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ECH  >  About Us  >  Board of Trustees

Board of Trustees

Susan Allott, RN

Chair

Susan Lopez Allott was born and raised in Westport, New York, the tenth child in a family of 14. Her father Dr. Robert Lopez (Doc) was a local veterinarian and avid runner who carried the torch in the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics. Susan left the area for 20 years, completing an associate, bachelor’s and master’s degree in nursing, as well as varied nursing experience across the states. She completed the Graduate Certificate in Public Health while working as the director of preventive services at the Essex County Health Department. Sue retired in 2021 and continues to work part-time as a registered nurse at Essex County Mental Health. She also organizes the annual Doc Lopez Run for Health half marathon and 5k event in Elizabethtown and Keene. She has vast knowledge of the unique needs of this community, as well as strong county- and state-wide partnerships. Susan has three adult children and lives in Elizabethtown with her husband, Jeff. The Allott family owns the Otis Mountain property, maintaining the skiing, hiking and biking trails and sponsoring events. 

Joseph Bogardus, PhD

Dr. Joseph Bogardus is a consultant specializing in pharmaceutical drug product development for small and large molecule drug candidates. He has over 40 years of experience in industry and academia covering all phases of pharmaceutical research and development. Through his years at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), Dr. Bogardus led groups involved in all major dosage form types and areas of drug product development including discovery compound characterization, drug substance form selection, preformulation, phase I formulation, commercial formulation, and stability. He contributed to the successful worldwide registration of several drugs in diverse therapeutic areas including oncology, antibacterials, antivirals, cardiovasculars, and metabolics. In addition to work on small molecules, he pioneered the formulation development of biologic drugs at BMS, working on several internally discovered proteins and codevelopment projects with partners. In addition to numerous drugs taken into clinical trials, Dr. Bogardus contributed to the development of several marketed drugs.  

Dr. Bogardus holds a bachelor’s in chemistry from the University of Kentucky and a master’s and doctorate in pharmaceutical chemistry from the University of Kansas.  

Steven Cacchio

Steven Cacchio has an extensive banking career that has focused on community banking in upstate New York. He is currently the president and chief executive officer of Champlain National Bank. He started his career as a bank examiner for the Comptroller of the Currency in the Syracuse office. Thereafter, he held various positions with Alliance Bank in the Syracuse area, ending as senior vice president in charge of all retail operations. Mr. Cacchio than served as the chief operating officer of the Savings Bank of Danbury, Connecticut. He is a graduate of the University of Hartford and he obtained his master’s degree in accounting from Syracuse University. Mr. Cacchio and his wife, Carol, have two sons. 

Rob DeMuro, MD

Dr. DeMuro is a primary care physician at Elizabethtown Community Health Center and president of the Elizabethtown Community Hospital medical staff. He graduated from the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and completed his residency at Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown, NY.  

Evan George

Secretary

Evan George is the assistant director of Camp Dudley and a resident of Westport, New York. Prior to making his home in Westport he worked for the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation as a government relations liaison and later as revenue project manager. Evan is a graduate of Hobart College, where he obtained his bachelor’s degree with an English Major and American studies minor. He is active in the community as a member of the Boquet Valley Central School District school board as well as being the head coach of their boys’ varsity soccer team. Evan is also a past board chair of Champlain Area Trails. 

Alan Jones

Alan Jones has served as the executive director and chief executive officer of Adirondack Community Action Programs since 2007, where he has served in various other roles with the organization since 2001. He holds an associate degree in business from Paul Smith’s College and a bachelor’s degree in management from Clarkson University. He has served as a board member of the Elizabethtown/Lewis Central School District, Boquet Valley Central School District, New York State Community Action Association, and the New York State Early Care and Learning Council. He is on the executive committee for the Building Resilience in Essex Families coalition and is a senate appointee to the New York State Department of State Advisory Council. 

C. Walter Lender

A life-long Lake George resident, Walt Lender was executive director of the Lake George Association for nearly 18 years, during which time he focused on conservation and preservation of Lake George and its watershed. Walt holds a master’s degree in administration from Saint Michael’s College and a bachelor’s degree from Hartwick College. He has more than 34 years of experience in the nonprofit sector. Previously, Lender was both the director of development and the government and corporate relations officer for Fort Ticonderoga. He also served as executive director of PRIDE of Ticonderoga, a community revitalization organization.  

