2016 Distinguished Citizens Honorees

Donald Nuckel
Cindy M. Schawe ’89
Christopher Turner

Saturday, March 5, 2016
Rockleigh Country Club
Rockleigh, NJ

Donald Nuckel

Donald Nuckel is president and chief operating officer of the Nuckel Property Group and chairman of Nuckel Global Initiative located in Little Ferry, New Jersey. The Nuckel family has resided in Little Ferry for more than 90 years, during which many changes came about in both the borough and throughout Bergen County. Today, Donald still lives on the banks of the Hackensack River in the garden apartment complex built by his family. He can tell you about the various birds and the different fish coming back to the Hackensack Estuary from his vantage point right outside his door. The River is near and dear to him, so much so that last year he purchased, along with Larry Inserra of ShopRite Supermarkets, a pontoon boat for the Hackensack Riverkeeper organization, which was dubbed “Geraldine Theresa” after their mothers. The reason for their gift was simple: they wanted more people to learn about and appreciate the river and enjoy its beauty.

While Donald is known as the largest property owner in Little Ferry, the developer of shopping centers and brownfield sites, he consistently shows his passion for the environment. He learned about the beauty of nature from his father who purchased land in upstate New York near the Beaver Kill so the Nuckel family could escape to the clean air, water and beauty of the forested areas of Delaware County. Donald later acquired thousands of acres of forests and lakes, adding to the family property, which also includes a working farm that provides fruits and vegetables to the metropolitan area. Friends always know when harvest time comes around when crates of strawberries and tomatoes come to their door.

Furthering his commitment to environmental stewardship, he worked with Lawrence Rockefeller, placing an environmental deed restriction on approximately 1,000 acres of his property to protect the drinking water in the Delaware River Basin.

Donald also has committed himself to extend educational opportunities to students in South Bergen County. He has done a tremendous amount of research on how best to bring to the Little Ferry School District an all-encompassing program to engage the students into the realm of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, commonly referred to as STEM. He has developed an excellent relationship with Ramapo College and its Foundation and formulated a pilot STEM-related program that takes the “laboratory” of the Hackensack River and its estuary and brings it into the classrooms of the school district (Pre-K through 8th grades). Dr. Angela Cristini, Assistant Vice President of Grants and Sponsor Program at Ramapo College, developed the program as an offshoot of the Ramapo program at the Meadowlands Environment Center. Donald is providing more than $150,000 for this program and is looking to expand it to other South Bergen school districts.

Donald Nuckel will tell you that his father left him with one important lesson, “Try to leave the Earth a better place than when you arrived.” That is his life’s objective.

Cindy M. Schawe ’89

Cindy Schawe is a senior executive with more than 26 years of experience in medical device and service marketing, dedicated to driving business strategies that deliver results that matter to customers. She serves as Vice President, Strategic Marketing at Stryker and is responsible for managing its global brand in collaboration with its businesses around the world.

Cindy has a diverse background in marketing strategy/execution, brand, business development, healthcare economics and government affairs. She began her career in healthcare in 1989 at Stryker’s implant division where she progressively advanced to the position of Director, Knee Marketing. In 1998, Cindy continued her career as Vice President of Marketing for a privately-held company focused on sports medicine and spine where she was part of a senior leadership team chartered with growing the business and driving a liquidity event for primary stakeholders. In 2002, Cindy returned to Stryker’s Orthopaedics division as Director, Strategic Marketing. In 2005, she was promoted to Vice President, Marketing for the Global Hip Business where she focused on delivering new technologies that addressed the needs of a younger, more active patient population. In 2009, Cindy was appointed to the position of Vice President, Healthcare Economics with responsibility for value-based provider strategies, health policy and government affairs which led to the formation of a new division at Stryker focused on provider consulting and implementation services. She joined that division in 2011 where she was responsible for delivering a playbook for developing service offerings through a combination of build-and-buy activities. In 2013, Cindy was appointed to the position of Vice President, Strategic Marketing at Stryker with responsibility for building a global brand strategy, brand office, governance model and refreshing the company’s master brand.

Cindy holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Ramapo College of New Jersey. She has completed the Harvard Business School Executive Education Advanced and Executive Leadership Programs. She lives in Mahwah, N.J., with her family.

Christopher Turner

Chris Turner joined the Prestige Family of Fine Cars in 1991, working in the company’s wholesale division. In 2002, he opened a stand-alone MINI Cooper dealership in Ramsey, N.J., and in 2004 joined the BMW dealership as Vice President.

In 2013, in conjunction with Prestige Management, Chris began an ambitious expansion. With the addition of Prestige Pre-Owned of Orange County, MINI of Dutchess County, Volkswagen of Stamford, Lamborghini, the Prestige Collision Center, and most recently McLaren, the Prestige Family of Fine Cars now represents 14 brands and 19 locations with more than 1,000 employees. This growth and modernization has taken the Prestige brand to new geographic areas within the greater New York metropolitan region, as well as increasing the group’s visibility, profitability and customer satisfaction.

Today, Chris is President of all Prestige brands. In 2011, Chris joined the Hackensack University Medical Center Foundation Board of Trustees and in 2012 he became a Member of the Finance Committee. Since 2012, Chris also serves on the Ramapo College Foundation Board of Governors. He is chair of Ramapo’s Concours d’Elegance and serves on the Foundation’s Golf Outing Committee.

As a serious collector and restorer of rare and vintage automobiles, Chris is passionate about cars. When Chris isn’t in one of the dealerships or home in New Canaan, Connecticut, with his wife Suzanne and his two daughters, he often can be found at car shows and Concours d’Elegance events around the country. Within the past year, Chris entered into the racing world with the Prestige Race Team. Prestige currently has two Lamborghini racecars, which race in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Series in both the pro and amateur divisions. This race team helps promote the Prestige brand with the 2015 addition of its new Lamborghini Paramus dealership.