By GREGORY ZELLER //
The Nassau County Industrial Development Agency has a new CEO, reflecting the county’s current political demeanor.
Financial consultant Sheldon Shrenkel has been hired as CEO and executive director of Nassau’s tax-breaking business-development board. He succeeds former CEO Harry Coghlan, who left the post in April to pursue a private-sector opportunity after three years at the helm.
Shrenkel, 80, boasts “more than 40 years of experience in the financial services industry with a solid track record of accomplishments in the development and control of internal operations, as well as sales and management expertise,” according to an IDA statement.
The agency lists Shrenkel as owner of consulting firm Jacath & Shrenkel Associates, which the IDA says he founded in 1996; there is no website, street address, corporate information or other trace of this company online, beyond the IDA’s hiring announcement.
Richard Kessel: Welcomed addition.
The IDA also touts Shrenkel as a past president of the “Long Island Entrepreneurs Group,” though it’s unclear if this is a reference to the Hicksville-based Long Island Entrepreneurs Meetup Group, the Eastern Long Island Entrepreneurs Facebook group, the Entrepreneurs’ Organization-Long Island (NY) Chapter or some other organization; none of these groups, or any other regional entrepreneurs group, makes online references to Shrenkel’s current or past contributions.
Whatever his curriculum vitae, Shrenkel – at a reported annual salary of $175,000 – now runs one of Nassau’s most important business-development mechanisms.
And the IDA is lucky to have him, according to Nassau County Industrial Development Agency Chairman Richard Kessel, who noted the IDA is “proud to have someone with such an established skillset lead … and continue our mission of building a more sustainable, diverse and robust economy.”
“Having been a business consultant for a significant portion of his career, Shelly is a welcomed asset,” Kessel said in a statement. “We are confident (he) will drive the agency’s agenda forward for the betterment of the county’s economy and its residents.”
His ascension to the IDA leadership is hardly Shrenkel’s first political appointment. In 2012, the consultant – a longtime GOP donor, particularly in North Hempstead – was appointed by the Republican-majority Nassau County Legislature to the county’s then-new Transit Advisory Committee.
In 2017, a Republican-majority Hempstead Town Board appointed Shrenkel to a four-year term to the Town of Hempstead Housing Authority, which ended last year.
Shrenkel’s IDA arrival also continues a clearly political trend at the development agency. Republican County Executive Bruce Blakeman has now recycled four of the IDA board’s seven members since taking office in January, largely replacing Democrats with Republican supporters.
Playing politics with a State of New York public benefit corporation that generates tens of millions of dollars in annual economic activity by distributing critical business-development incentives packages – vital to regional tax and employment levels – is risky at best.
But the IDA’s new CEO is more than up to the challenge, according to Shrenkel himself, who noted Thursday he’s “appreciative of this opportunity to head the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency” and ready to “apply my long career in financial and consulting services for the taxpayers of Nassau County.”
“The Nassau County IDA offers many tax incentives that today’s businesses desire,” the CEO added. “I’m looking forward to rolling up my sleeves and getting to work bolstering our economy and supporting the growth of our business community, as well as employment opportunities for residents.”
