Polytechnic Institute Alumni Association

Polytechnic Institute Alumni Association Officer and Director Nominees

Candidates for the Office of President (terms July 2013 - July 2015)

Candidates for the Office of President

Gerald Dawes ‘84EE ‘89EE


Mr. Gerald Dawes assumed the position of Director, Government Liaison, for the Construction Management department at Con Edison. In this position, Mr. Dawes is responsible for managing all aspects of Con Edison’s relationship with the New York City and New York State Department of Transportation – NYCDOT and NYSDOT.

Prior to this assignment, Mr. Dawes held the position of Con Edison Executive on-loan to the American Gas Association (AGA), where he worked with the Operations and Engineering staff of the AGA on a wide range of federal and regional natural gas related initiatives. Previously, Mr. Dawes was the General Manager of the Queens Gas Operations department for Con Edison. In this capacity, he was responsible for directing the operation and maintenance of the company’s gas distribution system in the borough of Queens. He also previously held various positions of increasing responsibility in several departments within Con Edison including: Corporate Environment, Health and Safety (EH&S); Distribution Engineering; Customer Service; Energy Management; Electric Operations, and Electric Planning. He has also served as an Assistant to the Chairman of Con Edison.

Throughout his professional career, Mr. Dawes has been recognized by various organizations for his outstanding company and community work. For example, he has been the recipient of Con Edison’s highest honor – the “Living Our Values” (LOV) award; and he has also received the Con Edison/YMCA “Black Achiever of the Year” award. He is an active member of the New York chapter of the American Association of Blacks in Energy (AABE – NYMAC) where he previously served as President and currently serves as an advisor to the Executive Board.  He currently serves on the National Board of Directors for AABE (where he chairs the National Scholarship Committee) and is a Trustee with Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU-Poly).
Mr. Dawes holds a Bachelors and a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from Polytechnic University in Brooklyn, New York. He has attended advanced professional programs offered by organizations such as the Gas Technology Institute (GTI), General Electric (GE), Power Technologies Incorporated (PTI), and the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. He also participates as a volunteer with the National Urban League’s Black Executive Exchange Program (BEEP) and, he performs community service work with an organization called New York City FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) – an organization that encourages high school students to pursue math, engineering and science careers.

Philip Furgang ‘60EE

Philip Furgang received his Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in 1960. He was engaged as an electrical engineer by RCA Global Communications when in 1963 he transferred to RCA Laboratories as a patent trainee. In 1965, he graduated New York University School of Law with a Juris Doctor (JD). Professionally, Philip Furgang is practicing intellectual property lawyer with an office in New York City specializing in patent, trademark, copyright, and unfair competition. Mr. Furgang lectures on patent, trademark, copyright, and unfair competition, intellectual property litigation tactics, and legal ethics before such professional organizations as the New York Intellectual Property Law Association, the International Trademark Association, the American Bar Association-American Law Institute, Intellectual Property Owners Association; New York State bar Association, Section on Intellectual Property Law.





Candidates for the Office of Executive Vice President

David Bomzer ‘06ME

David Bomzer is Assistant Intellectual Property Counsel with Pratt & Whitney, a United Technologies company.  There, David’s primary function is coordinating and executing strategies for protecting Pratt & Whitney’s intellectual property surrounding the Pure Power™ commercial turbofan engine.  Prior to joining the team at Pratt & Whitney, David was Counsel for Day Pitney, in the New York Office, where David counseled a variety of clients on issues relating to procuring and protecting intellectual property and coordinating the transfer of technology assets.

David also has experience as a shock analysis engineer for the Electric Boat Corporation, which designs and builds Nuclear Submarines for the Navy, a process design engineer for Pall Corporation, and a structural design engineer for the commercial car carrier division of the Ryder Truck company.  David has taught graduate and undergraduate mechanical and aerospace engineering courses at Polytech’s Brooklyn Campus, and at the New York Institute of Technology, at the Long Island Campus.  David holds a JD from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, an MS and ME from Polytech, and a BSAE from SUNY Buffalo.

