Dyan Gershman | Blogspot: Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Benefits Habitat for Humanity

Monday, December 4, 2023

Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Benefits Habitat for Humanity

In late 2023, an interesting storyline of extended giving emerged, as the Habitat for Humanity Susquehanna in Elkton, Maryland, utilized a large Norway spruce recently displayed to the world as the 2021 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.

The 79-foot-high tree was originally from the Elkton area of Cecil County, a majestic presence behind a rural Glen Farms home. Cut down and loaded onto a flatbed truck on Nov. 11, 2021, it was driven to New York City and adorned with a massive star loaded with Swarovski crystals and 50,000 colored lights. The traditional lighting ceremony was broadcast live, and thousands of visitors came to take pictures and enjoy the holiday ambiance during its one-month reign in Manhattan.

The trunk was ultimately milled into kiln-dried planks donated to Habitat for Humanity Susquehanna at the original tree owners’ request. The inscription “ROCKEFELLER CENTER CHRISTMAS TREE 2021” was burned into each sturdy plank. With wood from the tree already used to build one house, the most recent project to incorporate the two-by-six planks has involved crafting window trim, sills, and blocking for an Elkton-area ranch home in which a single mother of three resides. In this way, the tree’s journey has come full circle, unique from the usual practice of mulching the Christmas tree for NYC city parks’ use.

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A highly experienced corporate and mergers and acquisitions lawyer in New York City, Dyan Gershman established Gershman Law, PLLC in 2014, and provides U.S. and international clients with a broad range of legal advice and services in the core business-related practice areas of mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic alliances, technology and intellectual property licensing, and equity investments.

Dyan Gershman received her juris doctor from Boston College Law School, where she was an Executive Editor of the Boston College Law Review, and graduated cum laude. Ms. Gershman received her undergraduate degree in liberal arts and sciences from Colorado College with highest distinction in arts and sciences. Dyan Gershman was awarded the coveted Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, which supported a year-long graduate study of French architectural historic preservation in Paris. Ms. Gershman has lived in France and Italy on multiple occasions, and is fluent in French and conversant in Italian.

Upon graduation from Boston College Law School, Ms. Gershman joined the New York office of the internationally renowned global law firm Jones Day. She spent nine years at Jones Day in the firm’s Corporate Practices Group representing U.S. and international clients in their domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions and other corporate transactions. Following Jones Day, Ms. Gershman assumed an executive-level corporate law position at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company's worldwide headquarters, also in New York City, where she was head of mergers and acquisitions and corporate law worldwide. At Bristol-Myers Squibb, Ms. Gershman received the President’s Award for Outstanding Achievement, the company’s highest honor.

After four years at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Ms. Gershman joined General Electric Company (GE) worldwide headquarters in Fairfield, Connecticut, as an executive leading many of GE's largest and most strategic acquisitions, joint ventures and divestitures, a role she held for more than eight years. During her time at GE, Ms. Gershman led many multi-billion dollar transactions and her performance earned her the prestigious CEO Award.