Colette Ruoff, Founding Director
Colette Ruoff is an Organizational Consultant and Executive Coach who works with corporations and non-profit organizations to support and enable them in fulfilling their missions. She is co-founder of Terra Nova Facilitation and Consulting with Thomas Jaggers. A former Vice President of European American Bank and Director of Investments of AIG, Colette has deep business experience and an MBA from NYU. As a leadership development specialist she has worked with partners of McKinsey & Co, a management consulting firm, and Ernst & Young, one of the big five accounting firms, as well as with senior executives of Johnson & Johnson and WPP. She has also worked with the staff of the Sacred Fire Community, BALLE and Earthjustice. She is a Board Certified Executive Coach.
Jim Gordon, President
Jim Gordon has a Master’s Degree in Gerontology and co-founded the non-profit Edible Independence, which brings healthy meals to seniors who are living in their own homes (www.edibleindependence.com). He is a certified family and adult mediator, a hospice volunteer, and a certified laughter yoga instructor (www.laughingataging.com). Formerly a journalist in the Hudson Valley, he lives with his wife in New Paltz.
Lois Linet, Board Member
Lois Linet is an artist living in Woodstock for the past 20 years. She joined the SageArts Board after being celebrated in song at the Musical Celebration of Woodstock Elders in July, 2016. Lois is the first participating elder to join the board of SageArts. She earned BA and MA degrees in English and Education at City College, CUNY, and taught English and ESL in high schools and colleges in NYC. For many years, she has volunteered at the Woodstock Artists Association and Museum and is a former board member. Additionally, when living in NYC, she co-founded and was President of the Tourette Syndrome Association of NYC, was a board member of the Saeko Ichinohe Dance Company, President of the Flatbush Development Corporation, and initiated and participated in numerous community organizations and activities from 1975-90.
Lori Gross, Board Member
Lori Gross has been a licensed massage therapist for 25 years, with advanced training in medical massage with a focus on people living with cancer and other life-altering conditions. Over the years she has balanced her massage therapy practice with a variety of non-profit roles. Lori has been the program director for Family of New Paltz, a supervisor for a local AmeriCorps program, an activity leader in a nursing home, a community health educator for Planned Parenthood, and an event planner for the People's Music Network. Currently she is the assistant director of the Children's Center at SUNY New Paltz, where she earned a BA in Women's Studies with a concentration in Human Services and Social Change. Lori has lived in the mid-Hudson Valley for over 30 years.
Helen Newman , Board Member
Helen Newman is a licensed psychologist and psychotherapist. She taught for over 32 years as a college professor at Hunter College in New York City, while also conducting a part-time private practice. Her teaching and writing centered on her interests in human communication, couples relationships, and psychoanalytic theory. For the past 16 years she has been a student of the Diamond Approach, an inner growth path combining eastern and western spirituality. As a recent retiree now living in the Hudson Valley, Helen is pursuing a life-long interest in music and composing. Over the years she has written several ballads, and, most recently, collaborated on an original full-length musical as composer and co-lyricist. Her future goals include additional teaching in Lifetime Learning programs, as well as leading educational and therapeutic small groups in the Hudson Valley.