The Commission staff operates out of offices in New
York City, Albany and Rochester. Click on
Office Locations
for contact information.
ADMINISTRATOR'S OFFICE
Robert
H. Tembeckjian, Administrator
& Counsel
Edward Lindner, Deputy
Administrator for Litigation*
Karen Kozac, Chief
Administrative Officer
Melissa
R. DiPalo, Administrative Counsel
Shouchou
(Sue) Luo, Finance/Personnel
Officer
Beth S. Bar, Public
Information Officer
Richard Keating, Principal
LAN Administrator
Wanita Swinton-Gonzalez,
Senior
Administrative Assistant
Amy Carpinello, Assistant
Administrative Officer
Laura Vega. Assistant
Administrative Officer
Miguel Maisonet, Senior
Clerk
Latasha Johnson, Executive
Secretary to Administrator
Stacy Warner, Receptionist
♦
♦
♦
Jean
M. Savanyu, Clerk
of the Commission**
♦
♦
♦
NEW YORK CITY
OFFICE
Jorge Dopico,
Deputy Administrator in Charge
Jean Joyce, Senior Attorney
Roger J. Schwarz, Senior
Attorney
Brenda Correa, Staff Attorney
Kathy Wu, Staff Attorney
Kelvin S. Davis, Staff
Attorney
Margaret
Corchado, Senior Investigator
Ethan Beckett, Investigator
Henry Tranes,
Investigator
Lee
R. Kiklier, Senior Administrative
Assistant
Laura Archilla-Soto,
Assistant Administrative Officer
Bridget MacRae,
Administrative Assistant
♦
♦
♦
ALBANY
OFFICE
Cathleen S.
Cenci, Deputy Administrator in Charge
Jill S. Polk, Senior
Attorney
Thea Hoeth, Senior Attorney
Charles F. Farcher, Staff
Attorney
Donald R.
Payette, Senior
Investigator
David
Herr, Senior
Investigator
Ryan Fitzpatrick,
Investigator
Georgia A.
Damino, Assistant Administrative Officer
Lisa Gray
Savaria, Assistant Administrative Officer
Linda Dumas, Assistant Administrative Officer
Letitia Walsh, Secretary
♦
♦
♦
ROCHESTER OFFICE
John J. Postel,
Deputy Administrator in Charge
M. Kathleen Martin, Senior
Attorney
David M. Duguay, Senior
Attorney
Stephanie A. Fix, Staff
Attorney
Rebecca Roberts, Senior Investigator
Betsy Sampson, Investigator
Vanessa Mangan, Investigator
Linda Pascarella, Senior Administrative Assistant
Mindy Providence, Secretary
Terry Scipioni, Secretary
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* Administrator's principal office
is in New York City;
Mr. Lindner is based in Albany.
** Ms. Savanyu is
based in New York City.
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Biographies of
Commission Attorneys
Robert H.
Tembeckjian, Administrator and Counsel, is a
graduate of Syracuse University, the Fordham University School of Law and Harvard
University’s Kennedy School of Government, where he earned a Masters in Public
Administration. He was a
Fulbright Scholar to Armenia in 1994, teaching graduate courses and
lecturing on constitutional law and ethics at the American University of
Armenia and Yerevan State University. Mr. Tembeckjian served on the
Advisory Committee to the American Bar Association Commission to Evaluate
the Model Code of Judicial Conduct from 2003-07. He is on the Board of Directors of the Association
of Judicial Disciplinary Counsel and previously served as a
Trustee of the Westwood Mutual Funds and the United Nations International
School, and on the Board of Directors of the Civic
Education Project. Mr. Tembeckjian has served on various ethics and
professional responsibility committees of the New York State and New York
City Bar Associations, and he has published numerous articles in legal
periodicals on judicial ethics and discipline. He is a member of the
editorial board of the Justice System Journal.
Cathleen S. Cenci,
Deputy Administrator in Charge of the Commission's Albany office, is
a graduate of Potsdam College (summa cum laude) and the Albany Law
School. In 1979, she completed the course superior
at the Institute of Touraine in Tours, France. Ms.
Cenci joined the Commission staff in 1985. She has been a judge of the Albany Law School moot
court competitions and a member of Albany County Big Brothers/Big Sisters.
John J. Postel,
Deputy Administrator in Charge of the Commission's Rochester office, is a graduate of the University of Albany and the
Albany Law School of Union University. He
joined the Commission staff in 1980. Mr.
Postel is a past president of the Governing Council of St. Thomas More R.C. Parish. He is a former officer of the Pittsford-Mendon
Ponds Association and a former President of the Stonybrook Association. He served as the advisor to the Sutherland High
School Mock Trial Team for eight years. He is
the Vice President and a past Treasurer of the Pittsford Golden Lions Football Club, Inc. He is an assistant director and coach for
Pittsford Community Lacrosse. He is an active member of the Pittsford Mustangs Soccer
Club, Inc.
