suffered more loss of life than the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

“We lost 131 people,” she said.

“We had people who didn’t have any preexisting conditions, and they fell sick and a lot of them died.

“It makes me fortunate and grateful to still be here and to serve the city.” ■

RETAIL/SERVICES

LaShunda Hardy, internet installer LASHUNDA HARDY HAS BEEN connecting New Yorkers to cable and the internet for 23 years, but she seldom was welcomed into people’s homes.

Until this year.

She sensed things had changed when she arrived at an apartment in late summer and five children emerged from their rooms to watch her every move.

“Mom said to me, HARDY ‘They’re standing there because they’re waiting for you to get the internet up,’ ” Hardy said.

At the start of the pandemic, Hardy had to take some time off

because her brother contracted Covid-19. But after quarantining, the Brooklyn native began working 10-hour days for Starry, a wireless internet provider.

As summer ended and parents began choosing the remote school option for their children, her phone heated up with service requests, and it hasn’t cooled.

She’s no longer ignored when she makes a house call. Customers regularly offer her refreshments. Some invite her to stop by after hours.

“Right now internet service is the biggest thing,” she said.

— A.E.

Josiah Cassar, pharmacy delivery worker JOSIAH CASSAR DELIVERS medication to about 30 people a day who can’t leave home. Many are elderly and live on Coney Island or Staten Island.

He’s been doing the work for two years for Medly Pharmacy. He says it’s the best job he’s ever had.

“My patients need me,” he said. “Sometimes I’m the only person they want to see.”

CASSAR Covid-19 made his work more stressful. With so many more people shut in, he started working weekends on top of working an extra three hours on weekdays. What’s

more, his wife lost her job when the pandemic started, and the couple had their second baby March 7.

But dedication to his patrons gives him purpose. One lives in a shelter; another cannot walk because of gout. He accompanied one to a bus stop so she wouldn’t have to wait on her own. Three have died during the pandemic.

Things have started to quiet down lately—a little.

“I’m taking Saturdays off now,” Cassar said. “I’m down to six days a week.”

— A.E.

FINCH

BUCK ENNIS

t

NYC CHAMPIONS

Gregg Finch, supermarket staffer

Two weeks’ worth of inventory disappeared in a day

BY AARON ELSTEIN

P

anicked New Yorkers emptied supermarket shelves when the city locked down. That there was anything to buy for a long time was because of people such as Gregg Finch, a supermarket worker at the Stop & Shop in Long Island City.

“People got to eat, but if we’re not in the stores, people aren’t eating,” he said.

Finch worked extra shifts for months, making sure the produce department was stocked. At the height of the frenzy, inventory that typically took two weeks to sell disappeared in a day. Customers were limited to two bunches of bananas and two gal-

lons of milk.

Adding to the pressure, some of Finch’s co-workers stayed home out of fear or to take care of their families.

“At the beginning I was scared, but I didn’t want my son and daughter to see it,” he said.

Pay increase In recognition of Finch and his colleagues going many extra miles, the store granted them a 10% bump in pay. That was welcome, but what they really needed was personal protective equipment, and what they got from the store at first was a small bottle of hand sanitizer, a mask and a plastic shield.

With the help of his union, Local 1500 of the United Food and

Commercial Workers, Finch attended a June meeting in Brooklyn with members of the Congressional Black Caucus, where he told them about conditions at his store and pleaded for more PPE. “The company was making money hand over fist, and I thought we should get the same consideration as nurses,” Finch said. “We are essential workers too.”

Within days of his appeal, the city delivered more masks and gallons of sanitizer.

By midsummer the panic had abated, and Finch returned to his normal 8 a.m.-to-5 p.m. shift.

One question lingers in his mind: “I wonder what people did with all that toilet paper.” ■

DECEMBER 21, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 13

NYC CHAMPIONS

HOSPITALITY/ARTS & CULTURE

OT

Sally Tallant, museum president

W th

O

HUGO GLENDINNING

ne of the first things Queens Museum President Sally Tallant noticed after the pandemic hit and the museum was forced to close was the increasing amount of trouble people in Corona were having getting access to food.

Given that the museum had already been looking for ways to get more involved with the community before Covid-19, it quickly decided to partner with two nonprofits, La Jornada and Together We Can Community Resource Center, to convert TALLANT the museum into a food pantry.

“We’ve now distributed food to 13,450 families, and it’s running really well,” Tallant said. “The volunteers are incredible.”

The museum started giving out food June 17 after getting the necessary approvals from the city. It distributes goods between 2 and 5 p.m. Wednesdays. People need to

It t

make appointments so the museum can manage the amount of food it has and the amount of people who show up.

W

‘Joyful space’ The additional space has allowed La Jornada to distribute much more food than it otherwise would have been able to, and Tallant said watching the children play in the park while their parents are getting provisions has been an extremely rewarding aspect of the pantry.

“It’s something that’s really important, to provide a joyful space at this time for people,” she said.

The Queens Museum has since reopened, but Tallant still has no plans to end the pantry. Rather, staffers are now trying to figure out the best way to keep it going as the seasons change.

“Is there an end date to food poverty?” Tallant asked. “As long as it’s needed, we’ll work together with our communities to find ways to provide what they need.” ■

Peter Lawrence, hotel owner THE WYTHE HOTEL in Williamsburg and rest before going back to faced a tsunami of cancellations work.”

Lawrence said he has never when the pandemic began in March, but rather than let those been prouder of his hotel staff for being so willing to help. rooms stay vacant, owner He also praised the more Peter Lawrence and his than 100 medical workstaff opted to open them ers who stayed at the houp to medical workers free tel, describing them as of charge. thankful, gracious and “I was nervous about the best guests the propdoing that and the risks erty has ever had. that would bring to the “One of the doctors or people that worked in the nurses left a note with hotel,” Lawrence said, “but the front desk that just we agreed that it was more LAWRENCE said ‘Hope,’ ” he said. than a waste to have 70 hotel rooms empty while these peo- “And when you flipped it over, it ple needed a safe space to shower said, ‘Hold on. Pain ends.’ ” — E.S.

RAMIREZ

BUCK ENNIS

BY EDDIE SMALL

Grace Ramirez, chef

She turned restaurants into food-distribution centers

Gre

BY GWEN EVERETT

G

race Ramirez has used her gifts as a chef in service of others in distant places, but in March the pandemic showed up at her door in New York City.

“A lot of my friends left the city right when it started. Pretty much everyone I knew and who is close to me left. And I couldn’t leave,” Ramirez said. “I was going to be here, serving the community. To me, it was kind of like the perfect storm—of a tragedy, right, but I was able to somehow be a light.”

Ramirez saw the need building in her city, and as a 15-year restaurant industry veteran, she knew which people to call and what restaurants to enlist. As an ambassador for World Central

Kitchen, the international nonprofit founded by Jose Andres, she led the effort of turning city restaurants into food-distribution centers.

“I was like, ‘OK, universe, enlighten me. How are we going to do this?’ ” she recalled. “I had a huge map, and I was like, OK,

Feed the Frontlines program has served more than 140,000 free meals, keeping more than 135 restaurant workers employed in the process. He credits his daughterturned-colleague, Isabella, for much of the program’s success.

“I definitely know that I’ve learned more over that past seven months than I have in the past seven years,” said the younger di Pi-

14 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | DECEMBER 21, 2020

from 500 meals a day for frontline workers and hungry New Yorkers to 100,000 meals a day.

“As time passed, we said, ‘Wait, let’s buy meals from restaurants to distribute, right?’ Because that way, we’re not only feeding people in need, but we’re helping the whole chain. We’re helping all those people that are in the restaurant industry, that are struggling, that have no work.”

That move helped keep more than 250 restaurants open. Momand-pop establishments were the priority, she said.

“They’re such staples to the community,” Ramirez said. “So I said, ‘If we lose these institutions, it’s going to be the same thing as losing the Empire State Building for some of us.’ We can’t lose these staples.” ■

“AS TIME PASSED, WE SAID, ‘WAIT, LET’S BUY MEALS FROM RESTAURANTS’ ’’ who can I turn into a distribution site?”

Helping restaurants In the early days of the effort, she worked remotely because she had contracted Covid-19. She eventually boosted the operation

Luca and Isabella di Pietro, restaurateurs WHEN COVIID-19 SHUT DOWN his five Tarallucci e Vino restaurant locations, Luca di Pietro did not wallow.

“I’m used to working quite a lot, and the idea of being in the house and really doing nothing was not conceivable,” he said. Within days he delivered his first set of dinners, 40 meals, to frontline workers at NYU Langone Hospital.

The better half of a year later, his

in w ined wen plac hub and plac of a N they thei the our one ning dow first that may off hom way

etro, who is home from Harvard to help her father run Feed the Frontlines. Besides learning logistics and nonprofit basics on the fly, she enlisted her classmates to help her pull together a website for the program—in under a day.

“I knew she was a hard worker, but I didn’t realize she would put me to shame,” said her proud father.

— G.E.

LUCA AND ISABELLA DI PIETRO

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NYC CHAMPIONS

OTHER VOICES

When the city needed help, the Navy Yard came through

W

d 0 s e

e I , s g e

BUCK ENNIS

the effort in March, and by midApril our businesses were proudly producing a quarter of all PPE in the city. After 12 weeks, yard tenants had produced nearly 2 million individual pieces of PPE for first responders.

These companies—small businesses investing in the future of urban manufacturing—were coming together to pull our city from the brink. When the demand from first responders thankfully began to wane, we turned to the question of how to get these products to the broader public. So we launched the Made in the Yard initiative, which includes custom vending machines for local office buildings that sell Navy Yard–made PPE and a part-

THE YARD HAS REPEATEDLY RISEN TO THE CHALLENGE IN TIMES OF CRISIS tured a low-cost ventilator. Bednark Studio and Duggal Visual Solutions partnered on plastic face shields. Military contractor Crye Precision coordinated with fashion house Lafayette 148 not only to produce hospital gowns but also to make their patterns and design specs available to other producers around the city.

In all, 27 of our companies joined

nership with Brooklyn-based West Elm to sell masks made by yard tenants nationally.

The Brooklyn Navy Yard has always been a hub of industry, innovation and employment throughout its 220-year history. During World War II, we were known worldwide as the “Can-Do Yard,” a nickname earned by our efforts to keep the American fleet in service.

Our continuing efforts to foster a sense of community and creativity among our tenants made it easy for them to collaborate for the greater good of our city.

When the city faced a profound crisis, the Brooklyn Navy Yard delivered—and we always will. ■ David Ehrenberg is the president and chief executive officer of the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Health care champions were selfless Their acts of kindness went well beyond the medical care they gave to patients

N

ew York is epic. Our ruled that individual liberty cannot character has been be at the expense of the welfare of forged by unparalleled the nation as a whole. This is all the achievement and how more true during a public health crisis, such as the one we are expewe’ve confronted adversity.

I’ve seen a lot of adversity during riencing, when, for example, face masks should be worn my 40 years as a physinot only to protect ourcian: the tragedy of the selves but also to protect AIDS crisis; the horror our families, our friends, and desecration that was our neighbors and our 9/11; natural disasters, fellow New Yorkers. among them Superstorm That’s the sort of selfSandy; and today, a lethal lessness our heroes disand highly contagious viplay every day, when they rus virtually unknown to are working around the us just a year ago. clock on the ground, The courage and transporting critically ill strength that I’ve wit- DR. STEVEN patients; at bedsides, carnessed on the part of CORWIN ing for them; and in our frontline caregivers at labs, developing theraNew York-Presbyterian— and across the city—in the past peutics to slow the disease and vacnine months have been remark- cines to defeat it. They also display able. But it’s the selflessness that’s it when they are working together, unforgettable.

At our core, we Americans have bedrock ideas about freedom.

We cherish it, but we also recognize it doesn’t absolve us of the responsibility we owe to one another and our communities. In 1901 the U.S. Supreme Court heard a landmark case, Jacobson v. Massachusetts, with resilience and adaptability, to about requiring vaccination during reconfigure hospital spaces—and a smallpox epidemic. The court the essential equipment, like venti-

pital and cheering on our nursing students at a do-it-yours elf graduation ceremony.

Superheroes I will never run out of superlatives when talking about the heroism of New York-Presbyterian caregivers and those who support them in confronting the pandemic. But a description that sums it up nicely, I think, is one I saw on a T-shirt while doing rounds not too long ago. It read: “Not All Superheroes Wear Capes, Some Wear Scrubs.”

In New York, over these past incredibly hard nine months, nothing could be truer. ■ BUCK ENNIS

, s t e l n , t

ployed and first responders protected.

Fashion designers such as Rebel Designs and Stitch NYC began producing masks and gowns. Other companies that usually specialized in cosmetics and spirits, such as Scully’s and Kings County Distillery, shifted to hand sanitizer. A collaboration of small businesses at New Lab, our on-site incubator for high-tech product design companies, engineered and manufac-

BUCK ENNIS

e -

BLOOMBERG

Z

hen the city was port our fellow New Yorkers was to struck by the corona- tap into our greatest resource: our virus pandemic, our incredible array of cutting-edge lives were upended manufacturing talent. Throughout in ways we never could have imag- its history, the yard and its workers ined. Almost overnight our city have repeatedly risen to the chalwent from the busiest lenge in times of crisis. In place in the world and the the past it was the shiphub of global commerce builders of World War and culture to a shuttered II; today it would be the place, haunted by the wail innovative fashion deof ambulances. signers and the craft disNew Yorkers did what tilleries, among others, they could do to support coming together for a their neighbors, although higher purpose. We got the uncertainty limited to work. our ability to interact with Even in non-Covid-19 one another. In the eve- DAVID times, one of our greatest strengths is the dynamic nings we opened our win- EHRENBERG ability of our tenants to dows and clapped for our collaborate. After all, that first responders, hopeful that someday—maybe in weeks, ecosystem is what led many of maybe in months—we could take them to the yard to begin with. So off our masks, come out of our with the city in crisis, we knew we homes and embrace them in the could rely on them to creatively work together to produce personal way they deserved. protective equipment. We began Greatest resource working the phones day and night, At the Brooklyn Navy Yard, home coordinating with the city to help to more than 450 businesses and tenants quickly pivot to PPE pro11,000 workers, we immediately duction. Through this work, we decided that the best way to sup- kept businesses afloat, people em-

BUCK ENNIS

It tapped into the cutting-edge talent of its manufacturers

lators, within them—to care for unprecedented surges of patients needing intensiveunit care. And they display it when they are drawing on tremendous ingenuity to apply cuttingedge technologies in new ways to allow for the care of patients remotely, inside the patients’ own homes.

It’s the sort of selflessness that

INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY CAN’T BE GRANTED AT THE EXPENSE OF THE NATION

drives our caregivers to become surrogate family members, talking to patients through the night, holding their hands and washing their hair, when their own loved ones can’t. This selflessness translates into the tremendous unity of spirit we’ve seen across the city in big ways—such as the wonderful 7 p.m. thank-yous to medical workers— and small ways, such as the residents of Inwood standing outside our temporary Covid-19 field hos-

Dr. Steven Corwin is the chief executive of New York-Presbyterian Hospital and a member of the Crain’s New York Business Hall of Fame.

DECEMBER 21, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 15

NYC CHAMPIONS

OTHER VOICES

PH

Broadway heroes fed our souls

C

that everyone can get back to work.

Finally, I think about my tireless team, whose members have been significantly reduced in number but not in dedication. They continue to show what champions they are, how essential they are and how meaningful they are to this thing

called Broadway, which gives the city the sparkle and shine known all over the world.

So stay tuned. Broadway will be back, and we are worth the wait! ■ Charlotte St. Martin is president of the Broadway League.

Keep your employees

connected with a corporate subscription

THE CHINATOWN COMMUNITY YOUNG LIONS

BUCK ENNIS

acher, who has been sustaining the industry throughout this crisis so that we can bring Broadway’s 97,000 jobs back to New York City. I see the league’s government relations leaders, Jeff Daniel and Seth Stuhl, who are working tirelessly for the federal relief our industry so desperately needs to survive. I see our labor committee cochairs, Maggie Brohn and Anthony La Torella, working together with the leaders of Broadway’s 14 unions to bring us back to our theaters in the safest ways possible.

There are so many more heroes in the industry I could mention, but kudos must be given to the Times Square Alliance’s Tim Tomkins and Tom Harris. And to superhero Fred Dixon, president of NYC & Company, who is working with the city and the state to bring the tourists back to New York so

WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN

H

eroes come in many began, they have been a lifeline to forms, and during the those who are facing economic and pandemic we have cer- health care hardships. Joe Benincatainly seen many of our sa at the Actors Fund and Tom Vioessential workers redefine what a la, executive director of Broadway true hero is. You might ask, “How Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, have can there be heroes in the world of done an incredible of job of raising millions of dollars and providing fiBroadway and the arts?”

