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ours of teamwork go into selling out wherever it goes," Domenici Staging staging RiPerdance, the marvels. Fortunately, Domenici is no breathtaking performance stranger to theatrical hits. He's toured as H of Irish dance and music. company manager for Phantom of the Riverdance On stage, that work Opera and MidJ Saigon, and has taken a emerges through the performers' preci­ swing around Europe with Michael sion and infectious energy. But audi­ Jackson's production of SiJtereLLa. ''I'm Tom Don1enici .1teer.1 the ence members never see the part of the lucky," says Domenici, who majored in team that brings them the spectacle­ drama in the College of Visual and dazzLing performance the technical crew-which is directed Performing Arts. "It's been a blessing for from behind the .1cene.1 by company manager Tom Domenici me to be part of such big shows." '78. "RiPerJance has been so successful Of course, Domenici's entertainment because of the incredible excitement career has a lso included less glamorous created through a group effort among jobs. "] started out as a page at NBC," the dancers, musicians, and tech crew­ he recalls. "But that was during the and without the help of special effects," days when SaturJay Night Li1'e was real­ Domenici says. ly popular, so it was great fun." After eight years of production work for NBC, first in New York City and then in Burbank, California, Domenici's love for the live stage drew him back to the­ ater. "I got my degree in drama," he says, "and after awhile, I found myself missing the theater." Domenici's return to New York set the stage for his work with a series of theatrical successes. He became an as­ sistant company manager for Gatchell & Neufeld Ltd., which oversaw pro­ ductions like CatJ and StarLight RcpreJJ. Last year, he was company manager for the Broadway staging of Rodgers and Hammerstein's State Fair. Still, Domenici sees his job with RiPer'Jance as his biggest role yet. "It was great to be part of Phantom and MidJ Saigon," he says. "But RiPer­ Jance is different. A long with the Irish dance and music, there's folk ballet from Moscow, Spanish dan­ cers, and American tap ar­ College of Visual and Performing Arts graduate Tom Domenici (inset) is touring the country as the company manager of Riverdance, the acclaimed performance featuring Irish dancers and musicians. tists. The show has a n inter­ nationa l flavor that's so ex­ citing - it receives standing ovations ~,urin g every per­ Managing such a large produc- formance. tion requires an equally large effort. As Rim·Jance J widespread popularity RiPerJanceJ 80 performers and 20 crew shows no signs of fading. One million members move from city to city on the people have seen the show in the United American tour, so does Domenici. "The States, a nd millions of fans worldwide producers are based in Dublin, so we're have snatched up copies of the RiPer­ their eyes and ears over here," he says. "I dance video and CD. And since RiPer­ take care of the bills, contracts with the Jance is scheduled to tour throug h 2001, venues, a nd publicity in each city ." Domenici might as w e ll get comfortable. When it comes to promotion, RiPer­ "That's the first rule of the theater," h e dance has little trouble drawing a crowd. says. "Never leave a hit." "It's breaking box-office records and -A,;~n' NORTON

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Necessary Support

La Verne HaneJ-Ste<,enJ '80

aVerne Hanes-Stevens '80 knows Lthat providing support to women in jail can help turn their lives around after they're released. "Jail is sometimes a rite of passage for men, but for women there is only shame and em­ barrassment associated with incarcera­ tion," says the executive director of Lydia's Place, a voluntary after-care program for women of the Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh. "There is a great need for someone to offer traditional, emotionaL and spiritual support for these women." The Allegheny County prison system was in desperate need of such a pro­ gram. A 1990 survey revealed that 60 percent of the women there had been incarcerated three or more times, with many returning less than a year after their release. Eighty-five percent were also single parents, and by 1994 the fe­ LaVerne Hanes-Stevens directs a support program for female inmates at the Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh. male population at Allegheny had near­ ly tripled from that of a decade ago. "The increasingly hig h rate of recidivism among women made it even more im­ portant for them to have a successful re­ entry into society," she says. "We wanted to create a haven of safety for women trying to break criminal patterns." > Filmmaker Gary W. Gri/Jen G'75 has been as close to a bel­ Women's Christian Renewal Inc. ligerent bull moose as anyone would care to be. "He approached think­ launched a program called Lydia's P lace ing there'd be either a bull to fight or a cow to mate with," Griffen says. in 1993, and after a successful pilot "Instead, he found me." phase named Hanes-Stevens as execu­ Luckily, the perturbed beast lumbered off, leaving Griffen relieved tive director in 1997. The program's he didn't have to abandon his equipment and attempt to outrace the name refers to the New Testament creature. book of Acts (16:40), in which Paul Such is a day on the job for Griffen, whose award-win­ and Silas leave prison and seek ning natural-history documentaries on North American refuge in the house of Lydia . wildlife air on the Discovery Channel and National With th e help of two full-time Geographic TV. The S.l. Newhouse School of Public staff members and numerous volun­ Communications graduate takes two to three years to teers, Hanes-Stevens orchestrates produce one 60-minute TV show on the likes of whitetail pre-release counseling, parenting deer, ringneck pheasants, and wild turkeys. As the head edu cation, worship services, bible of Griffen Productions in Red Hook, New York, he is study, in-jail seminars, a nd a men­ involved in all aspects of these films, from researching taring program that continues after behavioral traits and scouting remote wilds for shooting release. "We move toward starting locations, to enduring long hours behind the camera in rehabilitation early so women be­ the most brutal weather. come empowered and return to the "We try to give the audience a look into an animal's life community as positive individuals," that they'd never see," says Griffen, whose photographs she says. also appear in the book Wild Turkey Country. Lydia's P lace, w hich assists 600 "Opportunity and skill have to meet in one place, and women each year, also offers a host GARY w. GR IFFEN that's how you get your shot." -Jay Cox of services for inmates' children and their caregivers. Children's workshops,

