2010 Honorees
Leslie Adler
Leslie Adler joined Marcum LLP as General Counsel in February of 2008. As a member of the Firm’s Management Committee, she advises the Firm’s operations related to strategic planning, practice development and client service. She is also an integral part of Marcum’s acquisition team which grew the firm from a regional operation to one of the largest independent public accounting and advisory services firms in the nation.
Throughout her career, Ms. Adler has been a mentor and coach, formerly and informally, to younger professional women. She prides herself with having a high-level of influence and has effectively helped other female attorneys lead successful, professional lives while balancing their family lives. Ms. Adler actively participates in the Firm’s Women’s Leadership Development Program, a cutting-edge initiative that helps promote and nourish the careers of the Firm’s female managers and partners.
Prior to joining Marcum, Leslie served as Counsel to Sterling National Bank and Sterling Resource Funding Group’s predecessor companies since 1995. She joined Sterling from Garfunkel, Wild and Travis, a prominent Long Island law firm, where she focused on real estate and corporate transactions as well as heath care regulatory matters. Earlier in her career, Ms. Adler spent three years as an associate at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher and Flom.
In 2009, Leslie was the recipient of the Long Island Press Fortune 52 and will be an honoree at the 2010 Long Island Center for Business & Professional Women Achievers Awards as well as Long Island Business News™ Top 50 Most Influential Women in Business Awards.
Ms. Adler is actively involved in several community and charitable organizations. She is a member of the Jericho Jayhawks Booster Association and participates is several large-scale fundraising events for charity including, the Marcum Corporate Challenge, Oyster Bay Triathlon and the Mansion Ride for Autism. Most notably, Ms. Adler spearheaded a bike team that rode 50 miles in honor of Ricky’s Challenge and raised $15,000 for the MS Society and the American Cancer Society.
Ms. Adler’s creative side has opened the door for other professional women to connect and network with one another. She is a founding member of the VuvClub, a group of professional friends who met during the early stages of parenthood. She created and authors thevuvclub.com, a blog where Ms. Adler shares her witty thoughts on the many roles women play and the perspectives she believes they share in their everyday lives. She began the blog in 2007 and today it is read by more than 2,500 women each week.
Ms. Adler also combines her legal skills and friendship experiences as presiding judge of Mitazvahmarket.com and Momlogic.com’s “The Friendship Court,” a column that responds to readers “gal-pal disputes.” Her work has also been featured on More.com, DivineCaroline.com, TheLongIslandPress.com, The Orlando Sun Sentinel and BettyConfidential.com. She has appeared on The Today Show and she and her VuvClub were also the subject of recent pieces in TheHuffingtonPost.com and the Syosset-Jericho Tribune.
Ms. Adler holds a J.D. cum laude and a B.A. summa cum laude from the State University of New York at Binghamton, where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She is admitted to the New York State Bar. Leslie currently attends Stand-up Comedy College and anticipates graduating in March 2010.
Donna Anselmo
A marketing communications expert with more than 30 years of field experience and a book in the works at McGraw-Hill, Donna Anselmo founded Bold Marketing Solutions, Inc., in June 2008, and divides her time between client service on Long Island and in Melbourne, FL. She differentiates her firm by providing professional development training in addition to the full spectrum of integrated marketing.
In September 2008, Donna launched a weekly educational radio show on AM1300 WMEL, which airs live on Florida’s east coast and streams live over the Internet at www.1300wmel.com on Saturday mornings at 9:07. Her show, BOLDTALK Business Radio, offers personal and professional development programming for business owners, professionals, job seekers and individuals. Each week, Donna interviews guests, ranging from international business experts and consultants to small business owners. She focuses on providing listeners with insight, strategies, tips and tools for business success.
Formerly an award-winning journalist with the Times-Beacon-Record newspapers in Setauket, NY, Donna’s work also has been published in The New York Times, and The American Journal of Maternal Child Nursing, among other media. She earned a Master of Science degree in Healthcare Policy & Management in 1998. In 1994, she had been recruited to the public affairs team of the Stony Brook University Health Sciences Center and Hospital, where she started as assistant director of news services and was quickly promoted to director of publications.
In 1999, she was recruited by the $4.1 billion Olsten Staffing Services enterprise, where she directed internal communications and publications for more than 3,500 full-time employees and select external audiences. Donna later facilitated communications as part of the merger transition team, with Adecco SA, which resulted in the world’s largest staffing service agency.
In 2000, Donna was named Marketing Vice President of Elite Technical Services, Inc., a $20-million technical consulting firm and provider of information technology and engineering contractors. In that role, she organized a successful strategic re-branding initiative and communication strategies that brought the field and corporate teams into significantly closer alignment; organizational training and sales force development; crisis communication; leadership coaching; as well as investor communications during a capital raise up for a new venture. Upon leaving the firm’s direct employ, she was appointed to its Board of Directors. That same year, she founded Comvergence, a small integrated marketing firm, based in St. James, NY, and later co-founded a small venture specializing in proposal management.