But if you think a minute longer, nancial support to so many. you’ll realize that without refilling Benefit events our souls with joy, life just isn’t the same. And that's Hardly a day goes by what the Broadway inwithout an online benefit dustry has been doing. event taking place someI think about Brian where around the counStokes Mitchell, the Tony try, led by theater artists Award–winning actor and who lend their talents to Broadway icon who support various causes. is chairman of the Actors Actors, musicians and all Fund. After he recovered of the many people who from his bout with create these events are Covid-19, he sang from CHARLOTTE true heroes. his terrace to essential ST. MARTIN When I look at the workers every day. members of the Broadway I think about organizations such League’s 42 task forces and the as the Actors Fund and Broadway more than 250 top industry leaders Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, which who volunteer to serve on them, I have long been on the front lines of see heroes who are giving tirelessly providing services and aid to the of their time and talents. I see the community. Since the pandemic league’s chairman, Tom Schum-

BUCK ENNIS

Theaters may be dark, but actors lent their talents to good causes around the country

A corporate subscription to Crain’s New York Business provides you, and your organization, with a competitive edge over others in the New York metro area. Purchase access for as few as five users, or your entire organization. Pricing is tailored by company size, and discounted rates are available for large groups.

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16 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | DECEMBER 21, 2020

GETTY IMAGES

KEITH BARRACLOUGH

THE CHINATOWN COMMUNITY YOUNG LIONS

of GETTY IMAGES

KEITH BARRACLOUGH

THE CHINATOWN COMMUNITY YOUNG LIONS

l be !■

WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN

the n all

GETTY IMAGES

BUCK ENNIS

NYC CHAMPIONS

PHOTO ESSAY

Covid brought out the best in New York

DECEMBER 21, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 17

THE LIST TOP HEALTH INSURERS Ranked by number of recipients enrolled in Medicaid managed care

RANK

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

NYC MEDICAID RECIPIENTS

SIGN-UPS THROUGH TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE FOR NEEDY FAMILIES 1

SIGN-UPS THROUGH SAFETY NET ASSISTANCE 2

SIGN-UPS THROUGH SUPPLEMENTAL SECURITY INCOME 3

SIGN-UPS THROUGH NEW YORK STATE OF HEALTH

INSURER/ LOCAL ADDRESS

PHONE NUMBER/ WEBSITE

HEAD OF OFFICE

Healthfirst 100 Church St. New York, NY 10007

212-801-6000 healthfirst.org

Pat Wang President, chief executive

951,843

159,248

90,998

56,481

645,116

Fidelis Care 95-25 Queens Blvd.

Rego Park, NY 11374

718-896-6500 fideliscare.org

Thomas Halloran Chief executive

611,831

76,756

60,624

28,395

446,056

MetroPlus Health Plan 160 Water St. New York, NY 10038

212-908-8600 metroplus.org

Talya Schwartz President, chief executive

418,036

74,466

37,269

17,941

288,360

Empire BlueCross BlueShield HealthPlus 9 Pine St. New York, NY 10005

800-300-8181 empireblue.com/nymedicaid

Jennifer Kuhn President, New York Medicaid

327,270

61,594

35,922

15,689

214,065

UnitedHealthcare 1 Penn Plaza New York, NY 10119

212-216-6400 uhc.com

Michael McGuire Chief executive, UnitedHealthcare of New York

207,444

35,994

24,415

8,787

138,248

Affinity Health Plan 1776 Eastchester Road Bronx, NY 10461

866-247-5678 affinityplan.org

Michael Murphy President, chief executive

147,826

21,759

15,765

7,815

102,487

HIP of Greater New York 55 Water St. New York, NY 10041

646-447-5000 emblemhealth.com

Karen Ignagni President, chief executive

103,991

18,798

16,023

7,596

61,574

Data is as of November 2020 and excludes enrollment in Medicaid special-needs, managed long-term care and health and recovery plans. Source: State Department of Health with additional research by Meena Thiruvengadam. 1--Assists families with children when the parents or other responsible relatives cannot provide for the family's basic needs. 2--Provides cash assistance to eligible needy individuals and families who are not eligible for Family Assistance. 3--Federal income supplement program to fulfill basic needs for aged, blind and disabled people earning little or no income. It has the same application as Medicaid.

PLEASE NOTE: NOTABLE FEATURES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

18 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | DECEMBER 21, 2020

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FORUM

Next city mayor will be a reaction to de Blasio, experts say

BY BRIAN PASCUS

T

he 2021 mayoral election will be a referendum on Bill de Blasio’s two terms in office, according to three political experts who broke down the mayor’s race in a wide-ranging discussion with Crain’s New York Business.

“Every mayor gets elected as a reaction to the past mayor,” said George Arzt, a political consultant and former press secretary to Mayor Ed Koch. “The next mayor will have to have leadership and inspiration and know how to do things.”

Monica Klein, founding partner of Seneca Strategies, a progressive political consulting firm that has endorsed 12 City Council candidates, emphasized voters want to turn the page.

“They’re looking for not Bill de Blasio,” she said. “I think that is going to define the race in the same way his race was defined by not being Bloomberg last time.”

Yvette Buckner, managing director at Tusk Strategies, agreed with the anti–de Blasio sentiment. But

voters, she said, will be looking for a candidate who can communicate across a diverse electorate and talk “from boardrooms to living rooms” about the economy and the ongoing public health crisis.

“The central theme peo- ARZT ple are concerned about is the economy,” she said, adding that 13% of residents of New York City are unemployed, “and yet billionaires increased their net worth by 13%.”

Klein said one candidate is suited to spread this message. She cited Comptroller Scott Stringer’s managerial experience, criticism of de Blasio’s bloated budgets and ardent support for social justice causes as factors that could help him.

“He’s someone who can say, ‘I was the comptroller. I understand the city budget, but at the same time I have progressive credentials,’” Klein said, noting that the use of ranked-choice voting this year gives someone like Stringer a chance to expand his appeal.

“I think he could be folks’ second

Voters inherently rank candidates in their head, Buckner said, and the novel process will help weed out special interests while it evens the field.

“You have to have a strategy to cut through BUCKNER KLEIN and make your voice or third or fourth choice,” Klein heard and be everyone’s second or added. third [choice],” she said.

How the responsibilities of the Ranked choice office have grown came up, with On the topic of ranked-choice Arzt providing firsthand knowledge voting, the three panelists agreed it from his decades of experience inwould change the nature of cam- side and outside City Hall.

“The job has changed radically,” paigning and force candidates to temper their personal attacks on he said, listing technology and ecoone another, lest they anger voters nomic development as two core newho may rank them lower. cessities all incoming mayors must

understand. “There are so many things that were not a priority for previous mayors.”

Finally, the experts discussed the City Council races, which, because of term limits, will bring 34 new members into the 51-person chamber. The recent success of the Democratic Socialists of America in the Assembly, Senate and congressional races could portend a growing caucus. DSA has six candidates running in Queens and Brooklyn.

“City Council’s a numbers game.

How can you have power over the speaker and the mayor when you only have six votes?” Klein said, conceding that the group is “growing in power, and they’re growing steadily and slowly.” ■

THANK YOU Crain’s acknowledges the presenting sponsor of the business forum, United Airlines, as well as its corporate members, Brown & Weinraub, BTEA, Cozen O’Connor, GCA, George Arzt Communications, Greenberg Traurig, Kasirer, Nicholas & Lence Communications and Patrick B. Jenkins & Associates. Without their support, this business forum would not have been possible.

IN THE MARKETS

Sequential Brands, former owner of Martha Stewart label, charged with fraud $353M

I

20 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | DECEMBER 21, 2020

share price and made it tougher to strike addiAMOUNT tional acquisiSequential tions.

Brands Group The firm sat paid for Stewart’s on the bad news label in 2015 for more than a year, during which time it reported financial results with material errors, the SEC said. For example, the company overstated operating income for 2016 by at least $100 million.

In early 2018 the company finally spilled the beans and took a $304.1 million write-down.

SBGONLINE

n 2015 fashion house Sequen- Brands withheld information from tial Brands Group acquired the outside auditor CohnReznick.

The SEC seeks a fine and injuncMartha Stewart label, figuring the high-profile brand would tive relief and says its investigation give business a boost. It soon be- is continuing.

An attorney for Secame clear internally that quential Brands, Mary the boost wasn’t happenBeth Maloney of the firm ing and Sequential would Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, have to take a big loss, said: “We are deeply disleaving officials at the appointed with the SEC’s company, led by Chief Exdecision to bring a meritecutive Yehuda Shmidless action, and the comman, with a decision: pany will defend itself Should they tell investors? vigorously. The company They chose not to.

Now the government is AARON ELSTEIN believes that it has complied with GAAP and SEC bringing the heat. rules … and is confident Two weeks ago the Manhattan-based company was that at trial—if a trial is even necessued by the Securities and Ex- sary—it will be vindicated.” change Commission, which claimed the firm made “materially Bad news false and misleading” statements.

Although the SEC action involves The government alleges Sequential decisions made at Sequential years executives knew soon after buying ago, the case is timely as companies Martha Stewart that they would grapple with sharing bad news reneed to write down the company’s lated to the pandemic. asset value by at least $100 million This month Cheesecake Factory but “unreasonably” failed to do so. was charged by the SEC with falsely Sweeping the bad news under claiming its restaurants were “operthe rug enabled the company to re- ating sustainably” in March as lockport inflated financial results for downs swept the nation. In fact, the more than a year, the SEC alleged. company was losing $6 million in The company’s net loss for 2016 cash every week, with 16 weeks of would have been 54 times larger cash remaining. Cheesecake Factothan reported had it followed ac- ry agreed to a $125,000 fine. counting rules, the SEC claimed, Sequential Brands’ problems further claiming that Sequential cropped up shortly after the fashion

“Strategic alternatives” house bought Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia for $353 million in 2015. It was the highest-profile of a series of deals struck that year by Shmidman, a fashion-industry consolidator from Teaneck, N.J., who got his start selling iPods preloaded with Jewish lectures on the streets of New York.

Shortly before buying Martha Stewart, Shmidman agreed to pay $120 million to acquire the Jessica Simpson shoes and clothing line and the year before bought retailer Linens ’n Things as part of a $285 million deal. He also had acquired the rest of William Rast, a clothing brand started by Justin Timberlake, who was a Sequential shareholder.

But heading into the fall of 2016, retailers were reporting Sequential’s fashion lines were deeply unfashionable. Sales for a line of shoes were down 51%, while operating margins for a key brand were about half as much as anticipated, the SEC said.

By December Sequential’s finance executives understood the company had no choice but to write down the value of millions’ worth of assets, as required by accounting rules when an asset is impaired and expected to never generate previously projected cash flows, the SEC said. A big write-down not only would have been embarrassing, but it also would have hurt Sequential’s

Shmidman, who stepped down from Sequential in March 2017, is now CEO of WHP Global, a company that bid unsuccessfully for the bankrupt Brooks Brothers. A WHP spokesman didn’t immediately return a request for comment. Shmidman was not named in the SEC action.

In 2019 Sequential Brands sold Martha Stewart for $215 million, or about $140 million less than it paid for it. This month the company announced it is exploring “strategic alternatives.”

“Such strategic alternatives may include the sale of the company or the divestiture of one or more existing brands,” it said. ■

2021

T

hat the right to counsel is enshrined in the Bill of Rights speaks to the centrality of legal representation in a free and fair

society.

Attorneys sit between the law and the people it protects, wielding the former in service to the latter. That function has taken on increased importance of late, as a rare confluence of social, economic and health challenges have befallen society. But New York’s lawyers—a legion of defenders and advocates like no other—have proved remarkably nimble and relentless.

It is in the spirit of that recognition that Crain’s selected these 103 honorees for its 2021 list of Notable Women in Law. These impressive attorneys were chosen not only for their skills and accomplishments, but also for their efforts to shore

up the edifice of justice. In the public and private sectors, domestically and abroad, and across industries and sectors, these lawyers—litigators, dealmakers, prosecutors, defenders and investigators—work to uphold the law as Thomas Hobbes described it: “the public conscience.”

To find these honorees, Crain’s consulted with trusted sources in the legal industry and in the general New York business world. The many nominations submitted by organizations and individuals in the metropolitan area were carefully vetted. Ultimately, each notable lawyer was selected for her professional achievements and her pro bono work or involvement in industry and community organizations.

Read on to learn how these outstanding lawyers are championing justice and bolstering commerce each day.

LAUREN E. AGUIAR

MERIAM AL-RASHID

DONNA ALDEA

CARMITA ALONSO

KATRINE BECK

Partner Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom

Global co-chair of the international arbitration practice Eversheds Sutherland

Partner Barket Epstein Kearon Aldea & LoTurco

Managing partner Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy

Co-founder and partner Fullerton Beck

Lauren Aguiar has extensive experience representing plaintiffs and defendants in a bevy of legal arenas: breach of contract, fraud and fiduciary duty litigation, false advertising, trademark and disputes related to employment.

The Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom partner also advises clients—individual and institutional trustees, executors, banks, beneficiaries and family offices—on matters of private wealth, often litigating on their behalf. Aguiar, who chairs the Skadden Foundation, also boasts expertise in probate contests, trust litigation and accounting matters. She’s no stranger to industry awards: Aguiar is a serial nominee for the Chambers USA America’s Leading Lawyers for Business list, and she was named a rising star for three consecutive years

by Benchmark Litigation.

Meriam Al-Rashid’s practice spans several continents and industries. As global co-chair of the international arbitration practice at Eversheds Sutherland and co-head of its Latin America arbitration practice, she has served as counsel in disputes and transactions worldwide. In those engagements—largely in the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe—Al-Rashid represents clients in the mining, infrastructure, oil and gas, textiles and hospitality industries in various international disputes. Those include investment arbitration, commercial arbitration and foreign investor risk management. She also has been involved in post-conflict peace negotiations and in the investigation and adjudication of war crimes. Recently, for instance, Al-Rashid has worked on legal matters pertaining to the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar and war crimes committed in Iraq and Libya.

Donna Aldea is a partner at the boutique law firm Barket Epstein Kearon Aldea & LoTurco as well as head of its post-conviction and appellate practice group, but that comes on the heels of her years (1999–2013) as an assistant district attorney in Queens County. Aldea bore various responsibilities in that role: senior appellate attorney, supervisor in the appeals bureau and, ultimately, the district attorney’s counsel for special litigation. Her professional trajectory has seen Aldea litigate hundreds of criminal appeals, federal habeas corpus cases and pretrial and post-conviction motions before judicial bodies as varied as the New York state Supreme Court, the New York Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court. Aldea also has served as co-counsel in homicide trials, for which she handles complex evidentiary matters.

One need not choose between impressive professional achievements and meaningful pro bono work. In her day job, as managing partner at Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, Carmita Alonso represents technology organizations and financial services companies, among other corporate clients, counseling them on strategic decisions related to immigration programs with the twin goals of mitigating risk and ensuring compliance. Working alongside clients’ human resources teams, stakeholders, legal departments and government relations groups, Alonso explicates policy changes and helps clients modify their immigration programs. She is a member of the firm’s executive committee, but in her off-hours, she participates in pro bono work led by the Justice Center. Alonso, whose volunteer efforts are concentrated on assisting the Latino community, spent six years on the board of the City Bar Fund.

Katrine Beck’s litigation acumen is evident in the various settings where she conducts her practice: in state court, in federal court and at the mediation and arbitration table. That’s why clients of all walks turn to her for counsel, from individuals, small businesses and public corporations to property managers, co-op boards and insurance carriers. Beck, co-founder and partner at the firm Fullerton Beck, routinely deals with general liability issues—involving negligence, construction accidents and motor vehicle accidents—and risk management. For the latter, she drafts and reviews contracts and proposals and provides a legal defense when necessary. Beck, a previous employee of the New York City Law Department, has been included in the New York Metro Super Lawyers listing since 2016.

THERE ARE APPROXIMATELY 1.3 MILLION LAWYERS IN THE U.S. BETWEEN 2019 AND 2029, THE EMPLOYMENT OF LAWYERS IS PREDICTED TO INCREASE BY 4%.

Sources: Statista; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics DECEMBER 21, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 21

BARBARA BECKER

KERRY BERCHEM

ERICA BERTHOU

SARAH BISER

JESSICA BOELTER

Partner Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher

Partner Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld When companies emerge from bankruptcy or financial restructuring, they often require advice on governance programs, financing and the execution of business strategies.

Enter Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld partner Kerry Berchem, who does that and more for her many clients.

Berchem, an expert on taxdriven transactions, works with post-restructured companies in various sectors to leverage tax positions and execute multibillion-dollar transactions.

She is particularly knowledgeable about the reinsurance sector, having advised on the formation, capitalization and sale of hedge fund-sponsored reinsurers.

Berchem, a recipient of numerous professional awards, is outside general counsel for several publicly traded companies.

