Board Members of the Archives Partnership Trust
Current Board Members
John Hanna, Jr., Chair
George R. Hearst, III, Vice Chair
Barbara A. Brinkley, Treasurer
Dr. Celine Racine Paquette, Secretary
Kathy A. Ahearn, Esq.
Dr. Nedda C. Allbray
Tom Birdsey
Dr. Kimberly Gilmore
Bronwyn N. Hannon
Harold Holzer
Harold N. Iselin
Hon. John J. McEneny
Stephen Pagano
Lauren D. Rachlin
Avi Schick, Esq.
Gary Smith
Jay Summerson
Rosemary S. Vietor
John Hanna, Jr.,
of Chatham, is the Trust Board Chair. He is an arbitrator-mediator and partner in the law firm of Whiteman, Osterman & Hanna LLP in Albany. He is a member of a number of organizations devoted to international and domestic U.S. commercial and environmental arbitration -mediation and is Adjunct Professor of International Environmental Law at the John Marshall Law School. He was formerly the Counsel to the State Office of Employee Relations on Governor Rockefeller's staff, Deputy Commissioner and General Counsel of the State Department of Environmental Conservation and Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Mr. Hanna was co-editor of the New York State Bar Association's (NYSBA) Environmental Handbook and has chaired its Environmental Law Section and serves on the Executive Committee of the International Practice Section. He is on the board of The Olana Partnership. Mr. Hanna is Delegate of the NYSBA International Section to the NYSBA House of Delegates, 2009 - . He has served on boards including The Eastern New York Chapter of The Nature Conservancy the Princeton Alumni/ae Schools Committee and the Shaker Museum and Library. He is listed in Who's Who in America. (Appointing Authority: Governor's Office.) (Return to top)
George R. Hearst III,
of Menands, is the Trust Board Vice Chair. Mr. Hearst was appointed to the Trust Board by the Senate Majority Leader to the Partnership Trust Board. Mr. Hearst is a fifth generation California native, who moved to the Capital Region in the fall of 1989 to join the Times Union and now serves as Publisher. Over the last decade, Mr. Hearst has been instrumental in leading several multi-million dollar capital renewal programs, including the implementation of digital publishing standards and content systems at the Times Union. An advocate for the community, Mr. Hearst is an active board member in several local organizations covering health and human services, education and cultural arts. He recently chaired the very successful Heritage Campaign for the Albany Institute for History and Art, as well as serves on the boards including St Peter's Hospital, University at Albany Foundation, Inc., Double H - Hole in the Woods Ranch and the Community Foundation for the Capital Region. Mr. Hearst is a graduate of Pepperdine University and is the recipient of numerous distinguished service awards for his community work. He resides in the Village of Menands with his wife Christine. (Appointing Authority: Senate Majority Leader) (Return to top)
Barbara Brinkley of Jay, NY is the Trust Board Treasurer . Ms. Brinkley is a descendent of 1st New York State Governor George Clinton. Retired from her position as Senior Vice President at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. in 2001, Barbara serves as Trustee, The Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New York; and Trustee, St. Mark’s Historic Landmark Fund (NYC). She previously served as Directress General, Society of Daughters of Holland Dames; Regent, New York City Chapter, National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution; Board Member, Daughters of the Cincinnati; Board Member, Brooklyn Heritage, Inc; and was named Conference of Historical & Patriotic Societies “Volunteer of the Year 2004”. Barbara initiated and organized a number of volunteer projects and activities, including Renaming the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge for 1st NYS Governor George Clinton; the 225th Anniversary of the NYS Constitution of 1777; Alliance Day, 2003; and the 100th Anniversary Gala for a Stained Glass Window honoring Petrus Stuyvesant. (Appointing Authority: Board of Regents) (Return to top)
Celine Racine Paquette, Ed.D, of Champlain, is a former career administrator in the field of education and businesswoman from Clinton County and Trust Board Secretary. She currently serves as the President of the Samuel de Champlain History Center in Champlain. A graduate from SUNY Plattsburgh with a B.S. in Nursing, she went on to obtain an M.S. and Ed.D in Educational Administration, both from the University at Albany. During the course of her career, she has served as a senior administrator in several school districts and has taught extensively at the scholastic and collegiate levels. She is past President of Paquette’s Insurance Agency in Champlain. In addition to this work, Dr. Paquette has distinguished herself in volunteer service throughout upstate New York and northern