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Biographies

Adrienne Esposito, Vice Chair, Village Over 5,000 population

Adrienne Esposito has been a member of the Commission since 2006 and became Secretary of the Commission in 2008. She is the Executive Director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment (CCE). CCE is a non-profit organization working in NY and CT to protect natural resources and public health. CCE has 6 offices and conducts research, lobbying and public education on diverse environmental campaigns. Such campaigns include groundwater protection, land use planning, coastal water protection, estuary and ocean protection, protection of Great Lakes, toxic waste remediation, pesticides reduction, renewable energy campaigns, energy planning, clean air and public health issues. Previously she was Associate Executive Director of A Citizens Campaign for the Environment. Ms. Esposito holds a BA in Geology and Environmental Science from LI University, CW Post.

Rodney Anderson, At Large

Michael Kelly, Town of Brookhaven

Michael Francis Kelly, Esq. is the Principal of Kelly Development Corp. focusing on the development of small sub-divisions and consulting on various real estate issues for such organizations as The Long Island Housing Partnership, Avalon Bay Communities and the Clare Rose Organization. Mike is also a partner with Sean Rose in Rose and Kelly Development, LLC. Their focus is on redeveloping blighted sites throughout Long Island. Prior to forming his own businesses, Mike was the Vice President of Land Acquisitions for Pulte Homes of Long Island (2003 - 2008). He also worked for the Prudential Home Mortgage Company, Chase Manhattan Bank and the Law Firm of Meyer, Meyer and Keneally in Smithtown. Mike has over 20 years of diversified real estate industry experience and gained valuable experience working for these companies as well as TiBi Development.

Mike is the Treasurer for LIBI and serves on the Board of Directors of the Down Syndrome Advocacy Foundation. He is also a member of the NY State Bar and its Committee on Land Use and Real Estate Legislation, as well as being a licensed real estate broker and a LIBOR member. He has been honored as the recipient of the Paul S. Miller “With Liberty and Justice for All” award by Touro Law School in 2006 and The Good Neighbor of the Year from The Central Islip Civic Association in 2008. Mike actively participates in the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick Society and the Brehon Law Society, both organizations deeply rooted in his Irish heritage. Mike is a member of Energia, Long Island’s regional leadership program within Molly College. He is a member of the Business Improvement District for the Village of Patchogue.

Mike graduated from Chaminade High School and has a B.S. in Finance from Providence College, an MBA from the University of St. Thomas, Minnesota and a Juris Doctorate from Touro Law School. His wife, Kathleen Feeley, Ph.D., is a world-renowned expert on children with Down Syndrome and Autism and a professor at C.W. Post University. Mike and Kathleen live in Stony Brook and have four children; Thomas, John, Owen – The Big O, and Catherine Mary.

VACANT, Town of East Hampton

Jennifer Casey, Chair, Town of Huntington

Jennifer Casey is a partner at the Law Firm of Ahmuty, Demers & McManus. Ms. Casey is an experienced trial attorney and currently focuses her practice on construction site accident litigation, premises liability matters, products liability and complex automobile litigation including UM/SUM claims.

Ms. Casey has lectured to various claims associations as well as numerous insurance carriers. She helped design and continues to implement the Firm's Continuing Legal Education Program which is accredited by the New York State Continuing Legal Education Board.

Ms. Casey serves on the board of directors of various organizations including the National Association of Insurance Women, Huntington Economic Development Corporation, Suffolk County Child Care Council and Huntington Historic Preservation Commission. She is a graduate of The Energeia Partnership, The Academy for Regional Stewardship at Molloy College.

Matthew Chartrand, Town of Islip

Matthew Chartrand was born in Brooklyn in 1967. When he was seven his parents moved to Long Island and he has lived in Islip Township for the past 35 years. His personal achievements include coaching West Islip football, serving as an Active Alumni of West Islip High School, performing volunteer work for the community, and Captain of the Varsity Football Team during his high school years. He was awarded the Computer Science Award and taught Computer Education to students in Junior High and Elementary Schools. He performed volunteer service building the Brookhaven Firefighters Museum.

Matthew attended Stony Brook University for courses in Computer Science and Liberal Arts. He attained an Associates Degree in Liberal Arts from Nassau Community College and studied Business Management at St. John’s University. In recent years he has completed courses in Business Management at Farmingdale University, Cornell ILR.

Matthew owned a home improvement company until 1993. Matthew is presently a member in good standing of Iron Workers Local 361 and was officially initiated in 1994. He has performed all aspects of the Iron Working industry. He was appointed to the position of Business Agent in 2004 and is now the President of Iron Workers Local 361, which has 850 active members. He is also the Assistant Apprentice Coordinator, involved in the training of 250 Apprentices and 500 Journeymen who participate in upgrading courses.

Matthew resides in West Islip with his wife Lori and his four children, Matthew, Jade, Michael and Maggie.

