Pinckney Hugo Group has hired KAELYN DESSENAas a junior art director. She has a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University in communication and rhetorical studies with a concentration in graphic design from the College of Visual and Performing Arts and a minor in communications photography from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

NBT Bank has promoted market manager JEFFREY ARMSTRONG to VP. He is responsible for managing sales and performance of NBT’s six branches in the Cortland area. Armstrong has 30 years experience in the financial-services industry. He joined NBT Bank in 2013 following the bank’s acquisition of Alliance Bank, where he held positions as market manager, branch manager, and commercial-loan officer. Prior to that, he worked in retail banking at the First National Bank of Cortland. Armstrong earned his associate degree from Tompkins County Community College. 

HANNAH MURPHY has joined the Syracuse branch of AXA Advisors, LLC. She holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Potsdam College. Additionally, she has earned her Series 6, 63, and NYS life and health licenses.

SERGIO A. GARCIA has been appointed administrative chief of staff for the St. Lawrence Health System. He served most recently as chief of staff and VP for diversity, equality, and inclusion for the office of the president of Northeast Ohio Medical University. Prior to this, Garcia had a career in government and the nonprofit sector. He was chief of staff and senior policy advisor in the U.S. Department of State and as an intelligence officer with the Department of Defense. Garcia holds a degree in public international law from the Universidad de las Americas, Puebla, Mexico and a certificate in executive-management leadership from Case Western Reserve University. He is also pursuing a master’s degree in positive organization development and change from Case Western. 

JOHN R. BEATTY has joined Melvin & Melvin, PLLC as associate. He specializes in trusts and estates. During law school at Syracuse University, he clerked with Melvin & Melvin for two years. Beatty also interned with a law firm in Maryland and spent a summer as a clerk for a barrister in London, England. Prior to attending law school, he earned a master’s degree in library and information science at Syracuse University, and worked for a number of years in the library at St. Thomas University School of Law.

RACHEL HENDERSON-KELLY has been appointed director of sales and marketing at Henderson Wholesale Lamps. She joins her family, including father David Henderson, who founded the business in 2007. She brings 10 years of marketing and brand management experience. Henderson-Kelly received her bachelor’s degree in communication/journalism from St. John Fisher College near Rochester, and recently completed her MBA at Le Moyne College in Syracuse.

SA-ID SHAKIR has joined Titan Security as a technician. He earned a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology from SUNY Cortland. For the past three years, Shakir has been a coach and instructor at Crossfit Core Fitness. He joined Titan as a part-time technician in 2015, earning a full-time position shortly after starting.

Quadsimia LLC recently hired JAMIE MCNEIL as a web developer. Her previous experience includes a web-design internship at the Graphic Hive and a federal work-study position at SUNY Polytechnic Institute as a web designer and photographer. McNeil is currently pursuing her bachelor’s degree in communication and information design at SUNY Polytechnic Institute and will graduate this spring.