Meet the Office at Clearwater

For General Inquiries

724 Wolcott Ave
Beacon, NY 12508

Phone: 845-265-8080

Email: office@clearwater.org

Executive

David Toman

Executive Director
he | him | his
exec@clearwater.org
845-265-8080 x7104

David comes to Clearwater with over 25 years of experience in nonprofit leadership, most recently as a Vice President of Operations, Chief Financial Officer, and Director of Business Functions & Human Resources at the Mohonk Preserve. Toman’s non-profit career began in the public accounting world; his love of nature guided him to the Delaware Nature Society where he held the position of Associate Director of Business & Finance for 12 years.

In his spare time, David enjoys paddling on local waterways, nature hikes with his Karelian Bear Dog, and listening to great music with his family, where they reside in New Paltz, NY.

Administration

Contact the Administration department for all issues related to the purchasing of merchandise, accounts payable, and general information.

Erin Macchiaroli

Director of Operations
she | her | hers
erin@clearwater.org
845-265-8080 x7100

Erin joined Clearwater in March of 2014 and currently manages the day-to-day operations, human resources, administration and facilities at the Beacon office. Originally from Queens, NY, Erin is a US Air Force veteran and served as a Command Post Operations Controller, stationed in Delaware, South Korea, Oman and England during her enlistment. Using the Montgomery GI Bill, Erin obtained her BA from SUNY New Paltz and a MA in Writing from the National University of Ireland, Galway, where she lived for the next 5 years enjoying a culturally rich life in the west of Ireland. Erin now lives in Newburgh with her son.

Caitlin Zinsley

Administrative Sloop Liason
she | her | hers
caitlin@clearwater.org

Caitlin grew up in the Hudson Valley and first came onboard the sloop as a high school volunteer in 2008. She immediately fell in love and returned the next two summers as an apprentice, later as a deckhand, and finally as onboard education coordinator, visiting often in between. Caitlin is happy to be able to support the sloop in an administrative capacity, which also gives her more excuses to visit the sloop and participate in an occasional tideline program. Caitlin lives in Kingston, where she settled undoubtedly because of her time with Clearwater, with her husband and baby. She gardens, takes walks on the river with her family, and makes cakes.

Anne Crowley

Administrative Associate
she | her | hers
anne@clearwater.org

Anne grew up in the Hudson Valley, sailing and ice boating on the Hudson, and remembers clearly the year everyone was warned not to swim in the Hudson River or eat its fish. She is thrilled to now be working with the Clearwater Team and so appreciative of all the hard work they have done and continue to do to make the river and the Hudson Valley a better and cleaner place.

When not at the Clearwater office, Anne is a full time student at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson NY, studying Written and Studio Arts.

Captains

Rory Kane

Captain
he | him | his
captain@clearwater.org
845-265-8080 x7114

Born and raised in New Haven, Connecticut, Captain Rory Kane’s first sailing experience was as a volunteer aboard Clearwater in 2012. Since then, in addition to serving in nearly every position on the Sloop, he has vast experience on Tall Ships up and down the East and West Coasts, but always returned to the Hudson Valley because of the Clearwater Community. Having acquired his Captain’s License in 2019, and culminating a decade of experience, Rory is excited to rejoin Clearwater for his first season as Captain.

Communications

Contact the Communications department for all information regarding Clearwater media inquiries and questions about our website and social media platforms.

Amber Stewart

Communications Coordinator
she | her | hers
amber@clearwater.org
845-265-8080 x7108

Amber grew up in the Catskills and is so excited to join the communications team at Clearwater. Having graduated from Hunter College in Manhattan with a degree in political science, she pivoted and began her career in marketing at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, taking on multiple roles within the organization. She then went on to work freelance in communications and social media management and has used her professional experience to build a vast knowledge of marketing efforts and strategies. She is ready to put this knowledge to great use at Clearwater!

Amber currently lives in Sullivan County with her boyfriend and cutie cat, Chester, and she enjoys reading, writing, spending time outdoors and discovering new anime shows.

Development

Contact the Development department for all information regarding supporting Clearwater’s mission through sponsorships, planned giving, memberships, and corporate partnerships.

Meg Mayo

Director of Development & Marketing
she | her | hers
meg@clearwater.org
845-265-8080 x7118

Meg Mayo joined Clearwater in July 2020 and is responsible for Clearwater’s donor relations and fundraising initiatives, as well as marketing and communications activities. Prior to Clearwater, Meg was Director of Tourism for Visit Nyack, a not-for-profit destination marketing organization she co-founded to support the independent businesses of Rockland County’s river villages. Prior to that, Meg worked in New York’s book publishing industry as a sales and marketing manager, specializing in sales to non-traditional booksellers. Meg has spent her life near water, from the Lake Michigan lakefront in Milwaukee, to the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, and the majestic Hudson River in New York. She currently lives with her son and twin daughters in Nyack, New York, where she enjoys cooking, reading, watching the sun and moon rise over the river, hiking Rockland County’s many trails, and exploring the bookstores, communities, and history of the Hudson Valley and beyond.

Ann Mellor

Manager of Membership and Sloop Club Relations
she | her | hers
ann@clearwater.org
845-265-8080 x7119

Ann Mellor started working at Clearwater as Development Assistant / Membership Associate in April 2009. Previously, Ann served as Membership Associate / Administrative Assistant at the Hastings Center in Garrison, NY for 7 years. She is married and lives in Beacon, NY with her husband Michael Mellor. They came to the Hudson Valley in 1984 from Rochester, NY. Ann and her husband raised their two wonderful daughters in Beacon; one daughter, Mary Joe, is married and serves in the U.S. Navy, and the other daughter, Christine, served in the Air Force and is now to be married and living in Rochester NY. In her free time, Ann loves to cook, read, travel, listen to music and watch movies.

