The Nutley Jaycees have announced its annual Distinguished Service Award winners for 2022 with honorees being feted at the Jaycees’ 50th-annual community banquet Thursday, April 7.
Announcement of the awards was made by former Nutley Commissioner and past state president of the New Jersey Jaycees Walt Smith, chairman of the judges’ panel. In addition to Smith, the panel includes Steven Clarke, superintendent of the Nutley Schools; Julie Glazer, former superintendent; community volunteer Barbara Hirsch; local businessman John Brown and former Assemblyman and Board of Education trustee Fred Scalera.
The Nutley Jaycees Distinguished Awards Dinner is Nutley’s oldest and most prestigious awards dinner, organizers say. The April 7 banquet takes place at the Valley Regency, 1149 Valley Road, Clifton. The event opens with a 6:30 p.m. with a cash bar cocktail hour followed by dinner at 7:30 p.m. Tickets at $50 may be reserved by calling Clarke at (973) 235-1515, visiting his office 25 High St., or sending him an email to sgclarke@optonline.net.
Educator of the Year
The Nutley Jaycee Educator of the Year is Ian Viemeister, who currently works in the Nutley Public Schools as an IT systems manager.
Viemeister grew up in Nutley, attended Lincoln School, John H. Walker Middle School and graduated from Nutley High School in 1995. While still a student, he began working in the NHS media center. After graduation from college, the Albert Dorman Honors College at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, he worked as a systems administrator for a local Web design agency and a regional Internet service provider.
In 1998, as the Nutley School District was completing plans to install its first district-wide computer network and permanent Internet connection, he was asked if he would be interested in implementing and maintaining the fledgling network.
Now, 24 years later, that network has grown from a small number of connected desktop devices to include universal wireless connectivity across all schools, individual portable devices for all teaching staff and students beginning at the fourth-grade and ubiquitous integration of online instructional resources across the entire curriculum.
When schools around the globe closed in March 2020 and implemented fully virtual instruction, Viemeister was truly an indispensable member of the district’s administration team. He worked tirelessly with principals and other administrators to ensure every student had access to a device and the Internet.
Those who didn’t have access to these items were able to pick them up at schools prior to the lockdown. When families and students encountered tech problems, Ian and his IT team took residence in the Spring Garden Parking Lot to help troubleshoot issues.
Since 2019, he has operated nutleyarchives.org, scanning and publishing photos, yearbooks, graduation programs and student publications dating back to the first graduating Class of 1892. Currently in post-production are copies of the Attic magazine (1917-1936), with the Gauntlet (1939-1970) completing the scanning process now. He has also published scanned copies of all existing district public record documents back to 1846 at boe.nutleyschools.org.
He has a wealth of knowledge of the Nutley Public Schools. He is an active member of the Nutley Historical Society and the Nutley Educational Foundation.
Ian and his wife Andrea will celebrate their 20th anniversary this spring
Outstanding Young Adult
Each year, the Jaycees choose an outstanding young adult. This year, the Outstanding Young Woman Award goes to Krista Crumrine.
After graduating summa cum laude from Loyola University, Maryland, Crumrine began her career — she teaches kindergarten for the Union City Board of Education to a mix of English language learners and native English speakers.
In 2015, she earned a master’s degree in educational leadership from the College of New Jersey. Her service work began in college, where she volunteered for Loyola’s Center for Community, Service and Justice.
Always active with education, Crumrine serves as co-president of the Yantacaw PTO. Prior to that, she served on the executive board for four years and was membership chairwoman for two years. An active volunteer at Yantacaw School, she served as class parent, curiosity shop volunteer and co-chaired the Boosterthon Fun Run, which raised over $100,000
Crumrine is a leader in Cub Scout Pack 141, where she has been a den leader for the past six years. She chaired the Blue and Gold dinner for two years, assisted with the Pinewood Derby, Scouting for Food and organized camping and hiking trips for Scouts.
In addition to coaching baseball with the East Little League, she is also involved with St. Mary’s Church, participating in family community service activities and especially the Oktoberfest in recent years. She also participates with the Nutley Relay for Life project.
For the past 13 years, she has been married to Matt Crumrine and they have two children — Gregory and Nicholas.
