S O C I E T Y — P A R T Y B E S T O F — E V E N T S

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S k a t e b o a r d S t u d i o a r t i S t d e S i g n e d S k a t e b o a r d S V i P L a u n C h P a r t y w i t h d e S i g n e r & a r t i S t t r a C y S t e r n a n d r a n d y P o L u M b o o n M o n d ay , M ay 1 8 , 2 0 1 5 a t C h e F ’ S C Lu b

Award of Excellence Wine Spectator’s

All that ails a society cannot be left only to the promise of philanthropy. But the entrepreneurial spirit behind the hu-

manity that targets what requires attention to sustain the future of an evolved civilization ultimately reflects that society’s broader values. Political leaders of either party who may seek guidance into what policy prescriptions to pursue need look no further than that to which their constituents are attempting to treat with their own generosity here in New York.

Furthermore, it is not a sign of weakness but one of strength to recognize that every great community, region, or country has ailments that require treatment. It is instead a sign of weakness to assume that they will get better on their own without the assistance of the more enlightened, thoughtful, and generous among us. Patriots, regardless of their political affiliation or identity, ought to want to live in a country that not only liberates their own spirit to succeed but provides op-portunities to elevate their countrymen. No patriot wants to live in a country collapsing from within.

Consider instead the words of industrialist Henry Ford:

Dr. Dendy Engelman, Jason Wright, Gigi Stone Wood

by ChriStoPher London, with PhotoS by gregory Partanio & ManhattanSoCiety.CoM

NEW YORKERS BUILDING A BETTER FUTURE

“. . . well-paid workers generating consumer demand that in turn promotes business expansion and hiring.” Ford was one of the first business leaders to articulate what economists call “the virtuous circle of growth.” If you love the promise of America, what would be the point in living in a great big beau-tiful house in a decaying and dangerous neighborhood with starving and abused citizens just outside your gates?

The events referenced below evidence that some of our so-cietal leaders in the business community understand implicitly that America’s place in the world shall be determined by that which we do to fortify, shape, and secure the future of the families of our nation.

The Opportunity Network’s 8th Annual Night of Opportunity

On April 13, The Opportunity Network (OppNet), a New York City nonprofit that puts high-achieving, low-income students on the road to top colleges and successful careers, hosted its eighth annual Night of Opportunity at Cipriani Wall

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Street. The gala, which aimed to raise more than $1.7 million for the organization, exceeded this number raising more than $2 million.

OppNet honored Catherine Engelbert, the CEO of Deloitte LLP; Robert F. Smith, the founder, chairman, and CEO of Vista Equity Partners; and the designer Narciso Ro-driguez.

Notables in attendance included the New York attorney general, Eric Schneiderman; Miss USA 2014, Nia Sanchez; the founder and CEO of Opp Net, Jessica Pliska; and the chairman and APAX partner, Jason Wright; the co-founder of OppNet and head of corporate finance at Creative Art-ists Agency, Brian Weinstein; a Deloitte vice president and managing partner, Chet Wood; a Jana Partners LLC partner and co-portfolio manager, Scott Ostfeld and his wife, Jenni-fer Maxfield Ostfeld; Narciso Rodriguez’s husband, Thom-as Tolan; Zero+Maria Cornejo designer Maria Cornejo; and Miss USA 2012, Nana Meriwether.

NYSPCC Junior Committee AnniversaryThe New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to

Children (NYSPCC), the world’s first child-protection agen-cy, celebrating its 140th year of service, held its annual Ju-nior Committee spring benefit on May 6, at Tao Downtown Lounge.

The NYSPCC’s set of young philanthropists assume social responsibility each year to raise essential funds for the efforts of the agency: helping children heal from abuse and neglect, and helping families grow stronger. The Junior Committee has been supporting the efforts of the agency since 2005. The beneficiary of this event was the NYSPCC’s Trauma Recovery program.

