David Lavallee
Board President
David Lavallee is currently the President of the Starr Library Board of Trustees. He has valued libraries since he started using his local public library as a child and found all the mind-treasure it offered. In graduate school, he was on the committee that designed the 16-acre Regenstein Library at the University of Chicago. As a campus administrator at three campuses and the SUNY central administration, he oversaw the libraries. He initiated thorough rearrangement of the 10-story library at Hunter College to improve research usage, supported the refurbishing and upgrading of technology at City College and oversaw the design and total renovation of SUNY New Paltz’s campus library. He served as board member and president of the library in Croton-on-Hudson before moving to Rhinebeck in 2001. He is so grateful for the support of Starr Library’s patrons and the dedication of its staff and trustees.
Eve Wood, M.D.
Board Vice President
Eve Wood, M.D. is a board certified psychiatrist who currently works as an executive coach and leadership consultant to high performing leaders (CEOs, Chief People Officers, COOs, Chief Commercial Officers, CFOs, and attorneys at all levels of firm hierarchy) at non-profit organizations, start-ups, and international law firms. She helps individuals and teams balance the mission/vision of the organization/business with the strategic imperative to be fiscally successful. In her forty years of practice, she has also been a professor, author, speaker, medical director, chief medical officer, radio host and columnist.
Eve thrives on elevating others and believes that we need to be part of the change we want to see. She has served on boards and committees in every community she has lived in. When she relocated to Rhinebeck, from Colorado four years ago, she was drawn to the magic of Starr Library, and wanted to be a part of this fabulous institution. She now serves as vice president of the board of trustees.
Eve lives in Rhinebeck estates with her husband Thomas Wieber and cattle dog mix Brandie. She has 4 children, a stepdaughter, and nine grandchildren, loves to read, cook, travel, dance, hike, walk and ride her Peloton bike. She is honored and humbled by the opportunities afforded her by the Starr Library community to work with such amazing humans daily.
Craig Oleszewski
Board Treasurer
Craig joined the Starr Board of Trustees in 2021 and is the Treasurer. Born and raised in Saginaw, Michigan, Craig first moved to Rhinebeck as a Bard student in the 1980s and moved back a few times after graduation before finally settling in to raise a family 15 years ago. Craig is married to Melissa Dale and they have two teenage children, Owen and Gigi. He’s active in Boy Scouts and is also a member of the Town of Rhinebeck Planning Board. He likes biking, canoes, cooking, carpentry and old buildings. Craig holds a master’s degree in Historic Preservation from Columbia and works as a project manager for the National Park Service at the Roosevelt Vanderbilt National Historic Sites in Hyde Park. He serves on this board to ensure that Starr will always be a welcoming, friendly and safe place where everyone can come to learn, enjoy and connect with the community.
Valerie Jacob
Board Secretary
Jay Burgess
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.
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.
Andrew Schulkind
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. He currently leads the Public Relations/Communications Committee and sits on the Finance, Fundraising, Nominating, and Building Expansion 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.
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