Kevin M. Hogan, C-Level Executives Award

20 Honorees Earn C-Level Executives Award for 2021

The leaders of some of the region’s largest companies are among the honorees of the 2021 C-Level Executives Awards.

The 10th annual awards, which are hosted by Business First and sponsored by Harter Secrest & Emery LLP, Northwest Bank and Walsh Duffield Companies, recognize Western New York’s most effective business leaders.

Including this year’s class, 202 people have been recognized since the C-Level awards began in 2012.

The 2021 honorees are:

• Sara Capen, executive director, Niagara Falls National Heritage Area
• Enzo Dentico, chairman, Affinity Group
• Joseph DiStasio, CFO, BestSelf Behavioral Health Inc.
• Colleen Gough, chief quality and compliance officer, Person Centered Services
• Journey Gunderson, executive director, National Comedy Center
• John Hartwell, CEO, Matrix Imaging Solutions LLC
• Colleen Heidinger, president, 43North
• Kevin Hogan, managing partner, Phillips Lytle LLP
• Kevin Lawson, CEO, KSL Diagnostics Inc.
• Robert Minicucci, president, Health System Services
• Kevin Nephew, CEO, Seneca Gaming Corp.
• Robert Nesselbush, CEO, Kaleida Health
• Al Paonessa, CE,O KeySource
• Laurel Parzych, CFO, OLV Human Services
• Lynne Reilly, president, Pharmacy Benefit Dimensions, an affiliate of Independent Health
• Robert Ruocco, CIO, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of Western New York
• Lou Santiago, CFO, G-Health Enterprises
• Samuel Savarino, president, Savarino Companies, LLC
• Michael Stevens, executive director, City Year Buffalo
• William Wlodarczyk, CEO, Fox Run at Orchard Park

The winners will be honored at an event on Nov. 4 at the Statler. The WNY Business Hall of Fame induction also will take place during the event.