More than 18,000 alumni and parents call the Capital Region their home – here’s your opportunity to connect with them!
The Rensselaer Capital Region Network Executive Council was created to better connect our Capital Region alumni to their alma mater and to each other.
Engagement in the council is designed around shared career and business interests, related topics that tie alumni back to campus through conversations and forums around pressing global challenges and opportunities that align with the Institute’s expertise in groundbreaking interdisciplinary research and innovative pedagogy. The council’s provides opportunities for engagement around business development, career advancement, graduate recruitment and student placement, and seeks to facilitate strategic partnerships among individuals, companies, foundations, government agencies and the Institute.
Capital Region Network
Executive Council
The Executive Council provides guidance and advisory expertise that will further harness the strength of our alumni in the Capital Region and provides leadership in support of the Rensselaer Capital Campaign.
Council members have a front-row seat to research insights from renowned Rensselaer faculty, access to the highest levels of Institute leadership, and opportunities to foster fruitful connections with other notable alumni in the Capital Region. Member terms are for three years and there are two types of memberships available. Membership gifts support the Rensselaer Annual Fund and are fully tax deductible
Executive Council Co-Chairs
John Bennett ’74, MD, FACC, FACP
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Trustee
Event Chair, Rensselaer Scholarship Gala: Virtual Auction Executive Leadership Team
President and Chief Executive Officer, Capital District Physicians’ Health Plan, Inc.
John D. Bennett, MD, FACC, FACP was named president and CEO of CDPHP in July of 2008 after serving more than 10 years as chair, vice chair, and board member of the Capital Region’s leading not-for-profit health plan. During this time, CDPHP has been recognized as one of the top-rated plans in the nation, has been named one of the Best Companies to Work for in New York for 11 consecutive years, and has ranked “Highest in Member Satisfaction among Commercial Health Plans in New York” in the J.D. Power Member Health Plan Study for the second consecutive year.
Prior to joining CDPHP, Dr. Bennett served as founding member and CEO of Prime Care Physicians, PLLC. During his tenure, he co-led a team of 25 cardiologists and helped grow the practice from three employees to a 100-physician multi-specialty group.
Dr. Bennett is board certified by the National Board of Medical Examiners and the American Board of Internal Medicine, with subspecialties in internal medicine and cardiology. He earned his medical degree at SUNY-Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, and a Bachelor of Science degree at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Dr. Bennett completed an internship and residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in cardiovascular disease at Albany Medical Center. He is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology and the American College of Physicians.
Dr. Bennett serves on the boards of the Alliance of Community Health Plans (ACHP), America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), Center for Economic Growth, New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC), Palace Theatre, and The Sage Colleges. In 2015, Dr. Bennett was appointed by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to serve as a member of the New York Public Health and Health Planning Council.
An outspoken critic of the rising cost of health care, Dr. Bennett was awarded the 2016 Marketer/Communicator of the Year award by the Capital Region chapters of the American Marketing Association and Public Relations Society of America. That same year, Dr. Bennett was also awarded the 2016 Promoting the Advancement of Technology in Healthcare (PATH) Award from the New York e-Health Collaborative (NYeC).
Mark M. Little ’82 Ph.D.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Trustee
Former Senior Vice President and Director, GE Global Research
Mark Little was named senior vice president and director of GE Global Research in October 2005, becoming the ninth director in the 105-year history of the organization. As such, Dr. Little is responsible for leading one of the largest and most diversified industrial research and technology organizations in the world. He also serves as chief technology officer at GE.
Dr. Little holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from Tufts and Northeastern Universities, respectively, and in 1982 earned a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Daniel T. Pickett III ’90
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Trustee
Co-Chair, Transformative: Campaign for Global Change
Member, Rensselaer Scholarship Gala: Virtual Auction Executive Leadership Team
Co-Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer, aptihealth
Dan Pickett III is a co-founder and the President and CEO of aptihealth. Dan joined aptihealth from Hudson River Capital Holdings, an aptihealth founding investor, where he was President. Prior to Hudson River Capital Holdings, he was President of Zones, a $2.4B global IT company. Mr. Pickett joined Zones when it acquired nfrastructure, a technology company he founded and served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board.
Prior to nfrastructure, Mr. Pickett co-founded CIGNA Software Sciences, an expert system and decision support fintech company that was acquired by Alltel Information Services. He is a trustee of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and serves on the boards of aptihealth, The Pickett Family Foundation, Albany Medical Center and Albany Medical College.
Executive Council Vice Chair
COUNCIL MEMBERS
Bob Bedard ’75
President and CEO, deFacto Global, Inc.
Bob Bedard ’75 is currently President and CEO of deFacto Global, Inc., a financial and operations analytics software company serving mid-market to large corporations. His career has centered on developing products, services and businesses based on emerging information technologies for IBM, The Bank of New York, Prodigy Services and CBS. He also started several technology companies including deFacto Global and holds patents in the areas of electronic payments and data analytics. Mr. Bedard is an active entrepreneur helping develop an Artificial Intelligence ecosystem throughout NYS’s Capital Region and a member of Upstate Venture Connect (UVC). He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Master of Science degree in Business Administration from Columbia University.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Kindra McHale, CFRE
Director of Regional Development
Mid West & Upstate NY
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
(518) 276-8575 | mchalk@rpi.edu