Partner Kirkland & Ellis

Partner Fox Rothschild

Partner White & Case

Private-fund formation is a tricky business—but luckily for investment fund sponsors, Erica Berthou is armed with a variety of strategies to accomplish that goal. She has counseled American and international clients on formations that collectively are valued at hundreds of billions of dollars. Berthou, a partner at Kirkland & Ellis in its investment funds group, also has experience doing similar work in emerging markets, assisting in the establishment of offices and other infrastructure in those locales.

Berthou, an established adviser to senior management at private-equity firms, provides counsel on strategic investments and structuring issues in advance of liquidity events. She has been recognized for her expertise by Chambers USA, Chambers Global and The Legal 500.

Sarah Biser, who has been ranked by Chambers USA as a leader in construction law for 11 years running, represents owners, contractors, developers, architects and engineers throughout the project life cycle. Biser, a partner and co-chair of the national construction law and international arbitration group at Fox Rothschild, concentrates primarily on large-scale projects; she drafts and negotiates contracts and litigates disputes both in court and in arbitration. Biser has represented an array of clients, including the New York Power Authority, Princeton University, Verizon and the Hudson River Park Trust. Biser co-chairs her firm’s Israel Practice Group, and she is co-author of the New York Construction Law Manual.

Jessica Boelter serves as lead counsel for the Boy Scouts of America in its highly public and highly fraught Chapter 11 proceedings.

The partner in the financial restructuring and insolvency practice at White & Case is accustomed to such weighty representations. Boelter has counseled clients in a wide range of in-court and out-ofcourt restructuring matters, routinely handling complex Chapter 11 cases and mass tort assignments. In addition, she is adept at various out-of-court representations in connection with debt-for-equity exchanges and other corporate and debt restructurings. White & Case only recently gained Boelter’s services; she joined the firm in October upon leaving her former role as global co-chair of restructuring at Sidley Austin.

Barbara Becker is widely regarded as one of New York’s top mergers-and-acquisitions lawyers—a notion that more than a dozen industry awards substantiate. As a partner and co-chair of the mergers and acquisitions practice group at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Becker guides clients through business and legal processes, such as domestic and international mergers and acquisitions, spinoffs and joint ventures, among other corporate matters. Those clients are concentrated in the retail, technology, health care and industrial industries and include Accenture, PepsiCo, Evercore, and UBS. Becker is chair of her firm’s diversity committee and the New York City Bar’s Mergers, Acquisitions and Corporate Control Contests Committee.

She is also a member of the board of trustees at her alma mater, New York University School of Law.

REVENUE FOR THE GLOBAL LEGAL SERVICES SECTOR IS FORECAST TO HIT $767.1 BILLION IN 2021 FOLLOWING THE COVID-19–INDUCED DOWNTURN OF 2020.

Source: Statista

ERICA BUCKLEY

REGINA CALCATERRA

NANCY CHEMTOB

MELISSA CLARK

CARRIE COHEN

Partner Nixon Peabody

Co-founding partner Calcaterra Pollack

Founding and managing partner Chemtob Moss Forman & Beyda

Attorney FeganScott

Partner Morrison & Foerster

As the former chief of the real estate finance bureau for the New York attorney general, Erica Buckley led a team that was responsible for the review of securities filings—offering plans, amendments and no-action letters—and enforcement, such as investigations and litigations. That experience served as a springboard to Buckley’s current partner position at Nixon Peabody, where she oversees transactional issues and government investigations involving real estate securities as cooperatives and condominiums practice team leader. Buckley represents for-profit and nonprofit developers, lenders and government agencies, advising clients on how to best meet regulatory requirements. Drawing on her earlier experience, she also assists clients under investigation by the attorney general. Buckley is a member of Habitat for Humanity New York City and is on its leadership council.

Regina Calcaterra, a co-founder of a 100% women-owned law firm, represents businesses, individuals, public entities, and labor health and welfare benefit funds in state and federal litigation.

Before founding her eponymous firm, Calcaterra Pollack, she worked at securities and consumer class-action litigation firms and in an executive position for Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Calcaterra is author of New York Times best-selling memoir “Etched in Sand: A True Story of Five Siblings Who Survived an Unspeakable Childhood on Long Island.” She speaks nationwide about the plight of older foster children and abused and abandoned children. She has won several awards for legal and advocacy work.

Nancy Chemtob is a leading matrimonial and family law attorney. Her practice is grounded in an awareness that her representation often has abiding ramifications on her clients’—and their children’s— lives. Chemtob, a founding and managing partner at Chemtob Moss Forman & Beyda, is adept at negotiation, and she works to arrive at advantageous out-of-court settlements wherever possible.

That’s not to say her courtroom skills are lacking: Chemtob is an aggressive and able trial attorney who has made or altered New York state family law in multiple cases. Chemtob, a past guest lecturer at Harvard Law School, has shared her expertise in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker and The Atlantic.

Satisfied clients credit Melissa Clark with recovering millions of dollars on their behalf. She’s a seasoned litigator with a diverse caseload and client base. Clark has represented consumers and investors in class-action suits, businesses and municipalities in commercial litigation, and individuals in employment cases. Before joining FeganScott in 2020, she had stints at a boutique New York litigation firm and at Milberg, a national class-action firm. Clark completed two judicial externships while at Tulane University Law School.

She served on the Moot Court Board as a senior fellow for legal research and writing, and she was a faculty writing instructor for Tulane’s Freeman School of Business.

Carrie Cohen, a partner in Morrison & Foerster’s Investigations and White Collar Defense Group, is a notably singular asset to her team. The highly experienced trial attorney previously put in successful stints in the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York and in the New York attorney general’s office. In her role at the former, she tried a number of high-profile cases involving, among other areas, investment fraud and public corruption—including the conviction of former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. At Morrison & Foerster, Cohen is co-chair of the firm’s Workplace Misconduct Investigations Task Force.

22 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | DECEMBER 21, 2020

We congratulate all of the distinguished lawyers recognized

by Crain’s New York Business as Notable Women in Law, including our partners Michelle Gitlitz and Ilana Lubin

Michelle Gitlitz

Ilana Lubin

Their dedication to clients, commitment to the community, and vision in their fields of law are leading the way for generations of lawyers to come

Š Copyright 2020 Crowell & Moring

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WENDY COHEN

KATHRYN A. COLEMAN

MELISSA COLÓN-BOSOLET

BROOKE CUCINELLA

LENI MORRISON CUMMINS

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Partner Katten

Partner Hughes Hubbard & Reed

Partner Sidley Austin

Partner Simpson Thacher & Bartlett

Member Cozen O’Connor

C O

To the uninitiated, regulations governing the structuring and operation of private-investment funds can prove a quagmire. For that reason, asset managers routinely turn to Wendy Cohen, a Katten partner, for help minimizing their risk of regulatory violation while maximizing their commercial impact. Cohen, who is co-chair of the investment management and funds group, leverages her knowledge in offering bespoke practical strategies for each client. In particular, she has broad experience in domestic and international offering requirements, futures regulation, investment adviser rules and broker-dealer regulations.

Cohen makes it her business to remain apprised of legal issues with bearing on fund operations: cryptocurrency, cybersecurity rules, and U.S. and EU privacy regulations.

Bankruptcy expert Kathryn Coleman employs sweeping knowledge of insolvency matters as co-chair of her firm’s corporate reorganization practice.

The partner at Hughes Hubbard & Reed has handled a lot in her 35 years in the industry: trade secret and anti-corruption law cases, nationwide Department of Justice investigations, restructurings for domestic and offshore companies, out-ofcourt restructurings, investments and acquisitions.

Coleman’s clientele includes Chapter 11 debtors, equity sponsors, secured lenders, unsecured creditors and strategic buyers. Coleman is a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy who speaks frequently on the subject and participates in programs sponsored by the American Bankruptcy Institute and the New York City Bar Association, among others. Coleman has received several awards for her insolvency expertise.

Melissa Colón-Bosolet’s litigation expertise is second to none. The Sidley Austin partner represents clients in high-risk business disputes—ably attending to all aspects of pleadings, discovery and trial—in federal courts, state courts, arbitrations and internal investigations.

Financial institutions, brokerdealers, investment advisers and senior corporate officers turn to Colón-Bosolet for issues ranging from breach of contract and business torts to securities claims and governmental investigations. Not surprisingly, she’s won her fair share of accolades: ColónBosolet was named a rising star by the New York Law Journal in 2020, and she was recognized

by Super Lawyers from 2014 through 2018. Colón-Bosolet has served as chair of the New York City Bar Association’s Women in the Legal Profession Committee.

Chambers USA has described Brooke Cucinella as “an experienced, savvy litigator”— an accurate characterization.

In her role as partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, Cucinella represents companies, boards and executives in various investigations and disputes, and she guides clients through crisis response planning and cybersecurity events. The former federal securities fraud prosecutor has investigated and prosecuted various financial crimes, including accounting fraud, insider trading, market manipulation, bank fraud, tax fraud and money laundering. Cucinella is skilled at arranging cross-border investigations. Her recent representations include Alibaba, Stanford University and a global pharmaceutical manufacturer. Benchmark Litigation named her to its nationwide Top 250 Women in Litigation list.

Construction projects are fraught with potential liability—and Leni Morrison Cummins’ mission is to eliminate that possibility before boots hit the ground.

The Cozen O’Connor member represents condominium and co-op boards in issues related to construction defects, underfunding, fraud, compliance and governance, and she provides counsel throughout the construction or conversion process. With vast experience in crisis management, mediation, negotiation and litigation, Cummins is adept at resolving disputes between sponsordevelopers and boards. She often mediates fraud claims before the New York attorney general’s office. Cummins, a recent contributor to the New York Times real estate section, is the recipient of numerous industry awards.

Y m c f

ARABELLA MANSFIELD, THE FIRST FEMALE LAWYER IN THE U.S., WAS ADMITTED TO THE IOWA BAR IN 1869.

Source: One Legal

Congratulations to our colleague Leni Morrison Cummins for being recognized among Crain’s New York Business 2021 Notable Women in Law.

William F. Davis Vice Chair, Real Estate Practice (212) 883-4947 | wdavis@cozen.com

Lindsay A. Miller (212) 297-2665 | lamiller@cozen.com 750 attorneys | 31 offices

cozen.com

© 2020 Cozen O’Connor

24 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | DECEMBER 21, 2020

JENNA DABBS

AMANDA DEVEREUX

Partner Kaplan Hecker & Fink

Partner Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft

For former federal prosecutor Jenna Dabbs, her past work informs her current practice as a partner at Kaplan Hecker & Fink: government and internal investigations, white-collar criminal defense, civil litigation, regulatory compliance, securities and corporate fraud, insider trading, market manipulation and public corruption. Dabbs is active in pro bono work, and she was involved in efforts to restore legal visitation that had been denied inmates at the Metropolitan Detention Center during a power outage in 2019. She previously was as an assistant U.S. attorney in New York’s Southern District and was chief of the narcotics unit for two years. Dabbs has been awarded several industry distinctions.

She appeared on Chambers’ 2020 list of New York’s up-andcoming litigators in white-collar crime and government investigations.

White-collar crime cases are complex, serious and high stakes, which is why defendants often make their way to Amanda Devereux for counsel. The Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft partner is more than equal to the task, with years of experience representing senior executives in investigations brought by federal and state regulatory agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The complexities of commercial arbitration and litigation are squarely in Devereux’s wheelhouse too, much to the benefit of the individuals and businesses she represents. Devereux is an alumna of Harvard Law School, where she was an article editor of the Harvard Environmental Law Review.

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YAIRA DUBIN

MELINDA DUTTON

MARIE GIBSON

MICHELLE GITLITZ

SANDRA GOLDSTEIN

Counsel O’Melveny & Myers

Partner Manatt, Phelps & Phillips

Partner Crowell & Moring

Partner Kirkland & Ellis

Yaira Dubin boasts the uncommon distinction of serving as a clerk at all three levels of the federal judiciary—including a stint with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan. As counsel at O’Melveny & Myers, Dubin focuses on appellate advocacy and critical motions, among other complex legal matters. Dubin has drafted merits briefs for the U.S. Supreme Court, argued successfully in federal and state appellate courts, and prepared appellate briefs on a host of legal matters: constitutional law, federal jurisdiction, statutory interpretation, antitrust, bankruptcy and liability issues.

She is an adjunct professor at New York University School of Law, where she teaches a seminar on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Melinda Dutton has long used the law to provide succor to those in need. Early in her career, Dutton was instrumental in the establishment of a health law practice serving Brooklyn’s underserved communities.

Then, at the Children’s Defense Fund New York, she helped secure legislation that expanded publicly funded health insurance for children. In her current role as a partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, she guides governmental regulators, provider groups and foundations through the labyrinthine regulations and challenges surrounding the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Dutton speaks and writes frequently about trends in the field. She has appeared as a guest lecturer at New York University School of Law, Columbia Law School and New York Medical College.

Partner Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom With a background in law and accounting—she’s a certified public accountant who once worked as an auditor at PwC—Marie Gibson boasts a practice that is quite broadbased. The Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom partner represents acquirers, targets and financial advisers in domestic and international mergers and acquisitions. Gibson has experience with public and private transactions, negotiated and contested acquisitions, proxy contests and corporate governance advice. She has worked with distressed businesses, among other corporate matters. Her particular niche: the health care and energy industries. Gibson is a past visiting lecturer at Yale Law School. She has been named Woman Dealmaker of the Year by the M&A Advisor. Gibson is a dedicated participant in Skadden’s pro bono activities.

For businesses looking to incorporate blockchain technology and digital assets, the legal and regulatory hurdles are daunting.

But they are perhaps far less so after businesses connect with Michelle Gitlitz, a partner and global head of the blockchain and digital assets practice at Crowell & Moring.

Gitlitz, a veteran regulatory lawyer, advises clients on the legal and risk-management issues surrounding token offerings and digital currency exchanges and platforms.

She helps clients establish new blockchains and nodes and navigate federal and state money transmission laws. When necessary, Gitlitz guides clients through governmental regulatory inquiries and enforcement actions related to financial services, securities and disclosure issues. Gitlitz often collaborates with federal legislators on blockchain and digital asset matters. The much-sought-after speaker and writer is the founder of Diversity in Blockchain Inc., an organization that fosters inclusiveness and equal opportunity.

Honeywell, Barnes & Noble, Grubhub, Six Flags, Xerox—all these household names have benefited from Sandra Goldstein’s litigation prowess. She’s been a litigation partner at Kirkland & Ellis since 2018 and a member of the firm’s executive committee following three highly successful decades at Cravath. There, Goldstein became the firm’s first female litigation partner and headed its litigation practice. She has vast experience in litigating major commercial disputes, particularly in the area of securities and mergers and acquisitions, and she frequently presents oral arguments as lead courtroom counsel. In the past few years alone, Goldstein has represented clients in cases related to transactions with a cumulative value of more than $500 billion.

She is the recipient of a notable spate of awards in 2020 alone.

9.

Lowenstein Sandler congratulates our colleague, Kathleen A. McGee, on being named to Crain’s distinguished roster of 2021 Notable Women in Law – New York.

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Kathleen A. McGee

Partner The Tech Group, White Collar Criminal Defense

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With nearly 20 years’ experience as a prosecutor and leading regulator, including as Bureau Chief of the New York Attorney General’s Bureau of Internet and Technology, Kathleen serves clients on a broad array of technology issues as well as white collar defense matters.

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Lowenstein’s steadfast commitment to opportunities and advancement for women includes focused employee resource groups, equitable benefits and services to facilitate work-life balance, and dedicated mentorship and sponsorship to support a diverse and inclusive workplace.

NEW YORK

PALO ALTO

NEW JERSEY

UTAH

WASHINGTON, D.C.

© 2020-2021 Lowenstein Sandler LLP

DECEMBER 21, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 25

MIA GONZALEZ

LAURIE GRASSO

JANE GREYF

JACQUELINE HABERFELD

CAITLIN HALLIGAN

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Partner O’Melveny & Myers

Partner Hunton Andrews Kurth

Partner Latham & Watkins

Partner Selendy & Gay

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White-collar defense and corporate investigations are Mia Gonzalez’s forte—and her track record is as broad as it is impressive. The O’Melveny & Myers partner represents individuals and businesses in complex corporate internal investigations and criminal and regulatory matters. The latter include inquiries led by the U.S. Department of Justice, the New York attorney general and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Gonzalez’s clients hail from diverse sectors: finance, automotive technology and aviation, among others. She is deeply committed to pro bono work and has recently worked toward improving the conditions of confinements in New York City jails during the Covid-19 pandemic. Gonzalez is a past nominee for Benchmark Litigation’s 40 & Under Hot List.

Laurie Grasso is a well-rounded dealmaker. The co-chair of Hunton Andrews Kurth’s global real estate practice represents real estate private-equity funds, companies, institutional REITs, and investors in acquisitions and dispositions, developments, financings, portfolio transactions and real estate joint ventures. That’s done across asset classes, from office, multifamily and affordable housing to mixed-use, hospitality, retail and condominium.

Grasso, whose professional insights are prized by industry publications, is involved in several organizations that seek to foster diversity in real estate.

