KEN JENKINS
County Executive of Westchester County New York
Committed to public service and the principles of democracy, safety, education, technology and community engagement, Westchester County is led by County Executive Ken Jenkins. He took office in January 2025 as the county’s 10th and first Black county executive. Previously, Jenkins served as deputy county executive under George Latimer and as a member of the Westchester County Board of Legislators, where he was chairman for four years. In those roles, he focused on policies promoting growth and inclusion. Jenkins has worked to cut taxes, build affordable housing, protect reproductive rights, reduce crime, secure veteran tax breaks, restore infrastructure and protect the environment. Known for his dedication, he has been a vocal advocate for middle-class families and his constituents. He has a background in telecommunications and technology, with leadership roles at Apple, AT&T, Verizon, NYNEX, Bell Atlantic and Seer Technologies. He also gained real estate experience as an owner and broker at ERA Gem Realty. Jenkins’ community involvement includes board service with the Greyston Foundation, United Way, Westchester District Attorney’s Community Advisory Committee, Crime Stoppers and Yonkers’ Community Planning Council. He was president of the Yonkers NAACP and the Yonkers Community Action Program. A longtime Democrat, Jenkins has held leadership roles such as treasurer of the New York State Democratic Committee and chairman of the Yonkers Democratic Committee. He appears as a political analyst on News 12 Westchester. The son of a police officer and a nurse, Jenkins is a former Boy Scout and senior patrol leader. An alumnus of Fordham Prep and Iona University, he earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science. He and his wife, Deborah, have lived in Yonkers since 1982 and are parents of three grown children. He is soon to be a grandfather.
CHANCE MULLEN Mayor
Village of Pelham, NY
Elected in 2019 as mayor of the village of Pelham after one term as trustee on the village board, Chance Mullen has overseen and championed significant levels of new housing development in Pelham's downtown and is currently on track to expand the community's housing stock by over 8%, including the first affordable housing ever built in Pelham. The most significant effort is a $77 million public-private partnership that earned recognition from the New York Conference of Mayors (NYCOM). Designed to transform the village's downtown core, the Energy Star-certified project includes 127 residential units, 5,000 square feet of commercial space, public parking and a newly consolidated municipal center for police, fire and village operations. Professionally, Chance works in People & Organizational Development at Ford Foundation, a global philanthropy focused on social change. He serves on the Westchester Municipal Officials Association (WMOA) Executive Committee and Housing Subcommittee and on the NYCOM State Finance Policy Committee.
AVE HAMILTON GREEN
CLAY FOWLER
Chairman and CEO
Spinnaker Real Estate Partners LLC
Spanning nearly 40 years, Clay Fowler has led Spinnaker’s work in building over 7,500 housing units nationally, with concentrations in the northern suburbs of New York City and in Portland, Oregon. In addition, Spinnaker’s portfolio includes over 4,000,000 square feet of offi ce, industrial, hotel and adaptive re-use projects. Fowler now leads a team comprising more than 85 professionals that pride themselves on doing the diffi cult jobs that make a diff erence in the communities where they work. He has been actively involved in those communities having served as past chair of the Norwalk Chamber of Commerce and the Pound Ridge Planning Board. Currently, he is chair of both the Housing Development Fund, which is a CDFI focused on aff ordable home ownership throughout Connecticut, and the Maritime Aquarium in South Norwalk, Connecticut. Active also in Outward Bound, he has served as board member of OBUSA and remains involved as a board member of Hurricane Island Outward Bound School in Maine. Locally, he serves as board vice-chair of Fairfi eld County’s Community Foundation. Spinnaker is vertically integrated with development, construction and property management teams. Currently, Spinnaker is bullish on the housing market with more than 1,100 units under construction in Connecticut with another 700 in development.