Edward
Lindner, Deputy Administrator for Litigation,
is a graduate of the University of Arizona and Cornell Law School, where he
was a member of the Board of Editors of the Cornell International Law
Journal. Prior to joining the Commission’s staff, he was an Assistant
Solicitor General in the Division of Appeals & Opinions for the New York
State Attorney General. He has been a Board Member and volunteer for various
community organizations, including Catholic Charities, The Children’s Museum
at Saratoga, the Saratoga Springs Public Library and the Saratoga Springs
Preservation Foundation.
Jorge
Dopico,
Deputy Administrator in Charge of the Commission's New York City office,
is a graduate of the State University of New York at Purchase (Honors) and
the Georgetown University Law Center (Honors). Prior to joining the
Commission's staff, he was Deputy Chief Counsel to the Departmental
Disciplinary Committee of the Appellate Division, First Department, where he
had also served as Principal Attorney. He previously served as
Associate Attorney with the Division of Tax Investigations in the New York
State Department of Taxation and Finance, and as an Assistant District
Attorney in Kings County
Melissa
R. DiPalo,
Administrative Counsel,
is a graduate of the University of Richmond and Brooklyn Law School, where she
was a Lisle Scholar and a Dean's Merit Scholar. Prior to joining the
Commission's staff, she was an Assistant District Attorney in the Bronx.
Jean Joyce,
Senior Attorney, graduated
cum laude from New York Law School, where she was Executive Notes and
Comments Editor of the Law Review, and received a B.A. in Russian
Studies from Hamilton College. She was previously the Senior
Principal Law Clerk to Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye of the New York State
Court of Appeals, and served as an Assistant District Attorney in the Bronx
County District Attorney's Office. She also served as a Law Assistant
to the Honorable Robert P. Patterson, Jr., Chair of the Attorney Grievance
Committee for the United States District Court, Southern District of New
York. Ms. Joyce is currently a member of the New York City Bar
Association's Professional Responsibility Committee and from 2003-2006 was a
member of the Association's Criminal Advocacy Committee. She is also a
member of the Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New York, the
Association of Judicial Disciplinary Counsel and the Brooklyn Bar
Association. Ms. Joyce has been a CLE panelist on criminal procedure
and capital punishment issues and is the author of Francis Miles Finch,
in The Judges of the Court of Appeals: A Biographical History, edited
by the Honorable Albert M. Rosenblatt.
M.
Kathleen Martin, Senior Attorney,
is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and Cornell Law School (cum laude).
Prior to joining the Commission's staff, she was an attorney at the Eastman
Kodak Company, where among other things she held positions as Legal Counsel
to the Health Group, Director of Intellectual Property Transactions and
Director of Corporate Management Strategy Deployment. She also served
as Vice President and Senior Associate Counsel at Chase Manhattan Bank, and
in private practice with the firm of Nixon, Hargrave, Devans & Doyle.
Roger
J. Schwarz, Senior Attorney,
is a graduate of Clark University (Phi Beta Kappa) and the State
University of New York at Buffalo Law School (honors), where he
served as editor of the Law and Society Review and received the Erie
County Trial Lawyers' award for best performance in the law school's trial
practice course. For the past 23 years, Mr. Schwarz practiced law in
his own firm, with an emphasis on criminal law and criminal appeals,
principally in the federal courts. Mr. Schwarz has also served as an
associate attorney for the Criminal Defense Division of the Legal Aid
Society in New York City, clerked for Supreme Court Justice David Levy
(Bronx County) and was a member of the Commission's staff from 1975-77.
Jill
S. Polk, Senior Attorney, is
a graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo and the Albany Law
School. Prior to joining the Commission staff, she
was Senior Assistant Public
Defender in Schenectady County. Ms. Polk has also been in private
practice, served as Senior Court Attorney to two judges, and was an attorney
with the Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York.
David
M. Duguay, Senior Attorney,
is a graduate of the State University College at Buffalo (summa
cum laude) and the University at Buffalo Law School. Prior to
joining the Commission's staff, he was Special Assistant Public Defender and
Town Court Supervisor in the Monroe County Public Defender's Office.
He served previously as a staff attorney with Legal Services, Inc., of
Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.
Thea
Hoeth, Senior Attorney, is a graduate of St. Lawrence
University (cum laude) and the Albany Law School. Prior to joining the
Commission staff, she managed various not-for-profit organizations and most
recently served as executive director of To Life!, a regional breast
cancer education and support organization. Ms. Hoeth served previously
in a number of senior state government positions, including executive
director of the NYS Ethics Commission (1991 – 94) and the cabinet-level post
of executive director of the New York State Office of Business Permits and
Regulatory Assistance. She was also in private practice, has lectured
and written on topics related to public sector ethics and was an adjunct
professor of legal ethics for The Sage Colleges.
