Andrew Schulkind
Board President
Andrew Schulkind leads Andigo, a content marketing and website development agency that helps mission-driven businesses generate audience engagement through compelling content, solid information architecture, and great user experience. His book, Marketing for Small B2B Businesses, was published in late 2022. Andrew has served on the Starr Library Board since January 2022 and is the Treasurer. He also serves on the fundraising, expansion, and nominating committees.
Andrew has lived in Rhinebeck since 2002 with his wife and daughters. He has long been involved in community organizations, including the Rhinebeck Science Foundation, where he was a founding board member. Andrew enjoys cycling, fly fishing, bread baking, and collecting meaningless trivia. (Did you know the Lone Ranger made his mask from the cloth of his brother’s vest after his brother was killed by “the bad guys?”) Andrew also once broke into prison.
Alfred Ragucci
Board Vice President
Al Ragucci is a retired college professor who has lived in Rhinebeck for the last ten years. He is a past president of the New Paltz Board of Education, past President of the Starr Library Board, and past President of the HomeOwners Association at the Gardens in Rhinebeck. He is currently a volunteer at the Church of Messiah food pantry, a member of Rotary of Rhinebeck and Vice President of the Starr Library Board of Directors.
Jim Ruderman
Board Treasurer
Jim Ruderman grew up with a deep love of books—not only for their contents and the worlds they open up, but for their physical forms as well. Even today, after enjoying a book in digital or audio format, he’s been known to purchase the physical version to keep on his shelves. As Groucho Marx said, “Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.”
A fan of libraries since childhood, he appreciates their vital role as community hubs and invaluable resources for people of all ages and backgrounds.
Jim and his wife moved to Rhinebeck in 2024, drawn by its charm, warmth, and the welcoming staff at the Starr Library. Inspired by the library’s events and its role as a community hub, he joined as a trustee in 2025.
An accomplished corporate communications executive, Jim has more than four decades of global experience in media relations, speechwriting, and strategy development across corporate and nonprofit sectors. Before settling in Rhinebeck, he lived and worked in places as diverse as Silicon Valley, Paris, Milan, Dubai, Mexico City, São Paulo, Beijing, and NYC. He’s excited to bring his global perspective to support the Starr Library and the community it serves.
Jay Burgess
Board Secretary
Jay Burgess has lived in Rhinebeck for more than 20 years. For him the library is special, a community hub—for learning, discovery, socializing and even health and wellness. He always enjoys the smiling people at the library and excitedly joined the board in 2024.
For 18 years Jay was director of communications for the land preservation and environmental nonprofit Scenic Hudson. Part of the senior management team, he contributed to the organization’s financial and programmatic success. He led a group that told Scenic Hudson’s story, reaching varied audiences, seizing their attention and moving them to support the cause.
Earlier he was a vice president with a leading upstate New York public relations firm, public information coordinator at The Culinary Institute of America, press secretary for a 10-term congressman and reporter at a weekly newspaper group.
Jay and his wife, Thea, love Rhinebeck and the natural beauty, cultural vitality, community spirit and great people they experience in the area.
Laura Charles
Laura Charles is an interior designer living and working in Rhinebeck, New York. Specializing in high-end residential and boutique hospitality spaces, Laura brings a signature combination of warmth and whimsy to her projects, creating interior worlds that are inviting as they are inspired. After many years working alongside some of New York’s most exciting designers at firms like Selldorf Architects and Reunion Goods & Services, Laura founded her own studio, Rimes Reid, in 2021.
Along with running her own business, Laura is a wife and mother of two girls, Clara and Luisa, a volunteer member of the Rhinebeck Soccer League board, and a trustee for Starr Library. She is happiest when she’s outside with her family and friends, connecting with her community, or playing tennis. Laura joined the Starr Library Board in 2023.
Heather Dubuque
Heather Dubuque brings more than fifteen years of strategic leadership in nonprofit operations, organizational design, and culture development to the Starr Library Board of Trustees. Her career has spanned executive leadership, strategic planning, team development, and mission-centered partnerships across mission-driven organizations. Heather most recently served as Executive Director & Chief of Staff at The Village Church in Nashville, where she partnered with senior leadership to build internal systems, annual planning rhythms, and cultural practices that supported sustainable growth, cross-team alignment, and impact.
