By Tatiana Castellanos
The American Heart Association will host its sixth annual Queens Go Red for Women Dinner as part of its campaign to wipe out heart disease and stroke, the No. 1 killer of women.
Queens businesswomen Audra Fordin and Kathleen Gallo will be honored for their commitment to raising support for and creating awareness about heart disease and stroke, especially pertaining to women, at the event June 12 at Terrace on the Park in Flushing. The TimesLedger Newspapers is the media sponsor.
Fordin is the owner and CEO of Great Bear Auto Repair and Auto Body Shop in Flushing, while Gallo is senior vice president and chief learning officer of the North Shore-LIJ Health System.
Rita Mercieca, the executive director of the Forest Hills Hospital, part of the North Shore-LIJ System, will chair the event this year.
Fordin, who started out when she was just a toddler watching her father work in the shop, was trained by him and he was trained by his father. Passing the business down from generation to generation, the Fordin family has owned Great Bear for more than 75 years. Although her family opened Great Bear in 1933, Fordin is the first woman in her family to work as a mechanic and become owner of the family business.
Before moving into the owner’s seat 12 years ago, she studied auto repair in several different professional programs. She claims she was usually the only woman in all of her auto repair classes.
The attitude of the public has since changed, but Fordin said when she would answer the phone years ago and try to answer customers’ questions, most of them refused to speak to a woman mechanic.
Fordin sought to change that.
Now, after growing the family business to almost three times its original size in two years, Fordin said customers are pleased with reasonable prices, up-to-date equipment and the formally educated crew of employees.
What Women Auto Know Inc., a nonprofit founded by the businesswoman, focuses on providing automotive education and resources that empower women of all ages to become safe and confident drivers, auto consumers and passengers in and out of the auto repair shop.
Outside of her busy work life, Fordin has been married for 14 years with three children. She is a PTA class mom and Girl Scout troop leader.
Under Gallo’s leadership, the Center for Learning and Innovation — North Shore-LIJ’s corporate university — and the Patient Safety Institute were created.
Gallo, responsible for leadership development throughout the organization, holds a number of titles including system director for emergency medicine, vice president for emergency medical services, associate professor, associate adjunct professor and chairwoman.
Gallo has more than 25 years of experience in emergency nursing and is a noted speaker who has won several awards and was inducted into the Adelphi University hall of fame.
Gallo obtained a doctorate of nursing and a master’s in business administration from Adelphi.
The dinner, on June 12, will be at Terrace on the Park in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
For more information visit www.heart.org/queensgoredforwomen or call 516-450-9123.
