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.

Paula Hennessy -- President

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.

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.

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.

Jolene Dirolf

Jolene Dirolf has been a member of the WCA for five years and regularly attends Together Women Rise. She is active in the gardening group, assisted with the garage sale in 2022 and 2023, has assisted with the Tulip and Holiday Teas since 2021 and co-chaired the Glitz and Glam event in January 2024.

Now retired, Jolene was an advanced oncology nurse specialist at St Peter’s Health Partners for over 20 years and director of the Cancer Care Center. She later worked in oncology clinical research for Bristol Myers Squibb. Throughout her career she was a mentor for nurses, facilitated patient/family support groups and taught courses in clinical research and pain management across the United States.

An Albany County Medical Reserve Corps volunteer for many years, Jolene received a ‘beyond the call’ COVID-19 Award from the Albany County Legislature. As an International Medical Mission volunteer, she led a group of medical volunteers to South Africa in 2006 and 2008. She served on a volunteer medical team in Guatemala in 2010

Jolene was president of the Sage College of Albany Alumni Association and received the the 2021 Distinguished Alumnus of the Year Award. She is a member of the Friends of Pruyn House, serving for six years as a Board trustee and currently as an associate Board member. She is vice president of Vanguard and volunteers at Proctor’s Theater and Capital Rep.

Linda Fasano

Linda Fasano has been a member of the WCA for three years. one of which was spent as Program Committee chair.

A retired school librarian, she has had many opportunities to participate and lead committees to ensure the success of the students and the communities she served.

She spent over 30 years in public and school libraries, as well as 10-plus years teaching at the graduate level in the School Library Media Program at the University at Albany.

As a school librarian, she developed a STEAM-based makerspace. Students could come during their free time to “tinker,” collaborate, and think critically while creating, making, inventing, etc. In addition, during her career, she h presented at a variety of seminars and conferences.

She is a classically trained pianist, creative maker, rudimentary knitter and thrifter. She is also certified Zentangle teacher.

Pat Glennon

Pat Glennon has lived her life in the Capital Region graduating from Mercy High School in Albany and earning her bachelor of science degree in elementary education from The College of Saint Rose and her master of science degree from Russell Sage College.

She was married for 42 years until her husband’s death in 2015 and is the mother of three daughters.

She taught in elementary schools in Albany and Guilderland for nearly 40 years, at times serving as a building union representative and building union president.

Pat has been an active volunteer in the community, including over 20 years at the Altamont Community Food Pantry, also serving as director from 2007 to– 2013. She has also volunteered at the Food Pantries of the Capital District, and as a docent at the Mabee Farms Historic Site.

As a member of the Woman’s Club of Albany, she has been active on the Community Service Committee, which she currently co-chairs.

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
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. Otitgbe
Jessica O. Otitigbe is a communications leader, professor and consultant with over 25 years of experience in 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, she focuses on providing strategic communication and program development consulting solutions for not-for-profit organizations, start-ups, and small businesses.

She is passionate about developing meaningful collaborations with individuals and organizations to create sustainable community engagement programs with connections to women, entrepreneurship, financial literacy, health/wellness and STEAM.

Jessica loves nurturing her most important accomplishment — being a present parent to her daughter, 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.

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The Woman's Club of Albany

725 Madison Avenue • Albany • New York • 12208

518-465-3626

womansclubofalbany725@gmail.com