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The HobNob & CEO Silent Auction 
The Premier Buffalo Niagara Networking Party

Stay tuned for 2013!

Mix, mingle and be merry with hundreds of local business professionals. Join the Buffalo Niagara Partnership at its premier networking party. Featuring cocktails, hors d'oeuvres, "HobNobbing" with the best in Buffalo Niagara, and the opportunity to bid on Buffalo Niagara's business leaders at the CEO Silent Auction!

Winning bidders enjoy a meeting with their selected Buffalo Niagara region business leader. 

Please note, meetings to be used for relationship building, business advice and career guidance.  

The 2012 CEOs

ROBERT J. FASHANO
Founder, President and CEO, Alliance Advisory Group, Inc.

Robert Fashano is the Founder, President and CEO of Alliance Advisory Group, Inc., a financial service firm headquartered in Buffalo and with offices in Jamestown, Rochester and Syracuse. He previously served as President of the Buffalo Chapter of American Society of Financial Service Professionals, President of the WNY Chapter General Agents and Managers Association, Chairman of the Guardian Life Insurance Company Field Advisory Board and Chairman of the GAMA International Foundation for Education and Research. He has been involved with the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, Million Dollar Round Table, American Society of Financial Services Professionals, Association of Advanced Life Underwriters, was co-author of “The Power of Coaching,” and has spoken to industry and non-industry groups about leadership and coaching.

Fashano serves on the Board of Trustees Roswell Park, Board of Trustees Forest Lawn Cemetery Foundation and Board of Directors Buffalo/Niagara Chapter American Heart Association. He is a member of the Country Club of Buffalo, The Buffalo Club, The 100 Club of Buffalo, and Eastern Hills Wesleyan Church.

Fashano studied at the University at Buffalo: Millard Fillmore College and earned a Master’s of Science in Financial Services from American College. He has been married to his wife Patty for 46 years and has two children, James and Lori; and 6 grandchildren.

DOTTIE GALLAGHER-COHEN
President and CEO, Visit Buffalo Niagara

Dottie Gallagher-Cohen is the President and CEO of Visit Buffalo Niagara and its associated entities: Buffalo Niagara Convention Center, Buffalo Niagara Film Commission and Buffalo Niagara Sports Commission. Visit Buffalo Niagara sells and markets Buffalo Niagara’s assets and attractions to visitors outside of the region as a convention, tourism and leisure destination for the economic benefit of the community.

Prior to Visit Buffalo Niagara, Gallagher-Cohen was the Senior Vice President of Marketing for The Buffalo News, and served on the executive management team. During her tenure, she was honored with the New York State Governor’s Award for excellence in media and served on the executive committee of the Yahoo! Newspaper Consortium.

Currently, she serves on the regional advisory board of Univera Health Care and The Buffalo Niagara Partnership. Gallagher-Cohen received her undergraduate degree from Towson University in Baltimore, MD and her MBA from the University at Buffalo.

Photo credit: KC Kratt

ROBERT D. GIOIA
President, The John R. Oishei Foundation

Robert Gioia is President of The John R. Oishei Foundation, WNY’s largest private charitable foundation. He began his career in 1970 as a part of the third generation of the family-operated Gioia Macaroni Company. For fifteen years, he was a principal with the Food Group of Strategic Investments and Holdings, Inc., one of the most experienced equity acquisition firms in the country. Gioia was Chairman of the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority and pioneered the $120 million Buffalo-Niagara International Airport, which earned him the title of The Buffalo News' 1997 Citizen of the Year. Gioia was President of the Board of Trustees of the Nichols School, President of the Martin House Restoration Corporation, Chairman of the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, a Director of Roswell Park Cancer Institute and a Trustee of St. Lawrence University. In 2007, he was appointed Chairman of The Western New York Health System and again one of The Buffalo News’ Citizens of the Year. In 2009, the University at Buffalo School of Management named him Buffalo Niagara Executive of the Year.

Gioia is a Buffalo native, married to his wife Sally and has three children, Allison, Lauren, and Carolyn; and two grandchildren, Elisabeth Grace (Lily) and John Robert (Jack).

William G. Gisel, Jr.
President and CEO, Rich Products Corporation 

William Gisel, Jr. is the President and CEO of Rich Products Corporation. Gisel joined Rich Products as the company’s first General Counsel. In 1988, Bob Rich Jr. named Gisel Vice President of the newly-formed International Division of Rich Products to extend Rich’s business into foreign markets. Since 1988, he has been promoted to Executive Vice President of International and Strategic Planning, President of Rich’s Food Group and COO, and finally President and CEO of Rich Products Corporation. 

