HomeOfficers & Board
LeadershipOfficers & Board of Directors.
LICA is run by volunteers from Long Island’s accounting, legal, banking, and investment firms. They coach presenting companies, recruit investor panels, and steer every capital forum.
Officers
Jill S. Scher
Managing Director, CBIZ, Inc
Jill Scher, CPA, MS, has over 25 years of experience in both public and private accounting, working with businesses across diverse industries such as manufacturing, technology, cannabis, life sciences, pharmaceuticals, and green energy. She specializes in tax consulting, transaction structuring, compliance, and representation. Jill is a sought-after speaker on topics like tax strategies, incentives, planning, and professional ethics.
Ms. Scher provides comprehensive guidance to start-up entities, from formation to fulfilling income tax filing obligations, ensuring compliance with Federal, State, and local requirements. She assists clients in implementing tax minimization and deferral strategies and identifying opportunities for tax incentive programs such as research & development and work opportunity tax credits. Her services also extend to advising foreign companies operating in the U.S. and domestic companies with overseas operations on the tax implications of potential transactions. She has successfully assisted numerous clients with IRS and State penalty abatements.
In her role at the Firm, Jill leads business development efforts, establishing new relationships and expanding business for the Accounting Services Group. She has built a strong network within the legal, insurance, investment, and consulting professions, leveraging their expertise as needed.
Jill also develops and teaches tax, technical, and professional ethics courses for CPE, Inc., NBI, and MyLawCLE, providing continuing education to CPAs and Attorneys nationally.
Jill is based out of CBIZ's Melville, NY office but serves clients nationally. Currently, she serves on the Board of the Long Island Capital Alliance (LICA) and the financial committee of the Tesla Science Center. She previously served as a Director on the Board of the Nassau Chapter of the New York State Society of CPAs. Jill earned her BS in Accounting and MS in Taxation from the State University of New York at Albany.
New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants (NYSSCPA), Co-Chair, Attorney and Accountant Networking Committee
Corey Massella
Managing Director, UHY Advisors
Corey has over 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur, tax and business advisor, and as a specialist in SEC accounting and audit services. Additionally, Corey has experience serving as a Private Equity and Technology Industry Group Practice Leader for a top 20 accounting firm.
Corey has successfully guided his clients through all facets of the mergers and acquisitions transaction cycle to help them make critical decisions while ensuring transactions are strategic and seamless. In 2015, He was selected as the winner of the SmartCEO award for Industry CPA Leader in New York. Corey has completed over 300 M&A transactions and was the lead partner at the firm awarded M&A Advisor’s Accounting/Due Diligence Firm of the Year award in 2017 as well as being nominated as Dealmaker of the Year by ACG New York and M&A Advisor.
Deep experience advising private equity funds, hedge funds, banks, broker-dealers, investor relations firms and various other financial services companies.
- As a business consultant, Corey has worked with CEOs and CFOs, as well as the boards of both public and private clients.
- Has performed due diligence and negotiations on both the buy and sell sides. Corey also has experience preparing business plans and initial public offerings (IPO).
- Significant experience with cash flow and productivity analysis to help scale businesses for growth.
- Extensive knowledge and experience in complex tax structuring and planning.
- Licensed CPA in the state of New York
- Bachelor of Science, Accounting and Finance, SUNY Buffalo
- Presented “Evaluating Your Business Foundation for the Future”, COMPEL, 2020
- Moderated “The M&A Advisor Future of Finance Stalwarts Roundtable: 2019 Sector Trends and 2020 Outlook”, 2019
- Authored “An ‘always on’ M&A strategy is imperative”, PE in Review, 2019
- Moderated “ACG NY’s Secondary Buyouts Panel”, 2019
- Presented “How to Prepare to Sell: A perspective from M&A Buyers” at “AM&AA Networking Event”, 2018
- Moderated “ACG NY’s M&A Landscape: Diving into Four of the Hot Industry Sectors””, 2017
- Authored “Global Investment Landscape and Outlook for M&A Activity in 2016”, 2016
Pawneet Abramowski
CEO & Founder, PARC Solutions
Pawneet Abramowski is a distinguished Compliance and Risk Management Executive with over 25 years of experience across both public and private sectors. She is the Founder and CEO of PARC Solutions LLC, an innovative consulting firm specializing in business strategy development, aligning products and services with regulatory standards, and creating infrastructure frameworks that foster sustainable growth and innovation for clients.
