Board of Directors - Northampton Neighbors

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Northampton Neighbors BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Executive Committee

Kenneth Dym, President

Kenneth is a (mostly) retired social worker who has lived in the Village Hill section of Northampton since 2012. He has extensive administrative and clinical experience in public sector behavioral health care. Since 1999, Ken has worked full time as a consultant to health care organizations, specializing in program and organizational development, strategic planning, and grant writing. He has also served as the evaluator for substance abuse programs and has a strong interest in outcomes-based best practices.

Marcia Holden, Vice President

Marcia first moved to the Valley in 1973, but good jobs and family in the DC/Baltimore area drew her and her growing family away in the late 70’s. It took her 34 years to get back to Northampton, but she succeeded in 2011 and couldn’t be more delighted. She’s an experienced reading specialist and classroom teacher, program developer and administrator. Retired now from full-time work, she continues to substitute (because she loves being in schools) but makes sure to leave time for other rewarding interests and activities—Northampton Neighbors of course, getting together with friends and family, gardening, botanical painting/drawing, walking in the Meadows and practicing Tai Chi for starters.

Loraine Millman, Clerk

Loraine Millman was born and raised in California but came east to college at Smith. She received a Masters in history from Columbia Teachers and a Masters in Social Work from Adelphi University. She worked for 25 years in the field of mental health, as a clinician, supervisor and director. In addition she has served on the Board of a family business and a foundation.

Gerard Paquin, Treasurer

Gerard Paquin moved to Northampton in 1971, when he opened Northampton Bicycle on Pleasant Street. He continues as its owner today,
but leaves the day-to-day operations in the hands of his very talented employees, including his daughter, Adele. Among his
passionate interests are the collecting and study of Oriental rugs and textiles, and of American decorative arts of the 18th century.
He is a regular and avid participant in pick-up basketball games at the Y in Northampton.

Katharine Gratwick Baker, Ex-President

Katharine Gratwick Baker is a retired consultant to organizational systems and a family therapist. She lived in Washington, DC, for thirty years where she had a private practice and provided workplace relationship consultation to a number of government agencies and private companies. She was also on the Board of the National Multicultural Institute. After moving to western Massachusetts in 1997, she served on the Boards of Greenwood Music Camp (Chair 2005-2008), the Hilltown Land Trust, and the Williamsburg ZBA and Planning Board. She has also been a thesis advisor for Smith College School of Social Work. In Northampton she has had a clinical and consulting practice, served on the Planning Board from 2006 to 2013, and was the Chair of the Community Preservation Committee in 2013. She enjoys yoga, walking her labradoodles, playing chamber music, and hanging out with her grandchildren.

Directors

Naomi Gerstel

Naomi Gerstel recently retired as Distinguished University Professor and professor of sociology at the University of Massachusetts. Her research and teaching have focused on inequalities -- whether in families, work hours and schedules, or schools. Much of her research dovetails nicely with the agenda of Northampton Neighbors as it addresses the caregiving that family members do (and don’t do) for one another.

Mark Karpel

Mark Karpel is a clinical psychologist who conducts a full-time private practice in Northampton where he specializes in couples therapy. Born in New York City, he has been a resident of the Pioneer Valley for over 45 years, all but four of those in Northampton. The author of three books, articles and chapters on family and couples therapy, more recently his writing focuses on individuals who think big and get carried away. These include cluster balloonists; members of an all-volunteer aerospace program; and visionary builders – individuals who spend decades creating monumental, idiosyncratic art environments in their homes and yards. For Mark, the arrival of Northampton Neighbors was an answered prayer – a chance to help create an extended community in which people can be where they want to be and can help each other out.

Sara Lennox

In 2012 Sara retired from UMass Amherst, where for thirty-eight years she taught in the German program and directed the Social Thought and Political Economy Program, an interdisciplinary social justice program for undergraduates.

Since retiring she's been able to focus her energies closer to home: she's on the boards of Historic Northampton, the local historical society, and the David Ruggles Center, a small museum dedicated to Northampton's abolitionist history; she sings shape note music; she belongs to several biking groups; and she devotes a lot of effort to building the Northampton Neighbors community.

Originally from Indiana, Sara has lived in Northampton since 1974, and only a few years ago she was amazed to discover that a number of her ancestors were among Northampton’s earliest settlers.

Mike Mahar

I'm a life-long resident of Northampton and taught history at Northampton High School and Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School. Between teaching stints, I was a training specialist at the Farm Credit Banks of Springfield. What I'm most proud of is my family.

Kathy Service

Yes, (really !) a native from Hadley, Kathy Service has been an RN since 1973 and since 1979, a nurse practitioner. Her MS is in gerontological nursing and for a number of years sits locally on the Council of Aging, Arts Council, and on the board of Highland Valley Elder Services. She was one of the first five nurses to be certified in the specialty of developmental disabilities nursing. After working both in institutional and community settings with the Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services, she retired in 2/2016, but still consults independently on matters on dementia (in general), loss and grief and nursing support of older people and intellectual disabilities. Kathy has served on advisory boards nationally and internationally, presented at domestic and foreign conferences, and written articles, book chapters and educational modules on topics of aging and dementia. She moved into Northampton in 1980 and volunteers regularly at the local senior center and at a number of community events.