Board of Trustees

The Hudson River Maritime Museum, as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, is governed by a volunteer board of trustees. 

2020 Board of Trustees

Officers​
  • President – Jack Weeks
  • 1st Vice President - Dale Wolfield
  • 2nd Vice President - Allan Bowdery
  • Treasurer – Brian Johnson
  • Secretary – Shelly Wright
  • Member of Executive Committee - Bob Burhans

Board Members
  • Allan Bowdery
  • Bob Burhans
  • Stephen Digilio
  • L. David Eaton
  • Brian Johnson
  • Russell Lange
  • Ann Loeding
  • Frank Marcigliano
  • Kelley O'Connor
  • Mark Peckham
  • Chris Pena
  • David Price
  • William Ryan
  • Jack Weeks
  • Ian Westergren
  • Dale Wolfield
  • Shelly Wright
To contact a board member, please use our contact page to speak to the Executive Director. 

2020 Board of Trustees Biographies

More biographies coming soon! Board members are listed in alphabetical order by last name.
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Robert L. Burhans is currently a consultant in health emergency management including the preparedness, response and recovery from health emergencies. Immediately after 9/11, he was appointed to serve as the first Director of Health Emergency Preparedness for the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH). With 34 years of public health experience at both the state and local level, Mr. Burhans led the state’s Office of Health Emergency Preparedness, which coordinated NYSDOH’s comprehensive all-hazards preparedness and response activities, including integrating local health departments and the state’s health care system in readiness and response activities. Mr. Burhans earned a B.A. in Biological Science from the State University of New York, New Paltz, and has completed graduate level coursework at the Nelson A. Rockefeller School of Public Administration and the State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany School of Public Health. He is a graduate of the SUNY Albany School of Public Health’s Northeast Public Health Leadership Institute and has completed the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and School of Public Health.
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L. David Eaton is currently the Vice President of Enrollment Management at the State University of New York at New Paltz.  He received his Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy his Master’s degree in Public Administration from Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan.  He continued graduate study and research at the Rockefeller School of Public Affairs in Albany. Mr. Eaton has been involved in higher education administration for 40 years.  As Vice President of Enrollment Management, he has been the principal architect of New Paltz’s new student recruitment and marketing strategies that have resulted in unprecedented growth in the popularity and selectivity of New Paltz’s undergraduate programs.  He has led the institution’s efforts to establish a comprehensive and strategic integrated brand marketing strategy for the campus. Additionally, Mr. Eaton has been involved with the development of overseas programs and exchange agreements with universities and colleges in England, Germany, Sweden, Greece, the Czech Republic, and China. David Eaton is an avid outdoorsman, boater, cyclist, Alpine skier, a musician, and the father of three children; all of whom, to his relief, have successfully completed one or more university degrees and are gainfully employed in the profession of their choice.
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Mark Peckham is a lifelong maritime history enthusiast who lives with his wife Shauna in the historic Hudson River hamlet of New Baltimore.  He retired in 2015 from a career in Historic Preservation, where he was employed by the City of Seattle, an Albany architectural firm, and the New York State Division for Historic Preservation.  While employed by New York State he served as the National Register Program Coordinator, Field Services Bureau Director and Bureau of Historic Sites Director.  He also served as Executive Secretary to the New York State Board for Historic Preservation and as a member of the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor Commission.  In addition to history, Mark enjoys sailing, illustration and carving ship models.
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David A. Price - Retired from J.P. Morgan, David spent his entire career in various sales and marketing roles. Starting at Pan American World Airways, which provided the opportunity to travel the world, David also served in senior account management roles at DFS, SSC&B and Ketchum advertising agencies as well as his own agency Crew Communications that listed AT&T, Ricoh and Price Waterhouse among its clients. David’s interest in preserving classic wooden boats led to his affiliation with the Hudson River Maritime Museum.
Jack Weeks, MD is a lifelong resident of the Hudson Valley having grown up as the oldest of three very active brothers in Amenia in Dutchess County. Following high school, he served in The US Army from 1969-1971.  He was in Vietnam as an infantry sergeant and medic. He received a bachelors degree from Syracuse University in 1975, and did his premedical studies at Columbia’s College of General Studies in NYC. In 1981 he received  his medical degree from the University of Virginia, where he met his wife Elizabeth (Tebbie). Jack practiced medicine in Kingston as a family doctor for 30 years before retiring in 2014. He was board certified in both family medicine and geriatrics. He attended patients at both Kingston Hospital and Benedicitine where he was chair of the Family Practice Department for a number of years. He was also a clinical assistant professor of Family Practice at NY Medical College, and created the 3rd Year rural Family Medicine Clerkship program in Kingston for the medical school. Jack was on the board of the  Kingston Hospital as well as president of the board of the Hudson River Maritime Museum. He lives in Kingston with his wife Tebbie and daughter Beth. He loves to build things, run his saw mill, sail, and work with the “guys” at the boat school.
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Jim Sperry joined the HRMM board in 2017. He is a Registered Landscape Architect recently relocated to Kingston from the Hartford Connecticut area.  A graduate of Syracuse University and SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, his career of over 40 years has provided the opportunity to design large scale planned community developments, golf courses,  college campus expansions, corporate office facilities, schools and municipal centers in Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island.  Jim's interest in classic boats, restoration, construction and history of the Hudson River Valley led him to the Museum and Boat Building School.  His interests include biking, camping, hiking and water related activities.
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Ian Westergren, born and educated in Sweden, spent the first 25 years of his career in journalism as a reporter, editor and foreign correspondent for United Press International overseas and in the United States. He started his own software and information company 30 years ago and is still active as the Executive Chairman of SPW, Inc., also known as The Sports Wire. Ian, a past Commodore of the Kingston Sailing Club, owned his first sailboat as a teenager in Sweden and has been been an avid sailor all his life and is still racing sailboats on the Hudson River and Long Island Sound. He lives on the river in Port Ewen, New York, minutes away from the Roundout marina where he keeps his boat “Puck” – named after the character in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.
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Dale Wolfield joined the HRMM board in 2007. She serves as advisory for Vessel Donations/Sales and Riverport Sailing & Rowing School, supports HRMM social media and attends to the gardens at the museum and boat school.  She operates the water chestnut harvester as part of the  invasive species eradication program for the Town of Esopus as well as serving on its Waterfront Advisory Board. Past service includes with Woodstock Artists Association and Museum board where she is a life member.  Dale actively participates in one design yacht racing and off-shore regattas and has served as a sailing instructor, delivery captain and captain for local commercial ventures.  A graduate of SUNY New Paltz and an  exhibiting artist, she has 30 years of experience in  visual arts education at the secondary and university level.  An avid skier, she volunteers with a local Ski Patrol in the winter months.