A worthy example: The partner leads her firm’s alliance with Project Destined, which endeavors to help minority youth become property owners in their communities.

Jane Greyf is an authority on commercial transactions. Her intimate market knowledge proves invaluable to privateequity firms and portfolio companies, as well as other corporate clients. The Latham & Watkins partner advises those clients—from the energy, technology and industrial sectors—on how to maximize the value of their transactions.

Her practice includes advising on buyouts, acquisitions and dispositions, complex carveouts, equity investments, joint ventures, co-investments and tender offers, among other corporate matters. Greyf, whose work encompasses inbound investments in the U.S. by European and Asian funds, is experienced in representing companies on issues related to corporate governance and securities law compliance.

Global director of pro bono and pro bono counsel Kirkland & Ellis Jacqueline Haberfeld is a matchmaker of sorts at Kirkland & Ellis. As pro bono counsel, she connects attorneys with work that is meaningful to them and introduces impoverished individuals and nonprofits to free legal services. To that end, Haberfeld creates scalable programs that provide legal services where the needs are greatest. A commendable recent example: the City Bar Justice Center’s Covid-19 Small Business Clinic, which provides assistance to small businesses adversely affected by the pandemic. In a role that preceded her 2013 arrival at Kirkland, Haberfeld led court-sponsored pro bono legal services for New York City and Nassau and Suffolk counties.

She recently received the City Bar Justice Center’s 2020 Outstanding Pro Bono Service Award.

Caitlin Halligan has quite an extraordinary résumé. She’s argued six cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and served as counsel of record in more than 45 matters before that august body.

The Selendy & Gay partner, one of the nation’s preeminent appellate lawyers, has represented scores of cases in federal and state appellate courts. Her list of previous positions is likewise impressive: New York’s solicitor general for several years, first chief of the New York attorney general’s Internet Bureau and general counsel to the New York County district attorney’s office. She is a recipient of the Gould Award for Outstanding Oral Advocacy from the Office of the Appellate Defender. Halligan, who clerked for Associate Justice Stephen Breyer at the U.S. Supreme Court, is a fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers.

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Morrison & Foerster congratulates Barbara R. Mendelson and Carrie H. Cohen for being named to the list of 2021 Notable Women in Law in Crain’s New York Business.

MoFo is proud of the exceptional contributions made in client service, public service advocacy, and advancement and empowerment of women in the legal profession by Barbara Mendelson, whose practice focuses on advising foreign and domestic financial institutions on U.S. bank regulatory, compliance, and enforcement matters, and Carrie Cohen, whose practice focuses on high-stakes trials, sensitive government-facing investigations, and regulatory matters.

Barbara R. Mendelson Partner, Financial Services

Learn more about MoFo’s commitment to championing the advancement of women in the legal profession at mofo.com/culture.

BEIJING BERLIN BOSTON BRUSSELS DENVER HONG KONG LONDON LOS ANGELES NEW YORK NORTHERN VIRGINIA PALO ALTO SAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO SHANGHAI SINGAPORE TOKYO WASHINGTON, D.C.

26 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | DECEMBER 21, 2020

Carrie H. Cohen Partner, Investigations + White Collar Defense

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NOLA HELLER

JENNIFER HOBBS

MÉLIDA HODGSON

ELLEN HOLLOMAN

ANI C. HOVANESSIAN

Partner Cahill Gordon & Reindel

Partner Simpson Thacher & Bartlett

Partner Jenner & Block

Partner Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft

Partner Venable

From the pretrial stage through appeal, Nola Heller is a stalwart defender of her clients. A top litigator with a boatload of experience, the Cahill Gordon & Reindel partner advises individuals, multinational companies and global financial institutions in complex criminal and regulatory investigations by federal, state and local regulators: the U.S. Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Federal Reserve, the New York Department of Financial Services and state attorneys general. For her leading work in the field, Heller was named a 2018 Rising Star by the New York Law Journal and to the Benchmark Litigation list of Top 250 Women in Litigation 2020. She is the co-head of her firm’s summer associate program.

Jennifer Hobbs, called a “luminary” by Chambers USA, has a track record that shows the appellation is not hyperbolic.

The co-administrative partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and member of its executive committee has had a bevy of notable accomplishments.

Hobbs concentrates on acquisition finance and advises many of the firm’s major private-equity and corporate clients on an array of financing matters. Hers is an impressive roster, including Silver Lake Partners, EQT Partners, Goldman Sachs’ private-equity group, Dell, Accenture and AMC Entertainment. Hobbs, who has led some of the largest acquisition financings in history, is the recipient of more than a half-dozen industry awards.

Resolving disputes and conciliating adversaries is Mélida Hodgson’s strong suit. As the head of Jenner & Block’s New York international arbitration practice, she counsels governments, state-owned entities and corporations in international investment protection provisions, business disputes, World Trade Organization dispute resolution and international trade policy. Hodgson, a partner, has defended several countries in investment arbitration, and she has represented Venezuela, Panama, Peru and Sierra Leone in International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes matters. In her career, Hodgson has worked in private practice and for the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. trade representative’s office.

In the latter role, she litigated international trade disputes before the WTO and worked on ad hoc arbitration between Canada and the U.S.

Ellen Holloman was named to the Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America list—and she has the sort of broad expertise that justifies the distinction. The Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft partner represents financial institutions, corporations and individuals in civil litigation, at trial, in regulatory enforcement proceedings and in corporate internal investigations. Holloman, who also is well versed in securities litigation, advises companies, boards and investors in takeover defense, activist contests and litigation arising from bankruptcy and financial restructuring. She regularly handles matters related to complex cross-border intersections and advises clients on constitutional law, such as First and Eighth Amendment jurisprudence. Holloman is involved in several pro bono engagements, and she is on the board of New York Lawyers for the Public Interest.

Strategic transference is a hot topic among high-net-worth families, hedge fund and venture capital principals, business owners, entrepreneurs, real estate investors and art collectors.

But it also is a complex topic that requires the expert guidance that Venable partner Ani Hovanessian provides in her major practice areas of estate planning, business succession planning and charitable gifting.

In advising her well-heeled clients, she collaborates with their investment advisers, accountants, business managers and insurance consultants for a holistic planning model.

Hovanessian, who is co-chair of Venable’s East Coast Estate Planning Group, counsels executors and trustees on their fiduciary duties and on estate and trust administration. Part of the process: educating younger generations on how to steward wealth for years to come.

Congratulations to our Construction Law Partners

Sarah B. Biser

Laurie A. Stanziale

on being named to the Crain’s New York Business 2021 list of

Notable Women in Law 950 attorneys nationwide DECEMBER 21, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 27

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PAULA HOWELL ANDERSON

LETITIA JAMES

ILENE JAROSLAW

TALEAH JENNINGS

KATYA JESTIN

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Partner Shearman & Sterling

Attorney general New York state

Partner Schulte Roth & Zabel

Co-managing partner Jenner & Block

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Paula Anderson is a litigation expert with international flair.

The Shearman & Sterling partner’s experience encompasses internal and government investigations, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act risk assessment and compliance reviews, cross-border litigation, shareholder class actions, antitrust litigation and international arbitration. Anderson’s clients are global giants in a panoply of industries: finance, insurance, automotive, telecommunications, oil and gas, engineering, media and entertainment, consumer goods and manufacturing. She has taught advanced trial advocacy for prosecutors at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and at the International Criminal Court. Anderson, a fellow of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, is on the board of trustees of John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Letitia James, the 67th attorney general of New York state, is a public servant with a record of fighting—and triumphing—on behalf of her constituents. In a previous role as public advocate for New York City, James advocated for its most vulnerable residents and passed landmark legislation in the gender wage gap arena. Other notable efforts include her challenging the gun industry by successfully pushing a large pension fund to divest from gun retailers and her legal work to protect children with disabilities. Before that, James was on the New York City Council for 10 years. During that time she helped pass the Safe Housing Act and a progressive recycling package. In an earlier position as head of the Brooklyn Regional Office of the state attorney general’s office, James investigated predatory lenders and came down hard on firms engaged in unsavory business practices.

White collar and criminal defense chair Phillips Nizer Ilene Jaroslaw’s outsized success as a white-collar criminal defense lawyer can be chalked up, in part, to her background. The Phillips Nizer partner brings decades of experience as a federal prosecutor and civil rights litigator to the job, including a period as an assistant U.S. attorney in New York when she investigated and prosecuted hundreds of cases. As chair of her firm’s white-collar criminal defense practice, Jaroslaw represents individuals and corporations throughout all stages of civil and criminal litigation—and she has prevailed in many high-profile cases, including before the U.S. Supreme Court. Her representations have included an international bank president, the general counsel of a university and a hedge fund managing director.

Jaroslaw is co-chair of the ABA Women in White Collar Committee. She has been recognized by Super Lawyers, Law360 and Diversity Journal.

Taleah Jennings’ New York Law Journal article, “Options When a Competitor Raids the Company,” netted her the Burton Award for Distinguished Legal Writing—but winning awards for her legal expertise is something Jennings is rather used to.

As a partner in Schulte Roth & Zabel’s litigation group, she provides counsel on commercial litigation matters, such as trust and estates litigation and shareholder disputes. Jennings’ clientele consists of fiduciaries of large trusts and estates, investment managers, private-equity firms, interdealer brokerage firms, multiemployer pension funds and commercial real estate firms. She has worked her litigation magic in both state and federal courts and in regulatory and arbitration forums. Jennings was named to Savoy magazine’s Most Influential Black Lawyers list.

From global compliance risk to #MeToo, Katya Jestin counsels senior management and boards of directors on a host of legal issues. As co-managing partner at Jenner & Block and a member of its investigations, compliance, and defense practice, Jestin advises companies and executives on criminal, regulatory and congressional investigations and performs sensitive internal inquiries. She often represents clients before the U.S. Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the New York state attorney general’s office.

Jestin, who previously worked as an assistant U.S. attorney and a supervisor in the criminal division of the Eastern District of New York, was recognized in 2015 by Global Investigation Review as one of the top women in the investigative field.

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Congratulations!

Cadwalader congratulates our partners and inspiring colleagues Amanda Devereux, Ellen Holloman and Lisa Pauquette for their recognition as 2021 “Notable Women in Law” by Crain’s New York Business, and applauds all honorees for their collective contributions to the legal profession.

Amanda Devereux

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP www.cadwalader.com

28 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | DECEMBER 21, 2020

Ellen Holloman

Lisa Pauquette

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BLAIR KAMINSKY

ROBERTA KAPLAN

PARISA KARAAHMET

ADRIENNE B. KOCH

CLARA KRIVOY

Partner Holwell Shuster & Goldberg

Founding partner Kaplan Hecker & Fink

Partner Katsky Korins

Partner Brown Rudnick

Visa trusts Blair Kaminsky to handle nationwide class actions and dozens of antitrust actions brought against the financial services giant—as well it should. With an expansive practice focused on commercial litigation, the Holwell Shuster & Goldberg partner represents individuals and corporations in litigation and investigations, largely in the transactional and financial services realms. She has handled residential mortgage-backed securities, putback matters for HSBC, U.S. Bank and BNY Mellon, and in a previous position, she represented JPMorgan in litigation surrounding Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy. Kaminsky, a member of the Young Lawyer Editorial Board of The American Lawyer, speaks at industry conferences on topics ranging from the ethics of e-discovery to law firm diversity. She graduated from Harvard Law School, where she was supervising editor of the Harvard Law Review.

Roberta Kaplan is best known for her victorious arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in United States v. Windsor, widely hailed as a watershed decision for the rights of same-sex couples. Then again, the founding partner at Kaplan Hecker & Fink is an old hand at achieving wins in commercial and civil rights litigation. Kaplan, an expert in emerging areas of law, represents clients such as Uber, Airbnb and Columbia University in commercial matters—but also exercises her legal skills in the public interest: She filed a lawsuit against two dozen neo-Nazi and white supremacist leaders in connection with the racially based violence in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017. Kaplan worked at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison for a quarter-century before founding her firm. In the course of her career, she has accumulated many awards from a broad group of industry and community organizations.

Partner Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy Parisa Karaahmet’s expertise is rooted in the intersection of immigration and law. She leads a team at Fragomen that is immersed in complex immigration matters and corporate compliance. In that role, the partner represents companies of varying size and sectors—from financial services, medical and pharmaceutical to academic, retail and technology.

Karaahmet previously served as an assistant district counsel for the Immigration and Naturalization Service in New York, and she has provided pro bono immigration advice to several organizations. Karaahmet, a former co-chair of the Immigration Litigation Committee of the American Bar Association, speaks regularly at conferences on immigration-related topics.

Adrienne Koch has held the title “partner” for more than two decades at Katsky Korins—and boasts the sort of sweeping expertise one would expect from that tenure. With an abiding focus on business litigation, Koch has handled jury and nonjury trials at the appellate level and in trial courts, and she has handled arbitrations both domestically and abroad. Her work revolves primarily around real estate development and transactions, corporate disputes, contracts and fraud issues. Koch has represented clients in industries ranging from retail, real estate and finance to manufacturing, oil refining and coal mining. She is vice president of the New York County Lawyers Association and co-chair of the New York Fellows of the American Bar Foundation.

With a practice that is global in nature, Clara Krivoy is adept at managing compliance across jurisdictions. Krivoy, a partner at Brown Rudnick and head of its digital commerce and Ibero-America (private client) practice groups, has represented clients nationally and abroad on a laundry list of legal and corporate matters: securities, debt and equity offerings, mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, bank lending, joint ventures, corporate governance, global tax planning, cross-border litigation and arbitration, and regulatory compliance. The native of Venezuela guides clients on blockchain operations and on establishing tokenized ecosystems. Further, she provides pro bono counsel to initiatives dedicated to global human rights. Before her arrival at Brown Rudnick, Krivoy worked at a series of exclusive New York law firms.

DECEMBER 21, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 29

ROSALIND KRUSE

RANDI LALLY

KELLIE LERNER

MARIA LIVANOS

RUTH LOWENKRON

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Partner Willkie Farr & Gallagher

Partner Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson Law360, The Legal 500 and International Financial Law Review have highly praised Randi Lally’s private-equity expertise. But more telling than these achievements is the range of companies— including Goldman Sachs, RedBird Capital Partners, Permira Advisers and Dyal Capital Partners—that routinely seek her counsel. At Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, Lally is a partner in the corporate department and the mergers and acquisitions and private-equity practice. She has extensive expertise in those fields, and she regularly represents private-equity firms and public and private companies in mergers, stock and asset acquisitions and divestitures, carve-out transactions and recapitalizations, among other corporate issues.

Partner Robins Kaplan

Partner Dentons

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Kellie Lerner recently procured a complete dismissal of a multiple-state antitrust action for a publicly traded corporation, but it was hardly the first such victory she’s scored. Lerner, a partner at Robins Kaplan and a co-chair of its antitrust and trade regulation group, has been involved in many groundbreaking cases, and she has achieved almost $100 million in recoveries for her clients. Lerner has been litigating antitrust disputes in federal courts for nearly two decades, and she frequently is consulted on competition issues by companies in the pharmaceutical, alternative energy and entertainment sectors. Lerner, whose opinions on antitrust topics have appeared in The Washington Post and Bloomberg Businessweek, is the chair of diversity for the antitrust section of the New York State Bar Association and an editor of Antitrust magazine.

Maria Livanos wears many hats at Dentons: a partner in the capital markets practice, leader of its global agency and trust group, and a member of its U.S. and global advisory boards. In her collection of roles, she represents major financial institutions in their capacities as trustees, securities administrators, master servicers, collateral administrators, calculation agents and escrow agents.

Livanos guides them through whole business transactions, aircraft securitizations, esoteric financings and corporate debt issuances. She is co-chair of Dentons’ WomenLEAD Committee, which stands for leadership, entrepreneurism, advancement and development.

The committee promotes an environment conducive to women’s development, retention and promotion.

Director of disability justice New York Lawyers for the Public Interest Ruth Lowenkron, director of disability justice at New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, has been a vigorous champion for disabled people since stepping into the field in 1981. She has helped untold numbers of people with physical, mental and other disabilities through litigation, legislative advocacy, and community outreach and education. Lowenkron spent time at various organizations in the course of these endeavors, including Untapped Resources Inc., the Community Health Law Project, the Education Law Center and Disability Rights New Jersey. She is the founder of Volunteer Lawyers for Justice, which connects indigent people with pro bono attorneys.

Lowenkron is an adjunct professor of disability law at Seton Hall Law School.

Private-equity titans, such as Centerbridge Partners, Insight Partners and the CapStreet Group, rely on Rosalind Kruse’s counsel for their strategic and governance affairs. Kruse, a partner in the Willkie Farr & Gallagher’s corporate and financial services department and a member of its executive committee, is an adroit adviser on mergers and acquisitions, private-equity transactions, debt and equity financings, and general corporate and securities law topics. Though her practice is broad, she focuses on the technology, insurance and financial and mortgage services sectors. Kruse is on the Women in Law Empowerment Forum’s global advisory board and on the corporation law committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.

