News & Events
City Tech to Salute Amalgamated Bank and W. P. Carey International Presidents, CUNY/PRC Faculty Exchange Program and Annie Christopher '83 at May 1, 2006, Best of New York Award Dinner
City Tech will salute Amalgamated Bank President & CEO Derrick Cephas, W. P. Carey International President Edward V. LaPuma, The City University of New York's Faculty Exchange Program with the People's Republic of China, and alumna Annie Christopher '83, founder of Annie's Naturals, at its 2006 Best of New York Award Dinner on Monday, May 1 at the Hilton New York. City Tech graduate and celebrity chef Michael Lomonaco '84 will emcee the event.
The evening will begin with a 5:45 p.m. Guest of Honor Reception, followed by dinner and the awards ceremony at 6:45 p.m. Some 400 business, industry, community and union leaders, public officials, City Tech alumni, students and faculty, and other guests are expected to attend.
The theme of this year's dinner is “Around the Corner, Around the World,” reflecting the scope of the educational experience City Tech offers its 12,400 degree program students and the professional impact its graduates have on business, industry and the professions, both regionally and worldwide.
2006 Best of New York Award Recipients
Derrick Cephas was named president and CEO of Amalgamated Bank, the nation's only fully union-owned bank, in January 2006, succeeding Gabriel Caprio, who had held the position since 1991. Cephas had served as Amalgamated's general counsel for the last 10 years.
Before joining Amalgamated, Mr. Cephas, a graduate of Harvard Law School, served as banking and corporate law partner in the New York City office of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft L.L.P. He also served as Superintendent of Banks for the State of New York from June 1991 to July 1994, and played an instrumental role in affecting bank regulatory reform throughout the state. The combination of legal, regulatory, business and financial experience that he brings to Amalgamated has enabled Mr. Cephas to hit the ground running and bodes well for the future of America's leading union bank.
Edward V. LaPuma was named president of W. P. Carey International LLC, an affiliate of the investment firm of W. P. Carey & Co. LLC, in fall 2005. As president, he manages all operations, investments and corporate strategies of the W. P. Carey family of companies outside the United States.
In addition, LaPuma, who holds two degrees, both awarded magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and College of Arts & Sciences, serves as managing director and director of the Investment Department/International of the parent company. He also serves as president of Corporate Property Associates 14, a member of the W. P. Carey Group of income-generating real estate funds. He joined the company as assistant to the chairman in 1994, helped establish its Institutional Department, worked with its Investment Department and became President of Carey Institutional Properties in 2001.
His Excellency Yishan Zhang, Deputy Permanent Representative & Ambassador of the Chinese Mission to the United Nations, will accept a special award on behalf of the People's Republic of China acknowledging the nearly two-decade-old faculty exchange program between several Chinese universities and City University of New York (CUNY) colleges. City Tech has benefited from an educational relationship with the People's Republic of China since 1987, when former President Ursula C. Schwerin visited China and finalized an agreement with her counterpart at Shanghai Jiao Tong University establishing the first faculty exchange program in hospitality management between that institution and any U.S. college or university.
Ambassador Zhang is a native of Tianjin, China, and a graduate of Beijing Foreign Studies University. He also attended Columbia University and Princeton University, and has held numerous posts with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its United Nations offices in Geneva, Vienna and New York, including the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and the International Atomic Energy Agency.
2006 Distinguished Alumni Award Recipient
Annie Christopher '83 is founder of Annie's Naturals, the leading natural foods condiment and salad dressing brand in the United States. With a 47 percent market share in natural salad dressings, her products are carried in most supermarkets and health food stores nationwide.
A hospitality management major while at City Tech, Christopher's business grew out of a barbecue stand she opened in Vermont one summer between semesters. Rejecting the barbecue sauces then on the market as loaded with preservatives and artificial coloring, Christopher decided to make her own, armed with what she learned about sauces and recipe development at the College. Before the firm merged with a Napa Valley, California, consortium of natural food companies a few months ago, the business had grown to include 39 products and contracts with food processing plants on both coasts.
Best of New York Award Dinner
Established in 1982, the Best of New York Award Dinner is hosted by the New York City College of Technology Foundation, a not-for-profit corporation chartered in 1981 to support the College in meeting its educational mission. Proceeds from the annual dinner help fund foundation-sponsored scholarships, other student financial assistance programs and faculty development initiatives. For tickets and additional information about the 2006 Best of New York Award Dinner, call 718.260.5025.
03/30/06
