Westchester County Association Honors Developer Joe Simone and Hospital CEO Jon Schandler at Annual Dinner

Alfred F. Kelly, Jr., CEO of the NY/NJ Super Bowl Host Committee, Will Give Keynote Address at WCA Leadership Dinner

At this year’s 2013 Annual Fall Leadership Dinner, the Westchester County Association will honor two of Westchester’s renowned leaders, both visionaries who moved their organizations forward to have an impact in Westchester County.

Leadership Awards will be given to Jon B. Schandler, CEO, White Plains Hospital for advancing hospital care, design, and technology that have improved the quality of care for thousands; and Joseph Simone, President, Simone Development Companies, for his foresight in constructing office buildings in Westchester and New York City to accommodate 21st century medical and technology needs. 

Alfred F. Kelly, Jr., President and CEO of the 2014 NY/NJ Super Bowl Host Committee, will deliver the keynote address. There also will be a special Silent Auction and some surprise entertainment.

The Annual Fall Leadership Dinner will take place on Thursday, November 14 at the Hilton Westchester in Rye Town, beginning at 5:30 for cocktail hour and concluding at 9:30 pm. Organizers say that ticket sales ($295 for members; $350 for future members) are brisk. For more information and to register, visit westchester.org. For sponsorship opportunities, contact Tara Lavery at tlavery@westchester.org. For Silent Auction donations, please contact Joelle DiNardi at jdinardi@westchester.org. WCA’s Annual Leadership Dinner and Awards ceremony is open to the public. However, pre-registration is required.

 

Jon B. Schandler, CEO, White Plains Hospital, joined the hospital in 1976 as controller and associate executive director, after having been a senior account executive at Price Waterhouse & Co. He was named CEO and president in 1981. During his tenure, he directed the major renovation and repositioning of White Plains Hospital as a leading healthcare provider in Westchester County, and oversaw the gutting and modernization of the 500,000 square foot hospital to include new centers for colon cancer and gastro-intestinal screening, seizure diagnosis, sleep disorders, and neo-natal care, and a state-of-the-art emergency room, and the creation of a satellite breast-imaging center in Rye Brook.  He has been quoted widely as an astute commentator on issues facing the healthcare industry. As early as 1989, in an article in The New York Times, he called on legislators to rethink public policy to meet America’s growing healthcare crisis, eliminate “bureaucratic roadblocks and over-regulation,” and enact meaningful tort reform – warning that the community-hospital system was crumbling. Mr. Schandler is an active member of the WCA’s Healthcare Consortium, and of several hospital associations including the Healthcare Association of New York State, American Cancer Society/Westchester Division, and Northern Metropolitan Hospital Association.

Joseph Simone, President, Simone Development Companies, began his real estate career in the 1970s by purchasing depressed commercial and retail properties in lower Westchester and the Bronx, then aggressively upgrading them to successfully lease them. Today, Simone Development owns more than 100 commercial properties, compromised of over 5 million square feel in metropolitan New York, among them: Hutchinson Metro Center, a medical tower soon to be occupied by Montefiore Medical Center, and the Harrison Executive Medical Park to be occupied by WESTMED Medical Group. As the delivery of healthcare services continues to proliferate in Westchester, Simone has made medical-related assemblage and construction a strategic focus. His visionary development of 42 acres abutting the Hutchinson River Parkway in the Bronx was a bellwether achievement in that county’s revivification. Simone Development Companies is a full-service real estate investment company specializing in the acquisition and development of commercial, healthcare, industrial, retail and residential properties in the tri-state area.

 

Alfred F. Kelly, Jr. is President and CEO of the 2014 NY/NJ Super Bowl Host Committee, for history’s first outdoor, cold-weather Super Bowl, which will be held on February 2, 2014, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., home stadium of both the Giants and Jets. Mr. Kelly has enjoyed a distinguished business career, the last 23 years of which were spent at the American Express Company, during which he was recognized as one of the Credit Card Industry’s Leaders of the Year, as one of the “10 For the Future” in U.S. financial services by American Banker and was for 10 consecutive years among Irish America magazine’s Business 100. He served as president of the financial services giant from 2007 to 2010, leading the global consumer businesses, worldwide servicing, and enterprise wide risk management.  Prior to that, he held senior positions in government and private industry. He was head of Information Systems at the White House from 1985 to 1987. From 1981 to 1985, he held positions at PepsiCo in Information Systems and Strategic and Financial Planning.

 

As of this date, Platinum sponsors of the WCA’s 2013 Fall Leadership Dinner include: Abigail Kirsch Catering Relationships, Berkeley College, Bleakley, Platt & Schmidt LLP, Broadview Networks, Chubb & Son, Inc., Citrin Cooperman & Co., LLP, Cohn Reznick, Con Edison, Corporate Audio Visual Services, ENT and Allergy Associates, LLP, Entergy, Harrison Edwards PR & Marketing, J.H. Cohn LLP, Journal News Media Group, KeyBank N.A., M & T Bank, Mahopac National Bank, MasterCard Worldwide, Mercy College, New York Life Insurance, New York Medical College, O’Connor Davies, LLP, Opus Advisory Group, LLC, Pace University, PepsiCo, Inc., Provident Bank, Reckson, A Division of SL Green, RPW Group, Inc., Simone Development Companies, Strategies for Wealth, The College of Westchester, The Rollins Agency, Inc., Webster Bank, Westchester County Business Journal, and Westchester Medical Center.

 

About the Westchester County Association

The Westchester County Association (www.westchester.org) is the preeminent business membership organization in Westchester County. The Association is committed to business advocacy, economic vitality and to providing a strong and clear voice for the interests of businesses on the regional, national and international levels. Its key objectives are promoting positive economic development in the region; fostering business development; and providing its members with access and interaction with key public and private sector individuals, agencies and organizations.