MEET OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS
John A. Smith
Chair
A Peekskill native, John A. Smith joined the board of CHHOP in 2018. Smith grew up in Peekskill and then moved to the Midwest with his family, living in Toledo, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana; Kansas City, Missouri and Hamilton, Ohio before moving back to Buchanan, New York.
Throughout most of his career, Smith worked in the manufacturing industry, before retiring from his vice president position in 2010. Drawing upon his computer and data analysis skills, Smith began working at a hospital as a project manager and continuous improvement mentor and instructor. When he returned to New York, Smith supported the hospital’s data needs remotely for 18-months. He still maintains several clients remotely.
Passionate about Peekskill, Smith is a member of, and volunteer for, the local NAACP. As a volunteer, Smith uses his computer skills to assist CHHOP and several Peekskill entrepreneurs.
Marianne Oros
Vice Chair
Marianne Oros was introduced to CHHOP when she joined the annual Turkey Trot committee and accepted the position as board member in January 2023. She has a genuine commitment to assist and support community-based organizations that serve those in need.
Oros is the Immediate past chair of the Hudson Valley Gateway Chamber (HVGC), board and founding member of the HVGC Foundation; former vice chair of the Keon Center and current board member and development chair of Abbott House.
Oros has over 35 years of healthcare experience. She worked at Westchester Medical Center in various roles, and also as the senior vice president for Planning & Strategic Development, for the NYS Department of Health and various nursing homes in quality improvement. Oros received her RN/ BSN and Masters in Public Administration from at Pace University.
Ellen Bloom
Secretary
Ellen Bloom joined NewYork-Presbyterian Hudson Valley Hospital in April of 2015 as director of marketing, community outreach and development after having worked in the healthcare field for over 30 years.
Bloom assumed overall responsibility for the community affairs department for NewYork-Presbyterian in Westchester County in 2019. In this role, she learned about the importance of CHHOP in our community and was thrilled to be appointed to the board of such an amazing organization.
Bloom cares deeply for the community and has been active in numerous advisory boards and service organizations in Westchester County. She received a Bachelors’ Degree from Lehman College and MPH from New York Medical College.
Bloom and her husband, Cary, have been married for 35 years. Her son, David, is a board certified pediatrician in a fellowship program in Pediatric Cardiology with St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Her daughter, Rachel, is a camp director in Brooklyn, New York. She is proud of how her family cares for others.
Ellen Miles
Recording Secretary
Originally from Western New York, Ellen Miles called the lower Hudson Valley home for more than 18 years. Miles joined the CHHOP board in February 2020 to give back to the community and to utilize her skills to help fight hunger and homelessness.
Miles first became aware of CHHOP and its work through the First Presbyterian Church of Yorktown (FPCY) where she was an active member of the FPCY and served on Session, the Mission Commission and taught confirmation classes to young adults.
Miles holds a BS degree in Business from Alfred University and an MBA from SUNY Buffalo. She has 30-plus years of Human Resource Management experience in the consumer package goods industry.
Pastor Valerie Paul-Greenaway
Treasurer
Pastor Valerie Paul-Greenaway joined the United Methodist Church of Peekskill in 2022, offering a unique combination of team building, education, research, community health promotion, the arts, public health, faith-based, pastoral care, case management, caregiver, leadership and human services experience.
As a board member for CHHOP, Paul-Greenaway's desire is to leverage vast experience in human services, education, advocacy and mental health awareness in support of client care and community outreach.
Paul-Greenaway is in the process of completing her Masters of Divinity from Drew University. A graduate of Leadership Orange (2014), she is a certified Anger Management facilitator and a Mental Health First Aid for Youth trainer. She holds a Bachelors of Art in Behavioral Science and has completed her pre-law from Marist College.
Ruth Wells
Board Member
Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Ruth Wells and her husband, Jim Knight, have been Peekskill homeowners since 1988. They have put down deep roots in their adopted hometown.
Wells, who holds a BA from Oberlin College and an MFA from Temple University, first became involved in Peekskill civic life in 1999 when she volunteered for a local election campaign. She volunteered on the Middle School Bond Campaign and on the PSCD Strategic Plan Evaluation Committee. In 2008, Wells began serving on Peekskill’s Planning Commission.
Wells has served on the CHHOP board since 2005, first as secretary, then chair and vice chair. She is a founder of Fred’s Pantry. During her 10 years with Fred's, she coordinated distribution of 14,000 meals annually.