Steering Committee members in attendance included Al-exandra Papanicolaou (president), Chani Churchill (vice president), Elizabeth Tooter (secretary), Matt Semino (trea-surer), Hudson Bova, Christopher Breck, Lauren Cahill, Stephen Czeck, Meaghan Kimball, Athena Klein, Jona-than Klein, Marc A. Lewinstein, Maureen Nash, Xanthe Ranger, and Audrey Seybert.

Other notable supporters in attendance included Nicole DiCocco, Denise Limongello, LMSW, Jennifer Panciera, Jane Pontarelli, Barbara Regna, and Linette Semino.

Matt Semino, a principal at the Investment Management firm Bessemer Trust and the treasurer of the NYSPCC Junior Committee, explained why he and his wife, Linette Semino, a real estate broker at the Corcoran Group in New York City, actively support the NYSPCC: “The organization is focused on helping New York’s most vulnerable children emerge with strength from experiences of trauma and abuse.”

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Barbara Regna, Valerie Lettan, Bettina Bennett

Denise Limongello, Lauren Cahill, Jennifer Panciera

Kristy Rao, Nicole DiCocco, Jane Pontarelli

Dr. Mary Pulido, Edward Shaheen, Alexandra Papanicolaou Shaheen

Without the healing work of this organization, abused chil-dren might not stand a chance to propel their lives toward reaching their dreams and goals. The organization, founded in 1875, is the first, and one of the most highly respected, child protective agencies in the world. The NYSPCC responds to the complex needs of abused and neglected children, and those involved in their care, by providing best practice coun-seling, legal, and educational services. The NYSPCC’s unique work is used as a model for child welfare agencies across the nation.

Sanctuary for Families Honors Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP for Pro Bono Work

Members of New York City’s philanthropic, legal, social jus-tice, civic, and business communities joined forces on June 2 to help Sanctuary for Families celebrate its 30th anniversary of helping families escape violence and build safe, independent lives, and call for an end to all forms of gender violence at its annual Zero Tolerance benefit. The event, held at Pier Sixty/Chelsea Piers, raised more than $2 million to support critical programs dedicated to helping survivors of domestic violence and sex trafficking.

Among the evening’s highlights was the presentation of the Zero Tolerance Award to Michael J. Sharp, the general counsel and executive vice president of Jefferies Group, the global investment banking firm, for his long-standing commit-ment to Sanctuary’s work. Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, the first law firm to give me a legal job upon graduation from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and a great train-ing ground for a young aspiring lawyer, was presented with the Law Firm Leadership Award for its tireless and effective pro bono work on behalf of Sanctuary’s clients. It’s a source of pride that some of the most intelligent and committed pro-fessionals I have ever encountered in legal practice I met in my first job at this standout law firm, which, although multina-tional, is now quintessentially New York, embodying the spirit which makes this city great.

“Tonight Sanctuary for Families is proud to celebrate 30 years of progress against domestic violence and sex traffick-ing,” said the Honorable Judy Harris Kluger, the executive

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Jen Lee, Mark Lewinstein, Xanthe Ranger

Matt Semino, Linette Semino

William Gorin, Stephanie Ferdman, Judy Kluger, Andrea Bernstein

Christopher Nordquist, David Duplantis

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director. “The money raised this evening makes it possible for our staff to reach more victims, educate the community, advocate for change, and bring us closer to ending the abuse forever.”

The gala was chaired by Andrea A. Bernstein, a partner of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP; Brian P. Friedman, the chairman of the executive committee of Jefferies Group LLC; Richard B. Handler, the chairman and CEO of Jeffer-ies Group LLC; Sallie Krawcheck, the chair of Elevate Net-work; Nicole Sayfie Porcelli, the co-chair of Sanctuary for Families’ Mothers’ Council; and Marcello Porcelli, the CEO of LargaVista Companies.