Walt serves on the Ticonderoga Planning & Zoning Board, the board of Lakes to Locks Passage, the Sylvamo (formerly International Paper) Citizen’s Advisory Committee, the Lake George Land Conservancy, Essex County’s Water Quality Coordinating Committee, Lake Champlain Basin Program’s NY Citizen’s Advisory Committee, the Black Point Road Civic Association, Silver Bay YMCA’s Board of Directors, and the Inter-Lakes Health Board of Directors.  

Active in local economic development, planning, and historic preservation efforts, Walt lives in Ticonderoga, on the northern end of Lake George, along with his wife and six children. 

Terri Morse

Terri Morse is the Director of Essex County Mental Health and Essex County Community Services and has served as a licensed mental health counselor and credentialed alcoholism and substance abuse counselor since 2008. She has served on the boards of Families First, Housing Assistance Program in Essex County, and the Mental Health Association of Essex County. She holds degrees from Plattsburgh State University and a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling from Union Institute & University. She resides in Schroon Lake, New York. 

Megan Murphy

Megan Murphy is the associate director at the Housing Assistance Program of Essex County (HAPEC). HAPEC develops and preserves quality, affordable housing and assists community members with obtaining and maintaining safe, secure homes through education, advocacy and support services.  She is the former director of partner engagement for Adirondacks ACO and Adirondack Health Institute. For both organizations, she worked with health care providers and community-based organizations as they move toward value-based payment and addressing social determinants of health. She draws on her extensive background working at small nonprofits and in health care. 

Megan graduated from Fordham University with a bachelor’s degree in English and she also has a degree from the French Culinary Institute in the art of international bread baking. She grew up in New Jersey and has lived in New York City and Moscow, Russia, and for the past twenty years has made her home in the heart of the Adirondack Park in New Russia, New York – the perfect location for a family that enjoys hiking, canoeing, swimming, biking, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and Nordic skating. 

Lynne Reale, RN

Lynne graduated from Albany Medical Center School of Nursing in 1979 as a registered professional nurse and moved to Ticonderoga to be with her now husband, Peter Reale. They made their home in town and have three grown children and four grandchildren with another on the way. Lynne started her career in nursing at Moses Ludington Hospital and Adirondack Family Practice (which later became Hudson Headwaters Health Network and then the Elizabethtown Community Hospital clinic in Ticonderoga). She worked in many capacities during her career from patient care to management roles. Towards the end of her career she worked as a nursing instructor for North Country Community College. Lynne is now retired from nursing, has an alpaca farm and co-owns a gift shop in Ticonderoga called Fox and Fern. She has always been interested in quality healthcare in the area. In her retirement she has been an active member of the Medical Reserve Corps of Essex County and spent many days helping with Covid-19 vaccine clinics as a volunteer. 

William Tansey

William Tansey graduated from the United States Naval Academy. During his naval career, he served on a frigate in Yokosuka, Japan; an aircraft carrier in Bremerton, Washington; and as a surface warfare instructor in Newport, Rhode Island. Following his tours of duty, Mr. Tansey earned his Juris Doctor from Syracuse University College of Law. Upon graduation, he returned to the United States Navy as a member of the Judge Advocate General Corp. He was first stationed in Norfolk, Virginia to provide legal assistance to sailors and their families and then as a military defense attorney defending sailors at Special and General Courts Martials. William also served as a staff judge advocate for Commander Naval Surface Forces Atlantic., an in-house counsel position for the Admiral in charge of all navy ships in the Atlantic. He twice deployed in support of the global war on terrorism: once to the Mediterranean for several international naval exercises, and another tour to the Iraqi Central Criminal Court in Baghdad, Iraq prosecuting insurgents captured by American forces. 

In 2013, Mr. Tansey joined the Public Defender’s Office in Essex County, New York. Shortly thereafter he formed the Whitson & Tansey Law Firm in Elizabethtown, building a law practice serving residents of Essex County, and continued on to start a solo legal practice also in Elizabethtown. In March, 2022 the Essex County Attorney asked Mr. Tansey to join the County Attorney Office, where he now works. 

William is an Adirondack 46er, member of the Keene Valley Hose & Ladder Company, and a commissioner for the Keene Valley Fire District. He has served on Keene Valley Library Board and the High Peaks Education Fund Board. He is married to Stephani, with whom he has two children, Sarah and William.