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2019 Wall of Honor Bios

Christopher Giambrone

Mr. Christopher Giambrone is a 1991 Graduate of Frankfort-Schuyler Central School.  He is a cofounder of Coughlin Giambrone, L.L.C., a wealth management firm based in New Hartford, New York.

Mr. Giambrone is authorized by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards to use the certification marks C.F.P. and Certified Financial Planner.  Such designations identify individuals who have met the rigorous experience and ethical requirements of the C.F.P. Board, have successfully completed the required academic preparation and have passed the C.F.P. exam, which covers the financial planning process, risk management, investments, retirement and employee benefits and estate planning.

Mr. Giambrone has earned a Certificate in Retirement Planning from the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania, two business degrees from the State University of New York and was invited to participate in a roundtable discussion at the Harvard Faculty Club in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with regard to Modern Portfolio Theory.

Mr. Giambrone has been recently published by CNBC.com, On Wall Street and Financial Planning.com for articles relating to the advisory industry.  He has facilitated retirement planning courses for S.U.N.Y. Poly, the Oneida County Bar Association and the Syracuse University Football Team.

Mr. Giambrone is a Corporate Partner of the Community Foundation of Herkimer and Oneida Counties.  He has served as a member of the American Heart Association Advisory Board of Directors and on the Corporate Benefactor Committee for the Ride for Missing Children.  Mr. Giambrone has participated in the Annual Sitrin Celebrity Classic Wheelchair Basketball Games and has coached youth soccer, basketball and baseball.  He was recognized as a Summit Club Advisor for 2017, a distinction based on annual production that places him among the top 23 percent of advisors affiliated with Commonwealth Financial Network.

Mr. Giambrone and his wife, Bre’ reside in New Hartford with their children.
 


 

Mrs. Amy Jacopelle-Fetterly

A member of the Frankfort-Schuyler Class of 1994, Mrs. Amy Jacopelle-Fetterly is in her 22nd year of teaching in the Clarence Central School District.  During that time period, the Clarence District has been ranked No. 1 in the National Association of Music Merchandising ranking of Best Communities for Music Education.  She is the director of the Treble Chorus and Chorale, Vocal Jazz Program and oversees the Chamber Choir.  Mrs. Fetterly also teaches private voice and piano lessons; and has studied under Adam Luebke with the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus.

Mrs. Fetterly has earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education with Vocal Concentration and Vocal Performance from the Crane School of Music at S.U.N.Y. Potsdam.  She also earned a Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Education with a minor in Conducting from the University at Buffalo.

Mrs. Fetterly has been blessed with opportunities to travel across the country and worked with renowned conductors, performers and composers.

She has created the Clarence Chorus Booster Organization, which has helped district choirs obtain funds for music-related activities, such as national guest conductors, travel workshops, concert tours, recording sessions and raising scholarship funds.

Mrs. Fetterly has been asked to conduct regional All Counties/Area All-State performances.  She has led choral sessions for the Western New York Conference and has been invited to conduct in the American Music Abroad program.  Mrs. Fetterly has been nominated for the Music Educator Award through the GRAMMY Recording Academy and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra award for Excellence in Music Education.  She has been listed in “Who’s Who in American Teachers.”  Ms. Fetterly’s Chorale was hand selected by the eminent composer Stephan Milillo to be featured in his STORMWORKS Chapter 55;  Way of the Wanderer.

Mrs. Fetterly is a member of the New York State Music Association, the Erie County Music Educators’ Association, the National Association for Music Education and the American Choral Director’s Association.  She has led the Clarence Music Program to many Kenny Award winning productions.  “Mama” (as her students call her) resides in Clarence, New York, with her husband Chris (also a Frankfort-Schuyler graduate) and their two children.
 



John F. Spina

Mr. John F. Spina is a 1957 graduate of Frankfort-Schuyler Central School.  He attended Utica College of Syracuse University, in a five year, dual degree program, earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics from Utica College, and a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering Degree from Syracuse University.  Mr. Spina also earned a Master’s Degree in Engineering from Syracuse and was also a graduate of the Stanford Executive Institute at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.

After employment in an entry level engineering position at I.B.M. in Owego, NY, Mr. Spina was employed at the Rome Air Development Center (now the U.S. Air Force Research Lab), as Chief of the Electromagnetic Compatibility Brand.  He later joined Kaman Sciences in Utica, NY, ultimately becoming Vice President for Advanced Technology, overseeing operations in Utica, Huntsville, Alabama, Boston, Massachusetts, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Santa Monica, California and Alexandria, Virginia.

In 1997, Kaman Sciences was purchased by ITT Industries.  Mr. Spina was then named ITT Vice President and Director of Information Software Technologies in Alexandria, Virginia, and oversaw annual sales in excess of $40 million.

