Media Hits

BIAC Annual Meeting

The Brain Injury Association of Connecticut held its 2008 Annual Meeting on September 12th, following dinner at the BIAC 2008 Annual Personal Enrichment Retreat, which was held at the Connri Lodge in Ashford Connecticut. There, Board President Paul Slager, a partner in the law firm of Silver, Golub & Teitell of Stamford (http://www.sgtlaw.com/bio/PaulSlager.asp) reviewed the BIAC 2008 Annual Report, oversaw the election of two new Board members and three standing Board members, and assisted in the presentation of two Annunal Award to winners able to be there in person.

To read all about the meeting and see potos from the dinner, the meeting, and the Annual Award presentation!, keep scrolling down!

Elections to the BIAC Board of Directors

Elected to the Board for their first terms were Vicki Konover and Michelle Peters, whose terms will run from 2008 to 2011.

Ms. Konover is a licensed clinical social worker who served as Director of Older Adults Services for Jewish Family Services for almost 25 years and previously served on the Board of the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center Foundation. She is currently a Board member for the Larrabee Fund.

Ms. Peters, who became interested in TBI when a close friend sustained a brain injury, is Director of Sales and Marketing for the PGA Tour at TPC Highlands. She was previously Director of Development for the AIDS Project Hartford. She has served on the Board of the Hartford Gay and Lesbian Health Collective and worked for Big Brothers Big Sisters, as well.

Those reelected to the Board for terms spanning 2008 to 2011 include Jim Healey, Diana Orozco, and Amy Sills.

Mr. Healey, who was first appointed to the BIAC Board last March and who has a family member that is a brain injury survivor, is a senior vice president of the Institutional Brokerage Division at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods . He also serves on the Board of the St. Francis Foundation and the Connecticut State Golf Association.

Ms. Orozco is a paralegal at the law firm of Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder — a firm with a long and generous record of commitment to BIAC. She herself has served on the planning committee for the Golf Tournament and also serves on the Board's Fund Development Committee.

Ms. Sills, who was appointed to the Board in November 2007 and is Co-Chair of the 2008 Walk for Thought. has been a volunteer in the Hartford community for more than 20 years. She currently serves as secretary for the Board of Trustees at the Renbrook School; assistant treasurer for the Larrabee Fund, which helps elderly women in need; and sits on the Advisory Council for Friends of the Family, a research and referral organization for teen parents.

BIAC's Annual Award Recipients

The 2008 Partnership Award went to the Hoffman Auto Group

BIAC’s 2008 Partnership Award, which is given for outstanding support of the Brain Injury Association of Connecticut through the promotion of brain injury awareness and prevention statewide, was awarded to the Hoffman Auto Group.

According to BIAC Executive Director Julie Peters, “The Hoffman Auto Group not only loaned us the services of their PR firm, Cashman & Katz, to help organize our new Drive for Action legislative advocacy campaign, which was launched in early March at the State Capitol during our Legislative Awareness Day. They also made yet another extremely generous contribution to BIAC by donating a portion of the profit on each car sold during March — which is Brain Injury Awareness month — at all eleven Hoffman Auto dealerships. They even offered customers purchasing cars the option of making their own donation to BIAC, and on Monday, April 21st, the Hoffman Auto Group presented a check totaling $13,725 to the Brain Injury Association of Connecticut.”

Board Member Dick Shechtman received the 2008 Ayers Distinguished Service Award

Richard G. Shechtman, a former partner in the Hartford law firm of Robinson & Cole, who is now president of Giftcorp, Inc. in East Hartford and a member of the BIAC Board of Directors was named recipient of BIAC’s 2008 Ayers Distinguished Service Award for his many exceptional contributions to BIAC in his role as a Director.

