Good Things

Development Officer Named Fundraiser Of The Year

Margaret Tramontine, chief development officer at United Way of Westchester and Putnam in White Plains, was named the 2023 Fundraiser of the Year by the Association of Development Officers (ADO) for her exceptional work in raising funds to support critical community programs. She was one of several honorees at ADO’s annual ADO Philanthropy Awards on March 22 at Abigail Kirsch Tappan Hill in Tarrytown.

“…Fundraising can be a daunting challenge, yet it can also be tremendously satisfying and is an experience I have truly enjoyed,” said Tramontine.

Firm Ranks In Top 10

Yankwitt LLP in White Plains, which is getting to be known as the “go-to law firm for high-stakes, bet-the-company litigation,” has been named to the Best Companies to Work for in New York for the third year in a row.

The firm has been ranked in the top 10 each of the three years it has participated in the program, based on a survey of employee satisfaction and engagement and an assessment of the firm’s workplace practices and policies.

WALK IN THE AWARD-WINNING PARK

The Westchester County Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation (WCDPRC) recently received two awards from the New York State Recreation and Park Society (NYSRPS). The awards were tributes to two exhibits at Lasdon Park and Arboretum in Somers. Its “Forest Friends” exhibit received NYSRPS’s Special Event Award, and its Dinosaur Garden was given its Program of Merit Award.

The Hundred-Acre Wood Exhibit “Forest Friends” is on view from now to May 29 giving a storybook fantasy that features the original characters of A.A. Milne and inspired illustrations of E.H. Shepard. Interactive signage coordinated with each lesson gives everyone a hands-on sensory experience.

The Dinosaur Garden debuted in 2018 and is one of Lasdon’s most popular permanent exhibits. It takes visitors back hundreds of millions of years and features footprints,

“I have worked with Yankwitt LLP for almost a year and can say without hesitation that it is a best place to work,” said Counsel Jonathan Ohring, who joined Yankwitt from an American Law 50 law firm. “… As a senior lawyer, I am encouraged to take on greater responsibilities – leading cases, taking depositions, presenting arguments in court, interacting with clients – and given opportunities to grow as an attorney with the support of outstanding mentors.”

Yankwitt focuses on complex com- mercial litigation, white collar criminal defense and investigations for companies and individuals in state and federal courts throughout New York. The firm also handles complex matters in Westchester and the New York metropolitan area on behalf of national law firms and serves as trial counsel on high-stakes cases for Westchester law firms.

Best Companies Group (BCG) is an independent research firm specializing in identifying and recognizing great workplace places. BCG manages programs worldwide, including in the U.S., Canada, and the UK.

United Way of Westchester and Putnam is dedicated to improving the lives of individuals and families in Westchester and Putnam counties by mobilizing resources to address critical needs in education, income, health and more.

UCONN BUSINESS SCHOOL’S HALL OF FAME

Five distinguished people were recently inducted into the UConn School of Business Alumni Hall of Fame.

for Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Lasdon Park and Arboretum plant specimens and life-size replicas of a tyrannosaurus, velociraptor and brachiosaurus. WCDPRC teamed up with the creators of the smartphone app Zappar, which gives visitors an animated, interactive experience as they roam through the dinosaur forest.

“We are excited to learn that Lasdon Park and Arboretum has been acknowl- edged by a highly esteemed organization. “…The fact that Lasdon has been acclaimed with not just one, but two awards from the Society is a testament to the hard work and dedication that has gone into making this park and arboretum a true gem for the community….said Westchester County Executive George Latimer.

Founded in 1993, the Hall of Fame recognizes UConn business alumni who have achieved outstanding success in their careers, made a significant impact on their industry or field and have been actively involved in the community. To date, 150 people have received this honor.

UConn President Radenka Maric praised the generosity, creativity, innovation, financial aptitude and intelligence of the awardees as well as their willingness to mentor UConn students.

Maria Fahy-Barry, a 1984 alumna, is senior vice president and community development banking national executive

Debra Hess, who graduated in 1986, was CFO of NorthStar Asset Management until her retirement six years ago.

Thomas Marshella, a 1979 alumnus, served as managing director and head of Corporate Finance, Americas, for Moody’s Investors Service before his retirement.

Anthony Rizza, a member of the class of 1987 and former CEO of Columbus Circle Investors, now serves on the UConn Foundation Board and helped fund and develop the Husky Athletic Village and the Rizza Performance Center.

Richard Vogel graduated magna cum laude from the School of Business in 1987. He is the CFO and COO of Loeb.nyc.

16 Year Old Creates Innovative App Championing Gender Equality In Sports Media Coverage

Nathaniel Yellin of Scarsdale, age16, has conducted a new study that reveals the significant gender bias in the sports media coverage of female athletes and in particular, college basketball players. Yellin has pursued his passions for sports, data science and inspiring change through the creation of an organization and interactive R Shiny application Sidelined. Using natural language processing techniques, Yellin scrutinized more than 1,700 ESPN articles from ESPN.com to expose the discrepancies in media coverage of male and female D1 college basketball athletes.

