Our Board of Directors

 Randy Coburn worked for over 30 years in NYS government managing a wide range of economic development programs.   Randy enjoys outdoors activities and the beauty and quietude of Five Rivers.  He and his wife Athena are happy to support its mission of environmental education.

After a career working indoors with adults, Andrea Ricard now enjoys working outdoors with children.  As a Guided School Program Instructor and Friends Greeter she believes that future generations must learn to love the outdoors, to protect our environment when they become working, voting adults.

Paula learned about Five Rivers from neighbor Gardiner Bump, a founder of the Center. The thought of children experiencing nature early in life brought her to the Friends. Paula was a trustee for the Bethlehem Public Library; she currently works at Catholic Charities of Albany.

Reid Prinzo is a Glenmont native, who returned to the area after spending 15 years in Boston. He is now a Financial Advisor at Bryant Asset Management in Slingerlands, specializing in Environmentally Sensitive and Sustainable Investing. Reid was drawn to Five Rivers by his fond memories of the facilities as a child. Reid feels that the environmental education Five Rivers provides is essential to fixing the Climate Crisis our planet currently faces.

It is essential for us to do more than educate people about the world that supports them.   People must experience nature and work to conserve their corner of the planet. Five Rivers is a unique treasure where children and adults can help to preserve our environment.

​In retirement, I became an instructor with the Guided School programs and hope my twenty years in outdoor education can inspire new leaders to introduce young people to the wonder and value of natural world – and motivate others to support the mission of the Friends.

Dr. Stephanie Maes brings professional experience with the NY Department of Education, and as Assistant Professor of Geology at the College of Saint Rose training Elementary Education majors in techniques of outdoor education. She and her family are also frequent visitors to Five Rivers.

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Larry Naviasky resides in Delmar and is a local attorney. His concern for the environmental education dates back to his days at Union College where he chaired the Student Environmental Alliance and wrote his senior thesis about the 1970 Clean Air Act. His love for Five Rivers grew from numerous visits to the Center with his three, now grown boys, Jake, Gabe and Ethan. Larry believes the mission of Friends of Five Rivers is imperative: “Environmental education of our children is essential to their understanding of how humankind impacts our water, air and earth.

William (Chip) Reynolds has more than forty years of experience managing non-profit and political organizations nationally and locally.  He and his family live in Selkirk, and his (now adult) children cut their outdoor teeth with many visits to Five Rivers twenty years ago.

Mary Louise Stanford is a native of the Beverwyck neighborhood of Albany, and a Delmar resident for more than 30 years. A chemist and attorney, she is the mother of two adult sons who have spent many happy hours hiking and skiing at Five Rivers.