2nd Annual Regional Workforce Summit

Timothy L. Hall became the 12th president of Mercy College in May 2014 after previous service as a law professor, a university administrator and the president of Austin Peay State University in Tennessee.

Under his leadership at Mercy, significantly more students are being retained and are crossing the finish line with a Mercy degree, owning to the College’s laser-like focus on student success. Innovative practices like proactive advising are strengthening equity for all of Mercy’s students, including the
students of color who make Mercy the largest, private, non-profit minority serving college in New York.

In March 2019, President Hall led Mercy College into an agreement with the College of New Rochelle (CNR), which faced closure in August 2020 due to financial hardship. Mercy created a seamless pathway for students to continue their education uninterrupted, accommodated almost every degree program,
retained half of the former CNR faculty and temporarily leased three of their five campuses.

Additionally, under Hall’s leadership, Mercy fully renovated its Manhattan Campus in the heart of Herald Square, now called MercyManhattan, increasing the campus to 95,000 square feet of collaborative, state-of-the-art spaces, with a dorm opening in fall 2020. In both 2019 and 2020, Mercy was recognized
as the “Best College in Westchester” by Westchester Magazine, the only college to have earned this recognition two years in a row.

President Hall has been the keynote speaker at several national and regional conferences including the United Way and Business Council’s of Westchester Not For Profit Summit focused on Building Community, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s annual Student Success Conference, the annual
meeting of the New York State Transfer & Articulation Association, and the National Symposium on Student Retention.

Marissa Weidner, currently serves as Chief Human Resources Officer for Sterling National Bank.  In her role, Ms. Weidner is responsible for developing and executing human resource strategy in support of the overall business plan and strategic direction of the organization.  Originating and leading HR practices and objectives to create an employee-oriented, high performance culture, Ms. Weidner identifies and drives organizational change initiatives designed to significantly increase and maintain colleague engagement.  Ms. Weidner is a dynamic, forward-thinking and results-driven professional named to Woman of Impact from NY Business Journal, was recognized by the Business Council of Westchester as a Rising Star under 40, and is a recipient of the College of Westchester’s Alumni of the year award.

Prior to joining Sterling National Bank, in November of 2015, Ms. Weidner served as president of the Westchester County Association (WCA), a business leadership organization.  As president, she oversaw WCA activity and directed the BLUEPRINT for Westchester, the WCA’s aggressive private-sector initiative to spur economic development in the region. She crafted and executed the strategy to promote Westchester’s multiple assets and to market the county’s available real estate and $15 billion health- and bio-tech sectors.

Her accomplishments are many. At Sterling National Bank, Ms. Weidner has taken a leadership role in enabling women to achieve their full potential with the creation of a Sterling Mentors program to encourage and assist high-potential colleagues in growing their careers and she also served as Chair of the bank’s Extraordinary Women of Sterling initiative.  Ms. Weidner co-led the Cultural Integration of Sterling National Bank and Astoria Bank as they moved through their merger and led the combined organization through a culture shaping initiative.  At the WCA, her efforts led to the groundbreaking conference, “Rethinking Westchester” that helped set the BLUEPRINT’s course of action.  She organized City Showcases to market the county’s cities, and initiated the BLUEPRINT’s Work. Live. Play. initiative to attract and retain young professionals in the county.

Prior to joining the WCA, Ms. Weidner was vice president of the Hudson Valley Economic Development Corporation where she developed and implemented all real estate marketing programs resulting in more than seven million square feet of commercial space being occupied and almost six thousand jobs created. Earlier in Ms. Weidner’s career, she marketed a commercial real estate portfolio of 1.4 million square feet in White Plains for Albert B. Ashforth, Inc.

Weidner is currently attending Manhattanville College in pursuit of her master’s degree in Human Resource Management and Organizational Effectiveness.  She holds a bachelor’s degree from Fordham University and an associate’s degree from the College of Westchester.  Ms. Weidner serves as Co-President on the Board of Directors for the College of Westchester’s Charitable Foundation.  She has previously served on the boards of Volunteer New York, the United Way of Westchester and Putnam, the Westchester/Putnam Workforce Investment Board, the Advisory Board of Fordham’s School of Professional and Continuing Studies and the Leadership Advisory Council of the YWCA White Plains & Central Westchester.  Weidner lives in Sandy Hook, CT with her family.

Arthur Woods is a serial entrepreneur working at the intersection of inclusion and technology. He was named to Forbes 30 Under 30, is a three-times TEDx speaker and is an advisor to leading brands from Disney and MetLife to Casper.

He is the Co-Founder of Mathison, a talent marketplace connecting underrepresented populations to the most competitive job opportunities globally. Arthur came from Google where he led operations for YouTube’s Education division and oversaw YouTube for Schools. Arthur previously co-founded Imperative, leading social learning platform; Out in Tech, the largest global LGBTQ technology community; and Social Impact 360, the leading collegiate social enterprise education program.

Arthur studied Operations and Information Management at Georgetown University and Project Management at Stanford University. He contributes to Fast Company, is a World Economic Forum Global Shaper, a New York Venture Fellow and sits on the Boards of the Georgetown Technology Alliance.