The Salisbury Association’s mission is implemented by the Board of Trustees and Staff members.
Board of Trustees
President
Jeanette Weber
Jeanette was an author and national educational consultant for McGraw-Hill for 27 years and was involved in many aspects of editorial, sales, and marketing of educational materials. Since retirement she has served on the boards of the Salisbury Forum, Salisbury Fall Festival, Trade Secrets, Noble Horizons Auxiliary, and Salisbury Congregational Church. She and her husband built their home in Salisbury in 1998 and became full-time residents in 2014. Since becoming a Trustee, she has served as Chair of the Community Events, Fundraising, and Publicity & Public Relations committees.
Vice President
Joel Cohen
Joel Cohen spent nearly 40 years in financial services, primarily with JPMorganChase serving in a wide variety of roles, including co-head of US Private Wealth Management. His last positions were with Rockefeller Financial Services and Bank of America. He has lived in Taconic since 1986 although his primary residence remains in New York City. He is a board member of the Camphill Foundation and the CUNY School of Professional Studies.
Secretary
Laura Carlson
I was born in North Canaan and attended local schools. Graduated from college and nursing school in the Midwest. Lived and worked as a head nurse in Boston for several years. Met my future husband, returned to Canaan, had two sons, and was a stay-at-home-mom. When my sons began school, I became a permanent substitute teacher at North Canaan Elementary School for many years. Began employment for the Salisbury Association as Executive Assistant in 1996, retired in 2019.Spent a year supervising the building of a new house and in 2020 moved into the completed home with my husband Jim Dresser. Amen.
Treasurer
Cynthia Walsh
A part time resident for 13 years, Cynthia moved full time to Lakeville when she retired in 2015. She spent 35+ years with various New York City financial institutions, specializing in credit and lending to corporations and high net worth individuals. In addition to being a member of the Historical Society of the Salisbury Association she has served on the boards of other Northwest Corner organizations, most currently the Scoville Memorial Library and Sharon Audubon.
Board Member
Judy Gafney
Judy and her husband, Leo, purchased their home in Lakeville in 1984. They chose this area for the beauty of pristine lakes, land, forests, and mountains while providing proximity to New York City. After a career at McGraw-Hill, Judy began her second career at Scoville Memorial Library as Children’s Librarian. After receiving her Master’s Degree in Library Science & Information Technology and her teaching certification, she began a 20-year career at Lee Kellogg Elementary School in Falls Village and then Sharon Center School. She organized many school events: book clubs for parents and children, author and illustrator visits, and a reading program with volunteers from the community. She has been on the boards of Region One Arts Fund, Women’s Support Services and Scoville Memorial Library. She helped initiate the Habitat for Humanity Tag Sale, the Kitchen Tour to support the Housatonic Valley Musical Theatre Society, and the free Monthly Soup Suppers.
Board Member
John Landon
John is co-chair of the Land Trust. His professional career was in banking and finance in NewYork. He has spent the majority of his time in Salisbury for the last 20 years. He started volunteering with the Land Trust in 2007 managing the new Tory Hill property and is a town Inland Wetlands commissioner. Other interests include traveling to remote parts of the world, photography, hiking, and enjoying all aspects of nature.
Board Member
Roger McKee
Born and raised in Salisbury, Roger graduated from Salisbury School, attended MIT, and received his BFA from Pratt Institute. He is the ‘senior master’ at the Salisbury School, where he has taught math, drawing, printmaking, woodworking, and boat building. He served as the Art Department Chair for 19 years. Roger’s own art work ranges from intaglio printmaking and monotypes to artist’s books and assemblage pieces. Recently, much of his efforts go into building skin-on-frame canoes with his students, the Wooden Boat School, and Hudson River Maritime Museum. Roger is an avid rock climber and cyclist and lives in Salisbury with his wife Amy and son.
Board Member
Gloria Miller
Gloria moved to Salisbury in 1995 after she and her husband fell in love with the Northwest Corner. In 1996 they bought an old house in Taconic, and she was invited to join the Salisbury Association Land Trust. After retiring from a thirty-year teaching career in 2004, she became a member of the Friends of the Scoville Library where she serves as vice-president. She is as a founding member and co-chairman of the Beautification Committee. In 2005 Gloria and Macey established Aglet Theatre Company, a major passion for fifteen years. She writes theatre reviews for a website and is a co-founder of the Berkshire Theatre Critics Association. Gloria and Macey have an abiding appreciation for the physical beauty and strong sense of community which the town of Salisbury engenders.
Board Member
Mary Taylor
Mary Taylor has been a resident in the Northwest Corner since 1985 and a full-time resident of Lakeville since 2008. A graduate of Fordham University, she served as a Communications and Marketing Executive at a number of financial service and consumer goods companies in New York City. She was active at Marymount School of New York and St. David’s, which her children attended, and served on a number of boards.
Mary has been a Real Estate Agent in the Northwest Corner for the past 14 years. In addition to being licensed in Connecticut, she also holds New York and Massachusetts licenses. She is past President of the Board of The Corner Food Pantry and a current volunteer. The Pantry provides healthy food to families in need within the Tri-State Area. She served on the board of the Friends of Scoville Library and is a long-time member of the Twin Lakes Beach Club and Sharon Country Club.
A daily runner, she says “I never appreciate this area more than when I crest a road and catch the view of hillsides and the Appalachian Trail – makes my day!”
