Project Team

Dave Hempson

Dave joined the library board in 2018.

Dave left his original profession as a Skaneateles high school chemistry teacher to take on the challenges of a new and growing business, the Marietta Corporation. Over his 35-year career with Marietta, Dave held many roles with the company, starting as its director of quality assurance and also serving as the chief operations officer. Dave has a wealth of experience managing people and budgets, finding creative solutions to intricate problems, and leading projects to completion. Dave has long been an active participant in the community and served as the John D. Barrow Art Gallery Board president and Spafford Area Historical Society Board president.

Fun facts: Dave retired to live on beautiful Skaneateles Lake with his wife Karen, a retired SUNY Cortland lecturer, with their two daughters and four grandchildren in close proximity. Dave’s main endeavor is to spoil the grandkids he adores.

Erin McCormack

Erin joined the library board in 2022.

Erin is an Emmy Award–winning producer who has worked in film, television, and online media creation for almost 20 years in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York. She is a graduate of Rollins College, the S.I. Newhouse School of Communications at Syracuse University, and the UCLA Film Studies workshop. She is currently the Creative Operations Manager at MacKenzie-Childs, LLC. Erin grew up in Skaneateles and graduated from SCS. In addition to the library board, she is currently part of the Skaneateles Educational Foundation Board, where she leads the Alumni Committee. She assists with theater and film programs at the Skaneateles Middle School, Auburn Public Theater, and Tiffany’s School of Dance and Performing Arts.

Fun facts: Erin has a daughter in high school whose favorite place in Skaneateles is the library and whose favorite event is the Library Book Sale!

Kathryn Carlson

Kathryn joined the library board in 2022.

Kathryn is a retired assistant superintendent of the Skaneateles School District. She has a bachelor’s from Cornell University, and a master of science in school psychology from Syracuse University. Kathryn has a certificate in Strategic Planning from the American Association of School Administrators and coordinated the self-evaluation for
the Empire State Advantage program that led to the Skaneateles School District receiving that coveted Governor’s Award.

Kathryn has lived in Skaneateles since 1976. She has served as a member of SAVES, including as treasurer; was a member of the Todd’s Fund Board of Directors; served as president of the Holy Trinity Preschool Board of Directors; and was a member of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church Council. She has also served on the Skaneateles Drug/Alcohol Task Force and the Skaneateles Education Foundation. Kathryn served on the Skaneateles Village Board of Trustees, and is a former president of the Skaneateles Board of Education and the Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES Board of Education. She is currently a member of the BOCES Policy and Health & Safety Committees and is a director of the Central New York School Boards Association.

Fun facts: Kathryn is the mother of two children and the grandmother of three. She loves to garden, read and write, paint, cook, and bake. She has a cabin in Alaska and loves to spend time in solitude in that lovely place. She and her dog Snoopi can often be found walking the streets of her beloved Skaneateles.

Maura Molnar

Maura joined the library board in 2020.

Maura graduated from LeMoyne College with a BS in accounting, becoming a CPA and spending over a decade as a senior audit manager with PwC. Most recently she has been the catechetical leader at St. Mary’s of the Lake, creating and running their family and youth programs. Originally from New York’s Hudson Valley, Maura has lived in Skaneateles for over 19 years. She has served as an officer at several nonprofits, including the Skaneateles Music Guild, Skaneateles Music Boosters, Skaneateles Football Boosters, all three PTCs, the LeMoyne College Alumni board, and several Syracuse-area agencies. She is also a member of the Barrow Management Committee.

Fun facts: Maura and husband Scott’s third and youngest recently graduated from Skaneateles High. Maura is most likely to be found around water—on our beautiful lake, at the beach, hiking by a stream—or reading a book, of course.

Mary Morrissey Kerwick

Skaneateles native Mary Morrissey Kerwick leads a group of dedicated fundraising committee members in raising the funds needed to build and open the new library at 75 Fennell Street.

Mary brings to the role more than 20 years of experience in higher education fundraising and non-profit fundraising and management. She has worked to secure major gifts in roles at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and Syracuse University’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families.

Mary has also served as national director of volunteers at Wounded Warrior Project. Locally, she spent nearly five years as executive director of Todd’s Fund, a children’s nonprofit created in memory of Todd Pitman who lost his life in the 9/11 World Trade Center attack.

“I want to leave a legacy,” Mary said of why she took on a role where she will be asking others to consider their legacy. “Skaneateles is my hometown and where I have raised my boys since they were little. I am proud to play a role in creating a welcoming, inclusive, and sustainable learning environment for everyone in our community. I can’t think of a better legacy to leave.”

Nickie Marquis

Nickie has worked in both public and academic libraries for more than 20 years, joining the Skaneateles Library as director in 2012. She manages the day-to-day operations of the library, guides long term planning for the organization and serves as the professional advisor to the board of trustees.

Use of library resources has exploded during Nickie’s tenure, with checkouts up 24%, program attendance up 766% and cardholders up 79%. She’s developed new collections, expanded online and downloadable services, upgraded technology and positioned the library as a resource for digital skills training. Her direct experience in a variety of community libraries in NY and PA – as well as her years as a Skaneateles resident – was integral to developing the building program that is the basis for the new library’s design.

