Executive Suite: Mark Portnoy, Syosset
Mark Portnoy, president of Portnoy, Messinger, Pearl & Associates, a human resources consulting firm, with his mother Harriette, 87, who answers the phones in the office because she doesn't believe people should get voice mail. (Nov. 10, 2011) Credit: Newsday / Audrey C. Tiernan
Mark Portnoy joshes that when he received his doctoral degree in philosophy he saw two career avenues open to himself: drive a taxi or work for his father. Portnoy, then in his late 20s, opted for the latter.
He signed on board with his late father, Murray Portnoy, a union organizer who switched to the management side of the table in 1964 when he founded what has become Syosset-based Portnoy, Messinger, Pearl & Associates.
Back then with the firm focused on union negotiating, "there was a lot of drama, a lot of theater," says Mark Portnoy, 65, now president. The firm has expanded, he says, to address an array of human resources issues, such as compensation, policies and compliance.
Despite that growth, it still has a family-firm feeling, he says. "It's a high-pressure business, and no one calls us when things are going great." That's one reason his 87-year-old mother, Harriette, drives in each day to answer the phone personally.
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