Biographies of Our Steering Committee

Susan Haigh Houpt, Chair
Community Volunteer
Fulltime Community Volunteer, has served on the United Way of Schenectady County Board of Directors from 1998-2007 (Chair 2003-2006). She presently sits on the Board of the United Way of the Greater Capital Region. She is on the steering committee of the Community AIDS Partnership of the Capital Region and serves as Co-Chair of the Food Task Force of the Food Pantry of the Schenectady Inner City Ministry. (Schenectady County)

Ellie Alexander
Newkirk Products, Inc.
Vice President, Newkirk Products, Inc. Responsible for developing wealth management communications for financial institutions. Ellie is the current Industry Co-Chair for the Capital Region Postal Customer Council, as well as the past Chapter Chair for the American Red Cross of Northeastern NY during their 8-county consolidation. She has volunteered and/or served on the board of the Junior League of Albany, Arbor House, United Way of Northeastern NY, Equinox, Homeless and Travelers Aid and Academy of the Holy Names. Her connection through all of these volunteer efforts is to help promote self-security for individuals through education, support services and coordinated collaborative efforts of existing resources. Ellie is the proud recipient of the American Red Cross's Spencer J. Standish Outstanding Leadership Award.

Karen L. Bilowith
Community Foundation for the Greater Capital Region
Karen Bilowith was named President and CEO of CFGCR in February 2009. She joined CFGCR as Senior Director of Philanthropic Services in May 2008. She served as President of United Way of the Greater Capital Region after the merger of the United Ways of Schenectady County and Northeastern New York in July 2007. Prior to the consolidation, Karen served as President and CEO of UWSC for six years. She came to the Capital Region from Washington, D.C., where she was senior program officer for the National AIDS Fund. She has broad experience in community-building and fundraising for nonprofit organizations throughout the country, including the American Red Cross and the Denver Zoological Foundation. Ms. Bilowith holds a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Colorado and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Boston College. (Schenectady County)

Kim Cardillo
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Kim Cardillo is Campaign Operations Specialist in the Division of Institute Advancement at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, responsible for managing the tracking, analysis and reporting of campaign progress, as well as the communications between campaign leadership, the Board of Trustees and the Campaign Steering Committee. Kim has been active as a Community Investment Volunteer with the United Way of the Greater Capital Region since 2001, and has served as a community investment panel vice chair and chair. She has also served as a United Way Employee Campaign Manager for her past three employers. Kim’s involvement with the Women’s Fund began as a member of the Grants and Education Committee, and she later became a member of the Volunteer Committee, which she currently chairs. She is also an active member of the Colonie High School Soccer Booster Club, as well as a volunteer for Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Lorraine D'Aleo
Consultant
Lorraine D'Aleo is a consultant, providing marketing planning, brand management and business development services to clients in both the nonprofit and for-profit sectors. Prior to starting her consulting practice, she served as Director of Marketing at Excelsior College and Assistant Director of Development at Parsons Child and Family Center. Her volunteer experience has focused on volunteer leadership, marketing, and fund-raising in organizations including Equinox, Parsons, and Ronald Mc Donald Children's Charities. As a member of the Junior League of Albany, where she is currently Co-Chair of the Sustainer Committee, she served in many leadership roles, including Co-Chair of the Domestic Violence Shelter Project and President.

Nancy E. Hoffman
General Counsel, CSEA
General Counsel and Director of Legal Services of the Civil Service Employees Association, Inc., which represents over 265,000 state, local, government and private sector employees in labor relations and employment law. She serves on the Advisory Board of the Albany Law School Government Law Center and is Vice Chair of the Council of the ABA Labor and Employment Law Section as well as that ABA Section’s Liaison to the ABA Commission on Women. She is Chair of Girls Incorporated of the Capital Region and a Board member of the Capital Region Community Foundation. (Statewide)

