Enzo Biochem, Inc
The Ram's Horn Award for Corporate Leadership
Accepting for Enzo Biochem, Inc., Kara Cannon - Chief Operating Officer
Kara Cannon is a P&L leader with deep marketing, sales, and operations skills. She has over 30 years of experience in the life sciences industry at Enzo Biochem, Inc., Pall Corporation, and Dynal Biotech. Ms. Cannon’s technical expertise combined with her ability to connect international teams has delivered powerful results throughout her career.
Currently, Ms. Cannon is the Chief Operating Officer of Enzo Biochem (NYSE: ENZ), a publicly traded life sciences company with global operations (2022 to present). Previously, she was the Chief Commercial Officer of Enzo Biochem (2017-2022) and joined Enzo Biochem in 2010 as the Head of Global Commercial Operations for the Life Sciences Division (2010-2017).
After earning a Bachelor’s degree in biology from Franklin and Marshall College, Ms. Cannon started her career at Dynal Biotech (1990-2000), joining this start-up business as it launched operations in the US. This foundational experience exposed her to myriad corporate disciplines, including marketing, sales, operations, product development, and technical support.
She held progressive commercial roles at Pall Corporation (2000-2010), where she led global marketing, as well as the diagnostics and biotechnology segments.
Ms. Cannon is passionate about fostering talent for the future and serves of the Board of Directors for Farmingdale State College and acts as an advisor to the School of Health Professionals at New York Institute of Technology.
Enzo Biochem, Inc
Global Life Science Company Servicing the Community for over 45 Years
Enzo Biochem has been a leader in innovation and product development to support a diverse range of needs in biomedical research and healthcare for over 45 years. With a comprehensive portfolio of 20,000 high-quality products including antibodies, genomic probes, assays, biochemicals, and proteins, Enzo supports the work of academic research centers and industry partners who are shaping the future of healthcare around the world. The company’s proprietary products and technologies play central roles in all areas of translational research and drug development, including genomic analysis, protein analysis, cellular analysis, tissue analysis, and small molecule chemistry. Enzo has a broad and deep intellectual property portfolio, with patent coverage across a number of key enabling technologies. During the pandemic, executed under Enzo’s School and Institution Testing (“SIT”) Program, Enzo provided the necessary level of safety for students, staff, and faculty to return to campus, with Farmingdale State College being the first academic institution to leverage Enzo’s expertise.
Clyde Vanel ’97
The President's Award for Alumni Leadership
NY State Assemblyman - District 33
Assemblyman Clyde Vanel serves as the Chair of the Subcommittee on Internet and New Technology and Chairs the Committee on Oversight, Analysis and Investigation. He has sponsored numerous landmark bills, such as legislation to create a robotics, automation and artificial intelligence commission; license high-risk AI systems; and create a cryptocurrency and blockchain study task force. He is focused on emerging technologies and works to close the digital divide among marginalized communities.
Vanel is an attorney, entrepreneur, and pilot from Queens. He is the owner and operator of Vanel Law Firm, P.C., where he practices intellectual property and business law. Vanel is also an internet entrepreneur operating TrademarkReady.com, a service focused on trademark filings and intellectual property protection. Vanel has extensive entrepreneurial experience, including owning and operating a restaurant and lounge, Vanel on First, in Lower Manhattan for five years. Vanel works to expose the next generation to STEM careers. Vanel is also the founder of the New York Metro chapter of the Black Pilots of America, Inc. The organization trains and exposes the community and youth to the field of aviation.
Vanel serves as a member of the MIT AI Policy Forum and frequently lectures and presents on issues including artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, international policy, and intellectual property.
Vanel earned a Juris Doctor from Boston University School of Law, where he was the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Science & Technology Law. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Aviation Administration and an Associate of Applied Science in Aerospace Technology from Farmingdale State College, where he served as the Student Government President.
Serving as the Assembly Member for the 33rd District of New York since November 8, 2016, his district includes Cambria Heights, St. Albans, Hollis, Queens Village, Bellerose, and parts of Floral Park. Vanel was raised in Cambria Heights, New York, with nine siblings, Vanel is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.
