Trustees

Ed Bergeron – Ed Bergeron and his wife Kathy reside in North Conway. They have two daughters and four granddaughters. Ed is the president of H.E. Bergeron Engineers, Inc., a consulting civil, structural and land surveying firm, which he started in 1974. Ed received his bachelor degree in civil engineering from the University of New Hampshire in 1970 and an MBA from Plymouth State University in 1988. Growing up as a farm boy in Southern New Hampshire, Ed first hiked, climbed and skied in the White Mountains while a member of the UNH Outing Club in the 1960s. His outdoor activities include hiking and climbing all over the US, Europe and New Zealand, as well as bicycling, fly-fishing and outdoor photography. His volunteer involvement in the outdoors includes being a member of the AMC Board of Directors, chairman of the Hut Committee, a member of the Facilities Committee, and a member of the Nature Conservancy Green Hills Committee, as well as teaching photography workshops for the Tin Mountain Conservation Center. Ed has had an interest in weather since his youth on the farm, where his dad was the local NWS cooperative observer. It intensified as part of his pilot training in the 1970s and continued as a backup observer for local weather icon Briggs Bunker. Currently, Ed is the NOAA, National Weather Service cooperative observer for North Conway and reports his observations each morning to the NWS in Gray, ME.

Patrick (Pat) A. Corso – Pat served as President of Pinehurst Resort & Country Club, Pinehurst, NH from 1987-2004 and served as The General Chairman of the 1999 US Open Championship won by Payne Stewart. He also oversaw all resort operations for ClubCorp, Inc., including The Homestead Resort, Hot Springs, VA., Firestone Golf & Country Club, Akron, OH., Mount Sainte Anne Ski Resort, Quebec, Canada and Barton Creek Resort, Austin, TX. Pat is the Managing partner of National Resort Management and President and CEO of the Mount Washington Resort, Bretton Woods, NH. He serves on the New Hampshire Public Television Board of Governors, on the Board of Directors of both the NH Business and Industry Association and the Colonial Theater, and was Chairman of the American Hotel and Lodging Association Resort Committee. Pat was named one of the 50 North Carolina Tourism Leaders of the 20th Century by Appalachian State University.

Pat is a graduate of Ball State University. He and his wife Judy are avid skiers and golfers and the parents of three grown children. They reside in Bretton Woods.

Paul T. Fitzgerald – Paul and Cheryl Ann Fitzgerald live in Laconia, N.H. They have two grown sons, Shawn and Travis. Paul received his B.A. from St. Michael's College in 1972 and earned a law degree four years later in 1976. He is currently a director of the law firm of Wescott, Dyer, Fitzgerald & Nichols in Laconia. In addition to his law practice, Paul has been active in a number of community organizations and has served as both the Mayor of Laconia and Chairman of the Laconia Police Commission. Paul first became involved with the Observatory as an extension of being an avid hiker when he walked into the summit facility out of curiosity after climbing the mountain back in 1980. After serving on the Summit Operations Committee for several years he was elected a trustee in 1985 and has been active on the Executive Committee and long-range planning committees. Paul is a past president of the Board of Trustees and currently serves on the Observatory's Governance Committee.

Dick Hamilton – Dick Hamilton, of Littleton, N.H. has over 50 years experience in the travel and tourism industry including 35 years as CEO of the White Mountains Attractions Association, from which he recently retired. He was the first executive director of SKI 93 and is the founder of the N.H. Travel Council. He currently serves as the chair of the N.H. Scenic Byways Council, the chair of the Department of Resources and Economic Development Advisory Board, the chair of the DTTD Joint Promotional Committee (otherwise known as "tourism matching grants"), a member of the Old Man of the Mountain Legacy Fund, vice president of the Old Man of the Mountain Museum, a member of N.H. Travel and Tourism Development Advisory Council, a board member of the Flying Yankee Restoration Group and a member of the Littleton Chamber of Commerce. He also served 14 years as a member of the Board of Governors of the N.H. Community Technical College system. As he has been an active promoter of the White Mountains as a tourism destination, he is also an avid collector of vintage White Mountains memorabilia, thus his long love affair with Mount Washington. He has been married for 43 years to his best friend Sandra and has three grown children and six grandchildren aged 2-16. Dick was elected a trustee in 2005.

Jim Hauptman – Jim is currently the director of product design at Maine-based, outdoor specialty retailer, L.L.Bean. He initially joined the company in 2001 as its creative director and managing editor . helping to oversee the 100 person in-house creative team that produces more than 75 catalog titles annually. He has worked with many of L.L.Bean's corporate and charitable partners, including The Weather Channel and Mt. Washington Observatory, developing "field tested" editorial content for catalog and online presentations. In September 2007, Jim migrated to product design, where he is responsible for establishing the design and trend direction for the company's apparel and hard goods lines.

