NIFA chair headed to NUMC

Daily Point

New chairman at NUMC

Gov. Kathy Hochul has selected Richard Kessel, currently chair of the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, as the next chairman of Nassau University Medical Center's public benefit corporation, The Point has learned.

Kessel will leave NIFA to chair Nassau Health Care Corp., leaving the NIFA chairmanship open. Mohsin Meghji, a current NIFA board member, will fill the chair role at Nassau County's fiscal watchdog.

The NHCC chair and board oversee both the hospital and the A. Holly Patterson Extended Care Facility, the nursing home in Uniondale.

The chair position has been vacant for months, since the departure of former Chairman Stuart Rabinowitz in March. The state's late budget and ongoing legislative session, which ended last week, in part contributed to the delay in filling the seat. Absent a chair, the board has been unable to meet as it has at times lacked a quorum. According to the hospital's website, a meeting is, as of now, scheduled for June 15.

The pick of Kessel isn't a surprise. Kessel has been deeply involved in trying to rightsize NUMC, its troubled finances and its leadership for years, using his perch at NIFA to advocate for change at the hospital and to shed light on the institution's rocky finances. As a result, he was often the target of the ire of NUMC's former leadership, including former Chairman Matthew Bruderman and former interim chief executive Meg Ryan. Ryan sued Kessel for defamation, but that lawsuit was dismissed last week.

Kessel also assisted with the hospital's more recent turnaround efforts, working with state officials when Hochul took over the hospital last year. That shift gave Hochul more board appointments and handed the governor the power to choose the hospital's chairman. Kessel also was involved in the selection of Tom Stokes as NUMC chief executive and has worked closely with Stokes, both since he came to NUMC and before, when Stokes served as deputy county executive under former County Executive Tom Suozzi, during Kessel's previous stint at NIFA. Stokes, meanwhile, applauded the pick of Kessel as chairman, pointing to Kessel's "thoughtful leadership, sound judgment and an unwavering commitment to public service."

Kessel has been a key regional leader for decades, previously heading the Long Island Power Authority, the New York Power Authority, the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency and the state Consumer Protection Board.

Hochul highlighted that experience in making the pick.

"His proven record of public service, commitment to Long Island and ability to navigate challenging issues make him exceptionally well-suited to lead the Board as NHCC continues its mission of providing high-quality care to the communities we serve," Hochul said in a statement.

Kessel noted that the hospital is showing signs of improvement but still faces "a lot of challenges."

"I look forward to working with the board and Tom and seeing what we can do to make that hospital a first class health care system — and I think it can be," Kessel said. "Stu's leadership and the board's leadership, and the new management team we put in there, have brought the hospital forward significantly. The whole culture over there has changed and is moving in the right direction."

Kessel said he has already worked closely with Hochul and the secretary to the governor, Karen Persichilli Keogh, noting that the hospital needed the governor's office's support to move forward further. Kessel also said he planned to reach out to Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman in hopes of working with him, and to see if Blakeman and the county legislature's majority would make their appointments to the board.

"I get the politics, but this is no game," Kessel said.

Kessel told The Point that he hoped to focus on a variety of key issues, including the hospital's fiscal needs, its physical plant, the land around both NUMC and A. Holly Patterson, and efforts to build relationships with other hospitals.

"We have to be daring in some of the things we do," he said. "We have to be up to meet the challenge, and we have to be innovative and new."

Meghji, meanwhile, has served on the NIFA board since 2021. He follows in the footsteps of Kessel and other former chairmen, including Adam Barsky, Jon Kaiman, Ronald Stack and original NIFA chair Frank Zarb.

— Randi F. Marshall randi.marshall@newsday.com

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Quick Points

The place to be

• Madison Square Garden will be rocking tonight for Game 3 of the NBA Finals, and since it's arguably the World's Most Famous Arena in the most famous city in the world, plenty of celebrities will be clamoring for the spotlight. That includes President Donald Trump, whose expected presence at the game caused the cancellation of the watch party outside the Garden. He'll be joined by Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the Republican gubernatorial candidate. Maybe Gov. Kathy Hochul's campaign can host a Knicks watch party with Donald Trump — the golden-haired rare albino buffalo from Bangladesh.
• It's Invasive Species Awareness Week throughout New York State, so celebrate by stomping on a spotted lanternfly! Because a spotted lanternfly can quickly dart out of reach, the Cornell Integrated Pest Management website suggests using a vacuum cleaner to take care of bugs. Wait a day or two to empty the vacuum, but don't wait too long, Cornell advises, because, "If left for too long dead spotted lanternfly will decay and a putrid odor should be expected!" That's a fresh take on spring cleaning.
• The next round of Long Island elections, including primary races for congressional seats and village elections, are two weeks away. You're not alone if you feel like there's an election at some level of government in some corner of the Island every month.
• Speaking of local elections, Nassau and Suffolk will be using new voting machines this year. Nassau is replacing outdated voting machines while Suffolk is switching to electronic machines. In the current political climate of almost nonstop claims of election fraud, what could possibly go wrong?
• Sports marketing continues to spread exponentially, and Stony Brook University will place corporate sponsorship logo patches on team jerseys starting this fall thanks to recent NCAA rule changes. Stony Brook expects revenue "in the high six-figures." Looks like Wolfie, Stony Brook's mascot, is about to get some outfit upgrades.

— Mark Nolan mark.nolan@newsday.com

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