Notice of 2023 NYU Tandon Polytechnic Alumni Association Annual Meeting & Election

Robert V. Jones is the founder, president, and CEO of PReSafe Technologies, an emerging cyber security and operational security solution delivery company with an emphasis on protecting global digital assets supporting the nation, commercial business, critical infrastructure, and academic communities. Mr. Jones has more than 30 years of leadership and technology experience with increasing responsibility. In Feb 2014, the Government Technology Services Coalition (GTSC)— a non-profit, non-partisan association of CEOs from innovative, agile companies that create, develop, and implement solutions for the Federal homeland and national security sector—presented him with the Small Business Member of The Year Award.

After a rigorous evaluation, in late 2014 PReSafe Technologies was selected by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) as a participant in the SBA’s 8(a) Small Business Development Program. The 8(a) Program, covering a term of nine years, is an essential instrument for helping entrepreneurs gain access to the economic mainstream of American society by enabling them to gain a foothold in government contracting.

Mr. Jones was recently named chairperson of the Air Traffic Control Association (ATCA) Aviation Cybersecurity Programming Committee. In that capacity, he contributes thought leadership on a wide range of cybersecurity topics within aviation and its related national policy, government, and industry initiatives. His aim is to improve cyber resilience and threat mitigation throughout the digital transformation in air traffic management; the safety and performances of new entrants such as drones, urban air mobility services, and supersonic aircraft in the National Airspace (NAS); and workforce development; among other important concerns.

A frequent expert panelist and moderator, Mr. Jones has collaborated with other senior cybersecurity thought leaders in federal and state government, the military, and industry to develop and deliver an array of  content for ATCA presents Aviation Cybersecurity—the only cybersecurity event dedicated solely to aviation and air traffic management. In an environment that requires the utmost safety and redundancy, cyberthreats are particularly dangerous, so aviation and cybersecurity experts from across the country join the conversation as ATCA delves into the intricacies of protecting our NAS and the flying public. The programming series provides a fresh perspective on the impact of federal cybersecurity policies, industry initiatives, and cyber activity on engineering and operations in light of modern domestic and international cyberattacks.( The 2020 ATCA presents Aviation Cybersecurity Preview Workshop: Cyber Hygiene in a Time of Pandemic can be viewed here.

Among his many other ATCA activities, he has authored several articles for the group’s bulletin, which is distributed to several thousand individuals and organizations managing and providing air traffic control (ATC) services and equipment around the world.

Prior to founding PReSafe Technologies. Mr. Jones was Staff Director, IT Infrastructure and Operations, with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). There he led architecture and IT service delivery across the organization for both enterprise infrastructure and ecommerce infrastructure, with revenue from online subscription services approaching $200M annually. His direct responsibilities included cybersecurity strategy and implementation, among others. Of notable achievement, he led his team in creating and introducing a unique messaging service with innovative virus detection and SPAM management features to facilitate safer Internet communication for IEEE members. More than 100k IEEE members subscribed, driving a volume of over 360M messages processed annually and making it one of the most popular IEEE member benefits for some time. He has also held leadership positions of increasing responsibility at Brookhaven National Laboratory; Merck, Inc.; and Mars, Inc.

Mr. Jones holds a Master of Science degree from Polytechnic University (now NYU Tandon) and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Notre Dame, both in Electrical Engineering. He was among 145 students nationwide to be named a full fellow by the National GEM Consortium to pursue graduate studies in engineering. Mr. Jones completed executive education programs including Leadership and Team Effectiveness at Yale University School of Management and Delivering Information Services at Harvard Business School. He is designated a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) by the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium, Inc., (ISC)2 ®. Network Journal Magazine presented Mr. Jones with the “40 Under 40 Dynamic Achievers” Award in 2003.

