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Paul M. Higbee (Chair)
Mr. Higbee is a partner of G.C. Andersen Partners, LLC, a merchant banking firm engaged in investment banking for emerging growth and middle-market companies. Mr. Higbee advises clients regarding, mergers, restructurings, and financings. Mr. Higbee has over 30 years of experience in all facets of investment banking. Prior to joining G.C. Andersen in 2001, Mr. Higbee was a Managing Director at Deutsche Banc Securities, PaineWebber, and Burnham Lambert. Mr. Higbee serves as a member of the board of directors for several public and private companies. Mr. Higbee received a BA in Economics from Princeton University and an MBA from the Wharton School.
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Dr. Paul Arcario
Dr. Paul Arcario is the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at LaGuardia Community College. As the chief academic officer for the College, Dr. Arcario supervises the creation, development and assessment of over 50 academic programs and majors.
He is responsible for the recruitment, hiring and personnel management of more than 300 full-time faculty, 700 part-time faculty and over 100 professional and clerical staff. Dr. Arcario oversees faculty development programs, monitors the promotion and tenure process, and administers a divisional budget in excess of $40 million.
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Michael Anthony Baston, J.D.
Michael A. Baston is the Vice President for Student Affairs at LaGuardia Community College where 18,000 credit and 32,000 non-credit students -hailing from over 160 different countries and speaking 127 different languages- come to receive an education that enables them to write their own futures. Michael is responsible for managing a student services portfolio that includes Admissions, International Student Services, Educational Planning and Testing, the Early Childhood Learning Center, Recreation and Intramural Programming, Student Life, Advocacy and Adjudication, the Registrar’s Office, the Mental Health Initiative, the Black Male Empowerment Initiative, the Enrollment Services Center, Student Financial Services (Financial Aid), Office of Students with Disabilities, Health Services, the Women’s Center and the Student Information Center. For the past 15 years Michael has served in various capacities in higher education including college legal counsel, adjunct faculty member and dean of students. A graduate of Brooklyn Law School where he earned his Juris Doctor degree and Iona College where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, Michael currently is a doctoral student in executive leadership at St. John Fisher College. Michael is married to Tasha Sharron Baston and is pastor of the St. Luke Cathedral in Laurelton, NY.
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Nellie Borrero
A LaGuardia Community College alumna, Ms. Borrero is the Global Inclusion & Diversity Director for Accenture. In that capacity she leads an international team which is responsible for career development programs and opportunities for women and minorities in Europe, Latin America, South Africa and Asia. Ms. Borrero leads Accenture’s involvement in the United Nations-sponsored International Women's Day in all 49 countries in which Accenture does business. She has received numerous awards including: 2000 National Society of Hispanic MBA's Individual Corporate Executive Award; 1999 National Management Consulting Diversity Achievement Award; 1999 ASPIRA Circle of Achievers Award.
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Ms. Cecilia Briones
Ms. Briones is currently a Director in the Wealth Management Division of UBS AG serving Latin American clients. She was born in Santiago, Chile and immigrated to the U.S. in 1969. She has had an extensive career in the Wealth Management business working with Latin American countries at Marine Midland Bank, ABN Amro N.V. and Merrill Lynch. Ms. Briones has traveled extensively because of her work and enjoys visiting new countries and experiencing different cultures. She resides in Bayside, New York with her husband Gaston, who runs his own export business.
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Deborah Chan
A 1982 LaGuardia graduate, Ms. Chan now serves as a trusts and estates attorney with offices in Flushing, Queens, and Manhattan. She is also chair of the Chinatown Partnership. Prior to her appointment to the board, Ms. Chan was involved in a number of foundation events. She participated in an Alumni information session in which key alumni gave feedback on the College’s alumni relations’ plans and attended the LaGuardia Community College Foundation’s Innovative Leadership reception in 2010.
