Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society

Pooja Aiyar graduated in 2024 with a bachelor of science degree in Finance. In doing so, she became the first student in the nearly 50 history of the campus’ business programs to earn the President’s Medal for Scholarship, the highest honor a student of SUNY Old Westbury can achieve. Having transferred to Old Westbury, Pooja earned Dean’s List honors for every semester she attended the University. She was the only undergraduate student to present at the 2022 conference of the Eastern Economics Association and was a campus representative in the SUNY Long Island Pitchfest.  

Maleka Stephens graduated in 1995 with a bachelor of science in Accounting, following  the passion for numbers she had exhibited since a young age. She passed away in 2021 and was inducted into Beta Sigma Gamma posthumously. Upon graduating from Old Westbury, she worked for 10-years as a corporate accountant. While attending SUNY Old Westbury, she met her husband and life partner, Gary Stephens. Together, they founded the full-service business and financial consulting company SMG Consulting Group. Since 2001, SMG Consulting Group has helped individuals with their financial affairs as well as helped entrepreneurs with starting, managing and growing their business. Throughout her career, Maleka took great pride in educating young African American students about the accounting profession.  Also, she mentored young black accounting professionals within the corporate environment. 

Patrick Stines graduated in 1998 with a bachelor of science in Accounting.  A certified public accountant, he is a partner and member of the executive committee in the New York office of Novak Francella, LLC. His experience is dedicated to audits of employee benefit plans and labor organizations. His clients include some of the largest labor organizations in the metropolitan New York area. Patrick formerly served on the Professionals Committee of the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP) and actively speaks at IFEBP national conferences. He previously was a school board Trustee of the Hicksville Union Free School District and currently serves as chair of the SUNY Old Westbury School of Business Advisory Board.

David Antar is a self-described serial entrepreneur who has served as a member of the SUNY Old Westbury School of Business Advisory Board since 2010. Professionally, he has spent more than 30 years in the security industry, starting an array of successful high-tech companies based on a keen ability to understand the needs of his customers and the trends in the marketplace that drive business growth. Operating under the umbrella corporation, Advance Convergence Group, his companies have transformed and remain at the forefront of issues and solutions related to school security while also innovating on methods and technologies to advance STEM instruction and learning. David has been honored at numerous local and national events. In 2016 he was inducted into the Long Island Technology Hall of Fame in 2016 and, in 2023, was named the “Security Industry Innovator” by Security Business, Security Technology Executive Magazines.