The Corporation is governed by a Board of Directors. Three of the directors are designated in the Act as ex-officio members: the Commissioner of Environmental Conservation, whom the Act also designates as the Chairman of the Corporation, the Commissioner of Health, and the Secretary of State.
The four remaining directors are appointed by the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the State Senate. The appointed directors serve staggered six-year terms. Pursuant to State law, after the expiration of a director's term, he or she shall hold over and continue to discharge the duties of a director of the Corporation Board until a successor has been chosen and qualified.
Basil Seggos currently serves as Commissioner of New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
Previously, Basil served as both Deputy Secretary for the Environment and Assistant Secretary for the Environment to Governor Cuomo, advising the Governor on environmental policy and overseeing the operations of the state’s environmental agencies, including the DEC, the Office of Parks Recreation & Historic Preservation, the Environmental Facilities Corporation, and the Adirondack Park Agency. Prior to working in the Governor’s office, Basil served as Vice President of Business Development at the clean-tech private equity company Hugo Neu Corporation, Chief Investigator and Attorney at Riverkeeper, Associate at the Natural Resources Defense Council, and as a legal clerk at the White House.
Basil graduated from Pace Law School in 2001, where he received the environmental law award and alumni achievement award, and from Trinity College in 1996 with a Bachelor of Arts. Basil is a Captain in the U.S. Army Reserve, Judge Advocate General’s Corps.
Howard A. Zucker, M.D., J.D., currently serves as Commissioner of the New York State Department of Health.
In his previous role as First Deputy Commissioner, Dr. Zucker led the state Department of Health's preparedness and response initiatives in natural disasters and emergencies. He worked closely with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and other health-related entities in New York City.
A native of the Bronx, Dr. Zucker earned his M.D. from George Washington University School of Medicine at age 22, becoming one of America's youngest doctors. He trained in pediatrics at Johns Hopkins Hospital, anesthesiology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, pediatric critical care medicine/pediatric anesthesiology at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and pediatric cardiology at Children's Hospital Boston/Harvard Medical School.
Before joining the NYS Department of Health in September 2013, Dr. Zucker was a professor of Clinical Anesthesiology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. He was also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law School, where he taught biosecurity law.
His vast experience in public policy began as a White House Fellow under then-Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson. Subsequently, he became the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Health where he developed the nation's Medical Reserve Corps, which today is run by the U.S. Surgeon General and includes more than 200,000 volunteers across nearly 1,000 programs. Dr. Zucker has also been an Institute of Politics Resident Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School.
Rosanna Rosado currently serves as Secretary of State. Ms. Rosado leads the New York State Department of State, one of the oldest and most eclectic New York State agencies, which plays a critical role in helping to reinvigorate the State’s economy and make its communities more livable. Rosado brings a diversity of experience and leadership to the position, having previously served in both the public and private sectors.
Secretary Rosado’s distinguished accomplishments include being the first woman to serve as Editor and Publisher of the largest Spanish-language newspaper in the country, El Diario La Prensa, as well as an award-winning producer. She has also championed important social causes, including prisoner re-entry and women’s empowerment.
She served on the board of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey from 2012 to 2015. Secretary Rosado was a Distinguished Lecturer at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and has been a member of the College’s Foundation Board of Trustees since 2012.
Francis T. Corcoran is the President and Chief Administrative Officer at the National Stock Exchange, Inc. (NSX). Mr. Corcoran has been working in the financial/capital markets arena for over 25 years. He has been active on the forefront of businesses that have significantly impacted the capital markets. Before consulting to the CBOE Stock Exchange (CBSX) on its acquisition of the NSX, Mr. Corcoran was Executive Vice-President for Perimeter Financial in Canada, responsible for all international asset manager and broker/dealer client relations as they related to the firms multiple ATS market places.
Mr. Corcoran is an active participant in both state and local government. As a Member of the Management Advisory Board to the Inspector General of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, he has served as the Acting Board Chairman since 2003. He is a Board Member of the Metro-North Railroad Commuter Council and the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA. He serves as a Councilman for the Town of Bedford.
Mr. Corcoran is a Member of the Securities Trader Association and The National Corporate Directors Association. He is a graduate of Iona College, B.S. Cum Laude, Humanities.
