JCRC-NY honors NYC leaders at 2022 Annual Benefit

Manhattan, NY JCRC-NY will honor four New York leaders at its 2022 Annual Benefit to be held at The Harmonie Club, 4 East 60th St., on Thursday, December 15th, from 6 pm to 8:30 pm. 

The 2022 Annual Benefit honorees are Rev. Jacques Andre DeGraff, Hal Fetner and his son Alex Fetner from Fetner Properties, and Michael Lustig, a JCRC-NY Officer.

• BRIDGE TO JUSTICE AWARD - Reverend Jacques Andre DeGraff 

Reverend Jacques Andre DeGraff has served on the pastoral staff at historic Canaan Baptist Church, where he was ordained under the Reverend Wyatt Tee Walker (Reverend Dr. MLK’s former chief of staff). Upon graduating from Hunter College, he’s studied at the NYU School of Real Estate, New York Theological Seminary, and Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

As an outspoken advocate for economic and social justice for communities of color, Rev. DeGraff is well-known and respected in local New York leadership circles, where he has been a tireless supporter for minority and women owned businesses. The featured speaker and U.S. Representative at the United Nations at its Commission on Violence against Women, Rev. DeGraff has been a leader and activist against gun violence working with the One Hundred Black Men, the former Manhattan District Attorney, Cy Vance and the New York Police Department to help spearhead the acclaimed gun buyback program.

He is also a founding member of Harlem Week, past chairman of the Board of the Urban Assembly, and current chairman and president of The Friends of Harlem Hospital, the fund-raising organization for the enhancement of the hospital and patient care.

Rev. DeGraff is also the New York City Clergy leader for Choose Heathy Life, a faith and Black Church initiative that ensures churches receive the necessary resources and support to address the COVID-19 pandemic, health disparities and to deliver preventive wellness programs.

• L’DOR V’DOR COMMUNITY BUILDER AWARD - Hal Fetner 

  

Fetner Properties has earned the reputation as one of the most sustainable builders in the city, with multiple LEED® Gold residential buildings to his name. Fetner focuses on affordable and market rate housing and is currently developing three ambitious new projects in New York City.

An alumnus of Syracuse University, Fetner serves on the University’s Board of Trustees, is chair of the Facilities Committee at the University, and is a member of the University’s Whitman School of Management Advisory Council and the Whitman Real Estate Advisory Board. Fetner established the Fetner Program fund, a scholarship at the Whitman School for students pursuing sustainability, and created the Fetner Sustainability Series as well as the Fetner Prize in Sustainable Enterprise. Fetner sits on the Board of Governors and the Executive Board of the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) and is on the Board of Trustees of the Citizens Budget Commission — a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization pursuing constructive change in the finances and services of New York City and State.

Fetner graduated from the Whitman School of Management, and subsequently earned a Juris Doctor from New York Law School. In 1988 Hal took on the role of CEO at Fetner Properties as the third generation to take the helm. 

• L’DOR V’DOR COMMUNITY BUILDER AWARD - Alex Fetner

  

Fetner joined Fetner Properties in 2021, where he helps lead the effort to source and evaluate new acquisition and development opportunities. Prior to joining, Fetner was a vice president at CBRE in the Investment Properties group.

Fetner attended Cornell University, graduating with a major in Government and minor in Business. As an alumnus, he served as the chair of his five-year reunion fundraising campaign and currently serves as the co-chair of the Cornell Young Alumni Philanthropy committee. Fetner is a member of the Real Estate Board of NY.

• SHOFAR AWARD - Michael Lustig

Lustig retired after a 25-year career on Wall Street and now devotes the majority of his time and energies toward non-profit and impact-related enterprises.

Prior to retiring, Lustig spent most of his career at the asset management firm BlackRock, where he was managing director overseeing Structured Mortgage & Derivative Products trading and advisor/portfolio manager for the Federal Reserve's Global Financial Crisis-Related Managed Assets.

He is president of the Baron de Hirsch Fund, an officer of JCRC-NY and a board member/trustee of: Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel, American Friends of OGEN, JLens, Israeli Forum for Impact Economy, Columbia/Barnard Hillel, the Hillel International Office of Innovation, AJC-NY, and Congregation Shearith Israel.

Lustig is a graduate of Columbia College, Columbia University, Adjunct Professor of Finance at NYU | Stern School of Business, and a lecturer at the College for Management Academic Studies in Rishon LeZion, Israel, the Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yaffo, and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, teaching full time elective courses for MBAs in Fixed Income, Capital Markets, and Impact Finance.