Business Council taps Hughes for media post

PHOTOGRAPHER: Justin Mason

Schenectady County Legislator Gary Hughes has been named vice president of communications for the Business Council of New York State.

Hughes, who retired from MVP Health Care’s media relations department last year, will join an organization that represents the interests of firms throughout the state. In naming Hughes, council President and CEO Heather Briccetti cited his wide breadth of public relations experience, including a career in the media that has extended more than three decades.

“Gary Hughes will be a tremendous addition to our leadership team and will assist the organization — and its members — in many ways,” she said in a statement released Monday. “Gary’s skills and deep experience will be major assets to the business council going forward.”

The council did not release Hughes’ annual salary.

Hughes spent 16 years at MVP, where he was responsible for the health insurer’s media relations across New York, Vermont and New Hampshire. Prior to joining MVP, Hughes worked at the College of Saint Rose and with the Wolkas Communications Group in Albany.

Hughes career started as a broadcast journalist in the Hudson Valley. He later became news director of WROW (590-AM) in Albany.

A resident of Schenectady, Hughes also serves as majority leader in the Schenectady County Legislature.

He is a graduate of SUNY-Oneonta.

“I am thrilled to be joining the Business Council’s leadership team,” he said.

Though 72 percent of the council’s 2,500-plus members are small businesses, it also represents some of the largest corporations in the world, including IBM, Verizon, Eastman Kodak, Citigroup, and JP Morgan Chase. Council members employ more than 1.2 million people across New York.