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Private-jet travel is not just a lifestyle of the rich and famous – it’s an important resource for businesses of all shapes and sizes, on Long Island and beyond. As chief executive officer of Talon Air – a full-service operator specializing in aircraft charter, maintenance and management operations, based at East Farmingdale’s Republic Airport – James Chitty recognizes the importance of this economic cornerstone and relishes the challenge of increasing his company’s already impressive wingspan. In today’s episode, James joins Spark Host Gregory Zeller to discuss the inherent challenge of spiraling fuel costs, the immense opportunity created by ongoing chaos at U.S. public airports and other ups and downs of the private-jet industry – including Talon’s relentless focus on safety, efficiency and happy landings around the globe.

You might already know James Lentini, but not as president of Molloy University. He’s that for sure, and one of the best in the business – in his six years at the helm, Dr. Lentini has overseen Molloy’s transition from college to university, helped double the institution’s endowment and led steady gains in first-year enrollment, belying both the COVID pandemic and declining rates at nationwide private colleges. But he may ring your bell because Dr. Lentini can shred the axe: The Classical guitarist, internationally recognized composer and proud Rock aficionado is well-known to music lovers, with more than 10 albums strumming in the wind. On this episode of “Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast,” the surprisingly scientific Molloy music master joins host Gregory Zeller to share the similarities between left-brain academia and right-brain artistry – and note that Molloy University is just tuning up.

Long Island has the cutting-edge laboratories, the world-class talent, the technological know-how, the proud manufacturing history – everything it needs to be a hub of 21st Century R&D and venture investment. But with cornerstone institutions all over its wide-spread map – Nassau Suffolk, North Shore, South Shore – it sometimes lacks the cohesion of a New York City or a Silicon Valley. Enter ambitious nonprofit business booster Accelerate Long Island, now 15 years into its mission to unify all this next-level R&D into a well-oiled nexus for both entrepreneurs and investors. In today’s episode, Accelerate Long Island Program Director Dan Lloyd – the “civic entrepreneur” who also founded the successful community-oriented nonprofit Minority Millennials – discusses the challenges of melding Long Island’s far-flung innovation landscape into a single entity (plus the joys of family and, arguably, New Jersey’s most famous sandwich).

Long Island has no shortage of excellent public-relations professionals – and ranking among the best is ace communicator, seasoned political appointee, veteran educator and bona fide funnyman Mark Grossman. A survivor of tenures under municipal, county and state lawmakers, the namesake of Medford-based Mark Grossman Public Relations has carved an impressive niche as a go-to regional media expert with a penchant for government relations – while filling young minds as an instructor at colleges across Long Island and blending it all into a well-received tour of the regional comedy-club circuit. On this episode of “Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast,” Mark joins host Gregory Zeller to discuss the thrills of working for Gov. Mario Cuomo, the ills of free-speech suppression … and the unmatched chills of landing a punchline in front of a live audience.

Before he was Suffolk County Deputy Executive, before he served on the County Legislature, before he was Suffolk’s Commissioner of Economic Development or the Town of Brookhaven’s Economic Development Coordinator, before he became a revered board-of-directors mainstay or private-sector business consultant, Jim Morgo was a teacher. Jim taught English at a Massachusetts prep school and a Long Island high school across parts of two decades. But the enticing lure of politics and government proved strong – young Jim’s experiences campaigning for John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy in his home state had instilled something in him, and it came out strong when he met New York State Assemblyman (and fellow teacher) Paul Harenberg. The rest is Long Island sociopolitical history – well covered by today’s jam-packed episode of “Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast,” a masterclass in housing, energy, government relations and critical economic-development topics (with loads of A-list name-dropping, too).

Meet Spencer Bang – or maybe you already know him. It’s a name that stands out in credits, for sure, and you’ve certainly had plenty of chances to see it. He’s appeared in multiple network and streaming TV crime dramas, he’s performed on stage (on Long Island and beyond) and he’s featured in several independent films, on both sides of the camera. And four years ago, he cofounded Nightwire Films – an independent production company with a spooky fixation on the macabre, a creative marketing strategy and an undying dedication to the art and craft of effective moviemaking. In this special Halloween edition of “Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast,” Spencer joins host Gregory Zeller to discuss his admiration for the horror genre, his evolving career as both performer and producer and his penchant for working with up-and-coming talent – and to detail the audio, video and production innovations pushing Nightwire’s partners to the head of the independent-filmmaking class. Innovate Long Island https://www.innovateli.com/ Nightwire Films https://www.nightwirefilms.com/

You don’t need a journalism degree or advanced understanding of broadcasting sciences to see that U.S. news media are on the ropes. From your favorite cable news channel to that big city daily to that small-town weekly, American news is plagued by a crisis of trust. Nobody understands how far the fourth column has fallen better than Fair Media Council CEO and Executive Director Jaci Clement, who cut her teeth as a speechwriter, steamrolled through an impressive Long Island journalism career and now heads a fearless watchdog group dedicated to improving media accountability and promoting journalistic integrity, publicly and proudly. The scholar, award-winning podcast host and prototype ink-stained scribe joins Spark Host Gregory Zeller to recall her interviews with reporting royalty, trumpet the FMC’s Folio Awards and recall her adventures working alongside late, great Innovate Long Island founder John Kominicki – one of her favorite professional influences.

