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| Leadership Orange Names Local Accountant as 2008 Award Recipient |
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| Thomas D. Weddell |
Orange County, NY (LO) – The Leadership Orange Board of Directors is pleased to announce that Thomas D. Weddell has been named the 2008 recipient of the organization’s prestigious Leadership Award. The Award will be presented on Tuesday, December 2nd at Anthony’s Pier 9 in New Windsor at the Orange County Partnership’s Annual Networking Event.
“Mr. Weddell embodies all the characteristics of an effective leader,” said Dan O’Brien, Chair of the program. “Tom really is a model leader and innovator in Orange County and he truly works to make Orange County – its business community, nonprofits, youth, leaders and future leaders – stronger,” Mr. O’Brien said. “He is determined to make a positive difference in this community and the region. Tom doesn’t see anything as impossible to accomplish and he faces each leadership challenge with a can-do and innovative approach.”
Previous Leadership Award winners include: Orange County Legislators Alan Seidman and the late Spencer McLaughlin, Jonnie Wesley-Kruger, Jerry Brisman, Silvio Petrucci, Ken Abt, Jill Varricchio, Izzy Lopez, Ruth Kassel, Barbara Sampson, Alanna Smith, and Jim Smith, among others.
Leadership Orange is a 10-month leadership program with the dual focus of providing leadership training to leaders and emerging leaders, while equipping them with a breadth of knowledge about Orange County, its challenges and its resources. Topics include education, health and human services, communications, government and politics, the environment, culture and recreation, economic development, leadership development and the judicial system. “Completion of the course enables participants to better understand and serve our community: whether as citizens, business or government leaders, volunteers or non-profit executives,” said Richie Lay, Program Chair. More than 400 people have graduated from the Leadership Orange program since its inception in 1993.
Mr. Weddell is the Managing Partner of Vanacore, DeBenedictus, DiGovanni & Weddell, LLP, CPAS. He joined the firm in 1978 after graduating from SUNY Albany with a degree in Accounting. He became a partner in the firm in 1984 and was named Managing Partner in 1996.
Mr. Weddell’s volunteer leadership roles are vast. “Tom has had a positive impact on many organizations throughout the region. He really represents the best of what Orange County hopes for each of its leaders,” Mr. O’Brien noted. Mr. Weddell is the Chairman of the Orange County Citizens Foundation and serves on the Boards of the Greater Southern Dutchess Chamber of Commerce, as well as their Chamber Foundation, SUNY New Paltz School of Business Advisory Board, Mid-Hudson Pattern for Progress, and the Orange County United Way, where he served as Campaign Chair in 2007 and 2008. He is also the Chapter Representative of the New York State Society of CPAs, serves on the Finance Committee of the Community Foundation of Orange and Sullivan, and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
In 2005, Mr. Weddell was honored as the Business Person of the Year for the SUNY New Paltz Hall of Fame awards. He is a graduate of the Results Accountant Systems School for Business Development and has been inducted into that institute’s Hall of Fame. He is also a graduate of the Business Advisor Program of the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business Executive Program. Mr. Weddell is a 1996 graduate of the Leadership Orange Program.
Leadership Orange will present the 2008 Leadership Award to Mr. Weddell on Tuesday, December 2nd at the Orange County Partnership’s 22nd Annual Event at Anthony’s Pier 9. Tickets are $120 and can be reserved by contacting Ginny Forni at 845-294-2323. For more information about Leadership Orange, please contact Susan D’Onofrio or Dan O’Brien at 845-457-1550 or visit www.leadershiporange.org. |
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