NYSARC

NYSARC Trust Services Executive Staff

John J. Sherman, Chief Financial Officer

John Sherman received his MBA from Canisius College in Buffalo and has more than 30 years experience in accounting and financial management with non-profit organizations, serving persons with mental health and developmental disabilities.

Sherman started with NYSARC Inc. in 1981 and became its chief financial officer in 1984, helping 60,000 people and 29,000 employees who generate more than $1.5 billion in revenue each year.

As CFO, he ensures NYSARC's 55 chapters have excellent access to capital markets, establishes and maintains bank relationships, supports chapters' accounting and finance functions, financial reporting and analysis and risk management. He also supervises the administration of the NYSARC's supplemental needs trust services. He chairs NYSARC's Workers' Compensation Trust and is liaison to the following NYSARC Board of Governors' committees: Budget and Finance, Early Warning, Insurance and Pension, and the NYSARC Trusts Board of Trustees.

Sherman is the treasurer and a past president of ClearView Centers Inc., a provider of mental health service, and he sits on its property holding company board. He has served on the Rensselaer County Community Service Board since 1994. He was a director and treasurer of the Mental Health Association of New York State. He has been a reviewer for Empire State Advantage, which provides assessments, recognition, training and mentoring to organizations in all sectors.

Heidi J. Flatt, CPA, Director of Trust Services

Heidi J. Flatt, CPA, has been the administrator of NYSARC's trust programs since 2000. She has been employed in a financial management capacity for NYSARC since 1992. A graduate of the State University of New York at Oneonta, she holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Economics with concentrations in Accounting and Finance.

Flatt is a Certified Public Accountant, licensed in New York. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants. She is a Trustee of the Brittonkill Educational Foundation and a parishioner and past Vestry member of All Saints Church in Hoosick, N.Y.

Flatt has presented on NYSARC's trust services programs for the New York State Bar Association, law firms, agencies, and service providers across New York. She is dedicated to addressing the needs of individuals with disabilities through the use of supplemental needs trusts. Her extensive experience working with SNTs and programs for the disabled has allowed her to become very knowledgeable in the areas of Medicaid, Social Security, and other governmental benefits, and allows her to have a full understanding of the needs of individuals with disabilities.

Robert P. Mascali, Associate General Counsel

Robert Mascali is associate general counsel at NYSARC, Inc. Before that, he was Managing Attorney for the New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities and was primarily responsible for providing legal advice on guardianship matters and supplemental needs trusts. He was also in private practice in the New York metropolitan area concentrating on real property and estate and trust matters.

Mascali serves on the board of directors of Parsons Children and Family Center, an Albany-based not-for-profit agency providing support and services for vulnerable children and their families. He is also a board member of Council Services Plus, which offers insurance services for not for profit agencies in New York and is the co-chair of the Special Needs Planning Committee of the NYSABA Elder Law Section. In 2011, Mascali was nominated to serve on the Board of Directors for the New York Chapter of the NAELA starting in January. He is a graduate of St. John's University (1973) and its law school (1976).