Bill Greene of Tsontos Furs was recently selected to serve a three-year term as president of the Mineola Chamber of Commerce.
Greene, 51, succeeds Ray Sikorski, who owns Originpress.
A veteran of the chamber, Greene joined the organization when he bought Tsontos Furs at 260 Jericho Turnpike 13 years ago.
He has served as recording secretary for past six years and said he welcomed the challenge of his new office.
“I was asked by my board members to step up and do it ,” Greene said. “It’s an honor to be able to promote the local businesses. That’s the backbone of America.”
He said he knows there are plenty of chamber members who will be helping him run the show.
“It’s not a one-man show,” Greene said. “There are a lot of people there to help me to do it, just as I’ve helped out.”
His own business has been at the same location since 1947.
He said he was looking forward to building membership and developing a more robust Web presence for the Mineola Chamber. Greene said he wants to set up a function online to enable chamber members to send e-blasts to each other.
“I’m interested in getting more businesses involved. We’re going to update the Web site a bit and get people to go to it,” Greene said. “This is a great way to getting your name out there to the other businesses and helping them to promote each other.”
Greene and Picolla Bussola owner Tony Lubrano have collaborated on the bi-annual Taste and Style of Mineola, a fundraiser for local service organizations. Greene, Lubrano and Sikorski played instrumental roles in organizing last fall’s expansion of the annual Mineola Street Fair.
Greene said he’s exploring ideas for one or two other chamber events to add to the village calendar.
He’s also open to open to exploring causes for his business to support. On the Tsontos Furs Web site, www. tsontosfurs.com/, Greene invites local organization’s and charities to contact his business for support.