Prior to Rich Products, Gisel worked at Bankers Trust Company. He completed law school and joined Phillips Lytle as an Associate in the firm’s litigation department. As Vice President of Bison Baseball, Inc., he was a primary driver of efforts to fund and construct Buffalo’s downtown baseball park, now known as Coca-Cola Field. Gisel is a member of the Confucius Institute Board of Directors at SUNY Buffalo, Chairman of the Board of WNY Public Broadcasting Association, board member of Mod Pac Corporation, board member of HSBC-Western Region, board member of the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, trustee of the Bell Fund, trustee of the Josephine Goodyear Foundation, board member of the Grocery Manufacturers of America & the Women’s Foodservice Forum (WFF) and former President of the Board of Trustees of Nichols School.

He has received the Nichols Centennial Medal, Canisius College Business Executive of the Year Award, 2005 Women’s Foodservice Forum President’s Award, Thomas Hart Kendig Award for Export Achievement, Rich Products “President’s Award”, Business First’s “40 under 40”, Nichols School Distinguished Alumnus Award and Rich Product’s Women’s Supporting Women organization Pioneer Award.

He received his Bachelor’s degree from Williams College, his Juris Doctor from Emory University School of Law and his Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Rochester.

JIM MANNO
Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Sonwil Distribution Center Inc.

Jim Manno is President of Sales and Marketing at Sonwil Distribution Center Inc., a third party logistics, transportation brokerage and real estate development company with over 65 years of sustainable growth. He has more than 20 years experience as a multi-functional senior manager. He has been influential in the banking and finance, healthcare, and the logistics industries.

Manno develops and acquires account relationships, and is responsible for building and implementing a companywide strategic marketing plan, diagnostic sales process and supporting communications strategies.

He serves as President of the WNY CSCMP Roundtable Chapter, Co-Chair of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership’s Logistics Council and on the Western New York Regional Economic Development Council’s Working Group on Bi-National Development / Logistics and Trade. He has participated on numerous panels and roundtables focusing on solutions to our local, regional and cross border trade and economic development challenges.     

Joseph D. McDonald
President and CEO, Catholic Health

Joseph McDonald is President and CEO of Catholic Health, one of the two largest health systems in Western New York. With annual revenues of $763 million, Catholic Health includes a complete continuum of services including three hospitals on four campuses, five skilled nursing facilities, two adult homes, three home care agencies, twelve primary care centers, six diagnostic and treatment centers, and a unique senior living community. McDonald leads a team of 8,200 associates and 1,200 physicians to transform healthcare throughout the region.

Since McDonald came to Buffalo in 2002, Catholic Health has experienced a growth in services, the introduction of advanced technology, improved quality and safety, and a return to fiscal stability. McDonald has led efforts to turn Catholic Health’s fiscal situation around, and finished the last six years with a positive operating margin, while increasing the health system’s charity care and community services contribution to more than $37 million annually.

McDonald is a board officer of the Healthcare Association of New York State, where he serves on the Executive, Compensation, Audit and Solutions Committees. He serves on the regional policy board of the American Hospital Association and is a member of the board of directors of WNED and the HSBC Advisory Board.

Jack Quinn
President, Erie Community College

Jack Quinn is the tenth President of Erie Community College. Prior to coming to ECC, Quinn was President of Cassidy & Associates, a leading government relations firm in Washington D.C. He previously served as Congressman for the 27th District in the U.S. House of Representatives representing a majority of the Western New York area. He was Supervisor of the Town of Hamburg and taught English at Orchard Park Middle School. Quinn has served as a Director of the Program on Science in the Public Interest at Georgetown University, a Director of Fundraising of the American Ireland Fund, a corporate advisory board member of the So Others May Eat program and was a Board Director of the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation.

Quinn is a trustee for the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust; a member of the Board of Directors of the Kaiser Aluminum Corporation, Board of Directors of the Catholic Health System Network of Western New York, the Rare Books Commission at the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library; and serves on the Board of Directors at the ECC Foundation. In 2009, Quinn became co-chairman of the legislative committee for the New York Community College Association of Presidents (NYCCAP).

Quinn earned a Bachelor’s degree in English Education from Siena College and a Master’s degree in English Education from the State University of New York at Buffalo, as well as a New York State school superintendent license from the State University of New York at Fredonia.

Sharon D. Randaccio
President and CEO, Performance Management Partners, Inc.

Sharon Randaccio is President and CEO of Performance Management Partners Inc., a talent management company based in Upstate New York. PMP helps clients in all industry sectors to improve bottom-line performance.  PMP offers clients leadership development, talent assessments, recruitment, on boarding, succession planning, executive coaching, team building, outplacement and employee engagement surveys.

