Business executives heard from Rockland’s five town leaders at the second annual Town Supervisor Forum, on Wednesday, September 23, 2023.  The event was organized by the Palisades Institute of Dominican University. 

Chair of the Palisades Institute, and former County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef, introduced the forum by pointing out that the Supervisors are in effect CEO’s of the “down home, real government” that people rely on.  “You should know, if you don’t, that town government is where the rubber meets the road.  It is the government that is perhaps the most important to our people – our citizens.  It deals with building. It deals with zoning, It deals with police. It deals with parks and recreation. It deals with highways,” he said. 

The participants in the forum included Clarkstown Town Supervisor George Hoehmann, Haverstraw  Town Supervisor Howard Phillips, Orangetown Town Supervisor Teresa Kenny, Ramapo Town Supervisor Michael Specht, and Stony Point Town Supervisor James Monaghan.  Among the topics discussed were the need for affordable housing, the fentanyl crisis, rising police costs, and the loss of civility in politics. 

Montefiore Nyack Hospital CEO Dr. Mark Geller assured those participating in a Palisades Institute forum on COVID-19 that the rapid development of the vaccines should not be a concern.  He stressed that  research and development about coronaviruses and Messenger RNA have been going on for years.  What was speeded up, Dr. Geller explained, was production of a vaccine that was targeted to this particular virus.  Dr. Geller cautioned against waiting to get a vaccine or trying to get one vaccine over the other.  He said both vaccines are safe and effective.

“When and if a vaccine is available to you – take it.  Don’t ask which one it is – take it,” said Dr. Geller. “The sooner we get to 80% vaccination of the community, the sooner we will return to normalcy —  in the economy, in our personal lives — until we get to that place of what is called herd immunity,”

Bon Secours Charity Health System CEO Dr. Mary Leahy also participated in the January 14, 2021 Zoom forum.  “Masks work. Social distancing works.  We believe the vaccine works and if we are just patient and continue to do those things we will be in a far better place by the end of this year,” she said. ”But we all have to do this together.”  Both Dr. Geller and Dr. Leahy expect the availability of the vaccine to increase in the near future.

About 125 people participated in the Palisades Institute forum, “Defining the Future:  The Impact of COVID-19 on Rockland County’s Healthcare System.”

The four business leaders who shared advice at the forum “Defining the Future: The Shifting Business Landscape of the Lower Hudson Valley Region due to COVID-19” include Walter Goldman (top photo) Howard Hellman, Hal Roth, and Rob Mayer (left to right).

Four business leaders shared advice on how to survive and thrive during COVID-19 during a Palisades Institute Forum via Zoom on November 10, 2020.

Although businesses are dealing with health concerns and financial hardships, Walter Goldman of Goldkap Consulting Group in Suffern, NY, said there is a silver lining.  “From a business perspective, these are very exciting times,” he said.  “And I know when I say that, people are surprised by it, but the reality is that business entrepreneurs and business executives kind of thrive on disruption. They thrive on disruption.  They thrive on a changing marketing environment, which obviously there is.”

Goldman’s advice was to adapt to the new environment, innovate with bold initiatives and new services,  and look for efficiencies.  The others business leaders who took part in the discussion, “Defining the Future: The Shifting Business Landscape of the Lower Hudson Valley Region due to COVID-19”  included Howard Hellman of All Bright Electric in West Nyack, NY; Rob Mayer of Autopro in Spring Valley, NY; and Hal Roth of All Recycling, in Newburgh, NY.

Carolyn Grossman Meagher, NYC Director of Regional Planning, spoke at the Palisades Institute Zoom forum on October 6, 2020.

The Palisades Institute tackled the issue of regional planning at its latest Zoom forum on October 6, 2020.  Carolyn Grossman Meagher, NYC Director of Regional Planning, presented “One Region: Building a Stronger and Fairer Future” to local business leaders.  Meagher discussed the OneNYC campaign that encourages the city to reach out to its neighbors so that the whole region can thrive.

During the forum, Meagher stressed that local decisions in communities, businesses, and organizations really matter and affect the entire region.  “I think of the phrase, ‘think regionally, act locally,’” she said. “So much of what we  think about are how these systems play out, and how we protect our immigrant worker population, and how we train them for new jobs, how we attract new populations, and retain them and think about where they may live. All of this comes down to the very local granular decisions that are made in each municipality.”

