ALBANY NEW YORK
Central District Management Association, Inc
The Center of it Allbany
Central District Management Association Inc. Board of Directors
David Parente -Property Owner-Chair of the Board of Directors
David has extensive experience as a funeral service professional, serving Albany area families for over 30 years. He has been with the McVeigh Funeral Home for the better part of those years.
His curriculum vita includes Canisius College, Hudson Valley Community College, and the prestigious, internationally-renowned Fountain National Academy of Professional Embalming Skills.
David is very active in related business associations, as well as within the wider community. He currently serves as president of the Capital District Funeral Directors Association; member and trustee of Blessed Sacrament Church, Albany; past president of the Parish Council at Blessed Sacrament Church, Albany; board member and vice president of The Community Hospice Foundation; Advisory Board member at Hudson Valley Community College Mortuary Science Program; chairman of the board of Albany’s Central Ave Business Improvement District; and also serves on the board of directors for Directors Choice Credit Union, Capitalize Albany Corporation, and NYS Funeral Director Support Services.
David grew up in Watervliet, NY where he learned to love playing sports, especially football. He went on to become an All-City running back. He has since become a member of the Capital District Football Officials Association, where he has succeeded in officiating five NYS Section II Superbowls, numerous NYSPHSAS Regional and Semi-Regional playoff games, while culminating in 2007 in the Carrier Dome at Syracuse University officiating a New York State Public High School Athletic Association Championship game.
"Living in the Capital Region has been a privilege for me, and especially serving New York's great Capital City.....Albany"
Ken Mortenson (Vice _President)
Ken has been involved in the plumbing and heating business since the early 1970's. Security Supply was a family business that his Grandfather founded in 1934. They have had several locations on the Avenue since the late 1930's. Ken entered the business full time in May of 1978, when he graduated with a Marketing/Management degree from Siena College. He is Director of Special Markets for Security Plumbing & Heating Supply.
Ken has served on a number of Boards. He was involved with The Good Samaritan Group from 1986-1993, then re elected from 1994-2000. He was Treasurer of Albany facility from 1988-90; Nomination Committee Chair from 1986-93; Development Committee from 1993-2000; and Vice President from 1991-93.
He has been involved in The Capital Region Investment Club, Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Two Rivers Outdoor Club, Town of Bethlehem District 12 Election Board, Our Brothers Keepers Foundation, The Albany Charity For Arts In Education, and the Capital Pride Center. He is currently immediate Past President of the Center.
Ken currently serves on this Board as well as the Upstate New York Energy Association (Vice President),and the Capital Region Builders and Remodelers Association (Board Member), He grew up in Selkirk , and attended the R-C-S schools. He currently resides in the city of Albany,in his home of 21 years. Gardening, old cars, and volunteering are his favorite activities.
Danny Sanders-Property Owner (Corporate Treasurer)
Daniel Sanders is an architect at Harris Sanders Architects, PC. The firm, which was founded by his father more than 40 years ago, and continued under Sanders’s leadership for the past 20, specializes in historic renovation and adaptive re-use of buildings, with a concentration in multi-family residential and mixed-use buildings. Sanders also serves on the board for Congregation Ohav Shalom and the Albany Roundtable. He and his wife have three college-age children and two border collies. Sanders joined the board of the Central Avenue BID 13 years ago to help with the development of Central Avenue and assist the staff. He is proud of the contribution his family’s firm has made to the district and looks forward to helping the district flourish.the an
Elliot Rosen-Property Owner (Corporate Secretary)
Elliot Rosen started his business career as an accountant and eventually became a CPA. After seven years in public, he became a controller and treasurer of Garden Way and Troy-Bilt Roto-tiller company here in the Capital Region and spent 13 years helping that company to grow and prosper. He left in 1986 to pursue a new career in commercial real estate, both as an investor and developer and as a real estate broker. Elliott is a licensed commercial real estate broker with Trinity Realty Group. properties, primarily along lower Central Avenue, when few people were interested in this part of Albany. He took great pride in renovating many of those During the late 1980s and 1990s, he purchased and renovated almost a dozen small commerical rundown properties and converting them into attractive and functional investments with both retail tenants on the first floor and offices and apartments on the upper floors.
Rosen is proud of his small contribution to the resurgence of the Avenue and has been a supporter of the Central District Management Association since it started in 1998. He frequently offers assistance to young entrepreneurs and new investors interested in getting started in Albany real estate.
