Courtesy ARCC (2021).
Mark Behan, second from right, is joined by Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce President Michael Bittel, at left, Assemblyman Matt Simpson, and State Senator Dan Stec, at right. Behan was awarded the 32nd J. Walter Juckett Award from the ARCC and given proclamations from the state.
The Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce honored Mark Behan with their 32nd Annual J. Walter Juckett Community Service Award on Friday Oct. 29 during the chamber's annual banquet at the Sagamore Resort in Bolton Landing. Behan Communications of Glens Falls, a strategic communications firm that Mark Behan founded in the 1980s, has been instrumental in working with many of the people who came to congratulate him on the award.
The annual banquet drew about 350 people including: WNYT anchor, Mark Mulholland; Glens Falls Hospital CEO Dianne Shugrue; retired Arrow Financial Corporation CEO Tom Hoy, and current CEO Tom Murphy; Sagamore Hotel General Manager Tom Guay; Ed Moore, N.Y. State Sen. Dan Stec; N.Y. Assemblyman Matt Simpson; Warren County Board Chair Rachel Seeber; Town of Queensbury Supervisor John Strough; and Glens Falls Ward 2 Council member (and mayor-elect) Bill Collins, among others.
In his acceptance speech, Behan spoke about the impressive folks who hailed from Glens Falls and went on to the world stage, and pointed to the region's work ethic, pride, intellect, independence and resiliency.
"The greatness that we have sent out into this world is exceeded only by the greatness it retains for itself," he said. "I have never been so confident about the future of this region. This fractured, broken world needs this place."
He also thanked his mentors, getting emotional as he read the names: Bob Flacke, former owner of the Fort William Henry Hotel and Conference Center who died in 2018; Dick Carota, the CEO of Fynch Pruyn paper who died in 2010; Pete Lanahan of General Electric; long-time area journalist, Irv Dean; and Harry Rosenfeld the long-time Times Union editor who died earlier this year after battling COVID-19.
The J. Walter Juckett Community Service Award is the four-county region’s prestigious community service award, given to recognize and honor an extraordinary individual who has selflessly gone above and beyond by contributing time and energy to help others, the ARCC's press materials say.
Earlier this year, when the ARCC announced that Behan had won the prize, ARCC President Michael Bittel said that Behan rose to the top because he represented so much of what J. Walter Juckett, the CEO of the Sandy Hill Corp., also stood for.
[Read our previous coverage here.]
Juckett, who lived and worked in Hudson Falls, supported the Boy Scouts of America, New York Business Development Corporation, Salvation Army, Norwich University, Presbyterian Church, Hudson Falls Central School and many other organizations, the ARCC said in a statement.
Behan was or is on the board of numerous organizations in the area. The Hyde Collections art museum; the Adirondack Regional Chambers of Commerce; the Economic Development Corp. of Warren County; Crandall Public Library; the Chapman Historical Museum; and St. Mary's-St. Alphonsus Regional Catholic School, among others.
Gordon Woodworth contributed to this report.