Public Health and Safety Award
This year’s winner Sandra (Sam) Carella was born in Philadelphia and grew up in South Jersey before moving to Nutley in 1985. During her children’s younger years, she was actively involved in school interests including a few years as President of the Yantacaw School PTO, as Vice President for the PT Council as well as coaching her daughter’s softball team and cheering squads.
She served as team mother for her son’s baseball, football and wrestling teams. She chaired several Project Graduations for Nutley High School.
As the years went on, she joined the Nutley Municipal Alliance, Nutley Family Service Women’s Auxiliary and then later became a trustee on the Nutley Family Service Bureau Executive Board. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees at the Nutley Senior Manor and is a member of H.O.P.E. (Helping Our Parents Endure), Mattia Committee, the Nutley Hall of Fame Committee and the Juvenile Conference Committee.
She is in her 22th year working in the Department of Public Safety in Nutley as assistant to Commissioner Alphonse Petracco. In the department, Carella is responsible for overseeing budgets, personnel and Civil Service processing. She is also the point of contact for grants and other funding opportunities. She helps coordinate project HOPE, Shovel Out Seniors and other department community affairs.
She and her husband Chuck have two children, and three grandchildren, Amelia, Charlie and Callie.
Civic Affairs Award
Nutley Commissioner Thomas Evans, this year’s recipient of the Nutley Jaycees Distinguished Service award in Civic Affair, has been a lifelong resident of the community and raised his three children here.
In 2003, Evans was elected a Nutley Commissioner and has served as Director of Revenue and Finance, handling public sector financial compliance issues, capital planning and working to help change the New Jersey state aid formula.
In 2014, Evans worked with the state and negotiated changes in the its formulas that enabled Nutley to receive $28 million in Transitional State Aid, which was directly utilized to help offset the financial impact with Hoffman LaRoche closing their headquarters nearby.
A Certified Public Accountant, Tom started his career with and is former executive at PricewaterhouseCoopers having been admitted as a partner in 1998. In 2003, he was appointed their first United States Chief Learning Officer, leading an organization with over 500 professionals and an annual budget exceeding $250 million. He moved on to lead all talent development for the firm in North and South America as well as the Caribbean.
As commissioner in Nutley, he has negotiated the conversion of temporary aid to permanent aid which has totaled $2.6 million annually. He has worked to increase the state’s Property Tax Freeze Program for local residents increasing the number of participants from 247 to currently over 1,000 homes.
He is currently serving on the Advisory Board of Hackensack Meridian Health-John Theurer Cancer Center and the Hackensack University Medical Center Foundation Board. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants as well as the New Jersey State Society of CPAs.
In 2017, Evans was inducted for his years of service into the Nutley Hall of Fame.
Business Man of the Year
Lifelong Nutley resident Dan Geltrude is a local certified public accountant who is receiving the Nutley Jaycees Distinguished Service Award for business, not just for his contribution on a variety of local civic activities to the business community but also for his overall impact.
A 1983 Nutley High School alum, Geltrude is a third-generation Nutleyite, still living in the community he grew up in, raising his family here and setting up his accounting office on Franklin Avenue. He has over 35 years of public accounting experience.
A graduate of Rider University, he also received a master’s degree in taxation from Fairleigh Dickinson University, then went to Penn State University, where he received another master’s degree in human resources and employment relations. He’s been a CPA since 1991.
He has served on a number of boards for various banking institutions and now serves as President of the NJ Board of Accountancy. He has also been a member of the New Jersey Society of CPAs since 1991.
He received the John V. Kelly Foundation’s Humanitarian Award and has also been honored for service to the Nutley Unico, the Nutley Public Affairs Department and Nutley Hall of Fame.
He has been involved in a number of community organizations including the Nutley Elks, funding for Unico scholarships and helping to bring several professional athletes to meet and speak with local children at the John Walker Middle School.
He currently serves on the Clara Maass Medical Center’s board of trustees and is a foundation board member.
He has served on the Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute Board as well as Rider University’s accounting Advisory Board.
In 2006, Geltrude along with his brother John, co-founded the Mike Geltrude Foundation. This 501(c)3 organization raises funds to support various national Melanoma Foundations that focus on awareness, detection, research and patient support services.
The foundation’s goal is to initiate programs in the local school systems for Melanoma awareness. Each year they host a fundraising dinner at Nanina’s in the Park, which has attracted high profile keynote speakers raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for the not for profit. The events traditionally are sellouts.
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