Leonard Singh ‘98EE

Leonard P. Singh joined Consolidated Edison Company of NY Inc. in 1991 as a management intern. Leonard is currently chief engineer of Gas Operations.  Mr. Singh’s previous positions include general manager Manhattan Gas Operations, general manager Bronx Gas Operations, section manager Manhattan Electric Construction, section manager, Astoria Operations in Central Field Services; section manager, Queens Gas Construction; and operating supervisor, engineer, chief construction inspector in Steam Operations.
 Mr. Singh holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from MIT and an MS in Electrical Engineering from Polytechnic University, and completed the Siemens Power Technologies International Distribution Engineering course in 2007, the Gas Technology Institute - Registered Gas Distribution Professional Certification Program in 2008, Negotiation and Leadership (Harvard Law School) and AGA Executive Leadership Development Program - How Washington Works: Learning How to Understand and Shape the Federal Policymaking Process (Georgetown University Law Center) in 2012.  He is currently the Vice President of the Polytechnic Institute Alumni Association(PIAA).  He is a member of the American Gas Association and is currently the chairman of the Distribution, Construction and Maintenance committee.  He is a member of the Board of Directors for The Salvadori Center and the McBurney YMCA. He sits on the Building and Property Committee of the YMCA of Greater NY.

Candidates for the Office of Vice President



David Campaña ‘96MA

David Campaña is a seasoned 18 year professional specializing in Technology Strategy, Application Development and Architecture. In his new role as Vice President in the Prudential Retirement organization, he reports to the CIO and his responsibilities include providing leadership and direction in support of the strategic intent and productivity goals of Total Retirement Solutions.

Previously, as an Enterprise Architect and Technical Standards Global Program Manager, he was responsible for identifying and recommending technical standards globally for the firm, managing over 1000 technologies and 3000+ applications. Prior to, as the Chief Technical Officer at New York City Department of Finance, he was responsible for the systems and technology which collects over $20 billion in revenue, or 1/3 of the New York City's fiscal budget. His responsibilities included developing and implementing enterprise architecture, policies, standards and technology.

Campana’s previous positions also include being a Chief Technical Architect in the insurance vertical, where he was responsible for the technology and systems that manage global assets valued over $360 billion. As an Applications / Acquisitions Manager at a research marketing company, he lead the technology merger and acquisition activity for the organization which included the acquisition a content research firm for $85 million in 1999.

Campaña has designed and implemented global solutions for pharmaceutical, research, banking and insurance organizations. Campaña's more recent expertise comes from specific portal and content management implementations for Fortune 500 companies and government. Campaña's currently holds an MBA degree from Columbia University School of Business with a concentration on Strategic Management and a BS Degree from Polytechnic University (now Polytechnic Institute of NYU) in Mathematics.

Neil Weiser ‘73EE

Neil Weiser is a former software engineer and project manager who now focuses on investments. In his thirty-plus year technology career, Neil has worked at Silicon Valley tech companies (Hewlett Packard, Sun Microsystems, ROLM Telecommunications, Excite@Home), and in the papermaking/packaging industry (Continental Can, Weyerhaeuser).

Starting out in the early days of minicomputer-based distributed processing, Neil developed and supported custom business software that automated previously manual processes at paper mills and converting plants making industrial packaging products throughout the US. In the 1980’s, Neil managed a development team designing early-generation “addressable” systems and software to remotely control set-top cable-TV boxes. Every major cable and satellite provider uses current generations of that same technology.

Neil also managed the buildout of the @Home broadband network (now part of Comcast) in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest states, which at the time was the pioneer in developing always-on, high-speed Internet connectivity to cable TV subscribers. Tens of millions of Internet users today can trace their broadband service back to that “dot-com era” infrastructure buildout that Neil and his colleagues spearheaded.

Since joining the PIAA International Board of Directors in 2007, Neil has chaired the Audit Committee, and now chairs the Bylaws Committee. He has also participated in the team that evaluated affinity credit card providers and negotiated to bring the UMB Visa card program to alumni. He also is the sole PIAA director residing on the West Coast (near San Francisco and Silicon Valley), where he has been involved in the Northern California alumni chapter for over 20 years, and brings an alternate geographical perspective to the issues that come before the PIAA leadership. He also brings a slightly warped sense of humor to the otherwise-serious deliberations of the PIAA.
 


Candidates for the Office of Treasurer



Christopher Clinton ‘09ME

Christopher Clinton graduated from NYU-Poly in 2009 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. While attending Poly he worked for various departments including Student Development and Athletics. In addition, he was a peer counselor and an Orientation Leader. As a member of the Programming Advisory Board, he served under several committees and acted as Chair of the Clubs and Organizations committee. As a member of Student Council he served as Vice President of Student Organizations, during which he coordinated the Student Activities Awards Banquet. As President of Student Council Christopher helped bring the Certified Student Leader program to Poly. Now that he has graduated he is currently working for The Staplex Company.  He intends to get his Master's Degree in Aerospace Engineering.