Vermont. She currently serves on the Boards of St. Michaels College in Colchester, VT; the SUNY Plattsburgh College Foundation; and is a Commissioner for the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. In 2003, Dr. Paquette was named Vice Chair of the Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial by Governor George E. Pataki, a year-long celebration of 400 years of New York State history. Dr. Paquette served as a member of the Clinton County Legislature from 1996-2007 and was its chair in 2000. Among the numerous honors received by Dr. Paquette were the New York State Senate “Women of Distinction” Award in 2008 and the Distinguished Service Award from SUNY Plattsburgh in 2009. (Appointing Authority: Governor's Office) (Return to top)
Kathy A. Ahearn, Esq., of Troy, NY, is a partner in the law firm of Guercio & Guercio, LLP, where she represents school districts, schools, BOCES, higher education institutions and licensed professionals. Before joining Guercio & Guercio in July 2009, Ms. Ahearn served for 16 years as Counsel and Deputy Commissioner for Legal Affairs in the New York State Education Department, which oversees K-12 public and private education, higher education, vocational education, cultural education, and the licensing and regulation of 48 professions. In that capacity, she was General Counsel to the Commissioner of Education and the Board of Regents. During her tenure as General Counsel, she also served as Acting Commissioner of Education and Chief of Staff to the Commissioner of Education. Before becoming Counsel, she served as Deputy Counsel (1991-1993) and Assistant Counsel (1989-1991). In 1988, Ms. Ahearn was appointed by then Attorney General Robert Abrams as an Assistant Attorney General specializing in litigation defense. Before joining state government, she was in private practice as a litigator at the Manhattan law firms of Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler and Battle, Fowler, Jaffin & Kheel. Ms. Ahearn is a member of the New York State Bar Association. She serves on the boards of the New York State Association of School Attorneys and the Capital District Center for the Arts. She is a frequent speaker at school law seminars. (Appointing Authority: Governor's Office.)
Dr. Nedda C. Allbray, of Brooklyn, is an independent scholar and author whose current research interests include cultural, historical and sociological considerations of the urban built environment. Dr. Allbray has served on the faculties of Brooklyn College, Baruch College, Queens College, and St. Peter’s College and also as a contributing editor/writer for Jewish World, a contributing editor for The Phoenix, and Director of Public Information for The Williamsburg Community Corporation. She is President of the Prospect Park South Association and active in the New York City landmark preservation community. Dr. Allbray has also served as the Director of the Fort Greene Non-Profit Improvement Corporation and is a frequent contributor to professional association journals. Dr. Allbray is the author of Flatbush: The Heart of Brooklyn (“The Making of America Series”, Arcadia, 2004). (Appointing Authority: Assembly Speaker)(Return to top)
Tom Birdsey is President and CEO of Einhorn Yaffee Prescott, Architects & Engineering, an integrated architecture and engineering firm with a global reach. For more than 30 years, he has prominently contributed to the firm’s growth and prestige, leading its higher education practice to national prominence and forging strategic partnerships with higher education, government, and business.Under Birdsey’s leadership, EYP has successfully secured and/or completed projects for an impressive array of clients including: the United Nations; the country of Azerbaijan; the National Park Service; Harvard and Princeton Universities; the National Archives and Records Administration and their entire Presidential library system; and the Department of State; as well as others in the industrial, higher education, commercial, government, and healthcare sectors. A graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, he is a frequent speaker who advances the local and national discourse on the role of architects in creating a sustainable world. Birdsey’s projects have been featured in national media including: The New York Times; The Wall Street Journal; Preservation Magazine; National Geographic; The Chronicle of Higher Education; Business Week; Building Design & Construction; National Public Radio; and the History Channel. He was appointed to the Archives Partnership Trust Board by Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith.(Appointing Authority: Senate Majority Leader)(Return to top)
Dr. Kimberly Gilmore,
