15. John Cameron

When he’s not overseeing the Island’s top engineering firm, whose innovative projects are dedicated to meeting the needs of future generations, Cameron is devoted to making the Island a better place for those who live here today. He was honored for his efforts this summer on behalf of South Nassau Communities Hospital, which wants to expand its emergency department, as he helped break all previous fundraising records for its annual golf outing, in effect hitting a hole-in-one for the charity drive. Not bad for a man who still likes to surf when the tide is right. The list of his company’s achievements has grown long, indeed. In 2015, the American Council of Engineering Companies of New York recognized Cameron Engineering with gold medal engineering excellence awards in the “building/technology systems” category for its work on the Eastport-South Manor Primary School in Eastport, its “waste and storm water” work on the Bergen Point WWTP Effluent UV Disinfection in West Babylon, and awarded a special projects prize for its efforts at The Museum of American Armor in Old Westbury. His firm brought home several additional awards this year. As chairman of the Long Island Regional Planning Council, Cameron focuses on projects to make our Island sustainable, economically and environmentally. He currently sits on Hofstra University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science Advisory Board. Cameron knows the difference between gray water and green energy like no one else on the Island, so don’t test him. But if there’s a pressing environmental problem of our time, you can bet he’s doing his best to solve it.