Michael Serao
Michael Serao, executive
vice president
and chief administrative
officer
at First Central Savings
Bank, headquartered in
Glen Cove, Long Island,
has 21 years of banking
experience. He previously
served as a vice
president at JPMorgan
Chase and also worked
at Commerce Bank
and Quontic Bank,
both located in Astoria.
As chief administrative
officer, Michael
has brought First Central
Savings Bank, or
FCSB, into the 21st century.
Through his advocacy in
the non-profit sector and the
LGBTQ community, Michael has
ignited change for clients who are
looking for the full range of personal
banking services they can
access anywhere, anytime at a
brick-and-mortar institution. He
has inspired FCSB professionals
to deliver “banking the way it
used to be, only better.”
The Business Development Officers
Michael brought on board
have joined local non-profit organizations
to acquire new customers
and capitalize on new business
opportunities. That mission reflects
FCSB’s commitment to enriching
communities, learning
first-hand about the credit needs
of non-profit organizations, driving
local economic growth, and
cultivating lasting relationships
by putting the best interests of
clients first.
Michael understands that many
customers prefer physical interaction
with local bankers
so he renovated the branch
network with a complete
facelift. The benefits were
immediate: stronger community
partnerships
and, for employees, a
sense of ownership of
their branch. FCSB communicates
one basic
idea – personal service –
to all its employees.
Michael leads FCSB’s
philanthropic mission
by securing funding for
non-profits including the
Long Island Crisis Center, the New
York City Children’s Theater, the
Metro Boys & Girls Club, the Long
Island Library Resources Council,
the Freeport Educational Foundation,
and the American-Italian
Cancer Foundation.
In 2018, Michael personally donated
more than $100,000 in charitable
contributions to non-profit
organizations, including $10,000
to the Long Island Crisis Center.
He has worked actively in the LGBTQ
community as a former president
of the Western Queens LGBT
Democratic Club and a member of
OUT Astoria.
In 2018, Michael’s activism in
banking was recognized by the
Long Island Press Power List as
a Rainmaker and he was named
Person of the Year by the Long
Island Crisis Center. In 2014, the
Huffington Post named him The
Banker Everyone Loves.
Michael and his husband, Dr.
Fidel Abreu, also oversee a multi
million dollar real estate business.
A graduate of Queensborough
Community College and New York
University, Michael and his husband
live in with their three dogs,
Bernie, CoCo, and Martin.
Executive Vice
President and
Chief Administrative
Officer,
First Central
Savings Bank
Brian Silva
Brian Silva is the founder
and executive director
of the National
Equality Action Team
(NEAT). NEAT builds collaborative
actions and partnerships so
anyone, anywhere, can fight for
LGBTQ justice everywhere. The
group’s work is based in education
and advocacy that is grassroots,
intersectional, locally driven, and
accessible.
Brian’s efforts on NEAT grew directly
out of his work as executive
director of Marriage Equality New
York and later Marriage Equality
USA (MEUSA), two grassroots
groups.
From that experience, Brian
built a track record of executive
leadership, organizational development,
coalition building, organizing,
and empowering volunteers.
In 2012, Brian created NEAT
as part of MEUSA as a remote
phone bank program to allow
volunteers everywhere to support
marriage equality efforts.
That program brought together
20 local, regional, and national
organizations to support successful
marriage campaigns in
Maryland, Washington, Maine,
and Minnesota.
Based on the victories in those
states at the polls in November
2012 and in the Minnesota
Legislature early the following
year, NEAT continued
to host phone banks – in
person and remote – and
canvass weekends in other
states. By 2014, the
group had contributed to
13 marriage equality victories
across the US.
NEAT embarked
on its first non-marriage
campaign in 2015,
pitching in on the effort to pass
the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance.
As MEUSA was wound
down, NEAT was transferred to
Freedom for All Americans as
part of the campaign to win comprehensive
LGBTQ nondiscrimination
protections nationwide.
By 2017, Brian transitioned those
efforts into an independent organization
dedicated to harnessing
the unique power of everyday people
and partners anywhere.
To date, NEAT has supported
more than 25 campaigns
nationwide, including four
successful nondiscrimination
efforts – in Georgia,
Tennessee, Massachusetts,
and Florida – and built a
grassroots network of 1,000
organizers who have supported
national and global
initiatives and hosted more
than 1,500 local actions. In a
compact with 30 organizations,
including the Human Rights
Campaign, the Equality Federation,
and Freedom for All Americans,
NEAT builds its volunteer
base for actions.
NEAT’s work is informed by the
ethos of Big J justice. Given the
intersectional identities of LGBTQ
people, the group views an attack
on any of these identities as an
attack on all LGBTQ people. The
group fights not only for issues
that only affect LGBTQ people, but
as well for issues that also affect
them – often disproportionately.
Founder
and Executive
Director, National
Equality Action
Team
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