Board Member
Sarah Morrison
Sarah Morrison serves as Community Events Chair. She and her husband have been full- time residents of Lakeville since 2016. Sarah worked in the venture capital and executive administrative areas of a Wall Street investment banking firm before retiring, getting married, and moving to Connecticut to raise her child. Since retirement, she has spent the past 35 years working with non-profits with major areas of emphasis in historic preservation and restoration, history, and environmental education. She has written a number of history books for a house museum in Kansas.
Board Member
Diane Fitzmyer Murphy
Diane is co-chair of the Land Trust. After years of visiting the Northwest Corner, Diane became a part-time resident 16 years ago. Loving the area and the outdoor activities available, along with her interest in preserving the land and protecting the environment, brought her to the Salisbury Association Land Trust in 2016. She became a Trustee in 2018 and most recently served as Treasurer. She also resides in Hoboken NJ, where she had been involved in parks and open space initiatives; presently she is a commissioner on the Zoning Board of Adjustments. She has held various different positions in sales and management. She enjoys hiking, reading, traveling, and spending time with her husband Joe, college-age daughter, and their dog.
Board Member
Dick Paddock
After retiring from a career spanning more than 30 years designing computers and related electronic equipment, Dick turned his attention toward a lifelong interest in the industrial and railroad history of the Northwest Corner. He is Vice-President of the Friends of Beckley Furnace in East Canaan and a member of the Salisbury Association Historical Society. He has written numerous history-related articles for the Lakeville Journal and has created a number of interpretive sign panels related to historic sites in Salisbury, Sharon, and Canaan.
Board Member
Rich Reifsnyder
Rich is Chair of the Historical Society. He is a retired Presbyterian minister, who began his service as Assistant Minister at the Salisbury Congregational Church before serving churches in New York, New Jersey, and Virginia. He currently serves as the part-time pastor of the Falls Village Congregational Church. He has published articles in the field of American Religious History and currently writes an historical blog for the Presbyterian Historical Society. Rich is married to Lynn, a Salisbury native whose family goes back to the 1870s in town. They are the parents of two sons and have two granddaughters. Rich enjoys music, reading (especially Presidential biography), golf, and hiking.
Board Member
Helen Klein Ross
After graduating from Cornell, Helen spent 30 years as a copywriter and creative director at global ad agencies in San Francisco and New York. She was a founding partner of Public Interest Advertising, New York’s only ad agency working exclusively with mission-driven clients. She’s been a social media junkie since 2007, a speaker at five SXSWi conferences in Austin, and the recipient of multiple awards and book citations for innovative brand storytelling via digital. She’s published several books with Simon & Schuster and Little, Brown, including “The Latecomers”, a novel set in the 1853 house in Lakeville that she and her late husband Donald (SA President 2019-2021) bought and restored in 2011. She has served on boards in New York and Lakeville, including as a trustee of Scoville Memorial Library from 2012 to 2021, where she led a multi-year rebranding effort.
Board Member
Linda Yowell
Linda is an architect, preservation advocate, and member of the AIA College of Fellows. Her award-winning work includes new homes in Litchfield County and the Berkshires, as well as master plans and renovations for many historic campuses including Horace Mann, Packer Collegiate, the Hewitt School, and Vassar College. She currently serves as a Trustee of the Historic House Trust of New York City and of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, where she co-chairs their Preservation Committee. She and her husband have resided in Salisbury part time for 32 years and treasure this town, where centuries-old buildings and villages have become an integral part of the stunning natural landscape.
Board Member
Abeth Slotnick
Abeth (aka Elizabeth) Slotnick has lived in Lakeville for the past 21 years, originally hailing from central New Jersey. She and her husband, Chris, fell in love with the landscape and the vibe of the Northwest Corner and decided to make it their home, where they are almost finished raising their two children. Abeth works as a residential architect on local projects as a sole practitioner and is currently a member of the Salisbury Affordable Housing Commission and the Salisbury Housing Committee. She has served on several other local boards and committees over the past two decades. In her spare time, she enjoys cycling, traveling, reading and being out in nature.
Emeritus Trustees
Chris Brennan
David Bayersdorfer
Lou Buccreri
Katherine Chilcoat
Lou Hecht
Dave Heck
Peter Kent
Tom Key
William Morrill
Staff
Executive Director
Chris Abeel
Originally from New Jersey Chris was a weekender in Sharon for over a decade, becoming a full-time resident in 2023. Before being named Executive Director, he was a corporate and trade association executive with extensive experience in public affairs and government relations. He also brings extensive civic experience having served on a municipal governing body, zoning board of adjustment, library board of trustees, as well as numerous not-for-profit boards and advisory committees.
Executive Assistant
Lou Bucceri
Lou has lived in Salisbury since 1983 and was a public and private school social studies and computer teacher until 2013.He was the Curator for the Salisbury Cannon Museum for most of its existence, from 1994-2007, and directed EXTRAS, the after-school and holiday day care center at Salisbury Central School. Currently, Lou coordinates local student participation in the National History Day academic competition. He is an active member of the Historical Society and the chairman of the Salisbury Recreation Commission
Conservation Director
Shelley Harms
Shelley lives in Norfolk. In 2014, the Salisbury Association hired Shelley to prepare its accreditation application to the Land Trust Accreditation Commission. Since then, she has written grants and newsletters, overseen compliance, and worked on integrating the Association’s disparate committees into a unified organization. An attorney, Shelley’s passion is land conservation, and she spends much of her time working to preserve special places in our beautiful northwest corner.