SYRACUSE — The Central New York Sales & Marketing Executives (CNYSME) has selected Mark Re — VP & regional manager of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services — as the 43rd recipient of its annual Crystal Ball Award.

CNYSME will honor Re during the annual Crystal Ball and Sales & Marketing Excellence Awards presentation and celebration on April 30, 2019, at the Marriott Syracuse Downtown.

“I was heartened. I was humbled,” Re tells CNYBJ in a Nov. 30 phone interview, regarding his award selection. “I do choose to lead my life a certain way, and I do a great deal of volunteering and giving back because I feel strongly about it. I don’t necessarily flaunt it.”

CNYSME representatives visited Re a few months ago and he just assumed they wanted him to volunteer for a given project. He wasn’t expecting the notification on the Crystal Ball Award. 

“So I was surprised. It was a pleasant surprise,” Re adds.

An “enduring symbol” of the organization’s mission, CNYSME annually awards the Crystal Ball to a local businessperson or group of business people “in recognition of their contributions to the sales and marketing profession and for their endeavors in the areas of community development and support.” 

Founded in 1935, CNYSME says it is the only organization focused exclusively on the needs of sales and marketing professionals in Central New York. Its mission is to help members grow their businesses by offering workshops, training sessions, networking opportunities, and scholarships to those planning a career in the industry.

About Mark Re

Re is a licensed real-estate broker and holds several designations, per the CNYSME release. He has served as president of the Greater Syracuse Association of Realtors (GSAR) and as president of the Central New York Information Services “for several years.” Re is also an approved instructor for the New York State Association of Realtors (NYSAR) and serves on the “Leading Edge Advisory Board” of the National Association of Realtors.

GSAR has previously honored Re with its “Realtor of the Year Award” and twice chose him for its “Realtor Broker/Manager of the Year Award.” The organization also selected him for its “Good Neighbor Award.” 

Additionally, he has received Chicago’s Nationwide Real Estate Recruiting Network “Recruiter of the Year Award” and most recently, the NYSAR “Community Service Award.” 

Re has served on the boards of director for area nonprofit organizations, including Onondaga Community College, Upstate University Hospital, Crouse Hospital, Cortland Repertory Theatre, Salt City Center for the Performing Arts, Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, and the Salvation Army Advisory Council. 

Onondaga Community College in October chose Re for its Alumni Faces Award. And, the United Way of Central New York presented Re with its “Customer Service Award” for outstanding contributions to the community.

Crystal Ball Award: Criteria, recent past winners

The criteria for Crystal Ball recognition includes holding a position as CEO, president, or director of a Central New York business; a person who visibly impacts the progress and prosperity of Central New York; a leader who “demonstrates commitment to superior quality and professionalism;” a person who “fosters excellence” in their industry; local involvement in community and civic organizations; and “demonstrates and practices an appreciation” of the sales and marketing industry, per the CNYSME.

“When I look at the criteria that CNYSME’s Crystal Ball Award is based upon, Mark Re is living proof of what the award represents,” Brooks Wright, CNYSME president, said in the release. “His leadership qualities, community involvement, knowledge of sales and marketing in his industry and philanthropic participation in so many worthy organizations are what this recognition is all about. He truly ‘pays it forward,’ and CNYSME is proud to honor Mark Re. I look forward to presenting him with the Crystal Ball Award on April 30.” 

Re will join a list of past Crystal Ball winners that includes the 2018 recipient, Kimberly Boynton, president and CEO of Crouse Health; the 2017 winner, Phil VanHorne, chairman and CEO of BlueRock Energy, Inc.; the 2016 recipient, Allen Naples, senior VP and regional president of M&T Bank (NYSE: MTB); and the 2015 honoree, Robert Daino, president and CEO of WCNY, the area’s public broadcaster; 

Other past winners include Howard Dolgon, owner, president, CEO, and team governor of the Syracuse Crunch minor league hockey team in 2014; Peter Belyea, president of CXtec and TERACAI in 2013; Debbie Sydow, former president of Onondaga Community College in 2012; John Stage, founder and CEO of Dinosaur Bar-B-Que in 2011; Peter Coleman, the publican of Coleman’s Authentic Irish Pub in 2010; and Edward (Ed) Levine, president and CEO of Galaxy Communications in Syracuse in 2009, according to the CNYSME website.         

SYRACUSE — S. Mark Alton — first VP, financial advisor, family wealth director, and senior investment management consultant at The Armory Group at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management in Syracuse — was recently appointed president of the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils (NAEPC).

Alton was named during the association’s 55th annual Advanced Estate Planning Strategies Conference held Nov. 6-8 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and he took office Dec. 1.

Alton is a past president of the Estate Planning Council of Central New York. He has advised clients for more than 25 years, working with an elite clientele of prominent executives and entrepreneurs, and with their families, foundations and privately held enterprises, according to a news release from the NAEPC. Alton is a past chair of the NAEPC Advanced Estate Planning Strategies Conference Committee and the Multi-Disciplinary Teaming and Professional Collaboration Committee. 