Those local decisions include zoning, investments, and workforce development.  Planning is difficult, she admitted, with so much uncertainty brought on by the pandemic.

Also speaking at the forum were:  John O’Connor, Technology Infrastructure Operations Manager, Bloomberg, Orangeburg, NY; Greg Stanton, VP, IRG Realty Advisors & GM, NY Center for Innovation, Pearl River, NY; Jeremy Schulman, Director, Rockland County Economic Development & Tourism; and Chris D’Ambrese, Executive Director, Adult Education, Rockland BOCES.

The aim of the Palisades Institute of Dominican College is to encourage leaders in business, government, and not-for-profit agencies to integrate the concepts of leadership, quality, and ethics to achieve long-term success.

Rockland County Executive Ed Day participated in the annual County Executive Forum via Zoom. He was joined by Westchester County Executive George Latimer and Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus.

About 200 business leaders and local residents participated in the Annual County Executive Forum on Tuesday, June 9, 2020 to hear the latest information from the County Executives from Westchester, Rockland, and Orange Counties.  The event, which was sponsored by the Palisades Institute, took place via Zoom.

The county leaders spoke about reopening businesses following the COVID-19 outbreak and the financial challenges  faced by local governments. However, all three leaders said that there is a silver lining to the tumultuous times — a renewed interest in moving to the suburbs.

Westchester County Executive George Latimer said, “People want to be where there is less dense, intense population.  They want to be in places with a little more elbow room and they believe that will help them stay real healthy.”

Rockland County Executive Ed Day said with crisis comes opportunity, “We are hearing anecdotally that housing sales are a very hot market right now.”  Orange County Steven Neuhaus  agreed and said that there is also a boom in the real estate market in his county.

In addition, the County Executives predicted telecommuting will become more widespread in the future since many people have been working from home during stay-at-home restrictions, while continuing to be productive

The County Executive Forum is a long tradition of the Palisades Institute and has been held annually since 2005. The aim of the Palisades Institute of Dominican College is to assist leaders to advance their organizations by providing them with professional development and information to integrate the concepts of Leadership, Quality, and Ethics to achieve long-term success. In serving the business, not-for-profit and government community, the Palisades Institute of Dominican College also aims to serve Dominican College students by fostering their participation in these educational opportunities.

Senior Vice Presidents at Capital Group Kathy Nalywajko and Greg Singer spoke to business leaders at a forum entitled, “Defining the Future: Trends Transforming the Way We Live.”

The world is quickly changing and business leaders heard about trends that are transforming the way we live during a Palisades Institute forum on October 3, 2019 in Rosary Hall.

Greg Singer, VP and Investment Director at Capital Group, said three major trends are the growth of cloud computing, advances in medical research, and the increase in global air travel.  “Everyone is very worried about volatility in the markets right now and the risk of an upcoming recession.  We see volatility likely to stay and a recession likely to happen in the next couple of years,” he said.  “But at the same time, there are multi-decade trends going on and companies that are going to get through the recession to the other side and that can create attractive investments. “

Singer advises business owners to make sure their businesses can get through the stress of a recession, noting that companies with volatility and debt are particularly at risk.  Singer was joined on the panel by Kathy Nalywajko, VP at Capital Group.

The aim of the Palisades Institute of Dominican College is to encourage leaders in business, government, and not-for-profit agencies to integrate the concepts of leadership, quality, and ethics to achieve long-term success.

The presenters at the Palisades Institute Forum on cybersecurity were Mikhail Falkovich, Director of Information Security, Consolidated Edison Company (shown on the left) and Tony Cetera, Chief Information Security Officer, New York University Information Technology.

Two cybersecurity experts shared their advice with business leaders during a Palisades Institute forum called “Cybersecurity:  Protect Yourself and your Business.”  The presenters at the forum on October 10 were Tony Cetera, Chief Information Security Officer, New York University Information Technology, and Mikhail Falkovich, Director of Information Security, Consolidated Edison.

Companies were advised to follow five steps when devising their security plan – identify, protect, detect, respond, and recover.  Even with planning, there is a danger of an attack, said Cetera.  “People are the weakest link.  I think that’s probably an important message that I want to send,” he said.  “You can put lots of tools and technologies in place, but if someone makes a mistake or clicks on the wrong thing because they are not paying attention, that’s when the attacker gets in.”

The experts recommended phishing testing, using benign emails, to find out which employees might be susceptible to an attack.  Another recommendation was that companies consider having cyber insurance.