Women’s Panel Addresses Leadership and Success
A packed lecture hall at Touro Law School heard from a distinguished panel of successful women professionals at our Executive Breakfast on March 23. Moderated by CMM partner Christine Malafi, the panel shared their insights on the leadership traits they rely on as business leaders and the actions they’ve taken to propel their careers forward. Attendees enjoyed networking with Long Island professionals and the opportunity to engage in a dialogue about issues facing women in the workplace.
Panelists:
Randi Busse
Founder and President of Workforce Development Group, Inc.
Randi Busse is the Founder and President of Workforce Development Group, Inc., a training and development organization that specializes in improving the customer experience, increasing customer retention, maximizing revenue and creating a culture of ownership among employees. Randi is a dynamic speaker with the ability to make audiences listen, nod, laugh … and connect the dots between their own experiences as a customer and how their behaviors and the way their employees treat customers affects their bottom line.
Teresa Ferraro
President East/West Industries Inc.
Teresa Ferraro is the President of East/West Industries Inc., a Long Island based woman owned small business, a world leader in the development and production of aircraft seats for both fixed wing and rotor wing aircraft, life support systems for high-performance military aircraft, and ground support equipment for servicing such aircraft. Teresa Ferraro has over 30 years experience in strategic and operational leadership within East/West and provides direct interface and support with all the major primes such as Sikorsky Aircraft, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed, Bell Helicopter and all branches of the DoD.
Susan Ganz, MBA
Financial Professional
The Prudential Insurance Company of America
Ms. Ganz has held the position of Financial Advisor at The Prudential Insurance Company of America since 2014 servicing clients out of the Uniondale, NY location. Her work involves providing insurance and financial products primarily for women and their families to address their financial challenges.
Ms. Ganz has over 20 years experience in the financial services industry. Her prior work as a commercial lender for JP Morgan Chase (formerly Chemical Bank), strategy and corporate finance consultant for Ernst & Young, information technology project and client relationship manager for Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse, and estate and financial services professional with the Center for Wealth Preservation enables her to relate to the day-to-day challenges her clients face as well as connect with their desires to integrate their personal and professional goals.
Abbe Meehan, RCC™
President / Corporate Trainer at TEC Resource Center
Abbe Meehan is the President of TEC Resource Center, a unique facility in Farmingdale, Long Island, providing employee and management development solutions that help organizations become better aligned, boost sales, and increase customer and employee satisfaction. With over 20 years of business management and human resources experience, Abbe specializes in helping people and organizations reach their full potential.
Martha Stark
Group Director & Senior Vice President at Signature Bank
Martha Stark serves as Group Director and Senior Vice President for Signature Bank, providing banking services for businesses and private clients throughout the metro-New York area from the Bank’s Garden City, Long Island, New York office since 2002. Prior to joining the Bank, Martha served as Northeast Regional Business Development Leader for the accounting and consulting firm of BDO, LLP after 15 years spent in commercial banking, most recently as senior vice president and team leader covering Nassau County’s middle market for Fleet Bank (n/k/a Bank of America).
Patricia E. Salkin
Dean of Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center
Patricia E. Salkin is the Dean of Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center. Prior to that she was the Raymond & Ella Smith Distinguished Professor of Law, as well as Associate Dean and Director of the Government Law Center of Albany Law School. She is noted a leader in legal education in the United States.
Dean Salkin is the only U.S. law dean who is a member of the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association, and she holds many leadership positions in the Association. She is also the co-chair of the NYS Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar and she was a member of the City Bar’s Task Force on New Lawyers in a Changing Profession. She is a thought leader on bar exam reform and legal education reform. She is a past chair of the American Association of Law School’s State & Local Government Law Section, and is the author of hundreds of books, articles and columns including a recent piece in the Journal of Legal Education on incorporating best practices into the teaching of land use law.
Moderator:
Christine Malafi, Esq.
Partner
Christine Malafi chairs the firm’s Corporate department, one of the most robust teams in the New York region. Her practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, routine and complex transactions, labor and employment issues, and other business matters, as well as municipal, insurance coverage, and fraud issues. She routinely represents buyers and sellers in multimillion dollar transactions (from technology companies to manufacturers to healthcare businesses) and serves in a general counsel role for many of the firm’s internationally-based clients.