Latham & Watkins congratulates all of the talented women lawyers recognized on the Crain’s New York Business Notable Women in Law list, including our partners Jane Greyf and Erika Weinberg.

We are thrilled and proud to be part of the New York legal community.

Jane Greyf

LW.com

30 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | DECEMBER 21, 2020

Erika Weinberg

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MEREDITH MACKEY

LAUREN MACKSOUD

DEBORAH MARTIN OWENS

Partner Crowell & Moring

Corporate partner Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson There was cause for celebration at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson when Meredith Mackey came on board in 2017. As a corporate partner, Mackey advises underwriters and issuers in corporate finance transactions with a focus on leveraged loans, high-yield debt, public and private equity, and debt securities offerings.

She is experienced in serving as counsel to agents and lenders with regard to syndicated loans.

Mackey, who has worked on offerings in the natural resources, basic industrials, health care and retail industries, guides investment bankers on securities law matters and other clients on issues related to general corporate affairs. She was previously vice president at Goldman Sachs’ loan negotiations group. The Legal 500 has recognized her for her work.

Senior managing associate Dentons

Executive director, office of diversity and inclusion New York City Bar Association Every day, Deborah Martin Owens is shepherding the legal profession ever closer to the goal of full inclusion.

As executive director of the office of diversity and inclusion at the New York City Bar Association, she engages law firms, corporate legal departments, nonprofits, government agencies and academia in her efforts. In addition, Owens advises leadership on related initiatives, such as pipeline and diversity policies, and oversees 200 volunteers who seek to establish equity and inclusion standards across the industry. She previously worked as a staff attorney at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, and while in law school she interned for then-Judge Sonia Sotomayor in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Owens is chair of Women Creating Change, which works to increase civic engagement among women. She is a two-time recipient of the National Bar Association’s Presidential Award.

Ilana Lubin has a finger in every pie at Crowell & Moring. In the main, the partner advises businesses on domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions and joint venture transactions— but Lubin also counsels clients on a range of corporate and commercial matters: intellectual property license agreements, international distribution and supply agreements, and marketing and advertising agreements. Lubin also has broad experience representing retailers, consumer product companies and brand owners, working on the acquisition and disposition of brands, trademark and copyright license agreements and celebrity endorsements—all with an eye toward maximizing brand value.

In addition, she provides advice in other practice areas, such as tax, bankruptcy, consumer product safety, toxic torts, employment and labor, and trade.

AS OF 2016, AND FOR THE FIRST TIME, MORE THAN HALF OF LAW STUDENTS WERE FEMALE. AS OF 2019, MORE THAN ONE-THIRD OF LAWYERS WERE FEMALE. Sources: ABA Journal, American Bar Association

When parties in stressed, distressed, insolvent and bankrupt situations find their way to Lauren Macksoud, they generally begin to breathe easier.

As a senior managing associate at Dentons and a member of its restructuring, insolvency and bankruptcy practice, Macksoud has wide-ranging experience representing debtors and creditors, among other parties, in and out of court in Chapter 11 reorganizations and Chapter 7 liquidations. She represented creditors in fraud investigations and commercial litigations, and lenders in energy-efficiency project transactions. Macksoud has had work published in the American Bankruptcy Institute Journal. She is a board member of The Animation Project, which uses digital art as a therapeutic tool to help at-risk youth.

We Congratulate Our Partners

Brooke Cucinella and Jennifer Hobbs for Their Recognition as Notable Women in Law N E W YOR K

BE I J I NG

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DECEMBER 21, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 31

MONICA MCCABE

KATHLEEN A. MCGEE

JEAN MCLOUGHLIN

BARBARA MENDELSON

Intellectual property chair Phillips Nizer

Partner Lowenstein Sandler

Partner Morrison & Foerster

Monica McCabe, a partner at Phillips Nizer who chairs its intellectual property practice, has a client roster that runs a large and colorful gamut: businesses, arts and entertainment entities, apparel and jewelry manufacturers, actors, photographers, illustrators, authors and publishers, among others.

McCabe counsels clients in the protection, purchase, assignment and licensing of intellectual property portfolios and domain names, guiding them through new media issues, rights of privacy and publicity, and the avoidance of litigation brought on by infringement charges. In one of her highest-profile lawsuits, she represented the recording artist Prince in litigation surrounding his uniquely shaped guitar. McCabe, who has received many industry awards, also has experience with celebrity bankruptcies and royalty disputes.

A 17-year stint working in the public sector has its unique advantages. Exhibit A: Kathleen McGee. Her engagements in the New York attorney general’s office, the New York mayor’s office and the Bronx County district attorney’s office at the start of her career provided her with knowledge and experience in a range of areas: technology-related regulations and enforcement initiatives, intellectual property issues, civil nuisance matters, data analytics, human trafficking, domestic violence and child abuse. At Lowenstein Sandler, McGee is in the tech group and the white-collar criminal defense practice. She focuses on compliance and investigations.

She counsels individuals and companies undergoing investigations and often defends them on charges brought by governmental agencies.

Partner Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison When individuals and companies begin working with Jean McLoughlin, excellence is a foregone conclusion. As a partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and co-chair of its executive compensation group, she has a firm grasp on executive compensation, employee benefits and governance matters. McLoughlin counsels clients on negotiating employment incentives and compensation, equity arrangements and their tax and securities implications, compensation disclosure, and compensation and benefit issues arising from transactions and litigation.

She speaks often on employee benefits and executive compensation and has been recognized as a leader in the field by Chambers USA, Super Lawyers and The Best Lawyers in America.

32 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | DECEMBER 21, 2020

Foreign banks are often leery of violating unfamiliar regulations in their operations in the United States—but less so those that have access to Barbara Mendelson’s counsel. As a partner at Morrison & Foerster and a member of the firm’s financial services group, she advises domestic and international banks on complex regulatory, compliance and enforcement matters.

Mendelson has earned the trust of numerous financial institutions in her 35 years in the business, and she has been instrumental in the formation of bank and nonbank subsidiaries of foreign financial institutions.

Mendelson is a trustee of Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City—the oldest mentoring organization nationwide—and provides pro bono services through the New York State Courts Access to Justice Program.

EILEEN MONAGHAN DELUCIA Counsel Holwell Shuster & Goldberg

Super Lawyers recently recognized Eileen Monaghan DeLucia as one of its Top Women Attorneys in the New York Metro Area and as a rising star two years in a row—and for good reason. As counsel at Holwell Shuster & Goldberg, she devotes her days to complex commercial litigation, representing clients at both the federal and state levels and in international arbitration.

DeLucia contributes deep experience in contractual disputes, product liability, employment and housing discrimination, and bankruptcy matters to her team. A large portion of her work focuses on issues related to securities and financial markets, including frequent representation of large financial institutions in residential mortgage-backed securities and mortgage putback matters.

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ALEXANDRA NICHOLSON

FRANCESCA ODELL

CHRISTINE A. OKIKE

Partner Cravath, Swaine & Moore

National chair of Media, Entertainment and IP practice Davis Wright Tremaine World Trademark Review has referred to Alexandra Nicholson as “a go-to for media clients” who is “equipped with wide-ranging knowledge of the digital technology field”—and it isn’t the first to notice. Many leading media and entertainment companies turn to the Davis Wright Tremaine partner, the national chair of her firm’s media, entertainment, and intellectual property practice.

Nicholson focuses on trademark, copyright and other intellectual property issues, including global brand protection and enforcement, transactions and strategic planning. She also provides counsel on content review and advertising matters.

In addition, Nicholson conceptualized and founded the Download/NY and Download/ LA digital conferences, which draw hundreds of in-house counsels and business executives in New York and Los Angeles annually.

Partner Cleary Gottlieb

Partner Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom When Excel Maritime Carriers Ltd. underwent a Chapter 11 restructuring involving $1.1 billion of debt, Christine Okike stepped in to represent the ailing shipping company. That she did so ably is no surprise to the Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom partner’s long list of clients.

Okike represents companies, debtors, creditors, equity holders, investors and others in all stages of restructuring transactions. That includes prepackaged, prearranged and traditional Chapter 11 cases, out-of-court workouts, distressed acquisitions and cross-border proceedings. Okike was named an emerging leader in 2019 by The M&A Advisor and an outstanding young restructuring lawyer by Turnarounds & Workouts in 2018. She represents several nonprofits on a pro bono basis.

Lauren Moskowitz’s roster of A-list clients includes the likes of Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Alcon Laboratories and Renaissance Technologies. The Cravath, Swaine & Moore partner concentrates on general commercial, securities, antitrust, intellectual property and financial restructuring litigation. Moskowitz joined Cravath in 2005, leaving in 2006 to become a law clerk to Shira Scheindlin of the U.S. District Court for New York’s Southern District. She returned to Cravath in 2007 and was elected a partner in 2012. Moskowitz received her law degree from Fordham University School of Law, where she was a member of the National Moot Court Competition team and the Moot Court Editorial Board.

AS OF 2017, WOMEN ACCOUNTED FOR 26.4% (132) OF GENERAL COUNSELS AT FORTUNE 500 COMPANIES. FEMALE LAWYERS ARE, ON AVERAGE, YOUNGER THAN THEIR MALE COLLEAGUES. Sources: Catalyst, U.S. Census Bureau

Francesca Odell is an expert on all things relating to capital markets and corporate governance. The partner at Cleary Gottlieb guides domestic and international clients on matters such as mergers and acquisitions, private equity, project financing and restructuring. She also advises boards of directors and senior management on disclosure and compliance matters, stock exchange listing requirements, board composition, shareholder engagement and activism, and social and governance issues. Odell, who has served in various leadership roles since joining Cleary Gottlieb, is an active participant in its pro bono practice. She is on the board of the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce and Start Small Think Big, which helps under-resourced entrepreneurs grow their businesses.

Outstanding Achievement

We are proud to join Crain’s New York Business in recognizing our friend and colleague

Courtney Rockett, a Member in our New York Litigation Practice.

Congratulations to Courtney and to all of the 2021 Notable Women in Law.

mintz.com

Boston | London | Los Angeles | New York | San Diego | San Francisco | Washington © 2020 Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. Information herein may be considered attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

DECEMBER 21, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 33

JESSICA O’MARY

NICOLE PAGE

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Partner Ropes & Gray

Partner Reavis Page Jump

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When Jessica O’Mary talks, investment advisers listen well.

As a partner in the asset management group at Ropes & Gary and leader of its credit funds team, she shares her business wisdom with hedge-fund and private-equity advisers on a wide range of matters: management company structures, fund formation, compliance issues, operational and trading matters, business acquisitions, sales and winddowns. O’Mary has particular expertise in advising credit managers on issues such as the formation of closed-end and open-end funds, as well as more quotidian regulatory, compliance and operational matters unique to debt fund managers. She has broad experience with Advisers Act compliance issues, including advertising and custody rules, information wall issues, conflicts of interest and personal trading requirements.

Nicole Page was at the vanguard of the #MeToo movement, representing several women in high-profile cases.

The Reavis Page Jump partner specializes in entertainment, employment and intellectual property law.

Page’s clientele make for a splashy cohort: producers of films, television and cross-platform productions; athletes; models; and authors, among others. She assists them in structuring financing, rights acquisition, cast and crew agreements, pre-publication review and executive compensation deals. In her intellectual property practice, Page works on copyright and trademark protection and prosecution, and she advises on branding and licensing matters in the media, fashion, lifestyle and sports sectors. Page also advises individuals and companies on workplace discrimination and sexual harassment claims.

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NEW YORK HAS MORE LAWYERS PER CAPITA THAN ANY OTHER STATE. Source: ABA Journal

Shining a light We congratulate one of our own, Meriam Al-Rashid, for being recognized as one of Crain’s 2021 Notable Women in Law. eversheds-sutherland.com

34 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | DECEMBER 21, 2020

© Eversheds Sutherland Ltd. 2020

GINA PARLOVECCHI

LISA PAUQUETTE

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Partner Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft

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Gina Parlovecchi is a Mayer Brown partner and a member of the firm’s global white-collar defense and compliance practice and its regulatory and investigations practice.

Parlovecchi came to the role quite prepared, with a series of prestigious posts in criminal law behind her. As an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of New York, for instance, Parlovecchi was chief of the office’s International Narcotics and Money Laundering Section. She spent more than a decade as a federal prosecutor, growing skilled at investigating and prosecuting sensitive cases involving international money laundering, Bank Secrecy Act violations, mail and wire fraud, tax fraud, pharmaceutical regulatory compliance, bribery and international public corruption. Parlovecchi also was co-chief of the office’s Anti-Money Laundering Strike Force and a member of the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section.

Several of the financial titans lining Wall Street have turned to Lisa Pauquette in their roles as underwriters, placement agents, issuers, servicers, mortgage loan sellers, and trustees of public and private securitization transactions.

The Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft partner is an expert in commercial mortgage loan securitization and a host of other mortgage banking and financing transactions.

Following the global financial crisis of 2007-08, Pauquette worked on several transactions vital to the resuscitation of the commercial mortgage-backed securities market, including the 1 Bryant Park single-property securitization. She also represents clients in the purchase and sale of mortgage loans, mezzanine debt and subordinate debt.

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RALIA POLECHRONIS

Partner Wilkinson Stekloff

Partner Wilkinson Stekloff

Moira Penza, a partner at Wilkinson Stekloff, has been a major player in many of the firm’s highest-profile cases.

Lately, she’s been fielding an independent review of the Washington Football Team’s policies amid allegations of workplace misconduct, her second grid iron case. She’s also representing Altria in a series of private antitrust lawsuits arising out of its investment in Juul. Penza previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. In that role, she worked on the prosecution and trial conviction of Nxivm founder and sex trafficker Keith Raniere.

Penza previously handled product liability, mass torts and securities at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, where she was part of the team that represented the NFL in concussion-related litigation and its landmark class- action settlement.

Ralia Polechronis recently led an investigation of claims alleging corporate waste and breach of fiduciary duty related to the national opioid crisis—one in a streak of complex cases she has handled as a partner at Wilkinson Stekloff.

Polechronis, a skilled litigator with knowledge of intricate commercial matters, represents clients in all stages of litigation in securities, breach of contract, mass tort, products liability and sports-related issues. She previously was the executive director and general counsel of the Partnership for Educational Justice, a nonprofit that promotes quality public education in underserved communities. Earlier in her career, Polechronis worked at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison for a wide range of clients while juggling her pro bono practice, which focused on education-related efforts and on advocacy for women’s reproductive rights.

Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP congratulates our partner Jessica Taub Rosenberg on her recognition as a Notable Woman in Law by Crain’s.

Kasowitz’s core focus is commercial litigation, complemented by our exceptionally strong bankruptcy/restructuring, employment and real estate transactional practices. We are known for our creative, aggressive litigators and willingness to take on tough cases.

kasowitz.com

THE NEW YORK BAR ASSOCIATION WAS FOUNDED IN ALBANY IN 1876.

LAURA POSNER

SHAILA RAHMAN DIWAN

Partner Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll

Partner King & Spalding

Congratulations Allie!

Laura Posner can be credited for five of the top 100 securities fraud class-action settlements of all time, including one in which she obtained $688 million for investors. As a partner at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll and a member of its securities litigation and investor protection practice group, she works on behalf of public pension funds, institutional investors and unions nationwide to prosecute securities fraud class actions and other derivative actions. Posner has recovered billions of dollars for defrauded investors. She previously was the bureau chief for the New Jersey Bureau of Securities, where she worked closely with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Justice and various state attorneys general.

Posner, a graduate of Harvard Law School, chairs the New York City Bar Association’s securities litigation committee.

Fortune 500 companies in the consumer product, technology and pharmaceutical industries trust Shaila Rahman Diwan for her legal counsel and representation.

The King & Spalding partner, a trial lawyer, crafts customized litigation strategies for clients facing public scrutiny in complex commercial cases. Recently, for instance, Diwan was trial counsel and national coordination counsel in litigation brought against Johnson & Johnson concerning assertions that the company’s talcum powder caused adverse health effects.

She also has represented Ernst & Young, Barclays Bank and Microsoft in other litigation.

Diwan is experienced in conducting internal investigations and developing compliance programs for her clients to help them mitigate risk and fend off litigation. She also works to defend the rights of women and children in various pro bono civil rights cases.

We’re proud to celebrate Alexandra Nicholson, national chair of our Media, Entertainment, & IP practice and a steadfast champion for diversity.

DWT.COM Anchorage | Bellevue | Los Angeles | New York Portland | San Francisco | Seattle | Washington, D.C.

DECEMBER 21, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 35

SHEILA REMESH

DEBORAH RIEGEL

JULIE RIKELMAN

MICHELE ROBERTS

COURTNEY ROCKETT

Partner Cahill Gordon & Reindel Sheila Remesh represents some of the largest banks in the world in high-stakes class-action cases.

