Daniel Bologna (1983, Individual Studies)
Bologna is an inspiration to those who believe everyone deserves a solid education. As superintendent of Port Chester High School's CLASS Academy, he reaches out to students who would've dropped out of high school long ago without the extra attention and support they receive from a very specialized curriculum he has designed. Students of Bologna's CLASS Academy attend classes at night and work at internships during day-a formula that he's discovered is just right for these individuals. The CLASS Academy is now in its fourth year, with a graduating class of 50.
John Caparella (1978, Hospitality Management)
Caparella has served as executive vice president and chief operating officer of Gaylord Hotels since September 1977. Prior to that he was senior vice president and general manager of the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center in Kissimmee, FL. He joined the Sheraton Corporation shortly after graduating from Delhi and quickly became one of the industry's rising stars. He enjoyed a 17-year career with Sheraton that included an assignment at Sheraton's corporate headquarters and management positions at hotels and four-star luxury properties in New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Orlando. From there, he became the first executive vice president of planning, development and administration and president of PlanetHollywood.com. Caparella was presented the 2004 Gaylord Leadership Excellence Award by Gaylord Entertainment CEO Colin Reed. In 2006, he was named Outstanding General Manager of the Year by the American Hotel and Lodging Association and received the Golf Key Elite Award, which is given to the top five meeting properties in the world by Meetings and Conventions magazine. A strong supporter of the college, Caparella has served on the original capital campaign committee for the Alumni Hall Hospitality Center and has helped sponsor Delhi's culinary team at the American Culinary Federation National Championship. He also volunteers his time as a member of the Hospitality Advisory Board.
Ron Catella (1958, Construction Technology)
Catella spent the first 10 years of his career with AT&T as a project engineer for the construction of cable repeater and radio relay buildings and towers. From 1969 to 1981, he worked for Harvard University as a project supervisor for capital building programs and renovations. He then spent four years as Director of the Construction Management Department for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, supervising all capital construction projects in the Colonial Williamsburg Historic area. Following his position with Colonial Williamsburg, Catella served as project manager for the Mutual Development Corporation, overseeing office, townhouse and health center clinic construction projects. In the early 1990’s as facility manager for Digital ABS, he oversaw a corporate headquarters with one million square feet of office space. Joining Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994 as senior project manager, Catella was responsible for planning, budgeting and managing capital construction, lab upgrades and infrastructure improvements that included a five-year $950 million dollar capital construction program. He retired from MIT in 2004, but his retirement only lasted three and a half months. Commodore Builders recognized Catella’s expertise and convinced him to join them on a part-time basis as a consultant project manager. And recently, Catella added another part-time job, responding to a special request from The First Church of Concord to serve as the owner’s project representative for a $2.5 million dollar renovation and addition.
Deborah Crute (1999, Veterinary Science Technology)
Deborah Crute is a Veterinary Science Technology graduate who was able to parlay her internship work at Delhi into a position as manager of the Heart of Catskills Humane Society. Now Crute oversees SUNY Delhi interns at the shelter, helping them acquire real-world experience. She also hosts information sessions for Delhi students, inspiring them to volunteer at animal shelters and learn more about animal care. Crute is a strong supporter of the shelter's spaying and neutering partnership with SUNY Delhi. The college's Veterinary Science Technology program provides services to the shelter as training for its students. In return, the shelter is able to prepare its animals for adoption.
Mark Grillo (1998, Electrical Technology)
Soon after graduating from Delhi's Electrical Technology program, Grillo entered the Police Academy and became an officer with the 42 nd Precinct in the Bronx. His duties with the 42nd made him a true American hero --he risked his own life to save 50 lives from the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Following that fateful day, he made appearances on VH1's Concert for New York broadcast with actress Julia Stiles and Cleveland's National Day of Remembrance. Today he serves as a New York City firefighter, realizing his childhood dream.
Peter Hamilton (1977, Business Management)
A graduate of SUNY Delhi's business program, Peter Hamilton serves as president of Delhi Motor Co., Inc., a third generation business which employs alumni from the college's automotive program. As chairman of the board at O'Connor Hospital, he's best known for championing healthcare in his community. His vision to ensure greater programs and services helped affiliate O'Connor with Bassett Healthcare, a growing upstate New York healthcare network. In recognition of his efforts, he was awarded the 2001 Trustee Leadership Award by the Healthcare Trustees of New York State. Hamilton currently serves on SUNY Delhi's Liberal Arts and Sciences Division advisory committee and regularly supports special projects at his alma mater.
