Our Team
Edward A. Diana
Orange County Executive
Edward A. Diana was born and raised in Orange County and has spent his entire professional career working to secure Orange County's future, both as an educator and a legislator.
Prior to being elected Orange County Executive in 2001, Diana worked for 30 years as an educator and athletic instructor in the Minisink Valley School District. He knows what it's like to run a small business, having owned the very popular downtown Middletown restaurant "Diana's," one that his parents and grandparents started in 1936.
Diana has a wide range of experience working in various levels of government. He currently is carrying out his third four-year term as County Executive. Diana also served 12 years as Republican/Conservative county legislator and for six years held the position as Majority Leader. He has the understanding of what it takes to make government work, having also been a councilman and deputy supervisor in the Town of Wallkill in the early 1980s.
Diana is a graduate of Middletown High School and Orange County Community College. He holds a bachelor's degree from Southern Connecticut University and a master's in Education from Ithaca College.
Bob Armistead
Chairman, Orange County
Industrial Development Agency
Robert T. (Bob) Armistead, is president of Armistead Mechanical, Inc., a fourth-generation mechanical contracting and engineering firm with offices in Waldwick, New Jersey, and Newburgh, New York, focusing almost exclusively on commercial and industrial plumbing, heating, air-conditioning and process piping.
An active member of the Mechanical Contractors Association of America's (MCAA) national board of directors since 2003, Bob became national president of the MCAA in 2010 and remains active in the association on both the national and local levels. He is also the current board Chairman of the Mechanical Contracting Education and Research Foundation (MCERF), a national board member of the ACE Mentor Program of America, Inc representing the MCAA, and a member and past Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Hudson Valley Construction Contractors Association of Newburgh, N.Y.
Bob obtained his Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from Villanova University and is a licensed Professional Engineer in the states of New Jersey and New York.
Laurence P. Gottlieb
Managing Director,
Orange County Business Accelerator
Laurence P. Gottlieb currently serves as President and CEO of the Hudson Valley Economic Development Corporation (HVEDC) and Managing Director of the Orange County Business Accelerator. He brings more than 25 years of top management experience in several major corporations, public affairs agencies, a global non-profit organization and public office.
Prior to joining HVEDC, Gottlieb was Director of Economic Development for Westchester County, where he was responsible for retaining, attracting and growing businesses in support of Westchester's $26 billion economy. In addition to rebranding the county as "New York's Intellectual Capital®," he was responsible for nearly $500 million in new business expansion and attraction projects.
Gottlieb was previously a Market Leader and Managing Director for the largest public relations agency in the world, Burson-Marsteller (B-M), Director of Communications for Entergy Nuclear, the second largest owner of nuclear power plants in the U.S., and Director of Marketing for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Gottlieb has received numerous awards for his professional and volunteer work from organizations and is one of 914INC.'s Power Dozen. He is a Pace University cum laude graduate, and completed the Harvard Business School's first-ever Executive Education Program on Corporate Social Responsibility. He is co-founder of NY BioHud Valley and the Hudson Valley Food and Beverage Alliance, and helped secure major funding for the Hudson Valley's first biotech incubator at New York Medical College, iBio-NY.
He lives in Mount Pleasant, N.Y. with his wife, two daughters and Celine Diog.
Peter Malone
OCBA Development Director
Peter has over 25 years of experience in financial markets, mortgage banking and commercial real estate. Some of his experience includes working at Euro-Brokers, Inc. in New York City as a broker of government and mortgage backed securities, Team Leader and a member of the Presidents Club for HSBC Mortgage Corp., Private Banker for KeyBank and a Licensed Sales Agent for Cushman & Wakefield\Pyramid Brokerage Company.
Peter has a broad understanding of the Mid-Hudson Valley commercial real estate market with an emphasis on the industrial and office markets. Peter presently holds his NY Real Estate License along with his FINRA Series 7 and Series 66 securities licenses. Peter is a graduate of Northeastern University.
Kelly Reilly
Client Services Specialist
Reilly, of Wallkill, N.Y., has spent 27 years of her professional career at IBM, where she worked in numerous capacities, mostly in Production Control and Quality Assurance. She is proficient in numerous office management and manufacturing operations and has completed over two dozen safety and operations courses during her IBM career.
Reilly was hired by IBM as a Manufacturing Operator in 1983, and quickly rose through the ranks to become a Program Analyzer, a post she held for almost 20 years. Reilly was most recently a Team Leader, where she implemented decision-making skills and provided direction in cost-cutting, idea generation and operational procedures.
Reilly is a graduate of Wallkill Senior High School and continued her education at Orange County Community College. Reilly has an impressive volunteer record, which includes 14 years between Wallkill Youth Football and Wallkill High School Football. She also organized a team and did extensive fundraising for the Avon Breast Cancer Walk in New York City.