As a partner at Cahill Gordon & Reindel, she concentrates on the defense of complex securities and commercial matters.

Remesh, who chairs her firm’s hiring committee, is known to be a dedicated mentor of junior staffers at Cahill Gordon & Reindel. This is not the first list that the enterprising lawyer has found her name on this year: Remesh, who was included on Benchmark Litigation’s 40 & Under Hot List, was deemed a rising star by Law360.

Member Rosenberg & Estis Deborah Riegel has been with Rosenberg & Estis since 1994, a very productive quarter-century.

As a member of the litigation department, she works on cooperative shareholder disputes, rent regulatory issues, succession and non-primary residence, commercial lease disputes, tort and contract actions, and construction disputes. Riegel has represented clients—ranging from small residential property owners to major commercial developers— before various judicial bodies, including the New York state Court of Appeals, the U.S. District Court and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Though her practice focuses on litigation, Riegel helps clients with development issues, purchase and sale agreements, and leasing and construction management.

Senior director of litigation Center for Reproductive Rights Julie Rikelman links her fervor for defending human rights to her arrival in the United States as a 7-year-old Ukranian refugee. As senior director of litigation at the Center for Reproductive Rights, she oversees litigation surrounding more than 30 reproductive rights cases across the country. As co-lead counsel, Rikelman argued—and prevailed—before the U.S. Supreme Court this year in an abortion-related case. She supervised many emergency lawsuits filed by the center related to the banning or restricting of abortion as “nonessential” health care in 10 states when the Covid-19 pandemic began. Rikelman, who has litigated against restrictions on medication abortion, previously was vice president of litigation at NBC Universal.

Executive director National Basketball Players Association

Member Mintz When litigation cases at her firm are proceeding along a suboptimal path, Courtney Rockett may swoop in to take over as lead litigator, reframing cases with her creative strategies. It’s all in a day’s work for the member at Mintz, who represents corporations, private-equity firms and celebrities, among others, in sensitive civil litigation matters.

Rockett focuses on complex commercial transactions, partnership disputes, securities matters, entertainment disputes and intellectual property litigation. She previously was a partner at a national law firm, where she developed a two-decade track record of achieving highly favorable settlements for her clients. Rockett, whose clients have included Tory Burch and Sony Pictures Entertainment, is regularly recognized as one of the top lawyers in the New York metropolitan area by Super Lawyers.

Michele Roberts has the notable distinction of being the first woman on the North American continent to lead a major professional sports union. As executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, she is the primary advocate for the NBA’s players. Roberts is charged with protecting the organization and its members, and she is the lead negotiator in collective-bargaining activities with the league. Of late, though, she has helped her constituents use their platform to pursue social justice. Roberts previously worked in the litigation group at Skadden. She was a public defender in Washington, D.C. Roberts, a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, lectures regularly on litigation and trial topics around the country.

AS OF 2019, THE MEDIAN SALARY FOR LAWYERS WAS $122,960.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

“Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time.”

– Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Congratulations to Katrine Beck, co-founder of Fullerton Beck LLP, and the other distinguished honorees. We salute you and the miles of steps you’ve walked to become a 2021 Crain’s Notable Woman in Law.

Fullerton Beck LLP is a full-service, women-owned litigation firm located in White Plains NY, and New Jersey. We serve clients throughout New York City, Westchester, Rockland, Orange and upstate counties. Our attorneys are admitted in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

1 W Red Oak Lane, White Plains, NY 10604 914.305.8634 | www.fullertonbeck.com © 2020 Fullerton Beck LLP. All rights reserved. FB-20-1007

36 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | DECEMBER 21, 2020

JESSICA ROSENBERG

IRENA ROYZMAN

Partner Kasowitz Benson Torres

Partner Kramer Levin

Jessica Rosenberg’s knowledge of employment law is encyclopedic. The Kasowitz Benson Torres partner, a trial lawyer, has vast experience representing employers and senior executives in a multitude of employment matters: claims of discrimination and harassment; employment contracts and noncompetition covenant disputes; and tort claims, including fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, tortious interference and defamation. Rosenberg also advises clients on terminations, disciplinary actions, employment and consulting agreements, misconduct investigations, employment policies and procedures, and litigation avoidance. She’s won numerous awards from Benchmark Litigation, Euromoney’s Legal Media Group and Diversity Journal. Rosenberg speaks often on employment law trends—including, lately, issues related to Covid-19.

Specializing in the pharmaceutical, biotech and medical devices industries. Kramer Levin partner Irena Royzman advises plaintiffs and defendants in all stages of the patent litigation process, from pre-suit investigations to trials and appeals. Royzman has experience dealing with an array of biotech and pharmaceutical matters: small-molecule drugs, antibodies, manufacturing processes, point-of-care diagnostics, gene-editing technology, gene therapies and drug-eluting coatings. She also represents clients in inter partes reviews and license disputes.

Royzman, who has particular expertise in litigation under the Hatch-Waxman Act and the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act, also provides counsel on contractual and licensing issues.

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BELINDA G. SCHWARTZ

JENNIFER SELENDY

DANA SESHENS

KAREN SEYMOUR

MANISHA SHETH

Partner Herrick Feinstein

Founding and managing partner Selendy & Gay

Partner Davis Polk & Wardwell

General counsel Goldman Sachs

Belinda Schwartz emerged as a savior this year for many of her clients, helping them deal with the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic on their real estate transactions, development projects, workouts and restructurings, loans and leases. The partner at Herrick Feinstein chairs its real estate department and advises clients on debt and equity transactions, including real estate restructurings, fund formations, property acquisitions and sales, joint ventures, development deals, construction matters, and ground and commercial leases. Schwartz, who has more than 30 years in the New York City commercial real estate market, provides these services to developers, owners, funds, investors and family-owned real estate businesses. She mentors dozens of attorneys and urban planners.

Jennifer Selendy holds a master’s degree in philosophy in international relations from Oxford University—which might give her an edge when it comes to the conflict resolution side of legal practice. The founding and managing partner at Selendy & Gay is an accomplished trial and appellate lawyer who is particularly skilled at handling high-stakes disputes.

Her practice areas include antitrust, energy, financial services, bankruptcy, domestic and international arbitration, cross-border disputes, governmental investigations and employment-related matters.

Selendy’s broad-based clientele includes private-equity and investment firms and renewable energy companies. She does pro bono work for Vote Solar, which works to make solar power more affordable and accessible, Selendy has received numerous industry awards.

During her tenure at Davis Polk & Wardwell, Dana Seshens has served as counsel in a diverse spate of legal proceedings.

Seshens, a partner at the firm and co-head of its civil litigation group, focuses on complex commercial litigation, securities class actions, bankruptcy litigation and civil litigation, among other advisory matters. Highlights of her experience include representing Aetna in securities litigation related to the proposed Aetna-CVS merger, a real estate firm in litigation surrounding tort and competition-based claims, and NBC Universal in a putative class action brought by former college athletes asserting the right of publicity and antitrust claims.

Karen Seymour is committed to diversity and inclusion efforts.

Seymour is general counsel of Goldman Sachs and a member of the financial behemoth’s management committee. She also is on the board of advisers of “Launch with GS,” the investment bank’s $500 million initiative to invest in companies and investment managers with diverse leadership. Seymour joined Goldman as a partner in 2018, after serving as a partner and member of the management committee at Sullivan & Cromwell. There, she specialized in commercial litigation, regulatory enforcement and internal investigations. Seymour previously held various roles in the U.S. attorney’s office for New York’s Southern District, including a stint as chief of the criminal division. She is an honorary trustee of the Vera Institute of Justice.

Partner Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan With two decades of legal experience in the private sector and in government prosecutions, Manisha Sheth is quite a seasoned lawyer. She’s now a partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and co-chair of its government and regulatory litigation practice, as well as its sexual harassment and employment discrimination practice. Sheth’s current focus is on complex civil litigation, white-collar criminal defense and internal investigations. She previously was executive deputy attorney general for the division of economic justice at the New York attorney general’s office and a federal criminal prosecutor in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Sheth, whose representations have included Accenture, Fannie Mae and MassMutual, speaks regularly at events. She has received numerous industry awards.

Congratulations, Irena Royzman We are proud to congratulate our partner, Irena Royzman, on being named one of Crain’s New York Business’ 2021 Notable Women in Law.

38 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | DECEMBER 21, 2020

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CHRISTINA SIMANCA-PROCTOR Partner Belkin Burden Goldman

The litigation department at Belkin Burden Goldman is fortunate to count Christina Simanca-Proctor among its members. As a partner at the firm, she represents landlords and developers in negotiations, complex litigations, and alternative dispute resolutions in areas such as commercial and residential leasing, rent regulatory matters, brokerage claims and contracts. Simanca-Proctor represents real estate investment trusts and cooperative corporations in summary proceedings, and she prosecutes claims in various courts on behalf of multifamily property owners. In addition, Simanca-Proctor is an arbitrator with the Association of Small Claims Arbitrators of the Civil Court in New York City and counsel to the National Women’s Hockey League Players Association. She is active in the Latina Lawyers Bar Association.

RACHEL SKAISTIS

ERIN SLOANE

DAWN SMALLS

LAURIE STANZIALE

Partner Cravath, Swaine & Moore

Partner Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr Erin Sloane was tapped in 2019 by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission to serve as an independent Foreign Corrupt Practices Act compliance monitor for a German health care company— one of only a smattering of women chosen for FCPA monitorships in the past decade. She was a wise pick: the Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr partner is an expert in government and internal investigations, white-collar criminal matters, and FCPA and international anti-corruption issues. Sloane has represented individuals and institutions in these areas, and she has conducted cross-border corruption investigations in Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and South America. Sloane is a founder of the Innocence Project’s Young Professionals Committee, which supports the Innocence Project through fundraising and community outreach. She has received numerous industry awards.

Partner Jenner & Block

Partner Fox Rothschild

Dawn Smalls draws on a wealth of experience in law, government and politics in her role as partner at Jenner & Block, where she provides strategic counsel to clients on legal, policy and regulatory matters. For instance, she serves as the monitor of a preeminent financial institution, and in the past she served as co-lead counsel in the representation of more than 90,000 au pairs in connection with minimum-wage violations. Smalls has held roles in two federal administrations—as assistant to President Bill Clinton’s chief of staff and as executive secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services in the Obama administration. She has been a commissioner of the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics. In previous postings in the philanthropy space, she managed $40 million in grants promoting civic engagement, political reform and grassroots activism.

Laurie Stanziale teaches a popular continuing education legal course called Welcome to the Neighborhood—an apt name given by a construction law professional. The Fox Rothschild partner is experienced in representing domestic and international developers and owners, construction companies, trade contractors, architects and engineers, guiding them on a host of issues: construction and design contracts; easements, licensing and access; insurance policies and financing; project management and development; and branding and brokerage agreements. Stanziale prosecutes and defends claims in state and federal courts, and she advises clients on construction defects, payment disputes and construction liens. She is active in the Crew New York, an organization for women in commercial real estate.

Rachel Skaistis advises the board of directors of Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google, with regard to shareholder legal proceedings.

It’s a high-pressure assignment, but the Cravath, Swaine & Moore partner is no stranger to such engagements.

Skaistis routinely advises boards of directors and management in connection with government and internal investigations, shareholder demands and accounting statements, representing clients in issues related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act , insider trading and securities fraud. Her representations have included Credit Suisse, Deloitte, JPMorgan Chase and Warner Media.

Skaistis enjoys a robust global investigations practice. She has represented Telia Company, for instance, in connection with Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice, and Swedish and Dutch authorities.

ROPES & GRAY congratulates our partners Jessica O’Mary and Kristen Chang Winckler, and all the “Notable Women in Law” recognized by Crain’s New York Business as leaders in their respective fields, the profession and the New York legal community.

Jessica O’Mary

Kristen Chang Winckler

Asset Management

Finance

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DECEMBER 21, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 39

ALISON STEIN

MINDY STERN

RACHEL STRICKLAND

HEIDI TALLENTIRE

S

Partner Jenner & Block Alison Stein is a top-tier practitioner of intellectual property law. As a partner in Jenner & Block’s content, media and entertainment practice, she works on an exhaustive list of related topics: content protection, copyright infringement, licensing negotiations and transactions, clearance work, copyright terminations, trademark enforcement, trade secrets, unfair competition, defamation, entertainment litigation and contractual disputes. Stein’s expertise has earned her a bevy of industry awards. She was named a top copyright lawyer nationwide by The Legal 500, recognized as one of four rising stars in media and entertainment by Law360, noted by Super Lawyers for her intellectual property acumen and deemed a rising star by the New York Law Journal.

Partner Schwartz Sladkus Reich Greenberg Atlas

Co-chair, business reorganization and restructuring Willkie Farr & Gallagher

Co-founding partner Krauss Shaknes Tallentire & Messeri

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Mindy Stern has lectured for the New York State Bar Association, the Practicing Law Institute and the Real Estate Institute of New York University—no stretch for the partner at Schwartz Sladkus Reich Greenberg Atlas, where her focus is on real estate along with estate planning and administration. With regard to the former, she works on sales, acquisition, leasing and financing for commercial and nonprofit entities and individuals. In the latter, Stern counsels clients on best practices for estate planning to ensure family wealth transfer, asset protection and fulfillment of philanthropic goals. In addition, she represents fiduciaries and beneficiaries in trust and estate administration. Formerly, she was an adjunct professor at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where she taught a real estate contract drafting course.

Chambers USA has proclaimed Rachel Strickland a leading bankruptcy practitioner for 12 straight years, which makes sense. As a partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher and co-chair of its business reorganization and restructuring department, Strickland guides distressed companies through complex Chapter 11 cases and out-of-court restructurings, and she advises strategic investors seeking to maximize recoveries or acquire distressed entities. Strickland, who represents debtors, hedge funds, private-equity firms, creditors, stakeholders, investors and acquirers, and lenders in Chapter 11 cases, boasts a star-studded list of clients. including JPMorgan Asset Management, Fidelity Management & Research Co., the Royal Bank of Scotland and LandAmerica Financial Group. Strickland, who has been lauded by the industry publication Turnarounds & Workouts, is a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy.

Family law is a nuanced field, with each client pursuing unique desires, arrangements and outcomes. Heidi Tallentire, a co-founding partner at Krauss Shaknes Tallentire & Messeri, is skilled at understanding those goals, then building legal strategies to bring them to fruition. She focuses her practice on matrimonial and family law matters, and she is particularly experienced at representing executives and high-net-worth individuals in the hedge fund, private-equity and venture capital spaces. Tallentire is an adjunct professor at Rutgers School of Law, where she teaches family law. She is on the board of directors of Sheltering Arms, which endeavors to break intergenerational cycles of poverty by enhancing the education and development of children and their families.

Previously, she was a board member of Weston United, which aids the homeless and mentally ill in New York City.

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LAWYERS IN NEW YORK, CALIFORNIA AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA EARN THE HIGHEST LEGAL SALARIES NATIONWIDE. Sources: One Legal

40 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | DECEMBER 21, 2020

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PRANA TOPPER

CYNTHIA URDA KASSIS

LIZA VELAZQUEZ

CAROL VILLEGAS

Partner Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom

Partner Manatt, Phelps & Phillips Contractual disputes, royalty claims, copyright law, business torts, employment matters, class actions, securities law: All these and more are within Prana Topper’s purview. As the office partner for Manatt, Phelps & Phillips’ New York office, she focuses on entertainment law and business litigation. Topper is an especially adept trial attorney who has handled cases in state and federal courts, in arbitration and mediation hearings, and before regulatory agencies. In addition, she advises clients on compliance and ethics issues, and she provides counsel on negotiated resolutions of business disputes.

Topper’s clients hail from the media and entertainment, financial services, consumer products and health care sectors.

Partner Shearman & Sterling Major financial institutions, corporations, government agencies, regional development banks and export credit agencies routinely turn to Cynthia Urda Kassis for her astute legal counsel. As head of the metals and mining practice at Shearman & Sterling as well as a partner in its project development and finance practice, she devotes her efforts to project finance, joint venture transactions and restructuring in the mining, energy and infrastructure industries. In a telling example of her expertise, Urda Kassis was heavily involved in the financing of a $1 billion Lundin Gold project in Ecuador, which pioneered a novel combination of traditional and alternative finance facilities. She has her fair share of accolades to show for her work. Urda Kassis has been recognized by Chambers USA, Chambers Latin America and The Legal 500.

Partner Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison

Partner Labaton Sucharow Carol Villegas’ innovative litigation strategies, expert discovery work and superior oral argument skills have earned her kudos from The National Law Journal, the New York Law Journal, Benchmark Litigation and The Legal 500.

As a partner at Labaton Sucharow, she prosecutes securities fraud cases on behalf of institutional investors and has been a key player in securing advantageous settlements for many. Currently, Villegas is overseeing litigation against AT&T, Skechers, World Wrestling Entertainment and Danske Bank. She holds several leadership positions at her firm, including chief of compliance and co-chair of its women’s networking and mentoring initiative. She was previously an assistant district attorney in the Richmond County district attorney’s office.