Max Han ’98EE

Raised in Queens, Max Han started his career with a NYU Poly internship at Chase (now JPMorganChase).  He now serves as Program/Project Manager at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC).  Prior to SAIC, Max was a software architect for Deloitte, IBM, Cognizant, IMS Health, MetLife and Prudential.  With over 20 years of IT/software experience, his primary focus has been on creating and delivering technological innovations and solutions using proven methodologies and industry standards.  Mr. Han is currently pursuing a MS in Finance at Johns Hopkins University.  He earned an MBA from University of Maryland, a BSEE from NYU Poly and graduated from Bronx High School of Science.


Candidates for the Office of Secretary

Debra Freedman ‘8MG

Debra Freedman, Speech and Language Therapist/Consultant works with mentally challenged students at a middle school, as well as teaching Speech Communication skills to students at Brooklyn College, Kingsborough Community College and St. Joseph’s College.  Graduate of Brooklyn College, undergraduate and graduate program, Speech Pathology; graduate of Polytechnic University, graduate program, Technology Management.  Certificates;   Software Evaluation,  Columbia University and  English as a Second Language.

Ms. Freedman has spoken at many TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages conferences overseas, Puerto Rico and the United States;  developed a videotape and workbook, "Let’s Talk, Let’s Look It Up”.  She has also spoken at Computer Conferences in Israel and the United States. Ms.  Freedman has written articles for Educational Computer Magazines ; (using computers for mentally challenged and speech handicapped individuals), TESOL and Speech Journals;   (articles pertaining to the use of video in the speech classroom.)  Ms. Freedman uses video in her speech communication classes for self-evaluation and the development of self confidence necessary for public speaking.  Collaborated and communicated (pen pals students from universities) with educators in Russia and Israel.

Author of Communication text book  “Let’s Communicate, Communication Skills for the 21st Century” which is available from Kendall-Hunt Publishers. Author of children’s book, The City Dog Meets the Country Dog, available from Amazon.

Ms. Freedman was an advisor to a doctoral student at Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, India who is using video to promote listening and speaking skills in English. 



Eric Levenstein ’06CE, ’08TC ‘10MBA

Eric Levenstein is a Computer Engineer for the Department of Defense and performs both technical and business activities. He actively uses the knowledge and skills he learned at Poly as both a student and member of multiple clubs and committees. He continues to be involved in Poly events.

 

Candidates for the Offices of the International Board of Directors (terms ending July 2016)



Joel Fernandez ‘11CyS

A proud native of Brooklyn New York, I now call Washington DC my home. In 2012, I will celebrate 10 wonderful years of marriage, and have two amazing children. I am a graduate of the MS in Cyber Security program at NYU Poly (2011). The majority of my career was spend as a Civil Servant for the City of New York leading IT Projects for the Human Resources Administration. In 2011, I was selected as one of four graduate students in the United States to participate in the Emerging Leaders in Cyber Security Fellowship at the Department of Homeland Security. The focus of this two year fellowship is Digital Forensics and Malware Analysis.

Jose Garcia ‘09CompE ‘09OB

Jose Garcia was one of the masses of peopled who believed the myth that graduating from college would lead to a life of abundant opportunity. In the middle of the pursuit, he discovered the story is not that simple. Jose vows to find a way to restore the lost promise. On the journey, Jose is collecting friends, founded a profession called Human Resource Engineering (HR Engineer), investigated professional associations like Toastmasters and discovered many role models. Jose seeks to push beyond his limits to achieve his professional goal of becoming a Super Executive, a corporate decision maker who holds positions in 2 or more distinct divisions or companies with love overlap; and achieve the impact of a Mega-Leader, a decision maker who decisions affect industries.
Jose hopes are to combine these powers to disrupt the world of higher education so that future college students do no have to suffer the effects of not learning the fine print of college education. Will Jose achieve the resourcefulness and dexterity of Sir Richard Branson and the innovative spirit and impact of Jack Welsh, but in Higher Education? Jose’s response is “Only God knows, but if my fellow friends join me in my quest, I am much more likely to succeed!” It’s amazing what a group of people united by a cause can accomplish.

