Virtual Alumni Achievement Awards Honorees
Camele Clarke Barrett
Camele Clarke-Barrett earned both her Bachelor of Science degree in Finance, Magna Cum Laude in 2006 and her Master in Business Administration with Distinction from Mercy University in 2009. While at Mercy University, Clarke-Barrett was a student-athlete and represented the Athletics Department as the volleyball student-athlete ambassador.
Clarke-Barrett began her career at IBM in 2008 as a Financial Services Professional. She is now the Global Financial lead for IBM’s Digital business portfolio. When not leadingIBM’s global Digital financial objectives and strategies, Clarke- Barrett serves her community focusing on empowering and channeling access to the underserved population.
She serves on the Advisory Board of the Lois Bronz Children’s Center in White Plains, a multifaceted center offering a myriad of early childhood educational programs and services to families and children that reside or work in the County. She is also a Girls Scouts Troop leader, and, she is active in her local church as the Children’s Ministry coordinator.
A strong believer in continuous learning, Clarke-Barrett is currently a candidate for her professional certification as a CMA, from the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA).
Clarke-Barrett enjoys, reading, family time, travel, classical music, museums, drawing and decorating during her self-care time.
Sheila Enriquez
Sheila (Agaya) Enriquez ‘96 is the Managing Partner & CEO of Briggs & Veselka Co., the fourth largest independent CPA firm in the Southwest and the largest independent firm in Houston. In her first year as CEO, Sheila helped achieve a 29% growth rate and led the integration of six acquisitions, expanding the firm’s Texas presence.
As a CPA and an attorney with over 23 years of experience, Enriquez offers a powerful blend of financial expertise and legal perspective to her clients. She also carries the Certified in Financial Forensics (CFF) designation and is a Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA). Her vast expertise includes audit services, agreed- upon procedures, forensic accounting and litigation support, and mergers and acquisitions due diligence.
Enriquez’s passion is education, which has been guided by her individual journey. Born and raised in the Philippines, she received a full scholarship in 1990 and completed her A.S. in Business with High Honors at SUNY/SCCC’s Toyama, Japan and Loch Sheldrake, New York campuses. She later attended Mercy University on a merit scholarship, and graduated summa cum laude from with a B.S. Degree in Public Accounting. Enriquez would go on to receive her M.B.A. with Distinction from Long Island University, and her J.D. from University of Houston Law Center.
As a first-generation immigrant, Enriquez understands the power of education and hard work. She believes in servant leadership and is passionate in developing and mentoring professionals within the firm and the profession. She will forever be grateful for the mentorship and guidance she received from Dean Wayne Cioffari, past dean of the MBA Program at Long Island University and a former professor at Mercy University. Cioffari advised her to pursue her CPA designation while she was applying for the MBA program and his advice has proven to be the best advice Enriquez has ever received.
Enriquez is a member of the AICPA and recently completed a term on the AICPA Governing Council as an at-large member and will rejoin the Council as a Texas representative in May 2021. She is also a member of the State Bar of Texas and Texas Society of CPAs (TXCPA), where she serves on the State Executive Board of Directors and is a past president of the Houston Chapter. Enriquez is the current TXCPA Chairman-Elect nominee expected to serve as Chairman Elect in 2021-2022 and as Chairman in 2022-2023. She also serves on the board of directors of University of St. Thomas and the American Cancer Society’s CEOs Against Cancer Gulf Coast Chapter. Her recognitions include a 2020 Most Admired CEO Honoree by the Houston Business Journal and selection as a 2020 Breakthrough Woman given by the Greater Houston Women’s Chamber of Commerce.
Enriquez is supported by her husband, Jose ’96, whom she met in Japan and her two boys, Anthony (17) and Jacob (10). She enjoys golf, tennis, and traveling in the US and abroad.
Mary Fox Alter
Mary Fox-Alter has been the proud and passionate Superintendent of Schools of the Pleasantville School District since 2010. Mary has almost 31 years of experience in the Pleasantville School District. Since that time, she has enjoyed serving the needs of the District’s children in many fulfilling and rewarding capacities –teacher, technology coordinator, curriculum coordinator, staff developer, Chief Information Officer, Director of Instructional Services and Superintendent of Schools. Fox-Alter started her career as an educator in the Catholic Schools. Prior to joining the faculty in Pleasantville, she spent 9 years as a social studies and computer teacher at Iona Preparatory School in New Rochelle, NY.