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Arvind Dharia
Mr. Dharia has been the CFO and Secretary of Steven Madden Corp. since 1992. He also served as a Board Director of the Company from 1993 through 2004. With an MBA in Finance, Mr. Dharia helped take the Company public in 1993 and oversaw the growth in annual sales revenues from $1 million in 1992 to $650 million in 2010. Thanks in part to his strong financial leadership, Steve Madden is now the second largest company in Queens in both revenues and profitability. Away from Steve Madden, Dharia is very active in his community. He is serving as a trustee of Vaishnav Temple of New York and was a director of the Indian Chamber of Commerce in New Yorkand is a committee member of Balasinor Association of America. Dharia served on the Internal Audit and Finance Committee and is a Trustee of the VRAJ temple of Pennsylvania. He is a trustee of Gujurati Samaj of New York. He is a passionate believer in the activities and goals of LaGuardia Community College.
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Michelle V. Francis
Ms. Francis, the founder and principal at THE FRANCIS COMPANY, an
intellectual advisory company, has 20 years of experience in
intellectual property. Prior to founding her company, she worked with
over 40 companies in both the United States and abroad. Ms. Francis, who
has a JD from Pepperdine University School of Law, was a litigator in a
private practice in Los Angeles before she began her in-house
intellectual property experience.
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Nick Lugo
After serving as President of the New Bronx Chamber of Commerce for three and half years, Nick announced in April, 2006 the establishment of the New York City Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Lugo founded Casa Publications, Corporation, parent company of the Spanish-language weekly newspaper, La Voz Hispana. He also took over the family travel business in memory of his father and mentor, changed the name from Cophresi to Nick Lugo Travel, a name that has become synonymous with air travel in New York’s Hispanic communities. The same year, Mr. Lugo founded the Hispanic Marketing & Advertising Group where he serves as CEO. Mr. Lugo served as a member of numerous boards including the National Economic Development Association, Ponce De Leon Federal Bank, the Governor’s Committee on Transportation Bond Issue, the Puerto Rican Dance Theatre, Inc., and the South Bronx Puerto Rican Development Corporation and as a member of the Advisory Boards for the NYC Off Track Betting Corp and Banco Popular.
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Gail O. Mellow, Ph.D.
President of LaGuardia Community College in NYC, one of the most ethnically diverse campuses in the U.S. LaGuardia is a two-year public college, serving over 50,000 students from 160 countries. Under her leadership, the College has won numerous awards. Dr. Mellow spearheads local economic development with LaGuardia’s Small Business Development Center, and NY Designs, a business incubator for design professionals. Dr. Mellow is the co-author of three books and more than thirty articles. Her third book, “Minding the Dream: The American Community College”, was published in 2008. She received an A. A. from Jamestown Community College, a B.A. from SUNY Albany, and her M.A. and Ph.D. from The George Washington University.
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Mario J. Paredes
Mario J. Paredes is the President of Youth Orchestra of Ibero-Americas. Mr. Paredes also serves as Vice President of the Gabriela Mistral Foundation, President of Catholic Association of Latino Leaders (CALL). He currently serves at the American Bible Society as Presidential Liaison on: United Nations Initiatives, Roman Catholic Projects as well as Hispanic Ministries. Currently, he serves as trustee for the Cathedral College, American Bible Society, the Salvation Army, the Catholic Medical Mission Board, Musica de Camara Board. He has served as Editorial Board Member of El Diario-La Prensa, Catholic New York, The Tablet, El Pregonero. Founder of the national weekly El Visitante Dominical in USA and El Visitante de Puerto Rico. Awards received include a Papal Knighthood, a Doctorate Honoris Causa from the Universidad Mar del Plata in Argentina, and from the National Catholic Press Association. |
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Julia Park
Julia Park is the principal attorney of Law Offices of Julia Park, LLC. Julia’s immigration practice focuses on the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa and she is a frequent speaker on the topic. Julia assists immigrant investors in the EB-5 application process and facilitates Regional Center designation filings for real estate developers. Julia is also the Managing Director of Advantage America New York Regional Center, an approved EB-5 regional center that received its federal designation in March 2013. Julia began her legal career as an associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP in New York City providing transactional legal services to Fortune 500 companies and global financial institutions. Prior to practicing law, Julia was a simultaneous interpreter in Seoul, Korea, where she facilitated communications for hundreds of seminars and conferences working with corporations such as the WTO, OECD and IBM, as well as with such VIPs visiting Korea as President Bill Clinton and Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, Lou Gerstner of IBM and Jeffery Katzenberg of Dreamworks Animation. |
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Dr. Henry Saltiel
Dr. Saltiel is a member of the college’s executive management team responsible for guiding strategic planning and policy implementation initiatives related to technology infrastructure and the uses of technology in support of the College’s overall mission. Dr. Saltiel oversees the departments of Network Administration, Student Information Systems, End-User Support, and Instructional Media services. The Office Institutional Research, which is responsible for maintaining and forecasting vital statistical data related to the College’s performance and historical trends, is also managed by Dr. Saltiel.