Donna has a long history of community service. In 1989, Donna served as a PTA president, and later as PTA Council vice president and member of the Suffolk PTA Board of Managers; Donna helped draft and support passage of child safety legislation in New York State. From 1995-1999, under the auspices of the University Hospital in a voluntary capacity, she led and managed the not-for-profit Suffolk County SAFE KIDS Coalition, which educated health professionals, first responders and the community about injury prevention, particularly prevention of traumatic brain injury. Over the years she had served as executive vice president of the Long Island Center for Business & Professional Women. She also has served as a board member of the Smithtown Industry Advisory Board, the University Association (Stony Brook), Stony Brook University Hospital Auxiliary, and also contributed a year of service as Education Coordinator for the FOCUS Chapter of BNI. Donna is currently a board member of the American Red Cross Space Coast Chapter. She earned the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (Long Island Chapter) Leadership Award in 2000 and was honored by the Melbourne-Palm Bay Chamber of Commerce as a Woman of Excellence in 2009.
Donna has been tapped as an expert source for commentary in news and feature articles. She has been quoted in articles on the economy, leadership and change management, as well as sales, employment and public health issues. She has served as a guest speaker on best practices in leadership, marketing and sales communications, proposal development and transformational strategies for organizations, including the Long Island Software Technology Network (LISTnet) Emerging Technologies Group and the LISTnet Women in Technology Group, International Association of Business Communicators, Small Business Development Center, Farmingdale University Entrepreneurship Conference, Hauppauge Industrial Association, Citigroup, and the Conscious Living Partnership, Melbourne Main Street, and Women’s Business Center at Florida Institute of Technology, among others.
ARLENE K. HAIMS
Arlene K. Haims is a Certified Life Underwriter, a Chartered Financial Consultant as well as a Fellow of the Life Underwriters Training Council.
An insurance professional for the past 27 years, she serves as the Chief Operating Officer for Haims Insurance Group, a full service insurance and financial consulting firm. Her business provides the planning and products that insure for the financial risks that business owners, professionals and families would face without these proper foundations. She provides employee benefits for many Long Island companies as we those beyond the tri-state area.
In her interest and passion to help other women to succeed in their various quests, Ms. Haims has recently held board positions for the Long Island Women’s Agenda (LIWA), Women Economic Developers of Long Island (WEDLI), as well as for the Long Island Center and has also served as a Trustee for the Long Island Alzheimer’s Foundation. In addition, she currently counsels women who are pre or post divorce to help them through their difficult transitions.
In her service to the Long IslandCenter, she coordinated a very successful program to help women who were returning to work , which operated for two years and was the recipient of a generous grant from the Long Island Fund For Women and Girls.
She currently sits on the membership committee for the Women’s Executive Network (WEN) at the Nassau County Museum of Art and serves on the American Heart Association’s charitable planning committee and the Go Red For Women luncheon committee.
Ms. Haims has been highlighted on Channel 12’s Money Line in a segment that featured her work with families who have special needs children. Her unique financial planning tools have helped families to weather the financial pitfalls and worrisome task of continued financial care for their special needs children, while still maintaining a balance of financial security for the future of their family unit.
In addition she has been published in the NYSBA Elder Law Attorney in order to highlight the benefits of Long Term Care Insurance products for Elder Law and Estate Planners.
A frequent speaker for the National Association of Mothers’ Centers and for the Cornell Cooperative Extension, she offers seminars to help women with financial planning matters as well as for various professionals to keep them up to date with new products and applications as they appear on the market. Her seminars often include dealing with the “sandwich generation” where helpful information and various resources for products and services are presented. She has been called upon to speak about networking to various groups: most recently the Rotary Club of Garden City.
Her biggest and proudest moments surround the accomplishments, of her daughter, Erica and her son, Dov. Both of whom she values for their constant support and encouragement helping her to reach her professional and personal goals.
Andrea Majer
Andrea Majer, Executive Vice President of Delux Transportation Services, Inc. of Port Washington, NY, has a career spanning 37 years in the Limousine and Taxi Industry. She started as a part-time driver while going to college and worked her way up to owner and Chief Operating Officer of one of Long Island’s largest, most exclusive transportation companies.
Within Delux Transportation, Andrea has played a key role, positioning the company at the forefront of Long Island ground transportation. She brought Delux into the computer age and assured that the Company maintain state-of-the-art technology in all areas. Delux Transportation was the first company on Long Island to offer Black Car service and currently sustains one of the largest fleet of luxury automobiles. She also created the Company’s highly successful Affiliate Program. She has been responsible for the Company’s solid reputation for unparalleled customer service, comfortable, well-maintained vehicles and providing an excellent traveling experience to its loyal and ever-growing customer base. Her introduction of the use of spacious Peugeot Cabs and a fleet of Natural Gas Clean Fuel taxis demonstrated Delux Transportation’s commitment to protecting the environment.
