Business Council Speakers Bureau
Making Your Event a Success!
Heather C. Briccetti, Esq., President and CEO
Heather C. Briccetti, Esq. is the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of The Business Council of New York State, Inc., the primary, statewide association advocating for New York’s business community. Ms. Briccetti is a dynamic leader, trusted advisor and champion for economic growth, good jobs and strong communities across New York.
As a visionary for New York’s economy, she has created a leading voice for business on economic growth, corporate governance, tax policy, labor, manufacturing, campaign finance reform, value creation, and education, among other issues.
Lev Ginsburg, Esq.
Specialties: Health Care, Unemployment Insurance and Workers' Compensation
Lev Ginsburg, Esq., Director of Government Affairs, is responsible for The Business Council's advocacy on Health Care & Insurance, Workers' Compensation, Legal Reform and Unemployment Insurance issues. He is a graduate of the University of Buffalo and the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Prior to his legal education, Lev served as a staff member for U.S. Senator Arlen Specter, and as a staff attorney with T-Mobile Communications, handling real estate leasing and title issues. Lev then served for seven years as attorney and staff supervisor with the former Governor's Office of Regulatory Reform (GORR). At GORR, Lev handled stakeholder outreach and regulatory oversight over most State regulatory agencies, and his regulatory oversight work covered a broad range of issue areas with a focus on health and labor regulations.
You can contact Lev at lev.ginsburg@bcnys.org.
Frank Kerbein
Specialties: Labor and Human Resources, Construction and Transportation
Frank Kerbein is the director of the Center for Human Resources and responsible for advocacy on construction and transportation issues. Frank comes to The Business Council from the New York State Funeral Directors Association where he was Director of Member Relations. At the Funeral Directors Association, Frank provided human resource and OSHA consulting services to employers of all sizes. Additional experience includes roles as the Executive Director of Foundation Services, and Director of Education and Training. Prior work experience includes human resources staff and leadership positions in the financial services and health care arenas.
Frank is a graduate of Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. He is also SPHR certified and has more than 30 years of experience in all areas of human resource management.
You can contact Frank at frank.kerbein@bcnys.org.
Ken Pokalsky, Vice President
Specialties: Taxes, Economic Development and Innovation
Ken is responsible for management of The Business Council's government affairs staff and the Council’s overall legislative and regulatory advocacy efforts; he is also directly responsible for the Council’s lobbying on economic development and taxation issues. He has served on numerous state advisory panels, and is currently a member of the state’s Business Taxpayer Advisory Committee. Ken has been with The Business Council since 1982. He is a graduate of the SUNY Albany Graduate School of Public Affairs (MPA '83) and SUNY at Brockport (BA in Political Science, '80).
Liaison with: Empire State Development Corporation and Department of Taxation and Finance.
You can contact Ken at ken.pokalsky@bcnys.org.
Darren Suarez, Director of Government Affairs
Specialties: Energy and Environment/OSH
Darren Suarez is The Business Council of New York State’s director of government affairs, for advocacy on energy, environmental, and occupational safety and health issues.
Prior to joining The Business Council, Darren worked at Hinman Straub LLC, where he lobbied for a number of Fortune 500 companies on energy and environmental issues. He also previously served as the program director for environmental and economic development for the New York State Senate, where he represented the Majority Leader at meetings and public events in addition to developing, amending, and negotiating economic development tax incentives.
Additionally, he was also a government affairs representative for the City University of New York and Cornell University, and worked for the New York State Department of Labor as a job services representative — working with employers to meet their workforce needs.
Darren holds a degree in Political Science from UMass — Dartmouth. He was the recipient of the 2006 Economic Development Service Award in recognition of work in attracting GlobalFoundries to construct a $3.2 billion 300 mm-wafer fab in New York State. In 2005, Darren was awarded the New York Nature Conservancy’s Salamander Award for working to protect New York’s biodiversity and was a joint recipient of the 2004 National Conference of State Legislatures Staff Chair Award for work as a primary author of New York’s Brownfield Cleanup Program.
You can contact Darren at darren.suarez@bcnys.org.