Frank Landsberger is elected president; Ezra Swerdlow and Jim Hanson join Clearwater Board

BEACON, NY–The membership of Hudson River Sloop Clearwater held its Annual Meeting on Sunday, September 22 at the University Settlement Campus in Beacon, NY, and elected two new directors to the Clearwater Board and reelected four active directors.

Frank Landsberger was elected as Clearwater’s new board president, replacing outgoing president Allan Shope. Going forward, Landsberger will work closely with Clearwater’s staff and board of directors to oversee the organization’s ongoing operations and strategic initiatives.

“On behalf of the Clearwater Board of Directors, I want to thank Allan Shope for his incredible contributions to Clearwater,” said Landsberger. “Through his vision and leadership, he strengthened the organization’s vision and built its capacity. He has served with distinction and ensured that Clearwater is well-positioned going forward in its education and environmental action programs servicing the communities of the Hudson Valley.”

Shope joined the board in 2008 as its vice president and became board president in the same year. He was a guiding force in creating the vision for the Kingston Home Port and Education Center to provide the sloop Clearwater with a winter home to perform key maintenance. He was the project architect and oversaw its construction along with co-project manager, Jack Weeks of the Hudson River Maritime Museum. The facility opened in fall of 2012 and is located on the Hudson River Maritime Museum property on the historic Rondout waterfront in Kingston, NY.

Landsberger will initially be focused on strengthening Clearwater’s financial position while continuing to build on its core mission of environmental education and activism, all brought together annually in celebration at the Great Hudson River Revival, also known as the “Clearwater Festival”. He stated that this will be accomplished as collaborative effort with the dedication of its highly engaged board, dedicated staff, and the devoted Clearwater membership.

Frank Landsberger, Ph.D. joined the Clearwater Board of Directors in 2010 and continues to support and inspire the organization. He has been active for many years in the not-for-profit sector, having served as Governor-at-Large and a member of the Executive Committee and Nominating Committee of the New York Academy and the Executive Committee of the Netherland-America Foundation. He was Chairman of cool(E)motion, a foundation located in the Netherlands, sponsoring work to promote discussion of global warming. He also initiated a program to bring Inuit children from the Children’s Home of Uummannaq, Greenland to sail on the sloop Clearwater in 2009.

Landsberger has vast experience as an academic, venture capitalist, start-up entrepreneur, and senior manager. He is the Founder of INKEF Capital in Amsterdam, the Netherlands which invests in Dutch companies to promote entrepreneurial individuals to stimulate the local economy. He has a thorough knowledge of the technology and venture capital sectors in the US, the Netherlands, UK, Germany, and Russia. He is a member of the Dutch Financial Club in New York.

Landsberger was born in the Netherlands and has a Ph.D. from Brown University and a BA from Cornell University, both in physics. He has served on the faculties of The Rockefeller University where he also was Chairman of Biophysics, M.I.T. and the University of Cambridge.

He has been a member of a number of expeditions to the high Arctic. In 2003, he, as co-leader of the Euro-American Expedition, was the co-discoverer of the most northerly identified landmass in the world.

Newcomers to the Clearwater Board:
The Annual Meeting is an important event and provides Clearwater members with the opportunity to participate in the vital function of electing board candidates into office. Board members play key creative roles in fundraising, event planning, program development, financial management, public relations, and project management, and serve as spokespersons and ambassadors for Clearwater.

Ezra Swerdlow is a film producer living in Hasting on Hudson, NY. He grew up on Long Island, NY and has spent the last 20 years living in Westchester overlooking the Hudson River. He is a graduate of Hampshire College, and has an M.A. in history from Rutgers University, but has spent all of his professional life making movies.

He began his career working for Woody Allen on such films as Zelig, Broadway Danny Rose, Hannah and Her Sisters, and Radio Days. During the last thirty years he has worked on film of all styles and with many different directors and actors. He has worked on or helped to produce these prestigious movies: Tootsie, King of Comedy, Arthur, Waiting to Exhale, First Wives Club, and Wag the Dog. More recent films include Enchanted, Invincible, Zombieland, 21 Jump Street, and The Smurfs.

In joining the Clearwater Board, Ezra is realizing his desire to participate more fully in the struggle towards a more humane, sustainable, equitable and creative culture in our Hudson Valley area and across the country. Clearwater’s goals and values are in total accord with his own.

Ezra’s mother, Amy Swerdlow, who passed away last year, was a founder of Woman Strike for Peace, and a leading activist and feminist. In fact, Ezra remembers riding on a float at a peace demonstration during the Vietnam War that Pete was playing and singing on.

Swerdlow looks forward to working with the Clearwater team to advance the cause of peace, justice, clean water and clean air.

Jim Hanson of LaGrange, NY is a professional bassist who has played with several local bands over the years, including Harvest.  Presently, Jim works as a Financial Planner/Advisor and Services representative at a large Financial/Insurance firm. However, he has been a film producer for almost two decades and has worked in an executive capacity for the Independent Film Sales Organization. The films Witchery, Tale of Two Sisters, Ain’t No Way Back and Mockingbird Don’t Sing are among his production credits.

Hanson’s positions as a Dutchess Community College Adjunct Instructor and as a Hudson Valley Green Fair co-founder solidify his interest in community education and environmental awareness. The Green Fair at the Dutchess Community Fairgrounds features healthy and green living options.

His volunteer efforts span the organization of events for the Muscular Dystrophy Association with WPDH & other live radio stations, blood drives and blood donations, Little League coach and swim instructor for the Girl Scouts.

His vision for working with Clearwater is to build a sizable endowment fund that will provide Clearwater ample financial resources. With greater resources, Clearwater will have the capacity to reach out to more and more people, young and old, in a multitude of new and innovative ways.

Returning Clearwater directors include William Cox, Francis Cruz, Frank Landsberger, and David Lebson.

Clearwater would like to extend its appreciation to outgoing board members Scott Berwick, David Fenner, MD, Ron Flax-Davidson, Susan Hito-Shapiro, Eric Marshall, Roger Meyer, Alma Rodriquez, and Elena Stokes for their outstanding service to the organization.

###