MCC Foundation Honors Optics Visionaries with Salute to Excellence Award; Four Inducted Into Alumni Hall of Fame
November 14, 2024
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – November 14, 2024 – The Monroe Community College Foundation presented its highest honor — the Salute to Excellence Award— to three leaders in the optics industry at the 33rd Annual Salute to Excellence event in November for their significant support of Monroe Community College and the Monroe Community College Foundation. Honorees include Tom Battley, executive director, Rochester Regional Photonics Cluster and the New York Photonics Industry Association; James M. Sydor ’71, chairman, Sydor Optics, Inc. and Monroe Community College Foundation director; and Richard A. Nasca, manufacturing associate, Corning Tropel Corporation and past president of the American Precision Optics Manufacturers Association. Nasca passed away unexpectedly in December 2015 at the age of 57. His wife, Mary Ellen, and his daughters, Gianna and Nina, will accept the award posthumously on his behalf.
Maureen R. Wolfe, executive vice president, Human Resources & Community Impact, ESL Federal Credit Union and chair, MCC Foundation Board of Directors, said, “Private philanthropy fuels MCC’s ability to continue meeting the ever-changing needs of students and our community to help grow the local economy through a well-educated and technically sophisticated workforce. The MCC Foundation is grateful for the generosity of Tom Battley, James M. Sydor ’71 and the late Richard A. Nasca and their partnership and passion for transforming the lives of students and our communities.”
“In collaboration with generous community supporters like Tom Battley, James M. Sydor ’71 and the late Richard A. Nasca, we empower students from all walks of life to recognize their unlimited potential. Because of their investments, MCC students, their families, and our local employers in the optics industry are all stronger,” said Gretchen Wood, CFRE, vice president, Institutional Advancement and executive director, MCC Foundation. “We are grateful for these three leaders’ steadfast support of our vision to ensure equity in educational and post-college outcomes and create opportunities for economic and social mobility across the region.”
Thanks to the support from these honorees and the leadership of Dr. Alexis Vogt, program chair and professor, MCC’s optics program is nationally recognized for its success—a significant factor in Monroe Community College being selected to lead workforce development for the NY SMART I-Corridor. Some other facts about MCC’s optics program include:
- Seventy students from the optics program graduated in May, which is the largest for the program since its inception.
- There is a 100 percent job placement rate for optics program graduates.
- Since 2015, the program has grown more than 2,400 percent from five students enrolled to 129 in Fall 2023.
- Of the 129 students enrolled last fall, 23 percent were female, and 25 percent identified as students of color.
- Twenty-eight percent of the students who joined the program in Fall 2023 took an optics class in one of the 20 dual enrollment high schools in the area.
In addition to the Salute to Excellence being awarded, four Monroe Community College alumni were inducted into the MCC Alumni Hall of Fame at the event. Inductees have distinguished themselves professionally, demonstrated service to MCC, and provided leadership in our community.
- Kim Gaylord ’98: President and CEO, Builders Exchange of Rochester
- Michael P. Mandina ’75: Chairman, Optimax Systems, Inc
- Sheila M. Strong ’98, Director, Leadership Development and Equity, United Way of Greater Rochester and the Finger Lakes
- Tashanda Thomas ’06, Senior Vice President, Chief People and Culture Officer, Foodlink
The Monroe Community College Foundation is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt not-for-profit organization.
Funds raised from events support scholarship assistance, faculty enrichment programs, educational equipment funding, and seed money for innovative programs.
About the Salute to Excellence Awardees
Tom Battley
A global thought-leader on photonics and a technology evangelist, Tom Battley had a vision for an optics educational pipeline in Monroe County. His work helped initiate the Summer Optics Sizzler, launch a flagship dual enrollment high school optics program at East High School and strengthen a world-class MCC program. Thanks in part to Battley’s leadership, 20 high schools currently teach dual enrollment optics and enrollment is exploding.
Rick Nasca
A 30-year veteran of advanced optics, Rick Nasca was passionate about optics education and devoted himself to MCC’s program on behalf of Corning Tropel. Thanks to Nasca’s leadership, expert faculty were hired to teach at MCC, curriculum was revised, laboratories were redesigned, equipment was donated, and the Corning Incorporated Foundation invested over $1.2 million to support optics education through the MCC Foundation. His contributions were limitless.
