R. Wayne LeChase of Monroe County became a trustee in June 2011 after being nominated by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and confirmed by the New York State Senate. His term on the NYPA board runs to May 2014.
Mr. LeChase is the chairman of a Rochester-headquartered construction management company—LeChase Construction Services LLC—and a single-minded activist in promoting economic growth in Western New York and throughout New York State.
LeChase Construction, which was founded more than 66 years ago by Mr. LeChase's father, has built hundreds of buildings throughout New York and other areas in the eastern part of the country, as well as overseas. In addition to its headquarters in Rochester, the firm has offices in Albany, Binghamton, Corning, Ithaca and Syracuse.
The company's emphasis on sustainable building practices is reflected by its completion of numerous projects that have received certification from the U.S. Green Building Council in the not-for-profit organization's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program.
Mr. LeChase joined the family-run construction business in 1981 after serving as a partner for nearly a decade in the law firm of LaDuca, Offen and LeChase.
In 2010, he was named to Governor Cuomo's Upstate Business Advisory Council, headed by Lt. Gov. Robert J. Duffy.
Among the honors Mr. LeChase has received are: his being inducted into the Rochester Business Hall of Fame in 2005; his receipt of the Herbert W. Vanden Brul Entrepreneurial Award from the Rochester Institute of Technology's College of Business in 2004; and the Alfred University Galanis Excellence in Family Business Award in 2003.
Mr. LeChase currently serves as chairman of the Greater Rochester Enterprise, a regional economic development organization, and is active on a number of boards of trustees. Over the years, he also has been engaged in work to benefit cancer research and care, among other philanthropic activities.
Mr. LeChase received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from John Carroll University, in University Heights, Ohio, in 1965, and his Juris Doctorate from the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Law in 1968.
