The Campaign for Stuyvesant Board of Directors

 

Paul M. Weichsel, PhD ’49 -- Chairman 

Paul started the Class of '49 Fund with The Campaign for Stuyvesant when he led the very successful 50th Anniversary Reunion at the school. He was the Commencement Speaker for the Class of 1999 graduation ceremonies at Lincoln Center, and went on to be one of the leading spokespersons for the Endowment Fund nationwide. In April 2002, Paul was elected as the first Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Paul graduated from CCNY, NYU, and CalTech. He is Professor Emeritus at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and was Associate Chairman of the Math Department, there for the last ten years. Paul held visiting appointments at Oxford University, Australian National University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv University, and Weizmann Institute of Science. A noted algebraist and combinatorialist, Paul has done research in Finite Group Theory and Algebraic Graph Theory. Paul was the Mathematics consultant to the National Coordinating Center for Curriculum Development at SUNY-Stony Brook, funded by the Sloan Foundation.

Paul was active in fundraising for the University of Illinois Foundation. He is former Co-Chair of the Champaign-Urbana Jewish Federation and the Jewish Community Relations Council. He also helped develop interfaith and Yiddish cultural groups. In 2002, Paul was Co-Chairman and keynote speaker for the "Private Funding for Public Education Conference" at Columbia University.

Professional Website: http://www.math.uiuc.edu/~weichsel/

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Jeff Kestler, Esq. ’64 -- Vice-Chairman

Jeff has been a corporate attorney with AT&T and Lucent Technologies for two decades. Previously, he was a partner in a Washington, D.C. law firm and a Judge Advocate in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was an Adjunct Professor of Trial practice at the Georgetown University Law Center and is the author of the legal text, Questioning Techniques and Tactics (West Publishing 3d Ed. 1999).

He is a former Chairman of the Trial and Appellate Practice Committee of the Federal Bar Association.

At Stuyvesant, Jeff won two fencing team (1962 & 1963) and one individual City Championship (1963). Jeff was named Athlete of the Year at Stuyvesant in 1964.

He went on to fence at Columbia where he was the foilist on the 1968 NCAA Championship Fencing Team.

He attended the London School of Economics and received his law degree in 1971 from the NYU School of Law, where he was a Root-Tilden Scholar and an editor of the Law Review.

Jeff fenced in the military and was the Founder and Captain of the United States Marine Corps Fencing Team that won the National Foil Team Championship in 1974.

Jeff lives with his wife, Patti, in Far Hills, New Jersey; he has two grown sons, Jeremy and Justin.

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B. Dean Angelakos ’81 -- Secretary

Dean earned his BS in Policy Analysis at Cornell University. He worked for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection as a Budget Analyst for the Capital Program Unit of the Division of Heavy Construction and then moved to policy analysis as a member of the New York City Council Speaker’s Central Staff. There, he was assigned to the Economic Development and Finance Committees, coordinated an international trade initiative, and was a member of the Council delegation to Romania.

In 1992, Dean became the Legislative/Governmental Affairs Coordinator for the Deputy Mayor for Finance & Economic Development. He was assigned to the Department of Business Services, the Department of Telecommunications and Energy, the Economic Development Corporation, and the Office of International Business; Dean was responsible for the agenda and legislative strategy for these agencies. He also served as a liaison between the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and governmental agencies.

Dean worked in the New York State Comptroller’s office from 1995 until 2000, as the Executive Assistant to the Comptroller, developing community-based and inter-governmental outreach, among other duties in economic, municipal and housing programs. In 2000, Dean was named Vice President of Policy and Programs for the New York Building Congress. He coordinated policy initiatives, maintained ongoing outreach with local, state and federal officials, developed the organization’s political strategy, and dealt with issues of compliance. He then worked as Assistant Comptroller of the City of New York and headed the Bureau of Labor Law.

In 2005, Dean became the Director of Development at Jacobs Engineering.

Dean has been a Board Member of The Campaign for Stuyvesant since 2002. He is active in several organizations supporting and fostering Greek-American community affairs and services. Dean lives in Manhattan with his wife, Helen, and their son, Steven.