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summer a nd holiday events, a nd a pro­ As executive d irector, Hanes-Stevens posed in-jail contact visitation program acts as a strategic p lanner a nd spokes­ Web Weavers help break the destructive cycle w hile person w ho meets with governme nt Larry PearL '91, Kyle Outlaw '89 keeping families together. "O ften the agencies, corporations, a nd foundation s children of offenders are the forgotten to keep the p rogram going. "SU taught omedia n D ennis Leary rants in victims of crime," Hanes-Stevens says. me to think beyond existing structu res," Ctelevision commercials about a "When mom is in ja il, grand ma, au ntie, says Hanes-S tevens, w ho holds degrees "zillion dollars worth of tech nol­ or foster-care workers are left w ith the in communications and marketing. ''I'm ogy" being wasted o n people casually responsibility of raisi ng the children. using that p hilosophy in my work today browsing the Internet. "Want to surf?" That can be a tremendous burden that as I strive to make Lydia's Place a na­ Leary sneers. "Go to Mau i!" T hat advice cau ses anger a nd resentment. We spon­ t ional model and an integral part of the is not lost on Larry Pearl '91 and Ky le sor healthy recreationa l events to sup­ crim inal justice system." O utlaw '89, w ho help Fortune 500 com­ port the efforts of the entire family ." -NATAL/EA. VALENTiNE panies "work the web" through Po ppe Tyson Interactive. From the international company's New York City office, account manager Pearl and art director Outlaw design, create, and manage state-of-the­ art web sites for such clients as IBM, Johnson & J ohnson, and Valvoline Motor O il. Pearl, w ho earned a d ua l degree in > To .Jongwriter Katby Hart '81, the value of music goes marketing from the S chool of Manage­ beyond entertainment-it also has healing power. So she offers her ment and television, radio, and fi lm musical talent to Songs of Love, a nonprofit organization that cre­ management from the S .l. Newhouse ates and records personalized songs for children with chronic and School of Public Communications, says terminal illnesses. "I love children," Hart says, interactive marketing is not a lark; it "and I love writing music with a purpose. With focuses on increasing sales of clients' Songs of Love, you're writing the song of a products or services. "You don 't b uild a child's life." web site just to have it there," he says. Hart, a 1981 graduate of the College of Visual "There needs to be a clear business and Performing Arts, devotes considerable time to objective, a nd part of my job is to define volunteer work while pursuing a master's degree in that objective and develop strategies music education at Hunter College. Every week she and tactics to meet it." conducts church services for the homeless in her Outlaw, w ho majored in poli tical sci­ Manhattan neighborhood. "I play guitar and teach ence at The Coll ege of A rts a nd them songs," she says. "I think it's important to Sciences, says Poppe Tyson's clients see give back to the community I live in." the Internet's potential as a marketing Through the Queens, New York-based Songs tool, and rely on the company to capital­ of Love, Hart's music also reaches outside her ize on that. "One of the things we offer community. The organization works with is a site architecture that gives the u ser a hospitals nationwide to create patient pro­ positive feeli ng about the brand. If I files that describe hobbies and interests of come to a web site that's hard to navi­ the ill children. Songs of Love volunteers gate or a heavy download, I may have a use those profiles to write a unique song for negative impression of the company. We each child. Recently, Hart wrote and recorded make sure the information is well orga­ a piece titled Haley for a 2-year-old girl under­ nized and very intuitive. On top of that, going chemotherapy. "I immediately noticed we create a look and feel for the site that in her profile that she loves bologna," Hart is consistent w ith that compa ny's bra nd says. "When I was a kid I did too, so we had and c urrent market campaign." that bologna bond." One advantage of a n interactive web Hart believes her song writing bene­ site, he says, is the relatively low cost of fits from the creative freedom Songs updating it. Another is the use of cus­ of Love allows. "No publisher tells you tomized interfaces generated when visi­ what to write," she says. "The children tors e nter the site. "If I register and pro­ and their parents let me give of myself. That kind of giving and vide certain information about myself, I can get a view of the site that's very spe­ receiving is part of being a whole person." - Amy Norton cific to my needs," O utlaw explains. "Once I've done that, the host can deal w ith me more on a one-to-one level." For example,

