Woman's Club of Albany - Board of Directors

THE WOMAN'S CLUB OF ALBANY

United in Service to Our Community Since 1910

Board of Directors

The Board of Directors is ultimately responsible for the financial management of all activities of The Woman's Club. It meets the third Monday of every month. Board members are elected to two-year terms. Board officers (President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer) are elected to one-year terms.

Monica Trabold -- President

Monica Trabold joined the Board of Directors in 2020 and became president in July 2022. She also chairs the Program Committee.
Retired from South Colonie Schools, Monica taught French and Spanish for 34 years and served as department coordinator, a mentor teacher and a cooperating teacher. She continues to enjoy working with students as a substitute.
As an adjunct, she taught world language teaching methods at UAlbany and supervised aspiring teachers for the TESOL department of Clarkson University.
Monica was president of the South Colonie Friends of Music from 2016-2023, and is growing a business as voice actor Monica French.

Paula Hennessy -- President Elect

Paula Hennessy joined the Board of Directors in 2020. She chairs the Community Service Committee.

Paula retired from New York state government service as a human resources and training specialist, supervising contracts, curriculum development and multi-media presentations. She later was director of education and training at the Public Employees Federation with oversite for the labor and job-specific education for 54,000 members.

A community activist, she serves on several not for profit boards, and volunteers in the community. She also is a Democratic committeeperson in the City of Albany.

Martha McCormick -- Secretary

Martha McCormick joined the Board of Directors in June 2021 after being a WCA member for several years. She is co-chair of the Building Committee.

Her work and career have always been related to counseling and education. She worked for nearly 25 years in Student Life at RPI, then in consulting and training for Capital EAP in Albany and most recently as director of education for To Life!, a local breast cancer support services organization.

Now retired, Martha is excited to become more involved with the WCA and work toward its mission to serve the community.

Janet Nardolillo -- Treasurer

Janet Nardolillo joined the Board in July 2022. She grew up in Syracuse and came to the Capital Region after graduating from Smith College.

She was employed in administrative positions for the Girl Scouts and the Albany YWCA, and as an academic advisor at Excelsior College.

She served on boards for Mercy House and St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry. Now retired, she volunteers at Ronald McDonald House breakfast kitchen, St. Vincent’s Food Pantry, and the Shaker Heritage Society gardens.

To relax, she reads, takes leisurely walks, cross-country skis, putters in her native plant gardens and attends English country dances.

Pattie Beeler

Pattie Beeler has been involved with the WCA since 2003. She was president from 2013 to 2015, subsequently served as treasurer and termed off the Board in 2020. She completed a short-term director’s seat created by an unexpected vacancy and was elected to a full term in June 2022. Pattie serves on the Governance and Rental committees, and co-chairs Buildings and Finance.

Previously chief clerk of Rensselaer County Family Court, Pattie is involved in many Town of Bethlehem issues, including open space and farmland and forest preservation work. She co-leads Bethlehem Tomorrow, a community advocacy organization, and serves on Bethlehem’s Conservation Easement Review Board. She also is involved with numerous animal rescue groups.

Susan Gould Fogerite -- Vice President

Susan Gould Fogerite joined the Board of Directors in July 2022 and is chair of the Development Committee.

She received her B.S. in medical technology from the University at Albany and Ph.D. in microbiology and Immunology from Albany Medical College. She is a professor emeritus at Rutgers University, N.J., where she did research and taught for 30 years. She has more than 20 patents, organized international meetings, founded a biopharmaceutical company, and held leadership positions in medicine, integrative health and yoga.

A certified teacher in the Himalayan Tradition of yoga meditation, she works with caregivers and families with mental and developmental health challenges. She loves time with family and friends, the arts, nature, education and democracy.

Sara Hotopp

A member since 2014, Sara Hotopp was on the WCA Board from 2016 to 2018. She served on the Building, Nominating and Honorary Holiday Party committees and was also the Membership Committee Chair. Sara was appointed Board secretary in 2021 and served until June 2022. She currently is Governance Committee chair.
Sara retired as a reading specialist for the Voorheesville School District and was an elected union representative and member of the Teacher’s Association Executive Committee.
She is a member and a past president of the Albany City Area Reading Council, and is a local food pantry volunteer.

Patti Kopach -- Past President

Patti Kopach joined the Board of Directors in 2016 and completed her term as president in June 2022. She chairs the Rental Committee and is co-chair of the Governance Committee.

Pattii worked for 17 years as a paralegal.

Shei is very active in the WELCA group at her church and also holds a position with the Capital Region Italian American Bar Association. She has spent much of her adult life volunteering in a variety of settings.

Patti lives in Latham with her husband Matt and their rescue barn cat and in-house life coach, Lenny.

Jessica O. Otitigbe

Christine Souza

Jessica O. Otitigbe is a uniquely talented and versatile communications leader, professor, and consultant with over 25 years of experience in the areas of higher education, community relations, corporate communications, public relations, media project management, and media event planning.

As the founder and business storytelling strategist for Creative Collaborations, LLC, her areas of focus include providing strategic communication and program development consulting solutions for not-for-profit organizations, start-ups, and small businesses.

Beyond a focus on communications, Jessica is also passionate about developing meaningful collaborations with individuals and other organizations to create a series of sustainable community engagement programs that have connections to women, entrepreneurship, financial literacy, health/wellness and STEAM.

When she isn’t writing, teaching, consulting, creating strategies, or telling stories, Jessica loves nurturing her most important accomplishment — being a present parent to her daughter, who was the first African-American valedictorian at Albany High School. Her daughter is now a rising junior at Harvard, still exploring options although she would like a career specializing in robot-assisted procedures in pediatric neurosurgery.

Christine Souza moved to the Capital Region in November of 2021 and joined The Woman's Club of Albany two weeks later as a way to meet new friends and learn more about her new community. Christine has worked in the media and tech spaces for over 15 years, for companies such as MySpace, Yahoo, USAToday, Shutterstock and, most recently, Cision.
She is a lifelong learner and is always open to trying new things. Christine holds certifications in holistic health coaching, mindset mentoring, and aromatherapy, and is a Usui/Tibetan Reiki master. She loves to advocate for women to live their most energized and passionate life! Christine loves to collect stamps in her passport but is currently focused on exploring all that the Capital Region has to offer.
She lives in Albany with her turtle Cuff and can often be found coloring, playing with blocks and reading stories to her two nieces.

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The Woman's Club of Albany

725 Madison Avenue • Albany • New York • 12208

518-465-3626

womansclubofalbany725@gmail.com