Event Recaps

More than 110 business and government leaders turned out for the 44th annual conference in Montauk, entitled “It’s Not the End, It’s the Beginning.”

The conference kicked off with an afternoon seminar hosted by Brian McMahon, executive director of the New York State Economic Development Council, followed by a keynote dinner address by Kathleen Hochul, former U.S. Representative and now vice president of government relations at M&T Bank. The evening was capped off with a salute to local craft beverage producers, with representatives from Great South Bay Brewery and Steve Bate, director of the Long Island Wine Council, providing samples of locally crafted beers and wines.

Louis Biscotti, a partner at the accounting firm WeiserMazars, moderated a panel on the local food industry that featured Ted Heim Jr., CEO of Inter-County Bakers; Brian Todd, president of The Food Institute; and Douglas Whitcomb, president of Whitsons Culinary Group.

LIBDC co-chairman John Kominicki moderated an economic overview featuring Edward Blaskey, market president of TD Bank; Suzanne Kline, senior vice President at Wells Fargo Bank; and Dennis Nykolyn, senior vice president at Citibank.

David Winzelberg, real estate reporter at the Long Island Business News, hosted a commercial real estate market overview including Joseph Farkas, president of Metropolitan Realty Associates; Gary Schacker, principal at United Realty and president of the Commercial Industrial Brokers Society; and Robert Coughlan, principal of Tritec Real Estate Co.