The Power 100 Women highlights influential women in Buffalo. Based on years of observing the area business community.
Buffalo Business First editors and reporters ranked the 100 most influential women. Today, we rank from the 24th to the 1st most influential women.
24 - Mari Howard -- President and CEO, The ReHabilitation Center
Howard is CEO of The ReHabilitiation Center, based in Olean, and Opportunities Unlimited of Niagara. Those organizations are working on a merger, which will create a $76 million nonprofit with more than 1,200 employees in two counties.
23 - Sharon Stern Gerstman -- Of counsel, Magavern Magavern Grimm LLP
Gerstman became president June 1 of the 72,000-member New York State Bar Association. She concentrates her law practice in the areas of mediation and arbitration and appellate practice. She is a 35-year member of the state Bar.
22 - Paula Ciprich -- Senior vice president, general counsel and secretary, National Fuel Gas Co.
Ciprich is responsible for audit services, human resources, payroll, corporate legal, risk management and security at the publicly traded energy company.
21 - Alice Jacobs -- Delaware North
Her philanthropic relationships include chair emeritus of the WNY Women’s Foundation and the boards of Buffalo Seminary, Elmwood Franklin School, Maria Love Convalescent Fund and the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo. She is the incoming board president of Albright-Knox Art Gallery and will oversee a $150 million expansion at the museum that will double the amount of exhibit space and create an endowment.
20 - Norma Nowak -- Executive director, New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences; Founder and chief scientific officer, Empire Genomics LLC
A nationally recognized researcher in the human genomics field, Nowak is the founder of Empire Genomics, a molecular diagnostics firm focused on enabling personalized medicine. Her research has contributed directly to the Human Genome Project. She has authored or co-authored 144 research articles.
19 - Colleen DiPirro -- President and CEO, Amherst Chamber of Commerce
As the longtime leader of the chamber of commerce with 946 dues-paying members, DiPirro developed an in-house insurance agency with two licensed brokers.
18 - Maria Foti -- Senior vice president and chief strategy officer, Catholic Health
As lead planner, she supervises strategy and operations for the $1.1 billion Catholic Health system, a network of five hospital sites, surgery centers, nursing homes and home-care services.
17 - Michele Trolli -- Executive vice president and chief information officer, M&T Bank
A member of M&T’s Management Committee, she leads the technology and banking operations, which include corporate services, digital and telephone banking and enterprise security. The six divisions account for more than one-fifth of the bank’s employees. Trolli is on the mobile banking board of the national Clearing House Association and is chair-elect of the Buffalo Zoo and vice chair of the WNY Women’s Foundation.
16 - Denise Jones -- President and CEO, The Resource Center - NYSARC Chautauqua
Jones has been with the agency that serves individuals with developmental disabilities for more than 25 years and presides over the largest employer in Chautauqua County with 1,624 FTE employees and the third-largest Million Dollar Nonprofit with revenue of $67.9 million.
15 - Dottie Gallagher-Cohen -- President and CEO, Buffalo Niagara Partnership
Gallagher-Cohen leads the region’s largest chamber of commerce with 1,217 dues-paying members and a regional focus on Western New York business issues.
14 - Crystal Peoples-Stokes -- 141st District (Buffalo), New York State Assembly
In office since 2003, Peoples-Stokes was appointed chair in 2015 of the Assembly Committee on Governmental Operations, which oversees the state police, homeland security, emergency preparedness and military and naval affairs. She is former chair of the NYS Association of Black & Puerto Rican Legislators.
13 - Gale Burstein -- Commissioner, Erie County Department of Health
An M.D. specializing in pediatrics and public health, Burstein manages a staff of 250 and oversees public health and safety in Buffalo and Erie County. She’s been in the position since 2012 and has made awareness of opioid addiction her mission.
12 - Paula Feroleto -- Administrative judge, 8th Judicial District of New York, NYS Supreme Court
Elected to state Supreme Court in 2004, Feroleto was appointed administrative judge in 2009 for the 8th Judicial District, which includes supreme, county, family and surrogate courts in all eight counties, as well as 11 city courts and 197 town and village courts.
11 - Katherine Conway-Turner -- President, SUNY Buffalo State
Appointed the ninth president in Buffalo State’s history in 2014, she oversees an urban campus with more than 9,400 students and more than 1,525 FTE employees.
10 - Clotilde Perez-Bode Dedecker -- President and CEO, Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo
Dedecker oversees a $342.4 million portfolio at the region’s largest foundation. She is a founder of the Literacy Funders Network, a national coalition of foundations dedicated to improving literacy in America, and a director of FSG, an international consulting firm for social change.
9 - Kimberley Minkel -- Executive director, Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority
More than 26 million people annually use the NFTA’s Metro Rail and bus system and more than 5.2 million fly in and out of airports in Buffalo and Niagara Falls. The NFTA has a $215.6 million budget and a workforce of more than 1,400.
8 - JoAnn Falletta -- Music director, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra
A leading recording artist for the Naxos label and a multiple Grammy Award winner, Falletta is also music director of the Virginia Symphony and principal guest conductor of the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina. She has been a guest conductor for more than 100 orchestras in North America and prominent orchestras in Europe, Asia, South America and Africa.
7 - Allegra Jaros -- President, Women & Children’s Hospital of Buffalo; Vice president, Kaleida Health
Come November, Jaros will complete the transfer of operations from the hospital on Bryant Street to the new $270 million, 12-story John R. Oishei Children’s Hospital on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.
6 - Rhonda Frederick -- President and CEO, People Inc.
Frederick oversees a $143 million budget and more than 3,860 full- and part-time employees at the region’s largest nonprofit and 16th-largest employer, which provides services for seniors and for people with developmental disabilities. She is president of the Developmental Disabilities Alliance of WNY, which gives agencies a single voice in Albany.
5 - Catharine Young -- 57th District (Olean, Jamestown), New York State Senate
The Olean Republican is the assistant majority whip and chairs the Senate Committee on Housing, Construction and Community Development with the purpose of revitalizing neighborhoods. She also chairs the Legislative Commission on Rural Resources, which focuses on strengthening the economies of rural communities.
4 - Cheryl Klass -- Executive vice president and chief nursing executive, Kaleida Health
Klass became the senior woman leader at the health system in May 2016 and oversees nursing responsibilities for all Kaleida operations. An R.N., she was most recently a Kaleida vice president and president of Buffalo General Medical Center.
3 - Kathy Hochul -- Lieutenant governor, New York state
This native daughter of Western New York holds the second-highest position in state government and chairs 10 regional economic development councils. Elected lieutenant governor in November 2014, she has held public office since 2007.
2 - Kim Pegula -- President and CEO, Pegula Sports & Entertainment
Kim Pegula and husband Terry spent nearly $2 billion to buy the Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres, build HarborCenter and renovate KeyBank Center. Their civic generosity extended to the 11-Day Power Play, which raised $1.2 million for cancer research. The Pegulas donated the ice time at HarborCenter, training sessions and personnel to operate HarborCenter 24/7 for the event.
1 - Candace Johnson -- President and CEO, Roswell Park Cancer Institute
Johnson continues to increase revenue and visibility for the $785 million specialized hospital, including cancer vaccine development with Cuba and more research dollars in hand. This year, the hospital partnered with Buffalo Medical Group and Catholic Health for a new radiation oncology center and launched Tactiva Therapeutics LLC as the latest spin-off business.