Gareth Hougham, Ph.D.

President, Adjunct Prof. Environmental Sci.

Gareth G. Hougham received a Ph.D. in chemistry and a in chemistry and environmental science. He worked as a materials science team lead at the IBM Thomas J.Watson Research Center for 30 years,conducting basic and applied research in polymer chemistry and physics, metallurgy, and electrochemistry. Dr. Hougham has 98 issued U.S. patents,36 professional publications, and two books on fluoropolymers. As the founding and current President of Hudson Valley Arts and Sciences (HVAS), a 501(c)3 corporation, he now devotes his time to the grants-funded research and education missions of understanding, sharing knowledge and art, and protecting the ecologyand environment of the communities and watersheds of the Hudson Valley As part of his passion to help protect and advance in sustainable ways the natural and built environments,

he is also on the Town of Ossining Planning Board and liaison to the town’s Environmental Advisor Committee.

Elizabeth O’Mara

Chief Financial Officer

Liz O’Mara brings an advertising brain to agile product development and R&D. She helps companies identify and make the best use of their key performance indicators and big data. SheLiz is a veteran of Silicon Valley’s boom and bust cycles, and the 90’s version of NYC’s Mad Men advertising scene. She has managed digital product development for clients Gillette and Morgan Stanley, creative design for IBM and the NY Department of Environmental Conservation, new product introductions for Broadstreet Productions and Davis & Gilbert, and consumer product licensing for Ripleys Believe It or Not. Figuring out what fascinates people, and how to elegantly incorporate it into products is her mission.

George Kraemer, Ph.D.

Professor, Marine Ecology SUNY Purchase

George Kraemer was trained as a marine ecologist, with a master’s degree in oceanography from Texas A&M University and a Ph.D. in biology from UCLA. His research interests center around the impacts of non-natives and the use of aquaculture as a bioremediatory tool. His research approaches include the application of physiological ecology and population dynamics. He has successfully pursued funding for research from NOAA, EPA, and National Fish and Wildlife Foundation with collaborators from UConn.

Margaret Minnis, Ph.D

Professor, Environmental Science PACE University

Dr. Minnis has served on the Darien, Connecticut Environmental Protection Commission, which has influenced her conception of how an environmental education can be used to serve the needs of a community in service of improving the environment. One in-depth study resulted in a textbook on onsite wastewater treatment systems and how these can address community sanitation needs to recycle water in an efficient and environmentally-sensitive manner. Dr. Minnis has used and taught GIS methods to address community issues in watershed protection, water quality mapping, open space analysis, historic preservation, 3-D analysis of watershed boundaries and air quality analysis. She has trained and led volunteer groups to monitor streams using the Izaak Walton League of America’s Save Our Streams program, training participants to identify

benthic macroinvertebrates and perform field-based chemical water analysis. Further, she has worked with golf courses to help them achieve certification in the Audubon Cooperative Wildlife Sanctuary Program. Prior to teaching at Pace, her research was devoted to using scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive x-ray analysis to analyze particulates, concentrating on developing a signature to identify the fly ash from coal-fired power plants.

Gavin W. Hougham, Ph.D.

Sociology, Statistics

Sociologist, educator, and health care executive Gavin W. Hougham was recently Director of the West Coast (Seattle) division of Battelle Memorial Institute where he was responsible for scientific and operational leadership of a team of health-focused scientists. Previously, at the University of Chicago, Dr. Hougham was Deputy Director of The Center for Health and the Social Sciences and Assistant Professor of Medicine. Prior to that he was an executive with the John A. Hartford Foundation in New York City, where he directed a $60m dollar portfolio of grantmaking in gerontology and health workforce preparation. He has maintained an active health services research program in the areas of aging, trajectories of socio-medical and clinical phenomena, cross-cultural Japanese gerontology, health workforce needs, research ethics, and informed workforce needs,

research ethics, and informed consent with older adults. He is also an award-winning photographer, capitalizing on early training in the arts. With over 150 professional papers and presentations to date, Dr. Hougham’s latest publications review the promise of advanced technologies in the service of older adults: “Artificial Intelligence and its Potential to Improve Health of Older Adults,” and “Current Major Challenges in Aging and Targets for Technology.”

John Waldman, Ph.D.

Professor, Biology Queens College

David Post

Business Development. DVP Advisors, Inc.

David Post is business-development executive and strategic advisor with a progressive record of success in Management Consulting, Child Care, Human Resources, and Project Management. David is an agile, responsive, and innovative leader with a broad strategic perspective and a strong bias for practical collaboration. He is a highly principled relationship builder who positions organizations for growth through teamwork, trust, and instilling a culture of achievement. His work has focused primarily in the child care sector in the US, UK, Europe and Canada, with multiple management consulting projects in the US and Bermuda. In addition to his professional career David serves on multiple Boards, as a mentor for aspiring business leaders and provides pro-bono services to nonprofits.

Barbara Bender Henninger

BS Degree in Business Administration

Barbara Bender Henninger graduated from Good Counsel College in White Plains, NY, with a BS degree in business administration. She worked at IBM as the executive secretary to IBM’s CEO Frank Cary and with Thomas J. Watson Jr.  After retiring from IBM in 1992; she worked at the Ossining public library until 2012.  After re-retiring from the library, she became the Friends of the Library president and led it through certification as a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation. She remained president and directed fundraising events, membership, and administration until 2021. Barbara has consulted on organization and administrative matters for Hudson Valley Stream Conservancy for several years and now brings her years of experience and wisdom to the board of directors.

Lorien House, Esq.

Attorney

Graduated from Chicago-Kent College of Law with High Honors and is a member of the Order of the Coif. During law school, she was a member of the Chicago-Kent Honors Scholars, and interned with the New York State Office of the Attorney General, where she worked in the Health Law division. she worked many years as a Court Attorney in the New York State Appellate Court (Second Department) where she researched and wrote proposed opinions on a wide variety of cases, including criminal, family, employment, personal injury, contract and property.Prior to law school,worked as a legal assistant to a landlord/tenant attorney and as a technical writer, co-authoring a book on the SVG programming languageShe has also researched and written articles and memoranda on issues as diverse as parental rights, federal sentencing guidelines, common law habeas corpus and recent NIH determinations concerning chimpanzees in laboratory research. Ms. House is licensed in New York with specialties in Research and Writing, Criminal and Civil Appeals, Family Law, Landlord/Tenant, Personal Injury.

Dan Shaple

Water Quality Program Director, Riverkeeper

Dominique Bravo, Esq.

HVSC Attorney

Dominique Bravo is an attorney with more than 20 years of experience representing artists, labor unions, and other individuals and organizations. She is an experienced litigator with an emphasis on labor and employment law and provides general management counsel to a number of arts and non‐profit organizations. She is a co‐founder of Cumbe: Center for African and Diaspora Dance, a dance and drumming studio and performance space in Brooklyn, and she currently serves as General Counsel of Girl Be Heard, a non-profit organization that empowers young womengirls through theatre and the performing arts. Dominique is also an officer and member of the Board of Directors of the Red Hook Initiative, a community organization in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, and a member of the Advisory Board of Chicken and Egg Pictures, a productioncompany that supports women filmmakers working on social justice-themed documentaries. She is a former member of Community Board 6 in Brooklyn.