He is a member of the International Security Certification Consortium (ISC)2 ® , the IEEE, InfraGard and GTSC, where he has served two terms as a Steering Committee member. Mr. Jones is a past member of the Security Industry Association (SIA); the Greater Philadelphia Senior Executive Group (GPSEG), where he served the Technology Subgroup as a member of the Strategic Planning Committee; and the Anti Phishing Working Group (APWG). Mr. Jones shares his volunteer and philanthropic support with organization focused on alleviating hunger in his community, including the Franklin Food Bank and Elijah’s Promises.

Mr. Maimis brings close to 35 years of construction experience to his position as Senior Vice President for STV Construction, Inc., a project management and construction advisory firm. He has been responsible for the oversight of numerous successfully executed and completed projects for cultural, higher education, healthcare, transportation centers, multi-tenant housing, and commercial clients.  Some of his past and current projects include the Jacob Javits Convention Expansion Project; Stevens Institute of Technology Academic Center and Dormitory; National September 11 Memorial and Museum; and Grand Central Terminal Restoration amongst others. His responsibilities typically involve the oversight and management of projects on behalf of his clients and of all construction activities from the early design phases thru completion and turn-over.

Mr. Maimis, as Senior Vice President for STV Construction, Inc. is responsible for the profitability, growth and overall operations on a variety of projects, ranging from commercial to institutional on notable projects and clients such as: Port Authority of NYNJ; Columbia University; New York University Langone Medical Center; United Airlines; and New York City Housing Authority.

Mr. Maimis is currently serving on the Board of Directors as Vice President of the PAA as well as Director and Treasurer of the Greater New York Constructions Users Council; President of the Debra C. Parmentola Foundation as well as serving in numerous committees for philanthropic and professional organizations.

He is a visiting professor at the School of Architecture at Pratt Institute and a guest lecturer at Columbia University’s Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science. He is on the Civil Engineering Industry Advisory Board of Polytechnic Institute of NYU (now the NYU Tandon School of Engineering) and an active participant in mentoring NYU Tandon engineering students. He is a contributing member of The New York Building Congress higher educational and public building committees, US Green Building Council as well as The Urban Green Council.

Mr. Maimis holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of New York (now the NYU Tandon School of Engineering) and a Master of Business Administration from Cornell University. 

Amy Batallones is Senior Vice President in Blackstone’s Technology & Innovations group. In her current role, Amy drives cybersecurity across Blackstone’s global portfolio and provides cyber advisory to Blackstone’s investment professionals. Prior to Blackstone, she was Head of Cyber Security Operations at Con Edison, the energy company servicing NYC and Westchester. Amy graduated from NYU Tandon School of Engineering with an M.S. in Management of Technology, and she holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Fordham University, where she was an elected Associate Member of the Sigma Xi Research Honor Society. She also currently serves on the NYU Alumni Association as a Board Member.

Amy is very engaged in STEM education in her community. She is the Founder and former Chair of Con Edison’s GOLD Educational Outreach Committee, which since 2013 has been connecting Con Edison’s future leaders with K-12 schools to provide mentorship and exposure to STEM careers. She has worked as an adjunct cybersecurity instructor at Tandon and Fordham University. She served on the Executive Committee for IEEE’s New York Section and supported IEEE’s initiatives and special interests in youth and STEM education. Amy also previously volunteered with LEGO Robotics as an instructor at public schools in Brooklyn.

As a member of the International Board of Directors, Amy hopes to enable educational opportunities to prospective, current, and graduate students alike. Amy is committed to working with PAA to foster a more compassionate and socially responsible community that uses technology to connect people and solve global challenges.

Kevin Bishop is currently a Senior Specialist in the Distributed Generation (DG) Group at Con Edison. In this position, he is responsible for providing guidance on DG-related procedures and tariff interpretations, as well as assessing customer and utility impacts of DG to support policy initiatives.

Kevin holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and graduated cum laude in 2011 from Polytechnic Institute of New York University, now the NYU Tandon School of Engineering. He is an active member of the New York Metropolitan Area Chapter of the American Association of Blacks in Energy (AABE – NYMAC) and during his undergraduate years was a part of other notable organizations such as the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) and National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME).