The intricacies of tax laws and practices sit squarely in Sally A. Thurston’s domain. The Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom partner advises multinational clients on a range of tax matters: mergers and acquisitions, joint venture formations, restructurings, divestitures and spinoffs, cross-border transactions, cash repatriation techniques and investment structures. Thurston also represents clients with regard to international debt and equity offerings, and she often represents offshore insurers and their shareholders. She is co-head of her firm’s global diversity committee and a member of its policy committee. Thurston, who speaks frequently on domestic and international tax matters, has been recognized for her tax expertise by Chambers Global, Chambers USA, and Lawdragon.

Liza Velazquez was recently named a litigator of the week by The American Lawyer for her trial win on behalf of a large tech company in a trade secrets case against a departing executive. But such triumphs are nothing new for the Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison partner.

Velazquez is highly experienced in representing corporate clients, financial institutions, media and entertainment companies, and nonprofits in employment-related litigation before state and federal courts, in alternative-dispute resolution proceedings and before regulatory agencies. She also counsels clients on employment-related issues, and she handles sensitive workplace investigations for public companies, private-equity funds and nonprofits. Velazquez is on the board of advisers of Human Rights First and on the committee of the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice.

Willkie is proud to congratulate Rosalind Kruse and Rachel Strickland and all of those distinguished as 2021 Crain’s New York Notable Women in Law.

Rosalind Kruse Partner, Corporate & Financial Services

Rachel Strickland Co-Chair, Business Reorganization & Restructuring

DECEMBER 21, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 41

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ERIKA WEINBERG

ELIZABETH WEISWASSER

Partner Latham & Watkins Erika Weinberg is co-chair of Latham & Watkins’ Women Enriching Business program— and she could just as well serve as its exemplar. As a partner at the firm and a member of its capital markets practice, she focuses on corporate finance and general securities, among other corporate matters. Weinberg represents financial institutions and issuers in a range of public and private financing transactions: secured and unsecured high-yield debt offerings, bridge lending and loan commitments, initial public offerings, private-equity offerings and assorted liability management transactions. She advises on filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Weinberg’s clients are spread across a variety of industries, including health care, entertainment, media, telecommunications, manufacturing and retail.

Partner Weil, Gotshal & Manges The Who’s Who in the biological and pharmaceutical spaces know to turn to Elizabeth Weiswasser for all things related to patents.

Weiswasser is a partner at Weil, Gotshal & Manges and co-head of its patent litigation and life sciences practices.

Highly trained in molecular biology and biochemistry, she has been litigating patent cases in those industries for decades across venues and situations: federal courts, inter partes, and review proceedings before the U.S. Patent Office. She has done so across the full gamut of biopharma technologies, from biologics and small molecules to formulation and drug delivery. Weiswasser, who speaks regularly on life sciences topics, is a past adjunct professor at New York University School of Law and a recipient of several industry awards.

KRISTEN CHANG WINCKLER Partner Ropes & Gray

Kristen Winckler has extensive knowledge of the full spectrum of business tax matters. As a partner in Ropes & Gray’s tax department, Winckler concentrates on tax planning, the structuring of domestic and cross-border commercial investments and business transactions. She counsels clients on the various tax aspects of private investment fund formation and operation and on investments by non-American and tax-exempt investors. That includes sovereign wealth funds and a range of complex real estate transactions, such as joint ventures, acquisitions and dispositions, co-investments, financings and restructurings. In addition, Winckler advises on real estate investment trusts and transactional tax subjects.

VERONICA WISSEL

BABYLONIAN KING HAMMURABI (C.1810-1750 B.C.E.) IS THE AUTHOR OF ONE OF THE EARLIEST WRITTEN CODES OF LAW. THE CODE, ENGRAVED ON A STONE PILLAR, GOVERNED COMMERCIAL DEALINGS AND STANDARDIZED FINES AND PUNISHMENTS. Sources: Biography, History Channel

Partner Davis Polk & Wardwell Aetna, PwC, MasterCard International and S&P Global, among other corporations, have been the beneficiaries of Veronica Wissel’s legal prowess.

The partner in Davis Polk & Wardwell’s corporate department practices in the executive compensation group and counsels clients on an assortment of related topics: the design and implementation of equity, retention and incentive plans, compensation, disclosure and regulatory compliance and employment negotiations with senior executives. Wissel has particular knowledge of compensation and benefits related to mergers and acquisitions. She also counsels asset managers and broker dealers on financial products included in pension plans, particularly on issues of compliance with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act’s fiduciary rules.

NOMINATIONS NOW OPEN Crain's New York Business is seeking executives to be featured in our 2021 Notable Black Leaders and Executives special section. We will recognize Black men and women who have impacted New York City in major ways. The honorees selected will be featured in a celebratory section within the Feb. 15th issue of Crain's New York Business which will honor their professional, civic and philanthropic achievements.

DEADLINE TO NOMINATE: JANUARY 8

NOMINATE TODAY: CRAINSNEWYORK.COM/NOMINATIONS 42 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | DECEMBER 21, 2020

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INDUSTRY ACHIEVERS ADVANCING THEIR CAREERS

Recognize them in Crain’s

For listing opportunities, contact Debora Stein at dstein@crain.com or submit directly to

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Notice of Formation of LEWIS ALAN REALTY, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/16/20. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o Lewis Plosky, 25 West 31st St., NY, NY 10001. Purpose: any lawful activities.

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Notice of Formation of Jayonamarie LLC. Arts of Org filed with Secy. Of State of NY (SSNY) on 8/21/20. Office location NY county. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy of process against LLC to 1115 Broadway, 12 floor, New York, NY 10010.

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NOTICE OF FORMATION OF MOVING BODIES FORWARD, LLC. Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/27/20. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served. The Post Office address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/her is: United States Corporation Agents, Inc., 7014 13th Ave, Suite 202, Brooklyn, NY 78717.

The principal business address of the is 315 E86th Street #16DE, New York, NY, 10028.

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MP 205 LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 12/03/20. Office: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, 140 East 56th Street, Suite 1D, New York, NY 10022. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

Notice of Qualification of Prithvi Ventures, LLC. Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/16/20.

Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 09/ 08/20. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Registered Agents Inc., 90 State St., STE 700 Office 40, Albany, NY 12207. Address to be maintained in DE: c/o Harvard Business Services, Inc., 16192 Coastal Hwy., Lewes, DE 19958. Arts of Org. filed with the Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activities.

Notice of Qualification of ROUND SHRUB PRODUCTIONS, LLC. Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/30/20. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 10/19/20. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o Paracorp Incorporated, 2804 Gateway Oaks Dr., Ste. 100, Sacramento, CA 95833. Address to be maintained in DE: 2140 South Dupont Hwy., Camden, DE 19934. Arts of Org. filed with the Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activities.

Notice of Formation of PRIME 220E53-STT LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 0 5/21/19. Office location: NY County.

Princ. office of LLC: 347 Fifth Ave., 16th Fl., NY, NY 10016. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to c/o Empire Management America Corp. at the princ. office of the LLC. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of GRIT PICTURES, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/ 14/20. Office location: NY County.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Wendy Heller C/O Heller Law Group, 1800 Century Park East, Ste 400, Los Angeles, CA 90067. Purpose: any lawful activities.

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF: Meridian Healing Services LLC Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State of NY (SSNY) on 9/25/2020.

Office location: New York County.

SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served. The Post Office address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/her is: BUSINESS FILINGS INCORPORATED 187 WOLF ROAD SUITE 101 ALBANY, NY 12205. The principal business address of the LLC is 1177 Avenue of Americas, 5th Floor 10036

Notice of Qualification of MARC JONES CONSTRUCTION, L.L.C. Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/04/20. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Louisiana (LA) on 07/20/07. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. LA addr. of LLC: 22171 McH Rd., Mandeville, LA 70471. Cert. of Form. filed with LA Secy. of State, 8585 Archives Ave., Baton Rouge, LA 70809. Purpose: Sales and installation of residential/ commercial photovoltaic systems including all electrical wiring. Residential energy efficiency grading & upgrades.

Notice of Qualification of HUDSON PELHAM HOUSE ASSOCIATES LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/25/20. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 11/20/20. Princ. office of LLC: c/o The Hudson Companies Inc., 826 Broadway, 11th Fl., NY, NY 10003. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the addr. of its princ. office. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of PULSE ANALYTICS, LLC. Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/ 16/20. Office location: NY County.

LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 11/ 13/09. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: One Pennsylvania Plaza, Ste. 2505, NY, NY 11901. Address to be maintained in DE: c/o Business Filings Incorporated, 108 West 13th St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Arts of Org. filed with the Secy. of State, Division of Corporations, John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activities.

Notice of formation of WangaWoman, LLC. Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State NY (SSNY) on 10/14/2020. Office Location: NY County. SSNY is designated as an agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail a copy of the process against LLC to PO Box #2003, New York, NY 10159.

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NOTICE OF FORMATION OF GY HONG KONG, LLC. Articles of Organization were filed with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 11/20/2020.

Office Location: New York County.

SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served. The Post Office address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/her is 36 West 47th Street, W03, New York, NY 10036. The principal business address of the LLC is 36 West 47th Street, W03, New York, NY 10036. Purpose: any lawful act or activity.

NOTICE OF FORMATION of Pilgrim & Associates Law Arbitration & Mediation LLC (LLC). Articles of Organization filed by the NY Secretary of State (SSNY) on 08/21/20. Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against LLC may be served. Post Office address where SSNY shall mail copy of any process against the LLC served upon it is c/o Pilgrim & Associates, 301 W 110th Street, NY, NY 10026. Purpose of LLC: to conduct any lawful act or activity. Street address of LLC is c/o Pilgrim & Associates, 301 W 110th Street, NY, NY 10026.

Notice of Qualification of ILLUMINATE FM LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/03/20.

Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 08/ 19/19. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, 205 Hudson St., 7th Fl., NY, NY 10013. DE addr. of LLC: c /o Corporation Service Co., 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808.

Cert. of Form. filed with DE Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of PRIME 220E53-SAT LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 0 5/21/19. Office location: NY County.

Princ. office of LLC: 347 Fifth Ave., 16th Fl., NY, NY 10016. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to c/o Empire Management America Corp. at the princ. office of the LLC. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

David Sable, LLC, Arts of Org. filed SSNY 2/10/20. Office: NY Co. SSNY designated agent of LLC upon whom process may be served & mail to David Sable, 201 West 70th St., 11HI, NY, NY 10023. General Purpose.

S H A R E

Y O U R

Notice of Qual. of 502 PARK HOLDINGS, LLC, Authority filed with the SSNY on 09/04/2020. Office loc: NY County. LLC formed in DE on 04/ 01/2019. SSNY is designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 233 Wilshire Blvd., Ste 850, Santa Monica, CA 90401. Address required to be maintained in DE: CSC, 251 Little Falls Drive, Wilmington DE 19808.

Cert of Formation filed with DE Div. of Corps, 401 Federal St., Ste 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.

Notice of Formation of MERIDIAN BRANDS LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/24/20. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of SIGNATURE SP 3, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/19/20. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

NY PRINCIPAL LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 09/25/2020. Office loc: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to: Ed Gitlin, 33 West 60th Street Ste 2-1, NY, NY 10023. Reg Agent: Ed Gitlin, 33 West 60th Street Ste 2-1, NY, NY 10023.

Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose Notice of Formation of REVENUESOLUTIONS PARTNERS, L.L.C. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/10/20. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: One Penn Plaza, Ste. 6328, NY, NY 10119. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207.

Purpose: Any lawful activity.

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF Zemi Beauty LLC. Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/08/2020. Office location and principal business address: 50 W 112th St., APT 1B, New York, NY 10026. SSNY is designated as agent for service of process. The Post Office address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any service of process against the LLC is: 606 W 57th St., APT 2603, New York, NY 10019. Purpose: any lawful act or activity.

C O M P A N Y ’ S

Notice of Formation of OMAHA FALLS II LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/07/20. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to Robert Milam, 150 Charles St., Unit M3, NY, NY 10014. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF LuLaLoCDC, LLC. Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/11/2020. Office location: NEW YORK County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served. The Post Office address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/her is: 210 W. 101st Street, Suite 6G. The principal business address of the LLC is: 210 W. 101st Street, Suite 6G.Purpose: any lawful act or activity MP 125Q LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 12/03/20. Office: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, 140 East 56th Street, Suite 1D, New York, NY 10022. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

J O U R N E Y

Feature your latest milestones, launches, partnerships, awards and more in Crain’s

For more information, contact Debora Stein at dstein@crain.com or submit directly to

CRAINSNEWYORK.COM/COTM

DECEMBER 21, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 45

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12/18/20 8:20 AM

DINING

DEEP FREEZE

FROM PAGE 1

90%

caveats. Snowstorms, such as the one that hit the city last Wednesday, and cold weather make dining outdoors unlikely for most patrons, and third parties such as Grubhub, Seamless and UberEats take 30% off the top of any delivery order made for restaurants.

“The indoor dining was our balance," said Tareq Ahmed, owner of the Guy & Gallard and Black Iron Burger restaurants. “Right now there’s no balance. We can’t keep up with the bills.”

Ahmed said he has about a month left to survive without indoor dining and additional funds from the Paycheck Protection Program. Regarding the entire industry, Ahmed is even more distraught.

“We’re destroyed,” he said. “I’m doing better than most, and I won’t last until the end of January.”

A survey taken by the New York City Hospitality Alliance found nearly 90% of city restaurants did not pay their full rent in August. Of the restaurants surveyed, 79% said they could pay only half.

The industry was hanging by a thread going into the pandemic, various owners say, and the response by city and state officials to the crisis has simply pushed them over the edge.

More than 140,000 workers in the city’s restaurant industry have lost their jobs since March, the Hospitality Alliance said.

More than feelings of impending doom, many restaurant owners are expressing outrage at what they see as a double standard imposed by Cuomo and de Blasio on their industry, one they feel is being singled out to suffer with an unsustainable economic model and no additional assistance.

“Most heartbreaking of all is to face my staff and to tell them that

140,000 WORKERS AT CITY eateries have lost their jobs since March

BLOOMBERG

Cold soup

OF CITY RESTAURANTS couldn’t pay their full rent in August, one survey found

some of them will be have to be let go before Christmas,” said Roni Mazumdar, owner of three city restaurants. “There is no real choice we have right now.”

A recent contact-tracing report

by Cuomo’s office revealed restaurants and bars accounted for only 1.4% of the 46,000 Covid-19 cases recorded between September and November, while 73.4% came from private household gatherings The governor and the mayor are using restaurants as a scapegoat to show residents they are doing something to control the pandemic, said James Mallios, owner of Amali on the Upper East Side.

“Why can you walk around Bloomingdale’s without having your temperature taken? There’s no statistical difference,” he said.

Cuomo has said dining indoors at a restaurant requires taking off a

mask, and New York City’s higher density increases the risk of infection.

Frozen out The major snowstorm last week added to the myriad difficulties facing restaurant owners. The city said outdoor dining on roadways had to cease and discouraged serving pa-

“RIGHT NOW THERE’S NO BALANCE. WE CAN’T KEEP UP WITH THE BILLS” trons on sidewalks. Electrical heaters and loose items such as lamps needed to be secured.

“There’s no communication with the industry,” said Jason Burrell, owner of Endswell in Fort Greene.

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

Advertising Section To place your listing, visit www.crainsnewyork.com/people-on-the-move or, for more information, contact Debora Stein at 917.226.5470 / dstein@crain.com

LEGAL SERVICES

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Foley Hoag LLP

Aegis Property Group

Transit Wireless

Robert P. Haney Jr. has joined Foley Hoag LLP as partner in the Litigation Department. He is resident in the firm’s New York office and will lead the Labor & Employment practice there. Haney is an experienced litigator for complex commercial disputes including arbitrations, jury trials, bench trials and mediations. He also has an extensive background in disputes involving departures of senior executives, trade secret misappropriation and noncompetes.

Richard Neuman joined Aegis Property Group as Senior Associate. Previously he was a VP in JLL’s Northeast region Project and Development Services group. Aegis is an Owner’s Rep firm providing services to academic, corporate, cultural & religious, healthcare, hospitality, multifamily, science & tech, and senior living clients via its affiliate Eventus Strategic Partners. Richard is providing services to existing senior living clients and pursuing new business out of the Melville, NY, office.

Transit Wireless, a BAI Communications and leading 5G wireless infrastructure company, announced that Jyoti MahurkarThombre has joined the company as chief technology officer. In her senior leadership role, she will drive technology strategy to facilitate the company’s growing 5G infrastructure buildouts.

Mahurkar-Thombre is based in New York City and will report directly to Melinda White, chief executive officer of Transit Wireless.

46 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | DECEMBER 21, 2020

“I’m not sure who they have on their advisory board, but it’s clearly not someone from hospitality because they don’t understand what it takes to open and close repeatedly.”

