Field down to four for new LIA leader

This could very possibly be the week that the board of the Long Island Association names a new president, the organization's first new top leader in 16 years, according to Katherine Heaviside, a spokesman for the LIA's search committee.

Heaviside, president of Epoch 5 Public Relations in Huntington, said that the date could be as early as Wednesday and that the field has been narrowed to four people, all of them Long Islanders.

Heaviside would not name any of the four.

But according to sources, they are believed to be Mitch Pally, a veteran lawyer who spent 20 years with the LIA before leaving more than a decade ago to go into private practice; John Kominicki, publisher of the Long Island Business News; Michael White, executive director of the Long Island Planning Council, and David Manning, formerly executive director of external affairs at KeySpan.

"There are four remarkable candidates," Heaviside said. "I believe any one of them would in their own different style make the LIA a stronger and more vibrant organization."

The LIA's immediate past president, Matt Crosson, who stepped down after 16 years only a few weeks ago, was born and raised in Connecticut. Crosson is now president of the Greater Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce.