Mark Allen Sepanski [President]

He is the Founder and President of The People's Museum. He was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the New York Institute of Anthropology, Assistant Archaeology digs in New York area of American Indian sites to Ed Platt, the President of Institute. Mark was on the Amityville Fire Department and Rescue Squad, Cold Spring Harbor Fire Department and Rescue Squad, New York City Police Department Auxiliary, Special Police Commission at the National Museum of American Indians' Research Branch, Cooper Hewitt Museum, and the American Indian Museum all part of the Smithsonian Institution, Gallery Security at the South Street Seaport Museum, Museum Guard at the Whitney Museum of American Art. He was appointed Docent at the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum, Reenactor of the American Civil War: Company H 119th New York Volunteer Infantry Historical Association, Hempstead Volunteer Company H, 119th New York Volunteer or Willis Company associated with Old Bethpage Village Restoration on Long Island, New York (PBS Films), Reenactor of the American Revolutionary War: Royal Welch Fusiliers in America 23rd Regiment of Foot (movie: Sweet Liberty, Universal Pictures & PBS Films), Education Department and Docent of the South Street Seaport Museum, Keeper and Aquarist at the New York Aquarium: Wildlife Conservation Society, and Interpreter and Museum Tour Guide at Sagamore Hill National Historic Site of President Theodore Roosevelt's home and Old Orchard Museum. Member of American Association of Museums, American Zoo and Aquarium Association, American Anthropological Association, Society of American Archaeology, Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections of the National Museum of Natural History-Smithsonian Institute, and Upstate History Alliance. He is also a member of the New York City Museum Educators Roundtable, Foundation Center in New York City, Member of Museum Association of New York, and Former Member of the Boy scouts of America for eight years. Mark Sepanski was in The New York Times, The New York Observer, The Western Queens Gazette, the Queens Chronicle, Amityville Record, Prescott Canada Newspaper, Hudson Valley (book), and Succeed Magazine.

 

April Dawn Sepanski [Vice President]

Vice President of The People's Museum, Board of Directors of The People's Museum, Real Estate Committee of the People's Museum, Former President of the Metropolitan Area News Dealers Association, Member of the New York State Commission for the Blind, Religious Instructor at Saint Martin of Tours Roman Catholic Church, member of the New York City Museum Educators Roundtable, camp counselor at West Hills Day Camp.

 

Pamela Estelle Ransom [Secretary]

She obtains her Bachelor of Arts with Cum Laude status at Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in Department of Urban Planning at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Director Division of Environment and Health for Women's Environment and Development Organization, Assistant Professor at Long Island University, Senior Research Scientist at Department of Environmental Protection, Special Assistant for Environmental Affairs for the Office of the Mayor, Special Assistant for Environmental Affairs for the Borough President. She was a planner for Westchester County Planning Department, Deputy Director for Town Planning Department in West Indies, Consultant for US Agency for International Development, Analyst for B & M Technological Services, Director of the Harvard Africa Volunteers, MISR Consulting Engineers in Cairo, Egypt, Contract Research Corporation, and Cambridge Housing Authority.

 

Howard Steven Rose [Tresurer]

Owner and Senior Director of Arte Primitivo Gallery in New York, Director of Greg Manning Auctions, Director and Partner of Harmer Rooke Numismatists, Ltd., thirty-one years experience in Auction, Retail, Appraisal, and Exhibition Business, Author of over one hundred auction, exhibition, and sales catalogues. Specializes in Pre-Columbian Art, African and Tribal Art, Classical, Egyptian, and Asian Antiquities, North American Indians, Americana, and South American Indians.

 

Henry Galiano

Founder and President of Maxilla & Mandible, Ltd., and M&M Manufacturing, Vertebrate Paleontologist at the American Museum of Natural History, and Bureau of Land Management and Department of the Interior, Consultant at Sotheby's Auction House, Phillips Auction House, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Bureau of Indian Affairs, Division of Fish and Wildlife Service. He was in the New York City Police Department, and Cedar Crest College Art and Science Museum, An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles, The Unity of Form and Function, Bones, Human Anatomy for Artists, Clan of the Cave Bear, and Torture. Some examples of his work include "Black Yard Monsters," a traveling exhibit mounted over 10,000 insects; "Master's of the Night," a traveling exhibit featuring the mysterious world of bats. M&M prepared all the bat skeletons, and sculpted enlarged bat head portraits and a six-foot bat skeleton; and the preparation of skeletons for the AMNH permanent exhibits in their Lower Vertebrate Hall, Mammal Hall, and Dinosaur Hall. M&M is also a major supplier for the Ripley's Believe It Or Not! He was involved in a worldwide chain of Museums, Disney World, Dinamations, and Ralph Lauren Polo Shops, just to mention a few.

 

Werner Schreiner

Forty-one years of aquarium orientated experience, Aquarium Consultant at the Staten Island Zoo, Senior Keeper at the New York Aquarium, Certified Padi Scuba Diver, and Salesperson for Favors Aquarium Wholesale.