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Solomon S. Steiner, PhD, F.A.P.A ’55 -- Chair, Planned Giving

Dr. Steiner founded Biodel Inc. and has been the Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Biodel Inc. since its inception in 2003. His special expertise is in the areas of drug delivery, diabetes and central nervous system disease.

Prior to founding Biodel, Dr. Steiner founded Pharmaceutical Discovery Corporation (“PDC”) in 1991, and is an inventor of its Technosphere™ drug delivery system and MedTone™ dry powder inhaler for the pulmonary delivery of insulin. He served as PDC’s Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors from its inception until December 2001, when PDC was merged with two other companies to form MannKind Corporation. During the transition, from December 2001 until February 2003, Dr. Steiner served on MannKind’s Board of Directors and as a Corporate Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer.

In 1985, Dr. Steiner founded and was the CEO and President of Clinical Technologies Associates, Inc. (“CTAI”), now known as Emisphere Technologies, Inc. ("EMIS"). CTAI went public in February of 1989 and under his leadership it became one of the 10 best performing IPO’s of 1989, according to Business Week. Dr. Steiner is an inventor of Emisphere’s oral delivery system for peptides and mucopolysaccharides.

Dr. Steiner is currently Adjunct Full Professor at New York Medical College and Research Full Professor of Psychiatry & Neurology at New York University School of Medicine. From 1969 to 1989 he was Professor of Physiological Psychology at City College of the City University of New York, and headed the Graduate Program in Neuro-cognition.

Dr. Steiner serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Journal of Hypertension. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of The Campaign for Stuyvesant, a charitable foundation raising an endowment fund for Stuyvesant High School and Chairman of its Planned Giving Committee. He was a member of the Board of Directors and Treasurer of the Association for Applied Psychophysiology from 1979 to 1987 and has served as a consultant to numerous pharmaceutical companies in connection with drug discovery and clinical efficacy testing.

Dr. Steiner was elected a Fellow of the American Psychological Association in 1973 for his work in psychopharmacology and has authored or co authored over 100 scientific publications. Dr. Steiner is the named inventor on numerous other patents in the pharmaceutical field. He has also been the principal investigator or co principal investigator of over 30 clinical trial studies, several of them involving hundreds of patients in multiple centers nationwide.

Dr. Steiner received his Ph.D. from New York University in 1964 after receiving his Bachelors of Arts from New York University in 1959 with a major in psychology and chemistry.

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Benjamin Wolkowitz, PhD ’62 -- Co-Chair, Finance Committee

Ben graduated with a BA (cum laude), Queens College, City University of New York, and a Ph.D. (economics), Brown University, where he received a National Defense Education Act Scholarship and a Woodrow Wilson Dissertation Fellowship.

At Stuyvesant, Ben was on the fencing squad and participated in the Folk Music Club, the Debating Team and the Bio-Med Society.

He was an assistant professor in the Economics Department at Tulane University for three years, leaving to join the staff of Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in 1973. Ben ran the Financial Studies section, which was responsible for analyzing and briefing the Board members on the impact of monetary and regulatory policy on the financial sector. He also chaired an interagency committee that wrote the regulations governing commercial bank involvement in the financial futures markets.

Ben joined the Money Market Division of Citicorp in 1982 to build and run a financial futures brokerage business for institutional clients. In 1985 he joined Morgan Stanley to do the same. During his sixteen-year career as a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley, he managed research operations and started and/ or ran two other businesses. Before retiring at the end of 2000, he was responsible for all e-commerce investments and initiatives in fixed income. After a brief respite he started his own company, Madison Financial Technology Partners, which specializes in consulting to the financial services industry.

Ben has served on the boards of National Futures Association, TradeWeb, Securities Hub, and BondBook, chaired the Bond Market Association’s On-line Bond Steering Committee, and was Vice-Chair of the Futures Industry Association. He was also Chairman of the Board at the Kent Place School in Summit, New Jersey.

He has published over twenty-five academic and lay articles on a range of topics from economic theory to the regulation of financial markets and is the co-author of Bank Capital. He has frequently lectured on financial markets at professional meetings and universities.

