Rockland Center for the Arts | Board of Directors

Robert L. Fellows - President
Robert Fellows is managing partner of the law firm of Fellows Hymowitz in New City and has achieved a reputation for excellence in the area of personal injury litigation. He is a member of many professional associations, including the American Association of Justice where he is an Advocate of Trial Advocacy and the New York State Trial Lawyers Association. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Giulio Gari Foundation providing assistance to rising opera stars and on the Board of the Rockland Community Foundation which fosters charitable giving by connecting donors to community needs. He has been recognized by numerous community organizations for his dedicated community activism. Rob has studied acting in New York City, appeared in community theatre and is an avid cyclist who enjoys playing the blues harmonica.

	Bruce Trucker - Treasurer President, Bed Sheet Division of Royal Heritage Home. Former Founder and CEO of Rainbow Linens, Inc. acquired by Royal Heritage Home. Founder and Leader, “The Old No.7 Band”. Past Board Member, Community Playgroup fo Piermont, NY. Past Fundraising Committee member, Hudson Valley Children’t Museum. B.A. Binghamton University.

Ned Harris - Secretary
Photographer, graphic designer and curator. Mr. Harris spent his career as the principal of a package design firm in NYC. Among the many exhibitions he has curated at the Rockland Center for the Arts are African-American Art at 2000, Rockland Treasures, The Dream Machine, The Art of the Marketplace and The Art of Children’s Book Illustration (co-curator) as well as a series of photo exhibitions in PhotoSpace.

Karl Hess - Vice President, Facilities
Co-Principal with daughter Barbara in the firm of Hess Architects in West Nyack, NY. Member of American Institute of Architects (AIA), New York Society of Architects, and the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB). Commission types include Health Care Facilities, Industrial Buildings, Housing Projects, Office Buildings, Religious Institutions, and Private Residences. Educated at the Pratt Institute and Columbia University School of Architecture. Former ViceChairman, Clarkstown Planning Board. President and Board Member of the Holocaust Museum and Study Center. Married to Ruth Hess, retired Principal of the Clarkstown School District.

Gary Lefkowitz - Vice President, Government Relations
President of Financial Benefits Inc. and former Partner, Paleta International Corp. He was also an Assistant Commissioner, Department of Employment, New York City. He served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in India. He is an active member of the Rockland Business Association. He received his B.S. degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology and an M.P.A. degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Board Members

Jerome Chazen
Founder and Chairman of Chazen Capital Partners, a private investment firm. Chairman Emeritus and former Chairman of the Board and a founder of Liz Claiborne, Inc. Affiliations include Trustee of Columbia University and Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Columbia Business School; Chairman Emeritus of the Museum of Arts and Design, NYC; Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT); member of the Board of Directors of the 92 Street Y; Managing Director of the Metropolitan Opera Association and Chairman of its Finance Committee; Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Greater New York Council of the Boy Scouts of America, Trustee of the National Jewish Center of Immunology and Respiratory Medicine. Board member of the Louis Armstrong House & Archives at Queens College in Flushing. B.A. University of Wisconsin, M.B.A. Columbia University.

	Harriet Cornell Chair, Rockland County Legislature. Chairwoman, Legislative Committee on the Arts, Culture and Tourism: Chairwoman of Rockland County Commission on Woman's Issues. Commissioner, New York State Board of Tourism 1977-84; Chairwoman, Rockland County Democratic Committee 1972-78. B.A. Swarthmore College, M.P.A. New York University.

Niles Davies, Jr
Owner of Davies Farm. Past Chairman of the Salvation Army of Greater New York’s Advisory Board. Served as president, vice president, secretary and treasurer of the Rockland County Farm Bureau and president of the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Rockland County Board of Directors. Founder and President of Helen Hayes Hospital Citizens Advisory Council. Served as an active volunteer fireman with the Congers Alert Hook, Ladder and Engine Co. #1.

Faye Fleming Burkhardt
Curator and Gallerist. Former owner of Faye Fleming & Partner, Geneva, Switzerland (2006 – 2011). Formerly with Timothy Taylor Gallery, London, working with a roster of artists including Alex Katz, Kiki Smith, and collaborating on exhibitions with Mario Testino, Lucian Freud, the estates of Philip Guston and Willem de Kooning. B.A. Honors and M.Phil in History at Cambridge University, 1997. M.A. in Contemporary Art Theory from the Sotheby's Institute of Art in London in collaboration with Manchester University.

Magda Fronek
Co-founder, co-owner and executive in charge of administration and accounting at Fronek Power Systems, LLC, Orangeburg, NY. Co-founder of Fronek Consulting, Inc., and Fronek Company, Inc. acquired by the Shaw Group. Former graphic designer at Lightolier Company, NJ, and Arthur Andersen, NYC. In addition to her professional work, Ms. Fronek is an artist, an avid gardener and treasurer of an investment club. B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Plzen, Czech Republic,

	Norman Galinsky Fine artist. Solo exhibitions at the Katonah Gallery, Truman Gallery in NYC and Hopper House in Nyack. Group exhibitions include the Thorpe Intermedia Gallery, Rockland Center for the Arts, Hudson River Museum, Helen Foresman Spencer Museum and Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. Who's Who in American Art, B.S.Ch.E., University of Cincinnati; M.F.A., Columbia University.

