Leadership and Public Engagement

John R. Koelmel, Chair

John R. Koelmel has served as Chairman of the NY Power Authority since June 2012, when he was nominated as a Trustee by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. He became a Board of Director when the NYS Canal Corporation became a subsidiary of the Power Authority in 2017.

Mr. Koelmel is currently an advisor for and investor in several early-stage businesses based in Western New York. He previously served as President of HARBORCENTER, LLC, and as President and Chief Executive Officer of First Niagara Financial Group, Inc. including its principal subsidiary, First Niagara Bank N.A.

He began his professional career with KPMG LLP in 1974 and was managing partner of KPMG's Buffalo office and Upstate New York Business Unit. Mr. Koelmel earned a B.A. degree in economics and accounting from The College of the Holy Cross in 1974. He has also assumed numerous and varied leadership roles in the Buffalo and Western New York community throughout his career.

Michael J. Cusick

Michael J. Cusick serves as President and CEO of the Staten Island Economic

Development Corporation (SIEDC), a non-profit organization where he brings a lifetime of experience leading economic policy and community leadership to enhance Staten Island's economy.

Prior to joining the SIEDC, Cusick represented Staten Island as a Member of the New York State Assembly for the past twenty years and has been credited with passing 120 pieces of legislation during his tenure. While in office, Cusick served as Chair of the Energy Committee and passed legislation that created strong cybersecurity protection for New York's energy grid, increased the adoption of electric-drive vehicles and supported efforts to bring the offshore-wind industry to New York.

Mr. Cusick serves as a member of the Empire State Development New York City Regional Economic Development Council and continues his public services as a member of the board for numerous organizations, including the Tunnel to Towers Foundation and the College of Staten Island Foundation.

A graduate of Monsignor Farrell High School and Villanova University, Cusick worked for the U.S. Senate and the New York City Council before joining the Assembly. He resides in Staten Island with his wife Yasmin and daughter Violet.

Dennis Trainor

Dennis G. Trainor is Vice President of CWA District 1.

Dennis Trainor was unanimously elected Vice President of CWA District One in June, 2015. His election to the CWA's top regional position capped a career dedicated to advancing the rights of working people. As regional Vice President, he leads 140,000 workers in telecommunications, public sector, media and broadcast, health care, airlines and manufacturing across New York, New Jersey and New England.

In April and May of 2016, Dennis led the successful 49-day strike of 40,000 Verizon workers up and down the East Coast, the largest strike in the country for the last five years. He also played a critical role in resolving the 17-week long IUE-CWA strike against Momentive Performance Materials in Waterford, NY in the winter of 2016-2017, including negotiating a back-to-work agreement that returned all the strikers to their jobs.

Prior to his election as Vice President, Dennis had served for ten years as Assistant to the Vice President of District One. In that role, Dennis had primary responsibility for collective bargaining throughout the region, which involved hundreds of collective bargaining agreements covering all members in District One. He served as the Verizon Regional Bargaining Chair for the 2008 and 2011 bargaining. He also chaired the AT&T East bargaining for the last five contracts and negotiated a new agreement with Frontier Communications when it purchased AT&T East.

Dennis was appointed the Downstate New York and Connecticut Area Director for CWA during bargaining with Verizon in 2003. As Area Director, Dennis supervised all of the CWA staff assigned to Local Unions in downstate New York and Connecticut and co-chaired the 2003 Verizon Regional Bargaining with the then Assistant to the Vice President Chris Shelton.

Dennis went to work for the New York Telephone Company in 1969 as a splicer's helper. He started his union career during the seven-month long strike against New York Telephone in 1971 when he was elected shop steward in CWA Local 1101. He was elected chief steward in 1975 and represented the Bronx Construction Department in NY Tel. He held that position for eleven years until he took over the chief steward's position in the Empire City Subway Company. He negotiated break out wages for many of the crafts in Empire City Subway during bargaining in 1991 and 1994.

