Congratulations to Mr. Mike Conway as he starts his new position as the South Huntington School District’s Executive Director for Business. He has spent the last year and a half in the district as the Assistant Supervisor for Business and District Operations working directly for Dr. Joe Centamore taking on all manner of budget, transportation and business issues. Now as Dr. Centamore moves on to his Superintendent position in Connetquot, Mike will be running the business office.
School districts are all about education, but they are also a lot about business as well. After working in the corporate business world as an auditor and comptroller for more than 20 years, Mike decided it was time for a change. “I wanted to come up with a way to use my skill set in accounting and just do something different,” explained Mike. “I had three kids of my own. I said ‘what can I do to maybe make a difference in their life?’” So he went back to school to pursue the School District Business Leader (SDBL) Certification. He did his internship in Jericho, and spent three years with the Hicksville school district before joining us here in South Huntington.
Although he is sad to see Dr. Centamore go, Mike says his new position is a great opportunity for him to work with what he calls “a solid group of people” in the South Huntington administration and Board of Education. “From being at every single board meeting since I've been here, I see what they do,” said Mike, “and you can tell it's from the heart. Everything is for the kids. The way they honor different groups at the board meetings or have students come in and perform part of a play or talk about a field trip, they really don't forget their mission. And I think they do a really good job staying conscious about the community in terms of what they do for them when it comes to tax levy, asking for money. I think it's a balance of what we need.”
Happy to have been able to settle into the district business operations for more than a year instead of coming into the Executive Director position cold, Mike says it’s given him a good footing to dive right into the new position. We wish him the very best!!!