Chris Hilderbrant
FLHSA's Chief Operating Officer Christopher Hilderbrant was selected for a Rochester Business Journal Forty Under 40 Award, which honors professionals younger than 40 who demonstrate leadership in the workplace and community.
Injured in a diving accident at age 14, Hilderbrant has served as an eloquent and effective advocate for people with disabilities for the past two decades, helping to expand rights on the local, state and national level. Now at FLHSA, he is working to ensure high quality care for all individuals throughout Rochester and the Finger Lakes region.
During his 14-year tenure at the Center for Disability Rights, Hilderbrant rose from a part-time position working directly with clients to the organization’s chief operating officer, managing a budget of more than $20 million across three agencies with more than 800 active employees. He was also arrested more than 20 times during efforts to bring attention to reforms that could help individuals with disabilities live fuller and more independent lives.
He founded and serves as president of the nonprofit board of the Wreckers—Western New York’s only wheelchair rugby team.
In addition to Hilderbrant, Shaquanna Divers of the University of Rochester Medical Center's Center for Community Health and an active member on the Rochester Business Association’s Health Care Planning Team, and Matthew Devine, a High Blood Pressure Collaborative practice improvement consultant at URMC’s Highland Family Medicine, will be honored with Forty Under 40 awards.
Awardees were honored at a luncheon Nov. 19 at the Joseph A. Floreano Rochester Riverside Convention Center, and featured in a Nov. 13 supplement to the Rochester Business Journal.