A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a Doctorate in Education, NYU-Polytechnic with a Masters degree in Information Systems Engineering, and Adelphi University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Mathematics, Dr. Saltiel brings 30 years of experience managing Information Technology in Higher Education to LaGuardia.
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Mr. Suresh L. Sani
Mr. Sani is Vice President of First Pioneer Properties, Inc., a family owned company, which manages commercial buildings and land owned by family related entities across the U.S. A graduate of Harvard College and New York University School of Law, Mr. Sani was formerly an associate in the Real Estate Department at Shea & Gould in New York City, and is a current member of the New York Bar. Mr. Sani serves on the Dean’s Strategic Council at New York University School of Law and is also a member of the Compact Committee, an elected committee that oversees the curriculum at the Port Washington Public Schools.
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Jane Schulman
Jane E. Schulman is the Vice President of the Division of Adult and Continuing Education (ACE) at LaGuardia Community College, where she leads the division’s senior leadership team. Last year ACE served over 35,000 adults, children and businesses in a wide variety of programs, courses and workshops. Serving at LaGuardia for over 30 years, Jane has greatly contributed to making LaGuardia Community College a city, state and national model in the field of adult and continuing education. Over the years, Jane has secured grant funding of more than $25 million, and created and promoted numerous entrepreneurial programs that are responsive to the needs of individuals, businesses and the community. She is recognized by the New York State Department of Education as a leader in career development, and has authored training materials that have been implemented throughout the state. Jane has spearheaded many successful initiatives, including the establishment of a Workforce1 Career Center on campus and strengthening the use of educational technology within ACE. Jane's educational background includes an undergraduate degree from SUNY at New Paltz and an MS in Guidance and Counseling from Brooklyn College.
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Lisa Selz
Ms. Selz graduated from Goucher College with a B.A. in Latin. She worked
at Manufacturers Hanover Trust and Tiffany and Co. before going to work
in a small family business, which she eventually ran. Since 1993, Ms.
Selz has helped manage the Selz Foundation with a focus on humanitarian,
educational, geriatric, homeopathic, animal causes and the arts. She
currently serves on the boards of the Allen-Stevenson School, The Ethel
Walker School, Goucher College, Touch A Life Foundation, The Middle
Patent Rural Cemetery Association and the Alumni Board of the Rippowam
Cisqua School. She lives in Manhattan with her husband, Bernard, and
their two sons.
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Angie Yu
Ms. Yu, and her husband, Michael, were instrumental in the formation of Tommy Bahama, a men’s clothing company, which they sold recently. She is now Executive Vice President of G. Star Apparel, Inc., in New York. Ms. Yu, who is involved philanthropically in China and the United States, has made a generous contribution to the Foundation. She and her husband have established the Yu-Lin Chinese Language Scholarship Fund to provide scholarships for non-Chinese LaGuardia students taking Chinese language and culture classes.
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