The Annual Meeting was held on November 15 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in White Plains and was attended by 75 people.
Lisa LaRocca of News 12 was the guest emcee. Lisa shared her personal connection to MS which brought warmth and sensitivity to her welcome remarks. Board trustee Sean Murdoch spoke of his journey living with MS and participating in Bike MS NYC to raise much needed funds. He then presented highlights from the year in programs and events. Chapter President, Robin Einbinder talked about her first year at the helm and how motivated she is by our volunteers, activists, programs and event participants. Treasurer Mal Wattman presented the slate of nominees for election to the board and received unanimous approval.
Board trustee Tobi Rogowsky honored Senator Liz Krueger with our Legislator of the Year award and although the Senator was unable to attend, she gratefully accepted the honor with a written statement of appreciation. Our Community Partner of the Year award went to the Westchester Beemers, a motorcycle club providing road support for years during Walk MS and Bike MS. Our Corporate Partner of the Year went to Chrysalis for their pro-bono advertising of Walk MS and Bike MS. Ana Franco received our Hispanic Outreach Volunteer award for seven years of volunteering and spreading information throughout the Hispanic community. Dr. Jeffery Haines received our Volunteer of the Year award for his numerous research presentations. He followed his remarks with a presentation on the NOW campaign initiative and explained the Society’s goal to fund research that will stop, restore and end MS forever. Our three Volunteer Hall of Fame winners were also recognized. Click here to learn more about our volunteer winners.
A keynote presentation was made by Dr. Tim Vartanian on the “Identification of an Environmental Trigger for MS”. The audience was inspired by his work.
The Annual Meeting, for the first time, was live streamed for those who could not attend to view from home.
The program was supported in part by Acorda Therapeutics, Biogen Idec, EMD Serono, Questcor Pharmaceuticals and Teva Neuroscience.