WonHyung Lee
Associate Professor
School of Social Welfare
ABOUT
With her background in social work and urban planning, Dr. Lee's research centers on community development and engagement. She is particularly interested in the process of neighborhood revitalization and asset building in disadvantaged communities. Her research interests range from the improvement of physical spaces and economic activities to the promotion of collective actions and access to services. Dr. Lee pursues interdisciplinary and community-engaged research opportunities, which comprises expertise from various disciplines such as arts, business, engineering, public health, and public policy. Some of her recent work reveals the potential for human service and business communities to work together to benefit marginalized populations. Two examples include business improvement districts (BIDs) that serve the needs of homeless populations and microfinance programs that help entrepreneurs with low assets and credit. Dr. Lee is currently co-leading an NSF-funded project on Smart and Connected Communities with a goal of developing a technology that can improve the communication between service-seekers and service-providers. In and outside the classroom, Dr. Lee applies community-engaged and experiential approaches to facilitate hands-on learning for students.
Carm Basile-Property Owner-Jonathan Scherzer -Designee
Carm Basile is Chief Executive Officer for the Capital District Transportation Authority. CDTA, an Albany, New York-based transit company, with an annual operating budget of close to $80 million, serves customers throughout Albany, Schenectady, Troy, and Saratoga counties.
services, programs and facilities to the people of the Capital Region. He Basile has worked at CDTA since 1981 and he was named CEO in 2009. During his CDTA career, he has a number of senior management positions. As CEO, Basile has companywide responsibility for transit development, daily operations, and presentation. Mr. Basile works with the CDTA Board of Directors to develop innovative strategies that deliver high qualityhas lead the transformation of the company into a community-based provider of mobility. Ridership last year was 17 million, a new record for CDTA and a 25 percent increase over the last 5 years.
Basile serves on a number of boards and civic organizations including Colonie Senior Services Center, Christian Brothers Academy, United Way of Northeastern New York, Equinox, and the Colonie Chamber of Commerce. He currently serves as President of the New York Public Transit Association, a statewide trade group consisting of transit agencies, manufacturers and government agencies.
Basile was born and raised in Springfield, Massachusetts. He graduated from Worcester State College in Massachusetts with a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Urban Studies. He lives in Latham, New York with his wife Sheila. They have two sons.
Dr. Alan Chartock -Property Owner
Dr. Alan Chartock is professor emeritus at the University at Albany. He hosts the weekly Capitol Connection series, heard on public radio stations around New York. The program for almost twelve years, highlighted interviews with Governor Mario Cuomo and now continues with conversations with state political leaders. Dr. Chartock also appears each week on The Media Project and the Roundtable and offers commentary on Morning Edition, weekdays at 7:37 am.
During his long tenure at WAMC/Northeast Public Radio, Alan Chartock has interviewed interesting people of every stripe. From Governors, Senators and top lawmakers, to newsmakers including World War II heroes and former UN weapons inspectors. Dr. Chartock has also had the chance for in-depth chats with artists, musicians, actors and directors...authors...you name it!
John Vero -Property Owner
John Vero is a member of Couch White’s Banking, Corporate Transactions, and Government Contracts and Real Estate practice groups. John furnishes legal services to new, emerging and established businesses, commercial entities, not-for-profit and tax exempt organizations, religious organizations, healthcare organizations, municipal entities, professional service entities, civic groups, business organizations and individuals in the formation, merger, restructuring, sale, acquisition, capitalization, management, operation and financing of real and personal property, including contractual, licensing, reporting and compliance matters.
He has experience with New York’s strategic sourcing procurement method and other public procurement programs. John is a Director of the Capitalize Albany Corporation. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Central Avenue Business Improvement District and he is a Trustee of the Destroyer Escort Historical Museum, Inc. (USS Slater). John was a member of the City of Albany Industrial Development Agency and the Capital Resource Corporation. John served as a member of the College of Saint Rose Board of Associates.
Vero is a former member of the Board of Trustees at Union College and past president of the Union College Alumni Council. He is a former member of the Board of Trustees at Albany Law School of Union University. John formerly served as Chairman of the Board of Managers of the Albany YMCA, and he formerly served on the Board of Directors of the Capital District YMCA.
John was a founding member of GenNEXT, the council dedicated to promoting the Capital Region’s economic vitality, currently known as the Tech Valley Young Professionals Network. He served on the Advisory Board of The Stakeholders Inc., a not-for-profit organization formed to promote the sustainability of the Capital Region. John also served on the I Live New York Steering Committee, a statewide organization aiming to attract and retain professionals in New York State. John was named to the Business Review’s Forty Under Forty for 2005. The Forty Under Forty program recognizes outstanding members of the business community under the age of forty.
Vero has been a co-author and co-contributor to the Albany Times Union’s Workbytes column series. He has also been a contributor to the local PBS affiliate business show “The Bottom Line with Wally Altes.”
As a member of The Rosenblum Companies executive team, Jeff Mirel provides strategic direction and oversight for all company operations including institutional and government relations, business development and marketing.
