Hensley Evans, WSW Board President
Hensley Evans works with Saatchi & Saatchi across their Health and Wellness groups, focusing on integrated marketing strategy and analytics for clients including biotech, pharma, and providers. Her professional career also included more than 15 years of financial and strategic consulting at Price Waterhouse and Andersen Consulting. She also serves on the boards of the Wallkill Valley Land Trust (where she has spearheaded the efforts to renovate the Rosendale Trestle and to develop a comprehensive land use plan for Joppenbergh Mountain) and the African Medical Research Foundation. She lives in Rosendale, NY with her partner, Jason, and their 5 year old daughter, Kaia, who is a budding artist!
Steve Andersen, WSW Board Vice President,
Steve trained as an artist but found work as a freelance journalist, editor and web content producer. He writes feature articles and creates multimedia reports for business magazines and websites on topics ranging from renewable energy generation technology to corporate crime. An avid rock climber and skier, he settled in Rosendale in 2006 for its proximity to the beautiful Shawangunk Ridge.
Kenneth Burge, Artist, Professor of Art, SUNY New Paltz (retired), WSW Board Secretary
Kenneth Burge was Professor of Art at SUNY New Paltz until his retirement in 2003. He has served on WSW’s Board of directors since its inception. Former husband of WSW founder Barbara Leoff Burge and past instructor of founder Ann Kalmbach, Ken has provided continuity and historical perspective to WSW’s board. Ken graduated from George Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, earned an MFA from The University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, and completed additional studies at Columbia Teachers College and Yale University. In addition to being a practicing artist, Ken is an involved political activist, whose perspective also informs his interest in the activities of WSW.
Amy Washburn, Board Treasurer
Amy moved to the Hudson Valley from the Rochester area to study Mathematics at SUNY New Paltz. She fell in love with the region and made the choice to remain here following graduation. Amy is currently a Branch Manager for M&T Bank in Kingston, NY. She participates in many not-for profit events that are supported by the Bank and takes a keen interest in the surrounding community. Amy previously was on the board of directors for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ulster County applying her math and analytical skills, serving as Treasurer.
Ellen Alexander, Owner, HoppingdogSilver
Ellen Alexander has had an extensive corporate career as a Vice President of both Citibank and MasterCard International. During that time she also served on the board of the American Institute of Wine & Food. After leaving corporate life, she interned at Brooklyn Botanic Garden while earning her Certificate of Horticulture. Ellen has also volunteered with the Museum of Modern Art working with Visitor Services until moving full-time to Ulster County in 2006. Her current activities include volunteering at the Rondout Food Pantry where she is a board member. She and her husband David, a jewelry designer, own & operate HoppingdogSilver.
Barbara Leoff Burge, WSW Founder, Artist, New Paltz, NY
Barbara is a founder of Women’s Studio Workshop. Her work is in university and museum collections, including Yale, Harvard, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Museum of Modern Art. She’s a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is a practicing and teaching artist in New Paltz.
Kate Karrakassis, Attorney
Before moving to Red Hook full time in 2010, Kate worked as a litigating attorney for the NYC Law Department in the tort, commercial and risk management divisions, and as an administrative law judge for the Environmental Control Board. Currently she is in private practice. Kate is a member of the New York Mycological and the Mid-Hudson Mycological Societies.
Laurel Sweeney, Associate Broker, ABR, Eco-Broker, Prudential Nutshell Realty, Stone Ridge, NY,
Laurel Sweeney was recently awarded Ulster County Board of Realtors 2008 Realtor Associate of the Year award. In addition to the WSW board, she also serves on the boards of the Stone Ridge Library Foundation and Rondout Valley Business Association, as well as Chair of the Public Relations Committee of the Ulster County Board of Realtors. This community service, coupled with support of Mohonk Preserve, the Rondout Valley Growers Association, The Episcopal Church of Christ the King in Stone Ridge, and Habitat for Humanity compliment the networking and marketing that has been a key factor in her real estate achievements.
Suzanne Stokes, Associate Professor of Art, SUNY New Paltz
Before coming to SUNY, Suzanne was the Outreach Director and a faculty member for K-12 Art Programs at MassArt in Boston, MA. Stokes is the creator and artistic director of Cave Dogs, a collaborative performance group that brings together visual artists, musicians, dancers, storytellers, and writers in the spirit of experimental inter-disciplinary collaboration. The performances consist of innovative, large-scale shadow projections cast onto a scrim from sculptures, props, and the human body, which move in concert with projected video imagery, spoken narrative, and an original soundtrack. Stokes also independently shows her work in galleries, as installations, sound pieces and prints and at film festivals and cyber venues. Suzanne received her MFA from SUNY New Paltz and her BFA from Kent State University, OH.
Susan Shaw, Retired Environmental Engineer and Public Health Specialist
After over twenty years of friendship with Women’s Studio Workshop, Susan has not only become a member of the board, but a neighbor as well. She is excited to be a part of WSW’s current expansion project, as well as continuing her longstanding support of our residency & internship programs.
Lauren V. Walling, Artist and an art educator
Lauren has an M.A.R. in Religious Studies and Art History from Yale Divinity School and is currently a graduate student in Art Education at Columbia University. In addition she has studied art at the School of Visual Arts, the Arts Students League, and the Glassell School of Art. She is a painter, costume designer and printmaker. Lauren has been teaching for 14 years and is currently an art teacher at a private school in New City, NY.
Hope Windle, Instructional designer
Hope has worn many hats in the interactive educational online world. She worked in Silicon Valley for Simon and Schuster/Viacom making interactive lessons for the k-12 market. She has been an art director, producer and creative strategist creating online educational content for fortune 500 companies. She has an MFA from University of California, Davis and her Teacher’s Certificate from Studio in a School and Pratt Institute. She taught art at number of schools in Manhattan, Brooklyn, San Francisco. She has also taught Media Literacy at NYU, School of Visual Arts, and the SF Museum of Art. Presently at SUNY Ulster, as an instructional designer, she works to develop affordances of educational engagement, developing instruction for students to learn from doing. She develops curriculum with professors, providing opportunities for online collaborations, internationally as well as in virtual worlds.
Rich Forbes, Attorney
