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Cathy Avgiris has been named senior VP and general manager of communications and data services for Comcast Cable. The 17-veteran of the communications industry most recently headed the company’s Digital Voice business as well as its wireless and high-speed Internet divisions. At last spring’s Baruch College Alumni Association (BCAA) Annual Meeting, Peter Gomori was elected to a term as BCAA president. Gomori holds a PhD in economics from the CUNY Graduate Center and has taught finance and other economics- and business-related courses at St. Francis College as a full-time professor since 1983. For more information about the association, visit www.baruch.cuny.edu/bcaa. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie appointed Gary Lanigan (MPA) commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Corrections in January. Lanigan previously served as director of budgets and financial management for New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Before that he served in the N.Y.C. Department of Corrections under Mayors Giuliani and Bloomberg. Dennis Sears (MBA) is owner and manager of Inisfada Bunkering and Consulting of Port Washington, N.Y. The company is acting as consultant to Swiss-based Addax Bunkering Services (ABS) to facilitate bunker trading and credit facility operations in North and South America. Inisfada will also assist ABS in marketing the latter’s physical supply operations in West and East Africa.
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Trumpet player Everton Bailey, one of the first graduates of Baruch’s Management of Musical Enterprises program, is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and recently appeared in an Advair commercial. He participated in a staged reading of Safari’s Song, directed by Antonio “Huggy Bear” Farkas and appeared in Flashlight Stories, part of the FringeNYC 2010 festival; has co-hosted Caribbean Calling on WMCA radio; and has been featured in several films. In addition to producing concerts and artist showcases, he performs music with various jazz, classical, gospel, and reggae groups. Rajesh Mehta (MBA) was appointed CFO of Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center. He was most recently VP of finance and CFO for the Medina Memorial Health Care System.
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Frank Farsi is managing director and Americas COO of Deutsche Bank Global Transaction Banking. Fabiola L. Nadjar Fiore, CEO and president of Magali La Farandole, Inc., has been recognized by Cambridge Who’s Who for demonstrating dedication, leadership, and excellence in business administration. Michael Indursky has been named president of Bliss World Inc., recently acquired by Steiner Leisure Ltd. Previously he was chief marketing and strategic officer of Burt’s Bees. In July Mary Prunty-LaPann (MBA), associate professor of business at SUNY Adirondack, received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. A faculty member since 2003, Prunty-LaPann was named SUNY Adirondack’s 2008-2009 Club Adviser of the Year (for her work with the Business Club). She also serves as assessment coordinator for the Business Division and is a member of the campus Academic Assessment Committee and the college’s Governance Task Force. Adrenalina, a multicultural advertising and marketing agency, has hired Angela Renfroe as director of talent. She most recently served as director of human resources at AgencySacks.
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Ralph J. DiRuggiero (MPA), VP, property management for the Paramount Group, Inc., was awarded the George M. Brooker Management Executive of the Year Award, which recognizes outstanding management professionals in the real estate industry. He has been with the Paramount Group since 2001. Ruth Santana-Grace (MPA) is executive presbyter of San Gabriel Presbytery in Azusa, Calif., where she provides leadership to 48 Presbyterian congregations. She is currently a DMin degree candidate at San Francisco Theological Seminary.
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Malcolm Shepherd (MPA), who lives in Jackson, Miss., is development director for Full Spectrum, a New York-based green development company. He is also a drummer for the Central Mississippi Blues Society Band, and he serves as the organization’s president.
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Charles Foster has joined the Queens, N.Y.-based Greater Allen Development Corporation (GADC) as its chief financial and operations officer. GADC serves as an umbrella for 15 for-profit and not-for-profit corporate entities through which it has constructed various types of affordable housing (for seniors, veterans, and the homeless) as well as commercial strip developments. Peter Gordon (MBA) works for Mirror NYC, a visual communications firm focusing on media strategy, design, and production. Kim Kubasek (MBA) has joined Developmental Disabilities Institute as associate executive director. She most recently served as COO of United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Suffolk, Inc. She is a fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives and a member of several organizations, including the New York Association for Ambulatory Care.
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Rushdi Siddiqui (MBA) is global head of Islamic finance at Thomson Reuters. In November he was a speaker at the Middle East Leaders Forum in New York.
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New York City Council member Simcha Felder (MBA) has been named deputy comptroller for accounting and budget by N.Y.C. Comptroller John Liu. David Wilkes has been elected chairman of the Appraisal Foundation, based in Washington, D.C. The foundation is the congressionally authorized source of U.S. appraisal standards and appraiser licensing qualifications. As managing director of Standards Research Services International, LLC, Wilkes advises foreign governments and global corporations. He also retains an active partnership interest in the law firm he co-founded, Huff Wilkes, LLP, and is editor-in-chief of the New York State Bar Association’s monthly journal.
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