Brian Gill ‘11CE

Brian Gill received a bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Maine in 1986, a Master of Science in Construction Management from Polytechnic University in 2011. He holds Professional Engineering Licenses in 4 states including California (with seismic principals) and is a licensed Land Surveyor.
Mr. Gill joined the NYC Department of Transportation in 2006 as the Engineer-in-Charge overseeing and adminerstering the reconstruction of the Manhattan Bridge.The current project of re-wrapping the main cables and replacement of all suspenders will complete in fall 2013. Prior to joining the NYCDOT, he had worked as consultant for 20 years on design, construction and condition inspection of major bridge, highway and building projects which included numerous long span bridges.
He is President of the Municipal Engineers of the City of New York, on the board of 3 non-profit societies and has been a mentor for the Brooklyn Technical High School senior design projects since 2005.



Charles Hinkaty '70 '72MA

Charles J. Hinkaty has retired as President and CEO of Del Laboratories Inc. (DLI), a manufacturer of a variety of cosmetics, beauty products and pharmaceuticals. DLI Holding Corp. (an affiliate of Kelso & Company) acquired the firm in January 2005. Mr. Hinkaty presently serves as a board director for Sterling InfoSystems, Inc., W.F. Young, Inc., Lornamead, Ltd., Prestige Brands Holdings and Physicians Formula Holdings, Inc. Prior to Del Labs, Mr. Hinkaty was Vice President at Citibank and Director of Marketing for Bristol Myers. He began his career at Procter and Gamble. He has also served as Polytechnic Alumni Association President, as well as Chairman of the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, the trade association representing the OTC pharmaceutical industry. He received both his B.S. and M.S. in math from Polytechnic University in 1970 and 1972 respectively. 

Alan Hyman ’95EE ‘12MS MOT

Alan Hyman is an accomplished entrepreneur and innovative businessman with over 20 years experience in Management Information System and Information Technology (MS/MOT). He started his college academics at Pratt Institute’s Electrical Engineering program via a full scholarship. The program at Pratt Institute closed and he was transferred to Polytechnic Institute as an undergraduate in Electrical Engineering (Minor in Computer Science). While attending university, he fully supported himself by working as a consultant at International Business Machines (IBM) on what would be their first Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Skills Database System. 
After graduation Alan was hired into Chase Manhattan’s first developer technology training program where he managed and developed strategic internal applications and IT Architecture. He later moved into Chase Manhattan’s first Internet applications development group.
Upon leaving Chase Manhattan Alan was hired as Director of Technology at Software Technology Group (STG), where he created and led teams that developed data warehouses for the financial services industry. More than a decade ago he left STF to found TekPerts Technologies, Inc. a company that provides information technology and business consulting services to small and medium size companies and startups in various industries such as healthcare, finance, construction, nonprofit and publishing.



Frank Namad ’68ME

As a young immigrant to the US and part of the strong diversity tradition of NYU-Poly I am grateful for the solid education I was able to get at NYU-Poly’s evening school.  I have been active in Alumni Affairs since graduation and have been passionately involved in many of the significant changes Poly went through in the past 45 years. My career combined engineering and finance. I did economic research at the United Nations, worked at a major engineering design/construction firm, was an investment banker on Wall Street, ran an investment casting foundry manufacturing aircraft parts, owned a cabinet manufacturing company, and currently own Fontana International Corp. which represents technology companies in the tri-state area. 

I am very excited by the positive atmosphere that has surrounded the merger with NYU and would like to contribute to the celebration of its unique diversity and promote its technological recognition in these challenging times.

Edward Sawchuk ‘76CE

Edward Sawchuk received two degrees at Polytechnic – his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering ’76 and a Master of Science in Civil Engineering ’78. He became a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of New York in 1983, and went on to earn a law degree from Brooklyn Law School (JD ’85).

Position Statement: If elected I will serve a 3-year term as a Member of the International Board of Directors of Polytechnic Institute Alumni Association. Polytechnic was as special place for me and for so many of my classmates, many of whom, like me, were the first in their families to graduate college.  We need to continue this rich tradition of offering quality education to those who are the first in their families to attend college or otherwise would not have had the opportunity to attend college – but for the institution we know as “Brooklyn Poly”.

The Alumni Association must serve as a voice for the students to assure quality in Polytechnic’s academics and to assure that all deserving Polytechnic students have access to financial assistance and the language arts including support in remedial English, as the case may be.  The Alumni Association should also be the entity at the Polytechnic which questions, as advocates for the students, the policies of the administration including the setting of tuition rates and tuition increases.

