Westchester County Club to Host Leading Women Executive Roundtable

Accounting and consulting firm Citrin Cooperman, together with Chase, Citi, Jackson Lewis LLP, Opus Advisory Group, and the Westchester County Association, are delighted to be hosting an exclusive roundtable with leading women executives on Wednesday, September 18.  Attendees will hear from innovative women across five industries.  The engaging lineup of speakers includes:

·       Roberta Bernhardt, CPA, Partner, Citrin Cooperman;

·       Dr. Kimberly Cline, President, Long Island University;

·       Dee DelBello, CEO and Owner, Westfair Communications Inc.;

·       Susan Fox, President, White Plains Hospital; and

·       Lori Littell-Pape, Chief Control Officer, Chase Consumer and Community Baking.

Citrin Cooperman partner Mary Paladino will be moderating the seminar, which begins at 8 a.m. at the Westchester Country Club (99 Biltmore Ave, Rye, NY). 

More on the Event: 

Driving Your Business:  Women at the Wheel

Driving Your Business: Women at the Wheel features leading women executives from five industries who will:

·       Provide background on their respective businesses;

·       Address management issues facing their industries; and

·       Discuss their own management style.

Bios

Mary Paladino, CPA | Partner |Citrin Cooperman

Mary Paladino, a partner, specializes in accounting and auditing, benefit plan audits and mergers and acquisitions.  She brings more than twenty years of public accounting experience to clients at Citrin Cooperman's White Plains office.

Roberta Bernhardt, CPA | Partner | Citrin Cooperman

Roberta is adept at resolving domestic and international tax issues and has successfully guided many of her clients through succession planning and estate and trust planning.  A partner in the White Plains office, she has over 25 years experience working with individuals and businesses, especially in the real estate area.  A leader in her community, Roberta has served on the board of directors of Sound Federal Bancorp, and is the financial advisor to the Doctors Cancer Foundation.

Dr. Kimberly Cline | President | Long Island University

Dr. Kimberly R. Cline became the 10th president of Long Island University on July 1, 2013.  Dr. Cline previously served as president of Mercy College, where she was the architect of a renaissance, instituting initiatives that increased the size and academic quality of the student body.  During her five-year tenure as president, the College more than tripled its endowment, earned its first A credit rating from Standard and Poor’s and made the most significant investments in academics in its history.  Under her leadership, Mercy launched a nationally recognized student retention program; developed new academic programs and centers in growing fields like entrepreneurship, strategic consulting, social justice and global engagement; enhanced technology training for faculty; and improved responsiveness to outcomes data.  Prior to assuming the presidency at Mercy, Dr. Cline served as vice chancellor and chief financial officer of the State University of New York.  In this role, she was responsible for all of the system’s financial and administrative functions and oversaw SUNY's $10 billion budget, which supports 64 campuses throughout the state.  During this time, Dr. Cline also served on the executive board of SUNY's Faculty Senate.  She first joined the SUNY system as vice president, chief operating officer and chief of staff at SUNY at Maritime College, where she was instrumental in doubling enrollment and balancing a 20 percent deficit-spending budget.  Before joining SUNY, Dr. Cline served as vice president for finance and administration at Seton Hall University and as university attorney, assistant treasurer and assistant vice president for business affairs at Hofstra University. She also served as a faculty member, teaching business law at Hofstra’s School of Business.  Dr. Cline is a member of the executive board of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (cIcu), a statewide association for more than 100 private, not-for-profit New York State colleges and universities, and serves as chair of the organization’s Finance and Administration Committee.  She also devotes her time and talents to the New York State Department of Education’s Advisory Committee on the Statewide Plan for Higher Education, the Center for Creative Leadership, the American Council on Education Women’s Network Executive Council, the East Coast Conference Presidents’ Council, the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities and A Better New York.  In addition, she co-chairs New York Campus Compact’s executive board and chairs the Westchester County Association’s Higher Education Committee.  Dr. Cline has participated in and presented at numerous national and regional conferences including those of the National Science Foundation ADVANCE program, the Bronx Education Summit, the American Association of Colleges and Universities, the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, the American Council on Education and the National Center for Study of Collective Bargaining for Higher Education Professions.  Dr. Cline earned a B.S. in industrial relations at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and went on to complete a Master of Business Administration, a Juris Doctor and a Doctor of Educational Administration at Hofstra University.

Dee DelBello | CEO and Owner | Westfair Communications Inc.

