CAROLYN A. PORTANOVA
Biographical Summary
Carolyn A. Portanova is the
President/CEO of Catholic Family Center, a $18 million multi-purpose human
services agency providing services in the areas of adoption, foster care,
homeless and housing, substance abuse treatment, elder services, youth
services, refugee resettlement, employment, employee assistance programs, and
advocacy. Serving in this position for
the past fifteen years, Ms. Portanova has overseen the growth of the agency
from $5 million in 1989 to its current position as the largest multi-service
organization in the county.
Ms.
Portanova served as Director of Catholic Family Center’s Restart Substance
Abuse Department from 1983 to 1989, where she developed a nationally recognized
residential substance abuse treatment model for women and their children. She also implemented intensive outpatient
services and Employee Assistance Programs with major businesses and industries
in the Rochester area. Prior to
becoming Restart Director, she supervised outpatient drug counseling since
1974.
Ms. Portanova currently provides
leadership on a number of community boards and committees as well as serving on
state and national boards. She is
active with the United Way of Greater Rochester and serves as 1st
vice chairperson for the Council of Agency Executives. She serves on the Advisory Board of
Highland’s Center for Women, the board of the Foundation of the Monroe County
Bar and the Mayor’s Stewardship Council for the City of Rochester - Renaissance
2010.
Ms.
Portanova has served on health-related boards through the Finger Lakes Health
Systems Agency and the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Community Technology Assessment
Advisory Board. She also serves on the
board of Excellus/Blue Cross & Blue Shield. On a national level, she has addressed standards of service
excellence as a trustee on the Council on Accreditation for Children and
Families Services and a member of the Alliance for Children and Families
Evaluation & Strategic Planning Committee.
Ms. Portanova has been recognized in
the community for innovative models of collaboration and partnership with other
human service agencies, the ecumenical community, the City of Rochester and the
County of Monroe. One example of
innovative programming is the collaboration between CFC’s Elder Services and
LIFESPAN to establish Eldersource, a point of entry to facilitate planning,
placement and access to resources for the elderly and their caregivers.
Ms. Portanova received the 1986
award granted by the New York State Division of Substance Abuse Services for
outstanding contributions to the field of substance abuse treatment. She has been nominated five times for the
Athena Award for Outstanding Business Woman of the Year by the Rochester
Chamber of Commerce and recognized as Executive of the Year by the United Way
of Greater Rochester. In 1997, she was
awarded the InterFaith Action Community Award for leadership, faith, and
courage and in 2000 she received the Chamber of Commerce Civic Award for Human
Services. In 2003, she was recognized
as one of 20 of Rochester’s most influential women.
Ms. Portanova received a Bachelor of
Science degree in 1967 from the Pennsylvania State University and a Masters in
Education and Certificate of Advanced Study in Counseling from the University
of Rochester in 1973. She also
completed the Executive Program for Non Profits at the Center for Management
Training at the Rochester Institute of Technology in 1984.
Residing in the City of Rochester
with her husband, Andrew J. Portanova, President of Junior Achievement of
Rochester, both are active in community activities.