Nine new inductees of the Sachem Hall of Honor were honored on June 1, 2019 at Sachem High School North.
Maureen Brush, Class of 1963
Maureen dedicated her life and career to educating students in Sachem. She is the first female alumni to work as a building administrator in Sachem history and also one of the first female alumni hired as a teacher as well. Her career in education spanned 40 years, dating back to the 1960s where she first started teaching in Catholic School and then at Lynwood Elementary and Merrimac Elementary, serving as an ancillary teacher of art, music, physical education and library and eventually second and sixth grade, respectively. Maureen also served as a summer school principal and assistant principal. From 1998 until her retirement in 2007 she was assistant principal of this building, Sachem North. If you’re counting, that’s 33 years serving Sachem, making her one of the select few of our alumni to work in parts of four decades for the betterment of our students and school culture. Maureen is very proud of her Sachem roots and there is no greater representative of our student body who bleeds Red, Black and Gold and truly believes Sachem is Sans Egal.
Michael Cleary, Class of 1980
Michael Cleary was President of Canyon Consulting, and co-founder of their IBM Software Compliance Services initiatives. He was Project Executive on over 75 IBM Compliance projects, highlighted by successfully building the system defense for the world’s largest hotel chain. Prior to founding Canyon Consulting, Michael ran the national Software Compliance practice for McGladrey, the number five accounting and audit firm in the United States. Michael, who played baseball and football at Sachem, received a B.S in computer science and mathematics from St. John’s, where he was also named an NCAA Academic All-American and National Scholar Athlete. In August 2007, at the age of 45, Michael suffered a heart attack while working out at the Golds Gym. The quick work of a trainer at the gym using an automated external defibrillator (AED) installed at the gym saved Mike’s life. The AED was at the gym due to the work of the Louis J. Acompora Memorial Foundation. Louis lost his life in March 2000 at age 14 while playing lacrosse for Northport High School. The day Michael left the hospital in 2007, after his life had been saved by the AED, he went to work with the Acompora’s raising money and awareness of the need for schools and other public places where youth congregate to be better prepared to respond to sudden cardiac arrest by having AEDs on hand. Until the day Michael passed away in November of 2018 he worked tirelessly to support the Acompora’s and their mission to help save as many lives as possible around the world. He died on Nov. 15, 2019 of a heart attack.
Frank Iacono, Class of 1987
Frank holds a Bachelor’s degree in applied math from Yale and a law degree from Harvard, adding not one, but two Ivy League diplomas to his resume. His career has seen high stakes finance and business roles with major banks. Since 2009, Frank has been an independent consultant specializing in fixed income, structured products, risk management and complex securities litigation. In 2009 and 2010, he was engaged as part of a special advisory team to a distressed European bank, assisting with evaluation of the commercial real estate loan portfolio and several other elements of the bank’s restructuring plan. Frank was CEO of Cournot Financial Products, a highly rated credit product company sponsored by Morgan Stanley. Frank worked with Leeman Brothers, initially as the trader running the credit correlation book in New York and later as the Managing Director in charge of the 12-person structuring team. He also served as Vice President of structured credit at Chase. At Sachem, Frank was also a talented football player and wrestler, serving as a strong example of what the term student-athlete really means. He also played football at Yale and helped the team to an Ivy League Championship in 1989.
Scott Lewers, Class of 1993
Scott is the Executive Vice President of multi-platform programming and digital media for Discovery Channel where he is responsible for Discovery’s content strategy, scheduling, research, insights, and live content. He has spearheaded new types of content for the network, including Shark After Dark, a live late-night talk show airing during Shark Week. He has also championed Discovery’s digital content, such as the record-breaking Skywire Live with Nik Wallenda, which won an Emmy for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media. Scott received a 2012 Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding New Approaches in Sports Event Coverage for his part in bringing to Discovery Channel, Space Jump Live, Felix Baumgartner’s death-defying leap from space to Earth. Before joining Discovery, Lewers held senior programming roles at Oxygen Media/NBC Universal and Lifetime Entertainment.
Davie Mehlhop, Class of 1982
David Mehlhop was a Captain in the United States Airforce. Long before he graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in electrical engineering, David enjoy playing club soccer and spending his summer as a lifeguard at Lake Ronkonkoma. He entered Air Force Officer Candidate Training in San Antonio in April 1987 and graduated Navigator Training one year later in Sacramento. His aviation career saw assignments both domestically and abroad, including stints from Little Rock to Germany to Kenya. His last assignment was on March 14, 1994, flying an AC-130 Navigator in Mombasa, Kenya. David’s crew from the 16th Special Operations Squadron crash-landed into the Indian Ocean 200 yards off the Kenyan coast. They were operating in support of ongoing operations in and around Somalia at the time of the accident. David was one of eight who died that day, making the ultimate sacrifice for our country. His memory lives on in this honor today, as well as the Capt. David J. Mell-hop Memorial Award and Scholarship, presented annually at the University of Virginia to a third year ROTC cadet.