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Anna D. Wong ’81 -- Chair, New Leadership

Anna holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Brown University and a Masters degree from Yale University. She has 15 years of extensive operation and administrative experience in large and start-up organizations.

Anna is currently Vice President, Benefit Strategy and Management for Medco.

Previously, as the Corporate Director at Oxford Health Plans, Anna started and managed the operations of the Medicaid division which grew to 200,000 members with $300 million in annual revenues. She pioneered a disease management model which was recognized by Schering Pharmaceutical with its "Tribute to Excellence Award" for being the best asthma case management program for socio-economically disadvantaged population by managed care. During her tenure at Oxford, Anna also initiated and successful re-engineered Oxford's intake process achieving significant improvement in turnaround time and accuracy. Anna also identified the opportunity and launched the first Chinese- American managed care effort on the East Coast. Over 80% of all practicing Chinese- American providers in the greater New York City area joined and Oxford opened its NYC Chinatown office, becoming the first walk-in service center in the community.

Anna joined the founding team of Breathnet in 1998, where she served as the Chief Operating Officer developing a web-based electronic medical record business and building the operational infrastructure to execute clinical trials for a branded network of pulmonary physicians and their patients.  In 2002, Anna became the Chief Administrative Officer and Vice President of Operations at Aliaswire which developed an innovative telephone and internet commerce product transforming the conventional methods of payment and bill presentment/collection.

Anna has served on the Advisory Board of St. Charles Borromeo School in West Harlem where she sponsored tuition for students from low-income single parent households.

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Mel Shaftel, MBA 60 -- Chair, Investments

Mel, former Vice Chairman at Lehman Brothers, is a private investor. He received his BA (Economics) at Yale and MBA at NYU’s Stern School of Business. Mel began his banking career with Chase Manhattan and was at Lehman for 22 years. In 1997, Mel founded the Rosetta Group, investment management & financial advisors, serving as Managing Member until 2003.

 

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Neil Grabois, PhD ’53 -- Director


Neil is Vice President and Director for Strategic Planning & Program Coordination at the Carnegie Corporation of NY. He was the President and a math professor at Colgate University and served in various positions at Williams College. Neil received his BA at Swarthmore, where he now serves as a board member, and earned his MA and PhD at the University of Pennsylvania.

 

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M. Felix Freshwater, MD ’64 -- Chair, Class of ’64 Fund

Felix graduated with a B.S. (magna cum laude) from Brooklyn College where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He was a Salk Scholar at Yale University School of Medicine and served on the editorial board of The Journal of the History of Medicine & Allied Sciences. Felix completed residencies and fellowships at: Yale New Haven Hospital; Johns Hopkins, where he held a Weinberger Fellowship from the National Institutes of Health in the Division of Plastic Surgery, the University of Miami Jackson Memorial Hospital under Ralph Millard; and Jewish Hospital in Louisville, KY.

Felix is a Voluntary Professor of Surgery at the University of Miami School of Medicine. Although he is a board certified plastic surgeon, he limits his practice to diseases and surgery of the hand and to reconstructive plastic surgery. He is best known for popularizing the use of leeches in microsurgery and for performing the world’s first forequarter reattachment surgery.

Felix has served in several development leadership positions at Yale where has endowed two funds. The first is the “Wright-Class of 1972 Scholarship Fund” in honor of his faculty advisor at Brooklyn College. This fund provides scholarship support to any CUNY graduate who attends Yale School of Medicine. The second is the “Arons-Millard Student Research Fund” in honor of his first and last plastic surgery teachers. This provides support to students for their medical doctorate thesis research.

Felix helped organize and lead the Class of 1964 reunions in 1999 and 2004. He established the Class of 1964 website. He is one of the leaders of the Class of '64 Fund in the Campaign with a goal of raising $250,000 in unrestricted funds.

Professional Website: http://www.miamihand.medem.com/

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Morton Fleischner ’59 -- Chair, Communications


Morton Fleischner graduated Stuyvesant HS in 1959; he was Co-Editor-in-Chief of The Spectator, the student newspaper, and won several awards for his writing. He left his mark in Stuy history during his senior year by interviewing former President Harry S. Truman, on issues involving education. He went on to NYU (BA, political science) and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism (MS).

