Schneps Media honors many of the borough’s best at its annual Bronx Power List event

On Thursday, Jan. 30, Schneps Media hosted its annual Bronx Power List at Villa Barone Manor, celebrating distinguished individuals for their achievements and impact. This year celebrates 20 years of the Power List.

“Tonight, you are being celebrated for your commitment, impact, and influence in the Bronx,” said Elizabeth Schneps Aloni, senior vice president of events at Schneps Media. 

“We are proud to bring together the most extraordinary professionals in the Bronx to network, celebrate, and honor each other’s accomplishments,” she said. “This evening is also an opportunity to celebrate and benefit from the ‘Ultimate Networking Event.’”

News 12 anchor Kristie Reeter served as the VIP Power Hour emcee and was recognized as one of the honorees. She later reflected on the evening.

“We have heard so many stories tonight about people wanting to put everything back in the Bronx and grow the Bronx,” Reeter said. “And then you heard the connections being made with ‘I can help you with that’ or ‘I can help you with this,’ and it was just great to see that camaraderie.”

Schneps Media hosts Power List events throughout the year, honoring individuals making a positive impact in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Long Island, the East End, Palm Beach and Philadelphia. The awards highlight those with outstanding achievements in their professional fields and deep ties to their communities.

Lisa Sorin, President of the Bronx Chamber of Commerce served as a most joyful Mistress of Ceremonies. “Schneps media hosts an incredible event that really is focused on honoring our borough with the amazing people that live, work, play, represent and what an honor to be here tonight and be able to celebrate with everyone, dance with everyone, while recognizing the importance of the work that they do. I’ll add the fact that I’m privileged and honored that they look to me to emcee and really engage with the crowd, and it just makes me like part of the bigger picture. And I absolutely love everything that they do,” said Sorin.

U.S. Rep. George Latimer, State Senator Nathalia Fernandez and Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson were in attendance.

Latimer, who represents the 16th District—including all of Co-op City, Edenwald, and a significant portion of Wakefield—expressed his appreciation for the distinguished individuals in the room.

“This is an opportunity for me to see some of the most important people in one room at one time here in the Bronx,” said Latimer. “I’m obviously very much impressed by the Schneps organization and the publications that cover the Bronx that they’re involved with.”

Meanwhile, Borough President Gibson, praised Schneps for hosting the awards and the bright future for the Bronx. 

“This is a great borough of so many opportunities, and we have to take advantage of that by recognizing the people who are doing the work, celebrating them but also making sure we encourage them to keep going,” Gibson said.

Most of this year’s Bronx honorees were born or raised in the borough and expressed deep pride in giving back to the community that shaped them.

“I’m just proud to accept the award,” said Anthony Mormile, senior vice president and senior commercial loan officer of Orange Bank And Trust. “I was Bronx born and raised, so it’s nice to be recognized, but to me, it’s more of a passion because I love the Bronx, and I love giving back to the Bronx, so this kind of just reiterates what I’m doing.”

Many honorees shared their journeys to success, emphasizing the importance of paying it forward by supporting and uplifting others to create a lasting, positive impact in the community.

Honoree Cleveland E. Beckett Jr., president of the Bronx branch of the NAACP, addressed the audience, reinforcing the importance of giving back. He emphasized that while success is valuable, it holds little meaning unless it is used to uplift and support those in need within the community.

“I’m an assertive individual, a confident individual, and I believe everything my mother told me, which is, ‘You are great, but your greatness only prepares you if you are rendering service to others,’” said Beckett. Jr. “And so I’m here at this event and I’m pleased to be recognized, but I’m also appreciative because of the opportunity it provides for the Bronx branch NAACP.”

Jarod Whitaker, the senior vice president of RXR Realty, echoed the sentiment.