Before establishing PARC Solutions, Ms. Abramowski held several key leadership roles. She served as Senior Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer at Community Federal Savings Bank (CFSB), focusing on fintech and payments. At The Bancorp Inc. and The Bancorp Bank, she was the Head of Financial Crimes Risk Management and Chief Compliance Officer, where she led significant regulatory initiatives across various regions and functions. Her career also includes compliance leadership positions at CIT Group Inc., RBC Capital Markets, and Morgan Stanley, where she managed compliance transformations and remediation efforts to resolve regulatory consent orders.
Ms. Abramowski's public sector experience spans over eight years in investigative and intelligence roles with municipal, state, and federal agencies, culminating in her work with the Federal Bureau of Investigation on global terrorism cases.
In addition to her professional roles, she has served on the Board of Directors at FinTech Acquisition Corp. III, a special purpose acquisition company targeting the financial technology industry. She was also an Advisory Director at Quantaverse, focusing on financial crime strategy and product development for the AI platform company. Ms. Abramowski is an active member of the Dean’s Advisory Board at Adelphi University's Robert B. Willumstad School of Business and co-chairs the Financial Women’s Association (New York) Directorships and Corporate Governance Committee.
She holds an MBA and an MA in Government and Politics from St. John’s University, and a BA in Public Administration from the same institution.
Raymond Chang
Audit Partner, Citrin Cooperman
Raymond Chang is an Audit Partner with over 25 years of public accounting experience serving clients across a broad range of industries, including manufacturing, distribution, construction, retail, and real estate. His client base is primarily comprised of middle market and family‑owned businesses, for whom he provides thoughtful, practical guidance tailored to ownership and management dynamics.
Raymond is a creative and versatile professional whose experience spans financial reporting, transaction‑related projects, and advising management on recognizing and improving internal processes related to financial reporting and opportunities for overall efficiency. His background includes both U.S. GAAP and Income Tax Basis financial reporting, as well as evaluating complex accounting matters related to mergers and acquisitions, debt restructurings, and lease modification arrangements. Central to Raymond’s approach is a deep understanding of each client’s business, operations, and strategic direction, allowing him to deliver solutions aligned with their long‑term goals.
George Likourezos, Esq.
Partner, Carter, DeLuca & Farrell LLP
George Likourezos is a partner of Carter, DeLuca & Farrell LLP, a full-service intellectual property law firm specializing in patent law. His practice encompasses all aspects of patent, trademark and copyright law, including preparing and prosecuting patent applications in the US and worldwide. He also has expertise in analyzing patents and IP portfolios in connection with litigation, mergers and acquisitions, product clearance investigations, patentability studies, preparing legal opinions, and for advising R&D teams. His clients are involved in a wide range of technologies and sciences, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning and artificial intelligence, aerospace and defense, automotive and LiDAR technologies, bioelectronics and biomedical technologies, optical and RF communication systems, control and small satellite launch/propulsion systems, electronics, hybrid engines and hydrogen fuel cells, materials, medical devices, and urban air mobility (UAM) vehicles. His trademark practice includes all phases of trademark prosecution, including preparing trademark opinions, and non-disclosure and licensing agreements. George has over 25 years of experience procuring IP protection for inventors, small businesses, universities, research institutions, and corporate clients, including many Fortune 500 companies. He simultaneously earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and an M.S. in Operations Management at New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering. He served as the Alumni Association President during the merger discussions between Polytechnic University and NYU. George earned his J.D. at Touro University Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center in 1995.
George utilizes his technical and legal expertise to help a variety of entities procure IP protection. He also assists and advises inventors and small businesses to protect their innovations and obtain necessary financing to have their products developed and enter the marketplace. He is an intellectual property mentor and advisor to many startups, incubators and accelerators. He has a unique ability to understand the novel aspects of technologies and maintains an extensive network of professionals and associations that assist inventors and small businesses develop, protect, commercialize and monetize their innovations and technologies. He is registered to practice before the US Patent and Trademark Office and admitted to the bars of New York and New Jersey.