After serving in the Navy (LTJG, retired), he worked at KDKA-TV, Pittsburgh and WPIX-TV, New York. He joined ABC News in Feb., 1973 and has produced daily news programs, documentaries, talk shows and segments for Good Morning America. He is the recipient of numerous local and national awards.

Much of Mort's work focuses on the Middle East; he has worked successfully over the years for Israel Bonds and National UJA in public relations, fundraising marketing and public affairs.

He lives in White Plains, New York with his wife, Anita, a professional portrait artist; they have two grown daughters.

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Michael Friedman, MBA ’63 -- Chair, Corporate Outreach


Mike attended CCNY and received his MBA in Finance from Harvard. He worked at Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, and Asset Guaranty Insurance. Mike is now SVP & Director of the Mortgage Insurance Fund at the State of NY Mortgage Authority and SVP & Director of Multifamily Finance at the NYS Housing Finance Authority. He and his wife Lynn live in NYC with their sons, Ted and John. 

 

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The Campaign for Stuyvesant Staff

 

Neal H. Hurwitz '62 -- Executive Director, Development & Program Services

Neal has been consulting with non-profits since 1969. He has worked with educational, cultural, health, and social service organizations since 1958. In 1998, Neal was asked to organize the $12 million Endowment Fund effort of The Campaign for Stuyvesant, the first science high school in NYC, 100 years old in 2004.

Neal recruited the organization’s Board of Directors, the corporate and academic leadership councils and advisory boards, and inaugurated a nationwide series of special events. At the same time, Neal served as a consultant to the New York City Board of Education Chancellor's Office of Development.

From 1983-1990 Neal joined the executive staff of United Jewish Appeal, Inc and UJA-Federation of Greater New York, first as their Major Cities New Gifts Director and then as Director of Operation Upgrade. He was the National Program Director for Developmental Services & New Gifts and Director of Super Sunday. Neal helped lead and supervise programs including Corporate Fundraising, Telephone Fundraising & Telemarketing, Direct Mail, Solicitor Training & Education, Strategic Fundraising Conferences, and highly- successful video programs with AudioVistas, Inc., NY, NY.

Neal also served as Associate Director and then Major Gifts Director for New York Trades & Professions, and established Business and Professionals (BPNY) at UJA-Federation of Greater New York. He helped lead the first UJA Mission to the USSR in 1986 to help "refuseniks" emigrate from Moscow and Leningrad to Israel.

Neal is a 1962 honors graduate of Stuyvesant HS, and holds the BA and M.Phil. (ABD) from the College and Graduate Faculties, Columbia University. While at Columbia he helped found Project Double Discovery, now the oldest Upward Bound program in the United States. In 1968-69 and 1977-78, Neal was a member of the Graduate Faculties at Columbia, teaching American politics and national security studies.

He was the Founder and President of Friends of SNCC at Columbia University in 1964-65 and led Students for A Restructured University (SRU) in 1968-69, at a time when SRU was instrumental in helping establish the University Senate at Columbia.

From 1993, he helped start Deborah Bradley Construction & Management Services, Inc., a strong supporter of The Campaign for Stuyvesant.

At Stuyvesant, 1958-62, Neal was Editor-in-Chief of The Spectator and the SHS Alumni Journal, Vice-President of the NYC HS Press Association, and recipient of the Gold Medal for Journalism and the Helena Rubinstein Foundation Award.

Neal lives in Manhattan, near Columbia University, with his children Samantha Ethel, Sofia Arielle, and William Abraham Lavey (Billy)--students at the Manhattan School for Children (Empowerment PS 333)  and Mott Hall II, the public middle school--and their country cat Momo. Neal's stepson, Jordan Henry Cox, is in Washington DC working for Homeland Security.

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Josh Ralske -- Development Associate

Josh Ralske was born in New York City and grew up in Rockville Centre, Long Island. He attended the University of California at Berkeley and Bard College, and recently received his MA in Communication and Media Studies from Fordham University. In addition to his work at the Campaign for Stuyvesant, Josh is an accomplished film writer and critic.

