The School of Business Selection Committee at the State University of New York at New Paltz is pleased to announce the 2010 School of Business Hall of Fame inductees.

The inductees – Rocco B. Commisso, Business Person of the Year; Everton H. Henriques ('78 & '83g) & Jeannie Irvine ('78), Alumni of the Year; Diana Ortiz (’10), Student Leader of the Year; and Steve and Shelley (’86) Turk, recipients of the 2010 Dean’s Award for Excellence - will be recognized at the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony to be held from 5 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 13, at the Wiltwyck Country Club in Kingston.

Rocco Commisso’s illustrious career in the cable television industry spans

three decades. He is the chairman and chief executive officer of Mediacom Communications Corporation, a company he founded in 1995 in the basement of his home to acquire and reinvigorate cable systems in the nation’s underserved smaller communities. With its corporate offices in Middletown, NY, and 4,500 employees in 22 states, Mediacom is the leading provider of advanced broadband services to 1.4 million customers in over 1,500 small cities and towns across America.

Steve & Shelley Turk own and operate Rocking Horse Ranch, an all inclusive

family vacation dude ranch in Highland. The Ranch continually receives the prestigious AAA and Mobile 3-Diamond rating, in addition to receiving local accolades for the property’s award winning landscape and gardens. Mr. Turk is President and CEO of the Rocking Horse Ranch and Ms. Turk works in the Finance Department at Rocking Horse Ranch. In 2004, Mr. Turk and his Management Team purchased Splash Down Park in Fishkill, renamed it Splash Down Beach, which earned the Newcomer Business award by the Dutchess County Economic Development Corporation, and in 2007, the Team introduced the Halloween attraction Skull Island Scream, which earned the number one Haunted Attraction of the Hudson Valley its first season.

consulting and supplier firm in the process development, environmental, safety and health arena. He is a co-founder and vice president of the former Panasonic Plasma Display Laboratory of America, Inc. (formerly Plasmaco, Inc.), where he managed process development, engineering and prototype manufacturing. Jeannie Irvine worked for IBM Corporation as a programmer until her early retirement in 1993.

Diana Ortiz will receive a B.S. degree in Marketing in May 2010 from New Paltz. She has been actively involved in several student associations and works as a student activities manager for Student Activities and Union Services. While at New Paltz, she studied abroad in Guayaquil, Ecuador; competed in the Business Plan Contest where her team won second place; took part in the student debates; and participated in the Multicultural Advertising Intern Program, where she was a project management intern at the advertising firm Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners in Sausalito, Calif.

Complete profiles of the inductees can be reviewed online at http://www.newpaltz.edu/schoolofbusiness/about_halloffame_inductees2010.html.

The Premier Sponsor of the event is Mediacom Communications Corporation. The Presenting sponsor is Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corporation. Corporate sponsors include: M&T Bank, Rocking Horse Ranch and Ulster Savings Bank. The Business sponsor is Everton H. Henriques ’78, ’83g & Jeannie Irvine ’78. Company sponsors include: Empire State Bank, Horse Shows in the Sun, Mid Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union, Mohonk Mountain House, Rose & Kiernan, Inc., and TD Bank