“I’m very excited to be here this evening and to be recognized with the other honorees making a positive impact in the community. We’ve made a big impact creating affordable and market rate housing in the Bronx.  Excited to be recognized by Schneps media. We’ve worked with them marketing our real estate projects, and look forward to the continued partnership with them, as well as continuing to make a positive impact in the Bronx, and New York City at large.”

Many honorees shared their personal stories and experiences with the audience, including Cindy Morales, vice president of field operations for Dolphin Property Services.

“The award is a reflection of the hard work I do and that our teams do,” said Morales. “There’s no ‘I’ in team, and so it’s nice to be recognized for the work that we do in the community, and for my colleagues and my team members to be able to recognize that the work we do is impactful and recognized.”

Vito Giannola, the executive vice president and chief banking officer of Provident Bank, which serves Westchester and the Bronx, was also excited to be part of the Bronx Power List.

“Coming into this Bronx and Westchester market is very important to us as we see a good community feel and culture, which is very similar to what we do throughout the Provident Bank footprint in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania,” said Giannola. “It gives us an opportunity to meet with people in the community, which is what we’re about as a community bank.”

Many of the awardees work to make the borough a better place, including Arlene Parks, the vice chair and CEO of the Diego Beekman Mutual Housing Association, an affordable housing development company in Mott Haven.

“We have been, actually, for 50 years, providing affordable housing in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx,” said Parks. “Right now, we are investing $25 million from loans from HPD and over the time span that I’ve taken over the development, we’ve invested about $150 million in that community to ensure that residents are living in affordable, quality, safe housing.”

Robert Rodriguez, the Northeast division director for the Chase business banking team, was another honoree. He was proud to participate in the event and network with others making the same positive changes in the borough.

“Schneps and JP Morgan Chase have been partners for a long time. We love doing events with them, and it’s not just about the event. It’s also about in between the events and spending time with them and understanding, their reach across the five boroughs,” said Rodriguez.

Among the many talented honorees were also awardees called ICONS, those who were deemed to have an excellent track record of leadership and recognition in their selected professional fields. The list of honorees had about 20 ICONS who were recognized, including Plinio Ayala, the president and CEO of Per Scholas, a technology training school in the Bronx that has helped more than 30,000 of their graduates launch successful careers in tech with training that they offer at no cost.

Debbie Roman, the managing director of Per Scholas, gave a speech on behalf of ICON honoree Plinio Ayala as he received his ICON recognition award.

“In my job, I have the privilege of overseeing Per Scholas NY, which is still very much in the South Bronx,” said Roman. “We’re also across all five boroughs where we have impact in being able to offer unlimited access to training to anyone across the city, but most importantly in the South Bronx.”

While the Power List event is a chance to be honored and celebrate others, it also serves as a valuable networking opportunity. With so many accomplished individuals dedicated to helping others, attendees can connect, exchange ideas, and build meaningful relationships.

“I’m very excited, very proud to be one of the honorees of Schneps Media,” said Cristina Contreras, CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln. “I obviously have been acknowledged by them before, but it means so much to me now that I’m coming back to the Bronx and being part of the Bronx.”

ICON honoree Steven Rodriguez, social director of school culture at United Charter of Advanced Math and Science, underscored this message in his speech after receiving the prestigious recognition.

“I’m here to learn everybody’s story and actually put things in motion,” said Rodriguez. “I don’t want to just get information and push it to the backend, I don’t want to get your email, and leave it in the backend as well. I want to connect and put things in motion for our students.”

Yasmin Cruz, executive director of the Westchester Square BID, echoed the sentiment, expressing gratitude not only for receiving the award but also for the opportunity to connect with others and expand their collective vision to create a positive impact in the Bronx community.

“ Events like this bring community leaders together and it has become such an impact to continue my work in the community, to see what others are doing and connect with others so we can continue doing greater work,” said Cruz.