Rudy Migliore, Class of 1964
Rudy is a locally recognized attorney since 1977 and he is most notable for work since 1998 that has focused on asbestos, mesothelioma and lung cancer related cases. By September of that year the first screening of retired firefighters who were exposed to asbestos was conducted – 210 men were screened and 71 tested positive. Proceedings were filed accordingly and the rest is history as Rudy has helped hundreds, if not thousands, of retired fire fighters win cases based on health-related issues. Rudy was a member of the National Guard from 1968 to 1974. His law practice is also a community-oriented practice handling accidents, corporations, criminal matters, and subsequently asbestos and dangerous medications. Rudy has also served as General Counsel for the United Retired Firefighters Association, General Counsel for the Long Island Association of Retired NYC Firefighters, General Counsel to University Student Government at Stony Brook and General Counsel to Church of God New York State. He was named 2015 Man of the Year by the United Retired Firefighters Association and 2015 Man of the Year for Long Island Association of Retired NYC Firefighters.
Katie Siek, Class of 1996
Katie is an associate professor in Informatics and ProHealth Director of Graduate Studies at Indiana University where she studies integrating pervasive technologies in health and wellness environments to study how technology affects interventions, as well as human computer interaction. She earned her PhD and master’s at Indiana University Bloomington in computer science and her bachelor’s in computer science at Eckerd College. Her research is supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the National Science Foundation including a five-year NSF Career Award. She has been awarded a Borg Early Career Award and Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance Distinguished Visiting Fellowships. Prior to returning to her alma mater, she was a professor for seven years at the University of Colorado Boulder. She was a National Physical Science Consortium Fellow at Indiana University and a Ford Apprentice Scholar at Eckerd. At Sachem, Katie helped Sachem win a state title in basketball in 1995 and a county title in 1996. She was also involved in the Sachem Webslingers, a website creation club, and the German Club.
Monica Wallace, Class of 1986
Monica is currently a member of the New York State Assembly, elected in 2016 and serving in the 143-assembly district upstate. She attended SUNY Binghamton as an undergraduate and later received a J.D. from SUNY Buffalo Law School. Monica served as a clerk to Judge Richard Arcara and taught as a legal writing professor at SUNY Buffalo Law School. She also practiced law as an attorney for Phillips Lytle LLP and also served as a federal court confidential law clerk for 14 years. Among her political victories: Securing $1 million in 2017 to assist the Town of Cheektowaga’s ongoing Scajaquada Creek cleanup efforts. Passing a constitutional amendment to strip public officials found guilty of corruption of their taxpayer-funded pensions. Sponsoring legislation to assist veterans through awarding SUNY academic credits for training received while serving in the military, among others. Monica is also an active member of her community. She served as a local and state director for the Western New York Chapter of the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York, an organization dedicated to advancing the status of women and children in New York. She also served as a member of the Lancaster YMCA Board and served on the Legal Writing Institute’s Bar Outreach Committee.
Lawrence Zacarese, Class of 1993
Lawrence has had a long and successful career in law enforcement. He is currently Assistant Chief of Police and Director of the Office of Emergency Management at Stony Brook University. He began his public sector career as a volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician more than twenty years ago in the Holbrook Volunteer Fire Department. After graduating paramedic school in 1995 he worked in that respective field at Jamaica Hospital and Stony Brook University Medical Center for several years before joining the New York City Police Department. Lawrence worked as a patrol officer and plain-clothes anti-crime officer for five years until his transfer to the Emergency Service Unit of the Special Operations Division. During his assignment to the Emergency Service Unit he worked as a canine handler and tactical paramedic for nearly seven years before being promoted to Sergeant. He served as the Bio-Terrorism Center Coordinator for the Suffolk County Regional Resource Center at Stony Brook. He also works as a Deputy Chief Fire Instructor at the Suffolk County Fire Academy and has been an adjunct lecturer and subject matter expert at John Jay, Stony Brook, and Southern New Hampshire University. Zacarese is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and a graduate of Touro College with a law degree and is admitted to practice law in New York and is a member of the American Bar, New York Bar and Suffolk County Bar associations. He has come a long way since being class president all four years at Sachem. Last year he narrowly lost the election for Suffolk County Sheriff and may be representing Sachem proudly in public office one day soon if the opportunity is right.
