Alumni Profiles is an ongoing series highlighting successful graduates who, with a SUNY education, achieved interesting and influential careers.
Colonel Thomas H. Palmatier is a musician, serviceman, and family man. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree from SUNY Potsdam in 1975, and went on to earn his Master of Fine Arts degree in music from Truman State University. He also later completed a Master of Strategic Studies degree from the U.S. Army War College.
Col. Palmatier was appointed ninth leader and commander of the U.S. Army Band, “Pershing’s Own,” in August 2011. He previously served as commander and conductor of the U.S. Army Field Band, making him the first officer to command both of the Army’s top premier bands. He is currently the senior military musician in the Department of Defense.
Among his accomplishments, Col. Palmatier has led the White House Herald Trumpets, performing at every ceremony the President of the United States attended and has conducted performances at five Presidential Inaugurations. He was the first Army Band officer to earn both the Parachutist and Air Assault Badges, and earned the right to wear a combat patch for service in El Salvador and Iraq.
His support for his alma mater has been unwavering, as he has returned to campus to lead masterclasses and conduct at The Crane School of Music, as well as for the Crane Youth Music camp and was honored with the 2010 Minerva Award by the SUNY Potsdam Alumni Association.
Col. Palmatier has also generously established the Band Guest Artist Fund at SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music to provide financial support for Crane’s band program in order to raise the program’s national profile. He and his wife, Shirley, are campaign leadership donors for Take the Lead: The Campaign for Potsdam, which aims to raise $27 million to support the SUNY Potsdam student experience by the College’s bicentennial in 2016.
Ankesh Arora ’09, MS ’11, was nurturing a startup in Binghamton — providing marketing strategies for businesses in college towns — when a new opportunity caught the entrepreneur’s eye.
That’s how his current venture, Mobile Universal, got started. Arora and Zia Siddiqui are co-founders of the company that makes custom apps for businesses such as restaurants, hotels and schools. It has clients in New York, Pennsylvania, Florida, California, Europe and South America.
“We had to completely stop the old business and focus on apps because there was such a narrow window for apps,” Arora says. “If we had gotten into this venture two or three months later, we would have missed our opportunity.”
Alumni Profiles is an ongoing series highlighting successful graduates who, with a SUNY education, achieved interesting and influential careers.
Erin Coon is a community member, leader, and advocate. She was recently named the Executive Director of the Charles R. Wood Theater in Glens Falls, NY–the same city that one of her alma maters, SUNY Adirondack, is located.
Ms. Coon attended SUNY New Paltz to earn her Bachelor’s degree following her attendance at SUNY Adirondack in high school, then returned to the North Country to refresh her business skills at SUNY Adirondack more recently. For two years before being named the Executive Director, Ms. Coon was the theater’s operations manager after completing an internship with Adirondack Theatre Festival, a group that the theater continues to host.
The Charles R. Wood Theater is a 30,000 square-foot community facility with a theater, rehearsal hall, and reception area that hosts year-round art events. It is this year celebrating 10 years in operation. Learn more about the Charles R. Wood Theater, including the history and schedule of events at their website.
As the largest, most comprehensive university system in the United States, the State University of New York has the unique opportunity to enrich some of the most influential people across all industries. As the Tony Award nominations are revealed this week, the world is reminded how talented SUNY alumni are in Theatre.
It was recently announced that University at Albany alumna Carolee Carmello has been nominated for her role in the Broadway musical “Scandalous“. Ms. Carmello, who has appeared in a dozen Broadway musicals and four national tours, is up for a Tony Award for “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical” joining industry colleagues, Patina Miller in Pippin, Valisia LeKae in Motown The Musical, Stephanie J. Block in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and Laura Osnes in Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella. Last year, Judy Kaye won the award for her part in Nice Work If You Can Get It.
Ms. Carmello joins SUNY Purchase College alumnus Kenneth Posner, who was nominated for three Tony Awards for “Best Lighting Design of a Musical” for Kinky Boots, Pippin, and Cinderella. This would be Posner’s second Tony; he won in 2007 for Best Lighting Design in a Play for The Coast of Utopia, for which he also won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting Design in a Play that same year. He’s been nominated for numerous Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards since 1991.
Alumni Profiles is an ongoing series highlighting successful graduates who, with a SUNY education, achieved interesting and influential careers.
Sal Paolantonio is a broadcaster, author, professor and family man. He is best known as a reporter for ESPN, focusing mainly on the NFL. Working out of Philadelphia, Paolantonio spends the majority of his time covering the Philadelphia Eagles and our home-state NY Giants and NY Jets.
Paolantonio will be delivering the commencement address at SUNY Oneonta’s Class of 2013 Commencement Ceremony. He will be presented with the degree of honorary doctorate of Humane Letters at the college’s 124th commencement, 26 years following his undergraduate graduation. Paolantonio graduated, cum laude, from SUNY Oneonta in 1977, earning a B.A. in history with a minor in English literature in just three years.
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Colonel Thomas H. Palmatier is a musician, serviceman, and family man. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree from SUNY Potsdam in 1975, and went on to earn his Master of Fine Arts degree in music from Truman State University. He also later completed a Master of Strategic Studies degree from the U.S. Army War College.