Jim Sydor
An alumnus of the MCC Optical Systems Technology program and member of the MCC Alumni Hall of Fame, Jim Sydor ’71 was the first major donor to support the new vision for the MCC Optical Systems Technology Program in 2012. Sydor is a passionate, tireless advocate for the MCC program and an exemplary success story who has been instrumental in the program’s explosive growth and overwhelming success. Sydor Optics has been a passionate employer hiring MCC graduates.
The Monroe Community College Foundation is profoundly grateful to Tom, Rick and Jim for their generosity to MCC. Their unwavering partnership and passion for improving our community inspires us all. We applaud their leadership and philanthropy and present Jim, Tom and Rick’s family with our highest honor, the Salute to Excellence Award. Congratulations!
About the Alumni Hall of Fame Inductees
Kim Gaylord
Nominated by David Beinetti
“MCC played a crucial role in my academic career. It was the institution that opened my eyes to the opportunities around me and inspired me to continue my studies. One professor in particular, Carmen Powers, inspired me and made me view my path forward in a different light. She mentored me without ever knowing it. Her words and advice still resonate with me daily.”
Kim Gaylord is committed to improving the Rochester and regional construction industry in all ways. In May 2022, Kim was named the first female president and CEO of the Builders Exchange of Rochester, a 135-year-old, not-for-profit association founded in 1887 with over 600 members representing all sectors of the construction industry. The Builders Exchange is a catalyst for the commercial construction community in our region. Their mission is to deliver their members education, programs and services to grow their local businesses and the local community.
Kim came to the Builders Exchange with over 15 years of marketing and customer service experience. Following college, she worked for Spoon Exhibit Services as the account services coordinator where she supported the tradeshow programs for Fortune 500 companies. In 2005, she joined KrausCreative as an account manager, following that she joined Ontario & Trumansburg Telephone Companies (OTTC)/Finger Lakes Technologies Group (FLTG) as the director, marketing and corporate communications. In 2016, she joined the Builders Exchange as vice president, member experience and operations. Kim credits her time as OTTC/FLTG as the reason for her success at the Builders Exchange.
Upon graduation from Monroe Community College with an associate’s degree in business administration, Kim earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing and management and a minor in communications from SUNY Brockport.
Servant leadership is at Kim’s core as she is active in many community organizations throughout the Rochester area serving on the boards of the Greater Rochester Enterprise, Rochester Rotary Charitable Trusts, Monroe Community College Foundation and the Greater Rochester Habitat for Humanity. She is also involved with the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Finest Committee. Kim was recognized as a Rochester Business Journal Woman of Excellence in 2024 and was the recipient of the Rochester Rotary Service Award in 2023.
Kim resides in Webster with her husband Doug. She is a proud mom to three amazing daughters—Brittany, Alexis and Olivia—and grandmother to Tommy and a dog mom. When not at work, Kim can be found spending time with family and friends, cooking, reading, camping and traveling.
Mike Madina
Nominated by Joseph Spilman
“We have a fundamental knowledge about how careers really are developed and the value of education and developing skills. I’ve found that criticizing and tearing down is easy, but finding the good and building is harder. Without mentors, some luck and the good people I have had the pleasure to work with over the years, I would not have this extraordinary opportunity.”
Mike Mandina earned an Associate Degree in Optical Engineering Technology from Monroe Community College in 1975. In 1976, Mike founded his first optics company, Cormac Industries, and would go on to found Optimax Systems, Inc., an optical components manufacturer, in 1991 in the basement of a barn. Now located in Ontario, NY, Mike watched the company grow to employ more than 450 teammates; of which more than 300 are highly skilled technicians, engineers and scientists.
Mike remains connected to MCC by serving on the College’s Optics Advisory Board and is committed to addressing the current skills gap and aligning the educational system with industry needs to produce a skilled workforce to strengthen our region by helping to insure a vibrant high tech manufacturing community.
Currently serving on the board of Vertus Charter School, Mike has been an active member in many industry associations and organizations including the American Precision Optics Manufacturers Association (APOMA), Business Leaders United, Finger Lakes Advanced Manufacturers’ Enterprise (FAME), High Tech of Rochester’s Manufacturers Extension Partnership, NYS Finger Lakes Workforce Investment Board, Rochester Regional Photonics Cluster and WIRED: Finger Lakes Partnership Governing Board.
A master optician himself, Mike has received numerous honors and awards over the years for his leadership and industry success, including: NYS Business Hall of Fame inductee, Rochester’s Small Business Person of the Year finalist, Rochester Regional Photonics Cluster Entrepreneurship award,
SBA’s NYS Small Business Person of the Year award and RIT’s Saunders College of Business Herbert W. Vanden Brul Entrepreneurial award.