Throughout her work, Heather has focused on designing operational frameworks that strengthen clarity, collaboration, and accountability, helping teams translate vision into sustainable action. She is passionate about values-driven leadership, equitable decision-making, and nurturing organizational environments where staff and community can thrive. Heather’s professional experience includes strategy consulting, coaching nonprofit leaders on systems and culture, and building cross-functional operational structures that support mission and people alike.
A resident of Rhinebeck and an avid supporter of community connection, Heather is honored to serve on the Starr Library Board and contribute to a library that enriches lives through knowledge, creativity, and community engagement. Outside of her board work, she enjoys reading, community partnerships, and exploring new ways to support lifelong learning.
Erin Humbaugh
Erin lives in Rhinebeck with her husband, children, garden, and an extremely busy bird feeder. She is a dance/movement therapist who worked inpatient psychiatry with adults with mental illness and chemical addiction and taught at Sarah Lawrence College for several years. If she is not in her garden, she is at the ski mountain serving as equipment manager and hot chocolate chef for her competitive ski racing children.
Erin joined the board of the Starr Library in January of 2023. She chairs the fundraising committee and the annual benefit subcommittee. She loves serving the community and looks forward to continuing to help Starr Library to meet the needs of Rhinebeck now and in the future.
Mimi Joh-Carnella
Mimi Joh-Carnella is passionate about supporting contemporary art because of its ability to engage diverse communities and as a source of cross-disciplinary dialogues. Starr Library, more than just a depository of books, is a nexus for learning, convening, and connecting – Mimi adores and wants to support all of these aspects of the library!
Mimi is a Rotarian and currently board president of Forge Project in Ancram, a Native-led non-profit whose mandate is to cultivate Indigenous leadership in arts and culture. She has held leadership and advisory roles at many Toronto cultural organizations, such as Partners in Art, Art Museum at the University of Toronto, Steering Committee for City of Toronto Year of Public Art, and the Royal Ontario Museum Contemporary Culture Network, among others.
Professionally, Mimi raised three children and taught at OCAD University, Toronto. In New York, she specialized in German and Austrian Expressionist art: at Galerie St. Etienne, at Kunsthaus Lempertz, and at Serge Sabarsky, Inc. where she produced travelling museum exhibitions before the founding of the Neue Galerie. Her grown children are split between Canadian and US cities (Toronto, Vancouver, and Chicago). Currently Mimi lives in Rhinebeck with her husband John, her elderly mother “Halmi,” and dog Molly.
Tom Mendl
Tom grew up in a small town in Central NY where the local library was an integral part the community. After college he moved to NYC and spent ten years in account management at two advertising agencies working primarily on consumer-packaged goods (beer, disposable diapers, cold medicine and dog food). This was followed by a long career directing marketing for a number of companies producing products for the outdoor clothing/footwear industry. (Polartec, Primaloft, Vibram). Job opportunities took him from New York to Boston to Saratoga to China and to Westchester County.
In 2019 Tom moved to Rhinebeck where he is “mostly” retired. He currently serves on the Board of Vibram SpA, an Italian-based company. Past nonprofit board work includes Camp Dudley, the Outdoor Industry Association and the Saratoga Film Forum. Tom is also a volunteer with Hudson Valley Hospice.
Upon arriving in Rhinebeck, he quickly realized the important role the Starr Library played in the area and has spent many hours taking advantage of the resources and programs offered.
Laura Selicaro
Laura Selicaro has been on the Starr Board of Trustees since 2021 and leads the Building Expansion Committee. She is excited about Reimagining Starr Library and thinks libraries are the most democratic places in the world where everyone is welcome.
Laura studied Design & Architecture at Syracuse University and has a Masters Degree in Interdisciplinary Art Education from the University of Barcelona. Over the years she has been an educator and designer of museum exhibits and has worked at many museums including the Nature Museum in Chicago and The Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia.
Laura loves hiking & canoeing, photography, visiting museums, and seeing new places. She has spent several years living and travelling throughout Central & South America, Africa, Asia, and recently lived in Spain for seven years. She is now the Program Coordinator for Culture Connect in Rhinebeck and an art educator for The Olana Museum & historic site in Hudson. Laura lives in Rhinebeck with her husband and two children.
Stephen Frost
President, Friends of Starr Library