Mary Etta Schneider serves as Chairwoman of the HHS Board of Trustees. Ms. Schneider was a leader in the banking industry for close to 30 years and is now a committed advisor and fundraiser for major non-profit organizations benefiting education, history, the arts, and other charitable causes. As a descendant of many of the Huguenot founders of New Paltz, Ms. Schneider is passionate about Historic Huguenot Street and its mission. She also serves on the Advisory Councils for the Hudson River Valley Institute at Marist College and the Depuy Canal House Museum in High Falls, NY. Ms. Schneider received the Martha Washington Woman of History Award in 2013. She was the recipient of the International Dow Jones Award for Excellence in Economics while graduating cum laude with a B.A. from the State University of New York College at Oswego with a double major in mathematics and economics.

Vals Osborne joined the HHS Board in 2016 where she serves on the Education Committee and is Chair of the Collections Committee. She is a graduate of Trinity College, U. of Toronto, received an MA in Art History from Hunter College, and pursued coursework for a Ph.D. at The Graduate Center, CUNY. Following 12 years as an art dealer in NYC, she served as the first woman director of education at Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO, an international educational association of presidents of companies world-wide). She then joined Sotheby’s, N.A., as founding director of Sotheby’s Institute, where she created programs on American and European art, architecture and the decorative arts, including the American Arts Course, an accredited graduate- level nine-month course still running today. She is also an emerita member of the Board of Directors of Wallkill Valley Land Trust (WVLT) where she organized historic house tours featured in Legacies on the Land: Historic Houses, Hamlets, and Landscapes of Southern Ulster County, a 2024 publication of HHS, edited by Vals. Ms. Osborne was originally named Vice Chairwoman in March 2020, and continues to hold that position.

James (Jim) Cotter currently serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Ulster Savings Bank (appointed February 2019). Prior to this, he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Salisbury Bank and Trust Company (January 2016-February 2019) and Naugatuck Valley Savings and Loan (May 2013-January 2016). He has also served as Senior Vice President at Newtown Savings Bank from February 2006 to May 2013 and as Senior Vice President at Fairfield County Bank from January 2000 to February 2006. In such prior positions, Mr. Cotter was responsible for oversight of Retail Banking, Deposit Operations, Investment Sales, Marketing, Security, Facilities, and IT. Mr. Cotter earned his Bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of Connecticut, and his MBA in Accounting from the University of New Haven. He is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in Connecticut. Jim has been active in many non-profit organizations throughout his adult life including the American Red Cross and the New Haven Family Alliance. Mr. Cotter originally joined the HHS Board and was named Treasurer in June 2019 and continues to hold that position.

Carol Johnson, a New Paltz native, currently serves as the Coordinator of the Elting Memorial Library’s Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection. Using mostly images from the library’s extensive archives, she wrote the books New Paltz and New Paltz Revisited to instill the importance of historic collections in the preservation of local heritage and make local history accessible to everyone. Carol worked at the Huguenot Historical Society from 1981 to 1999. She is also on the board of the New Paltz Rural Cemetery. Ms. Johnson joined the HHS Board in 2016 and since 2022 she has also served at the Board Secretary.

April Beisaw is a North American archaeologist and professor of anthropology at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York. There she teaches courses on archaeology, Native American cultures, museum ethics, haunted heritage, skeletal anatomy, and forensic anthropology. April's archaeology focuses on community and contemporary approaches, working with the people whose sites and artifacts can provide new insights into contemporary social issues. She has worked with the Dutchess County (NY) government to document and preserve their county poorhouse cemetery, worked with the National Park Service at the Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt to document sites that were being disturbed by bottle collectors, and has developed a partnership with the Olive Free Library (West Shokan, NY) to revive their local history museum and interpret local historical sites associated with the land takings to construct and maintain the Ashokan Reservoir. April's work on the sites associated with reservoir land takings in Kent (Putnam Co, NY), was recently recognized by the county historian's office with The Local History Publication Award. April has published two single authored books, Taking Our Water for the City: The Archaeology of New York City's Watershed Communities and Identifying and Interpreting Animal Bones: A Manual. She has also served as the lead editor on two volumes The Archaeology of Institutional Life and Sins of Our Ancestors: Confronting Archaeological Legacies. Her research has been published in the journals American Anthropologist, the International Journal of Historical Archaeology, Museum Worlds, Historical Archaeology, Pennsylvania History, Maryland Archaeology, Michigan Archaeologist, and Northeastern Historical Archaeology. The article published in American Anthropologist earned the Gordon Willey Prize from the Archaeology Division of the American Anthropological Association, the world's largest professional organization for anthropologists. April is an associate editor for the journal Historical Archaeology, and is a member of the editorial board for the Contemporary Historical Archaeology in Theory series by BAR publishing. 