Alicia Lasch
Community Volunteer
Community Volunteer with a professional background in corporate finance for companies serving the technology, telecommunications, and education industries. She holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Boston College. A graduate of the Academy of the Holy Names, she and her family have recently returned to the area. Her volunteer experience includes working at a women’s homeless shelter in Washington, DC, and tutoring incarcerated adults to achieve their GED in Boston, MA. (Albany County)

Ruth Mahoney
Vice President, McDonald Financial Group
Market Manager and Senior Vice President of Key Private Bank. Responsible for managing the Capital District and Hudson Valley Private Bank teams. She is Vice Chair and Board member of the United Way of Northeastern NY. She has served as a board member for Girl’s Incorporated of the Capital region, a founding member and President of Bank of America’s Women’s diversity group LEAD and immediate past Co-Chair of the Capital Leadership Program.

Colleen O'Laughlin
GE Global Research
Manager of Technical Education and Training, GE Global Research Center, Niskayuna, NY. Colleen joined GE Aviation on the Edison Engineering Development Program in Lynn, MA, then was the Lynn Operability lead for the F404 - IN20 program for the Indian Air Force and the TF34 -100B program for the US Air Force. At Cincinnati, OH, she ran the Edison Engineering Development Program for GE Aviation. Colleen graduated from Clarkson University with a Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a Bachelors of Science in Interdisciplinary Engineering and Management. She also completed a Masters of Science in Engineering Management at the Gordon Institute at Tufts University.

Katherine D. Pelham
United Way of Northeastern New York
President/CEO of the United Way of Northeastern New York since 1993, she sits on the Board of Directors for Southern Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce, the Sage Colleges President’s Council and is a founding member of the Grantmakers Alliance of Northeastern New York, serves on the United Way of America National Task Force on Metrics and is the Statewide Chair for the United Way Professional Advisory Committee for United Way of New York State. She was recognized by Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce as a “Woman of Excellence” in 2000; awarded Distinguished Community Leader Award by the National Association of Community Leadership in 1999 and is a graduate of Capital Leadership (1989)

Mary A. Shaheen
Vice President, United Way of New York State
Mary A. Shaheen is Vice President of United Way of New York State, a membership organization serving 38 local United Ways throughout New York State. Her work centers on financial stability, school readiness/school success and organizational development and excellence; supporting local United Ways through advocacy, public policy, training, facilitation and technical assistance. Mary currently serves as a member of United Way Worldwide’s Health Advisory Committee. She is a member of 2-1-1 New York’s Application Review and Oversight Committee as well as the NYS Early Childhood Advisory Council and its Strong Families Workgroup. Previous volunteer commitments include the Board of Directors of the National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse, NY Chapter, the Board of Directors for the Junior League of Schenectady, the Schenectady Task Force on Violence Against Women and her school district’s elementary enrichment committee.

Mary E. Stokes
Mary Stokes Financial Planning
Mary E. Stokes, CLU, ChFC, CFP® owns her own financial planning practice. She works with individuals, families and small businesses concentrating her focus on Investment Management and Retirement Income Planning. Mary entered the Financial Service industry in 1982. She has a BS from Russell Sage College and has achieved the designations of Chartered Life Underwriter, Chartered Financial Consultant and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ practitioner. Memberships include the Financial Planning Association, Estate Planning Council of NENY, Albany-Colonie Chamber and the Collaborative Divorce Association of the Capital District. Past volunteer activities include CAPTAIN of Clifton Park, St. Anne’s Institute Foundation and Albany-Colonie Chamber.

Tricia Tauss
Chief Information Officer, GE Global Research
GE Global Research is one of the world's largest and most diversified industrial research organizations, providing innovative technology for all of GE's businesses. Tricia and her team provide information technology support and services for GE Global Research’s facilities in Niskayuna, NY, Bangalore, India, Shanghai, China, and Munich, Germany. Her volunteer experience includes activities with GE Volunteers, and sitting on the Steering committee of the GE Women’s Network (Capital Region). She recently joined the Board of Directors for Junior Achievement after several years volunteering as a JA classroom instructor. She holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Siena College.