MARILYN CIRRINCIONE recently joined Dermody, Burke & Brown CPAs, LLC as an associate in the audit & accounting department. She received a bachelor’s degree in accounting, as well as an MBA degree from Le Moyne College. Cirrincione joins the firm after interning in both the tax and audit & accounting departments at Dermody, Burke & Brown. She is working to complete the certification process to earn her designation as a certified public accountant (CPA).

JACK VAN PELT has also joined Dermody, Burke & Brown as an associate in the audit & accounting department. He received both a bachelor’s degree in accounting and an MBA degree from SUNY Oswego. Prior to being hired, Van Pelt interned in the audit & accounting department at Dermody, Burke & Brown. He is working to complete the certification process to earn his designation as a CPA. 

STERLING SLECHTA was promoted to senior copywriter at Pinckney Hugo Group, a full-service marketing-communications firm. He was previously a copywriter and has been with the agency for more than three years. Prior to joining Pinckney Hugo Group, Slechta worked in New York City and Syracuse, and was a freelance copywriter. He has a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University.

LeChase Construction Services, LLC recently added ERIC KING as a project engineer in its Binghamton office. In this role, King will assist project managers and superintendents by managing schedules, documentation and production, and by helping direct the efforts of project teams during the preconstruction, construction, and post-construction phases of assigned projects. Prior to joining LeChase, King worked as a sustainability consultant for a thermal energy company serving municipalities across the Northeast. He earned a master’s degree in management from Cornell University in 2019, after receiving a bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture from the school in 2018. He also has a LEED Green Associate certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

ABIDEMI M. DONOVAN has joined Hancock Estabrook, LLP as an associate attorney, working across all departments of the firm. She earned her law degree from Albany Law School, where she served as a teaching assistant for constitutional law and employment discrimination and as an executive editor for the Albany Law Review. During her tenure at Albany Law School, Donovan was a legal intern at the Litigation Bureau for the New York State Office of the Attorney General and volunteered with the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York, National Lawyers Guild, and Disability Rights Advocates. She is fluent in German. Donovan is admitted to practice law in New York state. Recently retired New York State Fourth Department Appellate Division Justice

EDWARD D. CARNI has re-entered private practice as a partner in Hancock Estabrook’s appellate and litigation practices, after more than 25 years on the bench. Judge Carni became an associate justice of the Appellate Division, Fourth Department in 2009. He previously served on the Appellate Division, Second Department and at the trial level as a Supreme Court justice and as a Syracuse City Court judge. As a judge, he presided over many complex cases including commercial, construction, insurance, municipal, products liability, professional liability, and serious personal-injury matters. He also has served as chairman of the Judicial Hearing Officer Selection Advisory Committee – Fourth Department and liaison for the Fifth Judicial District Article 81 Committee. Prior to serving as a judge, Carni was a member of the Syracuse Common Council and was a practicing attorney. He earned his bachelor’s degree from SUNY Cortland and law degree from Whittier College School of Law.

DENISE MCGRAW has returned to the American Heart Association (AHA) as a development director. She most recently served as executive director of Girls on the Run Upstate NY, Inc. Before that, McGraw worked at the AHA as a development director for the Syracuse Heart Challenge for five years. In her role as a development director at the AHA, McGraw will be working with the local volunteers and sponsors on the Syracuse Go Red for Women campaign, which focuses on empowering women and raising awareness that heart disease is women’s greatest health threat.

BRITTANY TAYLOR has joined the AHA in a newly created position. She will be the community impact director for Central New York and Northeast Pennsylvania and based in Syracuse. Before joining the AHA, Taylor was a program director at Liberty Resources, a social-services agency in Syracuse. In her new role, Taylor will drive the execution of health-impact goals within the areas she covers by focusing on the local priorities of hypertension and nutrition security, with a focus on diverse communities.

BRIANNA DURKEE has joined the AHA as government-relations director role in Albany. Prior to joining the AHA, Durkee worked at a boutique lobbying firm in Albany for three years as a legislative analyst and lobbyist specializing in energy, health care, and more. In her new role, Durkee will lead the AHA’s efforts to advocate for policies across New York state to create healthier communities. Durkee’s priorities will include expanding maternal-health coverage through Medicaid, securing funding for the Double Up Food Bucks program, and prohibiting the sale of menthol cigarettes.

KIRSTEN ELLEBY was recently named Syracuse University’s new deputy athletics director and senior woman administrator. She joins the Orange after almost six years as associate athletics director for student-athlete enrichment and senior woman administrator at the University of New Orleans. At Syracuse, Elleby will serve as chief Title IX officer, represent Syracuse Athletics with her fellow ACC Senior Woman Administrators, and have specific sport-oversight responsibilities, including women’s basketball and additional sports to be determined. At the University of New Orleans (UNO), Elleby served on the executive staff and was responsible for the management and advancement of academics, NCAA compliance, student-athlete development and community outreach. Before joining the Privateers, Elleby served in various capacities at Wake Forest and Coppin State. In nine years in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Elleby served as Wake Forest’s assistant director of compliance for two years before assuming duties as the director of compliance in July 2009. In August 2014, she was named assistant athletics director for compliance and student-athlete support. Elleby developed and coordinated the Woman2Woman Mentorship Program for women student-athletes and served as sport administrator for the Demon Deacon cheer and dance teams. Prior to her stint at Wake Forest, Elleby worked at Coppin State from August 2004 to December 2006, serving in a number of athletic administrative roles including central administration, academic support, compliance, and student-athlete welfare. Elleby completed her bachelor’s degree in economics from Spelman College in 2002 and her master’s degree in education in sports management from Old Dominion in 2004. Elleby is also a 2021 graduate of the prestigious NCAA Dr. Charles Whitcomb Leadership Institute.