Stephen Gilman, President
Nancy Pompeo, Vice President
Mendy Taylor, Secretary
Elaine Matthews, Treasurer
Scott Lang, Accountant
Beth McLendon, Director
Susan Barnett
Mette Christiansen
Rik Flynn
Stephen Gilman
Paula Lockshon
Sam Magarelli
Laraine Mai
Regina Peterson, Student Associate
Deborah Schneer
Esther Taylor-Evans
ULSTERCORPS BOARD OF DIRECTORS – OFFICERS
Stephen Gilman, President, is the Education Director at Center for Creative Education where he has recently collaborated with a team of educators to create the Carnegie Learning Center, an arts and technology academy on the campus of Kingston High School. Stephen’s professional focus is in education innovation, student empowerment and teacher collaboration. He was recently a finalist in the MacArthur Foundation’s Digital Media & Learning Competition. Stephen is also a co-founder of Bronx Expeditionary Learning High School, a public school grounded in Outward Bound experiential learning. He was formerly a media coordinator with United Way of the National Capital Area, a congressional aide in the House of Representatives, and a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division. Stephen is a Marbletown First Aid Unit volunteer, former High Falls Civic Association president, Ulster County Historical Society advisory board member, Hudson Valley for Obama founder, and Hudson Valley Progressive Coalition co-founder. Stephen enjoys pottery, geocaching, writing and Legos. He lives with his wife Julia and son Ben in Stone Ridge, NY.
Nancy Pompeo, Co-Founder and Vice President, had her first volunteer experience at age 6 collecting money for Unicef and has been a committed volunteer ever since. She has volunteered with the Salvation Army, Planned Parenthood, Safe Homes Women’s Shelter, and food pantries in the different communities where she’s lived. In 2002 she was awarded “Volunteer of the Year” for her work with the Salvation Army. She is currently president and owner of Action Resources, a consulting firm with over 20 years experience partnering with corporations to meet their professional development and learning objectives. Nancy lives in Wallkill, NY.
Elaine Matthews, Treasurer is a retired computer consultant, and a rock climbing guide. She earned a BA in Art from the University of Minnesota and a second degree in computer science from SUNY New Paltz. She is a volunteer at the Mohonk Preserve’s Dan Smiley Research Center and volunteers through UlsterCorps’ Hunger Project in the gleanings for local food pantries. She has lived in Ulster County since 1977.
Scott Lang, Accountant, is a CPA and Senior Accountant at Kimball & O’Brien PC with responsibilities in audit, tax and other public accounting services. Scott Lang has been working with the business, governmental and not-for-profit communities since graduating from SUNY Albany with a bachelor’s degree in accounting in 2004. He lives in Saugerties with his wife and two children.
Beth McLendon, Co-Founder and Director, is a co-founder of Freelance Farm, a web development co-operative specializing in nonprofit and arts organizations. She holds a master’s degree in architecture from Princeton School of Architecture, and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Yale University. She has designed and developed numerous award-winning websites for service agencies and nonprofits, many pro-bono or with substantial in-kind contributions. The daughter of a girl scout leader, she has been a committed volunteer her whole life, serving with the ASPCA as a teenager, Women’s Aid while living in Dublin, Ireland, and the Santa Fe Rape Crisis Center while living in New Mexico. Beth lives in Stone Ridge in the passive solar home she designed in 2005.
ULSTERCORPS BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Susan Barnett is an author and journalist who grew up in Ulster County. Currently a columnist for Ulster Publishing, Feminist.com and BookTrib.com and producer and host of WAMC’s nationally syndicated radio program, 51% The Women’s Perspective, her career in broadcast and print news has focused on helping educate the public about social issues. She is the owner of Barnett Communications, providing communication strategies and content to a variety of private, public and non-profit clients. She has worked as a teacher, teaching writing skills to college-bound students with learning disabilities both in the classroom and as a private tutor. She’s volunteered her time in her children’s schools and helped organize events to benefit education and community foundations. She lives in West Hurley with her partner and too many pets.
Mette Christiansen received her social pedagogical degree and worked in a variety of human services agencies in Denmark before coming to the US in 1988. While working as a direct support worker in Dutchess County, Mette’s experiences in European social pedagogy/education lead her into the local grassroots movement to professionalize the human services workforce. She obtained her Master’s in Social Work at SUNY Albany and brought her interest in workforce development and professionalization into academia – first at SUNY Dutchess and later at SUNY New Paltz, where is now is the Director of the Concentration in Human Services in the Department of Sociology. Mette lives with her husband and two teenage sons in Rhinebeck, NY.