He is an author and co-author of many technical publications and conference proceedings; and the recipient of several awards and recognitions.  These include the Department of the Air Force Special Service Award, the RADC Outstanding Performance Award, and the Intergovernmental Personnel Act Award at RADC.  Mr. Spina was selected as a Lecture Series Director for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Research and Technology Agency Lecture Series.  Mr. Spina was also named Chairman of the U.S. Air Force Intrasystem Analysis Working Group.

Mr. Spina has also been an Adjunct Professor for Mathematics and Electronics courses at M.V.C.C.; and an elected Trustee in the Village of Frankfort.

Mr. Spina will tell you that his most significant accomplishments are as a husband to his wife Nancy, the father of their six children and as a grandfather of 13 grandchildren.
 


 

Mary Tucker Rommel

Mary Tucker Rommel graduated from Frankfort-Schuyler Central School in 1959 as President of her Senior Class.  As a senior, Mary was also President of the Frankfort-Schuyler Future Teachers of America Club and was selected “Most Likely to Succeed,” by her classmates.

Mrs. Rommel began her post-secondary education at S.U.N.Y. Albany in 1959.  After her marriage to Roger Rommel in 1960, she attended Utica College, graduating Cum Laude with a degree in Economics.  Mrs. Rommel began teaching at the West Canada Valley Elementary School.  She also taught reading at the West Canada Valley High School.  After earning a Master’s Degree in Reading from S.U.N.Y. Cortland, Mrs. Rommel resumed teaching reading at West Canada Valley Elementary School.  She later earned her Certificate of Advanced Studies in School Administration from S.U.N.Y. Cortland and became Principal at West Canada Valley Elementary School.  Mrs. Rommel then went on to earn her Doctorate Degree in Education Administration from Syracuse University.

During her tenure at West Canada Valley, the school was twice named as one of the top ten rural schools in New York State.

Education was only one part of Mrs. Rommel’s career.  The other was business, more specifically, the fence business.  She was the owner of Rommel Fence business which Mr. and Mrs. Rommel started from their home in 1965.  This business has grown to be a very successful one, with a customer portfolio that includes airports, bridges, prisons, and warehouses.  As a result of the success she achieved in her business career, Mary Tucker Rommel was selected by the United States Small Business Administration as the Syracuse District’s Small Business Person of the Year in 2017.

Marjorie Tucker Weeda, Mary’s sister, wrote the following:

"There are many members of the Kuyahoora Valley whose voices shout a thank you in remembering the times and quiet ways in which Mary served them with bags of groceries to fill the next paycheck gap; clothes to wear so that children would not be embarrassed to come to school; or a few jingles in their pocket so that there was gas in their car for work.  Mary’s heart never forgot her Frankfort roots and the community that supported her and our family."

Ms. Bonnie Sanderson, a colleague and friend, wrote:

“Mary was a strong advocate and “cheerleader” for the music program.  When I began my academic work toward an administrative degree, Mary was there with her ever-positive outlook, and her example as a hard working school principal, a nurturing and involved mother and partner n her husband’s growing business.  When I felt exhausted, by the demands of work, school and family, I would look to her, and it usually cured my self-pity.”
 


 

Mr. Scott Wilson

Mr. Scott Wilson graduated from Frankfort-Schuyler Central School in 1984.  He went on to earn a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from Florida State University and a Master of Science Degree in Engineering Management from the University of Central Florida.

Mr. Wilson currently serves as the manager of production operations for the Orion Space Program at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.  He has worked for NASA for more than 25 years, in support of the Space Shuttle, Orbited Space Plane, Orion, Ground Systems Development and Operations Programs.  Mr. Wilson began his career at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center as an engineer for the Space Shuttle’s data processing and main engine avionics systems.  He later joined the Space Shuttle program where he managed the development and test of flight systems, in the areas of wireless sensing, advanced avionics and spacecraft health management.

Mr. Wilson has received the NASA Distinguished Service Medal.  This is NASA’s highest form of recognition that is awarded to a Government employee who, by distinguished service, ability or vision, has personally contributed to NASA’s advancement of United States’ interests.  Mr. Wilson was presented with this medal as a result of demonstrating a level of excellence that has made a profound impact on NASA mission success.  Mr. Wilson was the “driving force” behind the Orion project, effectively enabling on-schedule delivery of the first production Orion spacecraft.

According to NASA officials, Orion’s first flight was nearly flawless, fully accomplishing 85 test objectives and partially accomplishing the remaining two.  Mr. Wilson was the key person behind this accomplishment, which, according to NASA officials, “has re-energized the nation about the possibilities of human space exploration and NASA’s capabilities.”