Alan Kestenbaum elected to Sy Syms board

Great Neck philanthropist joins YU team

By Yaffi Spodek

Issue of April 3, 2009 / 9 Nissan 5769

Alan Kestenbaum, CEO of Marco International Corp., a finance trading group specializing in raw materials, was recently elected to to the board of directors of Yeshiva University’s Sy Syms School of Business.

Kestenbaum, a YU alumnus, comes to the position with close to two decades of experience in the metals industry, including finance, distribution, trading and manufacturing. A resident of Great Neck, Kestenbaum is Chairman and former president of North Shore Hebrew Academy, and currently serves on the board of its high school. He also established the Asher Foundation, which has supported several local institutions, and where he serves as a trustee.

“We are pleased that Alan has joined the Board of Directors of the Sy Syms School of Business,” said Syms Dean Michael J. Ginzberg. “He attended Yeshiva College, is the parent of a Sy Syms student, and, to top it all off, he is the son-in-law of Syms’s founding chairman, Hal Beretz. It’s wonderful that Alan is now a full-fledged member of the board.”

According to YU spokeswoman Hedy Shulman, Kestenbaum’s appointment is not a replacement of Bernard Madoff’s position on the Sy Syms board. She explained that each YU school has a board whose new members are elected on an annual basis.

“Josh Weston was appointed the Chair of the Sy Syms School following the resignation of Bernie Madoff,” she clarified. “This election is of a new board member to the Sy Syms School.”