LeChase Construction Services, LLC has promoted JUSTIN BROWN to regional safety manager in Syracuse. Brown will ensure the company’s safety program across all job sites in Central New York. Specifically, he will lead efforts around safety training, tracking, and reporting. Brown will also ensure operations across the area comply with site-safety plans and applicable regulatory standards, and act as a liaison to clients and subcontractors on matters related to health, safety, and the environment. He started his construction career in 2008. Brown joined LeChase as a project engineer in 2017 and was named an assistant superintendent in 2019. In 2020, Brown earned a Construction Safety Professional Certificate from the RIT OSHA Training Institute Education Center. This required completion of a 70-hour curriculum covering industrial hygiene, occupational and health standards for construction, hazard awareness, and other topics.

LAIRD UPDYKE has been promoted to project executive at LeChase in Syracuse. He will manage multiple projects for core clients, with accountability for quality, value, and safety, as well as responsibility for overseeing recruitment and training of project employees. Updyke joined LeChase as a senior project manager in 2018. He has more than 20 years of project management and facilities-management experience, largely in Syracuse and Central New York. He earned a bachelor’s degree in construction management and an associate degree in architectural engineering, both from Alfred State College. Updyke currently serves as an advisory board member for the school’s construction management program.

Security Mutual Life’s board of directors recently announced the promotion of three officers.

MARY C. WARD was elevated to senior VP and controller. She is responsible for overseeing the company’s fiscal functions, including financial reporting, financial operations, payroll reporting, tax reporting, agent commission reporting, and supporting the company’s financial initiatives. Ward began her career with Security Mutual Life in 2008, joining the financial operations department as director of financial reporting. She advanced to a number of positions within that department, and in 2017 she was appointed VP of financial operations. Ward is currently a member of the Binghamton University School of Management Advisory Board, serves on the board of the UHS Foundation, and is a trustee of the Security Mutual Life Foundation.

HEATHER H. ZEBROWSKI has been promoted to senior VP, chief human resources and diversity & inclusion officer. Her major areas of human-resources responsibilities include talent management, workforce planning and development, regulatory compliance, performance, employee relations, compensation, employee benefits, and leading the company’s human-resources initiatives. Zebrowski began her career with Security Mutual in 2007 as a human-resources generalist. She advanced to several positions within the human resources department, and in 2017 was named VP of human resources. Zebrowski has earned an executive certificate in human resources leadership from Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, and she has also earned her Professional in Human Resources (PHR) certification.

JEFFREY M. JACOBS has been promoted to VP, assistant general counsel, chief compliance officer and privacy officer. He is responsible for providing legal counsel and advice to the company’s executive management, officers, and employees on all areas of company operations. In his new position, Jacobs will assume the role of chief compliance officer and will continue to serve as the company’s privacy officer. Jacobs joined Security Mutual in 2017 as VP and assistant general counsel, and he has successfully completed the requirements to earn his Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) designation from the American College of Financial Services. Jacobs is admitted to practice law in New York and is a member of the Broome County and New York State Bar Associations. 

Mohawk Valley Community Action Agency, Inc. (MVCAA) has named DARLENE MACK-BROWN the agency’s community engagement director. She replaces Venice Ervin who recently retired from the agency. Mack-Brown has been active with the anti-poverty agency for many years, serving as the board chair from 2010-2013. The past VP of the Utica/Oneida County Branch NAACP, she currently serves on the Alumni Association Board and the Foundation Board of Mohawk Valley Community College. An active member of the Mohawk Valley Frontiers International and St. Matthew’s Temple COGIC, her service to the community has also been acknowledged by the YWCA (Salute to Outstanding Women), Mohawk Valley Frontiers International (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Award for Outstanding Community Service), New York State Women, Inc. (Woman of the Year), Partnership for Nonprofit Enterprise Excellence (Not For Profit Board Leadership Seminar Program Award), and N.I.A. of Utica (Outstanding Community Service Award). 

The YMCA of Central New York has named BERTRAM L. LAWSON, II the organization’s next president and CEO. He stepped into this role on Feb. 8. Lawson previously served as the chief operating officer for Mastery Charter Schools Network (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Camden, New Jersey), a $250 million nonprofit organization, overseeing all aspects of non-instructional school operations, school budgets, sports/extra-curricular programming, and student enrollment for 24 campuses. Prior to this role, he was recruited by the Y in Central Maryland to serve as its senior VP of operations providing leadership to three health/wellness centers, 20 camping (day & resident) locations, youth development, 20 community schools and mentoring programs while supervising two VPs and a district executive director. Lawson also served the Y for more than 21 years, including in Philadelphia, with significant operational, membership, grant delivery, partnership, fundraising, and program experience. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Lincoln University and is currently working toward an MBA from Wilmington University. Lawson holds multiple Y-USA certifications and is a graduate of Y-USA’s Multicultural Executive Development Institute and C-Suite Next Level Coaching Programs.