According to Paul Slager, president of BIAC’s Board of Directors and an attorney with the Stamford-based law firm of Silver, Golub & Teitell, LLP, (pictured above, right, presenting Dick Shechtman with his award at the Annual Meeting), "While helping to coordinate care for a loved one with a brain injury, Dick Shechtman saw firsthand the needs and challenges facing both individuals who have suffered a brain injury, as well as their families. Since then, he has volunteered his valuable time and considerable skills to BIAC's Board, and his work on behalf of the Brain Injury Association of Connecticut has yielded important progress. Thanks to his fund development efforts, BIAC has welcomed several important new benefactors to our family of contributors, and his Board development efforts have helped to ensure that our Directors are diverse, accomplished, and intensely committed."

Suzanne Denucce was named BIAC's 2008 Volunteer of the Year

Suzanne Denucce, who lives in South Windsor and whose daughter is a brain injury survivor, has been named BIAC’s 2008 Volunteer of the Year for her outstanding service to BIAC.

According to Julie Peters ( pictured above, left, with Suzanne Denucce at the 2008 Annual Meeting), “Suzanne Denucce has donated vast amounts of time to a wide range of BIAC activities since first becoming a volunteer in 2005,” explains Peters. “She has represented our organization at health fairs. She has helped out at our weekend-long Personal Enrichment Retreat and at our October Walk for Thought. And she comes in to our office every Friday to do whatever needs doing.” Peters went on to note that Ms. Denucce has also contributed to BIAC by “sharing her experience as the parent of a survivor with other parents in the early days of their own brain injury experience — and that,” says Peters, “takes courage.”

State Representative Linda Schofield was honored with the 2008 Advocacy Award

BIAC’s 2008 Advocacy Award, given to honor an individual for promoting community inclusion for persons who have sustained a brain injury, will go to State Representative Linda Schofield. Said Julie Peters, “Representative Schofield has done an exceptional job of promoting such inclusion by working closely with the family of a constituent now recovering from a serious brain injury.”

Explains Peters, “Not only has she helped to ensure that this young man receives the services he needs for optimal recovery. She has also played a key role in fighting what she refers to as an ‘inflexible bureaucracy’ in order to bring this young man home, where he can receive the care he needs in a setting that is far more familiar and far less expensive.

Former Board President Elaine Burns was given BIAC's 2008 President’s Award

Recipient of BIAC’s 2008 President’s Award is Elaine Burns — who lives and works as a real estate broker with RE/MAX in the Storrs and Mansfield area and who not only served as a member of BIAC’s Board of Directors for many years but as its President for the past two.

Explains Peters, “Since the first terrible hours following her son’s brain injury over a decade ago, Elaine Burns has devoted herself to providing him with the best possible care and the best possible opportunities for optimal recovery. In time, she became a tireless advocate for all brain injury survivors by serving on BIAC’s Board, and the results have been exceptional.” Adds Slager, who in July succeeded Burns as BIAC Board President, "During her years on our Board and particularly while she served as Board President, Elaine Burns provided us with inspiration and leadership during a time when BIAC faced new challenges and exciting growth. We can't thank her enough for her dedication and hard work."

To download a copy of BIAC's 2008 Annual Report, juct click here: BIAC 2008 Annual Report.

And to see some great shots from the Annual Meeting dinner (there will be more frrom the Personal Enrichment Retreat soon!), keep scrolling!

Enjoying dinner before the Annual Meeting along with BIAC staff and all of the survivors and caregivers there for the Personal Enrichment Retreat were (top to bottom and left to right) Board members Jim Healey and Dick Shechman, Dr. Michelle Brisman and Dr. Tom Miller, and Vicki Konover, Amy Sills, and Dave Bush.

And here are some the Retreat's dinner guests, many of whom stayed on for the Annual Meeting! At right are Sage, Justin, someone who will be identified shortly (check back!), and Rob just before dinner was served, and below are Mike and Hugh well on their way to dessert!

At right, Ray and Kari kid around, while below, Zach (left) smiles for the camera, and Rodney and Linda (right) enjoy the conversation taking place at their table.

Above are (left to right) Fred, Paul, Christen, Joe, Jamie, and Gary — four of whom are returning Retreat guests and two of whom are enjoying their first Retreat ever!

Be sure to check back next week after the Personal Enrichment Retreat is over for lots more great photos from the weekend!