Caroline King, MBA
Board Member
Caroline King joined CHHOP's board in 2025. She brings a wealth of experience in helping businesses find their voice by building relationships, empowering creativity and fostering collaboration.
King says that each person and team bring something unique to the bargaining table. And when people connect and share -- the end result can be stronger teams, better strategies, or entirely new ventures.
Amy Perlow
Board Member
Amy Perlow is a Hudson Valley-based education leader who works with non-profit organizations to prepare young adults for success in college, career, and community. She currently develops tools and systems across a network of 70 NYC public high schools to ensure students graduate with a clearly articulated plan for continued education, training, or employment. She also manages large-scale partnership initiatives between the City University of New York (CUNY) and New York City Public Schools, the two largest education systems of their kind in the country.
Perlow holds a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from SUNY Binghamton and a Master’s degree in Social Policy from SUNY Empire State College. She previously served as board chair for the Black Diamonds Academic Success program and as education committee chair for the Peekskill NAACP.
Sara Weaver
Board Member
Sara Weaver joined CHHOP's board of directors in 2021 to become more connected with the Peekskill community that she and her family adopted five years ago.
Weaver has spent years working in the consumer product goods industry, in both a marketing and sales capacity. She spent 13 years at Danone and recently left that position to pursue her passion with a smaller company, Belgian Boys. At this new company she leads the marketing and sales strategy.
It is her combined passion for food, communication strategy and serving others that Weaver has found her niche on the CHHOP board.
Kym McNair
Board Member
Kym McNair is the director of social transformation at My Sisters’ Place (MSP), a domestic violence agency in Westchester County. In her role, she develops and facilitates trainings grounded in MSP’s guiding principles for health care professionals, law enforcement, college students, religious communities and non-profit organizations to help them recognize and respond to domestic/Intimate partner violence in their professional and personal lives. She is also an anti-racist trainer and organizer with The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, a multigenerational, multiethnic collective, based in New Orleans.
McNair is a member of the Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Advisory Committee (IDEAC) for the Town of Bedford and is a member of the town’s Police and Community Working Group, which is a follow-up from the statewide Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative work mandated by former Governor Andrew Cuomo.
McNair was ordained by the Central Hudson Baptist Association in 2014 and received recognition from the American Baptist Churches of New York State in 2021.
Michael Golio
Board Member
Michael Golio was born and raised in the Bronx and lived there for 26 years before moving up to Westchester County with his family. He graduated from Iona University in 1989 with a BA in psychology and minor in business administration.
Golio began his career in finance in 1985 and has held various relationship management positions with The Bank of New York, Chase Bank, Hudson Valley Bank and, presently, Orange Bank & Trust. Working in and around the Peekskill area since 1997, Michael has formed and number of relationships. He is also a current member of both The Peekskill Rotary and Hudson Valley Gateway Chamber.
Golio believes a strong sense of helping in the community along with partnerships, mentorships and relationships always provide the strongest wind for our sails.
Darryl Estrine
Board Member
Creative director, filmmaker, photographer and author are all appropriate titles for Content Machine founder Darryl Estrine.
Estrine began his career in Los Angeles photographing the famous faces of Hollywood, professional sports, and business for magazines including: Motorola, Microsoft, Esquire, Forbes, Vanity Fair, and ESPN.
Estrine knew he wanted to help others, and after a short conversation with Cynthia Knox at a photoshoot he knew CHHOP was the place to put his effort. His 40 years experience in media and marketing is being put to good use by CHHOP in the development and implementation of a revised communications and social media plan.
Estrine has decided to further his desire to help others by going to graduate school in the fall of 2024 to begin his studies for a masters degree in mental health counseling.
Marcus Ryan
Board Member
Marcus Ryan joined the board in 2025, bringing his 17 years of experience in community organizing and entrepreneurship to serve and strengthen CHHOP’s mission.
Ryan moved to the Hudson Valley to raise his family in 2018, and began work in “attention activism” with the Friends of Attention, designing the curriculum for their first Attention Labs in New York City. After that, he joined Collaborative Earth in developing a Coastal Forested Wetlands pilot in Prairie View, Texas, to restore wetlands and return wealth back into the community through a novel payment for ecosystem services approach he helped develop.
Ryan is currently an organizer with the Peekskill Community Collaborative, and is developing a food sovereignty pilot in the Franklin Park neighborhood to increase access to locally grown, healthy food.