Everyone doing business on Long Island – most of us living here, too – owes a debt to the Island’s amazing Industrial Development Agencies, which work hard to ensure that Long Island startups stay here, that out-of-state businesses come here and that every entrepreneur and executive working here has the best chance to succeed. No regional IDA is busier or bolder than the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency, under the steady guiding hand of Executive Director and CEO Kelly Murphy. In today’s episode of Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast, Kelly joins Spark host Gregory Zeller to discuss her long public-service career, her biggest Island-wide socioeconomic victories, important housing progress and Suffolk’s latest industrial-development initiatives – plus her very special connection to one of Major League Baseball’s all-time greatest voices.

Few names resonate across Long Island real estate development like “Burman.” That includes Scott Burman, the one-time heir apparent to the Burman real estate empire now creating his own legacy as the founder of innovative, forward-thinking development firm Burman RE. In today’s episode, Scott joins Spark host Gregory Zeller to discuss the emotional turmoil of breaking away – professionally and personally – from the Burman family, while sharing his front-row perspectives on regional real estate, his deep-seeded beliefs in the importance of volunteerism and his highest hopes for the evolution of Long Island socioeconomics.

Small business is the revenue-generating, jobs-producing backbone of regional socioeconomics – and nobody knows this better than Martha Stansbury. As director of the Small Business Development Center at Stony Brook, Martha has many oars in the water – overseeing instructional programs, preparing annual and special-project budgets, addressing the immediate and long-term needs of entrepreneurs, meeting constantly with State University administrators, Long Island lawmakers and other influential stakeholders. In today’s episode, Martha joins Spark host Gregory Zeller to discuss her long business-development career, her personal and professional ambitions and the Stony Brook SBDC’s Job No. 1: helping small businesses throughout Suffolk County survive and thrive, a critical mission that’s essential to the future of the Long Island Innovation Economy.

As co-founder and CEO of Long Beach-based Trellus Networks, Adam Haber is giving Long Island mom-and-pop retailers a fighting chance against Amazon and other e-commerce giants: a last-mile logistics partner offering home delivery to customers across the Island. It’s the latest endeavor for a master innovator whose long résumé includes stints as a commodities trader, a political candidate, a restaurateur, a government efficiency professional and a seasoned angel investor – and the one that promises the most benefits for other Long Island entrepreneurs, and for the regional innovation economy at large. In today’s episode, Adam joins Spark host Gregory Zeller to discuss his successful career, his essential keys to picking the right investments, his plans to take Trellus national and his ambitious startup’s latest expansion: a new online marketplace allowing visitors to browse thousands of unique, locally made products and order quick delivery across Nassau and Suffolk (and maybe even Westchester).

Nobody understands Long Island socioeconomics better than Kyle Strober. Long Island has many organizations and many leaders monitoring and shaping the regional quality of life – but none more influential than the Association for a Better Long Island and its busy executive director. Kyle joined the association in 2017 after several years as a legislative aide, first for a Nassau County legislator and then as Long Island regional director for U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer – positions that uniquely qualified him to head up a frontline watchdog focused primarily on real estate development in Nassau and Suffolk counties. In today’s episode, Kyle joins Spark host Gregory Zeller to discuss the often-misunderstood benefits of Industrial Development Agencies, the need for more sensible tax structures and his highest hopes for the regional economy – plus, the best place to grab a bacon, egg and cheese in Merrick.

If you read newspapers, magazines or books, you’ve likely read something written by Ambrose Clancy. Ambrose has been an author and professional journalist for half a century, gracing major newspapers like The Village Voice, The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, popular magazines like GQ and The Nation, and several beloved community periodicals on Long Island, including a long run as editor of The Shelter Island Reporter. His third book – “My Life In Pieces: Writers, Rogues, The Road and The Rock,” chronicling his decades as a reporter and editor – is now between covers, as Ambrose would say, joining his gripping suspense novel “Blind Pilot” (about IRA terrorism) and his masterful nonfiction “The Night Line” (recalling his experiences as a cabbie in late 20th Century Manhattan). In today’s episode, the premier professional pundit joins Spark host Gregory Zeller to discuss his career, the evolution of news reporting over the last 50 years and the dire state of American journalism – and to rationalize his really awful poker playing. Ambrose Clancy Books at Amazon

Few American jurists have assembled a career as influential or accomplished as the Honorable A. Gail Prudenti, the former Chief Administrative Judge of the Courts of New York State. From her studies at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland and her first job as a law clerk in the Suffolk County Surrogate’s Court to her days as a Suffolk prosecutor, her 20-plus years on the bench and her post-judgeship partnership at East Setauket-based family-law specialist Burner Prudenti Law, Gail has seen and done it all, inside the courtroom and out. In today’s episode, the longtime judge and former dean of the Hofstra University law school joins Spark host Gregory Zeller to discuss her storied career, the scope and sometimes underappreciated significance of family law and her highest hopes for the future of federal judiciary – plus the inescapable importance of diversity in the application of the law.

Bethpage Federal Credit Union didn't rise to become a top-20 national credit union -- or increase its asset holdings from $1 billion to more than $13 billion -- by accident. It took a team of forward-thinking leaders and dedicated employees, working together to bulk up an institution that launched more than 80 years ago as a small neighborhood depository exclusively servicing Grumman employees. Chief among them: Linda Armyn, who became Bethpage's president and CEO in August 2023. By then, she'd already spent decades as senior vice president for corporate affairs and chief strategy and marketing officer, positions key to the credit union's impressive growth and critical to her current leadership role. In today's episode, Linda joins Spark host Gregory Zeller to discuss Bethpage's steady rise toward national prominence, its innovative 2025 marketing campaign and its forthcoming big-time rebrand -- plus the vital importance of volunteerism to personal, professional and corporate growth.