	Gary Graifman Partner, Law firm of Kantrowitz, Goldhamer & Graifman. Member, Committee on Computer Law of the Bar Association of the City of New York. Director and legal counsel, Private Art Dealers Association. Published in Art and the Law Journal and Entertainment Law and Finance. Member, New York State Bar. B.A. SUNY, New Paltz; J.D., New York Law School.

Barbara Kalvert
Consultant to non-profit cultural institutions, universities, public school systems, government agencies, corporations and foundations. Areas of advisement include long-range planning, program development, evaluation and development of public/private collaborations. Ms. Kalvert has worked as an advisor to the Public Education Foundation for Northern Westchester BOCES, Rockland Center for the Arts’ Arts-in-Education Initiative, New York State Council on the Arts, and Queens Botanical Gardens, among others. She was formerly the Deputy Director of Cultural Institutions for the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. She has been an instructor and lecturer at Teacher’s College of Columbia University and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and has published arts education-related articles. Ms. Kalvert holds an M.S.. in Museum Education from Bank Street College, NYC; an M.A. from Columbia University; and a B.A. from Barnard College.

Kenneth J. Linsner
Appraiser and conservator. President, Art Services International Group. Past President, American Society of Appraisers, NY. A former Lecturer in Appraisal Studies at NYU, he has also taught at Washington Square College, and the Library School of the University of Geneva, Switzerland. Mr.Linsner has advised private clients from America's leading families, international corporate clients and governments. A collector of fine art objects, rare books and first editions, his personal library consists of approximately 40,000 art, art history and art reference books.

Alvin Perlmutter
President of Sunrise Media and Director of The Independent Production Fund. Former VP of NBC News and former Director of Public Affairs Programming and Program Manager of WNBC-TV, NYC. Mr. Perlmutter has originated more than 150 documentaries for public and commercial television in the United States and for international distribution. He has received six Emmys for The Great American Dream Machine, Adam Smith’s Money World, Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth with Bill Moyers; the Peabody Award for The Public Mind with Bill Moyers, and five Ace Awards for Excellence in Programming on cable television. He is a former National Trustee of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and a past Governor of the Academy’s New York Chapter. He lectures on broadcasting matters to professional groups and universities.

	Jo Ellen Putter Former English teacher, North Rockland and Suffern schools. Served for twelve years on the Parent-Teacher Executive Board for the Rockland Country Day School. Served ten years on the Board of Governors and six years on Board of Trustees of the Helen Hays Performing Arts Center. Currently serving on the board of the Foundation for Children in the Performing Arts. M.S. English.

Paulo Ribeiro
Senior equity analyst following Latin American companies at HSBC, one of the largest financial conglomerates in the world. He has held similar positions at Citigroup, Lehman Brothers, Standard & Poor's and Bear Stearns. He and his partner received a Merit Preservation Award from the Rockland County Historic Society in 2005 for the restoration of the facade of the 1830 Ferdon Hall in Piermont, NY. Mr. Ribeiro was born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Univ. Federal de Minas Gerais (Brazil), M.S.in Industrial Engineering from Univ. Federal de Santa Catarina (Brazil), MBA, Cornell University.

Molly Mason Samett
Director of Marketing and Sales at Ellis Sotheby’s International Realty. Former President of Mason Samett Associates, Inc., Realtors, an affiliate of Christies. Past President of Design Exponents and Patio Planners. Ms. Samett is a former member of the NYC Board of the National Foundation for Ileitis and Colitis and is a co-founder of Dialogue, a NYC women's business and personal network. She has served as science coordinator in elementary schools, and was a landscape and an interior design associate. B.S., Brooklyn College in Physics and Education.

Robert E. Seaman 3^rd
President, COO and General Counsel of Jacom Group; Chairman of the Dorchester Group and President of CompTel Data Systems. Among his many charitable and community activities, he is Chairman of the Board and Founder of the Millennium Foundation, a publicly supported charity and a Board Member of Computer and Telecommunications Initiative of Rockland, Inc. B.A. The Citadel. J.D. University of Virginia Law School. Mr. Seaman is President Emeritus of the Rockland Center for the Arts.

Micheal P. Tersigni
Managing Partner of Tersigni Palacheck, LLC, an international architectural and interior design firm. Their list of architecture, design and brand identity projects includes major retail, corporate, hospitality, residential, and medical clients including Kiehl’s Since 1851, Betsey Johnson, North Shore LIJ and Henri Bendel. Mr. Tersigni is the former V.P. Store Development for Ermenegildo Zegna, NA; V.P. Architecture & Design for The Children’s Place and Disney Store; and Design Director for Gap Inc. and Banana Republic. Board affiliations include Palisades Community Center, Palisades, NY, and Orangetown Environmental Committee, Orangetown, NY. B.A..Architecture, State University of NY at Buffalo.