Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer has selected Business Council president and CEO Kenneth Adams to serve as a co-chair on one of several policy transition committees.

“The policy advisory committees are composed of a diverse group of leading experts and thought leaders from throughout the state,” a release from the Governor-elects transition office said. “The committees will advise the Governor-Elect, Lieutenant Governor-Elect and the transition team on the major challenges facing the state.”

Adams was selected to serve as co-chair on the labor and workforce development advisory committee. Adams, who met with Governor-elect Spitzer after last week’s election, said he was honored.

"This shows how serious Governor-elect Spitzer is when he says he will help to make New York a better place to do business," Adams said.

Adams will serve on the advisory panel with Denis M. Hughes, the president of the New York chapter of the AFL-CIO.

Governor-elect Spitzer also tapped Business Council staffer Ken Pokalsky to serve as a member of the energy and environment committee. Pokalsky is the director of the Council’s environmental and manufacturing programs.

Robert B. Catell, the chairman and CEO of Keyspan, a former Business Council chairman and current Council board member, will serve on the Energy and Environment Committee with Pokalsky.

Michael Falcone, Council board member and CEO of the Pioneer Companies, will serve on the transition’s economic development advisory panel. And board member Robert Wilmers, chairman of M&T Bank Corporation, will co-chair the committee on arts, culture and revitalization.

Dan Carp, former president and CEO of Eastman Kodak, will co-chair the advisory panel on economic development. He will be joined by Kenneth I. Chenault, CEO of American Express, and Felix G. Rohatyn, senior advisor of Lehman Brothers and president of Rohatyn Associations, LLC.

The transition office announced eleven other advisory panels, including:

• Agriculture – co-chaired by Raymond Cross, president of Morrisville State College, and Edgar King, owner of Kings Ransom Farm in Saratoga.
  
  
• Arts, culture and revitalization– co-chaired by Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel, chair of the Historic Landmarks Preservation Center in New York City, and Robert Wilmers, chairman of M&T Bank Corporation in Buffalo and Business Council board member.
  
  
• Criminal Justice – co-chaired by Kristine Hamann, Executive Assistance District Attorney in New York City, and Denise E. O’Donnell, a partner at Hodgson Russ, LLP in Buffalo.
  
  
• Education – co-chaired by Carl T. Hayden, director of the New York State Health Foundation; August Souza Kappner, president of Bank Street College of Education; Hunter R. Rawlings, president emeritus of Cornell University; and Manuel Rivera, superintendent of the Rochester City School District.
  
  
• Energy and environment – co-chaired by Ashok Gupta, senior energy economist and air and energy program director at the natural Resources Defense Council in New York City; Cara Lee, program director at the Nature Conservancy in New Paltz; and Angela M. Sparks-Beddoe, vice president of Public Affairs of Energy East Management Corporation.
  
  
• Government reform – co-chaired by Robert Abrams, former state Attorney General, and Leecia Robert Eve, a national advisor on election reform for the America Democracy Institute in Buffalo.
  
  
• Health Care – chaired by James R. Tallon, Jr., president of the United Hospital Fund of New York and chairman of the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the uninsured.
  
  
• Homeland Security – co-chaired by Karen J. Greenberg, director of the Center on Law and Security at the NYU School of Law, and Mary Jo White, a partner at Debevoise & Plimpton, LLP.
  
  
• Housing – co-chaired by Lee Beaulac, senior vice president of housing and economic development at Rural Opportunities, Inc. in Rochester, and Felice L. Michetti, chairman and CEO of Grenadier Realty Corporation.
  
  
• Human services – co-chaired by Geoffrey Canada, president and CEO of Harlem Children’s Zone in New York City, and Karen Schimke, president and CEO of the Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy in Albany.
  
  
• Transportation – co-chaired by Mary Ann Crotty, an independent infrastructure consultant specializing in transportation projects, and Elliot Sander, corporate senior vice president and DMJM Harris in New York City.