2014: Speaker Profiles

Joseph M. Ambrosio
General Manager
Unique Technical Services LLC

Joseph Ambrosio is a graduate of New York Institute of Technology with a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering. He has been heavily involved in the electric and hybrid electric vehicle industry for 20 years and has worked closely with electric utilities, vehicle manufacturers, and technology development organizations. He has been awarded 6 U.S. patents in this subject area.

Currently, Ambrosio is the general manager of Unique Technical Services LLC, a New York-based company specializing in providing engineering services and product solutions to the electric, hybrid electric vehicle, and renewable industry.

Martin R. Cantor, Ed.D., CPA
Director
Long Island Center for Socio-Economic Policy

Martin R. Cantor, Ed.D., has a B.S. in accounting from Brooklyn College, an M.A. in interdisciplinary studies from Hofstra University, and an Ed.D. from Dowling College. He was Suffolk County Economic Development Commissioner, Chief Economist-New York State Assembly Subcommittee for the Long Island Economy; senior fellow at the Institute for Socioeconomic Studies, chair and chief economist of the Long Island Development Corp; a building trades labor/management arbitrator; a faculty member in the Brooklyn College Department of Economics; executive director of the Patchogue Village Business Improvement District; and director of economic development for Sustainable Long Island and the Long Island Fund for Sustainable Development. He has prepared downtown revitalization plans for Long Island and New York City neighborhoods and has authored federal, state and local legislation. He was director of Dowling College’s Long Island Economic and Social Policy Institute and an adjunct associate professor of economics there.

Cantor is a certified public accountant in private practice; director of the Long Island Center for Socio-Economic Policy, a consulting economist and economic development consultant to public officials, counties, towns, villages, industrial development agencies, and communities; and chairman of the Suffolk County Judicial Facilities Agency, which recently financed the $70 million purchase/leaseback of the Dennison Building to Suffolk County. He provides economic and business commentary on television and radio; is a columnist for Long Island Business News and Networking Newspaper for Women. He presented his paper, entitled Race Neutral Sustainable Economic Development, at Harvard University and is the author of Long Island, The Global Economy and Race: The Aging of America’s First Suburb.

Mary Cummings
Associate Professor
Duke University

Mary (Missy) Cummings received her B.S. in mathematics from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1988, her M.S. in space systems engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1994, and her Ph.D. in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia in 2004. A naval officer and military pilot from 1988 to 1999, she was one of the Navy's first female fighter pilots. She is currently an associate professor in the Duke University Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, the Duke Institute of Brain Sciences, and she is the director of the Humans and Automation Laboratory.

Her research interests include human-unmanned vehicle interaction, human-autonomous system collaboration, human-systems engineering, public policy implications of unmanned vehicles, and the ethical and social impact of technology.

Kenneth D. Daly
Chartered Financial Analyst
National Grid

Ken Daly, CFA, is the president of the New York business of National Grid, which serves 4 million natural gas and electric customers in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Long Island, and Upstate New York. He was recently based in London, serving for two years as global financial controller, and he has held numerous positions in finance, human resources, and customer relations throughout his 25-year career.

Daly graduated from St. Francis College with a B.A. in English in 1988 and has earned both an M.B.A. in finance from St. John’s University and an M.S. in human resource management from New York University. Daly is a member of the Saint Francis College Board of Trustees (SFC) and has been an adjunct professor at SFC, teaching human resources, business, and finance courses for 20 years. He has been the director of the St. John’s University Executive-in-Residence Program since 1992.

Jessica Harrison
Section Head
DNV GL

Jessica Harrison serves as head of section for energy strategy within DNV GL. She has a diverse background in clean energy, including experience with engineering analysis, market assessments, and public policy. She has focused on the integration of innovative technologies such as electric vehicles and energy storage with the electricity grid and the electricity wholesale markets. At DNV GL, she leads the energy storage and electric vehicles practice area in the Americas.

She has dual masters of science degrees from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in technology and policy and in civil and environmental engineering, and a bachelor of science degree in physics from the University of Michigan.

Aryeh Lemberger
Unit Head
Nassau County Department of Public Works

Aryeh Lemberger is the unit head of the Traffic Engineering Unit and Senior Planner at the Nassau County Department of Public Works. He is primarily responsible for all transportation planning and traffic engineering activities for Nassau County, including feasibility studies, vehicle, pedestrian and non-motorized safety studies, engineering and design of traffic signals, signs, pavement markings and other roadway features and safety improvements, federal and state aid planning, master plan preparation, and operation of the Nassau County Traffic Management Center.

Lemberger is also project manager of the Nassau Hub Study, a transit planning initiative to provide enhanced transit service to central Nassau County. He holds a bachelor’s degree in urban planning and geography with a certificate in geographic information systems from SUNY Albany and a master’s degree in transportation planning and engineering from NYU/Polytechnic University.

Elisa Picca
Chief Planning Officer
Long Island Rail Road

Elisa Picca has a broad array of responsibilities at the Long Island Rail Road, including: capital planning products such as a 20-year capital needs assessment and a five-year capital program development; environmental studies for LIRR system expansion projects; parking program development, fleet and infrastructure strategy development; as well as Smartgrowth and TOD initiatives representing the LIRR at key regional forums at the county, town, and village level.

Prior to her 26-year career at the LIRR, Picca worked for the New York City Office of Management and Budget. She attended the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where she earned a B.A. degree in psychology and an M.S. in policy analysis and public management. Picca is a member of the Energeia Partnership, Class of 2010. She was recently selected to be a Member of Long Island Business News’ 2012 class at 50 around 50 awardees.

Paola M. Santana
Chief Regulatory Officer
Matternet

Paola Santana is an entrepreneur, lawyer, and public policy expert. She is co-founder and chief regulatory officer at Matternet, a Silicon Valley startup creating the world’s next-generation transportation system using networks of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). A Fulbright scholar, GoodxGlobal Tech Fellow, Gifted Citizen awardee, and graduate from George Washington, Georgetown, and Singularity University, her work aims to enact comprehensive regulatory frameworks and build an ecosystem for the nascent commercial UAV industry.

Previously with the World Bank, the OECD, the Dominican Republic’s National Elections Court and Constitutional Court, she has developed striking public infrastructure projects and designed strategic plans to integrate advanced exponential technologies into e-government platforms. Paola enjoys exploration, disruptive thinking, philosophy, and the arts, and dreams of advancing the human race forward.