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Larry Pearl and Kyle Outlaw introduce Internet users to Fortune 500 companies through interactive we b sites that they design and market for Poppe Tyson Interactive in New York City.

at Valvoline's site (www.CJaLvoLine.com) visi­ what you've learned and the experiences ball, including seven years with the New tors answer questions about their driving you've been through, and also to be a York Knicks. Orr then made the transi­ habits and receive recommendations mentor and a role model to young men at tion from professiona l athlete to bus­ about appropriate Yalvoline products. this time in their lives," says Orr, w ho re­ inessman, working in the insurance indus­ Pearl says Poppe Tyson's position at the turned to SU two decades after arriving try for several years. During that time, forefront of Internet technology makes as a freshman during Jim Boeheim's first he a lso helped his mother run the family his job exciting. "We're really pushing the year as head coach. cafe, and gained coaching experience as a envelope," he says. "By the nature of the The School of Management graduate volunteer at Xavier University. He be­ Internet and the interactive industry, every emphasizes the importance of education, came a full-time assistant at Xavier in 1990, day there's a new technology we need to having positive relationships w ith oth­ then moved on to Providence College for know about that has the potential to be ers, and building self-esteem in his play­ two seasons before suitable for a client's business." ers that w ill carry them beyond th eir finally returning As Internet technology improves and performance on the court. "I want to Syracuse. the number of users grows, Outlaw says, them to feel good about t hemselves Back in more companies will do business in cyber­ as people, not just as basketball his Manley space. "It's good to get a foot in the door players," says this devout Christian now, because it's been predicted that the who's raising two children w ith his user base on the Internet will grow w ife, Yvette. "I want them to real­ exponentially . A nyone not involved ize that, hey, basketball isn't who early may feel th ey missed t he boat." you are, it's what you do. It's an -GARY PALLASS!NO aspect of your li fe, but should not d ictate you r joy and sense of worth. As lo ng as you give your best effort, work hard, a nd try to Courting Success be the best you can be in every­ thing you do, then you've succeeded." Louis Orr LouiJ Orr '80 For Orr, success came one step at a time. First, th e wire-thin C incinnati yracuse University assistant bas­ native proved himself at Syracuse, Sketball coach Louis Orr '80 values working his way into SU's a ll -time scor­ his lifelong love affair with basket­ ing and rebounding record book ba ll and the blessings the sport has and earning Big East and All­ brought him. The former SU star and America honors. As a sec­ NBA forward also appreciates the bal­ ond-round NBA draft ance and perspective that life off the pick, he wasn't a "sure­ hardwood provides. Orr, now in his sec­ fire pro," but his con­ ond year at SU, teaches young p layers sistent play led to a n about the game and shares his insights as eight-year career in a "student of life." the grueling world of "I know how importa nt it is to pass on professional basket-