 

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Beth Glas -- Development Consultant

Beth graduated from Syracuse University in 2005 with a dual degree in Policy Studies and Graphic Arts. She focused primarily on education and housing policy, as well as non-profit marketing and design. She attended Inglemoor High School in Kenmore, WA, where she ran cross country and edited the yearbook.

Beth lives in Cleveland, OH. She currently works as Administrative Director at Maximum Accessible Housing of Ohio. She also works with Neal Hurwitz as a consultant for The Campaign for Stuyvesant/Alumni(ae) & Friends Endowment Fund, Inc.

 

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Edward L. Feinberg '62 -- IT and Website Development/Maintenance

After twenty years at Texaco, Ed is now taking consulting assignments in website development, hydrogen energy assessment, financial data research, and IT support.  

As part of Texaco's Strategic Management Group in Harrison, New York until recently, Ed worked on the world hydrogen infrastructure, the timing/implications of a transition to new energy, and industry sensitivity to oil prices. As a member of the Corporate Planning and Economics Departments, he coordinated information systems. Ed's work with Texaco covered Planning, Economics, Finance, and Information Technology.

Prior to Texaco, Ed held a number of positions: The Apollo/Saturn V launch team in 1966; the high-energy physics research team at the University of Pennsylvania; Nabisco; SUNY; Grumman; American Airlines; and IP Sharp Associates.

Ed earned an MBA certificate in 2003 from the Freeman School of Business at Tulane University. His undergraduate work at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and SUNY at Oneonta led to a B.S. in Mathematics. Ed graduated with calculus honors from Stuyvesant.

His professional interests include the APL programming language, personal and network computing, multidimensional databases, website, and applications of Microsoft Office for information development and retention.

Ed's community activities and interests include: The Stuyvesant HS Class of '62 Local Events Planning Committee (LEC), chaired by Gary Roebuck, DDS '62; The Chappaqua Orchestra (Member of the Board of Directors); amateur astronomy; and playing early music on the recorder.

The Campaign for Stuyvesant is privileged to have his expert help and assistance!

Professional Website: http://www.elfeinberg.com

Campaign for Stuyvesant Resources

 

Paul Levitz '73 -- Chairman, Editorial Committee, 100th Anniversary Book on Stuyvesant HS 1904-2004

Paul was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1956, and entered the comics industry in 1971 as the editor/publisher of The Comic Reader, the first mass-circulation fanzine devoted to comics news. He continued to publish TCR for three years while a student at Stuyvesant High School, winning two consecutive annual Comic Art Fan Awards for Best Fanzine. His other fan activities included editing the program books for several of the 1970's legendary New York Comic Art Conventions.

Paul is well-known for his work for DC Comics, a company he's been associated with for 30 years. Beginning as a freelance writer of text features, he went on to write most of the classic DC characters including Batman, Wonder Woman, and the Superman newspaper strip. His most popular writing was done in his 13-years with the Legion of Super-Heroes, including an eight-year uninterrupted run, one of the longest in super hero comics history and on the Justice Society of America. His stories have sold over 10 million copies.

Paul joined the editorial staff of DC in 1973 as an assistant editor, and became editor of the Batman titles before shifting from the editorial to business side in 1980. Since then, he has been Manager of Business Affairs, Vice President-Operations, Executive Vice President, Executive Vice President and Publisher, and, since 2002, President and Publisher.

DC Comics, a subsidiary of Time Warner, is the oldest and largest American comics publisher. It is home to classic characters including Superman and Batman, and a constant stream of newer creations, including Sandman, whose most recent graphic novel was the first book by an American comics publisher to appear on the New York Times' Bestseller List. DC characters are also featured in film, television, cartoons, and an array of consumer products under license from the company.

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Gerry Golub, CPA '57---Audit and IRS 990 Preparation; Tax & Business Services

As the managing partner and chairman of the executive committee of the Goldstein Golub Kessler organization since 1981, Gerry Golub has led the firm through a period of impressive growth and expansion. In addition to creating an atmosphere that generates significant internal growth, he broadened the firm's capabilities by merging and attracting talented individuals from firms specializing in international tax and accounting matters, financial services, healthcare consulting, real estate and technology. In July 1998, he led the firm through the merger with American Express Tax and Business Services.

