MINEOLA - Nassau County Comptroller Jack Schnirman welcomed Long Island leaders to participate in the annual Nassau County Comptroller’s Office Innovation Summit. The summit follows last year’s Innovation Awards and was held to recognize and acknowledge leaders that have made significant innovative contributions to Nassau County.
This year’s summit focused on innovative work done in government and the private and nonprofit sectors in response to COVID-19. Leaders were invited to share their experience concerning resilience, adaptability and innovation during this unprecedented time.
“The Innovation Awards were designed to not only recognize the impactful work of many within our community who have demonstrated tremendous innovation, but to inspire and support this work so that it continues to make a difference in our lives,” said Nassau County Comptroller Jack Schnirman. “One of the key focuses of the Nassau County Comptroller’s Office is innovation and modernization to both foster transparency and ultimately save money for the people of Nassau County. The Innovation Summit is an event that my office has traditionally held and COVID-19 has forced us to innovate how we do this event. Long Island is fortunate to have so many innovative leaders and I am grateful for this opportunity to recognize their efforts.”
Five Innovation Awards were presented to recognize significant contributions to Nassau County which tie into work highlighted by the Comptroller’s Office Policy and Research Unit and is available on https://opennassau.nassaucountyny.gov/:
• Village of Farmingdale Mayor Ralph Ekstrand was recognized for the village’s work in downtown redevelopment;
• Jan Barbieri , former Executive Director of The Childcare Council of Long Island in recognition of her longtime work;
• Jacob Dixon , Founder and CEO of Choice for All for his advocacy and work to close critical equity gaps;
• Jean Kelly , Executive Director of The Interfaith Nutrition Network (INN) for its work feeding more than 200,000 meals in 2020; and
• Gladys Serrano , CEO of the Hispanic Counseling Center, Inc. for the organization's response to COVID-19.