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office after a weekend on the road re­ early detection test called the Breast­ before deciding to concentrate on mar­ cruiting, Orr appears to be at home. He Alert Temperature Differential Sensor. keting BreastAiert. "I had already been talks about family life, getting out in the "There's nothing else like this test," working with BreastAiert's inventor to community and speaking to kids, and, of Braunstein says. "Mammograms can't get the product out there," Braunstein course, basketball-fundamentals ver­ get through dense tissue. But Breast­ explains. "When I began HumaScan, sus flash, how greatness is achieved, and Alert isn't affected by breast density, so we did focus groups with doctors, who how the college game has changed. it can lead to very early detection of told us they don't perform clinical breast "I don't think there's anything l'd tumors in younger women." exams very well because they've never enjoy more right now than coaching," he BreastAiert improves upon other had much training in doing them." says. "It fulfills what I want to do in life methods of early tumor detection in Braunstein took the company public and the impact I want to make." several ways. The 15-minute test offers in 1996, raising $16.2 million to move -JAYCOX quick results and no exposure to radia­ BreastAlert forward. 'Tve been in the tion, along with the thorough­ health industry for 24 years," he says. ness lacking in traditional "This is the most exciting product I've methods such as feeling the ever seen." breast for lumps. BreastAiert's HumaScan continues to develop new sensor pads gauge the temper­ medical products, including one with ature of different breast areas. Braunstein's own patent. While he's not A difference in temperature able to discuss those products yet, between two comparable areas Braunstein hopes they hold the same indicates a small tumor may promise as BreastAiert. 'Tm very excit­ exist. ed about our work," he says. "With "The test is designed to be BreastAlert, we're improving the done during routine gyneco­ chances that breast cancer will be logical exams, just like the Pap caught in its early stages. That helps smear," Braunstein explains. improve the quality of women's lives." "We hope this test can do for -A!IIY NORTON breast cancer what the Pap smear has done to reduce deaths from cervical cancer." Small-Business Booster summer m­ temship with aNew Jer­ sey surgi­ vette Hollingsworth knows the cal instru­ Y meaning of success; now she's ment com­ sharing that knowledge with pany. Af­ struggling small-business owners. Armed ter gradu­ with a master's in business administra­ ating from tion from Syracuse University's School of Donald Braunstein hopes BreastAiert will revolution­ SU, he work­ Management and work experience with ize the fight against breast cancer. ed for the com­ the Federal Reserve and J.P. Morgan pany in production Guaranty Trust Company in New York a nd marketing. In ] 978, he launched his City, she recently formed Hollingsworth own medical-supply business, Lee Sur­ Consultants LLC. "There's such a need Health Advancement gical. "] saw a niche to fill ," he says. for small business consultants," Hollings­ Donald Brow1.1lein '75 "Physicians needed supplies and excel­ worth says. "The big consulting firms tend lent service. By providing both, we grew to overlook that market. Small businesses new weapon has emerged in the into one of the largest distributors in the traditionally cannot afford the fees, and Afight against breast cancer, courtesy Northeast." big firms are geared more toward corpo­ of HumaScan, the medical-supply That dedication to meeting the needs rate accounts." company Donald Braunstein founded of doctors- and ultimately, patients­ Hollingsworth employs eight inde­ three years ago in Cranford, New J ersey. la id the foundation for Huma Scan. pendent consultants - including some Braunstein, a 1973 graduate of The Col­ After Physician Sales and Services ac­ SU alumni-who specialize in financial lege of Arts and Sciences, established quired Lee Surgical in 1994, Braunstein analysis, operations, human resources, the company to develop and market an served as general manager for a year events management, and special pro-

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jects. "These are basic business issues for big consulting firms, but to a small business they're critical," Hollingsworth says. "Given that the market is signifi­ cantly underserved-particularly in the African American community-we're there to accommodate and encourage > Renee Schine Crown '50 has good reason to smile-she is economic development." flanked by the five NBA Championship trophies that the Chicago The Rome, New York, native earned Bulls have won this decade. a bachelor's degree in finance from the Her husband, Lester Crown, is a major State University of owner of the Bulls franchise, which is con­ New York Insti­ sidered one of the all-time great basketball tute of Technology dynasties. "We go to a lot of the games and at Utica-Rome while we're very proud of the team," she says. employed with the Crown, a University trustee who chairs Savings Bank of the executive committee of The College of Utica. She chose Arts and Sciences Board of Visitors and is SU's M.B.A. pro­ a member of the Commitment to Learning gram because it was Campaign Executive Committee, is pic­ close to home, but tured here at a victory celebration in soon found it unique­ Chicago shortly after the Bulls' 1997 ly suited to her needs. championship win. She anticipates many "Our class was the more titles in her favorite team's future. first to go through the "We can't wait for the sixth," she laughs. reorganized M.B.A. - Rich Rys program," she says. "The classes were small and everyone spent a lot of time with us. The Just in Time tutoring ses­ sions were great; every- body was committed to making sure we had the information we needed. They even had with the Black M.B.A. one session where we spent a half day Association after grad­ just learning how to use a financial uation, becoming vice calculator." president of operations The plight of small-business owners for the New York chap­ first came to her attention while she was ter after taking a bank at SU. An active member of the Black examiner job with the M.B.A. Association since 1992, Hol­ Federal Reserve Bank lingsworth worked with local African of New York. She per­ American entrepreneurs who came to formed free consulting the association for help with basic busi­ for the association, then ness practices. "For example, there was formed her own limit­ a group of hairdressers w hose shops ed liability firm. were within 20 feet of one another. They Today, Hollingsworth w ere price-cutting each other and found lives in Maplewood, it challenging to meet operating costs­ New Jersey, with her such as rent, telephone bills, and electric 11-year-old daughter, bill s - and make a profit. We encour­ Erica. She works as a aged them to rent one location instead of risk analyst in J.P. having a ll these independent shops, Morgan's financial con­ because there wasn't enough demand to trol group, and plans support four shops in one area. W e to expand her firm taught them how to set a minimum price while further refining Yvette Hollingsworth 's consulting firm helps small-business own­ and work with their competitors." her banking skill s. ers, especially those in the African Ame rican community, reach their Hollingsworth continued to work -GARY PALLASSJNO goals.

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