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Members of the Canisius College community make up 20 percent of Business First’s Power 100 Women list for 2015. The list highlights the most influential women in the eight counties of Western New York.

Business First compiled these rankings and defined “power” by the level of influence a woman has at her company, in her city or county and by the length of her career. Only women who live full-time in Western New York were considered.

Of the 100 named, the Canisius community had five members in the Top 10 and two in the Top 5, including JoAnn Faletta HON ’03, music director for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (ranked number three) and Maureen Hurley, executive vice president and chief administrative officer for Rich Products Corp. – and Canisius’ “first lady” (ranked number four). Below is the complete list of those members of the Canisius Community who were honored:

Canisius Alumni:

100. Catherine Schweitzer MBA ’99, executive director, The Baird Foundation

85. Nancy LaTulip ’75, MBA ’82, vice president, retail banking officer, Lake Shore Savings Bank

75. Linda Dobmeier MBA ’83, chair, Buffalo State College Council and vice president, Dobmeier Janitorial Supplies

74. Laura Zaepfel ’86, vice president of corporate relations, Uniland Development

66. Gayle Eagan ’77, partner, Jaeckle Fleischmann & Mugel LLP.

63. Nora McGuire MBA ’08, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, Independent Health

60. Mary Roberts ’77, executive director, Martin House Restoration Corp.

54. *Donna Luh ’77, MS ’80, vice chair, New York State Thruway Authority

32.* Lisa Wilson ’91, executive sports editor, The Buffalo News

27. Norma Nowak ’79, executive director, University at Buffalo’s New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences and founder and chief scientific officer, Empire Genomics

26. *Allegra Jaros ’93, MBA ’96, president, Women & Children’s Hospital of Buffalo and vice president, Kaleida Health

15. Anna Marie Cellino ’75, president, National Fuel Gas Distribution Corp.

11. *Clotilde Dedecker ’82, president and CEO, Community Foundation of Greater Buffalo

10. *Denise O’Donnell ’68, federal judge-designate, U.S. District Court/Western District of New York, and director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice

6. Kimberley Minkel MBA ’96, executive director, Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority

5. *Rhonda Frederick MPA ’03, president and CEO, People Inc.

*Also named to Business First’s Power 250 list of 2015

Canisius honorary degree recipients:

98. Lana Benatovich HON ’99, president, National Federation for Just Communities

22. Denise Roche HON ’92, president, D’Youville College

12. *Donna Fernandes HON ’11, president and CEO, Zoological Society of Buffalo Inc.

3. *JoAnn Falletta HON ’03, music director, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra

*Also named to Business First’s Power 250 list of 2015

Submitted by: Marketing and Communication