Since graduating, Kevin has been actively engaged in the Polytechnic Alumni Association (PAA) and previously served as a member on the Executive Council for two terms. Each year, he has also been a dedicated recruiter and representative for Con Edison at NYU Tandon STEM career fairs and has conducted extensive interviews at NYU Tandon of prospective candidates for the Con Edison Growth Opportunity Leadership Development (GOLD) program. In his ongoing endeavor to pay it forward to the next generation, he is also a mentor in the Con Edison Energy Tech HS Mentorship program, where he mentors 9^th grade students on a monthly basis during the school year.

Throughout his career, Kevin has demonstrated his effectiveness in positions of influence by earning trust and respect from his professional colleagues due to his diligent work ethic and compassionate personality. He firmly believes hard work pays off if you work smart by aptly applying all available avenues to succeed. He is eagerly looking forward to bringing these qualities to the Polytechnic Alumni Association as a member of the International Board of Directors.

Steve Garone is the founder and current chief analyst at Lake Shore Analytics, where he focuses on helping organizations of all sizes develop and execute content strategies to help them grow their businesses. Prior to his current work, Steve worked as a marketing executive at a variety of high technology companies, including Rackspace, Hitachi Vantara, CA Technologies, Sun Microsystems, Cadre Technologies, and Digital Equipment Corporation. In these roles, he brought to market a variety of products and services in the areas of cloud computing, software as a service, network and system management software, application servers, and software development tools.

Steve also served as Program Vice President at IDC Corporation, a leading technology-based industry analyst firm. In this role, he helped both his end user and vendor clients navigate the competitive landscapes of a number of software areas, including application development, emerging technologies, and others.

Steve also co-founded two other companies: The AlignIT Group, which created tools that IT organizations could use to help them make IT purchase decisions more quickly and less expensively, and Maastary, which helped small and midsize companies adopt and more effectively leverage social media and inbound marketing techniques to grow their customer bases and to better serve their customers with higher quality online experiences.

Steve started his career as an engineer with RCA Corporation, GTE Sylvania, and Digital Equipment Corporation, where he worked to bring new integrated circuit design and manufacturing processes to fruition.He earned his Bachelor of Science degree at Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn (now the NYU Tandon School of Engineering). He also holds both a Master of Science degree and an Electrical Engineering degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He subsequently earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Babson College.

Having founded several companies, Steve believes in helping those who choose a similar path. As a member of the staff of the MIT eForum, he develops curricula for seminars and courses aimed at educating entrepreneurs on how to meet the various challenges faced by startups. Steve also does similar work with Babson College.

Steve’s free time is spent as a musician in a concert band and smaller ensembles, practicing yoga, running, volunteering for community-based organizations, and hanging out with his grandchildren.

Dr. Martin L. Green (Marty) received degrees from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn (now the NYU Tandon School Engineering) in 1970 (B.S., Metallurgical Engineering) and in 1972 (M.S., Physical Metallurgy). In 1977 he received his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Materials Science).

Marty spent most of his career as a research scientist at Bell Laboratories (1970-1974 and 1978-2003) in Murray Hill, New Jersey, where he led research projects in the application of novel materials and processing for integrated circuit scaling and production. Between 2001 and 2003, he was a guest researcher at IMEC (Interuniversity MicroElectronics Center) in Leuven, Belgium.

Since 2003, Marty has worked at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, Maryland, as leader of the Materials for Energy and Sustainable Development Group. His group conducts research and develops and disseminates measurement science, data, standards, and technology pertaining to materials for energy and sustainable development applications, in partnership with U.S. industry, government agencies, and industry stakeholders. His group’s most current interest is in the application of artificial intelligence to the field of materials science.