Chairmen Emeriti
Neil M. Kaufman
Managing Member, Kaufman McGowan, PLLC
As the managing member of Kaufman McGowan PLLC, Long Island’s Corporate & Securities Law Firm™, Neil M. Kaufman represents emerging growth, middle market and public companies and investment firms in their corporate, securities, financing, borrowing, merger & acquisition and other legal matters. Mr. Kaufman is particularly well known for advising clients with respect to SEC regulation, public offerings, private placements and mergers & acquisitions, as well as all types of commercial contracts, and is recognized as one of the leading corporate cannabis lawyers in New York and the USA. He is a frequent speaker on corporate, securities and cannabis law topics, and is an approved Vistage speaker on mergers & acquisitions.
- Member of the Board of Trustees & Chairman of the Audit Committee of Two Roads Shared Trust, a collection of open-end alternative mutual funds.
- Chairman *Emeritus* of the Long Island Capital Alliance, a not-for-profit organization devoted to assisting emerging growth companies.
- Chairman of the Long Island Chapter of Financial Executives International.
- Chairman of the Board of a Nasdaq-listed technology company.
- Chairman of the Banking, Corporate & Securities Committee of the Nassau County Bar Association.
- J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1984, where he was a staff member of the *Journal of International Law & Politics.*
- B.A. from Binghamton University in 1981 with recognition for outstanding academic performance.
He is admitted to practice law in the State of New York.
- has been named one of the top cannabis lawyers in the world by the Cannabis Law Report.
- has been honored as a King of New York by Schneps Media.
- has been named a Cannabis Industry Power Player by PoliticsNY and amNY Metro in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
- has received the *Leadership in Law* award from Long Island Business News.
Jeffrey L. Bass
Partner, Executive Strategies Group, LLC
Mr. Bass is a Managing Member of Executive Strategies Group LLC, a strategic business advisory Firm serving corporate executive management and boards of directors. He also served a Nassau County Planning Commissioner and was formerly Trustee of the Incorporated Village of Great Neck, New York where he also served on the Planning Board and Board of Zoning Appeals. He is also a member of the Hamlet on Olde Oyster Bay Homeowner Association Board of Directors.
Previously, Mr. Bass was Principal in Charge of the Strategic Business Planning and Advisory Services practice at Margolin, Winer & Evens LLP, a leading Certified Public Accounting and Business Advisory Firm with offices located in Garden City and Manhattan.
Mr. Bass provides business planning and related advisory services to clients that are either healthy companies seeking proper structuring for continued growth or troubled companies seeking to preserve or return to profitability. He works with companies at any stage of development, helping them to define business objectives, critical success factors, marketing strategies, operations plans, and financial requirements to achieve those objectives.
He is a founder and Chairman Emeritus of the Long Island Capital Alliance; Mr. Bass conceived and inaugurated the Long Island Capital Forum. Having helped many businesses secure capital throughout its 35-year history, the Forum was one of the most valuable and productive annual business events on Long Island. It is now conducted quarterly. He is also a Board member of the Composite Prototyping Center, a Not-For-Profit entity devoted to the promotion of advanced manufacturing and the advancement of STEM programs on Long Island.
Mr. Bass served as Chairman of a local chapter of Vistage, an international association of CEO’s. He has been a leader at various business conferences, including those sponsored by the Securities and Exchange Commission, United States Department of Commerce, New York Chamber of Commerce, Hauppauge Industrial Association, the American Society for Public Administration, International City Management Association, New York Council of Mayors and Inc. Magazine. He was an elected delegate to the 1995 White House Conference on Small Business and Chaired the Committees on Capital Formation for the New York State and Northeast Regional delegations. He was also a Director of the Long Island City Business Development Corporation.
Mr. Bass was an Associate Trustee of the North Shore-LIJ Health System (Now Northwell) and early Board member of the Feinstein Medical Research Institute. He is also a past President of the Board of Governors of the American Jewish Committee Long Island Chapter, a member of the Long Island Cabinet of the State of Israel Bonds and a founder of the Great Neck Arts Center. He currently supports several other philanthropic and community-based organizations.