SUSTAINABLE WASTE SERVICES
JOE SIMONE
President Simone Development Companies
President of Simone Development Companies, a full-service, privately held real estate investment company specializing in the acquisition and development of health-care, mixed-use, office, industrial, retail and residential properties and headquartered at the Hutchinson Metro Center, Joe Simone’s company boasts a portfolio of more than 100 commercial properties spanning over 7 million square feet throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, Long Island, Westchester County, Orange and Fairfield counties and New Jersey. With services including acquisition, development, construction, finance, asset management, accounting, leasing and property management, Simone Development Companies is set apart by its vertically integrated management team, long-term asset ownership and its pursuit of visionary development. With an unwavering commitment to transform communities, Simone has spearheaded several groundbreaking projects across the New York metropolitan area. Among these are the adaptive reuse of the Boyce Thompson Center in Yonkers, which has breathed new life into a historic landmark, as well as the redevelopment of an obsolete state hospital site into the 42-acre Hutchinson Metro Center, which over the last 20 years, has become the most successful commercial development project in the history of the Bronx. This 1.4-million-square-foot mixed-use campus of medical, office, retail, hospitality and academic space is home to over 80 leading businesses, healthcare and educational institutions, as well as federal, state and city agencies employing over 8,000 people and welcoming more than 5,000 daily visitors. Simone’s nonprofit work includes service on the New York City board of the American Heart Association, where he also had the honor of chairing the 2024 Heart of New York City Centennial Campaign. He also serves on the boards of the Boys & Girls Club of Mount Vernon and the Westchester County Association. He is an active member of The Business Council of Westchester, Italian American Forum, Bronx Chamber of Commerce, Hudson Valley Economic Development Corp. and BOMA Westchester.
RM
LYNNE WARD
President National Resources
National Resources, co-founded in 1988 by Joe Cotter and Lynne Ward, is a real estate development firm focusing on the redevelopment of corporate properties. Operating in the New York metro region for more than 35 years, the company’s portfolio includes mixed-use, commercial, and multifamily properties. NRE is best known for its film and movie studios, innovative i.Parks, UNO brand of multifamily units, and landmark Hudson River and Greenwich waterfront residences. National Resources has developed several i.Park mixed-use campuses in former industrial infill locations, creating multiple new jobs in spaces occupied by new companies. These include i.Park Hudson (Yonkers, New York—movie studios), i.Park Lake Success (Lake Success, New York— medical), i.Park 84 (East Fishkill, New York—semiconductor, data, and food manufacturing), i.Park Norwalk (Norwalk, Connecticut—medical), and most recently, i.Park 87 (Kingston, New York). The company's residential brand, UNO, develops multifamily buildings near public transportation hubs to appeal to young professionals, with more than 1,500 units in various stages of development. In 2018, National Resources received the ULI Visionary Award for Leadership in Land Use. The i.Park Hudson campus was named the 2021 Westchester County Transformative Deal of the Year by NAIOP for creating "Hollywood on the Hudson." Lynne Ward leads the National Resources team, succeeding Joe Cotter in advancing his visionary projects. Ward brings extensive international experience in real estate investment and development across land, retail, residential, office, and industrial projects.
Building Brighter Futures and Improving Communities
For almost 30 years, Stagg Group has developed millions of square feet of real estate across The Bronx and Westchester. We’re committed to investing in neighborhoods by working closely with community groups to design and build properties that uplift the area. Every project reflects our dedication to detail, quality, and sustainability—helping to create lasting housing stock for our residents, partners, and communities.
