Mark McLaughlin: 2024 Community Leader of the Year

Mark “MK” McLaughlin is a Swiss army knife of community engagement: chairman of the Riverhead Anti-Bias Task Force, chief of staff to state Assemblywoman Jodi Giglio, media point man for the town’s “Riverhead in Action TV,” a diversity liaison to the town’s school district, an East End Arts music teacher, a ubiquitous event MC and, most recently, the Riverhead Chamber of Commerce’s “Business Person of the Year.”

Friends, colleagues and local officials say he is Riverhead’s most enthusiastic cheerleader.

Riverhead Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard called him an “amazing guy … For someone who isn’t from Riverhead, he has adopted Riverhead as much as Riverhead has adopted him. It’s phenomenal how he’s taken to the town like it’s his own — and it really is at this point. I think that’s a fantastic thing for him.” 

The supervisor also said Mr. McLaughlin is a true believer in Riverhead.  

“He’s just positive,” he went on. “He’s a positive guy. And it’s so refreshing to talk to somebody like that. He wants nothing but the best for the town — from the Anti-Bias Task Force to the Town Square to anything he can do to help people in need. He ran ‘Huddle for [the] Hunger’ football [fundraiser] up at Stotzky Park. That was a lot of fun up there. He helped run Restaurant Week. He’s got a great attitude. Every time I’m dealing with him, he’s full of energy — full of enthusiasm about the town.”

Last summer, Mr. Hubbard, Ms. Giglio and other local officials went to Citi Field in Queens to see Mr. McLaughlin sing the national anthem at a Mets game.

“For somebody from your hometown do that — it was absolutely amazing,” said Mr. Hubbard.  

Born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens, Mr. McLaughlin’s journey from new guy in town to his current multiplicity of roles was not without challenges. The pandemic shut down the Islip Terrace music studio where he worked, compelling him to move and start a new life in Riverhead.

But nearly as soon as he arrived, the veteran entertainer, who toured for years with hip hop artist Flo Rida as his opening act, came down with a life-threatening case of COVID-19. The virus attacked his kidneys and put him in Peconic Bay Medical Center for three weeks. He survived the episode and learned a valuable lesson, he said in a 2022 interview: “I proved to myself that, you know what? I could do anything.” 

Local leaders agree.

“Mark has been wonderful,” said Kristy Verity, executive director of the Downtown Riverhead Business Improvement District. “He’s really put in a lot of volunteer time just out of the goodness of his heart.” 

Downtown Riverhead BID president Sean Kenna said, “I think Mark is very, very intuitive when it comes to diversity within the town. He’s not cookie cutter. He puts himself out there in different avenues —  with the Chamber of Commerce, with the BID, with Jodi, with the Town Board … Honestly, I feel like this guy doesn’t sleep.”

Liz O’Shaugnessy, executive director of the Riverhead Chamber of Commerce, recently awarded Mr. McLaughlin the chamber’s 2024 Business Person of the Year.

“I’m a big Mark fan,” she said. “Since I’ve met him, shortly after he moved to Riverhead three or four years ago, I’ve just watched his star rise. He’s such a hard worker, and he really is very giving of himself. And I love to see all the good things that are coming his way because of it.”

One of Mr. McLaughlin’s biggest fans is his boss, Ms. Giglio.

“I take pleasure in supporting Mark because he is such a great human being,” she said in an interview. “He really has his act together and learns very quickly. And I’m not the easiest person in the world to work for, because I expect results. I’m pretty demanding when I want things to be done and I want [the staff] to prioritize and do things in certain order. He picks right up on it, and always has me in his mind when he’s in the office. I’m so proud to have him work for me.”

Ms. Giglio said she could see a future in local politics for someone like Mr. McLaughlin. “I started out in my political career with the Riverhead Business Alliance, and I see Mark doing the same things that were that I was doing before I was elected. He’s doing a great job, and I think that he’s an asset,” she said.

Ms. Giglio recalled being at a county police benefit “and there was no one to sing the national anthem, so I asked him. And he sang at the benefit and now he’s invited to every police benefit to go and sing the national anthem.”

She said Mr. McLaughlin is a great liaison to her Assembly district.

“He is an exemplary employee,” Ms. Giglio said. “He is compassionate to my constituents’ needs, and is able to communicate that to all of the governmental agencies that we deal with to help our constituents. So he’s really been a complete asset to me and to my office.”

For all these reasons, Mr. McLaughlin is The Riverhead News-Review’s Community Leader of the Year.

Previous Winners
*The award was previously called Civic Person of the Year

2023: Kate Fullam
2022: Marylin Banks-Winter
2021: Kelly McClinchy
2020: Lillian Pennon
2019: The McMorris family
2018: Charlene Mascia
2017: Ron Fisher
2016: Dwayne Eleazer and Larry Williams
2015: Tony Sammartano
2014: Thelma Booker
2013: Vince Taldone
2012: Georgette Keller
2011: Nancy Swett
2010: Rich Podlas and Chuck Thomas
2009: Tom Gahan
2008: Keith Lewin
2007: Open Arms and Bread & More Inn
2006: Mike Brewer
2005: Sid Bail
2004: Kathy Berezny
2003: Jill Lewis
2002: Chrissy Prete
2001: Joe & Gloria Ingegno
2000: George Klopfer & Lt. Col. Anthony Cristiano
1999: Louise Wilkinson
1998: Charles Ramsey, Gwen Mack
1997: Judy Jacunski
1996: Peter Danowski
1995: Sherry Patterson
1994: Barry Barth, Bobby Goodale
1993: Arnold Braunskill, Don Owen
1992: Bernice Mack
1991: Judy Weiner
1990: Nancy Gassert, Gwen Branch
1989: Betty Brown
1988: Paul Baker