John Condzella, Town of Riverhead

Nicholas Gould Morehead, Town of Shelter Island

Nicholas Morehead is the Chief Operating Officer for the South Ferry Company on Shelter Island. In addition to managing much of the businesses day-to-day operations, Mr. Morehead is also a Coast Guard licensed 100-ton captain and can often be found piloting the vessels. A commission member since 2016, Mr. Morehead, spent his early years growing up in New York City and has been a regular on Shelter Island since the age of 3. An active member of the community, Mr. Morehead is currently treasurer of the Shelter Island Little League as well as Treasurer for the Shelter Island Preschool. Mr. Morehead holds a bachelors degree in Philosophy from Trinity College, a masters degree in journalism and public affairs from American University and MBA from Stony Brook University.

Mr. Morehead and his wife Paige have two young children, son Cayman and daughter Larkin.

John Finn, Town of Smithtown

John Finn is the Director of Leasing and Acquisitions at Damianos Realty Group LLC and a resident of Smithtown. John has been with Damianos Realty Group since 1998 and has proven himself to be an invaluable asset to the firm, playing an active role in its rapid growth and expansion, while still managing to oversee the day-to-day operations, and has successfully negotiated countless transactions for the 21 properties in the firm’s impressive commercial portfolio.

In 2008, Damianos Realty Group was awarded the prestigious “Developer of the Year” award by The Association for a Better Long Island and The Commercial Industrial Broker Society for the firm’s newest construction project located at 100 Hospital Road in Patchogue- a modern medical office building providing much-needed services to the local community. John was instrumental in the design and development of this 54,000 square foot state-of-the-art medical building, and just a little over a year after the first shovel hit the ground, John and his team already had the building fully leased.

John is a member of the Long Island Business News 40 under 40 Class of 2009, which recognizes outstanding individuals in the business community on Long Island.

John is a recipient of the Top Commercial Real Estate Power Brokers of the Year award from Costar, the largest commercial real estate information company in the United States, and is an Associate Member of the Commercial Industrial Broker’s Society.

John is actively involved in charitable and fund-raising events throughout Long Island, including the YMCA of Long Island, Friends of Karen, Long Island Museums, and the March of Dimes. John was elected to the Corporate Board of Directors for the YMCA of Long Island in 2009. John Resides in the Town of Smithtown and has two children.

VACANT, Town of Southampton

VACANT, Town of Southold

Michael Kaufman, Villages under 5,000

An attorney in private practice in Huntington, "of counsel" to the Law Firm of Andree & Kaufman, focusing on corporate law, general business law, and real estate/land use.

Mr. Kaufman has an extensive governmental and land use background, especially in planning and environmental management. A member of Suffolk County's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) for over 20 years (6 as Vice-Chair), he has been heavily involved in regional County environmental, planning and SEQRA issues, and worked on numerous County environmental impact statements (EIS). He also serves on the County's Historic Trust, and has been a member of many state and local planning groups such as the MTA's L.I. Transportation Plan. Mr. Kaufman has completely updated several village zoning, land use and environmental codes, and developed and implemented model coastal management plans (LWRP) for several villages. He also has designed and overseen numerous multi-million dollar channel dredging projects combining environmental protection and enhanced marine use.

Educated at the Choate School, Cornell University and University of Miami, winner of a National Science Foundation research scholarship, Mr. Kaufman has lived in a village under 5,000 population for the last 32 years.

Samuel Chu, Second Vice Chair, Town of Babylon

Sammy Chu is the chief innovation officer for EdgeWise Energy, a Long Island based clean-tech start up focused on deploying next generation, behind the meter distributed energy resources. A proven leader in promoting market adoption of residential energy efficiency, he was the founding director of the Town of Babylon’s Long Island Green Homes Program – the first operationalized property assessed clean energy program (PACE) in the country.

Chu previously served in the administration of County Executive Steve Bellone as director of Operations and as commissioner of the Suffolk County Department of Labor, Licensing & Consumer Affairs. He was the lead county official in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, tasked with coordinating response and recovery. A staunch advocate of inclusive, sustainable economic development, Chu was instrumental in creating workforce opportunities for traditionally underserved individuals during the planning of the transformative Wyandanch Rising development, one of the seminal LEED ND projects.

He currently serves as chairman of the Long Island chapter of the US Green Building Council, as a board member of the Health and Welfare Council of Long Island, as a board member of the Child Care Council of Suffolk, and has previously served as a board member of the National Home Performance Council.

Errol Kitt, At Large

Errol Kitt is a Vice President at GEI Consultants, Inc., P.C. and is the Branch Manager of GEI’s Long Island office located in Huntington Station. GEI is a leading national consulting engineering and science firm that provides environmental, geotechnical, ecological, infrastructure and water resources services to clients throughout the United States, Canada, and more than 20 other countries.

