Women Honored For Business Leadership

The Orange and Rockland County Women of Distinction Awards Luncheon, hosted by state Sen. David Carlucci, D-New City, honored business leaders who have made extraordinary contributions in their professions or their communities.

"Each of our honorees were chosen because they possess special spirit and compassion, going above and beyond what is expected of them,"  said Carlucci at the event at the Crowne Plaza in Montebello. "I wanted to extend my deepest gratitude with this award ceremony to thank them for everything they do for our community.  It is people like them who make our community such a great place to live, and set an example that we all strive to live up to."

Outstanding Business Community Awards were given to Ellen Badinelli of West Nyack - founder/CEO ScanAvert, Andrea Giraldo of Pearl River - founder/CEO A&G Trading Corp. and Cheryl Rogowski of Warwick - Farmer/Entrepreneur.

Outstanding Non-Profit Awards were given to Jill A. Warner, LCSW of Nyack, Executive Director/CEO, Jawonio, and Rose Leandre of Spring Valley, Executive Director for HACSO Community Center (Haitian American Cultural and Social Organization Inc.).

The Outstanding Community Service Award was given to Diane Adele Pomeroy,  Retired Senior Volunteer Program.

About the winners

Ellen Badinelli- founder/CEO ScanAvert
Badinelli is founder and CEO of ScanAvert, possessing over 20 years experience in the securities industry in new product development, marketing, and detection of unusual trading patterns/profiles.

Her more recent positions with organizations dedicated to the health and well being of children, has led her to apply the same systemic logic to create a method of generating compatibility/incompatibility alerts outside an established set of criteria for dietary preference and avoidance.

She conceived ScanAvert in 2001 and has been an early champion in the effort to promote mobile access and delivery of personal health information. As a SPIR Grant recipient [Strategic Partnership for Industrial Resurgence], she developed ScanAvert's first preference/avoidance mapping service based on her initial patent. Utilizing the privacy, mobility and technological advancements afforded cell phones, Badinelli steered development toward personal device usage.

She holds a Bachelor of Science from State University of New York at Oneonta, has held leadership positions within Scouting; BSA, and GSA, Special Education PTA, and currently serves on the FINRA [NASD] Board of Arbitrators.


Andrea Giraldo- founder/CEO A&G Trading Corp.

Founded in 2004 by Andrea Giraldo, A&G Trading Corp. is dedicated to the distribution of natural, organic, specialty and ethnic foods. Specializing in foods from Colombia, their products have a Latin focus and are sourced globally.

Born in New York City to Colombian parents, entrepreneur Andrea Giraldo, she developed a rich heritage and deep appreciation of her culture, her roots, and especially her native food.

What began as a food distribution company built to support and represent Colombian manufacturers, A&G Trading Corp. has quickly grown into a prosperous American partner for Latin American companies, as well as Latin-flavored products from across the U.S., and other international foods. A&G focuses on specialty, natural, ethnic and organic food distribution.

Cheryl Rogowski- Farmer/Entrepreneur

In 1984 Cheryl Rogowski received 500 acres of farmland from her father, a black dirt onion farmer.

Today she has transformed her family's farm, raising 250 varieties of produce, and created a thriving business integral to the Warwick and Pine Island communities by focusing on marketing and educating consumers.

At the farm, Rogowski started The Black Dirt Gourmet catering business and supper club, featuring certified naturally grown produce and Hudson Valley produced meats and dairy products. The Rogowski Farm delivers produce to centers for the elderly, sells vegetables from Brooklyn to Pine Island at eight weekly farm markets, and mentors immigrants who want to farm through the New Farmer Development Project, a training program in New York City.

For her innovations, she won a John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation "genius" Award, the first given to a full-time farmer.

Outstanding Non-Profit Awards

Jill A. Warner, LCSW, Executive Director/CEO, Jawonio, Inc.
 
An award winning social worker by background, Jill Warner, Executive Director/CEO of Jawonio, Inc, is an experienced leader in the community whose background and extensive knowledge of the service delivery system in the health, mental health, developmental disabilities, substance abuse and social services of both county and state government –as well as the state and federal grants process has served Jawonio well for close to 20 years.
 
She has worked with complex financing systems and her strong analytic and negotiating skills have brought successful financial change to Jawonio.

Warner, who has held a variety of positions at Jawonio since 1992 including Assistant Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, oversees a $43 million dollar budget with more than 900 employees in New York and New Jersey. 

Warner "walks the walk" in giving back to the Rockland community and serves as a volunteer for Meals on Wheels, a member of New City Rotary and serves on the Leadership Rockland Board of Directors.  
 
Warner's expertise has also been recognized in her roles as a member of the RBA ad hoc public-private partnership committee and a Rockland deficit reduction task force appointed by Harriet Cornell, Chair, RC Legislature.
 
Warner lives in Upper Nyack.

Rose Leandre
Rose LeAndre is the Executive Director for HACSO Community Center (Haitian American Cultural and Social Organization Inc.) where she works in partnerships with different organizations and government agencies to create equal access for immigrant families to healthcare, housing and citizenship. 
As an immigrant herself, she remembers the struggle her mother went through migrating to the US as a single mom.
Rose spearheaded Haitian earthquake relief in Rockland County and helped HACSO obtain a NYS Health Foundation Grant. 
In addition, Leandre is Director of Constituent Services and Community Relations for NY Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffe. 
She attended the SUNY Buffalo and Fordham University Graduate School of Social Work.  
Her goal is in the next year to return to school in a MSW/JD Law program to be able to better advocate for immigrants and make a greater impact on policies that affect the daily lives of immigrant families.

Outstanding Community Service Award
Diane Adele Pomeroy,  Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP)

Diane Adele Pomeroy is known throughout Rockland County as an advocate for senior as well as the disabled. She had successful careers in publishing, advertising and education. In 1999, retired and bored, Diane Adele decided to give back to her community.  Through the Retired Senior Volunteer Program, Diane Adele has now logged close to 5,000 hours and helped countless Rockland County Residents deal with aging, palliative care and end of life decisions.  Diane Adele is a certified ombudsman for Northern Manor. She works with United Hospice of Rockland as an End of Life Companion and Bereavement Counselor and the Shalva Program at Northern Services. And she is active with The Statewide Senior Action Council, the Disabilities Advisory Council and the Rockland Independent Living Center. 

Article reposted with permission from Patch. Read the full article here.