Korman Communities is a fully integrated, fifth-generation, 100-year-old real estate investment and property management company with nearly 40 properties across the United States and London. AVE specializes in elevated apartment living for discerning renters and individuals seeking a flexible living solution for business or personal lifestyle. AVE conveniently offers luxury apartment rentals along with flexible-stay furnished apartments. AVE Hamilton Green is comprised of two brand new, state-of-the-art residential high-rise communities featuring studio, one, two, and three bedroom apartments, along with unique and desirable work-live loft residences and penthouse floor plans. Residents enjoy an unparalleled lifestyle with access to an award-winning service team and on-demand business, wellness, and leisure amenities such as flex workspaces with high-speed Wi-Fi; an indoor pool; 24-hour, state-of-theart fitness centers; wellness classes; resident events; an outdoor terrace; a speakeasy; a golf simulator lounge; and a landscaped park. A suburban escape with urban conveniences – AVE Hamilton Green is a short walk to Downtown White Plains with a multitude of dining, shopping, and nightlife options. Ranked the No. 1 property management company in the U.S. based on renter satisfaction for three consecutive years, AVE provides comfort and seamless living for those who want to LIVE BETTER®. www. avehamiltongreen.com
A prominent leader in real estate development and construction in the Northeast, The Cappelli Organization has a proven 45-year track record of excellence. Centrally located in Westchester County, New York, the company has successfully completed over 20 million SF of development including mixed-use, retail, waterfront, residential, hotel, restaurants, offi ce, industrial, laboratory and parking facilities, representing a value in excess of $8 billion. The company has a current development and construction pipeline in New York and Connecticut of over four-million square feet. The Cappelli Organization and its wholly owned subsidiaries, Cappelli Development Company and LRC Construction, off er a fully vertical development and construction team with a staff of proven professionals covering every discipline of development and construction including but not limited to: design, architecture, site planning, engineering, estimating, construction services, fi nance, scheduling and cost control, project management and supervision, as well as residential sales, residential and offi ce leasing and property management. The Company is also capable of self-performing excavation, high-rise concrete, curtain wall and sitework (including foundations, SOE (Support of Excavation) and remediation). Personalized involvement, attention to detail, creativity, concern for scheduling, safety, quality control and cost containment are all essential components of a successful development and are the hallmarks of the Cappelli Organization philosophy.
RM Friedland is the largest commercial real estate brokerage company in its markets. We are the only commercial real estate brokerage company in the TriState area that features experts across all asset types. Our Industrial, Investment Sales, Office, Retail, and Consulting brokerage teams specialize in the disposition and acquisition of their respective asset types; making them uniquely suited to understand the opportunities and challenges facing our clients. Our awardwinning team has a fifty-year track record of success and is well-positioned to help execute any real estate strategy at the highest level.
In 1949, young entrepreneur Henry B. Whitaker founded his eponymous garage door company. In this pre-automated era, functionality was a top priority for homeowners. Henry’s mission was to ensure that clients had high-quality doors at an aff ordable price, along with an attractive aesthetic—adding curb appeal to each home he helped transform. Starting in Yorktown Heights, New York, the business quickly gained a reputation for quality and customer care. Today, Casarra and Jonathan Cover, Henry’s granddaughter, run the business out of a showroom in Peekskill, New York. Since acquiring the business in 2008 from her mother, Faye, Casarra and Jonathan have expanded on their namesake’s work ethic. They now serve all of Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, and Rockland counties, as well as parts of Connecticut. No job is too big or small for this highly competent couple. They truly take the term “family business” to heart—they are part of the Whitaker family when you work with them.
A privately held company based in Mount Kisco, New York, Westfair Communications Inc. is the publisher of the Westchester County Business Journal and the Fairfield County Business Journal, providing readers with a variety of business news and features. Westfair also publishes the popular News @ Noon and Morning Brief e-newsletters for late-breaking developments, as well as industry-specific newsletters. For more than 60 years, the business journals have been the only weekly countywide business newspapers. They were founded by former Westchester resident David Moore, a grandson of New York publisher Joseph Pulitzer, and John Smith, a former Wall Street Journal editor. In keeping with their founders’ principles, the publications focus on the business communities in Fairfield, Westchester, and the Hudson Valley, offering breaking news, trends, tips, and behind-the-scenes profiles of professionals and entrepreneurs. Their expanded content delves beyond the business world to explore food, travel, health and wellness, and home topics, while the entertainment-focused calendar suggests where readers should be and when. The papers and newsletters have gained credibility and respect in the region for their accurate and timely insights. Westfair also sponsors interactive programs for its readers, some of which are joint ventures with other businesses or community organizations. These programs cover a variety of subjects and take different forms, including seminars, expos, conferences, roundtable discussions, and debates. For more, visit westfaironline.com or call 914-694-3600.