She holds a Professional Diploma (P.D.) in Administration from the College of New Rochelle; a Master’s Degree (M.S.) in Educational Technology from Iona College, and a B.A. in History and Secondary Education from Mercy University. She was also a recipient of a NEH Fellowship from Fordham University.
Fox-Alter has also been a regional and NYS leader. She served two years as the President of the Southern Westchester BOCES Chief School Administrators Association, and two years as President of the Lower Hudson Council of School Superintendents. She recently completed her second term as a member of the NYS Council of School Superintendents Executive Committee and, this summer, was appointed to serve as the Legislative District 3 representative on the Westchester County Women’s Advisory Board. Fox-Alter is also a member of the NW Hospital Presidents Council, the Pleasantville Rotary Club, the Regional Information Centers Executive Board, the Lower Hudson Educational Coalition Steering Committee and Mercy University Dean’s Advisory Board. She is honored to have been recognized as a Paul Harris fellow, the recipient of the Lower Hudson Council of School Superintendents Distinguished Service Award, the Regional Information Center’s Technology Leadership Award, The Westchester County Distinguished Female Leader Award and Pleasantville Teacher of the Year.
Dr. Rosa Gonzalez
Dr. Rosa Gonzalez ’69, whose medical career spans over 45 years, has a private obstetrics and gynecology practice in North Bergen, N.J. As a compassionate champion for women’s health, she has tirelessly served her patients through both their most joyous milestones and their most sensitive health challenges, such as diagnoses of cancer – all with an unfailing dedication.
Having fled Cuba with her family as a teenager in 1962, they eventually settled in Washington Heights. As a young adult, Gonzalez, already with aspirations toward medicine after “operating” on a friend’s injured bird, saw her love of science blossom only further after high school. At Mercy, she studied biology under the encouragement of the late Sister Jeanne Marie Neillis in whose classroom she first saw her own blood under a microscope. She graduated Mercy with lifelong friendships (many that continue to this day) and an even stronger resolve to study medicine.
Facing the many language barriers of American medical school entrance exams, she took a pathology job at Mt. Sinai Hospital. In 1970, she moved to Spain where she would study at the University of Zaragoza, graduating in 1975. She returned to the U.S. to Montefiore Hospital to begin her first internship, later completing her OBGYN residency at Bronx Municipal Hospital. In 1979, she became a clinical instructor at Albert Einstein College, leaving only to pursue her mission of serving the community as a physician – opening offices in both the Bronx and New Jersey.
In 2001, she closed the Bronx office of her practice to concentrate on her North Bergen office, affiliated with Englewood Hospital and Medical Center. Two full decades later, she remains, devotedly serving that patient base with both routine gynecological care and treatment of cancers of the female genital tract. She maintains a longstanding membership in the American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology.
She often considers her profession beyond charts and lab results, finding the counseling aspect an equally important role in her daily work.
Christopher McNerney
In 1994, Chris McNerney ’98 was sworn in as police officer with the Westchester County Department of Public Safety. He transferred to the Town of Greenburgh Police Department in 1995. Chief McNerney has worked in every division in the police department including Patrol, Street Crime Unit, Detective Division, Staff Services Division and Special Investigations (Internal Affairs).
McNerney is a certified police instructor and has taught many courses at the Westchester County Police Academy, for new recruits, criminal investigators and for police supervisors. McNerney had his own law practice, McNerney & DiFabio from 2007-2010. He has attended numerous law enforcement schools and has many certifications and awards. He was sworn in as Town of Greenburgh’s Chief of Police on December 1, 2013. In 2014, he attended the FBI Law Enforcement Executive Development Seminar at Princeton University. McNerney has a Bachelor of Science Degree from Mercy University and Juris Doctor from Pace University Law School. He has worked as an Adjunct Professor of Criminology at Mercy University and is a licensed attorney in New York and Connecticut.
McNerney has volunteered on local youth sports programs, including the McNerney is the President of the Ardsley Little League. McNerney has coached local and travel baseball, basketball and softball teams. He is active in the New York State Chiefs Association and the International Association of Chiefs of Police, President of the Westchester County Chiefs of Police Association and serves on the Westchester County Task Force for Police Reform.
In 2019, McNerney retired from the Greenburgh Police Department and was hired by the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office as their Chief Criminal Investigator. In August 2020, McNerney returned to the Town of Greenburgh Police Department as Chief of Police. As Chief, he instituted new initiatives such as the first full patrol implementation in Westchester County of Police Body Worn Cameras. McNerney resides in the Town of Greenburgh and is married with three children.