Mr. Bass is the author of numerous articles and sections of books on strategic planning and budgeting and is frequently quoted in local and national business media. He has taught courses in Public Administration and Public Finance at Queens College of the City University of New York where he served as Adjunct Associate Professor of Public Affairs. He has also taught courses in Entrepreneurial Management. He holds a Masters in Public Administration from New York University and a Masters in Urban Studies/Planning from the City University of New York.
Previously, Mr. Bass was founder and chief executive officer of Jeffrey L. Bass Associates, Inc., a recognized strategic planning and consulting firm. Mr. Bass was also associated with PricewaterhouseCoopers and served in senior management positions in the City of New York.
Michael Lane
Entrepreneur, Investor, Advisor
Michael Lane has been a Director of the Long Island Capital Alliance since 2013 and served as Chairman before becoming Chairman Emeritus. He has held various leadership positions throughout his career in global consulting firms (Accenture), technology companies (Pegasystems, Bottomline Technologies), and some of the world’s largest financial institutions (Bankers Trust, Chase). He has raised multiple rounds of capital for his early stage companies from private investors, venture capital firms, and strategic partners such as Accenture, Bank of New York, and Microsoft, with successful exits delivering significant investment returns for shareholders.
His experience and counsel are frequently sought to advise on the challenges relating to business start-ups, funding and capitalization, operations, sales and marketing, leadership, and other organizational opportunities.
Mr. Lane also serves on various company and industry boards. He earned a BA degree from UCLA and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
Board of Directors
Jordan Darrow
President, Darrow Associates, Inc
Jordan Darrow is a career investor relations practitioner with over 25 years of experience. From start-ups to large publicly traded companies, he has advised businesses of various sizes on investor relations, capital formation, financial modeling, growth strategies, crisis, M&A and executive succession communications, and other initiatives. These activities spanned professional affiliations as well as non-profit organizations.
In 2005, Mr. Darrow founded Darrow Associates to assist microcap to midcap publicly-traded companies with their efforts to increase awareness among investment community, media and trade industry constituencies, as well as develop and implement productive communications strategies among a company’s workforce and customer base. Founded in New York, Darrow Associates has grown into one of the leading and most trusted middle market investor relations agencies in the nation with offices in New York, Silicon Valley and Austin.
Prior to establishing his own IR firm, Mr. Darrow served for nearly five years as the Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications for Nasdaq-listed PRIMUS Telecommunications Group, Incorporated. Earlier, he was at Taylor Rafferty Associates, Inc., the leading New York based cross-border IR firm, and the Financial Relations Board, Inc. (FRB), then the largest independent IR firm in the country. In 1996, he won the prestigious Creativity in Public Relations Awards (CIPRA) competition for the Best Investor Relations Program for an Initial Public Offering. He has been a member of the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) and a member of NIRI’s New York chapter.
Among his volunteer work and philanthropic endeavors, Mr. Darrow was co-Founder and President of LI Invest, Inc., a not-for-profit organization established to promote investment into Long Island. Leveraging IR tactics and relationships, LI Invest was the first independent organization to conduct investor conferences to showcase publicly-traded companies with headquarters or other economic interests on Long Island, New York. For more than 5 years he has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Long Island Capital Alliance, Long Island’s leading non-profit capital formation and business development organization for early stage companies. Earlier, while living in New York City, he was a Board member and Treasurer of the Manhattan Chapter of the Special Olympics. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Economics with a minor in Business Communications from the State University of New York.
Other philanthropic and charitable organizations supported by Darrow include but are not limited to local school districts in New York and Austin, the University of Texas at Austin, the State University of New York system, the Holocaust Museum and Tolerance Center of Nassau County, the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade.
Mark Elenowitz
CEO, TriPoint Capital Management
A Wall Street veteran with over 30 years experience, Mark was a co-founder of a US broker dealer and is Managing Director of two US broker dealers. Mark is responsible for advising clients on compliance, capital structure and capital market navigation. He has extensive experience in advising clients on compliance, capital structure, and capital markets navigation including acting as a member of the board of directors. For over 30 years he has worked with numerous public and private companies. He was also responsible for leading the first successful Reg A+ IPO of a company to list on the NYSE (NYSE:MYO).
