NBT Bank has promoted RICHARD LARUSCH, human resources business partner, to VP. He joined NBT in November 2012 as a human resources generalist and was promoted to assistant VP and human resources manager in 2016 and to human resources business partner in 2017. In his last position, LaRusch had responsibility for providing strategic HR support to divisional leaders at NBT. He received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from SUNY Geneseo and completed the Graduate School of Banking for human resources management at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. 

Erie Materials announced the following promotions and new hires. In the Elmira branch CHAD STERLING has been named general manager. He joined Erie Materials in 2001 as a warehouse specialist and was promoted to inside sales in 2004 and to territory manager in 2014. DAVE MANLEY has been named operation manager. He has been with Erie Materials for 21 years, joining in 1997 as a warehouse specialist in Elmira. Manley relocated to the Williamsport branch upon its opening in 2001, then returned to Elmira in 2005 as a delivery specialist. He joined the inside sale team in 2006. DAVID DETORE will be relocating as warehouse manager. He had served as warehouse manager for the Auburn branch and has several years of warehouse and logistics-management experience. TIM HICKS has relocated to the Elmira branch as a territory manager. He most recently served as a territory manager in Williamsport. Hicks joined Erie Materials more than 20 years ago, serving in Elmira as a driver, warehouse specialist, inside salesperson, and territory manager. MATTHEW RUDY has been hired as warehouse manager for the Auburn branch. He has extensive experience in warehouse and operations management. MARK SYRON has been selected as the new corporate inside sales/operations representative. He began working for Erie Materials as a summer temporary warehouse worker in 2010 and joined full time in June 2015 as warehouse/inside sales before becoming fully inside sales. TAYLOR RICHER has joined the Syracuse branch’s inside sales group. He began his career at Erie as driver at the Syracuse Distribution Center in 2014 and became a window service technician in 2015. JACK ERHARD has been hired as an inside sales representative in the Syracuse branch. He worked over the past three summers for Erie Materials, where he gained experience in the warehouse and in general contracting/architectural inside sales. DAVE DELLACORINO has been hired as an inside sales representative at the Binghamton branch. He has extensive experience in the building materials industry and Southern Tier market. JESSE WAYMAN has been promoted to inside sales in Binghamton. He was hired in 2010 as a driver has been trained for inside sales. WAYNE CHAPMAN has joined Erie Materials’ General Contracting/Architectural department as a commercial estimator. He was hired into the Syracuse branch in 2004 and has worked in the warehouse, as dispatch and inside sales. MIKE YOUNG has joined the company’s Purchasing Department, based in Syracuse. He has been a residential estimator with Erie Materials since 2010.

KATHY WENGERT has been named director of patient accounting for the Mohawk Valley Health System (MVHS). She has worked at MVHS for 16 years and most recently served as the applications administrator for patient accounting. During this time she also has served on the SSI advisory board and executive committee. Before MVHS, Wengert previously worked as the billing manager for the Court Street Diagnostic and Treatment Center. She received her diploma in business management from the Utica School of Commerce.

Upstate Medical University has announced the following appointments. AMY TUCKER, M.D., has been named interim chief medical officer of Upstate University Hospital and associate dean of the College of Medicine. She will continue to serve as VP of ambulatory care and population health, a post she has held since joining Upstate in April 2017.

RICHARD WOJCIKIEWICZ, Ph.D., has been named chair of Upstate Medical University’s Department of Pharmacology. He joined Upstate as an assistant professor of pharmacology in September 1993. His research program on intracellular signaling was funded by National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 1995. Wojcikiewicz was named professor in 2006. He has served Upstate in many ways, most notably as interim chair of Pharmacology, since 2013, and currently holds two NIH RO1 grants, focused on intracellular signaling mammalian cells, with relevance to cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. The following individuals have joined the Department of Urology.

MICHAEL CASTELLO, D.O. previously served as a urologist with several Southern Tier hospitals, including Lourdes Medical Center, Binghamton; Wilson Memorial Hospital, Johnson City; and Arnot Ogden Hospital in Elmira. He earned his medical degree from West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine.

EDWARD IOFFE, M.D., previously held a robotic and minimally invasive fellowship at Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center/Jacobi Medical Center. There, he also served as urology chief resident. Ioffe received a medical degree from the University of Massachusetts and a bachelor’s degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

SERGEY KRAVCHICK, M.D., previously served as a urologist with the Hassaf Harofeh Medical Center in Tzrifin, Israel, and Barzilai Medical Center, Ashkelon, Israel, where he was deputy chief of the Department of Urology. He served as a clinical fellow in urology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston. He earned a medical degree from the Chisinau State Medical Institute.

NICK WEI-EN LIU, M.D., previously served as director of urologic oncology at St. Joseph’s Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He served as a urologic oncology fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, and as chief urology resident at the Indiana University School of Medicine. Liu earned his medical degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine and bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Cornell University.

Bousquet Holstein PLLC has established a public finance practice group with the arrival of SUSAN R. KATZOFF and JEAN S. EVERETT, as members, and paralegal LORI L. MCROBBIE. McRobbie has more than 12 years of experience working as a paralegal in all aspects of public finance including document preparation, organization and distribution, client contact, closing coordination, and transcript preparation.