Bronx Power List Honorees

ICON Plinio Ayala, President & CEO Per Scholas 

ICON Vanessa Baijnauth, VP/Relationship Manager Orange Bank & Trust Company

ICON Dr. Susan R. Burns, President, University of Mount Saint Vincent

ICON Daisy Cocco De Filipps, President, Hostos Community College

ICON Cristina Contreras, LMSW, MPA, FABC NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln, Chief Executive Officer

ICON Justin Cortes, Chief of Staff, Bronx Borough President’s Office

ICON Yasmin Cruz, Executive Director, Westchester Square BID 

ICON Dawn M. Florio, Founder/Managing Partner, Dawn M. Florio Law Firm PLLC 

ICON Honor Vanessa L. Gibson Bronx Borough President

ICON April Horton, Regional Director, Verizon 

ICON Sandy Manessis-Clacken, Principal United Charter High School for Advanced Math and Science II

ICON Michael Max Knobbe, Executive Director, BronxNet 

ICON Anthony Mormile, Senior Commercial Loan Officer, Orange Bank & Trust Company

ICON Zaid Nagi, President, The Yemeni American Group 

ICON Anthony Perez, Bronx Borough Commissioner, NYC DOT 

ICON Dr. Meisha Porter, Senior Visiting Fellow, Center for Educational Innovation

ICON Steven Rivera Sentry, Chief Executive Officer, Management Solutions & ProHealth Connect 

ICON Robert Rodriguez, Managing Director – Northeast Divisional Director, JPMorgan Chase & Co.

ICON Rafael Roger, President, The Business Initiative Corporation of New York (BICNY) 

ICON Davon Russell, President, WHEDco 

MISTRESS OF CEREMONIES/ ICON Lisa Sorin, President, Bronx Chamber of Commerce

Leonard Achan, President & CEO, Live on NY

Raye Barbieri, Chief Executive Officer, Kingsbridge Heights Community Center

Marlon Barrett, Vice President, M&T Bank

Cleveland E. Beckett Jr., President, Bronx Branch NAACP 

Charles Benson, Co-founder and President, TravelWithChaz

Ronald Blount, Jr., Executive Director, Bronx County Medical Society

Lynne Corry, Founder & CEO, Giving Friends 

Julius Drake, Director of Development, The Bronx Tourism Council (BTC) 

Vito Giannola, Executive Vice President, Chief Banking Officer, Provident Bank

Michael J. Gilfeather, President & CEO, Orange Bank & Trust Company

Sharon Greenberger, President & CEO, YMCA of Greater New York 

Bervin Harris, Co-founder & President/CEO, Renaissance Youth Center 

Marc Jerome, President, Monroe University 

Sarah Johansson, Program Director, JCCA (Jewish Child Care Association) 

Alfredo Jones, Deputy Executive Director, NYC Health + Hospitals/North Central Bronx

Soohyung Kim, Chairman, Bally’s Corporation 

Cary London, Managing Partner, Shulman & Hill

Michael McDermott, Owner, McDermott’s Pub

Cindy Morales, VP of Operations, Camber Property Group

Jacob Oresky, Managing Attorney, Oresky & Associates

Connie Pacheco, Founder, Recoveries R US, LLC 

Arline Parks, Vice Chair & CEO, Diego Beekman Mutual Housing Association, HDFC

William C. Pedone, Chairman, Morris Park Business Improvement District Board 

Jahnnylee Perez, Branch Manager, Ponce Bank 

Blanca J. Ramirez, President and CEO, Comunilife, Inc.

POWER HOUR EMCEE Kristie Reeter, Anchor, News12

Dr. Milton Santiago, Interim President, Bronx Community College

Daniel P. Silvera, Community Ambassador /Outreach Specialist, Bridge Builders Community Partnership 

Felix Urrutia, Executive Director, Casita Maria, Inc. 

Dr. Miriam Vega, President & Chief Executive Officer, Argus Community, Inc. 

Jarod Whitaker, Senior Vice President of Residential Operations, RXR Realty

RISING  Steven Rodriguez United Charter High School for Advanced Math and Science II Associate Director of School Culture & Climate