Meet Our Board of Directors

Executive Committee

A bridge to the community

Thomas Hess

President

Tom has dedicated his 40 year professional career to developing, implementing and monitoring federal, state, regional, local, and organizational specific programs toward the goal of reducing trauma and improving outcomes for child victims of severe abuse and/or neglect. He developed and provided oversight for all Child and Family Safety Programs funded through the NYS Office of Children Families Services as well the Federal Children's Justice Act Program. He has served on numerous national, Federal, State, and New York City task forces and committees.

Richard Washburn

Vice President

Richard is a career public servant having over 32 years with the State of New York in the Human Resources, technology, and engineering fields. He is Chairman of the Columbia County Board of Ethics, former seat on the County Environment Management Council, and is trained in national Incident Management System (NIMS) for disaster preparedness and recovery. He serves as Chaplain to the Hudson Police Department, Greenport Fire Department, and multiple civil and community organizations in the county. He is also an active volunteer firefighter and certified as a peace officer with training in Fire Police Squad operations.

Jay Aronson

Secretary

Jay has dedicated her professional career working for students, families, and members of the community as an integral part of the Hudson City School District Guidance Office. She brings over 34 years of experience in prevention activities, advocacy and social/emotional and career development. She is also a moderator in the Canaan Congregational Church (United Church of Christ).

Sean DuBois

Treasurer

Sean is the Southern Region Executive, Vice President of Commercial Lending at the Bank of Greene County. With over 30 years of experience in banking, Sean has developed extensive experience in analyzing financial statements, corporate structure and strategy for businesses of varying sizes and has assisted many businesses throughout the Hudson Valley.

Building a bridge to wellbeing

Board of Directors

Cynthia Engel

Cynthia is a Psychiatric Clinical Nurse Specialist, certified with the ANCC since 1986. She has been an academic at Columbia-Greene Community College for 35 years, educating RNs to advocate and meet the psychiatric mental health needs of clients. Her board membership has broadened her perspective of services offered at the MHA as well as the degree of expertise and commitment of the MHA staff.

Elizabeth Daly

Beth is a long standing resident of Greene County serving Catskill Central School district for over 26 years. She holds a Masters and Advanced Certificate in School counseling and has a passion for working with young people and their families to share in their journey to becoming the best they can be. She has had a Youth Development Program Director position within the Cooperative Extension in Greene County and prior to being a board member recognized the value of this organization to the community, promoting mental health for the youth and families she works with.

Jack Mabb

Jack brings over 40 years of experience in mental and environmental health to the board. Having worked with people with disabilities with COARC in the 70's, Jack moved on to teach Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities at Columbia-Greene. Since then, Jack has been with the county Department of Health for 17 years, starting as an environmental health technician, then quickly becoming the director of that unit and then head of the agency for over 6 years.

Jeanette Nesel

Jeanette is a co-founder & maltster with her husband of the Hudson Valley Malt/Germantown Beer Farm to supply malt to the Craft Beverage industry. Her background includes 40 years of Radio and Media marketing along with ownership of businesses and horses. In a broken world, she works to lend a hand to help fix it and joined the MHA to continue to give back to the community in which she lives.

Jeff Barrett

Jeff is a long standing Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and member of our board. He joined in the late 1980s as Treasurer before being elected President of the board, concluding his tenure in June 2022, but remaining on as an active member of the board to continue advocating for the health and well-being of our communities. Jeff has worked with hundreds of non-profits and housing agencies through his tenure as board member, as a CPA, and through volunteer work.

Joann Lewicki

Joann has an extensive history in nursing, primarily with over 30 years serving persons with developmental disabilities with COARC. She has also worked as a hospice nurse at Community Hospice of Columbia Greene for over 5 years, and was a member of the Governor's Advisory Council on Mental Retardation & Developmental Disabilities under Governor George Pataki. Joann joined the MHA through her work as a board member of the Association in Meaningful Living (AIM) which merged with MHACG in 1997. Though now retired, Joann continues to give a voice to those who need help in advocating for themselves by continuing her board work here, on the Columbia County Chapter of the NYSARC Guardianship Committee, and on COARC's Human Rights Committee.

John Sargent

John brings 31 years of facilities & property management, having worked for the US General Services Administration (GSA) as the Property Manager of the Federal Courthouse in Waco, Texas, the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, and the Property Manager of the James Foley Federal Courthouse in Albany, NY. In Texas, he was also the Contracting Officer of the custodial and mechanical contracts of the housing facilities on the President Bush Ranch in Crawford. Currently, John continues to give back to the community as a Teachers Aide in the Cairo Durham High School.

Onat Sanchez-Schwartz

Onat has been working in the non-profit field for the last 22 years, with a focus on supporting people with developmental disabilities. He has been involved with the Camphill Association of North America, an organization that provides residential, vocational, and social supports to individuals with Intellectual/Developmental Disability (I/DD) in life sharing communities. He is currently the executive director of Camphill Hudson.