De Blasio seemed to empathize with the plight of restaurant owners but acknowledged he couldn’t change the course of the worsening public health crisis.

“I feel for the folks who created a restaurant with their bare hands, had an idea, made it happen, employed people,” he said. “We’ve got to bring the industry back. We’ve got to bring back the restaurants we love, but it’s going to take time. In the meantime, we’ve got to stay safe because this second wave is very, very real.”

On Dec. 17, following the snowstorm, the mayor’s office announced new state-directed regulations on outdoor dining and what constitutes acceptable behavior for restaurant patrons and staff. Customers are not allowed in restaurants for any reason, at any time, even to use the restroom. Staff members are not allowed to eat and drink together inside the dining establishments. Outdoor dining structures are subject to new regulations that require them to have at least two sides open to increase airflow.

But the next day the mayor reversed himself, calling the ban on bathroom use a “mistake.”

But even if Cuomo and de Blasio suddenly reversed course and restarted indoor dining amid a wave of closures that are sure to bring even worse economic ruin to an already struggling city, it might not be enough to change the outlook for a battered industry.

“It’s too late. It’s just that simple,” said Jeffrey Bank, CEO of Alicart Restaurant Group. “There’s been no support.” ■

PROMOTE. Why not?

CRAINSNEWYORK.COM I OCTOBER 26, 2020 I

ASKED & ANSWERED Few qualities are more vital to the health of any business than financial experts in tax regulation, audit, estate administration, forensic accounting, organizational transformation, advisory services, fundraising and business equilibrium and organizational efficiency.

Rarely has the value of both been more strongly felt than in recent structure. They represent an extraordinary group of professionals from months. From stress-tested balance sheets to fast-changing regulations, firms of varying size and renown.

To find these honorees, Crain’s consulted with trusted sources in the and reconfigured supply chains to “new normal” working arrangements, business world in general and in the accounting and consulting realms in the Covid-19 pandemic has challenged even the strongest of businesses.

Standing tall within this chaotic breach are the foot soldiers of profes- particular. The nominations submitted by individuals and firms in the New Few qualities are more vital to the health of any business than financial experts in tax regulation, audit, estate administration, forensic accounting, York metropolitan area were rigorously vetted. Ultimately, each of the acsional service firms, led by accountants and management consultants. organizational transformation, advisory services, fundraising and business equilibrium and organizational efficiency.

In selecting the 86 honorees for this year’s list of Notable Women in counting and consulting notables was chosen for her career achievements Rarely has the value of both been more strongly felt than in recent structure. They represent an extraordinary group of professionals from Accounting and Consulting, Crain’s sought to spotlight the accomplished and involvement in industry and community organizations—and at times firms of varying size and renown. months. From stress-tested balance sheets to fast-changing regulations, 28, 2020 I to help New York reboundI SEPTEMBER from the coronavirus. metropolitan area professionals and problem-solvers who keep business- her effortsCRAINSNEWYORK.COM To find these honorees, Crain’s consulted with trusted sources in the and reconfigured supply chains to “new normal” working arrangements, Read their biographies and learn how the members of this remarkable es churning. The talented individuals presented here are a diverse group, business world in general and in the accounting and consulting realms in the Covid-19 pandemic has challenged even the strongest of businesses. skilled at resourceful innovation and disruptive thinking. These women are cohort keep the gears of business whirling.

The nominations by individuals andadministration, firms in the New Standing tall within thisqualities chaoticare breach soldiersofofany profesexperts insubmitted tax regulation, audit, estate forensic accounting, Few moreare vitalthetofoot the health businessparticular. than financial York metropolitan organizational area were rigorously vetted. Ultimately, each of the acsional service firms, led by accountants and management transformation, advisory services, fundraising and business equilibrium and organizational efficiency.consultants. counting and consulting notables chosenan forextraordinary her career achievements In selecting the 86 honorees for this list been of Notable structure.

They was represent group of professionals from Rarely has the valueyear’s of both more Women stronglyinfelt than in recent andregulations, involvement infirms industry and community organizations—and at times Accounting and Consulting, Crain’s sought to spotlight the accomplished of varying size and renown. months. From stress-tested balance sheets to fast-changing efforts to help New from theCrain’s coronavirus. metropolitan area and professionals andsupply problem-solvers businessTo York find rebound these honorees, consulted with trusted sources in the reconfigured chains to who “newkeep normal” working her arrangements, Read their biographies learn how theand members this remarkable es churning. The talented individuals presented here are aeven diverse group, of businesses. businessand world in general in the of accounting and consulting realms in the Covid-19 pandemic has challenged the strongest cohort the gears of business whirling. submitted by individuals and firms in the New skilled at resourcefulStanding innovationtalland disruptive thinking.

Theseare women aresoldiers particular.

The nominations within this chaotic breach the foot of keep professional service firms, led by accountants and management consultants.

In selecting the 86 honorees for this year’s list of Notable Women in Accounting and Consulting, Crain’s sought to spotlight the accomplished metropolitan area professionals and problem-solvers who keep businesses churning. The talented individuals presented here are a diverse group, skilled at resourceful innovation and disruptive thinking. These women are

LAURA PETERSON

York metropolitan area were rigorously vetted. Ultimately, each of the accounting and consulting notables was chosen for her career achievements and involvement in industry and community organizations—and at times her efforts to help New York rebound from the coronavirus.

Read their biographies and learn how the members of this remarkable cohort keep the gears of business whirling.

Managing Director and Communications, Media and Technology Northeast Business Leader Accenture

LAURA PETERSON

Laura Peterson’s résumé lists a whopping 10 positions she’s held at the multinational professional services company Managing Director and Communications, Media and Technology Northeast Business Leader Accenture since joining the firm in 2000. In her current role as Accenture the Northeast business lead for communications, media and technology, the enterprising ladder climber presides over a team Laura Peterson’s résumé lists a whopping 10 positions she’s of 3,000 professionals. Peterson is charged with managing a $750 held at the multinational professional services company andinCommunications, Media and Technology Northeast Business Leader million profit-and-lossManaging statementDirector for clients the Accenture since joining the firm in 2000. In her current role as aforementioned sectors as well as the high tech sector. Peterson Accenture the Northeast business lead for communications, media and works with key business leaders among more than 40 clients and technology, the enterprising ladder climber presides over a team Laura Peterson’sstructure. résumé lists a whopping within Accenture’s global management Since 2017, she 10 positions she’s of 3,000 professionals. Peterson is charged with managing a $750 held the multinational professional company has been a board adviser to at Fairygodboss, an online platformservices that million profit-and-loss statement for clients in the since joining the firm in 2000. In her current role as seeks to elevate womenAccenture in the workplace. aforementioned sectors as well as the high tech sector. Peterson the Northeast business lead for communications, media and works with key business leaders among more than 40 clients and technology, the enterprising ladder climber presides over a team within Accenture’s global management structure. Since 2017, she of 3,000 professionals. Peterson is charged with managing a $750 has been a board adviser to Fairygodboss, an online platform that million profit-and-loss statement for clients in the seeks to elevate women in the workplace. aforementioned sectors as well as the high tech sector. Peterson works with key business leaders among more than 40 clients and within Accenture’s global management structure. Since 2017, she has been a board adviser to Fairygodboss, an online platform that seeks to elevate women in the workplace.

LAURA PETERSON

PAT WANG Healthfirst

P

INTERVIEW BY JENNIFER HENDERSON

at Wang, president and CEO of Healthfirst, a nonprofit insurer formed by a group of health care systems, had been working to advance value-based care long before the pandemic. The concept involves paying hospitals and physicians based on their patients’ outcomes rather than on the volume of services they provide. Now, as health care providers face unprecedented financial strain due to the Covid-19 crisis, Wang says such payment arrangements are more critical than ever. Not only do they improve the quality of care for patients—including the 1.5 million plan members Healthfirst serves throughout the city, Long Island and surrounding areas—but they also generate fiscal benefit for the facilities, practices and health centers that serve them.

How does Healthfirst contribute to value-based care?

What you understand as profit in another health insurance company’s balance sheet at Healthfirst is contractually-driven surplus that goes back to the delivery system. Eighty percent of the premiums we get for medical services flows through value-based payment arrangements, which means that providers benefit when there is a surplus in the premium. If less money is spent on fee-for-service claims, the surplus is part of the contractually-obligated payment stream.

What has that meant during the pandemic?

For April through June, we are distributing $250 million in those surpluses [about double that of the same period last year], and we’ve expedited the calculation and reconciliation of those amounts to get them out the door faster because the delivery system really needs it.

Why are value-based payments vital now and in normal times?

In the best of times, we have always been trying to push for this model because it aligns the incentives around trying to keep people healthy and avoiding unnecessary care. The providers are aligned with that goal because they benefit from it if they can reduce avoidable care. Consider Covid-19 to be like a war.

In war times, the model has been a lifesaver because there is this artificial depression of utilization, and that’s why the providers have lost so much money—their revenue has dried up. But because we have these risk contracts, the surplus that is there, that’s what has gone out the door to them.

DOSSIER WHO SHE IS President and CEO, Healthfirst AGE 66 BORN Jersey City RESIDES Manhattan EDUCATION Bachelor’s in history and East Asian studies, Princeton University; J.D., New York University School of Law FAMILY MATTERS Wang is married and has one son who lives in Brooklyn.

GLOBAL TIES She has lived in Croatia, Taiwan as well as China, where she had more than 20 first cousins.

FLARE FOR FOOD Wang has become reacquainted with the joy of cooking as a result of the pandemic.

EYE ON MEDICAID About three-quarters of Healthfirst’s members are Medicaid beneficiaries. The insurer’s initial response to the crisis included having its care managers make sure members had medicine and durable medical equipment to stay at home safely.

BUDGET CUTS Wang says the magnitude of the state’s Medicaid cuts—instituted to pare back on spending growth—is devastating. “Cuts to us as a Medicaid plan are cuts to hospitals.”

What happens when patients again begin seeking services?

We do see utilization coming back, and we have been encouraging our members to get needed care because people have put a lot of stuff off. We have to see whether the bounce back is gigantic or it just brings things back to a steady state. If we go back to a more normal utilization pattern, then the regular incentives of trying to align around good preventive care and avoiding unnecessary care, they just kick in.

How can the city safely bounce back from the pandemic?

Continue doubling down on the public health measures already in place: wearing masks, social distancing and hand sanitation. We know what to do. But I think a singular focus on getting the schools open for full learning should top the list of what we are aiming for. We should measure our success against that goal. As an employer, I can tell you that we will not be able to get fully back to work until the thousands of employees with school-age children can get their kids back into school. It’s of course better for all children and particularly critical for poorer children. The city’s economic recovery is going to hinge on how quickly and how well we can get that done so that parents can resume their normal lives too. As a longtime resident of the city who has watched us recover from recession, 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy, I believe in the city’s ability to bounce back against the odds. But this time is going test all of us, and we should be sober about the need for everyone to contribute to the solution.

What challenges face the broader insurance industry?

Balancing the needs and expectations of consumers who need and deserve good health care coverage, expanding access however we can and doing it within an increasingly constrained economic environment. This is especially true with Medicaid, where the state’s budget situation is dire at the same time as people’s needs are increasing. Given that Healthfirst has over 1 million Medicaid members, the potential impact of the state’s budget is especially concerning. For me, our priority has to be enabling as many people as possible to have full access to high-quality care, and it’s going to be a challenge to figure out how to do that in this economic environment. Insurers also need to be mindful of the hurt being experienced by so much of the provider delivery system.

The value of our products relies on having strong doctors, hospitals and community resources. Balancing all of this in a financially viable way is going to be a challenge. ■ Reprinted with permission from Crain’s New York Business. © 2020 Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved.

Further duplication without permission is prohibited. #NB20080

Reprinted with permission from Crain’s New York Business.. © 2020 Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved.

Further duplication without permission is prohibited. #NB20073

For more information contact: Lauren Melesio Director, Reprints & Licensing lmelesio@crain.com • (212) 210-0707

OUT OF OFFICE TASCA

TASCA

LOCATION 505 Columbus Ave., Upper West Side HOURS 5 to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday WEBSITE tasca-nyc.com SIGNATURE DISHES Codicia de pescado y mariscos: Mixed seafood, fennel, a lobster brandy reduction and saffron banda rice ($32) Arroz con gandules: Coconut, pigeon peas and rice ($8) Magret de pato: Duck magret served over a tower of sweet plantains and zinfandel goat cheese ($28)

LIZ CLAYMAN

Paella for two: Saffron rice, shrimp, scallops, calamari, clams, mussels, chorizo and chicken ($62)

Latin flavors that aren’t so traditional Tasca puts its spin on cuisine with Spanish and Caribbean roots

O

pening a restaurant amid restrictions on dining could be considered bad luck, but Jay Espinal is treating the first months of operating Tasca on the Upper West Side as a warm-up.

“Profit is nonexistent,” he said, “but we are trying to set it up for long-term success.”

Tasca is a family project: Espinal and his wife, Norisa, used to run Don

Pedro’s on the Upper East Side. It closed in 2013, and he worked as a wine consultant until his son, Justin, convinced him to get back into the restaurant game.

The cuisine has Spanish, Latin and Caribbean roots, though it’s not fusion.

Cuban, Dominican and Puerto Rican dishes feature heavily, as does the cornerstone of Iberian cooking:

sofrito, a base made from sautéed onions, peppers and garlic.

Some items, such as rice with pigeon peas and paella, taste as they might in their home country, but the restaurant’s two chefs also create dishes in the spirit of old favorites.

“When Spanish people come, they say, ‘This isn’t traditional.’

And when people from the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico come,

they say, ‘This is not exactly traditional Caribbean food either,’ ” Espinal said. “But they all enjoy it and see how it comes together.”

Jay, Norisa and Justin Espinal thought the space on Columbus Avenue seemed too big at first, but they figured they could break it up into a bar, dining room, lounge and private event rooms.

Now, that indoor dining has been curtailed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Tasca will ramp up delivery and takeout. The restaurant also offers 16 seats out front, complete with heaters to keep dinners warm in the cold weather.

— Cara Eisenpress

HOLIDAY GIFT IDEAS delicacy is now sold online and can be shipped. Houseman also offers two holiday take-home items. The Christmas Dinner to Go includes braised beef short rib or glazed ham with a salad, roasted carrots, caramelized onions, potatoes dauphinoise and sticky toffee pudding. The Holiday Party to Go features traditionally beloved finger foods such as meatballs, baked bloomy rind cheese and spiced candied nuts.

508 Greenwich St., Tribeca housemanrestaurant.com/ new-products/fruitcake

HOUSEMAN

HOUSEMAN Every year this Tribeca restaurant sells fruitcakes made with ginger, walnuts, candied oranges, cherries and rum. The

LUKE’S LOBSTER The restaurant famous for its lobster rolls has an online store featuring flash-frozen lobster and crab meat. There are also holiday boxes such as the lobster roll set, which comes with all the ingredients to make four

lobster rolls as well as a holiday ornament in the shape of one.

Multiple locations shop.lukeslobster.com/ collections/holiday

includes the owner’s cookbook and pasta fixings.

803 Eighth Ave., Park Slope SYLVIA’S SOUL FOOD The Harlem restaurant sells ingredients, so patrons can try to make some of its most-loved dishes at home. Products include Sizzlin’ Hot Spice, hush puppies mix and Sweet Cookin’, Dippin’ & Moppin’ Sauce.

328 Malcolm X Blvd., Harlem sylviassoulfoodbrand.com

PASTA LOUISE This Park Slope restaurant puts together pasta boxes that include fresh pasta, sauces and sides. The Fancy Kit features wild mushroom and fresh herb cream sauce, mafaldine pasta, focaccia and a bottle of Bordeaux. The eatery’s gift basket

PASTA LOUISE

PASTA LOUISE

DOMINIQUE ANSEL The cronut, a cross between a doughnut and a croissant, became a fad when Dominique Ansel created it, drawing lines outside his eponymous SoHo bakery. This month his cronuts will be sold online in boxes of four for $35. Boxes of Christ-

mas Morning Cereal—a mix of chocolate, mini meringues, candied hazelnuts and crispy rice—will be offered as well for $19 in addition to various cookie options.

189 Spring St., SoHo dominiqueanselonline.com

LIZ CLAYMAN

W

ith the continuation of indoor dining in question and occupancy already limited, hundreds of city restaurants are now selling holiday meal takeout boxes, sweet treats as well as ingredients and sauces in order to stay afloat. Many of the offerings would make great holiday gifts. Check out the items below for ideas, and don’t overlook buying gift cards as a means of supporting your favorite local spots as they work to stay in business.

SOOGIL A five-course tasting menu of Korean cooking, including the chef’s signature Nurungji gras, seared foie gras atop “scorched rice,” can be ordered ahead as a present. In addition, Soogil will create special menus for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. 108 E. Fourth St. soogil.com — C.E.

DECEMBER 21, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 47

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