LIA's Crosson takes post in Las Vegas

Matthew Crosson, who had announced that he would step down as president of the Long Island Association, has been named president and chief executive of the Greater Las Vegas Civic Association, nationally one of the largest groups of its type.

Crosson's appointment was announced Tuesday in Las Vegas. He was to have left the LIA post in September. Gary Wojtas, an LIA spokesman, said Tuesday that Crosson will likely leave his post in Long Island toward the end of next month. Crosson has been LIA president for 16 years.

A search committee is interviewing candidates to replace Crosson. It hopes to find a successor by September or sooner.

Crosson, 60, announced in November that he would step down. The LIA quickly formed a search committee, and hopes to begin interviewing candidates soon, Katherine Heaviside, a spokeswoman for the committee said in February. "We're going to move forward with very deliberate speed, and we hope to get someone in a reasonable amount of time," she said.

A number of names have surfaced as likely successors, among them Mitchell Pally, who was with the LIA for 21 years before leaving in 2006 to practice law. Another, Kevin Law, is chief executive of the Long Island Power Authority.

The LIA, with 5,200 members, is a chamber of commerce for the Island as well as a lobbying organization for the Island's business interests in Nassau, Suffolk, Albany and Washington.

In a statement Tuesday, Crosson said he hoped his efforts on behalf of the region had been helpful to the business community. "During my time at the LIA, I have tried to help restore Long Island's confidence in its own future, as well as its high technology base in the 1990s."

Crosson said that when he announced plans to resign, "I had no idea where life would take me. I did not expect the decision to lead to Las Vegas, but I am grateful that it did."