Rochester BOMA chapter to hold legislative meeting on October 15

The Rochester BOMA chapter will hold its Legislative Meeting on October 15 at Mario's Italian Steak House. There will be a panel discussion at this meeting. The guest speakers at this event are Albany lobbyists Aaron Hilger and Denise Murphy-McGraw. Hilger is the president of the Builders Exchange of Rochester. The Builders Exchange is an association of contractors, architects, engineers, developers, and building owners whose mission is to lead, promote, support, and inform the construction industry. Since 1888, the Exchange has provided numerous information products, training programs, advocacy, and networking opportunities to its members. Hilger's activities include government relations, labor relations, and economic development. Hilger is active in numerous trade associations and is managing director of the Construction Industry Association of Rochester. He is a board member of UNiCON, the Construction Employers Labor Relations Association, and a past chairman of the New York State Construction Industry Council. He is also a founding member of Builder Partners, and a board member of the Alzheimer's Association Hilger earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Rochester. He holds a masters degree in Political Management from George Washington University and an MBA from the University at Buffalo. He is a member of the 2006 Leadership Rochester Class and a recipient of the Rochester 40 Under 40. McGraw is a partner at the government relations firm of Bogdan, Lasky & Kopley, where she manages a client portfolio including institutions of higher education, statewide trade associations, as well as multinational biotechnology, manufacturing, healthcare companies and not-for-profits. In April 2007, McGraw was elected to the Association of Junior Leagues International board of directors, the governing body representing almost 300,000 women in 294 communities throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and Great Britain. With her election, McGraw became one of the first women in the Junior League of Schenectady's 75-year history to hold such a position. McGraw has founded the award-winning "Operation Back-to-School," a program in which the Junior League has adopted an elementary school each of the last five years and provided students with backpacks filled with all the school supplies they will need for the year as identified by their teachers. To date, 7,500 Schenectady school students have been served by this program. For the 2008-09 school year, they expanded to all of the elementary schools in the city of Schenectady - 5,000 students in total. Operation Back to School was honored by The Chamber of Schenectady County with a Good News Award. For the past three years, McGraw has served as a volunteer legislative advisor to Capital Culture, a consortium of the area's premier arts organizations: Albany Institute of History and Art; Capital Repertory Theater; and Albany Symphony Orchestra. Their goal is to increase government funding for and awareness of the rich educational and cultural resources the institutions provide to the Capital Region and beyond. McGraw is active in many community organizations including serving as a trustee of WMHT Public Broadcasting, Schenectady Community College and the Schenectady County Public Library. In 2002, she was named one of the Rochester Business Journal's "40 Under Forty" Young Leaders, and in 2006, she received the same distinction from the Capital District Business Review. She is also a Woman of Distinction winner.