The Business Council’s Board of Directors has elected Linda Sanford of IBM and Kirk Gregg of Corning Incorporated co-chairs for the year ahead.
The Council has also elected two new directors and re-elected eight directors.
Sanford is senior vice president, enterprise on demand transformation at IBM and has served as chairman of the Business Council’s Board of Directors since September 2005. Gregg, executive vice president and chief administrative officer of Corning Incorporated, had served as vice chairman of the Board since September 2005.
“The board recognizes that the months ahead represent a challenging period of transition both for the Council and for state government,” Sanford said. “For this reason, the board has recommended that, for the year ahead, we replace our normal board leadership structure – that is, a chairman and a vice chairman—with a co-chair structure.”
The Board elected two new directors. They are:
- Monica Azare, a senior vice president at
Verizon for state public policy and government affairs
for New York and Connecticut.
- In her position at Verizon, Azare is responsible
for legislative and political activity in New York
and Connecticut. Before being named to her current
position, Azare served as executive director and
senior counsel of federal affairs for Verizon Wireless.
- Keith Powell, the assistant to the chairman and CEO and director and vice president for corporate financial planning and analysis at Eastman Kodak Company.
Powell joined Kodak in 2000 and has held a number of financial positions in the company. Prior to joining Kodak, Powell worked at the General Chemical Corp. and AlliedSignal/Honeywell in various financial positions throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Re-elected directors are:
- Stephen Bolze, vice president of power generation for GE Energy.
- Michael J. Falcone, chairman of the Pioneer Companies.
- Thomas X. Geisel, president of the Capital Region district for KeyBank North America.
- Roger A. Hannay, president and CEO of Hannay Reels, Inc.
- Steven V. Lant, chairman, president and CEO of CH Energy Group, Inc.
- Stephen McCormick, plant manager for Anheuser-Busch, Inc.
- Gerhard J. Neumaier, president and CEO of Ecology and Environment, Inc.
In addition, the Board voted to reelect Paul S. Speranza, vice chairman general counsel and secretary of Wegmans Food Markets, Inc., as the Board’s vice chairman for finance
Sanford, who leads the strategy for IBM’s internal transformation to the industry’s premier on-demand business, is one of the highest-ranking women in her field.
She is responsible for working across IBM to transform core business processes, create an information-technology infrastructure to support those processes, and help create a culture that recognizes the value that on-demand leadership can bring to IBM.
Sanford joined IBM in 1975 and moved up through engineering, management, and executive positions. She is a member of the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame and has been named one of the 50 most influential women in business by Fortune magazine.
She earned a bachelor’s degree at St. John’s University and a master’s degree in operations research from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Gregg joined Corning in 1993 as the director of executive compensation. The following year he became vice president of executive resources and employee benefits.
In 1997, Gregg was named the senior vice president of administration. Gregg was named to his current position in 2002.
Gregg is a member of the board of directors of PersonalPath Systems, Inc. and Three Rivers Development Corporation.
He is a graduate of Bemidji State University in Minnesota and received a master’s degree in industrial relations from MIT’s Sloan School of Management.