Trustees & Advisory Board

President

Ben grew up in Kinderhook, NY, and attended the Ichabod Crane Central School District and The Albany Academy. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Denison University in Granville, OH.

He has worked in the marine insurance industry in New York, Chicago, Dallas, New Jersey, and Syracuse, NY. He is currently a Senior Vice President at Tokio Marine America Insurance Company and serves as the Finance Chairman for the industry trade association, Inland Marine Underwriters Association.

Ben has been associated with the Old Chatham Hunt Club since childhood and currently serves as a Master of Beagles. He was previously a Master of Bassets with the Spring Creek Bassets in Barrington Hills, IL, and served as a Board Member and Assistant Treasurer for the National Beagle Club.

While living in Syracuse, Ben’s wife was on the Manlius Historical Society, and Ben volunteered as one of the resident blacksmiths in the Society’s blacksmith shop, also serving as a docent for various exhibits.

Passionate about history, Ben is excited to continue the strong traditions of the Columbia County Historical Society.

Vice President

Nina has resided in the Town of Kinderhook for over 40 years. She was born and raised in the Town of Claverack. She is retired from the financial field.

Nina is a direct descendant of the Van Rensselaer family. Her family home is on the National Historic Register, built in 1685 by Killian Van Rensselaer, located in Claverack, NY.

She is on the board of the Old Chatham Hunt Club, active with the Friends of the Kinderhook Library, and a member of the Elks Lodge #2530.

Treasurer

Susan lives in Kinderhook surrounded by the Samascott Orchards. She is a CPA, having retired from insurance company management as a CFO. She is a member of the Garden Club of Kinderhook and part of the team that tends the grave of President Martin Van Buren. She is the current Treasurer of CCHS (a role she has held before), and is a past board member of the Columbia County Habitat for Humanity. She is a supporter of the Columbia Greene Humane Society as well as AdkAction which assists families in the Adirondacks.

Secretary

Stephanie Lally, broker and principal of Historic Kinderhook Properties, is also a dedicated community volunteer and private investor. Ms. Lally has invaluable experience both here and in Boston as property manager and as a hearing officer for the New York State Office of Court Administration and the Columbia County Youth Bureau. Ms. Lally is active with The Garden Club of Kinderhook, the Friends of the Kinderhook Memorial Library, The Second Show in Hudson, and Mills Park in Kinderhook.

Trustee

John Carroll, who resides in Malden Bridge, New York, served for many years on the New York State Bar Association’s Committee on Mental and Physical Disabilities, and has written and lectured extensively on the legal rights of people with disabilities.

John has been a member of the Board of Camphill Ghent since 2013 and served most recently as its president. He has served as a volunteer firefighter, EMT, treasurer and vice-president of the Tri-Village Fire Company, as president of the Rider’s Mills and CCHS, the Old Chatham Hunt Club, and as vice-president of the Shaker Museum in Old Chatham, NY.

Trustee

Pamela is passionate about historic preservation and bringing old homes back to their original charm. She is retired from a career in property management in New York City and Connecticut, and she now calls Kinderhook home. Prior to her work in real estate, Pamela spent many years as an assistant to the Treasurer of an international bank. She has had homes in Ancramdale, Taghkanic, and Claverack, and developed a deep appreciation for the area’s rural charm.

Trustee

Henry is a descendant of the Livingston Family of Clermont State Historic Site in New York. Seven generations of Livingstons resided at Clermont before donating the estate, including the remaining mansion and grounds, to the state of New York.

Henry is currently a principal at Livingston Associates and served on the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary. He has been a significant supporter of CCHS for over 15 years.

Trustee

Diane Smook is an award-winning photographer based in Kinderhook. She graduated from Tufts University and worked for many years in New York City as a producer in film and video for RCA VideoDiscs and various independent production companies. She served as a trustee of the Art Creation Foundation for Children based in Jacmel, Haiti, where she held photography workshops for the group’s teenagers. Her publications include the books Shaping a President: Sculpting for the Roosevelt Memorial and Love and War: The World War II Letters of Arthur Smook.

Trustee

Nora is a retired teacher and nurse, and is a former officer of the Friends of Lindenwald and the Old Chatham Hunt Club. She has a master’s degree in Health Education from Russell Sage College.

Trustee

Alex is the Financial Strategy Advisory to Urynx, and a designer of table-top games. He has published two games; Nightfall, and Dead By Lead, and is currently working on a new game based on “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”

Alex is an eleventh-generation descendant of the Van Alen family, whose 1737 Dutch house is one of CCHS’s historic properties.

Trustee

Passionate about historic preservation, Eric is a commercial and industrial landlord who also serves as a trustee of a number of museums and cultural institutions in New York State.

Trustee

Alexandra has worked for many magazines including The New York Review of Books, Vogue, and Esquire, as a writer, editor, and art critic.

She has served as President Emeritus of AICA/USA, served on the Board of Governors of Colby College, and as a trustee for the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. She was an academic member of MoMA’s Contemporary Arts Council and its Library Trustee Committee, and currently lives in Kinderhook, NY.

Sharon lives in Kinderhook with her beloved corgi Rosie. She is excited to share her event planning and execution experience with CCHS. Before retiring to Columbia County in 2019, she spent 40 years in New York and London at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, The First Boston Corporation, Credit Suisse, and Goldman Sachs leading Corporate Event and Client Entertainment teams.

Van is retired from careers of architectural design and construction, business development and project management, and national wholesale mortgage banking.

He is interested in history and how it impacts and evolves into the future, and advocates the protection of our natural resources, air, oceans, rivers, farmland, forests and species diversity as our most important task as humans on this earth.

Lisa is Co-founder and Deputy Executive Director of the African American Archive of Columbia County. She is a lay historian and researcher whose focus is on slavery and freedom in Columbia County from the 17th to 19th centuries. Lisa is descended from a family that lived in the county where her ancestors were originally enslaved since the mid-1700s. She is currently writing a book about that history.

Ted was a professor of Humanities at Columbia-Greene County College for 28 years, serving as co-division chair of the Behavioral and Social Sciences Department. He was awarded professor emeritus status by College Board of Trustees in 2021.

Dr. Timothy Husband is Curator Emeritus at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where his contributions to the institution’s Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters spanned over four decades.

His dedication to sharing his knowledge extends to lectures and educational programs, ensuring the legacy of medieval art continues to inspire future generations.

Peter came to the Hudson Valley 43 years ago from Minnesota. He deals in traditional American art in Hudson, and has served on the Board at Olana State Historic site, the Hudson Opera House, and the Hudson Planning Board.

John is the current president and design director of Quadrille, the renowned fabric manufacturer recognized for its high-quality textiles and commitment to craftsmanship.

He has renovated properties in Hudson, Kinderhook and throughout the area, and is a wealth of knowledge on the history of Columbia County and a long-time supporter of CCHS.

Stephen is an American actor and playwright with an extensive career in film and on Broadway. He received the Empire State Archives and History Award from the New York State Archives Partnership Trust in 2018. The annual award acknowledges outstanding contributions to advance the understanding and uses of history in society.

Bob Peduzzi is a past president of CCHS and served on the board as a trustee for 11 years. A graduate of Columbia University Law School, he practiced in New York City for many years before retiring to live in Kinderhook. With the arrival of his youngest grandson, the Peduzzi family has now lived in Columbia County for the past five generations.

Brenda is the History Room Coordinator of the Hudson Area Library. After a career as a teacher, librarian, and grant writer in a public school in Harlem, she returned to her roots in Columbia County and now lives in Claverack. She believes our county’s history in many ways is a microcosm of the history of our country–with twists and turns and lessons to learn from.