At Action Entertainment, we understand that every business is defined by its competence, experience, and attention to detail. We recognize the importance of these elements in ensuring the success of your special occasion, particularly when it comes to entertainment. Our dedicated team asks the right questions during the planning stages, tailoring our services to enhance your event according to your specific tastes. Based in Rockland County, New York, Action Entertainment has brought joy and excitement to countless events, ranging from innovative bar and bat mitzvahs to elegant weddings. We proudly serve New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania, with the capacity to entertain at up to six events simultaneously. Our extensive experience includes large-scale celebrations such as bat and bar mitzvahs and Sweet 16 parties, while our sister division, Just DJs, specializes in more intimate gatherings for when you just need a DJ. We look forward to collaborating with you to create an unforgettable experience for your next party!
A real estate trade association in Westchester County and the Hudson Valley, the Building & Realty Institute (BRI) advocates for the best interests of the realty industry to government leaders and to the community. We provide knowledge and resources to our members and we create opportunities for our members to build relationships and improve their businesses. Our membership includes homebuilders, remodelers, multifamily and commercial developers, apartment owners, co-op and condo boards, property managing agents and others looking to build the future of Westchester together.
Owners, developers, end users and facilities directors who value reliability and responsiveness trust CClean to maintain the region’s leading healthcare, educational and corporate environments, including clinics and hospitals, luxury residential and mixed use properties, private and therapeutic schools, and college campuses. Services include janitorial maintenance, post-construction cleaning, fl oor care and restoration, window washing, and commercial kitchen deep cleaning. Learn more at CleanIsHealthy.com.
The Community Preservation Corporation (CPC) is a nonprofit, multifamily lender and investor established in 1974 to provide financial and technical resources aimed at stabilizing and revitalizing communities. Today, CPC leverages its specialized expertise in housing finance and public policy to broaden access to affordable and workforce housing, reduce barriers for emerging developers in the real estate sector, and invest in energy-efficient housing solutions. The company offers a comprehensive range of construction and permanent lending products, including through its Agency lending subsidiary, CPC Mortgage Company. Additionally, CPC acts as an equity investor and owns approximately 4,500 affordable housing units. Since its inception, CPC has deployed over $15 billion to finance the creation and preservation of more than 230,000 housing units. The organization is committed to sustainability and is a carbon-neutral entity, maintaining an AA- credit rating from S&P.
The New York Hospitality Group is dedicated to providing our guests with the highest quality cuisine, exceptional service and genuine hospitality. Our Brands are Sam’s of Gedney Way, Caperberry Events, The Great American Barbecue Company, Everyday Healthy Cafe, and The C.V. Rich Mansion. We cater small intimate gatherings with special care and handle large elaborate events with our attention to every detail. Our talented team of event specialists will learn your vision for your event. Our expertise in event planning and seamless execution will make you feel at ease and be a guest at your own event. With over 30 venues to choose from, we will help you find the perfect location. We have made a commitment to our food through the dedication of our chef who purchases only the freshest local ingredients. This commitment to sustainable sources, along with his delicious healthy recipes, ensures a unique dining experience.
Stagg Group is a vertically integrated development, construction and management company with a 30-year track record of delivering high-quality, affordable and market-rate housing throughout the Bronx, Westchester County and the greater New York metropolitan area. Founded in 1996 by Mark Stagg, the company is committed to building communities that elevate quality of life and support long-term neighborhood growth. Since completing its first project in 1998, Stagg Group has grown into one of the region’s most trusted real estate firms, with a portfolio of more than 5,000 residential units. Today, the company specializes in high-rise residential and mixed-use projects, each reflecting its dedication to excellence, sustainability and the long-term success of the residents and communities it serves.
