People
Buffalo-area personnel announcements, board appointments and more
Taylan Sen, an attorney with Phillips Lytle LLP, was appointed to the board of directors of InfoTech Niagara for a one-year term. He practices in the area of intellectual- property law.
Rocco Lucente II, managing partner of Cohen & Lombardo PC, and Michael Ryan, an attorney with the Cosgrove Law Offices, were named to the Canisius College Board of Regents.
Brittany Hillery and Candace Kuechler joined Chiampou Travis Besaw & Kershner LLP as staff accountants.
Michael Borynski joined the CPA firm of Schunk Wilson & Co. CPAs PC in the accounting and tax section of the firm's Amherst office.
Donna Muscarella, a paralegal with Phillips Lytle LLP, is serving on the 2009-10 Elmwood Franklin School board of trustees.
Andrew Dagneau of Amato Fox & Co. PC recently passed all four parts of the uniform CPA exam.
James Mahoney joined Harter Secrest & Emery LLP as an associate attorney in the environmental practice area. He was formerly a senior compliance analyst at Citigroup.
Santo Caracciolo, Matthew Difasi and Zachary Wagner joined the accounting firm Chiampou Travis Besaw & Kershner LLP as staff accountants.
Columbus McKinnon Corp. named Joseph Maliekel as corporate controller. He is a CPA who was most recently a partner with BDO Seidman.
Among those newly elected to the St. Mary's High School board of directors are Patricia Erickson, director of the criminal justice program at Canisius College, and Vincent Sorrentino, an attorney with Cole Sorrentino Hurley Hewner & Gambino PC. Nicholas Fiume of Deloitte & Touche LLP is 2009-10 board chairman.
David Recht, Prathima Reddy Price and Daria Carr joined Watson Bennett Colligan & Schechter LLP as associates. Recht will practice in the corporate and commercial real estate departments; Price will practice in the insurance-defense department; and Carr will practice in the employment law/commercial litigation department.
Gaines Kriner Elliott LLP added five employees. Diana Panattoni-Henry rejoined the firm as a tax supervisor and will specialize in accounting and tax work. Recent college graduates joining the firm are: Brenna Zerfas, Julie Metz, Anthony Donnelly and Ronald Ruffino.
William Wright, director of private wealth services for Sagemark Consulting, was elected president of the Society of Financial Service Professionals, Buffalo chapter, for 2009-10. Other officers include: Bruce Supernault, Financial Planning Coordinators, vice president; Jon Pellish, Chiampou Travis Besaw & Kershner LLP, treasurer; and Phillip Gallson, Campagna & Gallson CPAs, secretary.
The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants appointed Brian Pearson chairman of the ABV (Accredited in Business Valuation) exam writing committee. He is president of Valuation Advisors LLC and a former chairman of the New York State Society of CPAs Business Valuation Committee.
Marc Brown, an attorney with Phillips Lytle LLP, was named to the board of trustees of the Kadimah School of Buffalo
for a three-year term. He is a 1987 graduate of the school. He was also
re-appointed to the Binghamton University Harpur College National
Alumni Law Advisory Council Steering Committee for a three-year term.
Joanne Lemke has been promoted to senior accountant with Chiampou Travis Besaw & Kershner LLP. She has been with the firm as a staff accountant since 2006. Kristine Doll joined the firm as a staff accountant.
Jennifer Baldonado and Phillip Bonfante joined Szymkowiak & Associates CPAs PC as staff accountants.
Michael Evancho and Sarah McLaughlin were hired as staff accountants with Lumsden & McCormick LLP.
YMCA Buffalo Niagara added seven members to its board of directors. Among them are: Daniel Gerber, a partner with Goldberg Segalla LLP; Michael Dolan, a partner with Tronconi Segarra and Associates LLP; Philip Mann, managing partner for the Bonadio Group; and Mark Phillips, a director with Ernst & Young LLP.
Lindsey Czapla and Merrissa Wilson were hired as staff accountants at Buffamante Whipple Buttafaro PC and will prepare financial statements and tax returns for individual and business clients.
Cheryl Prout was named a partner at the certified public accounting firm of Gaines Kriner Elliott LLP. She has been an associate with the firm for 11 years, and is the firm's specialist in New York State Empire Zones.
Lloyd Arakelian joined Freed Maxick & Battaglia CPAs PC as a director in the health-care consulting practice. He has 25 years' experience in the health-care industry.
Donna Burden, a founding partner of the law firm Burden Gulisano & Hickey LLC, was named president of the board of directors of Heritage Centers, a nonprofit that provides vocational training, education and recreational programs and residential services for people with developmental disabilities.
Hospice and Palliative Care Group Inc.'s 2009-10 board of directors includes Thomas Hewner, Cole Sorrentino Hurley & Hewner PC, secretary; and Andrea Sammarco, Sammarco Mattacola & Sammarco. Sammarco is also secretary on the Niagara Hospice board.
Kathy Parkhurst, a certified professional coder with Dopkins Medical Solutions LLC, earned the designation of certified professional medical auditor by the National Alliance of Medical Auditing Specialists. She has been with the firm since 2003.
Audrey Seeley and Shawn Martin, both associates with Hurwitz & Fine PC, were promoted to members of the firm. Seeley focuses her practice in insurance coverage, municipal and environmental counseling and governmental liability. She is also the village attorney for the Village of Springville. Martin focuses his practice in civil litigation. He is the attorney for the Town of West Seneca.
Deborah Gauny, Monica Tronolone and Scott Mitchell were hired by HoganWillig. Gauny, a certified legal nurse consultant with 19 years' nursing experience, joins the personal-injury and medical-malpractice department. Tronolone, who has more than 20 years' paralegal experience, will focus on residential and commercial purchases and sales and mortgage lending. Mitchell joined the marketing department, where he will focus on business development.
Among those named to the Western New York Venture Association board of directors were Anthony Mancinelli, Harter Secrest & Emery LLP, president; David Colligan, Watson Bennett Colligan Johnson & Schechter; Scott Friedman, Lippes Mathias Wexler Friedman LLP; Jeffrey Human, Gross Shuman Brizdle & Gilfillan PC; and Mark Kane, The Kane Firm.
Phillips Lytle LLP attorney John Schmidt Jr. was named to the board of trustees for the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library. He practices in the areas of commercial litigation, business torts and e-commerce litigation.
Brian Kruszka of Rosenthal Siegel & Muenkel joined the board of the Alcohol and Drug Dependency Services Foundation Inc., which governs the Kids Escaping Drugs campaign.
Dennis Jewell was elected president of the Buffalo chapter of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants. He is the managing partner at Noonan & Jewell CPAs and has been a member of the acccounting society since 1976.
Gina McDonough was promoted to senior manager with the accounting firm Chiampou Travis Besaw & Kershner LLP. She has been with the firm since 2001. Michael Schaffstall was promoted to senior manager. He has been with the firm since 2005.
The Rotary Club of Buffalo's board of directors for 2009 includes Michael Grimaldi, Lumsden & McCormick, treasurer; William Keefer, Phillips Lytle, secretary; and Charles Martorana, Hiscock & Barclay LLP, president-elect. Charles Telford of Damon & Morey LLP joins the board as a director.
Horace Gioia, a partner in the law firm Rupp Baase Pfalzgraf Cunningham & Coppola LLC, and Hon. Frank Sedita Jr., a New York State Supreme Court justice in the 8th Judicial District, were named to three-year terms on the Medaille College board of trustees.
Erin Graff joined the CPA firm of Brock Schechter & Polakoff LLP as a staff accountant and will do accounting and taxation work.
