ALBANY—The Business Council’s Board of Directors re-elected Linda Sanford, senior vice president of enterprise on demand transformation and information technology for IBM, and Kirk Gregg, executive vice president and chief administration officer of Corning Incorporated, as co-chairs for the year ahead. The Council has also elected six new directors and re-elected 16 directors.

This will be the second year that the Westchester-based Sanford and the Corning-based Gregg have served as the Council's co-chairs. The Board also elected Paul S. Speranza, vice chairman and general counsel and secretary of Rochester's Wegmans Food Markets, Inc., as the Board’s treasurer and vice chairman for finance. David Klein, CEO of the Rochester-based Excellus, was elected secretary.

The newly elected directors are:

• Mark Bitz, long-time turkey farmer, former president of Plainville Turkey Farm and New York government reform activist. Bitz, who recently sold the Plainville Turkey Farm, also owns and operates Plainville’s Nature’s Fare restaurant, Central New York Crops and Central New York Feeds. Bitz, a graduate of Purdue and Cornell Universities, is the author of Creating a Prosperous New York State: Making Elected Officials Accountable for New York State’s Performance Relative to Other States. Bitz is based in Onondaga County.

• Richard Flaherty, president, CEO of the Albany-based First Cardinal LLC. Flaherty has been an owner and partner of First Cardinal since its inception April 1994. Flaherty, who earned his bachelor’s in economics from the College of Holy Cross, has worked in the insurance business for more than 20 years, spending most of that time specializing in workers’ compensation. In his role as First Cardinal president and CEO, Flaherty manages the day-to-day operations of First Cardinal, CardinalComp LLC and First Cardinal of Texas, Ltd.

• Marsha Gordon, president of the Business Council of Westchester (BCOW). Before assuming leadership of the BCOW 2001, Gordon was president and CEO of MetroPool, Inc., a not-for-profit aimed at addressing commuter issues in the Hudson Valley. She also served as president of the Greater Southern Dutchess Chamber of Commerce from 1991 through 1999. Gordon completed her undergraduate studies at Brooklyn College and earned an MBA from Marist College before completing her doctorate in business administration from Pace University.
  
  
• D. Cameron Hyde, president, Xerox North American Partners Group. Hyde began his career with Xerox as a Canada-based sales representative in 1975. He held a variety of positions throughout North America, including CEO of Xerox Canada, Ltd., before being named to his current position in January of this year. Hyde has served as a company vice president since 2004. Hyde received his bachelors of arts and business administration degrees from the University of Alberta. He is based in Rochester.
  
  
• Joseph Saffire, executive vice president and regional president commercial lending for Upstate New York. Before his current position, Saffire served as senior vice president and global relationship manager for HSBC's Global Industrials Group. Saffire has held a variety of positions with the company since joining in 1992, including senior vice president for corporate banking in
  Seoul, South Korea; manager of securities services in the Philippines; manager of trade services in China; and vice president of corporate banking in Guam. He received his undergraduate degree from Boston College and earned his MBA in finance and international management from the University at Buffalo. Saffire relocated from New York City to his hometown
  of Amherst in Erie County.
  
  
• David F. Smith, president and chief operating officer of National Fuel, and president of its pipeline and storage segments, National Fuel Gas Supply Corporation and Empire State Pipeline. He began his career at National Fuel in 1978. Smith has served president and chief operating officer of National Fuel Gas Co. since February, 2006 and of its pipeline and storage segments since 2005. He completed his undergraduate studies at the State University of New York at Fredonia, and later earned his law degree from the SUNY Buffalo’s School of Law. Smith is based in Buffalo.
  
  
• Michael A. Zarcone, senior vice president of government and industry relations for MetLife. Zarcone joined MetLife in 1991 as a government relations counsel covering New York State. He became head of the company’s government relations in 2002 and has served as senior vice president in 2004. Prior to joining the company, Zarcone served as associate counsel to former Assembly Minority Leader Clarence Rappleyea. Zarcone finished his undergraduate studies at Siena College and earned his law degree from Catholic University. Zarcone is based in Long Island City.

Re-elected directors are:

• Wendy Arienzo, vice president and general manager of NPX Semiconductor.
  
  
• Terry L. Brown, chairman and CEO of O'Brien & Gere Limited.
  
  
• Kevin Burke, chairman and CEO of Con Edison.
  
  
• Richard J. Carota, chairman, president CEO of Finch Paper, LLC.
  
  
• Robert B. Catell, USA chairman of National Grid.
  
  
• Michael J. Doyle, president of Pleasant Valley Wine Co.
  
  
• Glenn S. Goldberg, president of information and media for the McGraw-Hill Companies.
  
  
• Thomas F. Judson, Jr., chairman and CEO of the Pike Company, Inc.
  
  
• Raymond J. Kinley, Jr., CEO of Clough, Harbour and Associates, LLP.
  
  
• David H. Klein, CEO of Excellus.
  
  
• Stanford Lipsey, publisher of the Buffalo News.
  
  
• John F. Murray, president and CEO of Rose and Kiernan, Inc.
  
  
• Muriel Siebert, chairperson of Muriel Seibert & Co.
  
  
• John F. Tattersall, president of Lydall Industrial Thermal Solutions, Inc.
  
  
• Vincent R. Volpe, president of Dresser-Rand Company.
  
  
• Robert G. Wilmers, president of M&T Bank.