Leadership

Anthony Assalone

President, Arc of Westchester

Anthony Assalone was elected President of the Arc of Westchester’s Board of Directors in June, 2012. In this role he is responsible for the general business affairs and property of the Chapter.

Mr. Assalone is the Managing Director of United Galaxy Associates, LLC, a business brokerage and consulting firm, providing merger, acquisition, brokerage and consulting services to retail automobile dealerships across the country. A 40-year veteran of the automobile industry, Mr. Assalone’s career includes 30-plus-years as an owner and operator of dealerships for several manufacturers, including Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Buick, Mazda, Toyota, Volkswagen and Lincoln-Mercury. Mr. Assalone also chaired regional, as well as national dealer councils/associations, including the NY Tri-State Mercedes-Benz Dealer Association, a group that he helped create.

A resident of Ossining, NY, Mr. Assalone is the proud father of a daughter, Kimberly, a vice president of a public relations firm in New York City, and a son, Justin, who has Down syndrome but who also enjoys a very active life.

Richard P. Swierat

Executive Director, Arc of Westchester

Since 1975, Ric has worked with people with developmental disabilities, including holding the position of executive director of Arc of Westchester for the past 20 years. He frequently speaks at state and national meetings on such topics as guardianship, quality metrics, corporate compliance, person-centered planning in residential and vocational services, board training, family advocacy and the development and management of direct service worker career systems.

Swierat is an adjunct professor at Western Connecticut State University's Ancell School of Business in Danbury, Connecticut. He is on the staff of the graduate school of health care management, with specialties in strategic and financial management. On behalf of the university, he has taught in the Bahamas as a member of the systems change team for health care organizations. Swierat periodically works on these issues with other community organizations as a private consultant.

He has a master's degree in special education from the State University College at Buffalo and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in administration and decision management sciences at Walden University. His dissertation focuses on the recruitment and retention of direct service workers in the field of developmental disabilities. The National Conference of Executives (NCE) of the Arc of the United States has bestowed its highest honor—the 2008 Executive Excellence Award—to Westchester Arc Executive Director Ric Swierat.

Lawrence McNaughton

President, Arc of Westchester Foundation

​Larry McNaughton brings over 30 years experience in strategic planning, market research and advertising experience to his role at Arc of Westchester. Using a common-sense sensitivity to the creativity of communications, Larry has helped numerous companies address marketing, product development, and communications issues with differentiating and innovative solutions — all based in a very objective, realistic and “make it work in the real world” approach.

Formerly an owner and managing director of CoreBrand, he built a small marketing communications company into an inter-nationally recognized brand management firm. He has much experience from the corporate world having led much of the marketing effort for TWA early in his career. Larry has held leadership positions at several renowned advertising agencies — DDB, Lord Geller, Anderson & Lembke — and is considered the most practical of managers.

Larry has guided many brands as they came alive in the creative processes of advertising and corporate identity. TWA, Altria, Nortel, IBM, 7-Eleven, Sharp, American Airlines, Kodak, New York Life, The Hartford, Intel, 3Com and Burlington Air Express are a few of the many brands which have benefited from Larry’s very down-to-earth approach.

Prior to joining the Westchester Arc Foundation, he acted in a consulting role during the redesign of the Westchester Arc brand. He also helped design and write brochures describing supplemental needs trusts, which enable funds to be set aside for the “extras” that contribute to a person’s quality of life without jeopardizing publicly funded benefits.

Anne Sweazey

Executive Director, Arc of Westchester Foundation

​Anne Sweazey, Executive Director of Arc of Westchester, directs andcoordinates fundraising and development to support Arc of Westchester programs. The Foundation, now in its eigth year, focuses on developing support for services that require private charitable giving to supplement public support.

Anne’s 25-year career in development has provided opportunities to work with exceptional people and to support important causes. She worked closely with noted paleoanthropologist, Richard Leakey, directing his foundation which gave grants to scientists investigating human evolution. She served as Director of Development for Natural Resources Defense Council, Florida International Museum and the Pinellas Association for Retarded Children (PARC), where she received a NSFRE (National Society of Fundraising Executives) Suncoast Signature Award. Anne was Vice President of Development for The Lighthouse, where she was responsible for annual contributions totaling $10 million, as well as the leadership phase of a $60 million capital campaign. Anne is a certified fundraising executive, awarded by the Association of Fundraising Professionals.