Dennis lives with his wife Kathy in Holbrook, NY. He has three married sons, Dennis, Jr., Greg and Brian and three daughters-in-law – Dina, Jill and Kate and six grandchildren – Jesse, Henry, Julian, Scarlett, Graham and Lucy.

Bethaida González

Bethaida "Bea" González, born in Cayey Puerto Rico, and a longtime resident of Syracuse, has more than 40 years of experience in higher education, as well as a distinguished record of public and community service.

In 2014 she was appointed Special Assistant to the chancellor at Syracuse University and then Vice President for Community Engagement in 2017, until her retirement in 2020.

González has been elected to public office three times. In 1991, she was the first Latina to be elected to the board of education in the city of Syracuse, and in 2001 she was the first Latina elected as president of the Common Council for the city of Syracuse.

In 2017, she was the recipient of the University Professional Continuing Education Association Julius M. Nolte Award for Extraordinary Leadership, given to an individual in recognition of unusual and extraordinary contributions to the cause of continuing education on the regional, national and/or international level.

In 2020, the Allyn Foundation, in partnership with Syracuse University, the COVID-19 Relief Fund, the Gifford Foundation, Reisman Foundation and the United Way, developed the Bea Gonzalez Summer Scholars program serving over 800 youth.

González earned a Master of Arts from Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. She received a Bachelor's of Arts degree from the State University of New York at Binghamton.

Cecily L. Morris

Cecily LaVigne Morris retired as a New York State Family Court Judge and Acting Supreme Court Justice in December 2021. Judge Morris began working in the New York State Unified Court System in 1989, beginning as a law clerk and court attorney for the Hon. David S. Nelson. After Judge Nelson retired, she continued in the UCS, and was elected Family Court Judge, serving from January 1, 2012, to December 31, 2021. As an Acting Supreme Court Justice, Judge Morris, in part, presided over the Integrated Domestic Violence Court Part and the Youth Part of New York State Supreme Court.

Judge Morris is the current Chair of the New York State Economic Development Power Allocation Board and member of the New York State Bar Association and the St. Lawrence County Bar Association.

Judge Morris has lived most of her life in St. Lawrence County, primarily in Massena, and earned her undergraduate B.A. degree in history at LeMoyne College in Syracuse in 1980, and her J.D. degree at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia in 1983.

Lewis M. Warren, Jr.

Lewis M. Warren, Jr. is a Vice Chair of Commercial Banking of J.P. Morgan, responsible for managing banking relationships with state and municipal agencies and authorities nationally, and with developing strategic alliances and product innovation. He has more than 35 years of experience in commercial and investment banking and global transaction services. Before joining J.P. Morgan in 2012, Warren was President, Northeast Commercial Banking, Deputy Head of Global Investment Banking and on the Management Operating Committee at Bank of America.

In his community, Warren served as Vice Chairman of the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency from 2018 to 2022. He currently serves as Vice Chairman on the board of PENCIL—the New York City non-profit that partners public schools with businesses—and has recently joined the board of the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, Northwell Health, New York.

Warren has twice received the President's Volunteer Service Award and the "Black Achiever in Industry Award" from the YMCA of Greater New York. He has been named a "top 100 under 50 Diverse Executives and Emerging Leaders" by Diversity MBA magazine and honored as one of "75 Most Powerful Blacks on Wall Street" by Black Enterprise magazine. In 2019, Warren received the City of New York Mayoral Service Award for his volunteer leadership on behalf of New York City public school children.

He graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Old Dominion University and earned MBA and JD degrees from the University of Virginia. He lives on Long Island with his wife and two children.

Laurie Wheelock

Laurie Wheelock, Esq. is the Executive Director and General Counsel of the Public Utility Law Project. She began her career working for the New York Public Interest Research Group, where she fought for the rights of consumers across the state.

Wheelock went on to work for three different members of the New York State Assembly in both Albany and New York City, focusing on a wide variety of issue areas, including legislation to promote affordable housing, public access to insurance, nonprofit reform, and environmental protection.

Wheelock received her bachelor's degree in political science from Binghamton University and received her Juris Doctorate and Masters in Environmental Law and Policy from Vermont Law School.