Also on hand to support Sanctuary for Families were Wil-lie Geist, the co-host of NBC’s Today and MSNBC’s Morning Joe; designer Rory Tahari; Dr. George Lazarus and his wife, Shelly Lazarus, the chairman emeritus of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide; Ted Bunch, the co-founder and co-director of A Call to Men; Chris Nordquist, the creator of Domestic Daddy; and David Duplantis, the president of global market-ing, digital and customer experience at Coach; Ellen Goos-enberg; Jed Walentas; David Bloom; Michael Friedman; and Michael Wlody, the CFO of Cushman & Wakefield. An after-dinner dance party was hosted by rock and roll Hall of Famer DJ Grandmaster Flash.

Sanctuary for Families is the leading nonprofit agency in New York State dedicated exclusively to the safety, healing, and self-determination of victims of domestic violence and related forms of gender violence.

Coro New York Leadership Center Celebrates 30 Years of Visionary Leaders

Four hundred thirty New Yorkers gathered on April 22 in the heart of Manhattan as Coro New York Leadership Cen-ter, the city’s premier leadership training program, hosted its annual fundraising gala in Manhattan’s Gotham Hall. This year’s Coro Awards gala, 30 Years of Visionary Leaders, raised $750,000 to support Coro’s leadership training programs, pro-viding the city’s top talent with skills, knowledge, and a net-work to influence meaningful change.

The honorees exemplify Coro’s belief that a single person

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Christine Geist, Willie Geist

John H. Alschuler, Suri Kasirer

Carlos Menchaca, Scott Millstein, Ritchie J. Torres, Helen Rosenthal

Peter Neger, Claire Goodman Pellegrini Cloud, Ricky Pellegrini, Leslie Goodman

with sufficient drive and passion will make his or her com-munity a better place for all. Coro is a community of 2,200 alumni across business, government, schools, and non-profits. The 2015 Civic Builder Award was presented to Suri Kasirer, the president of Kasirer Consulting, LLC, by MaryAnne Gilmartin, the president and CEO of Forest City Ratner Companies. The 2015 Lewis Rudin Award for Civic Leader-ship was presented to John H. Alschuler, the chairman of HR&A Advisors, by Carl Weisbrod, the chairman of the New York City Planning Commission. The Honorable Don-ald H. Gips, the former U.S. Ambassador to South Africa and the senior counselor at Albright Stonebridge Group, was pre-sented with the 2015 Alumni Impact Award by John Stern, the president of Storm King Art Center. Gips is a member of the first class of Coro Fellows in New York City (1985). The 2015 Alumni Award for Public Service was presented to the Honorable Ritchie J. Torres, a New York City Council Member and a 2004 graduate of Coro’s youth program Ex-ploring Leadership.

Scott Millstein, the executive director of the Coro New York Leadership Center, said, “In a city as big as New York, overflowing with intelligent, driven, and creative individuals, it can be difficult to have one’s voice rise above the crowd. But tonight’s honorees have done just that. Thanks to them, 400 community leaders will come to Coro this year to learn how New York City works so they can make it better.”

Past honorees include Bill Bratton, Diana Taylor, Jona-than Tisch, Robert M. Morgenthau, Danny Meyer, Marcy Syms, Wynton Marsalis, and Gael Greene.

Coro New York Leadership Center also recognized post-humously the contributions to the City by Senator Roy M. Goodman, and a $250,000 gift from the Committee for Goodman. Coro will use the funds to establish the Senator Roy M. Goodman Fund, which will support Coro’s renowned Fellows Program in Public Affairs, a full-time program that prepares young professionals for effective, bipartisan, and eth-ical leadership in the public arena.

We fortify the possibility of the greater common good when we consider how to best unleash the human spirit to self actualize and shape a more positive, productive, and fair society for all.

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Donald H. Gips, John Stern

Catherine Engelbert, Chet Wood, Debbie Wood

Hope Dworaczyk Smith, Robert F. Smith

Maria Cornejo, Thomas Tolan, Jessica Pliska

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