Bob lives on a farm in Accord with his wife Elaine LaFlamme, a former Executive Director of the D&H Canal Historical Society. He has served for many years as the key figure in the Open Space Institute's ("OSI") tremendous land preservation achievements in the Shawangunk region, but his valuable work goes well beyond the Wallkill, Shawangunk, Esopus and Rondout Valleys.

Bob is Senior VP and General Counsel of OSI. He also serves on the board of the Rondout-Esopus Land Trust. Bob played a major role in making the Canal Society's purchase of the Canal House possible. He worked with the Society to secure the $500,000 grant from New York State's Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation which formed the core of the funding needed to buy the property. He has since provided the Society with wise counsel as it has crafted the plans for its museum and regional visitor center in the Canal House.

Arthur loves the nature, history, and art of Ulster County. Born in Western Michigan, he went East to study organic chemistry, American history, and law. After a stint with a large patent litigation firm in New York, he became an entrepreneur for the rest of his life living in New York and Kingston. His business path varied as co-founder of the first full-service discount stock brokerage on Wall Street, legal counsel to a public cable television company, co-founder of a law firm, and 25 years as co-founder of a marketing communications management consulting firm. He is now working on medical and other innovations as a next chapter in life. What really excites him is trekking to remote areas, working with local nonprofits, and his passion for art and artists of the Historic Woodstock Art Colony. He recently donated his encyclopedic study collection of the Historic Woodstock Art Colony, 1900 - 1950, to the New York State Museum in Albany.

Sally J. Cross, CFRE is a development professional with more than thirty-five years’ experience. She recently retired after nine years at the Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley, where she served in various roles, most recently as President & CEO. In that role she collaborated with generous individuals and their professional advisors to help them create their philanthropic legacy, and frequently spoke to nonprofit staff and boards about the importance of promoting planned giving for organizational sustainability. She has also taught planned giving, major gifts, and capital campaigns in Bay Path University's graduate Nonprofit Fundraising program.
Sally is a graduate of Columbia University’s Barnard College and Portland State University, and a CFRE (Certified Fund Raising Professional). An active community volunteer, she serves on the boards of the Hudson Valley Estate Planning Council, Poughkeepsie Children’s Cabinet, Wallkill Valley Land Trust and Woodland Pond at New Paltz.

is one of the Hudson Valley's leading insurance professionals and wealth managers. He has been honored as Man of the Year by New York Life and is a life member of the Company's Councils. He has received numerous civic awards and designations. He is a past Chair of Benedictine Hospital and has served as leader of a number of regional organizations of industry professionals, as well as having taught financial courses at Marist College and Ulster Community College.

Malia Du Mont is an expert on the Chinese military and its territorial ambitions. Ms. Du Mont was Director of Policy in the Obama Defense Department. She is winner of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Civilian Service. She has lived in China and speaks mandarin. She now serves as Chief of Staff to President Leon Botstein at Bard.

Frederic C. Hof, formerly Bard College’s Diplomat in Residence, has had a distinguished career with the US Army, Department of State, and the international consulting firm AALC, specializing in the Mideast region. He served as ambassador and special adviser for transition in Syria under President Obama and as special coordinator for regional affairs in the US Department of State’s Office of the Special Envoy for Middle East Peace, where he conducted a back-channel peace mediation between Israel and Syria. A Vietnam veteran and graduate of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and Naval Postgraduate School, Hof also served as president and CEO of AALC (formerly Armitage Associates LC); as a US Army Middle East Foreign Area Officer; as the US Army attaché in Beirut; and as an officer in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. In 2001, he directed the Jerusalem field operations of the Sharm el-Sheikh Fact-Finding Committee, headed by former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, and was lead drafter of the committee’s report. As an Army officer, he helped draft the Long Commission report investigating the 1983 bombing of the US Marine headquarters at the Beirut airport. Both reports drew international praise for their fairness and integrity. Hof has written extensively on Lebanon, Syria, and Arab-Israeli issues. Publications include Galilee Divided: The Israel-Lebanon Frontier, 1916–1984 (1985); Line of Battle, Border of Peace? The Line of June 4, 1967 (1999); Beyond the Boundary: Lebanon, Israel, and the Challenge of Change (2000); Reaching for the Heights: The Inside Story of a Secret Attempt to Reach a Syrian-Israeli Peace (2022); opinion pieces in Foreign Policy and The Atlantic; and numerous articles on Jordan Valley water issues. Awards and honors include the Purple Heart, Department of State Superior Honor Award, Secretary of Defense Meritorious Civilian Service Medal, and the Defense Superior Service Medal. He has been teaching at Bard since 2018.