Randaccio served as a Director of First Niagara Bank, a $10 billion publicly-traded company, where she served as the Chair of the Compensation Committee, Chair of the Finance Committee and member of the Executive Committee. She served as President of both the Goldome and M&T Charitable Foundations and served on the First Niagara Bank Foundation. She is currently a Director of the Catholic Health System, the Buffalo Niagara Partnership and is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council for the University at Buffalo School of Management. Randaccio is a Business First ‘40 under 40’ award winner and a past recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from SUNY Buffalo and the ‘Woman of Distinction’ award from the Amherst Chamber of Commerce. She currently serves as a Director of New Buffalo Shirt Factory, Inc. a printed apparel manufacturing company.

Randaccio received her Bachelor’s degree and MBA from the State University of New York at Buffalo and graduated from the Program for Management Development at the Harvard Business School. She currently teaches at the Harvard Business School of Buffalo and has been an instructor for the SUNY Buffalo MBA Program.

R. BUFORD SEARS
Senior Vice President and Manager of Specialized Banking, First Niagara Bank

Buford Sears is the Senior Vice President and Manager of Specialized Banking at First Niagara Bank, N.A., a $30 billion bank with offices across Upstate New York, Eastern and Western Pennsylvania and New England. Sears manages over 70% of First Niagara’s commercial banking including its Commercial Real Estate, Health Care, Municipal, Equipment Leasing, and Asset Based Lending. Sears was named to the Operating Committee and Strategic Planning Committee at First Niagara, and was recently named Market Executive for Buffalo.

Prior to First Niagara Bank, Sears worked at M&T Bank for eighteen years. He has served on the board of the National Investment Center for the Seniors Housing and Care industries, the Senior Loan Committee and Enterprise Risk Management Committee at First Niagara and M&T. Sears moved to Buffalo in 1992, having worked for thirteen years for Citizens and Southern National Bank in Atlanta. At C&S, Sears was the fourth fastest person to be promoted to the Senior Vice President level in the 150-year history of the bank. Sears also opened a European Representative Office for C&S in London, England.

Sears has served for eighteen years on the board of the Center for Hospice and Palliative Care, where he chaired the board for two terms and is currently an Emeritus Trustee. He serves on the Foundation and Governance boards at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, is a current Advisory Board Member at the University of North Carolina Global Education Center, and was appointed by the New York State Governor as a statewide member of the NY Health Care Facilities Commission (Berger Commission) in 2005-2006. Sears has also served on the boards of Nichols School, Niagara Health Quality Commission and the Buffalo Health Care Task Force.

Sears earned his Bachelor’s degree in International Studies from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; and a Master’s degree in International Economics from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Sears and his wife Suzanne reside in Buffalo and have three children.

DR. DONALD L. TRUMP
President and CEO of Roswell Park Cancer Institute

Donald Trump is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI). In addition to his role as President and CEO, Dr. Trump continues his work as a clinical scientist and physician. He leads the RPCI’s strong clinical research program in vitamin D-based cancer prevention and treatment, and he cares for patients with prostate cancer and other urologic cancers. He is principal investigator or co-principal investigator on several grants funded by the National Cancer Institute. He holds European and U.S. patents for the use of vitamin D and vitamin D analogs in combination with high-dose chemotherapy.

Trump is a Diplomat of the American Board of Internal Medicine, with Subspecialty Boards in Medical Oncology, and a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. Dr. Trump is past Secretary/Treasurer of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and is a member of many professional and scientific societies.

Trump has co-edited a recent textbook with his collaborator, Dr. Candace Johnson, Deputy Director of RPCI, entitled Vitamin D and Cancer (Springer). In May 2009 he was inducted into the Johns Hopkins University Society of Scholars. He is a reviewer and/or member of the editorial board of prestigious medical journals, such as the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Cancer, Journal of Urologic Oncology, Clinical Cancer Research, Cure, Oncology, American Journal of Clinical Oncology, Cancer Chemotherapy and Pharmacology, Cancer Research, and Journal of Clinical Oncology. Trump has authored or co-authored more than 200 journal publications, book chapters and abstracts.

Trump earned his medical degree from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, in 1970. From 1970 to 1975, he completed an internship and residency training in Medicine and a fellowship in Oncology and served as Chief Resident in Internal Medicine at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. 

CONNIE VARI
EVP and COO, Kaleida Health

Connie Vari is the EVP and COO of Kaleida Health, the largest health care provider in Western New York. More than one million patient visits are recorded annually at Buffalo General Hospital, DeGraff Memorial Hospital, Millard Fillmore Gates Circle Hospital, Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital, Women & Children’s Hospital of Buffalo, plus the health system’s 96 clinics and community healthcare centers.

