HAMILTON — Colgate University announced on Earth Day (April 22) that it has achieved carbon neutrality after a 10-year initiative in which the private university cut its emissions by 46 percent. 

Colgate contends it is the first university in New York state to reduce its net carbon emissions to zero, according to a release posted to its website.

The steps Colgate took over the last decade to reach this milestone included building several Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified buildings on campus, installing solar arrays and a geothermal heating and cooling system, establishing a $1.25 million self-sustaining fund for energy and carbon-reduction projects, updating the university’s heating facility biomass boiler, and investing in several carbon offset-projects to mitigate remaining university emissions from employee travel, heating, and cooling.

Colgate is a 200-year-old liberal-arts college located in Hamilton, with about 3,000 undergraduate students.   

MANLIUS — David’s Refuge, a Manlius–based nonprofit organization providing care and support to parents of children with special needs, recently announced it has added two new board members

Wills Mahoney is co-founder of Plowz & Mowz, a Syracuse–based technology company, allowing consumers to book snow plowing, lawn mowing, and other outdoor service providers online and through an app. His love for computers and technology developed when he was younger and led him to start his first company in 2005 called Express Computer Service, a local computer sales and IT services company in his hometown of Manlius. His entrepreneurial spirit led him to start Plowz & Mowz in the winter of 2014. His company has seen rapid growth and now has more than 45 employees, 5,000-plus landscape companies on the platform, and is available in more than 40 markets across the country. 

Craig Zinserling has been in the environmental contracting business for almost 30 years and has been a resident of Central New York his whole life. He was a VP with a national environmental contracting company prior to starting his own local company, CRAL Contracting, Inc. The business offers mold remediation, asbestos abatement, industrial cleaning, and other services. CRAL has grown over the past 15 years into a corporation, employing 35 people with offices in Rochester and Syracuse. 

David’s Refuge says its mission is to provide respite, resources, and support to parents and guardians of children with special needs or life-threatening medical conditions where they will be “refreshed, restored, and renewed in their role as caregivers.”

The organization says it is seeing “tremendous growth and development.” Kate Houck is executive director of David’s Refuge.

ITHACA — Love Living at Home (LLH), an Ithaca–based nonprofit that helps seniors to live independently in their own homes, recently announced the appointment of Cheryl Jewell as its new executive director. 

Jewell is coming to LLH from Arnot Health in Bath, where she is currently an admissions coordinator. Her official start date with LLH is May 6, but she will be introduced at the organization’s annual meeting on May 1, according to an email announcement that the organization’s board of directors issued on April 9.

Jewell has volunteered over the years with area nonprofits, including Hospicare of Tompkins & Cortland, the Cancer Resource Center, and the National Alliance for Mental Illness.

“Cheryl is warm, accommodating, and Midwestern-practical. Raised in rural Ohio, she has the down-to-earth common sense and good-naturedness that stems from her multi-generational family upbringing. She has been dedicated her whole life to the elders who raised her and influenced her character,” the email, signed by Robin Dubovi and Leslie Quest, co-chairs of the LLH board, said. 

Jewell received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Ohio University. She earned a second master’s degree in health care management from Utica College. 

The LLH board’s search committee worked for more than 15 weeks — evaluating over 50 applications, and conducting more than a dozen interviews — to find and hire its new executive director, per the email. 

LLH was founded in 2016 and its first executive director was Elena Flash.  

DeWITT — Leadership Greater Syracuse (LGS) has awarded Olive Sephuma, of Syracuse, its 2019 LGS Alumni Achievement Award.

Sephuma, an LGS Class of 2004 graduate, was recognized at the organization’s annual “Let’s Get Social” fundraising event on Thursday, April 25, at The Fitz, a speakeasy within the Oh My Darling Restaurant, on South Salina Street in Syracuse.

“This award is special to us because this is our version of The People’s Choice Award. LGS graduates nominate fellow LGSers for the award and all the nominees are put before all 1,300 graduates to vote for the winner,” Pam Brunet, executive director of LGS, said in a news release.

Sephuma is director of the Center for New Americans at Interfaith Works. It’s her passion for the community and the compassion for the people living in Central New York that sets her apart. “She sees the vision of what can be, and works collaboratively to encourage and support people to make it happen,” said former colleague John Eberle in the nomination. 

Beth Broadway, executive director of Interfaith Works, stated in the nomination, “Olive is a leader who brings out the best in people. She leads with quiet confidence and always pursues excellence with and for those she serves.” Sephuma has been instrumental in leading the organization through change and it is now recognized nationally for its forward-thinking programs.

While working previously at the Central New York Community Foundation, Sephuma expanded a neighborhood-leadership training program that served as a “hallmark program” of the foundation, the release stated. 

Beyond her work, Sephuma started a girl’s running club for city teens to encourage young women to take on their health, wellness, and body image. She also served on the Parish Council for the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

The LGS Alumni Achievement Award was established to honor LGS graduates who have taken their LGS training to “the highest level and who have exhibited exceptional civic leadership.”