Mr. Kvistad founded and operated Woodstock Chimes for 42 years and sold the company in 2021. He created it by integrating musical themes (about which he is a scholar) from many regions and times, which made it a worldwide seller. His partner Diane was a co-founder and operating executive of Woodstock Chimes. Together they founded the Kvistad Foundation, whose primary mission is giving to organizations which provide food and shelter for the poor, including the elderly and children, Ulster County, New York.

Nadine Lernrnon has worked in public policy for the last 25 years. Most recently, Nadine was Director of New York and Federal Policy for the Tri-State Transportation Campaign (TSTC). Formed In 1993 by leading envitonrnental, transportation and planning organizations, TSTC is a policy and advocacy organization dedicated to reducing car dependency in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Nadine was a two-term member of the town council in Gardiner NY, where she helped pass and implement a smart-growth revision to the town's master plan and zoning code and was project manager for the town's $1.6 million federally-funded sidewalk improvement project. She helped to establish a farmland and open space protection program, including passage of an open space plan, a $1.5 million public bond referendum, purchase of Gardiner's portion of the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail and the purchase and transfer to the state of Awosting Reserve—a private, 2,500 acre property in the Shawangunk Mountains, considered one of the Nature Conservancy's “Last Great Places.”

Nadine has been an Adjunct Professor at City College of New York and SUNY New Paltz, and received a Ph.D. in Sociology from The Graduate Center, CUNY. She also has an MFA from the School of Visual Arts and a BA in Economics from Duke University.

In 2011, Nadine received the Wallkill Valley Land Trust's Conservation Award, “for active advocacy in open space preservation and farmland conservation." She is currently a Board Member of Parks & Trails New York, Woodland Pond at New Paltz, and Center for Photography at Woodstock, Nadine’s home straddles Hurley and Marbletown, NY, where she lives with her husband, Philip Underdown, a photographer, and two Labs.

Harvey is retired from a successful career in international education businesses. He now lives in Accord and is an active investor in various projects.

The board and staff of the Canal Society mourn the passing of Darlene Pfeiffer. Our sincere condolences to her partner Paul and her family. The Society was fortunate to have her counsel as a member of our Advisory board. She was a franchisee of Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Trustee of the Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley. As a generous donor to Ulster County Community College, its Entrepreneurial Center is named for her. She also sat on the Board of the Ulster Community College Foundation.

Mary Kay retired in 2020 after more than 40 years as a leader in the New York State tourism industry. Her final post was as President and CEO of Dutchess County Tourism, Inc. Under her leadership, the County's tourism industry grew to more than 4.5 million visitors annually. Those visitors spent $640 million; their business supported more than 11,000 jobs.

She has been honored with numerous awards. In her honor, on her retirement, Dutchess County Tourism established The Mary Kay Vrba Spirit Award. That Award goes to "An individual who embodies the qualities Mary Kay Vrba represents, including selflessness, service, inclusiveness and leadership."

Mary Kay now resides in Florida, but keeps close tabs on Hudson Valley tourism and remains a greatly valued counselor to tourist-related entities such as the Canal Society.

Kevin is the nation's leading wine educator and author of the world's best-selling wine book, Windows on the World Complete Wine Course, as well as numerous other articles and books about wine. He is a Trustee of the Culinary Institute of America and of Opus 40. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the James Beard Foundation, the premier honor of the culinary world.