Alton is based at Morgan Stanley’s office at 250 S. Clinton St. in downtown Syracuse.

OSWEGO — Sixteen not-for-profit organizations received grant awards totaling $800,000 from the Richard S. Shineman Foundation at its November board meeting in the last of three 2018 grant rounds, the foundation announced. 

The funded projects reach a wide range of people in Oswego County. As with previous grant rounds, the projects represent a diverse cross-section of community organizations in economic revitalization, education, arts and culture, and health and human services, the organization said in a news release.

The largest award, $500,000, was given to Oswego Health Foundation in support of its capital campaign to build a new “state-of-the-art” behavioral health facility on East 2nd Street in Oswego at the old Price Chopper building and lot. Payment of the award begins in January.

Fulton Block Builders, a grassroots organization in Fulton, exceeded expectations in 2017 and 2018 of its successful Healthy Neighborhood revitalization program, and was awarded a $150,000 matching grant payable in the spring, following completion of fundraising in Fulton, the release stated.

The Fulton campus of Cayuga Community College received $92,000 to lead a collaborative effort with strategic partners to get Oswego County certified as the first county in New York state to achieve the national ACT “Work Ready Community” designation. The process of becoming a “Work Ready Community” will bring “systemic change to Oswego County’s approach for closing the large skill and work-readiness gap that currently exists, especially among individuals living in poverty,” the Shineman Foundation contended.

The foundation provided another revitalization grant to Friends of Fulton Parks to help fund the installation of a security system at the newly renovated Teen Park at Recreation Park. 

Three education/arts and culture/environment grants were awarded by the Shineman Foundation to organizations expanding their outreach with and into Oswego County schools or libraries. The grant recipients were the Merry-Go-Round Playhouse for its touring “Sequential Dramatics Program”; the Museum of Science and Technology’s “Oswego County on the Go” science program, which will bring a 45-minute, classroom-based science demonstration to all 78 sixth-grade classes in 16 school buildings in Oswego County; and Tug Hill Tomorrow Land Trust’s upcoming library, classroom, and outdoor programs in northeastern parts of the county. 

The foundation awarded capacity-building grants to the Children’s Museum of Oswego to hire a director of education and to the Child Advocacy Center to hire a fund-development director. 

An arts and culture grant was awarded to Symphoria for its Dec. 6 performance of the “Messiah” at St. Mary’s Church in Oswego, its summer 2019 concert at Fort Ontario, and expansion of its musical performances into Oswego County libraries. ARTSwego also received a grant to bring all 300 Oswego High School 10th grade students to a Feb. 27 performance at SUNY Oswego of “Beyond Sacred — Voices of Muslim Identity,” including a post-performance question-and-answer session with the actors. 

The Shineman Foundation awarded several health and human services grants to David’s Refuge for provision of respite/caregiver support to parents and guardians of children with special needs; Fulton Family YMCA for the expansion of its Girls Rock program into the Fulton Junior and Senior High Schools; Rural and Migrant Ministry in Richland for the construction of its Healthy Educational Kitchen, as well as St. James Episcopal Church in Pulaski for the completion of its industrial kitchen and handicap-accessible dining room so it can provide community dinners to those living in poverty. 

The Research Foundation of SUNY received a grant to help bring in a “Circle of Security Parenting” trainer to provide four days of training to 40 individuals representing eight agencies across Oswego County. These individuals will significantly increase the number of certified Circle of Security instructors to provide evidence-based parenting classes in the county. 

SYRACUSE — A Camillus woman who worked for the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) was recently arrested and accused of “repeatedly” altering and submitting fake receipts, with altered mileage and pick-up and drop-off times, for cars she rented for her job. 

Sonya Miller, 47, of Camillus, an employee assistance program (EAP) coordinator with OCFS, was charged with two counts each of forgery in the second degree and offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree, all felonies, according to a release from New York State Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott. 

“This defendant’s alleged routine fabrications were an affront to the public trust and a corrupt distortion of routine time and mileage records,” Leahy Scott said. “Her contemptuous excuses only furthered her culpability…”

The investigation by Leahy Scott’s office found that Miller repeatedly falsified the mileage as well as the pick-up and drop-off times on car-rental company receipts from rentals she regularly used for her government job. Miller typically rented vehicles to perform her job duties, which involved driving across the Finger Lakes and Central New York regions to meet with OCFS employees on EAP matters. 

The charges against Miller directly relate to two dates in May and June but court records show she admitted “routinely” altering and submitting those falsified vehicle rental receipts for work. “I’ve been doing it forever so it’s almost habit, where it’s obviously not allowed to be done…That is one thing I’ve done all along, I think every time I’ve travelled,” Miller told an investigator, according to court records. Each time Miller submitted a rental receipt with OCFS she certified it as “true and accurate,” the release stated.