The interactive R Shiny application Yellin created invites users to interact with data visualizations and view word clouds to evaluate for themselves the extent to which gender bias exists at the league level in the sports media coverage of D1 basketball. Even more fascinating is the fact that users can also search for specific teams and players to assess what gender bias exists in sports media reporting at these particular levels as well. The findings are significant, alleging that a bias exists based on the quantity of articles published for male and female athletes, the sentiment of adjectives used to describe players of both genders, and how media coverage correlates differently with player performance based on gender. “This study highlights the ongoing issue of gender bias in sports media coverage,” said Yellin, the founder of the organization and creator of the App Sidelined. “Female basketball players are just as talented and accomplished as their male counterparts, but they are often overlooked or dismissed in media coverage. This not only perpetuates harmful gender stereotypes, but it also limits the visibility and recognition of female athletes and affects their performance and unfairly the income they receive as NIL athletes and ultimately, professional basketball players,” he said.

The Westchester Parks Foundation Pitch in for Parks’ recent initiative reached record breaking numbers this year for its Earth Week and Earth Day volunteer program. Among the results were the removal of 1,544 pounds of trash from 13 parks,17,075 square feet of invasive plants managed, 560 trees maintained, 15 trees planted, 64 trees saved, 90-foot boardwalk built and so much more.

The annual event was held in partnership with the Westchester County Parks Department.

Westchester Parks Foundation is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit, philanthropic organization, which provides private support to preserve the county’s park system and improve the quality of life in the communities.

RECORD-BREAKING EARTH DAY CLEAN UP PARTNERSHIP GAINS NEW BOARD MEMBER

The Stamford Partnership’s newest board member is Lisa Lanspery, senior vice president of external communications at Synchrony, a Fortune 200 consumer finance company. With more than two decades of expertise in corporate communications, Lanspery has a range of experience in public relations, issues management, storytelling and brand positioning.

where she led a global team of internal, external, executive and social media leaders to help tell the company’s $16 billion cloud and systems hardware story. Lanspery also held public relations roles at GE and at barnesandnoble.com, where she took the company through an initial public offering. She also worked in New York City at Burson-Marsteller (now BCW), one of the world’s largest communications agencies. She started her career working for President Clinton at the White House.

College Professor Fulbright Award Winner

Professor of Acting David Bassuk of Purchase College in New York has received a Fulbright U.S. Program award as announced by the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, to spend the 2023-2024 academic year at Fachhochschule (FH) Salzburg in Salzburg, Austria. He will focus on a project titled Immersive Storytelling Futures: Theater, Virtual and Alternative Realities. His goals are to integrate the study of immersive theater with technology, address a lack of media literacy regarding Alternative Reality Games (ARGs), and explore the art of immersive theater in Salzburg in the home of Austrian director, Max Reinhardt.

Following his work in Salzburg, Bassuk plans to complete a book about the boundaries between performance and media. He will also further his work to inspire students to create audience-centered stories that he believes “can seize the public’s imagination and build meaningful, perhaps even transformational, work that allows people to participate actively in their narratives and societies.”

Lanspery holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Ohio University. She is also a member of the Communications Week

Lwv Hosts Program For Females In Public Office

Prior to joining Synchrony, she was vice president of communications at IBM, The League of Women Voters Westchester recently hosted its annual Running and Winning workshop at Reid Castle at Manhattanville College. Titled Running and Winning the workshop is unique and inspirational with the purpose to inspire and encourage young women to run for political office. Forty-five female* elected officials from throughout Westchester met with 50 female high school students from the Westchester County. In addition to supporting the students’ aspirations to serve in public office and develop their leadership potential, another purpose is to help our government institutions increase gender parity.

The young women who participated were selected by their school administrators and faculty. The program agenda included both learning from elected officials’ experiences and practical application.

After breakfast and a welcome by Kathy Meany, president of LWVW, the students and elected officials heard brief remarks from several elected officials from different levels of government who spoke of their journey to elected office. Following inspirational messages from the elected officials, students participated in three rounds of casual interviews with various elected officials who rotated throughout the room. After the morning sessions, the students worked on mock campaigns and conveyed that the collective mental health of women/girls in their generation has been influenced by many factors, including pandemic isolation, frequent school shootings and challenges to a woman’s right to choose. Some groups also shared their support for an Immigrant Center, citing their own experiences as first- or second-generation immigrants and the need to support and value immigrants in our communities.

Advisory Board for Ragan Communications, a member of the Financial Narrative and a member of the Public Relations Society of America.

Running and Winning 2023 was sponsored by the League of Women Voters Education Fund, the Westchester Community Foundation, the Westchester Library System, the Westchester Black Women’s Political Caucus, The Business Council of Westchester, Manhattanville College, and the American Association of University Women.

Purchase College President Dr. Milagros Peña, a past Fulbright recipient herself, said, “I’m proud to welcome Professor Bassuk to the ranks of Fulbright awardees at Purchase College. His work represents the future of interdisciplinary artists and scholars who are drawing important connections between media, technology, storytelling, and the arts. I look forward to following his progress.”

Fulbrighters engage in cutting-edge research and expand their professional networks, often continuing research collaborations started abroad and laying the groundwork for forging future partnerships between institutions.

Purchase College, part of the State University of New York (SUNY) network of 64 universities and colleges, was founded in 1967 by Governor Nelson Rockefeller. His aspiration for Purchase was to create a dynamic campus that combined conservatory training in the visual and performing arts with programs in the liberal arts and sciences, in order to inspire an appreciation for both intellectual and artistic talents in all students.