Area business people ‘On the Move’
Ulster BOCES Career & Technical Center instructor Mark Harris, of Hurley, N.Y., who teaches both New Visions Advanced Robotics & Engineering and Custom Robotics Design & Manufacturing, earned an Award of Excellence in Teaching from the Mid-Hudson School Study Council. He was one of six teachers in the Mid-Hudson region who was recognized at a dinner on Oct. 13 at Anthony’s Pier 9.
His learning projects include participation in the Winston Solar Car Challenge in 2013, in which students drove a solar car they built from Dallas, Tex., to Los Angeles, Calif., and took first place in their division. He and his students also participated in the race in 2016 and took second place in their division.
Harris also initiated a partnership between Ulster BOCES Career & Technical Center and the NASA HUNCH program in 2014. The venture resulted in student work to design, test and manufacture lockers that are now in use on the International Space Station. The partnership continues to be a fundamental part of the programs’ curriculum.
In the 2015-16 school year, Harris spearheaded a Lemelson-MIT grantfunded project for the New Visions Advanced Robotics & Engineering and New Visions Health students. The students were tasked with inventing and developing a prototype of a robotic exoskeleton or “hand-enhancing glove” designed to aid stroke or traumatic brain injury patients. Students will continue the assignment throughout the 201617 school year.
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Christopher Bowers, of Kingston, N.Y., has been hired as an account executive at The Reis Group.
Bowers is a native of Kingston, where he attended Kingston High School and was a multi-discipline student athlete. He received a bachelor of science degree in communication studies from SUNY Oneonta.
He is licensed in property and casualty, as well as life accident, and health insurance.
••• Lisa Wachtel, of Saugerties, N.Y., and Julia Solomon, of Red Hook, N.Y., have joined the staff of the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development at the center’s new Tannersville, N.Y., office.
Both Solomon, as real estate project manager, and Wachtel, as real estate closing manager, will work on the Catskill Center’s Streamside Acquisition Program, an initiative developed in partnership with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection.
The five-year pilot program in the Schoharie Basin is designed to preserve healthy streams by protecting sensitive streamside lands. The Catskill Center will work with eligible, interested landowners to buy vacant streamside buffer lands and floodplains that ultimately will be held by New York City and preserved as natural, forested areas.
Solomon received an undergraduate degree in biology from Cornell University and a master’s degree in conservation biology and sustainable development from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Wachtel has more than 25 years of experience in the legal, title insurance, and land services industries.
••• Marjorie S. Rovereto, of Kingston, N.Y., has been hired as the new chief lending officer at Rondout Savings Bank, of Kingston, N.Y.
Rovereto, who has 32 years of banking experience, has served as both president and chief executive officer for both Ulster Savings Bank, of Kingston, and Hometown Bank of the Hudson Valley, of Walden, N.Y.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in finance and management from SUNY Albany. She is also a graduate of the National School of Finance and Management at Fairfield University.
HOW TO SUBMIT “ON THE MOVE” NEWS: “On the Move” recognizes the professional achievements of local people. Submissions may be emailed with attached JPEG photos to news@freemanonline.com or mailed with quality photo prints to On the Move, Daily Freeman, 79 Hurley Ave., Kingston, N.Y. 12401. Please be brief, include where the subject will be based, his or her place of residence (city, town or village) and a contact person’s name and telephone number.