Ms. Majer is a proud member of the Long Island community and has given back in many ways. For example, she currently sits on the Board of Project Independence, an initiative program of the Town of North Hempstead that affords many savings to its seniors. It provides a standard reduced fare, free transportation for weekly grocery shopping, and an upcoming, non-emergency medical transport, for a nominal fee, that will soon be put in place. Recently, she appeared on the local television show Project Independence and You to inform seniors of this important service and promote its advantage.
On behalf of all the employees at Delux Transportation Services Inc., Andrea is honored to accept the prestigious 2008 Lancer Insurance Company’s Safety Excellence Award.
Kathleen Rice
Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice brings experience, passion and dedication to the role of chief law enforcement official for one of the nation’s largest and safest counties. Now in her second term in office, Rice has enacted numerous law enforcement initiatives and programs to serve Nassau County’s diverse population of 1.3 million residents.
In keeping the central promise she made during her historic 2005 run for office, Rice wasted no time in tackling the epidemic of drunk-driving on Long Island. She aggressively pursued and obtained murder and manslaughter convictions for drunk drivers who caused deadly car crashes. She was instrumental in the passage of two new pieces of legislation, the creation of a new criminal statute that toughens penalties for drunk drivers who kill, and Leandra’s Law which makes drunk driving with a child in the vehicle under the age of 16 a mandatory felony.
Months after taking office, Rice overhauled the office’s DWI plea bargaining guidelines and created a comprehensive and unprecedented drunk-driving education program for Nassau’s high schools. Later that year, Rice and the courts agreed to open a DWI court, allowing specially trained prosecutors and judges to efficiently manage thousands of drunk-driving cases on a case-by-case basis each year.
In addition to her nationally recognized fight against drunk driving, Rice has worked hard to modernize the office and to reallocate resources to fight modern crime in Nassau County.
Rice’s innovative crime-fighting approach to the open-air drug market that dominated the Terrace-Bedell neighborhood of the Village of Hempstead has resulted in a dramatic reduction in crime and violence, and helped numerous men and women leave a life of crime behind.
Rice has also been at the forefront of the fight against the rising presence of heroin on Long Island. Her office has joined with police in aggressively pursuing those who supply the drug and the dealers who push the poison. Her heroin awareness program for parents, schoolchildren and teenagers, “Not My Child,” has been presented in dozens of schools across the county and has received rave reviews from parents, school administrators, teens, and the former addicts who tell their cautionary tales.
Rice has also beefed up the resources used in the investigation of sexual predators preying on children using the Internet and boasts a 100% conviction rate for these predators. In addition to refusing to plea bargain on child sexual predator cases, Rice has vigorously lobbied the state legislature to close the loopholes in the law and to toughen the penalties for criminals who prey on our children.
During her first term in office, Rice reallocated a significant amount of resources to the investigation and prosecution of public corruption. Her administration has moved to aggressively root out corruption in our schools and local governments and continues to punish criminals who steal from Nassau County’s honest taxpayers.
Rice has revamped bureaus dedicated to the protection of children and the elderly and to the prosecution of domestic violence. Rice has added specialized resources to the investigation of identity theft rings and consumer frauds and she has formed a specialized unit dedicated to the investigation of Medicaid fraud, the first of its kind in Nassau County.
Prior to becoming the first woman in Long Island’s history to be elected district attorney, Rice served as an Assistant United States Attorney under Attorney General Janet Reno in the United States Department of Justice’s Philadelphia office. During her more than five years as a federal prosecutor, Rice prosecuted cases of corporate fraud, deadbeat parents and public corruption, as well as federal drug and gun cases.
Rice began her career as a prosecutor in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, where she prosecuted cases of domestic violence, sexual assault and armed robbery, before being promoted to the office’s elite Homicide Bureau, where Rice successfully prosecuted dozens of murder cases.
Rice has received numerous awards and recognition for her service as a state and federal prosecutor. Rice has been the recipient of the United States Inspector General’s Integrity Award and the United States Attorney General’s Director’s Award for Superior Performance as an Assistant U.S. Attorney. As District Attorney, Rice has been honored by Touro University, the North Shore Animal League, the National Organization of Women, and 100 Black Men of Long Island, as well as many others.
Rice is the Third Vice President of the District Attorney Association of the State of New York, a member of the New York State and Nassau County Bar Associations, the National District Attorneys Association and the Board of Governors at Touro Law School, and a board member of New York Prosecutors Training Institute, Inc.
Kathleen Rice is a graduate of Garden City High School, Catholic University of America and Touro Law School. She is a resident of Locust Valley, New York.