This past year, Assemblyman Vanel secured two allocations of funding totaling $500,000 to support Farmingdale State College Professional Pilot students with scholarship funding to reduce the financial burden of flight time instruction fees.
Professor Bill Steedle '81
The President's Award for Academic Leadership
Assistant Dean, School of Business / Associate Professor of Visual Communications
Professor Bill Steedle is an educator, administrator, photographer, graphic designer, and calligrapher. Bill is a proud Farmingdale alumnus from the class of 1981 with a treasured collection of Farmingdale College memorabilia and historical artifacts.
Bill has been an enthusiastic member of the Farmingdale family for over forty-one years – more than half of that time has been in academic leadership positions. Farmingdale is as much a part of Bill’s own family as he is an integral part of the Farmingdale family. He started as an Instructional Support Technician, then Adjunct Faculty, and eventually as a Full-Time Faculty member. Throughout his long career at Farmingdale, Bill continuously volunteers to support and assist other departments across the campus.
In the early 1980s, Bill began integrating computer graphics into the Advertising Art & Design Department. This new initiative was one of the first in the entire SUNY system. When the College was transitioning from a two-year institution to a four-year college, Bill took on a leadership role in creating the original Visual Communications curriculum. Recently, as the department recreated and updated the curriculum to meet the requirements for national accreditation, Bill also contributed significantly to that effort.
Through the Office of International Education & Programs, and Florence University of the Arts, Bill taught a study abroad photography class in Florence, Italy.
Bill has served as Chair of Visual Communications, University Faculty Senator, and he his currently Assistant Dean of the School of Business, a position he has held for the past seven years. He is also acting chair of the Computer Systems department.
Bill has been recognized with numerous awards, including Instructor of the Year, the FSC Alumni Association’s Excellence in Service, Outstanding Service to the College, and the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Faculty Service.
Outside of Farmingdale, Bill has been active in numerous charitable organizations including the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and served as a volunteer assisting oncology patients at Huntington Hospital. He is an avid lifelong sailor and is an active volunteer sailing crew member at the Long Island Maritime Museum serving as a First Mate on the Priscilla – the museum’s national landmark 1888 oyster sloop.
Rena Varghese, Esq.
The President's Award for Professional Leadership
Executive Director of Nexus Center for Applied Learning & Career Development
Rena Varghese is the Executive Director of the Nexus Center for Applied Learning & Career Development at Farmingdale State College. Celebrating its 5-year anniversary, the Nexus Center, under the purview of Provost Laura Joseph, was launched to advance President John Nader’s strategic plan for the college to prepare students as highly qualified professionals who are also engaged citizens contributing to the public good. Providing a unified front for employers and other community partners to connect with students and alumni for employment opportunities and applied learning experiences, the Nexus Center has been awarded grants and recognized by SUNY system for innovating student opportunities in partnership with faculty and industry leaders. Rena is particularly enthusiastic about marketing to employers that 100% of our baccalaureate students will have gained practical experience by the time they graduate. During the pandemic, the Nexus Center, working with the Farmingdale College Foundation and the SUNY Research Foundation, distributed more than $145,000 in grant funding and scholarship awards to support over 100 students in community engaged applied learning activities.
Rena leads a team of dedicated and experienced professionals, including Director of Career Development, Dolores Ciaccio, who has completed over 25 years of service to FSC, Cheryl Stratigos, Inesa Mott, Robin Schulman, and Dr. Yetunde Odugbesan, Director of FSC’s new Office of Community and Civic Engagement.
Rena received her Juris Doctor from Cornell Law School and is an attorney admitted in New York, practicing in a large NYC law firm before joining academia over 15 years ago. She is a first-generation college graduate thanks to the support of her immigrant parents – her father, Chunkathil Varghese, is retired from the U.S. Postal Service and was a math teacher in India, and her mother, Mary, is a retired Registered Nurse.