Marty served as President of the Materials Research Society (MRS) in 2001 and is an MRS Fellow. He has authored or co-authored over 225 papers and 10 books and has been granted 16 patents.

Marty has 52 years of experience in the field of Materials Science, during which he has been involved in fundamental research, research management, product development, manufacturing, and public outreach. He passionately believes that materials are “technology enablers” and therefore a sine qua non for our modern world. As an alumnus, he hopes to engage with Tandon/Poly alumni, as well as to be a mentor to current students and to give back to the Tandon/Poly community by sharing his experiences and perspectives. His goal is to enable young people to have joyful, meaningful, and fulfilling careers in science and technology. Further, because Marty had a wonderful experience at Poly, he wants to make sure that NYU Tandon continues to excel.

Azzurra Pedrotti was introduced to STV at a networking event in 2016 and was hired by the firm’s Construction Management (CM) Division as a project officer later that year. In 2019, upon a client’s endorsement and request, she was promoted to be the first healthcare procurement manager within the firm’s CM Division.  

She has particular expertise in the procurement & coordination of engineered medical equipment. Her duties include budget & schedule monitoring, design coordination, strategic purchasing, and client  relations for the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (H+H). She currently manages the procurement of $70.5M in medical  equipment, IT systems, and furniture for the outfitting of the new RBG tower at Coney Island Hospital: a resilient,10-story, acute-care hospital building and part of a $1.7 billion FEMA-funded capital construction program to repair and upgrade four hospitals damaged during Superstorm Sandy.  

Ms. Pedrotti holds Bachelor & Master of Science degrees in Building Engineering from La Sapienza University of Rome, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude, and a second Master’s degree in Civil Engineering, with a minor in Construction Management, from New York University (4.0 GPA, Class of 2017).  

Azzurra is a driven and passionate professional, committed to every project she leads. She is extremely detail oriented and her problem-solving approach, along with her soft skills, have launched her career in the right direction, as she is currently delivering one of the largest Capital Healthcare projects in New York.  

Her deep understanding of the Healthcare industry, combined with her technical engineering skills, makes her an eclectic and resourceful professional. Azzurra has never failed to meet her client's needs: she is a good listener and a great communicator, and with her rational and analytical approach, she is able to organize and guide her resources to nail every request, deliverable, and crisis.  

Azzurra is fully capable of hiring and training talents; retaining her employees while keeping them motivated and engaged over time; and managing time, budgets, changes, and project partners.  

Ms. Pedrotti is the ideal builder and leader, always eager to learn, motivated to do better by seeking new opportunities, and committed to delivering high-quality projects for the greater good of the community and her company. 

Frank Robertazzi CFP®, is a Senior Vice President at Merrill Lynch. His team works with clients across the United States on achieving their financial goals. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch in 2007, Frank had a successful career as a Vice President of national and global business technology development in both the electronics and lighting industries at HP, Agilent, and CML. 

Frank is a native of Brooklyn, NY. He graduated from the Polytechnic Institute of NY, now the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, in 1980 with a BS degree in Electrical Engineering, after completing his studies at Brooklyn Technical High School.

Frank began his career with Hewlett Packard’s Semiconductor Group. During this time, he worked on the co-development and set of standards on fiber optic technologies with multinationals such as IBM.  He also brought HP’s semiconductor technology to a broader base of clients around the world through a globally integrated channel strategy. Frank’s channel strategy for HP/Philips solid-state lighting collaboration was one of the first efforts to commercialize solid-state lighting.

At CML, he collaborated with a local entrepreneur, LED Specialist Inc., to bring solid-state lighting to such companies as Boeing. 

In 2007, Frank re-engineered his own career into one of Wealth Management at Merrill Lynch. At Merrill, Frank leads a team of advisors that work with clients around the United States on achieving their financial goals.

Frank’s goal is to assist our alumni and students to realize their dreams through mentoring opportunities and help them thrive in the New York Metro area’s rich mosaic of people, technology, and finance.