An active Alumni Association is needed more than ever to protect the interests of the students, to advance the interests of the alumni and to safeguard the assets of Polytechnic in the acquisition by NYU.  The 3-1/2 acre campus in downtown Brooklyn must be developed to benefit Polytechnic and it students; the Alumni Association must be vigilant to assure that Polytechnic’s real estate including its substantial air rights are used to advance and enhance the infrastructure and facilities of the Polytechnic engineering community.

As a member of the International Board of Directors I will strive to advance the positions as stated above. Thank you for your consideration in casting your vote for me -- we share a great tradition in “Brooklyn Poly”.


Aiwu Shi ‘08CS


Dr. Aiwu Shi is currently working as Chief Architect of China Standard Software Co.Ltd (CS2C), a state-owned software company in China. Prior to joining the CS2C, he worked as vice president for a private software company based on Shenzhen, China, then became founder/CEO of Technovo technology company, a provider of cloud computing solutions and services. Before his return to Beijing in 2009, Dr. Aiwu worked as an engineer in NYC for a few years.

Besides the full-time positions, lots of adjunct positions go as follows: Member of Cloud Computing Expert Committee of China Institute of Communications; Chief Scientist for Cloud Computing of China Strategy Research Center for Open Economy and International Technology Cooperation (SCOT), Center for Strategic Studies of Ministry of Education; Adjunct professor of Huazhong University of Science and Technology; Advanced expert counselor of Shijiazhuang city of China; Post-doc of industry economics in University of International Business and Economics; Collaborative Scholar of Michigan Technological University.

Aiwu earned a PhD in computer science (Minor: technology management) from Polytechnic Institute of New York University in 2008, a master in computer science from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 1997, China, respectively.

He is applying for two patents in cloud computing, has published over 20 articles in journals and conference proceedings. He has hosted and participated over 50 projects with National Science Foundation (NSF), local and international companies,to publish a book titled “Enterprise Cloud Computing Strategies”in 2013/4.

David Sobin '72BS EECS '72MS EECS

David graduated from Poly's Unified Honors Program with both a BS in Electrical Engineering/Computer Science and an MS in Electrical Engineering/Computer Science. He was active in student government, photo editor of the school newspaper, and president of Tau Epsilon Phi fraternity. During his 4 years at Poly, he wrote simulation software to help teach high school students various topics in science and engineering, a project funded by the National Science Foundation.

After graduation, he began a 24 year career at AT&T Bell Laboratories (now Lucent Technologies). During this time, David led the team which created the first DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) product in the early 1980s and deployed it worldwide.

He left AT&T/Lucent in 1996 to start his own DSL company, which was subsequently acquired by Cabletron, then a component of the S&P 500.

After Cabletron, David joined BAMnet Corporation as CEO. Initially a dial-up Internet Service Provider, BAMnet now provides large-scale outdoor wireless broadband Internet service (WiFi) to campuses, hotel chains, and small towns.

Nikolai Wolfe ’09 ‘11CE

Nikolai Wolfe is a proud alumnus of NYU:Poly, earning both a B.Sc. Civil Engineering in 2009 and a M.Sc. Civil Engineering: Urban Systems Engineering & Management in 2011. For Nikolai, the Polytechnic Institute of NYU represents more than a pioneering research university. It is a center of innovation whose comprehensive approach to learning and proven dedication to student development prepared him to successfully meet the challenges of our time.

During his undergraduate tenure, Nikolai played a central role in helping transform the culture of student activities on campus. Along with being a Senior Peer Counselor and Orientation Leader, Nikolai served three consecutive terms as President of the Programming Advisory Board. His continued involvement afforded Nikolai unique insight into the operations of multiple univerity departments and organizations. This perspective increased Nikolai’s sensitivity to the needs of the NYU:Poly community and allowed him to form lasting connections with its members. Nikolai continues his involvement in student activities as a mentor to new student leaders.As a graduate student, Nikolai benefited greatly from working with his international student peers and looks forward to similar opportunities as an alumnus.

Upon graduation, Nikolai became a Management Associate in Con Edison's rigorous and highly selective eighteen-month leadership development program. Nikolai is now as an Operating Supervisor in Manhattan Electric Construction’s Underground Department and remains committed to community service.