Advisory Board

Board Chairperson

Dr. Satya Sharma

Executive Director
CEWIT

Phone: 631-216-7005
Email: satya.sharma@stonybrook.edu

Board Members

Joseph Ceccoli

President
Biocogent LLC

David Friedfeld

President
ClearVision Optical

David Friedfeld is president of ClearVision Optical, a family-owned business based in Hauppauge, NY. ClearVision designs and markets quality eyewear and sunwear for 15 distinctive brands, including BCBGMAXAZRIA, Marc Ecko Cut & Sew, Ellen Tracy, and IZOD. As president, David provides vision and leadership to all areas within the organization, and to every member of the ClearVision family. David has directed every area of the business related to sales, product and distribution and has seen the company grow to more than 140 employees and 80 sales consultants under his tutelage. Now a global enterprise, ClearVision serves eyecare professionals worldwide.

James Hayward

President
Applied DNA Sciences

David Hershberg

CEO
STS Global Inc.

Barry Greenspan

Administrator
Empire State Development

Barry is an Economic Development Program Administrator with Empire State Development – NYS’s economic development agency. Barry has over 30 years of economic development experience and holds the professional designation of Certified Economic Developer – CEcD from the International Economic Development Council (IEDC). Barry is part of a team of professionals at ESD’s Long Island Regional Office located in Hauppauge. ESD provides a wide range of financial assistance programs to help Long Island companies grow and add jobs. ESD oversees the Long Island Regional Economic Development Council that has awarded over $550M in NYS funds to nearly 700 LI projects. Barry has an MBA from Hofstra University.

Cara Longworth

Director
Empire State Development

Cara Longworth was appointed as the Long Island Regional Director of Empire State Development in February 2015. Previously Cara was the Executive Director of the Long Island Regional Planning Council. In addition, Cara also has previously worked as an assistant district attorney in the Nassau County district attorney's office, executive director of the Glen Cove Industrial Development Agency and chief financial officer of the Nassau County IDA. In addition to the ESD appointment, Cara serves as executive director of the Long Island Regional Economic Development Council.

Edward Palacio

President
P&L Technical Management Solutions

Ed Palacio is President and a founding partner of P&L Technical Management Solutions (PLTMS). Previously, Ed was Vice President of Program Management and Business Operations for ITT Exelis Electronic Systems, a $1.5B Strategic Business Unit and a leading supplier of Electronic Warfare, Communications, Radar, and Electronic Support Measure Systems. In this position, he was responsible for Program Management excellence throughout all of Electronic Systems’ multiple locations. Before joining ITT as part of its acquisition of EDO, Ed was Sector Vice President for EDO Corporation’s Electronic Warfare Sector. This sector consisted of three business entities with annual sales of more than $350 million. Ed has more than 37 years of experience in directing the development and production of complex electronic systems with a history of successful performance. He has proven expertise in corporate strategy formulation, organizational construct, international teaming and major program pursuit and capture. He has held profit and loss responsibility at the Business Unit and Sector levels, as well as functional lead positions in Program Management, Engineering, and Operations.

Ed holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the Cooper Union School of Engineering and Science. He also holds two Masters’ degrees, in Electrical Engineering and Technology Management, from Polytechnic Institute of New York. He is a Program Management Institute certified Project Management Professional (PMP) as well as a Lean Six Sigma Greenbelt. Ed also teaches graduate level Product Development, Project Management, and Global Operations Management courses at the State University of New York, Stony Brook campus.