Mr. Elenowitz integrates a strong, successful entrepreneurial background with extensive financial services and capital markets experience. He has assisted numerous companies in a "soup-to-nuts" process, preparing them for life as a public company and advising them on an ongoing basis as to further rounds of financing, strategic acquisitions and a broader investor base via a listing on a higher securities exchange or market. He is an expert in capital markets investigative analysis of trading activity, short selling and market activity providing investigative services for Board of Directors, Special Committees and public companies.
In addition, he is the President of Horizon, a global software provider, has developed an end-to-end suite of blockchain technology solutions for the issuance and secondary trading of both registered and exempt offerings of digital securities. Mr. Elenowitz is the recipient of several entrepreneurial awards and has been profiled in BusinessWeek and CNBC, as well as several other publications. He has also been a profiled speaker at the SEC Small Business conference. Mr. Elenowitz is a member of the board of directors of the Long Island Capital Alliance and the National Investment Banking Association. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Business and Management with a B.S. in Finance. He holds Series 24, 62, 63, 79, 82 and 99 licenses.
Diane Johnston
Senior Vice President - Wealth Management Institutional Consultant - Financial Advisor, UBS
For decades, my father practiced medicine. As a general practitioner, he was well-loved by his patients. They admired how he approached their health as a whole, rather than focusing on one symptom at a time. As I admire him so much, it was always a dream of mine to follow in my dad’s footsteps.
Being an advisor at UBS is a unique chance to take care of people’s financial health and build my own family practice. Today, I am a navigator! I navigate complex issues for my relationships and am passionate about discovering, building, and protecting the dreams of others in all facets of my life. I am an advisor, thought leader, entrepreneur, anti-human trafficking advocate, mom to four young men, and dedicated wife. To map out success and joy for others, I pour my energy and know-how into their chosen paths.
My clients are highly curious and creative problem solvers—open to learning new approaches as well as defining current mission and ideas. They can describe how they want to experience investments in their life, and if they cannot, they have the willingness to take a journey to get there. Whether an individual or a committee, they understand that while it can take time and effort to get to the right place, sometimes it easily exists and within structure there is freedom. They trust my advice and will take it knowing both I and the firm have their best interests at heart. My clients are good people, doing good things, and have an entrepreneurial drive.
Of course, seeing better outcomes materialize requires a level of commitment that is not for the faint of heart. I am committed to the business, social, and ecological environments in my community on Long Island and beyond. Truly, I love where I live. I am proud of our storied and numerous successes in New York and if I can contribute to anyone adding to their own success story through my thirst for creative solutions, then I am a dream protector and maker!
Paul Trapani
President, LISTnet
Paul Trapani is an entrepreneur and consultant experienced in executive management, software design and development, business operations, and technology planning and strategy. He is President of Long Island Software and Technology Network (LISTnet) and runs software consulting company PJT Consulting. LISTnet serves as a chamber of commerce for the tech industry on Long Island and works to create a strong technology ecosystem for all companies on Long Island. PJT Consulting helps clients translate business requirements into software. Paul hold’s a bachelor’s degree from SUNY Geneseo and master’s in Computer Science from Hofstra University. He enjoys food and cooking in his free time and helped to create the app Eat Everywhere.
Scott Haber
VP, Deposit Relationship Manager, Valley Bank
Scott Haber is a VP, Deposit Relationship Manager with over 15 years of experience in banking. He currently works on the healthcare banking team, where he focuses on managing client relationships, deposits, lending, and treasury solutions.
Scott is known for his proactive approach, responsiveness, and ability to build trusted relationships across clients, internal teams, and partners . Scott has extensive experience in relationship management, financial strategy, and business development, and is known for his ability to build trust with clients while driving meaningful results. He actively works with healthcare organizations to optimize financial operations, support growth, and navigate complex banking needs.
He is passionate about contributing his expertise to organizations that are making a positive impact and is excited to support the mission of Long Island Capital Alliance.
Scott currently is on the board of directors for The COPE Foundation and is on the committee for the NYC Imagine Awards.