NOVEMBER 2020 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 17
DOWN TO ESSENTIALS Construction and manufacturing workers were also deemed essential at the pandemic’s peak. (Getty Images)
WHAT’S INSIDE continued on page 18
20CORNER OFFICE 22SHAKERS 23 24 NONPROFIT
25
EVENTS
CHARITY
SPOTLIGHT
WHOLLY MOLI: MADE
ON LONG ISLAND
MOVERS &
PRESS BUSINESS
HOW ESSENTIAL INDUSTRIES HAVE ADAPTED TO THE PANDEMIC
BY CLAUDE SOLNIK
After the coronavirus pandemic hit, Anne Shybunko-Moore, CEO of Hauppauge-based
aviation and aerospace engineering and manufacturing company GSE Dynamics Inc., saw
her company quickly declared essential and had to figure out how to move forward.
She wrote workers’ names on sheets of paper, placed them on the conference table, and
divided them into two groups: those who could work remotely and those who would work
on-site.
“There was a pride about being essential with a capital ‘E,’” Shybunko-Moore said of one
immediate impact. “People were happy to still have a job, respectful of their peers. And there
was pride in our industry.”
While healthcare workers were on the front line and those providing food were crucial, others
that were deemed essential workers, including many manufacturers, found themselves
adjusting rapidly.
“This was new for everyone,” Jeffrey Reingold, COO of Contract Pharmacal Corp,. in
Hauppauge, said of a shift to an at least-temporary new normal.
“There was no playbook.”
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