Chief executive officer and owner of Westfair Communications Inc. (Westfair), a publishing firm headquartered in White Plains, Dee DelBello, also serves as publisher of the company’s publications — Westchester County Business Journal, Fairfield County Business Journal, HV Biz and WAG magazine.  A graduate of The College of New Rochelle, Dee also holds a master’s degree from Seton Hall University. Her former professional experiences include teaching, administrative positions at two universities and regional public relations director for Bloomingdale’s.  She became an entrepreneur in 1990 when she purchased two moribund newspapers on the verge of bankruptcy – the Business Journals, which were co-founded nearly 50 years ago by a descendant of Joseph Pulitzer and a former editor at The Wall Street Journal. Through the years Dee has served extensively on charitable and professional boards.  She has also been the recipient of numerous awards and honors for her efforts and achievements from such organizations as Arts Westchester, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Westchester, Women in Communications (an organization she co-founded), Visiting Nurse Service of Westchester, Family Service of Westchester, Westchester ARC, Westchester chapter of the American Red Cross, March of Dimes, Bridgeport Regional Business Council, Bar’Ilan University in Israel, Westchester Advertising Club, WAWBO, Boy Scouts of America, The Westchester Business Council and Westchester Community College Foundation.  She was also a commissioner – appointed by Gov. Hugh Carey – for 17 years on the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct and was awarded the 1996 Samuel Dubroff Award from the New York State Fund for Modern Courts.  During her husband’s tenure in public service in Westchester County, Dee was helpful in establishing the county’s corporate branding, developing the Muscoot Farm Park in Somers, the Bridge Gallery in the government center, the arts in public places program, the arts council and a host of arts-related countywide events.  A resident of Waccabuc with her husband, Alfred, a former Yonkers mayor, Westchester County executive and New York state lieutenant governor, Dee spends her free time at home tending to her growing alpaca farm. Her son Damon is a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon.

Susan Fox | President | White Plains Hospital

Susan Fox, President of White Plains Hospital, is one of the growing numbers of women who are assuming leadership positions in the health care industry in the United States.  Susan works closely with the Hospital’s Board of Directors, senior leadership team and large physician community to strengthen the organization’s strategic direction and physician relationships, while continuously enhancing the quality of care and patient experience.  A long-time Westchester resident, Susan first joined the White Plains Hospital team in 2010 as Senior Vice President of Administration bringing with her more than 25 years of experience in health management administration.  In 2011 she was named Executive Vice President and then President in January, 2013.  Prior to White Plains Hospital, Susan was a Senior Vice President at North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System developing and overseeing Physician and Ambulatory Network Services.  Prior to NSLIJHS, Susan was a Senior Manager of Health Care Consulting at Ernst and Young, where she specialized in strategy and hospital reengineering.  Susan began her career as a pediatric intensive care nurse at New York Hospital in Manhattan and received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Columbia University.  She also holds a Master of Business Administration from Baruch College, Mount Sinai School of Medicine.  She has two sons currently in college and her husband is a long time hospital executive.

Lori Littell-Pape | Chief Control Officer | Chase Consumer and Community Baking

Lori Littell-Pape is the Chief Control Officer for Chase Consumer and Community Banking [CCB].  Lori is responsible for all of the businesses within CCB with the exception of Mortgage Banking.  Lori leads a control organization focused on improving the infrastructure, systems and work processes that support our customers.  Lori works with the CCB line of business and functional leaders to ensure we detect problems quickly, escalate them properly, get the right teams engaged, remediate them, learn from them, and prevent them in the future.  Most recently, Lori was the Chief of Staff to the CEO of CCB.  Just prior to that role, Lori was the Chief Operations Officer for Chase Consumer and Business Banking.  She managed Telephone Banking, Fraud, Collections, Retail Ops, Centralized Transaction Ops, Business Banking Loan and Portfolio Management, Investment and Retirement Ops, the Global Service Center located in the Philippines, Commercial Banking Ops and Service as well as the Executive Complaints Office.  Previously, she was Chief of Staff to the Chief Administrative Officer of JPMorgan Chase and was responsible for strategic initiatives across the firm, the Program Management Office and the university education and research partnerships.  In addition, Lori has served as the Chief Administrative Officer of Chase Commercial Banking, responsible for customer service, operations and a variety of business support functions including marketing, communications, market readiness, integration management, business resiliency, product development, pricing strategy and analysis and program management.  She also managed loan operations for the commercial businesses across JPMorgan Chase.  Lori held a number of Commercial Banking line and staff positions before being named CAO.  She served as a banker, market manager and credit executive before moving into a series of staff positions that focused on operations, technology, process improvement, merger integration and strategy.  She has held a progressive series of management positions within JPMorgan Chase and its predecessor organizations after having joined the firm in 1980 in its retail management development program.  Lori holds a Bachelor’s degree in business management from Adelphi University.  She and her husband, Bob, have two grown children.