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.

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. 

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.

Camille LeFevre is a descendent of the LeFevre family, and daughter of Anne and Herbert LeFevre, long time, active members of the HHS and LeFevre Family. Herbert LeFevre, who grew up in New Paltz, was President of the LeFevre Family Association for many years and also an HHS Board Member, roles which meant a lot to him and his family. Camille lives in Irvington, NY with her husband Louis Agro. They have two sons who over the years have enjoyed events in New Paltz such as Colonial Street Festival and Haunted Huguenot Street. Over the years, Camille has been active in the LeFevre Family Association and participated in many HHS events such as the Gathering and Colonial Street Festival as a tour guide in the LeFevre House.  She also joined us in speaking at SUNY New Paltz as they contemplated changing the names of their buildings from the Huguenot names, an event that she took very personally.  More recently, she participated in an Interpretive Planning Session with our consultants. She is looking to become more involved with HHS and contribute her time and ideas.  A graduate of Smith College (AB-Economics) and NYU- Stern School of Business (MBA- Finance), she currently works for JPMorgan as an Executive Director in Wholesale Credit Risk where she leads a regulatory strategy team. Camille has a strong business background with an expertise in credit analysis and strategy. She is proud of her Huguenot ancestry and is eager to contribute in a meaningful way to preserve HHS and the site, an important part of American History, as a tool to promote thoughtfulness, learning and enjoyment. 

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.

Michael G. Vondras has enjoyed a distinguished 37-year career in banking, holding a range of roles from branch manager and lending officer at a community bank to senior executive positions in credit risk and relationship management at a major global bank. Throughout his career, he has developed a deep expertise in financial management, risk assessment, and strategic relationship-building. In addition to his work in banking, Michael has been an adjunct instructor for over 30 years, teaching Economics, Finance, Money and Banking, and Accounting at both undergraduate and graduate levels.  A lifelong resident of the Hudson Valley, Michael is a proud graduate of Newburgh Free Academy. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the State University of New York at Albany and an MBA from Fordham University. Outside of his professional endeavors, Michael is deeply devoted to his family, his vocation as a teacher, and his love of the Hudson Valley, particularly its rich colonial history.

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.