Errol is an environmental engineer whose diverse background includes nearly 35 years of experience with environmental and ecological projects primarily located on Long Island and in the NYC Metro area. These projects have included: environmental investigations to determine the nature, magnitude and extent of contamination in soil, groundwater and surface water, and remediation/cleanup programs at Superfund hazardous waste sites, former manufactured gas plant sites, Brownfield sites, municipal landfills, and private industrial, commercial, and institutional sites. In addition, his experience includes: environmental due diligence assessments, investigations and associated remediation activities for real estate transactions and for the redevelopment of Brownfield sites; ecological and water quality studies; stormwater management and coastal resiliency projects; and the design of groundwater, soil and soil vapor remediation systems, as well as industrial and sanitary wastewater treatment facilities.

Errol graduated from Cornell University with a BS in Environmental Engineering Technology and earned a MS in Civil/Environmental Engineering from Polytechnic Institute of New York (currently NYU). He is a graduate of Chaminade High School.

Errol is a member of several business and charitable organizations. He is a graduate and active member of The Energeia Partnership, Long Island’s regional stewardship and leadership academy through Molloy College. He is a member and sponsor of the Suffolk County Village Officials Association, Long Island Real Estate Group, and U.S. Green Building Council – Long Island, as well as a member of the National Ground Water Association and The Nature Conservancy (TNC). Errol previously served on the Earth & Ocean Gala Committee for TNC and on the Board of Directors for the NuHealth Foundation. He continues to support numerous philanthropic and charitable events and has been a coach for local youth and school athletic programs for many years. Errol is a life-long resident of Long Island. He resides in Lloyd Harbor with his wife and three children.

Kevin G. Gershowitz, At Large

Kevin Gershowitz is the President of Gershow Recycling. He graduated from East Islip High School in 1985, and then earned a Bachelor’s degree from Ithaca College. After graduating, he went to work at Gershow Recycling, the company started by his father, Sam Gershowitz, in 1964.

Gershow Recycling is one of the region’s oldest and most successful environmental companies. The company’s mission is Conserving the Future by Recycling the Past. Gershow recognized early on that Long Island had a growing solid waste problem that they could help address through recycling. An early initiative of the company was to go to the region’s landfills to literally mine thousands of tons of cars that had been entombed.

Gershow recycles scrap metal, including aluminum, brass, copper, steel, cast iron, appliances, motor vehicles and paper. The company purchases metal that would otherwise end up in local landfills. Gershow then converts scrap metal into high-quality scrap products for re-use by manufacturers.

Gershow recycles enough cars each year to stretch end to end from Medford to North Carolina, or you can fill all eight lanes of the Long Island Expressway from the Midtown Tunnel to Riverhead. Gershow currently has eight locations throughout the New York metropolitan area, including: Medford, Bay Shore, Lindenhurst, Huntington Station, Freeport, Valley Stream, New Hyde Park and Brooklyn. As one of Long Island’s largest manufacturing companies, Gershow has a significant impact on the local economy and generates more than 750 jobs.

Since joining Gershow Recycling, Mr. Gershowitz has held various positions in the company, working his way up to his present position as President. In that capacity, he oversees day-to-day operations along with his twin brother, Elliot, and a team of longtime managers. Kevin is responsible for the ferrous metal portion of the business, dealing with the recycling of steel, while Elliot is responsible for the non-ferrous metals, such as copper, brass and other precious metals. Kevin also handles legal and regulatory matters.

Mr. Gershowitz is a Member of the Long Island Association’s Board of Directors and serves as President of the New York chapter of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Inc. As a founding member of the Long Island Scrap Metal Industry Theft Advisory Group, Mr. Gershowitz supported Suffolk County’s law that requires scrap metal recyclers to record all transactions electronically before scrap metal is processed.

Under his leadership, the company has continued to expand despite challenges presented by the economy. In 2007, Gershow opened a new facility in Huntington Station. This was followed by the opening of another facility in Freeport in 2010 and another facility in Valley Stream the following year. In 2010, the company reached an agreement with the Long Island Power Authority for the creation of a LIPA substation at its Medford facility, which will allow the company to replace its plant’s diesel engines with electric and eliminate greenhouse emissions.

Mr. Gershowitz and his wife Marnie have three children: Jared, Emily, and Max. Mr. Gershowitz is a member of several business and charitable organizations. Through his leadership, the company has supported various environmental and youth related causes, including the Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Long Island Pine Barrens Society, the Great Brookhaven Clean-Up, the Patchogue Lions Club’s Christmas in June, the Girl Scouts’ Operation Cookie, as well as local youth athletic programs and other charities. The company also maintains an annual scholarship program supporting graduating high school students from local school districts. In 2008, Mr. Gershowitz was named Man of the Year by Patchogue-Medford Youth Services.

Suffolk County Government

H. Lee Dennison Bldg

100 Veterans Memorial Hwy
P.O. Box 6100
Hauppauge, NY 11788

Riverhead County Center

County Road 51
Riverhead, NY 11901