His dedication to client service and professional excellence sets the standards for the firm. Starting at an incredibly early hour, no day is too long or too full for Mr. Golub to respond promptly to clients as well as to partners and staff.

Born in Brooklyn, graduated from Stuyvesant High School and Brooklyn College, Mr. Golub did his graduate work at Bernard Baruch College. From 1961-1967, he was associated with David W. Katz & Co. In 1968, he formed his own firm under the name of Gerald L. Golub & Company. In 1971, he merged into Goldstein Golub Kessler & Company.

He serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of Nexia International, an international network of affiliated accounting and consulting firms located in 79 countries throughout the world. With members whose gross volume measures over $1 billion, Mr. Golub's international relationships stretch around the world to assist clients wherever the need may arise.

Serving a broad base of clients across most industry lines, Mr. Golub has been instrumental in the purchase and sale of businesses. He has assisted with lease negotiations, mergers, real estate purchases and sales, as well as obtaining bank, venture capital and other private and public financing for clients.

He has served as Vice President, Treasurer, member of the Executive Committee, Board of Directors and the Finance Committee of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants ("NYSSCPA").

In 2002 he was honored by the Anti-Defamation League with their Americanism Award. In 1995, he was awarded the American ORT Professional Achievement Award. In 1993, he was appointed as the General Chairman, Anti-Defamation League - Accountants, Factors and Finance Division, a continuing position. In 1982, he was honored by the American Jewish Congress for his outstanding professional achievements. In 1988, he was the recipient of the Brandeis University Distinguished Community Service Award. In 1989, he received the Distinguished Professional Award from the Metropolitan Jewish Geriatric Center.

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Dara Weinerman -- Associate Director Emeritus, Development & Program Services

Dara is currently enrolled in the Deming Scholars MBA Program at Fordham University.

Dara has worked with The Campaign for Stuyvesant/Alumni(ae) & Friends Endowment Fund, Inc. and Neal H. Hurwitz & Associates, since 2002. She works closely with leadership and volunteer committees, guiding them through the process of developing and executing outstanding fundraising programs. 

She serves as the Associate Director of The Campaign and works on all aspects of the development and services program of the organization, including fundraising strategy and implementation. She administers the Class Funds Program, and recently she was named as the Secretary to the Campaign’s Board of Directors.

Formerly, Dara was Development Associate at ARZA/WORLD UNION, North America. She worked with the Director of Development to create and implement a strategy for obtaining gifts from individuals giving above the membership level.  Working with Board members, she planned and coordinated events and was involved with the direct mail program, preparation of fundraising materials, and donor research.  Before working in development, Dara coordinated recruiting activities for Andersen Consulting. 

Dara graduated fom Smith College, magna cum laude, with "High Honors" in History, and she is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She serves as a Special Gift Agent for the Alumnae Fund of Smith College and is on the board of the Smith College Club of New York City where she co-chairs the Young Alums Committee. She is also a member of  New York City ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Services) which provides communications via ham radio for community events and emergency situations. 

When not writing Campaign plans, Dara writes fiction, poetry, and plays. As a playwright, Dara has her off-Broadway debut in 2004 with "127 Cups of Coffee", the winner of the 2000 Denis Johnston Prize, which was performed as staged readings at Smith College (2002) and the Knoxville New Play Festival (2002).

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Paul Hyman '61, Campaign Photographer

Paul has been the owner of PHP Realty Services since 1997.  PHP Realty is a boutique brokerage firm representing commercial tenants and investors as well as residential buyers & sellers. Currently seeking owner/occupant for 30,000 sq. ft. of a freestanding historic building in the financial district in NYC. Suitable as high profile flagship headquarters for corporation, non-profit institution or school.

After earning a B.A. from Columbia College in 1965 (French & Math), Paul became an editorial and commercial fashion & lifestyle photographer. His series on Morocco is in the permanent collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Since The Campaign’s inception, he has been the pro bono photographer for its fundraising events.