Prior to joining L.L.Bean, Jim had a 15-year career in the Portland advertising industry . initially as a freelance copywriter, and ultimately as president/owner of Hauptman & Partners Communications, a full-service marketing communication firm that served a wide range of companies primarily in the outdoor recreation/outdoor apparel industries.

Jim is currently an advisory board member of the Children's Museum of Maine and a board member of the Falmouth Youth Soccer Association. He has served as a Trustee of the Falmouth Conservation Trust and is a past president of the Advertising Club of Maine. He has also been involved in fundraising efforts for the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School.

A Connecticut native, Jim has lived in Maine for more than 20 years. He and his wife, Jenny, and their two children enjoy spending time outdoors, although much of it these days seems to be spent standing on the sidelines watching youth soccer and little league games.

Hugh Jencks – Hugh is Vice President-Investments and Senior Portfolio Manager with UBS Financial Services, Inc. in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. His three-decade career in the wealth advisory profession has also involved a combined 42 years of service on volunteer boards in the state of New Hampshire.

Hugh has served as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Canterbury Shaker Village, President of the Board of Trustees of the Wentworth-Gardner & Tobias Lear Houses Association, Chairman of the Peirce Island Committee of the City of Portsmouth, and President of the Steering Committee of the Friends of the South End Neighborhood Association. He brings to the Observatory expertise in governance, financial management, and fundraising matters, as well as an advocate's understanding of the iconic status that Mount Washington owns among New Hampshire's landmarks, and the historic role of the Observatory on the summit.

He lives with his wife, Dennett Page, a retired non-profit executive and their daughter in the historic Puddle Dock neighborhood of Portsmouth.

Kenneth A. Jones – Recently retired, Ken was the managing partner of Wilson/Reilly Associates, a technical sales firm in Nashua, N.H. He lives in Amherst, N.H., with his wife Suzanne. They have two grown children.

Active in many outdoor activities, Ken has always been keenly interested in weather. His introduction to the Observatory in the early 80s kindled a love of Mount Washington and its unique climate. He serves on other non-profit boards as well. Ken has been a member of the Mount Washington Observatory's Science Advisory Committee since 1995. He holds an engineering degree from Penn State and an MBA from Syracuse University.

Maureen Kelliher – Maureen Kelliher is no stranger to the Mount Washington Observatory. She is a five-year member and has participated in numerous events. She is responsible for the investment team of Citizens Bank's investment department in New Hampshire and has over 27 years of investment industry experience and 18 years in investment portfolio management. Previously, Kelliher was Chief Investment Officer for a state-chartered trust company in NH as well as money desk manager for a regional bank. She occasionally conducts economic seminars and writes investment articles for the Boston Business Journal.

Robert C. Kirsch – Rob Kirsch and Anne Renner live in Concord, N.H. with their sons Sam and Jack. Rob attended Phillips Academy, received his B.S. from Middlebury College, cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa in 1979 and a J.D., cum laude, from Cornell Law School in 1983. He is a partner in the law firm of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP in Boston, where he leads the firm's environmental practice. Rob learned of the Observatory through hiking and climbing in the White Mountains as a child during the 1960s. In January 1978 he served as a student intern and worked as an observer when not attending college or law school between 1978 and 1981. He has been a trustee since 1985. He is a past president of the Board of Trustees and serves on the Observatory's Governance Committee.

Gail Langer – Gail lives in Stoneham, Maine on a mountaintop in clear view of Mount Washington. Now retired, Gail enjoyed her career with Pfizer and Dupont Pharmaceuticals working in R&D, sales, marketing, manufacturing, quality and business development. She graduated from Merrimack College in 1972 with a B.S. in Chemistry and received an M.S. in Organic Chemistry from Southern Connecticut University. Always a lover of the outdoors, Gail's interests include sea kayaking, skiing, swimming, snorkeling, bicycling and especially hiking. She has hiked in Peru, Alaska, Western Canada, Nepal and Switzerland, but especially loves the White Mountains. In fact, she has climbed Mount Washington 14 times. Gail has volunteered for various Mount Washington Observatory fundraising events in the past few years and looks forward to continuing this effort. Gail was elected a trustee in 2005.

Robert Larsen – Bob Larsen graduated from St. Olaf College in 1970, obtained a master's degree in Biological Anthropology based on high altitude research in Peru in 1974, and graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1979 where he was the editor of the Wisconsin Law Review. Bob recently retired from the Sulloway & Hollis law firm where he worked since 1979 and concentrated on the defense of doctors and hospitals in state and federal court and on the representation of health care providers in regulatory matters. He is listed in Best Lawyers in America and has received numerous honors including Merrimack County Lawyer of the Year. Bob is a trustee of The NH Nature Conservancy, on the Advisory Board of the Art Gallery at UNH, President of the Board of the Friends Program, and trustee emeritus of the Mayhew Program. He is the Chair of the United Way Campaign in Merrimack County for 2007. Bob lives with his family in Concord, N.H. He was named a trustee of the Observatory in 2001 and was a co-chair of the Observatory's capital campaign New Horizons.