Rik Flynn, Co-Founder and Founding President, is a retired teacher and resident of Ulster County for nearly forty years. He served as a classroom special education instructor, was an Assistant Director of the Mid-Hudson Teacher Center and an acting director and board member for the Ulster County School To Work Partnership. He received an undergraduate degree from Marist College and Master of Science degree in Education from SUNY, New Paltz. During his tenure as a teacher at Ulster County BOCES, he was also an adjunct professor at SUNY New Paltz for a graduate level special education practicum requirement. He was president of the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) Ulster County BOCES Teachers’ Organization and a member of several state and national professional education organizations. He was also a vice-president of the Hudson Valley Area Labor Federation (HVALF) and officer of the Upper Hudson Area Central Labor Council (UHCLC), AFL-CIO.
Paula Lockshon is a social worker and has run mental health programs in the nonprofit sector for 2 decades. She is currently an Adjunct Professor in the Human Services Concentration at SUNY New Paltz and SUNY Ulster and has a Private Psychotherapy Practice in Kingston, NY. She has been a Program Director of the County’s Domestic Violence Shelter and Board member at Family of Woodstock, Inc. where she was instrumental in creating the first program for children at the DV Shelter in the 1980s. Her commitment to grassroots movements and community organizing remains foremost in her life. Paula lives in High Falls with her life partner and their tall 16 year old son.
Sam Magarelli is a community volunteer. He is a Founding Member of Staying In Place, a senior support network, Founding Member of the Woodstock Volunteers’ Day Committee, Member- Board of Directors of the Woodstock Memorial Society, commonly known as the ‘Artists Cemetery’ and the Woodstock Chamber of Commerce & Arts. Over the last 35 years he has been a member of the Woodstock Rescue Squad, Founding Member of the Woodstock Soccer League, Member – Board of Directors of the Woodstock Arts Board, Trustee of the Onteora Central School District, President of the Board of Education, Ulster County Legislator, Member of the Phoenicia Rotary. He is a retired teacher. He taught for 38 years, 33 of them in the Kingston School District, until his retirement in 2006. He and his wife Catherine have two children and four grandchildren. They have resided in Woodstock for almost four decades.
Laraine Mai, has thirty-eight years of nonprofit leadership and management
experience as a founder, executive, and consultant in the fields of education, youth services, international
issues, and interfaith cooperation. From 1994 to 2007 she served as President of the International
Center for Integrative Studies, a research, education and consulting nonprofit organization. In 2002
she launched RiverTides, an ICIS leadership, education and consulting services program. Previously, she served as Vice-President of ICIS for Programs and Planning; was co-founder of The Door – A Center of Alternatives, a model multi-service center for adolescents. She also served as the first Executive Director of the Interfaith Center of New York. Civic involvement includes: Board of Directors of the World Affairs Council of the Mid-Hudson Valley; International Advisory Council of CANHELP, Svenshogen, Sweden, Founders’ Council of The Interfaith Center of New York, the National Advisory Council of the New York Open Center. She also served with the Peace Corps in Venezuela from 1967 to 1969. Laraine lives in New Paltz, NY.
Regina Peterson is a SUNY New Paltz student studying Sociology with a concentration in Human Services and Communication Studies. She is currently working as a Resident Assistant and Orientation Leader for First-Year students. Regina also is heavily involved on campus and sits on the Executive Board for the National Residence Hall Honorary as the National Communications Coordinator. She is very active in the SUNY New Paltz campus and volunteers in her spare time. Regina is also a member of the Honors Program at New Paltz and strives to do her best academically. She is originally from Coxsackie, NY and was very involved in her community there and wants to be just involved in Ulster County.
Deborah Schneer, Esq., has devoted her entire professional career, as an attorney and as a judge, to public service. After graduating from Tufts University, Deborah spent a year in rural Missouri as a Vista volunteer, teaching poor people how to be their own advocates. Upon graduation from NYU Law School, she worked for Prisoners Legal Services of NY in Poughkeepsie and later as an Assistant Attorney General in the New York State Department of Law. In 2005 Deborah Schneer was elected as Town Justice in the Town of Rochester, and in 2009 appointed Ulster County Court Judge. Deborah has practiced law for 25 years and has lived in Ulster County for 20 years. She resides in High Falls
with her family and currently works in private practice in Rosendale.
Esther Taylor-Evans is an Outreach Coordinator for the New Progressive Baptist Church; a Board member of A Thousand Moms, a resource organization for youth in crisis with their sexual identity; and a board member of Raising the Torch Through The Arts that brings theater to youth through the educational system. Prior to retirement Esther was a Recruitment Specialist & Foster Care Trainer at the Mental Health Association in Ulster County. She also served for 4 years as President of the Women’s Club of Rosendale and as Co-President of the Rosendale Main St. Association. Esther is a graduate of Fordham University and has lived in the area since 1986, presently Stone Ridge.