Charles Kruzansky is the Director of Government Relations and Special Assistant to the Vice Provost for Research at Cornell University in Ithaca. Responsible for Cornell’s dealings with New York State, he manages the University’s legislative and budget agendas before the Legislative and Executive branches of state government. As the state’s largest research university and New York’s Land Grant Institution, Cornell is involved in a range of issues and programs with New York State, in addition to those that affect higher education and research. Prior to becoming director of the Albany Office of Government Relations for Cornell University in 1991, Mr. Kruzansky served as a legislative and fiscal analyst for the NYS Assembly Ways and Means Committee staff from 1985 to 1990. He was the State Assembly’s primary negotiator on energy and other regulatory agency budgets and legislation. He was also on the board of Environmental Advocates of New York from 1993 to 2007 and was New York’s affiliate representative or alternate to the National Wildlife Federation for several years between 1998 and 2004. He has a B.A. from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland and an MBA from Columbia University in New York City. Charlie grew up in the Hudson Valley and resides in Voorheesville with his wife and two kids.
Vita DeMarchi is Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Synapse Partners, LLC., the globally recognized excess/surplus line wholesale insurance brokerage and risk management firm specializing in the environmental market. Synapse connects clients, partners and investors through strategic alliances that create innovative and distinctive business advantages. Synapse is headquartered in Syracuse in a formerly decaying, mid-20th century boxing gym that was re-imagined into what became in 2012 the seventh highest ranking LEED EBOM Platinum building in the world.
Ms. DeMarchi is a strategic advisor to Fortune 500 businesses, developing businesses, real estate developers, and municipalities. She helps clients and partners manage business and environmental risk, implement sustainable business practices, analyze financial data for informed business decisions, and secure project funding and capital formation.
Ms. DeMarchi was the co-founder and a Director of Synapse Sustainability Trust, a 501c-3 Not for Profit Corporation which led important New York environmental, energy and economic development initiatives over the past decade. EVPass initiated the groundbreaking 2012 deployment of the CNY Destination Location Network for electric vehicle charging stations and infrastructure which was subsequently sold to a public company in 2013, becoming part of a larger USA network. Restoration Tree Trust, an urban and rural reforestation and habitat restoration catalyst, collaborates with municipalities, government agencies, not-for-profit organizations, educational institutions, and private sector businesses to address greenhouse gas emissions, water pollution, energy management and climate resiliency.
Vita DeMarchi is currently Chair of the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry. She was appointed by Governor Cuomo in 2012 as a Board of Director to the Great Lakes Protection Fund. In the past, Ms. DeMarchi served as the President of the CNY Association of Professional Geologists, and was on the Board of Directors of the NYS Council of Professional Geologists. A graduate of Syracuse University, Ms. DeMarchi was a licensed professional geologist, with Masters Studies in environmental engineering and hydrogeology.
Timothy Bishop was employed by Southampton College of Long Island University from 1973 to 2002 in a succession of increasingly responsible administrative positions. For the last 16 years of his tenure, Mr. Bishop held the position of campus Provost, reporting directly to the University wide President. As Provost, Bishop was the chief executive officer of the campus, supervising all administrative offices and coordinating academic leadership with the Dean for Academic Affairs. Mr. Bishop served as an Officer of Long Island University, the sixth largest private university in the country. Mr. Bishop served Southampton College for 29 years, leaving the chief executive position of Provost in 2002 to make his first-ever run for office, when he was elected to represent New York's 1st Congressional District and continued to serve in the House of Representatives for six terms.
Rep. Bishop's priorities in the Congress included but were not exclusive to: job creation, protecting middle-class families and seniors, controlling spending, strengthening education, advocating for veterans, homeland security, fiscal responsibility and safeguarding our environment. As the Ranking Democrat of the Water Resources and Environment sub-committee, Rep. Bishop worked tirelessly to preserve our beaches and waterways. Working closely with the Army Corps of Engineers as well as state and local agencies, Rep. Bishop advocated for local dredging projects which ensured fishing and maritime industries access to important harbors. Bishop was one of four authors (2 Republicans, 2 Democrats) in the House of The Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2013 (WRRDA). Rep. Bishop worked to build a broad coalition of advocates representing ports, harbors, maritime organizations, organized labor, and transportation and environmental groups to endorse the legislation which passed the House by a vote of 417-3. Rep. Bishop then served on the House-Senate Conference Committee to negotiate a final bi-partisan, bi-cameral agreement, thus allowing for final passage of the bill, the first such bill to pass since 2007.
At Rep. Bishop’s insistence, the legislation included important revisions to the operation of the State Revolving Fund (SRF), the principle means by which the federal government assists municipalities with water infrastructure projects. The WRRDA bill included the creation of a new water infrastructure financing mechanism, WIFIA, which he insisted be implemented in a manner that protected the SRF. Rep. Bishop also successfully led the efforts to ensure the expenditure of a larger share of the proceeds of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund, and also to increase the utility of the Inland Water-Ways Trust Fund.
Mr. Bishop graduated from Southampton High School and holds a AB in History from The College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA and a Masters degree in Public Administration from C.W. Post College of LIU in Brookville, NY.
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