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​Shelly Wright is Chief of Staff and Vice President for Communication and oversees daily operations of the President’s Office at the State University of New York at New Paltz. She directs executive and institutional communication and the university’s interaction with its many internal and external constituencies. As Vice President for Communication, Shelly Wright directs the university’s strategic communication efforts. She supervises the Office of Communication and Marketing. A first-generation college student, she earned her B.A. in journalism and German at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, in 1987, and spent her junior year as an exchange student in Bonn, Germany. She earned her M.S. in journalism from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism in 1990. She has completed doctoral coursework in sociology, communication and higher education administration at the University at Albany. She resides in New Paltz with her husband, Lee, who is a SUNY New Paltz alumnus.

Honor Board

In 2017, the Hudson River Maritime Museum invited all board members who ever served to join a special Honor Board. As the Hudson River Maritime Museum looks to the future, we wish to honor those who have served the organization. We look to these former board members for their wisdom and experience as we continue to grow. 

Honor Board:
  • Raymond Armater
  • Mary Andrews
  • Alan Bendelius
  • Anna Brett
  • Bob Carlzon
  • Diane DeChillo
  • John Crist
  • Daniel Devine
  • Annmarie Dwyer
  • Joseph W. Fleming 
  • Jay Hogan
  • Scott Johnson 
  • Peter E. Kane 
  • Allynne Lange
  • Marita Lopez-Mena
  • Fred Mangelsdorf 
  • Carolyn Millonig
  • Daniel Proctor
  • Lillian Schecter
  • John Shults
  • Daniel Shuster
  • Jim Sperry
  • John Stephenson
  • Gregg Swanzey
  • Francesca Szabadi
  • Michael Wholey
  • Joyce Wright
  • Ralph Mills

If you have ever served on the Board of Trustees for the Hudson River Maritime Museum and would like to join the Honor Board, please contact Lisa Cline at lcline@hrmm.org.