Orangetown Supervisor Andy Stewart announced Jeff Bencik as the town's new finance director last week, and then introduced him at Tuesday's town board meeting.
The 42-year-old Army veteran from Haverstraw brings a wide variety of experience to the job, where he takes over for long-time director Charlie Richardson.
"Jeff is a smart, young professional whose proven experience in finance, engineering and real estate make him a very timely addition to Orangetown's management team," Stewart said. "The fact that he climbed Mt. Rainier, is passionate about antique motorboats and speaks German fluently should make him interesting to work with.
Bencik graduated from West Point in 1992 and served in Germany and Bosnia before going back to school to get his MBA with a major in Finance in 2000 and working on Wall Street. He most recently worked as director of research and managing director at Kaufman Brothers, L.P. in New York. He also maintains Bencik Enterprises in Philadelphia.
"In these tough economic times, we can afford to leave no stone unturned in our effort to save money and produce value for the community," Stewart said. "Jeff brings both military discipline and entrepreneurial spirit to this challenge."
Bencik starts with Orangetown in the middle of the budget process.
"We have a lot of challenges," Bencik said. "My job is to work for Andy, but by proxy, for the town. Instead of doing exactly what Charlie did, Andy has tasked me to find out other ways to help us save money. It's my job to assist everyone on the board in doing so. No one wants a 9.2% increase in taxes. We will work at ways to improve that."
"I want to welcome Jeff," Councilman Denis Troy said. "I want to thank Andy and Ann (Maestri) for the job they did interviewing lots of people. I am very impressed with your background. You should be a great asset to the town."