Jan Willem van Bergen Henegouwen is a hotel management professional with a degree from the top-ranked Cornell School of Hotel Administration. He has served as Food and Beverage Director, Resident Manager and Acting General Manager in a variety of many highly rated hotels in the United States, including The Waldorf Astoria, The Helmsley Palace, and The New York Hilton. Mr. van Bergen  Henegouwen served as COO and Senior Vice President of Operations and Development of a major European Resort & Vacation Club, which is among the worldwide leaders of the vacation ownership industry. Mr. van Bergen was the Founder of Willem Alexander Enterprises, Inc. (WAE) in 2000, which he ran until 2008 to develop new ventures from start-up to full scale operations across multiple continents focusing on establishing luxury hotels, resorts and residential properties. He is also involved with numerous charitable organizations in the non-profit world and raises awareness among its executives about the responsibilities to be more sustainable and responsible. For over two decades, he was dedicated to improving the New York City Community, in particular the neighborhood once best known as "Hell's Kitchen,” leading the transformation of that neighborhood. He served for 19 years as CEO - Board President of the well-known Worldwide Plaza Complexes in Manhattan. In the year 2000, Mr. Van Bergen Henegouwen was the distinguished recipient of one of the American Resort Development Association (ARDA)’s most esteemed awards – the ACE (ARDA Circle of Excellence) Community Service Award. He was an ARDA Trustee and served on many ARDA Committees in Washington, D.C. for 20 years. He is fluent in English, German, French, Swiss German, and Dutch. He joined the Board of Trustees at Historic Huguenot Street in 2024.

Alicia DeMarco is a Certified Public Accountant and has more than 10 years of accounting experience. She began her career in public accounting providing tax compliance and consulting services to a wide variety of industries with an emphasis on corporate taxation and employee benefit plan auditing. Additionally, Alicia spent 4 years gaining experience in municipal government, serving as the Director of Audit and Control for Ulster County. Alicia is a life-long resident of the Hudson Valley and an active community member. She has a passion for internal auditing within the public sector and brings both private and municipal experience to the Office. Professional Affiliations: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants NYS Government Finance Officers Association Certified Public Accountant in the State of New York Education: MBA, Accounting, SUNY New Paltz BS, Accounting, SUNY New Paltz.

Peter DeYoe joined the HHS Board of Trustees in 2015. He grew up in Saddle River, NJ and learned about historic preservation from his family, who, in 1952 purchased 11 old buildings, beginning the formation of what is now known as Barnstable Court. Today, the entire complex is protected from development by New Jersey State Historic Preservation. Mr. DeYoe also served as the Historian for the Deyo Family Association from 2009 to 2010.

Judith Hernstadt is an American city planner, real estate, and broadcasting executive. She earned a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning and Public Administration from New York University and was certified by the company management program at Harvard Business School. She worked as a planning consultant and was president and part-owner of Hernstadt Broadcasting. Judith is currently serving on the US Department of State Fine Arts Committee, the Committee of American Friends of Yale Art Gallery, the Board of the Georgia Museum of Art, the Board of the Decorative Arts Society, the Council of Rockefeller University, and the Board of Netherland America Foundation. She has been involved with the National Committee on American Foreign Policy - Decorative Arts Trust, the Fine Arts Federation of New York, and the ACORN Foundation, and has been a member of the Hudson Institute, and the National Institute of Social Sciences, among many others. Judith currently lives in New York City and was engaged with HHS for years before to joining the Board in 2019.

Rief Kanan joined the HHS Board of Trustees in 2015 and currently serves as Chair of the audit committee. Mr. Kanan is a recently retired professor of accounting at the School of Business at SUNY New Paltz, where he was the Director of The Business Institute and held a Sam Walton Free Enterprise Fellowship. In May 2014, he received the Dr. Emanuel Saxe Outstanding CPA in Education Award which is the highest honor given to an educator by the New York State Society of CPAs.

R.J. Smith is a respected member of the Orange County business and civic community. As an entrepreneur, he established his own real estate brokerage firm. His extensive knowledge and expertise have granted him the opportunity to give back to the community in many ways. Some of RJ’s notable community projects include helping to establish a community health center in Pine Bush as well as collaborating to preserve and protect over 3,000 acres of farmland, open space, and watershed properties. He has served as town councilman, county legislator, and school board member. He was a founder and past president of the Community Foundation of Orange and Sullivan. RJ sold his business in 2015 yet continues on as a broker with his own dedicated team. He received his BS in Economics from Davis & Elkins College and hold a master’s degree from SUNY New Paltz.  RJ is a Freer descendant and lives in his family’s 200-year-old ancestral home in Pine Bush, NY.

John Sorlie is originally from Brooklyn, NY and moved up to the Hudson Valley Region, with his wife Karen, back in October 2004. He recently retired with his last position being AVP Branch Manager of the New Paltz Branch of Riverside Bank, a division of Salisbury Bank & Trust (now NBT Bank). He had spent the last 14 years of his working career in the banking industry. Prior to that John had been involved in the retail management field. John has a BS degree in Psychology which he received from Brooklyn College. He had also spent three and a half years at the US Naval Academy. He enjoys working with people and does whatever he can to help and make things right. John is also involved with the New Paltz Regional Chamber of Commerce as well as being the Chair person for Nubian Directions, an organization based in Poughkeepsie that works with helping “disadvantaged” youth. John joined the HHS Board of Trustees in January 2020.

Laura Washington joined the HHS Board of Trustees in 2017 and currently serves as Chair of HHS’s Education and Programming Committee. Ms. Washington is President & CEO of Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley, which serves as a vital hub for philanthropy in Ulster, Dutchess, and Putnam counties, facilitating connections between caring donors and nonprofits working to address issues important to the community. Previously, she served as Chief Communications Officer and Vice President for Strategic Partnerships at the New-York Historical Society and established the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s inaugural communications function. Ms. Washington also serves on the Board of the Hudson Valley Economic Development Corporation.