Skidmore College has named Martin A. Mbugua vice president for communications and marketing.
In this newly established role, Mbugua will provide strategic leadership and direction for all aspects of the college’s communications and marketing efforts.
Mbugua will be the college’s chief communications officer, serving as a strategic advisor to the president and senior staff in the development and execution of communications and marketing plans to promote the college and its mission.
He brings more than 20 years of experience in journalism and higher education communications to Skidmore, most recently as assistant vice president for content and communications at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where he led the university’s online news content, media relations, social media and internal communications teams. Previously, he was director of media relations and university spokesperson at Princeton University.
Mbugua was a reporter with the New York Daily News; U.S. correspondent for the Daily Nation and Standard newspapers in Nairobi, Kenya; and assistant editor at the Queens Chronicle in New York City. He also served as communications and marketing manager at the City University of New York’s Murphy Institute and senior news editor at the University of Delaware.
He holds a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Delaware and a master’s degree in government, politics and international relations from St. John’s University in New York City, where he also earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism.
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Teal, Becker & Chiaramonte, CPAs, PC announced that Gretchen Guenther-Collins, J.D. M.S., CPA, has rejoined the firm in the capacity of tax manager.
Guenther-Collins is a graduate of the College of Saint Rose, earning a Bachelor of Science in accounting as well as a Master of Science in Accounting. She was previously an audit manager with the firm from 2000-07 before taking a 10-year hiatus to pursue her own business and work in the legal and higher education industries.
She transitioned from an adjunct professor at the College of Saint Rose and began as a full-time accounting instructor at the college in January of 2007. She then rose to interim dean of the Huether School of Business in 2016. Meanwhile, she pursued her Juris Doctorate at Albany Law School and completed two legal internships before earning her degree in December 2014. She was admitted to the 3rd Department of the New York State Court System in July of 2015.
In her new
role at TBC, Guenther-Collins will focus on individual and corporate taxation, including tax planning as well as tax compliance issues. She is presently serving as the treasurer of the board of directors of the Albany Damien Center and has held several roles in other nonprofit organizations.
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First New York Federal Credit Union announced that William Chow has been promoted from commercial business development officer to assistant vice president of commercial lending.
Chow joined First New York in June 2011 with over 10 years of experience in commercial and residential lending. He has a Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting and finance from Siena College.
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Longtime Saratoga Springs physician Dr. David Mastrianni was named senior vice president of Saratoga Hospital Medical Group.
In addition, Mechanicville primary care providers Dr. Stephen Sgambati and Dr. Lauris Petersen have joined Saratoga Hospital and are accepting new patients.
Dr. Mastrianni will support the medical group’s strategic goals, enhance communication and collaboration, and serve as the liaison between the growing multi-specialty practice and Saratoga Hospital. Established in 2013 with about 40 physicians, the medical group now has more than 180 doctors, physician assistants and nurse practitioners.
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Mastrianni retired from full-time practice in July.
In 1994, with his wife, nurse practitioner Lucille Albergo, he established Saratoga’s first full-time hematology-oncology practice. He also has served on the Saratoga Hospital board of trustees.
A graduate of Albany Medical College, he completed a residency at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C., and a fellowship at Beth Israel Hospital-Harvard Medical College.
Sgambati and Petersen will anchor a new primary care practice, which will be located in renovated offices on South Central Avenue in Mechanicville.
While renovations are underway, they will see patients in a temporary office on Route 9 in Malta, off Northway Exit 13. This temporary location is an office of Saratoga Regional PC, an affiliate of Saratoga Hospital.
Dr. Sgambati earned his medical degree from Albany Medical College and completed his residency at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center in South Carolina. A graduate of Georgetown University School of Medicine, Dr. Petersen completed his residency at St. Clare’s Hospital in Schenectady.
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First New York Federal Credit Union announced that Andrea Reed has been promoted from loan underwriter to manager of lending originations for the company’s Lending Department.
She joined First New York in 2013 as a loan officer. Reed began her career through a high school program and had worked at several banks prior to joining the credit union industry.
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Dr. Mark Hillman, psychotherapist specializing in individual, marriage, and family therapy, will close his private practice in Clifton Park effective Dec. 7. He is no longer accepting new patients.
Dr. Hillman will continue to work in personal and executive coaching, corporate training, and organizational development.