Senator Farley Honored Corinth Credit Union Ceo And Rotterdam Financial Advisor As Women Of Distinction

State Senator Hugh T. Farley (R,C - Schenectady) honored Beverly Towers, recently retired Chief Executive Officer of Hudson River Community Credit Union, and Carolina Lazzari, a financial advisor and Rotterdam legislator, as two of the recipients of the New York State Senate’s annual "Women of Distinction" award at a ceremony held on June 20th in Albany.

The program honors distinguished women whose outstanding work in their communities makes them deserving of special recognition by the State Senate.

"This year, I decided to honor women with strong math and management backgrounds," Senator Farley said. "Our society is putting great emphasis on math and science these days and here we have two women who have built life-long careers dealing with numbers. These individuals have also been able to balance their work lives with their home lives, and still find time to contribute to their communities."

Ms. Towers began her career with Hudson River Community Credit Union in 1966 and worked her way up to becoming Chief Executive Officer in 1983. In this capacity, she worked tirelessly at making Hudson River Community Credit Union a strong business in our region. She oversaw the management of a $95 million financial cooperative comprised of three offices in Corinth, Glens Falls and Cohoes. The credit union serves more than 21,500 members located in Warren, Washington, Saratoga and Rensselaer Counties.

Ms. Towers poured the same energy and enthusiasm into her community by working with several organizations such as Corinth Dollars for Scholars, Corinth Scholarship Association, Corinth Community Plan of Action, Corinth IDA, Village of Corinth Zoning Implementation Committee and the Finance Council of the Immaculate Conception Church. She is a member of the Adirondack District Council of the NYSCUL and the Credit Union Executive Society. She also worked with the Parklands Committee to revitalize the deteriorating Pagenstecher Park and turned it back into a thriving spot for picnics, parties and other social events. Other projects she was involved in included the development of the Jessup's Landing Pathway and the proposed Jessup's Landing Community Park.

Ms. Lazzari began her career helping people as a social worker, after earning a MSW at New York University. For the past two decades, she has helped people through her financial services career. As a Certified Financial Planner and as an Enrolled Agent who is licensed by the IRS and has the technical tax expertise to represent taxpayers, she not only helps businesses to be successful, but also helps families meet their long term financial needs and goals, such as putting children through college and saving for retirement.

Ms. Lazzari is also active in the Rotterdam community by representing it in the Schenectady County Legislature. She is also a former Town Councilwoman, is a member of the Board of Managers for the Boys & Girls Club, is involved in the Schenectady County Historical Society and the Dutch Barn Preservation Society and has been active in supporting volunteer fire companies. In the mid-1990s she founded and organized a not-for-profit called Helping Hands of Rotterdam that provides seniors with volunteer services to help them remain in their home.