BOARD LEADERSHIP

For 30-years Mr. Sanchez has been the publisher of the Queens Ledger/Brooklyn Star News Group, which operates a wide array of news outlets: a few dozen hyperlocal news websites; eight weekly, one-hundred-year-old community newspapers; as well as multiple monthly publications. These publications include: Queensborough Magazine (the magazine of the Queens Chamber of Commerce) and the Queens Bar Bulletin (the monthly newspaper of the Queens County Bar Association). He is a member of the New York Press Association’s Board of Directors and has been active with the Queens Council of the Boys Scouts of America since 1984.

Vincent C. Renda is a financial advisor with Edward Jones and has been serving the Sunnyside Queens Community for over 10 years. Renda grew up in Sunnyside and understands the values and needs of the community. He serves as Vice President of the Variety Boys & Girls Club’s Board of Directors and has been awarded multiple service awards by prestigious institutions.

Steve. Zimmerman is Co-Director of Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). In addition, he founded two charter schools in Queens—Our World Neighborhood Charter School in Astoria, where he served as board chairman for five years and, most recently, Academy of the City Charter School in Woodside. Mr. Zimmerman worked as an elementary school teacher in the inner-city of Chicago for the Model Cities Program and later worked for 15 years in educational publishing, beginning as a science editor and later as principal of BookLinks, a company that provides ESL, bilingual and design services for US school publishers. He is the founder an educational technology startup and has spent the last several years working on a digital collaborative tool for authentic assessment.

Kathleen Prager is a life-long resident of Astoria. She taught at St. Vincent Ferrer High School in Manhattan before joining the faculty of of St. John's Preparatory School, where she has taught for the past 36 years and currently serves as the English Department Chair. She also served on the summer faculty of the Dublin School of English in Ireland.

Mr. Barsamian began his newspaper career 40 years ago while attending Stuyvesant High School and went on to graduate from Queens College with a B. A., Honors in Political Science, Magna Cum Laude. In the summer of 1978, at the age of 17, Mr. Barsamian founded his own Dollar Saver-Penny Saver style publication. Four years later, in 1982, the Queens Gazette was born. Mr. Barsamian is the publisher of the Queens Gazette, which celebrated its 36th anniversary this year. Five years ago, he furthered his commitment to the Queens community by launching a new magazine in Astoria -The Queens Scene.

He has been a board member of Variety Boys & Girls Club since 1990 and currently sits on several boards; he is the Chairman of the Steinway Astoria Partnership -The Steinway BID and serves as the Executive Vice President of Central Astoria LDC. Additionally, he has been serving on the Forest Hills Gardens Corporation for more than 20 years, and has served on on the Board of Directors as the Vice President for three different Presidents, where he chairs several committees. He previously served on The NYC EDC for more than 20 years and as a Parish Council member at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church for 15 years. Additionally, he was the PTA President of the William Spyropoulos Greek American Day School and Vice President of The Townsend Harris High School PTA.

Stephen Hans is a dedicated attorney who has specialized in employment law, representing businesses throughout New York City for three decades.

In addition to his work with Variety Boys & Girls Club, Mr. Hans serves as Chairman of the Labor Law Committee of the Queens County Bar Association. He was born and raised in Queens, attended Msgr. McClancy High School and currently resides in Manhattan with his wife Wendy and two sons, Matthew and Dylan.

Rob is the Director of Public Relations, Marketing & Tourism at the Queens Economic Development Corporation. His responsibilities include writing press releases and brochures, placing stories in media outlets, providing information to the public and news agencies, organizing and promoting events such as Queens Taste and Restaurant Week, and spearheading the Queens Tourism Council–because “It’s in Queens!” A Brooklyn native, Rob fell in love with the diversity, people, restaurants and attractions in Queens almost instantly after moving to Woodside in 1991. He has worked as an editor/reporter for the Times Newsweekly and an English teacher. He also lived in Honduras as a Peace Corps volunteer.

