SYRACUSE — CNY ATD, the local affiliate chapter of the Association for Talent Development (ATD), has announced its 2018 leadership team. It named the following 16 people: 

• President – Amy Bartolotta, The Hartford

• President Elect – Steven DeHart, Progressive Insurance

• Executive VP – Peggie Chan, OBG

• VP Membership – Cynthia Doss, SUNY Syracuse EOC

• VP CNY BEST – Beth King, O.C. Tanner

• VP Credentials – Amy Wood, Charter Communications;

• VP Programs – Brent Danega, SUNY Cortland

• VP Employee Learning Awareness – Melissa McLean, Oneida Nation Enterprises

• Emerging Chair and President Emeritus – Mark Britz, The eLearning Guild

• Scholarship Chair – Laura Carroll

• Virtual Opportunities Task Force – Kati Wheeler, The Bonadio Group

• Programs Vice Chair – Christy Rohmer, NYSERNet

• President Emeritus – Steven Maloney, Marquardt Switches, Inc.

• President Emeritus – Ingrid Gonzalez-McCurdy, Elmcrest Children’s Center;

• President Emeritus – Ken Steiger, Steiger Training and Development;

• Managing Director – Brenda Grady, ACME Planning

For more than 45 years, CNY ATD says it has been connecting talent-development professionals throughout the region and contributing to the growth and recognition of the profession. Currently, CNY ATD has more than 140 members from various businesses covering 16-plus counties from the Canadian border to the Pennsylvanian border in Central New York.

New York dairy farms produced 1.19 billion pounds of milk in November, down 0.3 percent from the year-ago period, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) recently reported.

Milk production per cow in the state averaged 1,905 pounds in November, down 1 percent from 1,925 pounds a year prior.

The number of milk cows on farms in New York state totaled 625,000 head in November, up 0.8 percent from 620,000 head from November 2016, NASS reported.

The average milk price received by New York dairy farmers in October was $18.20 per hundredweight, down 20 cents from September but up 80 cents from October 2016.

In neighboring Pennsylvania, dairy farms produced 879 million pounds of milk in November, up 2.1 percent from a year earlier. The average milk price received by Pennsylvania farmers in October was $18.60 per hundredweight, down 40 cents from September, but up $1 from October 2016.

SYRACUSE — At its annual meeting in December, the Gifford Foundation elected a new slate of officers for 2018. Jaime Alicea is president, Michael Feng is VP, Joseph L. Charles is treasurer, and Merike Treier is secretary.

Alicea, who serves as the superintendent of the Syracuse City School District, takes over for previous Gifford Foundation board president Ben Walsh, who is now the new Syracuse mayor. 

“I am honored and excited to assume the leadership of the Gifford Foundation Board,” Alicea said in a news release. “I look forward to partnering with my fellow board members, staff, and most importantly the community as we continue to advance our collective efforts to foster growth and opportunity in Central New York.”

The Gifford Foundation is a private foundation supporting community needs in Central New York since 1954. 

UTICA — The board of directors of the Mohawk Valley Health System (MVHS) has formed a search committee to find the nonprofit health system’s next president and CEO who will replace its current leader in 18 months.

Scott Perra, president and CEO of MVHS, plans to retire on June 30, 2019, the health-care organization announced Jan. 8.

Perra was appointed president of Faxton St. Luke’s Healthcare (FSLH) in January 2009. When FSLH and St. Elizabeth Medical Center (SEMC) affiliated in March 2014, Perra was named president and CEO of the newly formed MVHS.

Perra joined what was then the St. Luke’s-Memorial Hospital Center (SLMHC) in 1985, becoming the executive VP/chief operating officer in 1989. He remained in the position through the Faxton Hospital and SLMHC consolidation that began in November 1998 and formed FSLH. 

He was named president/CEO of FSLH in January 2009 with the retirement of former CEO Keith Fenstemacher. 

“We are grateful to have Scott’s vision, leadership and commitment, always working to move our health system to a new level of excellence,” Joan Compson, chair of the MVHS board of directors, said in the release. “The opportunity to build a new regional health-care system for our community was Scott’s vision as well as the board’s, and we are grateful for all he is doing to help make that vision into a reality. We believe finding a new CEO for the system will take some time and we appreciate that we can continue to work with Scott in the [18] months ahead.” 

Downtown hospital project

Perra’s retirement announcement comes as MVHS is planning to build a new regional health-care campus in downtown Utica. It expects to start construction in 2019 and open the hospital in 2022. Perra has played an instrumental role in developing the plan and helping to make it happen.

MVHS on Nov. 16 revealed the site plan and outline of its new regional hospital. The organization is planning for a 373-bed, 672,000-square-foot facility, and a 1,550-car parking structure on 25 acres in downtown Utica.

MVHS this year will begin the permitting process with the State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) to “identify and mitigate” project impacts. The health-care system’s design team will continue to develop the site plan along with the “character” of the campus landscape. At the same time, the MVHS design team will develop the “interior and exterior character of the project,” the nonprofit said in a news release.

The organization plans a groundbreaking for the health campus sometime next year.

MVHS serves a multi-county area in the Mohawk Valley and Central New York. The system includes 571 acute-care beds, 202 long-term care beds, and more than 40 locations throughout Oneida, Herkimer, and Madison counties. 

MVHS describes itself as an “integrated delivery system” with about $566 million in revenue, more than 4,250 full-time equivalent employees, and nearly 23,500 inpatient admissions and 650,000 outpatient visits annually.