Wendy Phaff Gennaro - Moderator Director of Development at Queens Centers For Progress Wendy Phaff Gennaro is the Director of Development at Queens Center for Progress (QCP), a not-for-profit agency in Jamaica, New York that provides services to people with developmental disabilities. Ms. Gennaro joined QCP in 2010 and is responsible for implementing development strategies for the human services agency. Through her strategic efforts, QCP significantly increased its annual fundraising through its Footsteps for Progress Walk, the creation of Team QCP, which participates in endurance events, and through the agency’s largest fundraiser – its golf outing – which has grown to a million dollars over the years. Prior to joining QCP, Ms. Gennaro was a consultant at Be the Example, where she created and implemented social media marketing, enhanced the organization’s online presence and donor database. Community-minded, she has served in many organizations, including: President/Co-Founder of the Make a Difference Club in Garden City from 2007 to 2009; a member of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training program from 2005- 2010; Outreach Associate for the Long Island Volunteer Center in Hempstead from 2009 to 2010; and currently sits on the board of the Queens Distance Runners, a vibrant community of Queens runners, and was appointed by the Queens Borough President as a Board Member to Community Board 8, Queens in 2018. In 2016, Ms. Gennaro created the Queens Chapter of Achilles International, an organization whose mission is to enable people with disabilities to participate in mainstream athletic events to promote personal achievement, enhance self-esteem, and lower barriers to living a fulfilled life. Since its inception, Queens’ Achilles athletes have crossed the finish line in dozens of marathons in New York City and as far away as Paris. Continually reimagining herself to grow professionally and personally, Ms. Gennaro got her start in her professional life in the beauty and cosmetics industry working for such prestigious companies as Vidal Sassoon, Aveda Products and Sebastian International. From beauty she segued into the music business with a twenty-five-year career that began with band management and wrapped up with managing a wholesale import/export record company which she was instrumental in growing into a multi-million dollar business. After her success in the music business, Ms. Gennaro decided to give back and shift her career to the not-for-profit sector. Always generous in giving of her personal time for worthy causes and sharing her talents with others for the betterment of the community, she started running and raising money for charitable causes in 2005. At first she hated the running, but loved the fundraising. She now enjoys both and continues to run and fundraise to this day.
Larry Grubler - Moderator Chief Executive Director of Transitional Services for New York, Inc. Larry Grubler - Moderator Chief Executive Director of Transitional Services for New York, Inc. https://www.tsiny.org Larry S. Grubler, Psy.D. is the Chief Executive Officer of Transitional Services for New York, Inc. (TSINY), a comprehensive, not-for-profit mental health organization headquartered in Whitestone, New York. In 1981, Dr. Grubler began his career working with individuals with mental illness as a counselor in a day program operated by Mercy Hospital and Medical Center. After four years of providing direct clinical services on both an outpatient and inpatient basis, Dr. Grubler began working as an administrator of mental health programs, both overseeing programs and developing new initiatives. In the late 1980's, he worked under both Mayors Koch and Dinkins as a Senior Consultant for the New York City Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Alcoholism Services and gained a good understanding of community participation in program development and public funding. In 1992, Dr. Grubler was hired as TSINY's Associate Director of Residential Services. At the time, TSINY had 189 beds for individuals over the age of 18 who had a primary psychiatric diagnosis. Today, the residential programs have over 700 beds with expansions planned for Queens and the Lower Hudson Valley Region of New York. He was appointed CEO in March of 2007 and has expanded under his leadership to a corporation with a budget of 30 million dollars, servicing over 4,000 people per year. The Agency maintains a host of outpatient services, such as a clinic, a day program, and outreach and vocational services, as well as an affirmative business. Dr. Grubler believes that the rehabilitation services that are provided by the staff of TSINY are so unique and the Agency mission and vision that he helped establish are so important that the services should be expanded to other parts of New York initially and, ultimately, throughout the United States. Dr. Grubler is a Queens native, having been born and raised in Far Rockaway, New York. He resides in Bayside with his wife, Bonnie Arquilla. He received a Bachelor's degree from the State University of New York at Binghamton, a Master's degree from St. John's University in General and Experimental Psychology and a Doctorate in Psychology from Southern California University for Professional Studies.