The Southwest New England Chapter of Junior Achievement held its 39th annual Business Hall of Fame induction Tuesday evening at Woodwinds in Branford.
Attorney Rolan Young of the Milford law firm Berchem Moses and Kevin Burke, a vice president of Wells Fargo Bank, were named 2019 Laureates at the event.
Celebrating its centennial in 2019, Junior Achievement is a global non-profit dedicated to educate and empower young people toward meaningful career paths and economic success.
In 1980 JA established a Business Hall of Fame to cite present and past business and community leaders who had made significant contributions to the prosperity of their communities.
Young is a senior partner at Berchem Moses PC, headquartered in Milford. Her practice concentrates on affordable housing, economic development and public and municipal law.
Beyond her law practice Young chairs the board of Start Community Bank in New Haven, is a former chair of the Community Foundation of Greater New Haven, and from 2006 to 2011 chaired the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority.
Young was also named a 2019 “Women Who Mean Business” honoree by New Haven BIZ, announced yesterday. She and six others will be feted at an April 2 luncheon event in New Haven.
JA chapter President and CEO Jeremy Race called Young a “smart, hard-working, tenacious lawyer and a tireless advocate for her clients.”
Kevin Burke is a senior vice president and regional manager for commercial banking with Wells Fargo & Co.’s Greater New York and Connecticut service area. He oversees a commercial banking division that manages relationships with middle-market companies (annual revenues of more than $10 million) from offices in Shelton, Hartford, White Plains and Albany, N.Y.
A U.S. Army veteran, Burke chairs the Gateway Community College President’s Council and is immediate past chairman of New Haven’s Shubert Theatre. Race described Burke as “amazingly active in the community.”
In 2019 JA of Southwest New England will educate some 47,000 students in Connecticut, according to Race. “JA changes young people’s lives,” he said. “We’re inspiring change.”
The event, held at Woodwinds in Branford, was attended by more than 200 business people and others. “If you’re a business and you don’t support Junior Achievement,” one guest remarked to a neighbor during dinner, “you’re kind of a creep.”
Contact Michael C. Bingham at mbingham@newhavenbiz.com
