Date: Oct 16, 2008

BENEFIT DINNER FOR HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY'S JOAN AND ARNOLD SALTZMAN COMMUNITY SERVICES CENTER TO HONOR COMMERCE BANK'S CHRISTOPHER C. GIAMO

Thursday, November 6, 2008, at 6:30 p.m.; Chateau Briand, Carle Place, NY

Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY ... The Joan and Arnold Saltzman Community Services Center at Hofstra University will present a dinner and reception at Chateau Briand in Carle Place, New York, on Thursday, November 6, 2008. The cocktail reception begins at 6:30 p.m. with dinner immediately following.

This fundraiser for the Saltzman Community Services Center will honor Christopher C. Giamo, Metro President, Suburban NY/Connecticut, Commerce Bank, N.A.

Sponsorship opportunities at the benefit dinner are available at a number of different levels. Individual tickets are also on sale for $250 each. For reservations and more information call (516) 463-5665 or email billi.vernillo@hofstra.edu.

The Joan and Arnold Saltzman Community Services Center was founded in 1991 with a  mission to support the health and well-being of the community and the education of Hofstra students. The Center unites the talents and capabilities of five separate organizations at the University – the Diane Lindner-Goldberg Child Care Institute, the Marriage and Family Therapy Clinic, the Psychological Evaluation Research and Counseling (PERC) Clinic, the Reading/Writing/Learning Clinic and the Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic – and has helped them expand their services and clientele.

The Saltzman Center clinics serve patients of every age, with a variety of needs, for a very nominal fee. No one in financial aid is ever turned away from the Saltzman Center clinics and even the Child Care Institute has scholarship and financial aid opportunities.

Some of the Saltzman Center’s newer offerings include the Diagnostic and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders, a Toddler Language Development Program, the Premarital Assessment and Counseling Program, Virtual Reality Therapy and the Institute for the Study and Treatment of Anger and Aggression.

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Christopher C. Giamo, currently serves as Metro President for Commerce Bank N.A., overseeing its Suburban NY / Connecticut Market (Long Island/Westchester/Connecticut). He is responsible for all retail, consumer and commercial lending and government banking.

Mr. Giamo joined Commerce in 1998 as department head of its Middle Market Lending Group covering the bank’s entire footprint in New Jersey. After successfully growing and building the Middle Market business in January 2000, he took over to head Commerce’s Shore Division in Eastern New Jersey overseeing the transition of a small acquisition the Bank made in 1999.

In January 2002 Mr. Giamo relocated to Long Island taking the helm as head of the Suburban NY/ Connecticut Market, overseeing the bank’s aggressive expansion plan. Commerce has made a major commitment to this region where it plans to build an additional 40+ offices in over the next three (3) years, creating over 1,000 new jobs.  Currently the Market has 56 offices, with over $5 Billion in assets and over 1,200 employees.   

In 2005 and 2006 he was named one of Long Island’s “100 Most Influential People” by Long Island Business News. Prior to joining Commerce, Mr. Giamo held positions at Bank of New York and CoreStates Financial Corp.