Stephanie A. Fix,
Staff Attorney, is a graduate of the State University of New York at
Brockport and Quinnipiac College School of Law in Connecticut. Prior
to joining the Commission staff she was in private practice focusing on
civil litigation and professional liability in Manhattan and Rochester. She
serves on the Executive Committee of the Monroe County Bar Association Board
of Trustees, and the Bishop Kearney High School Board of Trustees. Ms.
Fix received the President’s Award for Professionalism from the Monroe
County Bar Association in 2004 for her participation with the ABA “Dialogue
on Freedom” initiative. She is a member of the New York State Bar
Association and Greater Rochester Association of Women Attorneys (GRAWA).
Ms. Fix is an adjunct professor at St. John Fisher College.
Brenda Correa, Staff
Attorney, is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst
and Pace University School of Law in New York (cum laude). Prior to
joining the Commission staff, she served as an Assistant District Attorney
in Manhattan and was in private practice in New York and New Jersey focusing
on professional liability and toxic torts respectively. She is a member of
the New York State Bar Association and the New York City Bar Association.
Kathy Wu, Staff Attorney, is a graduate of New York University
and Queens Law School at the City University of New York. Prior to joining the Commission staff, she
served as an Assistant District Attorney in Kings County, among other things
prosecuting felony gun cases, and was in private practice at Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison, LLP.
Kelvin S. Davis, Staff Attorney,
is a graduate of Yale University and the University of Virginia Law School.
Prior to joining the Commission staff, he served as an Assistant Staff Judge
Advocate in the United States Air Force and as Judicial Law Clerk to a
Superior Court Judge in New Jersey.
Charles F. Farcher, Staff Attorney, is a
graduate of the College of St. Rose and the Albany Law School. Prior
to joining the Commission staff, he served as an Appellate Court Attorney
with the Appellate Division of Supreme Court, Third Department.
*
* *
Karen Kozac, Chief Administrative Officer, is a graduate of
the University of Pennsylvania and Brooklyn Law School. Prior to re-joining the
Commission staff in June 2007, she was an administrator in the nonprofit sector. She
previously served as a Staff Attorney at the Commission, as an Assistant
District Attorney in New York County, and in private practice as a
litigator.
*
* *
Beth
S. Bar, Public Information
Officer, is a graduate of Brandeis University, the Newhouse School of
Communications at Syracuse University and the Syracuse University Law
School. Prior to joining the Commission staff in April 2008, she was a
reporter for the New York Law Journal, the Journal News (Westchester) and
the Observer-Dispatch (Utica).
*
* *
Jean M. Savanyu,
Clerk of the Commission, is a graduate of Smith College and the Fordham
University School of Law (cum laude). She joined the Commission’s staff
in 1977 and served as Senior Attorney until being appointed Clerk of the
Commission in 2000. Ms. Savanyu
teaches in the paralegal studies program at Hunter College and previously taught
legal research and writing at Marymount Manhattan College. Prior to
joining the Commission staff, she was a travel writer and editor.
*
* *
RECENT
STAFF
Steven
Scheckman
served as
Deputy Administrator in Charge of the Commission’s New York Office from June
2008 through September 2009, when he accepted a position as General Counsel
to the New Orleans Ethics Review Board. He is a graduate of
Ohio University (cum laude) and the Tulane
University School of Law (cum laude). Prior to joining the Commission
staff, he served as the Special Counsel to the Judiciary Commission of
Louisiana, from 1994-2008, and with his staff was responsible for the
investigation and prosecution of cases of judicial misconduct before the
Judiciary Commission of Louisiana and the Louisiana Supreme Court. From
1978-1994, Mr. Scheckman was engaged in the practice of law in New Orleans,
including as a staff attorney for three years with the New Orleans Legal
Assistance Corporation, and then in private practice with an emphasis in the
areas of civil rights, civil liberties and juvenile justice issues. He also
previously served as an Adjunct Professor of Law on the faculty of Tulane’s
Law School and as an ad hoc judge for the Orleans Parish Juvenile
Court. Mr. Scheckman is the Past President of the Board of Directors of the
Association of Judicial Disciplinary Counsel. He was previously a member of
the Louisiana State Law Institute, Children's Code Revision Committee,
a member of the Louisiana Task Force on
Indigent Defense, a Fellow of the Louisiana Bar Foundation,
a founding member
and former Vice President of CASA New Orleans, a
member of the Board
of Directors of the Louisiana CASA Association,
and a member and
Treasurer of the Board of Directors of the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing
Action Center.
Cheryl L.
Randall served as Senior Attorney in
the Commission's Albany Office from August 2007 to November 2009, when she
accepted a position as an Administrative Law Judge with the New York State
Department of Labor. She is a
graduate of the State University of New York at Oneonta and the University
of Connecticut Law School (cum laude). Prior to to joining the
Commission staff, she served as a Senior Attorney handling disciplinary
cases for the State Education Department. She has also served as an
attorney with the Office of the State Comptroller, the Public Employees
Federation, the New York State School Boards Association and the law firm of
Whiteman, Osterman & Hanna.