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Cary Aminoff '61 - Co-Chairman, Finance Committee

Cary is with Harbor Capital LLC. He is an investment banker and strategic consultant for  venture capital, corporate finance, and international business issues. Most recently, he was  co-founder and acting CFO of BioMimetic Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company financed through a domestic and international VC consortium. He also initiated and help structure the financing for a U.K.-based data storage company, financed an on-line disease management company, and participated in a consulting consortium organized by the U.S. Government on the privatization of the Moldovan national utility.

He has advised companies in Italy, China, Turkey, and Russia for Internet, biotechnology,  industrial and technology development companies. In 1987-93, Cary was associated with Arthur Taylor & Co., the investment company of the former President of CBS, Inc. 

Cary was also active as an investment banker and principal in a diversity of real estate. He served as a consultant and participant at the Hudson Institute in studies for agencies of the U.S. Government and corporations on Russian, Asian and Middle Eastern Affairs. In his early career, Cary was based in Hong Kong as a reporter and bureau manager for CBS News. He has been published in The New Republic and Far Eastern Economic Review.

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Thomas A. Panas---Consultant to the Director for Media and Communications

 

Thomas A. Panas is a public relations consultant for both profit and non-profit organizations. In addition to his media work on behalf of The Campaign for Stuyvesant, he represents the Empire Connection, a transmission super-highway that will deliver 2000 megawatts of electricity underground from Albany to New York City and will save NY residents $600 million per year.

 

He also represents the Catholic Daughters of the Americas and hosts a weekly radio spot entitled “Positively Ecumenical” on WJMJ in Bloomfield, Connecticut. Tom writes for many publications and has also represented Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, Roche Laboratories, Showtime, and Lifetime Television.

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David Katz '56 -- Co-Producer, Website, and Advisor to the Director

David is president of OmniMath, Inc., a New York consulting firm specializing in financial industry back-office systems. He is also Editor and Publisher of New York Stringer Magazine (http://www.nystringer.com).

Prior to founding OmniMath, David was Vice President, Systems, of J. Aron & Co., a leading metals, currency and coffee trading house, now a division of Goldman Sachs. He has also served as CIO of an international advertising and interactive media firm.

David holds the B.S. in Mathematics, with graduate work in Industrial Psychology and Industrial Engineering.

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Robert I. Lesser -- Campaign Legal Counsel,  Greenblatt, Softness & Lesser, LLP

Rob is a 1981 Dean’s List graduate of the St. John’s University School of Law.

He was appointed Assistant District Attorney for the County of Kings, New York, NY. During the next three years, Rob represented the People of the State of New York as a prosecutor before judges and juries in the Criminal and Supreme Courts. In 1984, he joined the law firm of McDonough, Marcus, Cohn & Tretter, P.C., where he contributed to the growth and success of the firm, and was named partner in 1990.

Rob has concentrated on trial and appellate practice and has expanded beyond commercial and construction-related litigation to representation of clients in the these areas: corporate; debtor-creditor; real estate development; non-profits; computer and software; and food services, among others. Rob has given seminars on commercial mortgage foreclosures; ensuring proper loan documentation for commercial lenders; and premises liability/insurance issues.

Rob started Greenblatt, Softness & Lesser, LLP in 1997 with offices in NYC and NJ.

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Michael Kaye -- Writer

Michael has served as chief operating officer for Natural Vision (a California healthcare company), advertising agency director for KADE, a healthcare business management consultant in New York City, and has written speeches, advertising copy, website text, and done editing for corporations and organizations in New York, California, and Israel.

Michael has interviewed Stuyvesant graduates for The Campaign's Newsletters and aided in the production of a variety of Campaign materials. His journalism has appeared in such publications as SF Weekly, BAM (Bay Area Music), KADE, and the Fresno Bee. He has performed memoir storytelling in theaters in New York City, including Joe's Pub, the Knitting Factory, and Dixon Place. For the last three years he has taught writing for Gotham Writers' Workshop in New York, writers.com, the Moth's Storytelling Outreach program, and privately around the world. He was a writer-in-residence at the World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS) in Israel and at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA).

Michael holds a BA from the University of California, Berkeley.