Mid-Hudson Library System Announces 2025 Board of Trustees

The Mid-Hudson Library System is proud to announce its Board of Trustees for 2025.

For 2025, Barry Ramage, representing Dutchess County (Milan) will lead the board as President. Executive committee members include Vice President, Rajene Hardeman representing Dutchess County (Beacon); Treasurer, Stuart Auchincloss representing Ulster County (Woodstock); Secretary, Jill Leinung representing Columbia County (Valatie); and Member-at-Large, Kenneth Goldbert of Ulster County (Saugerties). With board trustees typically serving five-year terms, much of the board remains the same in 2025, with three new members joining in 2025.

• Jennifer Fortenbaugh Post has been elected to a five-year term to represent Columbia County. Ms. Post joined the board of trustees of the Claverack Free Library (CFL) in 2003 and went on to serve nearly 20 years, five of them as president. She led the CFL’s capital campaign committee and – alongside several key trustees, the director, and the community at large – raised $2.8 million to create the new Claverack Free Library facility.
• Mark Williams has been elected to a five-year term to represent Dutchess County. In 2001 he joined the board of the Stanford Free Library serving as president from 2006-2019. He worked with the board and community members to expand the library starting with the passing of the budget referendum in 2006. He was a member of the Capital Campaign and Building Committees until the long-awaited completion of the new library in 2019. He is currently serving as an officer of his local library board.
• Charles Kutcher has been elected to a five-year term to represent Greene County. Mr. Kutcher was a Board Member, Treasurer, Finance Chairman, Vice President, and later interim President of the Mountain Top Library (then named the Haines Falls Free Library) where he was instrumental in moving the library to its current location in Tannersville. He has been a member of the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America since 2007, where he served on its Board of Directors and as Finance Chair.

The remainder of 2025 Board Trustees includes:

• Columbia County
  • Janet Schnitzer
• Greene County
  • Thomas Silvious
  • Barbara Swanson
• Putnam County
  • Peter Cary
  • Kevin Finnegan
  • Carla Taylor
• Ulster County
  • Leslie Gerber
  • Kenneth Goldberg

Trustees of the Mid-Hudson Library System are elected by its sixty-six (66) member libraries at the Annual Membership Meeting held each fall.

About Us

Mid-Hudson Library System (MHLS) is a cooperative public library system chartered by the New York State Board of Regents and overseen by the New York State Education Department via the Division of Library Development (DLD). MHLS is dedicated to working together with sixty-six (66) member libraries in the Mid-Hudson region to strengthen local library services while saving local tax dollars. For more information, visit www.midhudson.org or follow the library system on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.