Aravella Simotas is the Head of State and Local Government Affairs at Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon), a 237-year innovative global institution, with operations across 22 states and the District of Columbia, spanning a wide range of financial services, including wealth management, global risk solutions, and asset servicing. Prior to joining BNY Mellon, Aravella served for a decade as a member of the New York State Assembly, where she authored groundbreaking labor, insurance, and penal code legislation, and chaired the body’s Ethics and Guidance Committee and co-chaired the Bicameral Legislative Ethics Commission. During her legislative tenure, she served on the Assembly’s Ways and Means Committee and the Board of Economic Advisors. In her legal practice, she represented clients in state and federal courts and in alternative dispute resolutions in high-dollar, high-risk commercial litigation cases. Aravella also served as a policy and strategic advisor to a member on the US House of Representatives and began her long tenure in government as an aide to former NYC Council Speaker Peter F. Vallone. She received her juris doctor from Fordham Law School, graduated summa cum laude from Fordham University with a degree in Economics and Philosophy with a concentration in Business Administration, and served on the Board of Advisors to Fordham College Lincoln Center.

Dr. Tamekia Wakefield is a native of Memphis, Tennessee. She attended Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland and completed a General Surgery Internship at Lenox Hill Hospital which was followed by Otorhinolaryngology Residency at the prestigious Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. After leaving residency, Dr. Wakefield spent 4 years serving with the United States Navy at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Dr. Wakefield then completed a Pediatric Otolaryngology Fellowship at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland and specializes in pediatric otolaryngology at ENT and Allergy Associates Astoria/Bayside.

Mr. Robert Edward Robotti CPA founded Robotti & Company in 1983. He serves as the President and Chief Investment Officer at Robotti & Company, LLC and Robotti & Company Advisor, LLC. His areas of coverage at Robotti & Company Advisor include special situations, energy industry, home building, oil and gas producers, oil-service companies and property-casualty insurance. Mr. Robotti is the Principal at the Managing Member or General Partner of several investment vehicles. Prior to forming Robotti & Company, Mr. Robotti served as the Chief Financial Officer and Vice President at Gabelli & Company, Inc., where he was also a Shareholder. He has also served as a managing member of Robotti Global Fund, LLC, a global equity fund.

Mr. Robotti was in public accounting before coming to Wall Street. He is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive) charter holder. He received his M.B.A. degree in Accounting from Pace University in 1978 and B.S. in Business Administration from Bucknell University in 1975.

Born in Orsonga, a small town in Abruzzo, Italy, Rocco Sacramone came to the United States in 1970. At the age of fourteen he worked after school as a dishwasher at an Italian restaurant, which initiated his culinary journey. During these early years his mother Tina, an excellent cook herself, would discuss food and teach him about the cuisine from their hometown. It was at this time that Mr. Sacramone began to respect and love the art of cooking. As his interest in the industry developed, so did his job opportunities which led to a position in management where he learned the many other aspects of the restaurant business.

Peter Vallone, Sr. is a New Yorker that truly needs no introduction. As The New York Times stated, “there have always been intensely political families in New York City, like the Cuomos, the Wagners and the Vallones.” Peter F. Vallone served as Speaker of the New York City Council from 1986 through 2001 and represented the 22nd Councilmanic District in Queens since 1974. Mr. Vallone was the Democratic nominee for Governor in 1998 and a candidate for Mayor in 2001. As Speaker, he was the City’s top legislator and was responsible for making the City Council an equal partner in New York City government. Mr. Vallone’s ability to reach all levels of New York City, State and Federal government is unparalleled, and his vast experience results in the achievement of short and long term goals for C&V clients.

Mr. Salah M. Hassanein was born in 1921 in Egypt and attended the British School in Alexandria, followed by the London School of Economics in Cairo. He came to the United States in 1945, serving in the U.S. Armed forces from 1945 to 1947. Mr. Hassanein later joined Skouras Theatres Corporation as an usher in 1947 and became President in 1961. Subsequently, Mr. Hassanein was appointed Executive Vice president, a member of the Board of Directors of the United Artists Communications and later President of United Artists Eastern Theatres. In 1987, he was appointed President of Warner Brothers International Theatres and was entrusted with the task of building a network of multiplex theatres in Europe, Japan and Australia on behalf of Warner Brothers. In July of 1994, he assumed the Presidency of The Todd-AO Corporation, which he occupied until June of 2000.