DACHENG REN, Ph.D., has been named interim associate dean for research and graduate programs in the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Syracuse University. He is the Stevenson Endowed Professor in the Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering and director of the Syracuse Biomaterials Institute. Ren received an early career translational research award in biomedical engineering from the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation in 2009 and a National Science Foundation (NSF) career award in 2011. He was named the College Technology Educator of the Year by the Technology Alliance of Central New York in 2010. At Syracuse, Ren was a recipient of the Faculty Excellence Award from the College of Engineering and Computer Science in 2014 and the Chancellor’s Citation for Faculty Excellence and Scholarly Distinction in 2018. Ren’s research has been supported by the NSF, National Institutes of Health, Environmental Protection Agency, Wallace H. Coulter Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and industrial sponsors. He received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Connecticut in 2003. After finishing postdoctoral training at Cornell University, he joined Syracuse University in 2006.

Loretto has promoted COURTNEY LYON to administrator for Loretto Health & Rehabilitation in Syracuse. Formerly the assistant administrator of Loretto Health & Rehabilitation, Lyon holds a bachelor’s degree of biological science from Le Moyne College and a master’s degree in health-care administration from Utica College. She has been with Loretto since 2015, with roles in finance, operations, and most recently the assistant administrator at Loretto Health & Rehabilitation.

JACK PEASE, former administrator of Loretto Health & Rehabilitation, was appointed administrator for the Nottingham Residential Health Care Facility in Jamesville. He has served as administrator for several Loretto locations since 2012. Pease is a certified nursing home administrator and American College of Health Care Administrators fellow, with a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in health-care administration from SUNY Brockport.

Preferred Mutual Insurance Company has appointed HEIDI HOELLER, retired partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), to its board of directors. She spent more than 25 years at PwC, working with global and regional property and casualty insurance clients on regulatory and compliance reporting and audits. Hoeller is a CPA, and also a champion of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. She will serve on the board’s audit and risk committee.

MICHAEL HAYDUK, deputy director of the information directorate at the Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome, has also joined the Preferred Mutual board. He will serve on the board’s compensation committee. Hayduk has spent almost 30 years with the Air Force Research Laboratory, and has held many positions while honing his engineering, networking, and communication technologies expertise. Hayduk also has significant research and development experience in advanced computing technologies, such as nanocomputing, quantum computing, optical computing, and computational intelligence.

The Syracuse Northeast Community Center has named BRIAN FAY as its new executive director. The center provides enriching programming and services principally to the Northeast side of Syracuse. Fay previously served as director of strategic initiatives for the Syracuse Community Center Collaborative, a shared-services partnership between Northeast, Huntington Family Centers, Syracuse Community Connections, and Westcott Community Center. He succeeds Michael Collins, who directed the organization for six years of strong growth until he was appointed commissioner of neighborhood and business development by Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh in March. Through his work in the collaborative, Fay is already well-versed in the operations, staff, and mission of Northeast. He has been involved with the center as it has transitioned to continuing services through the COVID-19 pandemic. Staff, working remotely, continues to provide comprehensive coordinated services to the community. Fay spent much of his professional career as a public-school teacher working with at-risk youth. He holds a bachelor’s degree from SUNY Oswego and a master’s degree from Radford University in Virginia.

MIKE METZGAR has joined TDO – Train, Develop, Optimize as business development manager. He will be responsible for promoting the vision, mission, core values, and capabilities of TDO, while also growing its presence within the five-county Central New York region. Metzgar comes to TDO from Onondaga Community College, where he served as associate VP of economic and workforce development. He previously served as executive director of workforce development at Raritan Valley Community College. Metzgar formerly served as chairman of the TDO board of directors.