Mike continued his education after graduating from MCC, earning a bachelor’s degree in applied physics from Empire State College, as well as an executive MBA from the Rochester Institute of Technology. He resides in Ontario with his wife and enjoys wood working, small craft sailing, kayaking and travel.
Sheila Strong
Nominated by: Joseph L. Searles, Jr. and Dr. Kimberley Willis
“My education at MCC ignited my passion for learning, leading me to further my studies ultimately earning a Doctor of Education in Executive Leadership. Returning to MCC as an employee working for the president of the College, and seeing my former MCC professor Dr. Barbara Lovenheim serving as a member of the Board of Trustees, was a full-circle moment.”
Dr. Sheila M. Strong is a scholar, an inclusive leader and an advocate for social justice. She has over twenty years of executive-level experience in nonprofit and higher education.
As Director of Leadership Development and Equity at United Way of Greater Rochester and the Finger Lakes, she directs United Way’s six longstanding leadership development programs. She leads the DRIVE (Diversity, Race, Inclusion, Value, Equity) team to advance DEI and belonging initiatives at the United Way and supports other organizations in the community. She launched United Way’s first Leadership, Equity, Advancement, and Development (LEAD) Mentoring and Coaching Program.
Prior to joining the United Way, Sheila held positions as the assistant to the college president at SUNY Brockport and the executive assistant to the president of Monroe Community College where she served as co-administrator of two leadership programs for middle managers to support the College’s mission and strategic plan to develop talent management and was a contributor to the creation of Dr. Alice Holloway Young’s biography.
A lifelong learner; following her graduation from MCC, Sheila earned a bachelor’s degree in business communications and a master’s degree from SUNY Brockport. She completed her Doctor of Education in Executive Leadership from St. John Fisher University.
Sheila has been recognized as the 2023 Colors of Success DEI Leadership Award finalist. She is a member of the Urban League of Rochester Powerbrokers, the National Association of Presidential Assistants in Higher Education, the Public Administration Advisory Board at SUNY Brockport, the Lambda Pi Eta Communication Honor Society at SUNY Brockport and the Workforce Diversity Network.
Sheila serves as a trustee of the Susan B. Anthony House and Museum, Inc., BoardStrong, Inc., the Center for Governmental Research and the Friends & Foundation of the Rochester Public Library. In addition, she has mentored young women and community leaders in the Greater Rochester region.
Sheila resides in Rochester, New York.
Tashanda Thomas
Nominated by Dr. Daniele Lyman-Torres, Alison Zero Jones and Michelle Picardo
“I represent MCC’s core values in everything I do in and out of the workplace. Tonight, I am honored to join such an elite group as a member of MCC Alumni Hall of Fame. I have deep ties to MCC, my husband, son, and mom all graduated from MCC. Being recognized in this way makes my heart and my family proud.”
With a career spanning several years in human resources, Tashanda has left an indelible mark in both the non-profit and for-profit sectors. Her work has been instrumental in fostering relationships with employees and managers, aligning with business strategy, resolving communication issues, and motivating individuals for peak performance. Tashanda’s unwavering commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is not just a professional stance, but a personal mission that inspires and motivates all those around her.
Tashanda’s desire to impact the lives of Rochester’s citizens is evident in her past and current volunteer work and service. She is the chair of the Willow Domestic Violence Center Board and sits on its Human Resources Task Force and Governance committee. She is an Urban League of Rochester board member, a St. John Fisher University alumni board member and a member of the YMCA Human Resources Committee. Tashanda is a commissioner for the City of Rochester’s Civil Service Commission, a founding member of 100 Women Who Care, Roc and an Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated member.
Tashanda has received recognition for her professional work and her community outreach. She is a 2023 OnCon Icon Top 50 Human Resources Professional Award winner, 2023 NHRA Human Resources Executive of the Year finalist, 2022 Rochester Business Journal Women of Excellence honoree, 2022 ATHENA Young Professional Award finalist, 2021 Making an Impact Award winner from the Rochester Chapter of the National Human Resources Association, 2020 St. John Fisher University “Ten Under 10” honoree, a 2019 Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce IGNITE Future Leaders Award finalist, and a 2018 Rochester Business Journal “Forty under 40” honoree.
Tashanda is a graduate of the United Way African American Leadership Development Program, earned an associate’s degree from Monroe Community College and a bachelor’s degree from St. John Fisher University. Tashanda has her PHR and SHRM-CP certifications and is a devoted wife and mom.