of New York City, is Director of History and Corporate Outreach at History Channel/ A&E Television Networks. Dr. Gilmore received her doctorate in American History from New York University in 2005. As an on-staff historian, her primary focus is to create curricula and education outreach initiatives for middle and secondary school classrooms, museums, and cultural institutions. She serves as an editor of The History Channel’s Save Our History publications and the Idea Book for Educators, and has written lesson plans in American and Global history. Gilmore has collaborated with school districts throughout the country as part of the Teaching American History grant program to help design course units emphasizing critical thinking, reading comprehension, and media literacy skills. She is a member of the Editorial Board of the Organization of American Historians Magazine of History and is active in numerous historical and educational professional organizations including the National Council for History Education, the Organization of American Historians, the International Society for Technology in Education, and the American Historical Association. (Appointing Authority: Board of Regents) (Return to top)
Bronwyn N. Hannon, of Garden City, is Curator of Acquisitions, Special Collections/Long Island Studies Institute at Hofstra University, Hempstead, Long Island. She is a former senior archivist at the Australian Archives and Australian government researcher. As well as the NYS APT Board she is a member of the NYS Commission on the Restoration of the Capital. (Appointing Authority: Senate Majority Leader) (Return to top)
Harold Holzer,
of Rye, is Senior Vice President for External Affairs at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and is one of the country's leading authorities on Lincoln and Civil War iconography and the political culture of 19th Century America. Author or co-author of 36 books and more than 350 articles for popular magazines and scholarly journals, Mr. Holzer is Chairman of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation and formerly co-chaired the commission 2001-2010. He is winner of the National Humanities Medal, and has served as consultant to ABC, PBS and A&E documentaries. For eight years prior to joining the Metropolitan Museum staff, he was Special Counselor and Director of Communications for the State Director of Economic Development. (Appointing Authority: Senate Minority Leader) (Return to top)
Harold N. Iselin, of Albany, is a shareholder in the law firm Greenberg Traurig. Mr. Iselin served as Law Clerk to Hon. Robert H. Bork, U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit and was a trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice. From 1986-90, he served as an Assistant Counsel to the Governor of New York. Mr. Iselin concentrates his practice in the areas of health care, government relations, and complex civil and administrative litigation. He is counsel to the New York Health Plan Association, which represents the majority of health plans in New York, and he provides strategic guidance and advice to numerous other health plan clients across the country. Mr. Iselin appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1994 in New York State Conference of Blue Cross & Blue Shield Plans v. Travelers Ins. Co. and has spoken widely on issues of health care reform, ERISA preemption, Medicaid managed care, hospital reimbursement and health plan liability. He also served as a member of the Managed Care Compliance Program Guidance Advisory Committee of the New York State Office Medicaid Inspector General. (Appointing Authority: Governor's Office) (Return to top)
Hon. John J. McEneny, of Albany, represents the 104th District of Albany County. He began his public service in 1965, led human resource/employment programs for the City of Albany under Mayor Erastus Corning 2nd, was appointed overseer of the 1980 Census for the four-county Capital District, and then became Assistant County Executive and County Historian for Albany County. He is a well-known teacher, writer and speaker on local history, ethnicity and related fields. He wrote and narrated WMHT Public Television's Tricentennial Documentary of Albany and authored Albany, Capital City on the Hudson. (Appointing Authority: Assembly Speaker) (Return to top)
Stephen Pagano is Executive Vice President, Special Projects at Time Warner Cable’s corporate office in New York City. In that capacity, he manages company-wide initiatives including a strategic sourcing program, a national sustainability program, and best practices standardization across all regions.Pagano served as Executive Vice President of the company’s West Region through 2009. The region, which serves more than 2.5 million basic subscribers, has revenue in excess of 3 billion dollars, and an operation with over 7,000 employees, includes Los Angeles as its anchor, along with San Diego and Hawaii. Stephen Pagano joined Time Warner Cable’s Los Angeles Region as President in March 2007. Pagano joined a Time Warner Cable predecessor, ATC, in 1982 as a Director of Marketing. He served in several marketing and customer care roles until 1992, when he became the company’s President and General Manager of Staten Island Cable, a division at Time Warner Cable. In 1999, he was named Division President of the company’s Albany Division. Stephen is a 25 year veteran of Time Warner Cable and has held a variety of leadership positions. Prior board memberships have included Executive board member of Capitol District YMCA; board member of WMHT, Television Albany Area PBS affiliate; board member of Schenectady Science Museum; and Board of Directors of Historic Richmond Town.(Appointing Authority: Governor's Office) (Return to top)
