Sharon Worthing Vaino, Esq. attended Fordham University School of Law, J.D., 1978, New York, NY, Dean's List Articles Editor, Law Review (full tuition scholarship). Yale College, Freshman year, 1970-71, New Haven, CT transferred to Barnard College to live in New York City, Barnard College, A.B., 1975, New York, NY, Cum Laude Dean's List Honors in History, The Seven Hills School, Diploma 1970, Cincinnati, OH, National Merit Finalist Cum Laude Society Class Valedictorian.
Attorney Employment
SEWARD & KISSEL LLP, New York, NY
Senior Attorney, 2004 to 2009
Concentration: Governmental qualified defined contribution and defined benefit plans; 401(k) plans; plan and trust mergers and terminations; participant disclosure; deferred compensation arrangements; church plans; and ERISA fiduciary issues: Qualified default investment alternatives, investment policy, and prohibited transactions Also: IRAs, cafeteria plans, welfare plans, Form 5500 reporting.
Memberships
NEW YORK GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, New York, NY, Secretary, 2021 to present, Member of Board of Trustees, 2019 to present
THE COLONIAL DAMES OF AMERICA (“CDA”), New York, NY, President General, 2012-2018 (longest such service since 1931). Visited all 40 CDA chapters in the United States and abroad; member of all committees. Co-Chair, Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden Fall Benefit, 2011 Recording Secretary, 2009-2012, Member of Board of Managers, 2002-2008, 2009-2018, Committee Chairmanships and Member service to present. Van Rensselaer Award Recipient (2015) This award may be given by the CDA upon a chapter’s nomination of one of its members for distinguished service to her respective chapter, local community, and/or to the CDA. Proclamation honoring Sharon Vaino issued by The Council, City of New York, Ben Kallos, Council Member of the 5th District (2014). Proclamation cited my “stellar service and leadership as President General of the Colonial Dames of America”. Oversaw the reaccreditation of the CDA’s wholly-owned Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden by the American Alliance of Museums, a rare recognition for a historic house museum (2013)
THE HEREDITARY ORDER OF DESCENDANTS OF COLONIAL GOVERNORS
HEREDITARY SOCIETY COMMUNITY, Consultant
NATIONAL SOCIETY OF DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
NEW YORK CITY CHAPTER, Safety Committee
THE NATIONAL GAVEL SOCIETY
NATIONAL SOCIETY OF AMERICANS OF ROYAL DESCENT
THE NATIONAL SOCIETY OF COLONIAL DAMES IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Historical Activities Committee
ONE HUNDRED LIVING DESCENDANTS OF BLOOD ROYAL
ORDER OF THE CROWN IN AMERICA
THE ORDER OF THE CROWN OF CHARLEMAGNE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
ORDER OF THE MEROVINGIAN DYNASTY
ORDER OF THE NORMAN CONQUEST
Other Not-For-Profit Service
AMERICAN FARM SCHOOL, New York, NY; Thessaloniki, Greece Secretary and Member of Executive Committee, 2009 to 2018 Member of Board of Trustees and of Corporation, 2008 to present Member of Legal Committee, 2009 to present
BARNARD COLLEGE, New York, NY Co-Fund Chair, Class of 1975 (30th Reunion, 2005) Chairperson, West Side I Area, The Barnard Campaign (1981 to 1984)
CARNEGIE COUNCIL FOR ETHICS IN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS New York, NY Co-Director, Project on Church and State Abroad (sponsored by the Lilly Endowment, stipend provided), 1982 to 1985 Resulting Publication: J. BRUCE NICHOLS, THE UNEASY ALLIANCE: RELIGION, REFUGEE WORK, AND U.S. FOREIGN POLICY (1988)
COMMITTEE ON RELIGIOUS LIBERTY of the Freedom Forum Institute, Religious Freedom Center, Washington, DC Member, 1978 to present (longest serving member) Committee founded by Rev. Dean M. Kelley, Civil and Religious Liberty Executive of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, New York, NY Related Publication: REV. DEAN M. KELLEY, THE LAW OF CHURCH AND STATE IN AMERICA (online at www.cccny.net/resources/locs.htm, 2008). This five-volume work totaling approximately 2500 pages was close to completion and publication in hard cover at the 1997 death of its author. As the attorney who had agreed to bring this work to publication did not do so, I finally secured the necessary resources to achieve online publication of the work as written, including completion of the legal research needed to address issues that had been identified by the author’s publisher.