Nickie has held several executive committee positions on OCPL’s Member Council and has served on the Skaneateles Area Chamber of Commerce board since 2017. She holds a BA in Psychology from Hood College and an MS in Library Science from Clarion University. She is the winner of the 2021 NY Library Association Mary Bobinski Innovative Library Director Award.

Originally from Mt. Wolf, PA, Nickie and her family moved from the Philadelphia area to Skaneateles in 2010. Her son attended Skaneateles schools for every grade except kindergarten, graduating in 2022. She and her husband are now adjusting to life as empty nesters at their home in the village.

Conrad Ello

Conrad is a founding principal at Oudens Ello Architecture, where he has led numerous successful commercial, cultural and academic projects. Among his recent work, the rehabilitation and expansion of a historic US Marine Hospital in Vineyard Haven, MA as the new home of the Martha’s Vineyard Museum received two preservation awards from Preservation Massachusetts, and the renovation and expansion of the Scituate Town Library, a 32,000 square foot public library for the Town of Scituate, Massachusetts, received a Merit Award from AIA New England. Demonstrating a commitment to green building, his projects for the West Tisbury Free Public Library in West Tisbury, Massachusetts and the Dartmouth Public Library in Dartmouth, Massachusetts were both awarded LEED Gold ratings by the US Green Building Council. Among Conrad’s current and recent responsibilities, he is lead principal for the Belmont Public Library, a new 42,000 SF net-zero energy library facility in Belmont, MA; a new, 10,000 SF net-zero energy Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary Visitor Center for NOAA and the Town of Provincetown, MA; the renovation and expansion of the Faneuil Branch of the Boston Public Library in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston, MA; and the “Visionary Redesign” study for the renovation of the 40,000 SF Fletcher Free Library, the City of Burlington’s main public library.

Prior to co-founding Oudens Ello Architecture in 2007, Conrad was a Senior Associate and Vice President with Machado Silvetti, co-managing office operations for the firm and directing award-winning projects including the Getty Villa, the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, the Mint Museum of Art and the Mystic Seaport Museum.

EDUCATION / CREDENTIALS
University of Virginia | B.S. Architecture
Harvard University | Master in Architecture

Registered Architect: MA, NY, ME, CT, NC, AL
NCARB Certified
LEED Accredited Professional

Matthew T. Oudens

Matt Oudens is a founding principal of Oudens Ello Architecture with thirty years of experience specializing in cultural, institutional, and educational projects, most notably leading the design and management of numerous public library projects. His past work includes the net-zero energy, LEED Gold certified Eastham Public Library on Cape Cod, recognized with a 2018 AIA/ALA Library Building Award honoring the best library architecture in the country. Among his current responsibilities, Matt is serving as lead principal for the new 15,000 square foot Fields Corner Branch of the Boston Public Library; the new Museum of American Bird Art at Brewster’s Woods Wildlife Sanctuary for the Massachusetts Audubon Society; renovation of the 1969 Art Complex Museum in Duxbury, MA; a 32,000 square foot renovation of a turn-of-the-century mill building to create a new Watercraft Exhibit Hall for the Mystic Seaport Museum; and a new visitor center for the 1930’s Pioneer Village Living History Museum (the first living history museum in the country) in Salem, MA. Matt also served as the lead principal for the recently completed Norwell Public Library, a new mass timber framed 21,000 square foot facility located on a heavily wooded wetland site in Norwell, MA, which was the recipient of a national 2022 U.S. Wood Design Award and a 2021 Design Excellence Award from AIA New England.

Prior to co-founding Oudens Ello Architecture in 2007, Matt spent ten years with Machado Silvetti in Boston where he was a Senior Associate, co-managing office operations for the firm and directing award-winning cultural, educational and institutional projects including the Honan-Allston Branch of the Boston Public Library, winner of numerous awards including a 2003 AIA National Honor Award for Architecture and recipient of the prestigious Harleston Parker Medal.

EDUCATION / CREDENTIALS
University of Virginia | B.S. Architecture
University of Virginia | Master in Architecture

Registered Architect: MA, ME,NH, CT, WI, AL
NCARB Certified
LEED Accredited Professional

Chris Genter

Chris Genter joined Oudens Ello Architecture in 2015. He was born and raised in New Jersey and studied architecture at Cornell University, where he was awarded the Clifford Beckwith Brown medal for outstanding thesis, the Charles Sands Medal for design achievement, and the AIA medal for academic achievement. He continued his architectural studies at MIT, where he earned a Master of Science. Prior to joining OEA, Chris was with Utile Architecture and Planning from 2003-2015 as a designer and project manager on several award-winning projects, including the Boston Harbor Islands Pavilion, the MIT Center for Real Estate, and the Boston Conservatory Studio Building. He has worked with the Renzo Piano Building Workshop in Genoa, Italy on the renovation of the Harvard Art Museums and with Machado Silvetti on the Getty Villa Museum and art conservation campus in Los Angeles.

Chris teaches design studios at Northeastern University. He is a registered architect in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and is a LEED Accredited Professional.