Lauren D. Rachlin is a partner in the law firm of Hodgson Russ LLP which has offices in New York City, Buffalo, Albany, and Johnstown in New York; Palm Beach, Florida and in Toronto, Ontario where he is a licensed Foreign Legal Consultant. Mr. Rachlin has served as a panelist on Binational Dispute Settlement Panels established pursuant to Chapter 19 of the Canada - U.S. Free Trade Agreement and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). He is a member of the Trade Advisory Committee on Customs and Trade Policy matters (ITAC-14) of the USTR and the U.S. Department of Commerce. He has arbitrated cases for the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the American Arbitration Association (AAA). He serves on the AAA Large and Complex Case Panel and the International Center for Dispute Resolution (ICDR) panel. Mr. Rachlin is the founding chair of the New York State Bar Association Section on International Law. (Appointing Authority: Governor's Office)(Return to top)
Avi Schick, Esq. , of Brooklyn, is deputy counsel to the Attorney General, New York State Department of Law. (Appointing Authority: Assembly Speaker)(Return to top)
Gary Smith, of Clifton Park, brings over 40 years of Hotel Marketing and Operations experience to the Albany, NY, hotel scene. Mr. Smith founded Hospitality Management Group (HMG) in 2000, when he formed a consulting group advising various Hospitality and Food Service Operations around the state. He founded the Desmond American Wine Festival in 1987, and the Saratoga Wine and Food Festival in 2001. He spent fourteen years with the independent Desmond Hotel and Conference Center in Albany, New York, as General Manager and concurrently nineteen years as Vice President of Marketing for Village Square of Penna Inc, the parent company of The Desmond. Mr. Smith was employed as Director of Sales with Marriott’s Marco Beach Hotel in 1984 and 1985.Through HMG, Mr. Smith in collaboration with is two sons, Garrick and Justin, developed concept design, participated in construction, and provided management of 74 State, a 74 room boutique hotel and conference facility constructed within and historic building in downtown Albany, NY, opening in January of 2007. He has worked with a variety of hotel openings and management of third party hospitality investments since 2002. Mr. Smith served in many community and civic endeavors including Chairing the Eastern New York Nature Conservancy, Chairing the Albany – Colonie Chamber of Commerce, and serving on numerous boards throughout New York’s Capital Region.(Appointing Authority: Assembly Minority Leader) (Return to top)
Jay Summerson, of Voorheesville, is Microsoft’s Northeast Director of Government Affairs and is responsible for developing and managing the company’s relationships with government officials, technology thought leaders, and key third parties. For almost 20 years, Jay has represented a variety of business interests, including AT&T and the members of The Business Council of NYS, before government. In that time, he has been engaged in a variety of issues ranging from the creation of a new economic development power program to tax incentives for capital investments to online safety initiatives. Jay is a graduate of Hartwick College in Oneonta, NY where he focused on economics and political science. Jay is a lifelong resident of Upstate New York,and currently resides in Voorheesville with his wife and two children.(Appointing Authority: Governor's Office) (Return to top)
Rosemary S. Vietor, of New York City, is President of the Bowne House Historical Society. Bowne House, which dates from 1661, is the oldest surviving structure in Queens. Bowne House has been a museum open to the public since 1947 and is known for its association with the principle of freedom of conscience in America. Mrs. Vietor formerly served on the Board of the Colonial Dames of America. She currently is Treasurer of the New York Committee of the Garden Club of America and is on the board of the Millbrook Garden Club. Prior to retirement, she was an investment manager and Vice President of JP Morgan; Clariden Bank (a subsidiary of C. S. First Boston); and the Mathes Company. (Appointing Authority: Senate Minority Leader)(Return to top)
