Board of Directors
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- Claudette Ford, Chair
- Paula Kindos-Carberry, Vice Chair
- Anthony Mignone, Interim Chief Executive Officer
- Paul Scarpati, Secretary
- Joan Gundersen
- Craig Lopez
- Keith Gurgui
- R. Marie Altenau
Claudette Ford, Chair
Claudette Ford is one of the newest Board Members at RCAL. She has been a Consultant at Clarose & Associates for over ten years. She received her Masters in Business Administration at Marymount University in Virginia. She was President of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Hartford, Connecticut Chapter, which helped create educational scholarships. After she became legally blind, Claudette became sensitive to the need for accessibility and safety as it relates to persons with disabilities.Claudette has served on numerous Boards (Keep America Beautiful, Pump House Gallery, Girl Scouts of America, Juvenile Community Advisory Board). She enjoys reading, theater and the Arts in her spare time.
Paula Kindos-Carberry, Vice Chair
Paul Scarpati, Secretary
Paul Scarpati is a locally based Occupational Therapist and Assistive Technology Professional who has worked in a variety of settings with people throughout the lifespan in the Ulster county community since 2013. Providing opportunities for individuals to achieve their highest level of function and independence in their lives is a driving force for Paul, which matches with RCAL‘s mission as an Independent Living Center. He enjoys problem solving ways to increase accessibility and reduce barriers to independence. This includes being part of a team that utilized a 3D printer to create a prosthetic hand for one of his students.Paul has been a member of the RCAL Board since 2005 and has participated as a Board member and on the Executive Committee. Paul resides in New Paltz with his wife and two children. He can be found on the hiking and biking and rail trails or traveling to campgrounds throughout the state.
Rita Marie Altenau, Board Member
Rita Marie Altenau is a semi-retired teacher with degrees from SUNY Ulster at Cortland and Russell Sage in Albany. She currently substitutes in local Elementary schools. Her past experience is mostly working with children with disabilities. She has also held leadership roles with Girl Scouts, conducted fundraising and badge work for the Boy Scouts, assisted with youth bicycle trips, and provided respite to families with children with disabilities enrolled in religious education programs. In her spare time, she enjoys long distance hiking, traveling, reading and gardening.
Ms Altenau states “After years of preparing children with disabilities for the world, I find that the world needs to prepare for them. RCAL staff work constantly to see that the barriers to success are removed so that all may reach whatever level of independence and self-determination is possible. As a Resource Center, it opens doors to help from other places, if that is what is needed. I am constantly amazed at the ability of this agency to rise to the occasion and to go the extra mile when there is a need. I am proud to have been asked to serve on the RCAL Board of Directors.”
Rita Marie was gladly welcomed back to the Board in 2016.
Joan Gunderson, Board Member
Keith Gurgui, Board Member
Keith Gurgui‘s first experience with RCAL began in 2009 after he suffered a spinal cord injury during summer vacation. In need of environmental modifications to make his home wheelchair accessible and to organize and monitor an array of different services after rehabilitation, Keith became one of RCAL’s consumers being served under the Nursing Home Transition and Diversion (NHTD) Medicaid waiver program. After his first year or so home after rehabilitation at Helen Hayes Hospital, Keith’s Service Coordinator made him aware of a part-time job opening at RCAL and encouraged him to apply.
Not too long after that, he began working as RCAL‘s Systems Advocate in May of 2011. After more than five years as Systems Advocate, Keith has decided to leave his position to pursue his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science at SUNY New Paltz beginning in the Fall of 2016.
Keith is new to the Board, having been asked to become a member in June of 2016. In addition to serving on RCAL‘s Board of Directors, Keith serves on the Boards of the New York State Independent Lilving Council and the New York State Spinal Cord Injury Research Program.
RCAL 