Previously, Jeff spent seven years as the youngest senior manager at FirstLight Fiber (formerly Tech Valley Communications), initially implementing the company’s municipal wireless broadband program. He subsequently directed Product Development, Enterprise Sales and Client Relations for a customer base of 750+ regional, national and global organizations. Jeff also founded Albany Barn, Inc. and led the non-profit’s successful efforts to establish an incubator for creative economy-based enterprise and community art center called “The Barn” by repurposing a vacant circa 1906 school building in the City of Albany’s Arbor Hill neighborhood. The Barn consists of 22 affordable live/work apartments and over 13,000 square feet of highly subsidized private and collaborative “maker” suites as well as ample exhibition, performance and programming space.
Jeff is a BSBA graduate of Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business (cum laude) and currently resides in Albany with his wife and two daughters. He has been active on numerous boards and committees, among them the City of Albany 2030 Comprehensive Plan board, Upstate Alliance for the Creative Economy Executive Committee, Albany County Convention and Visitors Bureau board, Arbor Hill Implementation Team, and Albany County District Attorney’s Community Accountability Board. Mirel is a Jefferson Award for Public Service medalist and 2010 Albany Business Review “40 Under Forty.”
Richard E. Bennett III-Commercial Tenant
Richard Bennett is the Associate Dean of Continuing Education, Summer Sessions, and Workforce Development at Hudson Valley Community College. He has a Masters Degree in Education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He has spent his career developing education and training program initiatives for business and industry and has been at Hudson Valley Community College since 1989. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for the Arsenal Business and Technology, the Capital District YMCA Troy Family, and Commissioner of the Schenectady County Human Rights Commission. Bennett is also a motivational speaker.
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Darius Shahinfar -City Treasurer
Albany City Treasurer Darius Shahinfar is the Chief Fiscal Officer under the City Charter. He was elected to his first 4-year term in 2013, receiving the most votes of the city-wide elected officials.
Michael O’Brien-City Council Designee
Michael O’Brien serves as 12th Ward Albany Common Council Member. The 12th Ward is located in the western portion of Albany. It extends from Allen Street and Central Ave to the Point of Woods homes at the intersection of Washington Ave Extension and Route 155. The ward includes residential homes, apartments, senior living facilities, nursing homes, retail stores, offices, the Pine Bush Preserve and the SUNY Polytechnic facility. A longtime resident of the Capital District, O’Brien graduated from Albany Law School is 1975. He served as a Judge Advocate General officer for the National Guard, prosecuting and defending those charged with crimes in the military. His legal career spans 40 years, and during his career, he was an attorney for Albany County Social Services, Mental Hygiene Legal Service and the New York State Department of Health. He retired in 2010, and since then, he has been volunteering as a pro-bono attorney for Legal Aid Society of Northeastern NY at Stratton VA Center and Albany Housing Coalition. He brings a strong knowledge of Capital District community organizations and has experience working with diverse populations.
-Property owner-Ex-Sarah Reginelli Excificio
As President of Capitalize Albany Corporation and CEO of the City of Albany Industrial Development Agency and Capital Resource Corporation, Sarah leads the City of Albany’s economic development efforts through transformational real estate development, targeted business and project assistance, and strategic planning. Prior to joining Capitalize Albany, Sarah specialized in neighborhood revitalization, plan implementation and community engagement as Principal Planner for the City of Albany.
She holds a master’s degree in urban geography from the University of Miami and bachelor’s degrees in both public relations and urban geography from Syracuse University. She lives in downtown Albany with her husband and toddler son.
Outside of her position at Capitalize Albany Corporation, Reginelli is active in the community and serves as a board member for several organizations including the Albany Convention Center Authority, Albany Center for Economic Success, Albany Roundtable, Affordable Housing Partnership, and is a member of the Mayor’s Cultural Heritage Tourism Advisory Committee.
Mayor's Designee
Frank Zeoli
Frank Zeoli has been employed with the City of Albany, Department of General Services for over two decades currently serving as Deputy Commissioner. Frank is Mayor Kathy Sheehan’s designee on the Central Business Improvement Districts Board of Directors. He was born and raised in the City of Albany and is a proud graduate of Albany High School and SUNY Schenectady.
Frank serves on several boards in the City of Albany including the Downtown Business Improvement District. He is the President of the Italian American Community Center; past president of the Italian American Heritage Foundation and a lifelong parishioner of Blessed Sacrament Church serving on the parish council for the past 8 years.
“I am proud to be a 4th generation Albany Family member and I’m dedicated to making the City of Albany the best place to work, live and visit.”
Exicificio Ray Joyce Albany County legislature