JOURNAL OF CHURCH AND STATE, Waco, TX Member, Editorial Council, 1981 to present J. M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies, Baylor University (Journal currently published by Oxford University Press)
NATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR COMMUNITY AND JUSTICE, Windsor, CT Member, Advisory Committee, Project on Church, State, and Taxation, 1980 to 1983 Project sponsored by the Lilly Endowment; organization then known as the National Conference of Christians and Jews, New York, NY
Professional Associations
American Bar Association
New York State Bar Association
New York City Bar
Representative Publications
De Masi, Sharri Whiting; and Vaino, Sharon, The Colonial Dames of America: The Momentum Continues in 2016, SOCIAL REGISTER OBSERVER, Summer 2016, at 45.
De Masi, Sharri Whiting; and Vaino, Sharon, The Colonial Dames of America Celebrates 125 Years, SOCIAL REGISTER OBSERVER, Summer 2015, at 22.
Vaino, Sharon, The Colonial Dames of America: Preserving the Past; Addressing the Future, SOCIAL REGISTER OBSERVER, Summer 2012, at 17.
Ryan, John; Jacobson, Paul and Vaino, Sharon, Final Amendment to the Department of Labor’s Qualified Professional Asset Manager (QPAM) Exemption, MARCUM & KLIEGMAN LLP’S PRIVATE INVESTMENT FORUM, 2005, at 5.
Stevenson, Elaine and Vaino, Sharon, Security in Retirement: New Annuity Plan Options, 35 COMPENSATION & BENEFITS REVIEW, No. 6, at 62 (2003).
Vaino, Sharon Worthing, Government Monitoring of Religious Organizations, in THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IN MONITORING AND REGULATING RELIGION IN PUBLIC LIFE 65 (J. Wood & D. Davis eds. 1993).
Worthing, Sharon, Retirement Planning for Religious Organizations, 1986 CHRISTIAN LEGAL SOCIETY CONFERENCE: THE STATE OF OUR PROFESSION AND OUR RESPONSIBILITY IN IT: PROCEEDINGS.
Worthing, Sharon, Corporate Free Exercise: The Constitutional Rights of Religious Associations, in FESTSCHRIFT, RELIGION AND THE STATE: ESSAYS IN HONOR OF LEO PFEFFER 167 (J. Wood ed. 1985), reprinted in GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION IN RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS 2, at 57 (D. Kelley ed. 1986).
Worthing, Sharon, The State and the Church School: The Conflict Over Social Policy, in RELIGION, THE STATE AND EDUCATION 85 (J. Wood ed. 1984), reprinted in 26 JOURNAL OF CHURCH AND STATE 91 (1984).
Worthing, Sharon, Retirement Planning for Religious Organizations, 1984 CHRISTIAN LEGAL SOCIETY CONFERENCE: FREEDOM & FAITH: PROCEEDINGS.
Worthing, Sharon, “Religion” and “Religious Institutions” Under the First Amendment, 7 PEPPERDINE LAW REVIEW 313 (1980).
Worthing, Sharon, The State Takes Over a Church, THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE 136 (Nov. 1979).
Club Memberships
THE COSMOPOLITAN CLUB, New York, NY
THE JOHNS HOPKINS CLUB, Baltimore, MD
THE YALE CLUB OF NEW YORK CITY, New York, NY
Other Notes
INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL: Barbados, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, France, Granada, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom
DOMESTIC TRAVEL: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia
Create Slug