Our mission is to empower children and adults with developmental disabilities to achieve their potential based on personal choices, abilities and interests...

Westchester Arc
The Gleeson-Israel Gateway Center
265 Saw Mill River Road
Hawthorne, NY 10532
914.949.9300
info@westchesterarc.org

24-hour
Crisis Intervention:
914.949.8200

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Executive Bios

Sheryl R. Frishman, Esq.
President, Westchester Arc

Sheryl R. Frishman, Esq. was elected to the office of board president in June 2009.   Ms. Frishman has been on the board of Westchester Arc since 2004. She served for two years as second vice-president. Currently she chairs the Governance and Membership committees and has served on many committees for the agency.

She is a partner in the law offices of Frishman & Faber, P.C. a practice devoted entirely to the advocacy and life planning needs of children and adults with disabilities and their families. Along with her commitment to Westchester Arc, she currently serves as first vice-chair of the Board of the JCC on the Hudson, and as Secretary of the Board Navigating the Spectrum. She is on the advisory board for the WIHD Autism Expansion Grant, on the fundraising board of S.A.I.L. at Ferncliff Manor, and serves on the Family Support Services Council of the Hudson Valley Developmental Disabilities Services Office.

Previously, she was the senior associate attorney at a prominent New York law firm where she managed their elder Law Department. She has served numerous times as court evaluator, guardian, guardian and litem, and court appointed counsel for incapacitated persons in New York State Supreme Court and Surrogate’s Court. She is an active member of many organizations in the disability community and has worked to develop and implement programs in Westchester for persons with special needs and their families. She speaks regularly and conducts workshops for professional and family organizations in the areas of special education law and life planning.

She received her B.S. from Union College, and her J. D. from Cardozo Law School of Yeshiva University. She resides in Irvington with her husband, Robert Rosman, Esq., and their three children Aaron, Rebekah and Zachary. Their son Aaron has autism.

 

Richard P. Swierat
Executive Director, Westchester Arc

Since 1975, Richard P. Swierat has worked with people having developmental disabilities. He has been executive director of Westchester Arc 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. » Click here to read more.

 

Lawrence McNaughton
President, The Westchester Arc Foundation

Larry McNaughton brings over 30 years experience in strategic planning, market research and advertising experience to his role at Westchester Arc. 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, The Westchester Arc Foundation

Anne Sweazey, executive director of The Westchester Arc Foundation, directs and coordinates fundraising and development in support of Westchester Arc programs that require private charitable giving to supplement public support. She has extensive experience in fundraising campaigns, including annual, planned and capital giving.

She was previously 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. Her 25-year career includes work with the 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) 1995 Suncoast Signature Award.

Sweazey has also worked with Chase Manhattan Bank and as an English teacher. She is a certified fundraising executive and holds a B.A. from Hunter College.