Vari began her career in 1976 as a staff nurse at Millard Fillmore Gates Hospital and has since completed a 35-plus year career within the Kaleida Health family. She oversees more than 10,000 employees, 2,000 physicians and manages combined annual revenues of $1.2 billion. Prior to becoming Chief Operating Officer, Vari served as the Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Learning Officer for Kaleida Health, and President of Millard Fillmore Gates Hospital. She served as a research interviewer for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, and a member of the American Organization of Nurse Executives, and the American College of Healthcare Executives. 

Vari serves the Daemen College Board of Directors, Buffalo State College Foundation Board of Directors, and served on the search Committee for the Dean of the School of Nursing for the University at Buffalo. She is the current reigning Athena, and was nominated in 2010 as well. The Athena Award honors local individuals who have attained and personified the highest level of professional excellence, demonstrated support for the goals of women professionals and provided significant selfless assistance on their behalf. She has also been recognized with the University of Buffalo Distinguished Alumni Award, The Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Buffalo School of Nursing and the YWCA’s Executive Leaders Award. 

Vari is a Buffalo native. She received her Registered Nursing Diploma in 1976 from E.J. Meyer School of Nursing. She received her Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing, Master’s of Science as a Family Nurse Practitioner and her Master’s of Business Administration from the State University of New York. In December 2011 she completed her Doctorate in Nursing Practice at Rush University, College of Nursing in Chicago.

Paul Vukelic
President and COO, Try-It Distributing

Paul Vukelic is the President and COO of Try-It Distributing, a family-operated beer distributor that has been in business for over 80 years and is committed to good corporate citizenry.

He is an Anheuser-Busch, Inc. Panel Member, Cost & Efficiency Team Leader and Steering Team Committee member; New York State Beer Wholesalers Advisory Board member; Buffalo Niagara Partnership Board member; a graduate of Leadership of Buffalo; Our Lady of Victory Renaissance Capital Campaign Committee member; Canisius High School Board of Governors/Finance Chair; was Chairman of the 2001 and 2002 Children’s Hospital Foundation’s Pro/Am Golf Tournament; and the Chairman of the Hilbert College Student Life Committee.

He was previously a member of the Hilbert College Board of Trustees, President University of Buffalo Newman Foundation, member and Chairman of the Canisius High School Board of Trustees, and member of the Canisius High School Alumni Board of Governors, Gilda’s Club of Western New York Board, Treasurer St. Rose of Lima School Board, Hospice Signature Society, Canisius College Board of Regents and the Buffalo Renaissance Foundation Board.

Arthur Wingerter
President, Univera Healthcare

Art Wingerter is President of Univera Healthcare, a nonprofit health insurer that has 500 employees at its Park Club Lane, Williamsville headquarters and 170,000 members across the eight counties of Western New York.

Wingerter was previously Vice President of Healthcare Solutions at Genpact, a New Jersey-based global company with more than 35,000 employees worldwide. His responsibilities included development of cost containment strategies, new product development and acquisitions. Wingerter has served as a Senior Vice President for North American Health Plans where his responsibilities included provider and network management, the development of new business strategies, and contract negotiations. He also served as CEO for Prism Health Networks, where he grew a small regional Independent Practice Association with 5 employees and 400 providers into a statewide IPA with 60 employees and more than 1,000 providers.

Outside of health care, Wingerter was CEO of The Advantage Company. During his tenure, The Advantage Company grew from a single location to a multi-state operation with revenues exceeding $65 million. 

Wingerter is a Buffalo native and received degrees in Business Administration and Finance from the University at Buffalo. He resides in Amherst with his wife Nancy and their four children.

Robert M. Zak
President and CEO, Merchants Insurance Group

Robert Zak is President and CEO of Merchants Insurance Group, comprised of: Merchants Mutual Insurance Company, Merchants National Insurance Company and Merchants Preferred Insurance Company. Property and casualty premiums for the Merchants Insurance Group total approximately $235 million. The companies are rated A- (excellent) by the A.M. Best Company. Zak is the organization's primary representative to industry and agent trade organizations, community and charitable organizations, government regulators and insurance company rating organizations. He joined Merchants in 1985 after a career in public accounting.

He serves as a director, trustee or member of the Buffalo State College Foundation, Great Lakes Health System, Rand Capital Corporation, 100 Club of Buffalo and Western New York, Kaleida Health System, United Way of Buffalo & Erie County and the University at Buffalo School of Management Dean's Advisory Council.

Zak earned both Bachelor of Science and MBA degrees in Accounting and Economics at the State University of New York at Buffalo, and is a Certified Public Accountant. Zak is a Western New York native and resides with his wife, Margaret, in Buffalo with their three children.

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