Sarah Long – Sarah Long has worked at both mountaintop and sea level. She has served as the chief meteorologist and summit manager for the Mount Washington Observatory. After four years of living and working on the summit of Mount Washington, Sarah traded in her commute up the mountain to start her broadcasting career. Since 2002 Sarah has worked for WGME13 NewsChannel 13 in Portland, Maine.

Sarah earned her degree in meteorology from the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. She has served as a board member of the American Meteorological Society's Board on Women and Minorities, and a mentor for DataStreme course where she trained weather education resource teachers. Sarah also works with A Family for ME (AFFME) in a weekly segment, Thursday's Child, helping to find families for Maine's foster children.

Sarah and her husband Tom, a high school science teacher, live in Portland. She was elected a trustee in 2005 and serves on the Science Advisory Committee.

Peter Middleton – Peter has worked in commercial construction since graduating from UNH in 1981 and is currently the president of Martini Northern General Contractors and Construction Managers in Portsmouth, NH. He is an avid skier and spent over 20 years supporting youth ski racing as a coach and board member of the Attitash Alpine Education Foundation. During summer breaks from college, Peter worked on various construction projects in the Mount Washington Valley area and spent two summers helping with the construction of the Sherman Adams Building at Mount Washington State Park in 1979 and 1980. In addition to sitting on the Observatory's Facilities Committee, Peter also serves on the board of Plan NH as treasurer and as President of Friends of UNH Skiing. He lives in Portsmouth with his wife Meg and their two children, Abby and Ben.

Samuel Miller – Sam received a diploma with honors in weather forecasting from Chanute Air Force Base (Rantoul, Ill.), a B.S. in physics summa cum laude, an M.S. in Earth Science-Oceanography, and a Ph.D. in Earth Sciences from the University of New Hampshire. His research interests include mesoscale meteorology (especially coastal circulation, air-sea interaction, and air pullution dispersion) and practical forecasting problems (such as precipitation type and local winds).

Prior to joining the faculty at Plymouth State University in 2005, he worked as a meteorologist for the U.S. National Weather Service (NOAA), Alaskan Region, Anchorage Forecast Office. At UNH, he served as an instructor/lecturer, a research scientist for the Climate Change Research Center, and a research scientist/programmer for the Ocean Process Analysis Laboratory. He worked as weather observer for the Pease Air National Guard Base Weather Station (Portsmouth, N.H.) and as a weather forecaster for the U.S. Airforce at Incirlik Air Base (Adana, Turkey); Plattsburgh AFB (N.Y.); Travis AFB (Calif.); and Loring AFB (Maine). Miller has and continues to serve as a meteorology and physics consultant and software developer for the C-10 Research and Education Foundation (Newburyport, Mass.).

Douglas Nelson – Doug has worked in financial services in the New Hampshire seacoast area for more than 20 years and serves as a financial advisor for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. In addition to managing investments for affluent families, Doug provides Art Advisory services regionally. He lives in Rye Beach with his wife Karin and two daughters. Doug was educated at Carnegie Mellon and the University of New Hampshire. He is a Trustee and Chairman of the Restoration Committee of The Music Hall. Doug is a past President of the Board of Directors of Crossroads House. He has served for the last three years as a Sunday River Ski Ambassador. Doug is a member of Senator Judd Gregg's Leadership Council for the Arts. As a collector of period paintings of New Hampshire's White Mountains & the Isles of Shoals, Doug has been a lecturer, editor, and art historian; he is currently assisting in the preparation of a documentary film on the artists & writers colonies at the White Mountains during the 19th Century. Doug enjoys skiing, hiking & travel and looks forward to working on the Observatory's Board of Trustees.

Gail Paine – Gail is a retired Program Coordinator for the University System of New Hampshire College for Lifelong Learning, now Granite State College, having worked in the North Country of New Hampshire from 1980 until 2004. She is a University of Michigan graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. Gail formerly served on the NH State Board of Education from 1995 - 2005, was a member and Chairman of the New Hampshire Juvenile Parole Board from 1995-2006; Member of the New Hampshire Distance Learning Commission 1994-2003 ; Former board member of the Northern NH Charitable Foundation, Mt. Washington Valley School-Career, Bartlett School Board, NH Farm Museum Board, Memorial Hospital (past president) 1774-1996, YMCA Camp Nellie Huckins board, 1984-1995. Presently she serves as a board member on the Goldberg Foundation, Walker Foundation, New Hampshire Electric Cooperative Foundation, and Tillotson Foundation, Visiting Nurses of Northern Carroll County, Mt. Washington Valley Economic Council from 1991 - present; Mt. Musictop Music Advisory Committee; and Secretary of the New Hampshire Electric Cooperative. Gail represents New Hampshire on the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association board in Arlington, Virginia and serve on both the Administrative Committee and as chairman of the CEO Evaluation Committee for that organization. She is currently a Credentialed Cooperative Director and taking courses towards the Credentialed Leadership Director degree for the National Rural Electric Association directors. Gail is active in the Town of Bartlett, serving as the Chairman of The Lower Bartlett Water Commission ZBA, and Chairman of the Supervisors of the Bartlett Voter Checklist Her hobbies are fly fishing, ornithology, golf, hiking, skiing and traveling.