Erik Healy (1989, Engineering Science)
Erik Healy has spent most of his career with Whiting Turner Contracting Company, the nation's fifth largest domestic contractor. his outstanding service was recognized in 2007 when he was promoted to vice president. Prior to that Healy distinguished himself as junior executive with Whiting Turner, a major construction corporation. There, he has managed many engineering projects throughout New York, Virginia and Vermont. While working in Virginia for Whiting Turner, Healy was named Project Manager of the Year by the Washington Building Congress, which recognizes the highest standards and practices in real estate, design and construction. Currently, Healy served as manager for a micro-electronics project for IBM in East Fishkill that totals nearly $300 million. Healy serves as a member of the college's Construction Technology Advisory Council. He has also used his industry contacts to arrange for donations of supplies and equipment for the college's construction program, library and athletic department. In 2008, he was named one of the first inductees to the SUNY Delhi Athletic Hall of Fame.
Sue Atkin Hoenhaus (1980, Nursing)
Sue Atkin Hohenhaus recently served as a Clinical Nurse Educator at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. There she began a sexual assault nurse examiners training and was the primary instructor on this topic until last year. Currently, she serves as Project Manager, Emergency Medical Services for Children Enhancing Pediatric Patient Safety, at Duke University Medical Center. At Duke, she is administering a pediatric patient safety grant, which sprung from her work with the State Office of EMS as a child specialist. Sue pens a monthly column, "Clinical Nurses Forum", in the Journal of Emergency Nursing. She and husband Jay are Registered Nurses and have four daughters.
Rick Holfoth (1988, Turf Management)
Rick Holfoth serves as Golf Course Superintendent at Country Club of Rochester, a private, 18 hole course located on a 150 acre site on the Cocheco River in New Hampshire. A member of the New York State Turfgrass Association (NYSTA) Board of Directors, he was recently named the Peter P. Hahn Superintendent of the Year by the Finger Lakes Association of Golf Course Superintendents for the second time in his career. Rick was featured in Golf Course Management as an innovator in his field, documenting his irrigation restoration work at Irondequoit Country Club where he was superintendent. He serves on SUNY Delhi's Golf/Turf Advisory Board.
Michael O'Dea (1967, Engineering Technologies)
O’Dea has risen through the ranks of higher education to become a clinical professor of Construction Management at Purdue University. A faculty member for 15 years, he has taught in the construction management and construction engineering technology programs at Purdue and was the founding coordinator of the Construction Management program at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Prior to that, he spent 24 years in the construction industry, serving in positions that ranged from field engineer to vice president of operations and company owner. Since 1985, O’Dea has served as an arbitrator of construction disputes for the American Arbitration Association and serves on the Guidance Committee for the American Council for Construction Education. He served in the U.S. Navy Reserves, retiring in 1997 as a master chief petty officer after having served in Vietnam and having supported Desert Storm with the Naval Construction Battalions.
Paul O'Neil (1965, Hospitality Management)
O'Neil started his career working for the Sheraton Corporation as a management trainee and was the general manager of properties in New York, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Honolulu and Detroit. He then became managing director of the 2,400 room Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers and Sheraton Manhattan Hotel Complex. He was also the president of the North American Division, ITT Sheraton Corporation and president and chief operating officer of Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. O'Neil served as chief executive officer of Atlantis, Paradise Island in the Bahamas. The 2,300-room resort houses the largest man-made marine habitat in the world with more than 50,000 aquatic animals. A long-time member of the SUNY Delhi's Hospitality Management Advisory Council, he co-chaired the department's capital campaign and, with his wife, established a scholarship endowment for SUNY Delhi Hospitality students.
