NBT Bank recently promoted four employees based in the Mohawk Valley. Retail Territory Manager TRICIA BUSHEE, Senior Business Banking Officer ALICIA JOHNSON, and Channel and Customer Engagement Manager GINA ROSSI were promoted to VP. Fair Lending Compliance Officer HASAN BAJREKTAREVIC was promoted to assistant VP.

Bushee joined NBT in 2017 and has more than 13 years of experience in the financial services industry. The Mohawk Valley territory she manages includes branches in Oneida, Herkimer, and Madison counties. Bushee studied business at Morrisville State College and is a 2015 graduate of the Leadership Mohawk Valley civic-leadership training program.

Johnson joined NBT in 2006 and has more than 35 years of experience in the financial services industry. She earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration-business and public management from SUNY Polytechnic Institute. Johnson holds many certificates from the Risk Management Association and the American Institute of Banking.

Rossi has more than 25 years of experience in marketing and advertising and joined NBT in 2017. She previously owned her own advertising agency and was a marketing officer in the financial services industry. Rossi earned her bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University and is a graduate of the American Bankers Association School of Bank Marketing and Management.

Bajrektarevic has more than 13 years of experience in financial compliance and joined NBT in 2006. In his current role, he has been instrumental in developing the bank’s fair lending, self-assessment, and risk assessment protocols. Bajrektarevic earned his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice-economic crime investigation from Utica College. He is also a 2010 graduate of the Pennsylvania Bankers Association’s Compliance School.

NBT Bank recently hired MICHAEL MURPHY as senior commercial banking relationship manager. He is based at NBT’s offices in the AXA Towers in Syracuse. Murphy has more than 20 years of experience in commercial banking and real estate in the Syracuse and Central New York market. Prior to joining NBT, he was a commercial banking relationship manager for KeyBank. Murphy earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Vermont. He is also a graduate of the Leadership Greater Syracuse program. NBT Bank announced that

JENNIFER PRIETO will lead its office in Newark Valley. She has more than 15 years of experience in the financial services industry and previously worked at NBT Bank of Newark Valley as a customer-service representative. Prior to rejoining the bank, Prieto worked as an office specialist with Newark Valley School District. She earned her associate degree in paralegal studies from Tompkins Cortland Community College.

Herkimer County Community College has hired MATTHEW JODWAY as a campus safety officer. He is a recent Herkimer College graduate, having earned an associate degree in liberal arts & sciences in May 2019. Jodway has worked for the City of Little Falls as both a general municipal worker and as a municipal sanitation worker.

Bankers Healthcare Group has added eight new employees to its Syracuse staff. KACI ASPER joins as a placements document specialist. She previously worked at Medical Management Resources as a reimbursement specialist, where she focused on medical billing for downstate New York customers. TAYLOR MICHAEL joins as an account executive. Most recently, he worked in business development at Terakeet, focusing on inbound sales and proposal development. TIM DECANDIA joins BHG as an account executive. He previously worked at Strategic Financial Solutions as a financial sales consultant and also took on the role of inside sales for debt settlement. AMANDA LYONS joins as a financial information systems manager. She has spent the last 10 years working for a commercial refrigeration company, where she started in A/P and A/R and worked her way up to VP of finance and operations. ZACH HARPER joins as a staff accountant. For the past year, he worked at Sinopoli & Sinopoli, an accounting firm in East Syracuse. JUSTIN TIERNEY joins as a senior talent acquisition partner. Since 2017, he worked at Aspen Dental in the talent acquisition department, hiring oral surgeons and endodontists. MATTHEW BROWN joins as a partnership marketing manager. He previously worked with Cintas for three years as a facility service sales representative and most recently with Berkshire Bank. ALEXA CAPOZZI joins as a graphic designer. She previously worked at The Martin Group located in Buffalo, where she created marketing material in various verticals such as professional sports, hospitality, health care, and finance.

AMBER MEZA has been named human resource information systems (HRIS) specialist at Mohawk Valley Health System. Most recently, she was an IT business analyst at PAR Technology Corporation in New Hartford, where she provided change management support for the implementation of a new ERP system. Prior to that, Meza worked in human resources at the Rescue Mission of Utica as an HR generalist. She received her bachelor’s degree in business management from Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey.

DAMON A. TOHTZ, M.D., a psychiatrist, has joined Oswego Health in its Behavioral Health Services Department. He has extensive experience working with adult and geriatric patients in both outpatient and inpatient settings including spending 10 years at the Syracuse VA and most recently he was a staff psychiatrist at Helio Health System. Tohtz completed his fellowship in forensic psychiatry and his residency in psychiatry, both at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. He earned his medical degree from the University of Vermont College of Medicine.

Smith Sovik Kendrick & Sugnet, PC has elected VICTOR L. PRIAL a partner at the firm. He is a trial lawyer who concentrates his practice in personal injury and civil litigation. Prial handles all types of lawsuits including products liability, professional malpractice, contract disputes, premises liability, labor law, personal injury, construction matters, and employment law.

Harris Beach PLLC has elected JULIAN B. MODESTI a partner of the firm. He is a commercial litigator whose practice encompasses shareholder disputes, leases, land-use matters, finance agreements, unfair competition, trade secrets and business torts. Modesti is also the firm’s head litigator for trust and estate disputes in surrogate’s courts. He handles appeals in state and federal courts on a wide variety of civil law issues and is frequently retained as a mediator. Modesti earned his law degree from Vermont Law School in 1994.

CALEB C. SLATER has joined BellCornerstone Commercial Real Estate as a business development associate and co-producer for “The Faces of Syracuse.” He has experience in both video production and business development. Slater has an undergraduate degree in television-radio production from the Park School of Communications at Ithaca College and more than five years of video-production experience. In addition to content creation, he has experience in sales and public relations from his time working in campaign politics and his previous employment as an automotive sales consultant at Fox Honda.

DANIEL LYNCH has joined the firm as a business development associate. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Le Moyne College’s Madden School of Business where he double majored in finance and business analytics. Lynch is currently pursuing an MBA from Le Moyne College while he works. Prior to his current position at BellCornerstone, he was a full-time student-athlete as a member of the men’s lacrosse team at Le Moyne.

KARA HILLER has joined the firm as an attorney and business development executive. She is a licensed attorney and real-estate broker. Hiller has a bachelor’s degree in political science and philosophy from the University of Rochester and a juris doctorate from Syracuse University College of Law. She has a diverse legal background that includes both law firm practice and legal publishing experience.

SARAH LAURO has joined the firm as a business development executive. She is a licensed real -state salesperson. Trained in public relations and marketing, she has a more than 10-year background in communications, elegant leadership, strategic planning, and business development. Prior to her current position at Bell Cornerstone, Lauro managed dental practices for more than nine years and opened her own baking business in 2013.