 

Santa Maria Maida

Teacher for the New York City Public Schools, teacher of mentally retarded children with multiple problems, counseled siblings and parents, supervised and trained paraprofessional aids, led parents' discussion groups. She was a cooperating teacher: supervised and trained graduate students from Bank Street College, New York University, and Fordham University. She was a cooperating teacher in Special Education Research Project for Yeshiva University, Cooperating teach in leadership training research project, initiated integration of special classes into regular class assembly programs, teaching assistant in the department of economics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She can speak, read, and write English, Spanish, and Italian. Ms. Maida was producer, director, and scriptwriter of film An Animal Affair and was producer and actor in film made for Italian class at the New School for Social Research.

 

Paul Lawrence Sieswerda

Thirty-four years of results oriented experience, Aquarium Curator for the Aquarium for Wildlife Conservation (New York Aquarium), Curator for Fishes and Mammals at the New England Aquarium in Boston, Chief Curator experience, English and Math Teacher and Housemaster at Emerson School for Boys in New Hampshire.

 

 

Jeffrey Russell Myers

Social Worker fro Catholic Charities Learning Center, Training Therapist for Jamaica Center for Psychotherapy, Director and Field Work Instructor at New York University for Optometric Center of New York, Director of Horizon School for Perceptual Development, Private psychotherapy practice, Antique Dealer, Primitive Art Dealer. Specializes in North American Indian and Eskimo Art.

Fred Douglas Wilson

He is a Museum Interior Designer, Winner of the MacArthur "Genius" Award in 1997 and won $325,000 for his artwork contribution to society as well as being a famous Black Contemporary Artist and owner of Gallery. Thomas Hoving quoted "Fred Wilson is the second best artist in The United States" from an article that Mr. Hoving wrote in 1995, "Art for the Ages" in Gigar Aficionado.

 

Richard S. Christ

Service Department Manager for Living Art Aquatic Design, Consultant for Underwater World, Adirondack Wildlife Conservation Center. He is Founder and President for Great White Aquarium Biologists, Assistant Supervisor of Aquarist Department, Principal Aquarist, and Animal Aquarist of the New York Aquarium, Assistant Manager of ED's Tropical Aquarium, Consultant of Oceanarium Corp., Biologist and Designer of Stark Products, Inc., and Peregrine Falcon Site Biologist for the Endangered Species Unit-New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Mr. Christ went on a Coelocanth Exhibition for the New York Aquarium on the Comoro Islands, and the Beluga Whale Expedition for the New York Aquarium in Canada. He has a NASDS Scuba certification.

 

Anthony Archibald J.

Private fine contemporary and modern art dealer, director and owner of Archibald Arts, video producer and interviewer for "Work in Progress: Chakaia Booker's MRA Thesis at CUNY's Eisner Hall", currently writing children's book, and guest curator.

 

Brandon Ballengee

Adjunct Professor in the biology department at Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York. He serves on board of directors for NURTUREart, a non-for-profit art organization. He is a member of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society, also a "Constituent" in the Peabody Museum at Yale University. As a visual artist, researched specimens of his are in the permanent Ichthyology collections of the American Museum of Natural History and the New York State Museum in Albany, New York.

Members of the Committee and Advisory Board:

 

 

Marie Tarisa Sepanski [Clerk]

Marie Sepanski is currently a student at Fordham University majoring in Anthropology on an Achievement Scholarship. She attends the Lincoln Center campus in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Fordham University has prized themselves to be one of the top Catholic colleges in the country. After Marie graduated from high school with honors, she lived and worked in London, England for six months. She held employment at Kensington Palace, one of the Historic Royal Palaces, a museum, and a current residence of the royal family, including the late Princess Diana. During her stay in London, Marie donated to Scope, a charity for people with disabilities with special focus on cerebral palsy, Centrepoint for the socially excluded, homeless youth, and Greenpeace for the environment. In New York, she supports Save the Children, a charity for impoverished children in the United States and around the world with focus on health care, hunger and malnutrition, education, and economic opportunities. Marie is currently a member of the New York Museum Educators Roundtable.

Thomas Angelo Sepanski

He is Owner and President of Royal Impressions Printing, and member of the Real Estate Committee of The People's Museum. He does commercial printing and so does free printing for The People's Museum.

 

Jim Garretson [Advisor on Museum Buildings]

He is Designer and Museum Architect, and member of the Real Estate Committee for The People's Museum. Worked with Shaker Museum and Library in Old Chatham, New York, and worked with Masterplan and Competition of the Brooklyn Museum in Brooklyn, New York.

Pillsbury Winthrop (Formerly Winthrop, Stimson, Putnam & Roberts)

Law Firm. The museum is on a pro bono basis with Winthrop, Stimson, Putnam & Roberts. Lawyer: Michael Burnstein, Julia Grimes (Harvard Law School), and Melissa Burke.

 

Price, Waterhouse, and Coopers Lybrand

Accounting Firm. The museum is on a pro bono basis with Price, Waterhouse, and Coopers Lybrand. Accountant: William Monroe, CPA

 

Lutz and Carr

Accounting Firm. The museum is on a pro bono basis with Lutz and Carr. Accountant: Martin Berkowitz, CPA Partner