LGS names two new board members, announces officers

DeWITT, N.Y. — Leadership Greater Syracuse (LGS), a nonprofit that offers a yearlong civic-leadership training program, recently announced that two community members have joined its board of directors. 

The two new board members are Bishop Colette Matthews-Carter of Interfaith Works and Joseph Rocco, III of Bowers & Company. They will each serve a three-year term.

Matthews-Carter is the director of the El-Hindi Center for Dialogue & Action at Interfaith Works. She is a diversity, equity, and inclusion practitioner, trainer, and facilitator. She is also a pastor at Zion Hill World Harvest Baptist Church in Syracuse, as well as a graduate of the LGS Class of 1997. 

Rocco, a graduate of the LGS Class of 2021, is a certified public accountant and is currently an audit partner at Bowers & Company, where he specializes within the firm’s manufacturing, transportation, banking and not-for-profit niches. He is heavily involved in the organization’s on-campus recruiting and internal business development programs. Rocco has also been named treasurer of the LGS board.

In addition to Rocco, the following three board members were elected as officers. They will serve a one-year term and include:

• President: Amy Lawler, controller of Anoplate (LGS Class of 2011)

• Vice President: Ryan McDermott, VP, M&T Bank (LGS Class of 2011)

• Secretary: Renae Rokicki, senior leadership and development coordinator at Upstate Medical University (LGS Class of 2014)

“LGS is honored to have these high caliber professionals serve on our board of directors,” LGS Executive Director Pam Brunet said in a release. “These individuals are leaders within their organizations and they epitomize the LGS mission by taking an active role in the community.”

The LGS Class of 2023 is in the process of beginning its program year. It’s the 33rd class in the organization’s history.