Marsha Rich – Marsha Rich and her husband Steve Camerino live in Chichester with their children, Claudia and Alexander. Marsha received a B.A. from Dartmouth College in 1980 and a Master of Education from U.N.H. in 1985. She taught middle school earth science and served as the science department chair at the Derryfield School in Manchester, N.H. Currently, Marsha serves as a resource agent for the American Meteorological Society's educational outreach program, facilitating the DataStreme Atmosphere teacher enhancement course and offering workshops on meteorology and weather for K-12 teachers. She also teaches meteorology courses both in the classroom and on-line at Granite State College, and regularly leads Observatory EduTrips. Marsha loves to ski, hike, bike, garden and travel with her family. She is a retired sea captain, having skippered charter sailboats in the Virgin Islands in the 1980s. Marsha currently serves as chair of the Education Committee.

Brian C. Underwood – Brian C. Underwood, CRE is the principal of a regional real estate counseling and appraisal firm that performed assignments throughout the northeastern United States. The firm specializes in complex property types and provides real estate counseling services to developers, attorneys and lending institutions. He has been admitted as an expert witness in New Hampshire Superior Courts and the Federal Court.

Mr. Underwood has been awarded the CRE designation from the Counselors of Real Estate and is one of only four CREs in New Hampshire. Membership in the organization is awarded by invitation only through peer, employer and client review. In 2008, Governor Lynch appointed Brian to the New Hampshire Real Estate Appraiser Board. He also served as Chairman of the Wolfeboro Zoning Board of Adjustment for over 13 years.

Brian became involved with the Observatory through serving as a volunteer on the summit in 1993. His interest came from his interest in weather as a pilot. Since then he has assisted the Observatory in a number of ways and was elected to the Board of Trustees in 1994. Brian was instrumental in the success of the Observatory's volunteer program which resulted in significant benefits to the Observatory over the years. He has served as Treasurer of the Board of Trustees, Vice President, and Chairman of the Finance Committee. He is a resident of Rye, New Hampshire.

Mark Van Baalen – Mark has been an Observatory member since 1966, and a Trustee since 1984. He earned an A.B. degree in astronomy in 1966, and a Ph.D. in geology in 1995, both from Harvard. He is now a lecturer on Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard. Mark first became acquainted with the Observatory in 1966 through its quarterly publication, now called Windswept but then known as the News Bulletin. He has served the Observatory in a variety of roles, having been a member of the Executive Committee for 15 years. He also has chaired the Personnel Committee, and a has been a member of the Long Range Planning Committee. He currently is a member of the Nominating Committee, and previously chaired that group. He also leads the Science Advisory Committee, and was the program chair for the successful 75th Anniversary Symposium for Air and Climate in 2007. Mark has been a regular Edutrip leader since the inception of that program. Mark and his wife Louisa reside in Harvard, Mass., and have one grown daughter. He is a member of the American Alpine Club and a life member of the Harvard Mountaineering Club. He is also a sailor and a commercial pilot.

Howie Wemyss – Howie Wemyss ("weemz") was born in Cambridge, Mass. and raised in Biddeford, Maine where he graduated from Biddeford High School. After several years at Colorado State University, he spent two years in the Army, mostly in Germany, before returning to New England and settling in the Mt. Washington Valley in 1971. Howie was employed by the Mt. Washington Auto Road in the late 70s as a stage driver while working on the ski patrol at Wildcat Mountain in the winter. He later worked for the Merrimack Valley YMCA at their Bear Island facilities on Lake Winnipesaukee. In 1987 he took over as general manager of the Auto Road upon the retirement of Doug Philbrook and in 1995 began managing the Great Glen Trails Outdoor Center as well. He and his wife Sue spend the summer in Green's Grant, and move north for the winter to Randolph, N.H. Howie has a daughter Cory, who is a licensed Massage Therapist in the Conway area. Howie and Sue enjoy cross country skiing, trail running and mountain biking. Howie was elected a trustee in 2005 and chairs the Observatory's Facilities Committee.