Each year the UCIAF will name a Signore and Signora of the Year at our annual Italian Festival.
Click Here to read our Press Release about the 2021 awards.
2021 SIGNORE OF THE YEAR - Bill Calderara
Calderara, who was born and raised in Mount Vernon, has more than 30 years of banking experience and has been at the helm of Ulster Savings Bank since 2016. Under his leadership, the bank has been recognized locally and nationally, including being named among the “Best Banks to Work For” by American Banker.
He has won numerous professional and community-service awards and was recently inducted into the SUNY New Paltz School of Business Hall of Fame as the 2019 Business Person of the Year.
Calderara, treasurer at the Ulster County Italian American Foundation, also serves as secretary on the Bardavon-UPAC Board of Directors. Additionally, he is president of the Rip Van Winkle Council of the Boy Scouts of America, treasurer of Pattern for Progress of the Hudson Valley and board member at the Ulster County College Foundation.
He is immediate past president of the Kingston Rotary Club and is a multiple Rotary Paul Harris Fellow and a United Way Leadership Giving Society Member. He previously served on the advisory councils of the New York State Department of Banking and Fannie Mae and was president of the Connecticut Mortgage Bankers’ Association.
Calderara was the first generation of his family to attend college, graduating from Fordham University and Iona College. Though he was an only child, Calderara said he has fond memories growing up in a big Italian family in Westchester County.
“There were always aunts, uncles and more cousins around than anyone could count. Spontaneous family gatherings or Sunday dinners for 20 were regular events as was making homemade pasta, wine or a gourmet meal from whatever was in the house, which, at time, wasn’t much,” he said.
Calderara credits his parents and extended family for instilling in him values and service to his community. He said the Signore of the Year award is something he cherishes.
“I am proud of my Italian heritage and honored to receive this recognition. I am also humbled because I feel the award is really a recognition of the amazing teams I work with—the UCIAF board and committees and the Ulster Savings staff—so I will be accepting it to honor them as well,” he said.
2021 SIGNORA OF THE YEAR - Mary Tuma
Mary Angela Tuma, a lifelong Kingston resident, formerly worked as the director of operations at UPAC and as an intellectual property legal assistant at IBM.
After completing cosmetology school and becoming licensed, she worked as a hairstylist and then attended college, earning a degree in business administration.
In recent years, she became a certified personal trainer and fitness instructor and has taught, tested and certified other fitness trainers. Tuma now volunteers her services at several organizations as part of the foundation’s Community Care Outreach Program.
She is a member of the foundation’s board of directors and serves as the chairperson of the Community Care Fund and Community Care Outreach Program.
Additionally, she volunteers at the Ulster County SPCA and is a revolving host on “Tutto Italiano,” a radio show presented each Sunday by the Ulster County Italian American Foundation on Radio Kingston, WKNY.
Her many community activities have included the Hurley Library Board of Directors, Junior Achievement, Brownies and Girl Scouts and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ulster County, where she earned the title of “Big Sister of the Year.”
She served as president of the Parent Teachers Association at Chambers Elementary School and was a reading mentor at E.C. Myer Elementary School. Tuma received the Apple Award from the Kingston City School district for volunteerism at Myer.
She is the daughter of James and Angelina Fabiano and is married to Garry Tuma. The couple lives in the town of Ulster and has four children and five grandchildren.
“My heartfelt thanks to my friends at UCIAF for the Signora of the Year award,” she said. “I share this honor with all of them for their support, continuing friendship and dedication to this foundation.”