Rena also teaches for the FSC Center for Criminal Justice and has instructed law school courses at St. John’s University School of Law, including Legal Writing and Externship Seminars corresponding to experiential learning placements. In addition, Rena is an Experiential Education Academy (EEA) Instructor for the National Society for Experiential Education (NSEE) and has led EEA national and regional seminars on Legal Issues in Experiential Education, including at SUNY Applied Learning conferences.
Rena will be playing a World Poker Tour event in Las Vegas in December 2022, and if she wins, will be donating a percentage of her prize to the Farmingdale College Foundation – so wish her luck!
Kelly Wylie '25
The President's Award for Student Leadership
Mechanical Engineering Technology major, SGA Vice President, President & Founder of Rambots Club, President of Sigma Delta Tau
From student programming to circuit board programming, Kelly Wylie, ’25, a mechanical engineering technology major at Farmingdale State College (FSC), is a whiz.
What started as a friendly sibling rivalry with her older brother, Joseph Wylie, ’24, an FSC cybersecurity major, has transformed into Wylie’s successful college experience. Now Student Government Association (SGA) vice president, Sigma Delta Tau president, secretary of the RAM Motorsports Club, and a student assistant in the Office of Student Activities, Wylie is also president and founder of FSC’s popular Rambots (robotics) Club.
“My brother, he’s 16 months older than me,” said Wylie, who grew up in Seaford, New York. “I kind of followed a lot of things he did, because we were so close in age. We were a little bit competitive with each other—or at least I was,” she quipped.
Wylie’s “if he can do it, I can do it” mindset and determination would bring her to join several clubs through elementary, middle, and high school, including student government, which she immediately loved, and robotics, which she immediately didn’t.
“At my first meeting I remember very clearly sitting down and saying, ‘This is not for me.’ It just didn’t make sense in my head, and I didn’t think that I was going to like it,” she said. “But I stuck with it anyway, and soon I was like, ‘Oh, this is exactly what I love to do.’”
Engineering runs in Wylie’s family, with her grandfather, her father, and her mother working in locomotive engineering. “I definitely look up to my mom for succeeding in a male-dominated environment as an engineer,” she said. During an FSC open house visit, “I got to see one of the lab rooms in Lupton, and that’s when my mom knew I really wanted to go into engineering too, because she could tell how excited I was,” Wylie added.
Wylie has remained active both on and off campus, serving as a Rambassador campus tour guide and orientation leader for the Office of Admissions, organizing a wide variety of campus events, including student career development workshops, food donation efforts, and fundraising for local charities, and completing a summer internship with Zebra Technologies in Holtsville.
“Kelly epitomizes the essence of an FSC student, seamlessly being involved in activities with grace and purpose,” said Lukas Miedreich, FSC director of the Office of Student Activities. “True achievement is not just about excelling in one area but embracing the holistic experience of campus life. She is involved in all facets of campus life from SGA, to Greek Life, to student clubs and student employment.”
With her “full calendar,” Wylie lauds FSC for welcoming and encouraging her array of interests.
“The reason that I join all these clubs, and started a few, is because I want everyone to find their place where they just feel welcomed and supported,” she said. “I love Farmingdale because I feel like it gives me a lot of opportunities. I always say you can be as involved or uninvolved as you like, so I feel like it caters to a really diverse group of students. It’s mainly a commuter school, but there’s so many different ways to get involved. And I feel like we have really good resources, especially with our Office of Student Activities. I feel like everyone really wants to help you succeed.
“We have a really supportive environment at Farmingdale, especially for women in STEM,” she added.
After graduation, Wylie is gearing up to pursue a master’s degree in engineering management and would like to go into sales engineering or program management. No matter where she goes, Wylie plans to give back to her community.
“I need to be fulfilled and driven by something,” she said. “My mom actually said that to me the other day. She’s like, ‘You’re going to need to find a hobby where you’re giving back in some way.’ Because I feel like something’s missing without that. So, I’m sure wherever I go next, there’s a lot of opportunities to volunteer for different things that I’m really passionate about. I would love to be able to help out a good cause.”