Chelsea Anan

Development Coordinator
she | her | hers
chelsea@clearwater.org
845-265-8080 x7112

Chelsea Anan is proud to be part of the Clearwater team as the Development Coordinator, where she will help with fundraising and event planning. Born and raised in coastal New Jersey, Chelsea has always been deeply connected to our living waterways. She moved to the Hudson Valley in 2018 and fell in love with the mighty Hudson River and its surrounding communities. She comes to Clearwater with a diverse background in environmental education and nonprofit work. Chelsea has worked for organizations such as the International Wolf Center, Clean Water Action, and the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture. She graduated with a BS in Environmental Education and Interpretation from Humboldt State University in Northern California.

In her spare time Chelsea loves to cook, garden, read a good fiction book, swim in every body of water she can, hike with her husky-mix, see live music, and explore her passion of singing and songwriting.

Programs

Contact the Programs Department for all information regarding our educational programs, volunteering on the sloops as an educator, and booking sails on the Clearwater. Contact the Captain for all information related to the Sloop’s functioning, as well as for information on being employed as a crewmember.
845-265-8080 x7103

Ruthie Gold

Program Director
she | her | hers
ruthie@clearwater.org
845-265-8080 x7115

Ruthie is thrilled to be a part of the Clearwater team as Program Director, where she plans, implements, and manages Clearwater’s educational programs. She began her career teaching high school science in Maryland and Chicago before transitioning into the nonformal education space. After working as the Student Engagement Coordinator at the Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance, she earned a master’s in Environmental Conservation Education at New York University. Since graduating, she has worked as the Manager of Secondary Education Initiatives at the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. This, in addition to teaching at a variety of non-profit institutions including the New York Botanical Gardens, the Department of Environmental Protection, NYC Audubon, and the City Parks Foundation has solidified Ruthie’s enthusiasm for place-based learning as a means of cultivating the next generation of justice-focused environmental stewards. She lives in Brooklyn and enjoys all things outdoors. 

Eli Schloss

Tideline Program Director
he | him | his
eli@clearwater.org
845-265-8080 x7106

Eli grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana. He spent his childhood sailing small boats on the lakes and reservoirs there. In 1994, after graduating from New York University with a BA in Art History, he began working in shipboard education. He crewed on Soundwaters, and HMS Bounty, was the first mate on the Lettie G. Howard, and spent time on various boats in Baltimore Harbor as part of Living Classrooms Foundation. With Living Classrooms, he ran the Customized Job Training department. He has worked at Clearwater since 2005. When not on the river, he enjoys cooking, soccer and hiking with his family and dogs.

Joao De La Cruz

Sloop Scheduling Coordinator
he | him | his
sched@clearwater.org
845-265-8080 x7107

From the Bronx to the Hudson Valley, then to Miami, and back to the Hudson Valley – Joao is excited to join the Clearwater team as the Sloop Scheduling Coordinator. His role involves helping craft the Clearwater’s sail program schedule, aiming to accommodate numerous program requests and engage with various Hudson River communities. After graduating from Bard College with a focus on Electronic Music and Environment and Urban Studies, his appreciation for the Hudson Valley and his pre-existing love for the outdoors prompted his return. Now residing in Kingston, he dedicates his time outside of work to producing electronic music in his bedroom and enjoys hiking and capturing photos of the stars during the dead of night.

Chloe Grey Smith

Onboard Program Coordinator
they | them | theirs
chloe@clearwater.org
845-874-0556

Chloe Grey is thrilled to return to the Clearwater crew as Onboard Program Coordinator, helping to ensure that school groups, volunteers, and the public have a great learning experience aboard the sloop. Originally from South Florida, they are a longtime New York City resident and experienced museum educator. They have worked at historical institutions such as the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, the Brooklyn Historical Society, and the Wyckoff House Museum to develop and teach inclusive educational programming, and taught art and boatbuilding in after school programs for many years. After building about a dozen Optimist Prams, volunteering on restoration projects at the South Street Seaport Museum, and living aboard a crumbling old ferry, they are thrilled to be able to grow their sailing skills aboard Clearwater.

Chloe Grey loves kayaking in mangrove swamps, building plexiglass furniture, and learning about anticolonial and queer histories of the East Coast.

Environmental Action

Jen Benson

Environmental Action Director
she | her | hers
jen@clearwater.org
845-265-8080 x7113

Jen Benson is an experienced organizer with nearly a decade of experience working at the nexus of community engagement and river and watershed advocacy in the Hudson Valley. She joined Clearwater in July of 2023 as the Director of Environmental Action.

Prior to Clearwater, Jen worked at the Hudson River Watershed Alliance where her work encompassed building technical assistance to watershed groups, supported watershed characterization processes. Jen also spent seven years at Riverkeeper managing the Riverkeeper Sweep and advocacy campaigns activating communities around threats to drinking water, Hudson River, and its tributaries.

She is a May 2022 graduate of Bard College with a Masters of Science in Environmental Policy, and holds a Bachelors of Arts in Literature from SUNY Geneseo. Jen lives in Kingston where she spends her free time hiking, running, and exploring the Hudson Valley.