Carl V. Petronio (1958, Civil Technology)
Carl Petronio began his career with the Petronio Construction Company in 1959, where he served as president from 1967 to 1984. Today he is is a principal of the Allied Group, Incorporated, which he founded with three partners in 1984. As senior executive vice-president of Allied Builders, he has helped the Allied Group grow into a network of four corporations and fourteen partnerships. His activities encompass construction, real estate development, industrial park operations, regional distribution services, and low temperature warehousing. In 2008, he was presented with an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the State University of New York.
Stephen Pindar (1974, Business Management)
Pindar has served as an outspoken advocate for the homeless and less fortunate. He is a founding member of the Lord’s Table in Oneonta, a program that offers a meeting place and a hot meal to the Oneonta community. Pindar served as a member of the Otsego County Coordinating Council on Homelessness and was part of the ground-floor initiative for a 16-bed homeless shelter in the City of Oneonta, supervising the shelter’s programming and service provision for the first two years. He also is a former board member of the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York and Opportunities for Otsego. Pindar’s efforts to help those in need reach beyond the local area as well. He is the founder of Roberto’s Kids, a program that promotes opportunities for disadvantaged youth in Latin American countries. Roberto’s Kids gathers gently-worn sports equipment from 26 states throughout the U.S. and three Canadian providences and delivers them to schools, orphanages, and religious and civic organizations in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. His connections to the Dominican Republic run even deeper. Pindar is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Dominican Republic Sports and Education Academy, a non-profit organization that provides young Dominican athletes with an opportunity to develop their own talents in a structured and educational environment. He is also a member of the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development that acts as the “think tank” for Lionel Fernandez, President of the Dominican Republic. Pindar also serves on the Executive Management Team and as Director of Guest Relations for Cooperstown Baseball World, a national youth baseball tournament hosted in Oneonta.
Bill Pullman (1972, Liberal Arts)
An actor who has appeared in over 40 films, Bill Pullman has starred in a wide range of movie roles including the President of the United States in Independence Day, a private detective in Zero Effect and a troubled musician in David Lynch’s Lost Highway. Other film credits include The Thin Red Line, While You Were Sleeping, Sleepless in Seattle, A League of Their Own, The Serpent and the Rainbow, and The Accidental Tourist. On stage, Pullman starred in Edward Albee’s Broadway play The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?, which won several awards: 2002 Tony Award for Best Play; 2002 Drama Desk Award Outstanding New Play; and 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. In 2006, Pullman starred in The Subject Was Roses at the Kennedy Center and was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award as Outstanding Lead Actor for his role as John Cleary. Pullman's acting debut took place at SUNY Delhi in 1971. He went on to SUNY Oneonta where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1975. Pullman returned to the Delhi campus in 1977 for a one-year stint as drama director.
Gary R. Rice (1976, Hospitality Management)
Gary R. Rice has 30 years of experience in the food service industry. He owns Rice's Food Equipment and Consulting Company in Dallas, PA, a company that has been supplying food service equipment and offering kitchen design services since 1993. Rice is an active supporter of the scholarship programs for hospitality majors and assists the Hospitality Management department in acquiring specialized equipment for the program's food laboratories. A true advocate of Delhi, Mr. Rice regularly brings prospective students from BOCES for visits to the campus. Gary R. Rice was named the 2006 Distinguished Alumnus.
Steven Smithgall (1977, Construction Technology)
Smithgall, executive vice president and director of operations for Balfour Beatty Construction in Fairfax, Virginia, is a leader in the construction industry and numerous related professional organizations, including current and prior board leadership and committee chairmanship roles for the Washington Building Congress, Associated Builders and Contractors, D.C. Building Industry Association and American Concrete Institute. Smithgall's community support and leadership is demonstrated regularly through his commitment to charitable and community service organizations. Two examples include the Washington, D.C. Ronald McDonald House, where he is chairman of the building committee, planning an entirely new facility near Children's Hospital in Washington, D.C.; and the Center for Multicultural Human Services, where he has volunteered both physical and financial support for the organization's center for single mothers and their children. Since moving to the Washington, D.C. area in 1981, he has continually hosted students from SUNY Delhi on some of the area's most challenging and exciting construction projects, sharing with them the inspiration and excitement he felt when, as a student at SUNY Delhi, he toured his first commercial construction project in 1976. Smithgall went on to receive a Bachelor of Science degree in Building Construction from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in 1981.