Jay Burgess
Director of Communications, Scenic Hudson, Inc.
Tel: (845) 473-4440 x222 Cell: (914) 489-0362 Fax: (845) 473-0740
jburgess@scenichudson.org
HUDSON VALLEY, N.Y.—Adding to the expertise represented by the members of its Board of Directors, Scenic Hudson has announced that James C. Goodfellow, Frederic C. Rich and Leslie Richards-Yellen are the organization’s newest board members.
James C. Goodfellow of Tuxedo Park
Mr. Goodfellow is the retired chairman and a current director of Fiduciary Trust Company International, a global investment management firm headquartered in New York City. He served previously as a member of Scenic Hudson’s Board of Directors, most recently as its chairman. During Mr. Goodfellow’s six-year tenure as chairman, he refocused the organization on the full breadth of its mission—land, parks and advocacy—and on the impacts of its work in protecting water resources, preserving working farms and adapting to climate change.
Joining Fiduciary Trust Company International as an executive vice president in 1994, Mr. Goodfellow prior to that was a managing director of JPMorgan Chase & Co. He has decades of investment experience, both domestic and international, and a proven record of leadership in financial and operational activities.
Earning his undergraduate degree from Hamilton College, Mr. Goodfellow was awarded a law degree from Albany Law School and a Master of Laws degree from New York University Law School.
“Jim Goodfellow’s leadership as well as his business and legal expertise will help shape Scenic Hudson’s future course and fulfillment of our mission. He has a great passion for the beauty and natural resources of the Hudson Valley and is committed to seeing the region’s communities thrive,” said Scenic Hudson President Ned Sullivan.
Mr. Goodfellow and his wife, Susan, live in Tuxedo Park, Orange County, and have a farm in Vermont.
Frederic C. Rich of Garrison and New York City
An author of fiction and nonfiction who probes contemporary political and moral issues with a perspective that is independent, nonpartisan and pragmatic, Mr. Rich most recently published Getting to Green, Saving Nature: A Bipartisan Solution (W.W. Norton, 2016). The book contains a rousing call for conservatives to reconnect with their long tradition of support for conservation and for the Green movement to adopt reforms necessary to restore bipartisan support for the environmental agenda.
Mr. Rich studied public and international affairs at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School and moral philosophy at King’s College, Cambridge, before receiving his law degree at University of Virginia Law School. He spent his law career as a partner of the international firm Sullivan & Cromwell LLP before leaving in 2014 to write and teach.
Appointed to the board of Scenic Hudson’s affiliated land trust, Mr. Rich served previously in this capacity and as chair of Scenic Hudson’s board and land trust board. During more than 20 years chairing The Scenic Hudson Land Trust, Mr. Rich played a pivotal role in the transfer of the Wallace Endowment to the organization, while helping guide creation of the organization’s farmland preservation and Saving the Land That Matters Most initiatives, earning Scenic Hudson the Land Trust Alliance’s National Land Trust Excellence Award.
Mr. Rich holds leadership posts with the boards of numerous environmental groups, including the Foundation for Landscape Studies and the national Land Trust Alliance. His dedication to the environment has earned him numerous awards, including the Battery Urban Farmer Award, the Environmental Advocates of New York Advocates Award and the Frances Reese Medal from Scenic Hudson for service to the Hudson Valley.
“Deeply committed to the Hudson Valley and reigniting all people in enjoying and caring for the region’s celebrated natural, agricultural and cultural treasures, Fred Rich is a great asset to have back on our board. His past legal work and current research and travels as a writer give him a far-reaching perspective that’s valued on our board,” said Mr. Sullivan.
Mr. Rich is a resident of Garrison, Putnam County, and New York City.
Leslie Richards-Yellen of Poughkeepsie
Ms. Richards-Yellen is director of Inclusion-Americas in the New York City office of the global law firm Hogan Lovells. She is charged with assisting the firm’s leaders in achieving goals of sustaining and improving its diverse and inclusive environment.
Before her most recent post, she held a similar position with the Chicago law firm Hinshaw & Culbertson, LLP. She also was a partner in the Business & Commercial Transactions practice, where she focused on public finance. Ms. Richards-Yellen’s professional leadership has included serving as president of the National Association of Women Lawyers, a member of the advisory board for the Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession, a member-at-large of the Cornell Black Lawyer Alumni Network and a board member of Delta Dental of Illinois Foundation.
After earning a bachelor’s degree from Drake University, Ms. Richards-Yellen was awarded a law degree from Cornell Law School.
“We’re excited about both the legal and diversity expertise Leslie Richards-Yellen will bring to Scenic Hudson. We are committed to having our work benefit an increasingly diverse Hudson Valley and to building on the inclusive team of professionals on our staff and board, so her joining the board is ideally timed. We also know she will share insights for best practices in professional development for our highly dedicated staff,” said Mr. Sullivan.
She resides with her husband, David, in Poughkeepsie.
About Scenic Hudson
Scenic Hudson helps citizens and communities preserve land and farms and create parks where people experience the outdoors and enjoy the Hudson River. We also bring together people, businesses and government to protect the river and natural resources that are the engines of the valley’s local economies. Started in 1963 by a handful of citizens who cherished the simple pleasures of the outdoors along the Hudson, Scenic Hudson is credited with launching the modern grass-roots environmental movement. Today, in the face of new challenges and the effects of climate change, we are dedicated to making the Hudson Valley a great place to live, work and play. Our focus is on strengthening and maximizing benefits all can enjoy from the region’s great assets—beautiful open spaces, working farms, and vibrant cities and town centers.
