BOARD
Joe Banks, Wesleyan University
Joe Banks is a licensed Architect in CT, and currently works for Wesleyan University as the Director of Construction Services. Joe has a varied and wide work and volunteer experience, including construction, landscaping, music editing and coding. He’s lived in the greater New Haven area since 2008, spent 6 years on Hamden’s Planning and Zoning Board, and currently serves on the Hamden Historical Commission.
Laura Boyer, Christopher Williams Architects, LLC
Laura is a licensed architect and project architect at Christopher Williams Architects LLC. She has over twenty five years experience designing, managing, and consulting on residential, institutional, municipal, and historic preservation projects. She maintains a particular interest in the intersection of building design with material science and performance. She holds AIA, NCARB and Historical Architect certifications, and formerly co-chaired AIA Connecticut’s Committee on the Environment.
Jared Clark, Wiggin & Dana
Jared is a proud New Haven native and attorney at Wiggin and Dana LLP in downtown New Haven. Prior to his legal career, Jared worked in politics and has experience as a campaign manager, communications director, and speech writer. He is the chair of the New Haven County Bar Association’s Pro Bono Committee, and is a lover of nature, history, art, and all things book-related.
Tom Cavaliere, AdvanceCT
Tom is a Senior Associate at AdvanceCT where he works in close cooperation with state, regional and local partners to drive job creation and new capital investment in Connecticut. Prior to joining AdvanceCT, Tom focused on international government relations, stakeholder management and public affairs at APCO Worldwide, a global advisory and management consulting firm headquartered in Washington, D.C. Tom also serves as a Commissioner of the New Haven Port Authority and on the Board of Directors of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra.
Julia Downs
Julia retired from Yale University where she managed Graduate School alumni relations for many years and, earlier, worked with Edward Zigler at the Bush Center in Child Development and Social Policy (now the Zigler Center) on campus. She lives in Branford.
Andrew Drabkin, Deep Hollow Farms
Andrew studied art history as an undergraduate at Yale, and drawing with James McElhinney at the Art Students League of New York. An advocate for historic preservation and adaptive reuse, he volunteered much labor on the renovation of the Library’s 3rd floor gallery. He also serves on the board of the Edgerton Park Conservancy, of which he was president from 2013-2018. Andrew and his husband, Brian Hughes, are the owners of Deep Hollow Farm in Chester, CT, since 2012.
Bennett Graff, Senior Editor, Gale Publishing
Bennett is digital collections editor at Gale, a leading publisher serving public and academic libraries. A scholar in the field of American literature, he has worked nearly 30 years in the field of publishing. In addition to developing and acquiring book projects in the fields of religion, American history, and music, he is a specialist in the transformation of historical archives into digital research databases.
Josh Mamis, Media & Marketing Strategist
Josh is a media and marketing specialist who has worked for non-profit organizations for years. Prior to that, he was known in New Haven as the publisher of the Advocate chain of Connecticut alternative newsweeklies, and before that was the editor of the New Haven edition. He is a long-time journalist with experience in Nairobi, Kenya, Burlington, Vermont, and New Haven, Connecticut.
Eileen Mydosh RPH, MBA, Yale New Haven Hospital
Eileen is a clinical pharmacist currently working at Yale New Haven Hospital in oncology investigational drug research. This is her third year on the board. She has been a steadfast sponsor of the Listen Here short story program. In December 2019, she brought the Spizzwinks, a Yale acapella group to the library for a memorable holiday concert. In August 2021 she hosted an artist-lead tour of Monica Ong’s visual poetry exhibit. She is looking forward to hosting several exciting upcoming library events happening soon!
Maryann Ott, Chair, Managing Director, NewAlliance Foundation
Maryann is Managing Director of NewAlliance Foundation, which funds $1M in grants annually to non-profit organizations in 41 Connecticut communities. Prior to joining the Foundation, Maryann was Senior Program Manager at the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism (formerly the Connecticut Commission on the Arts), and Regional Program Director at the Arts Council of Greater New Haven.
Sarah Rosner, Bow Edison Studio
Sarah is founder and owner of Bow Edison Studio, a vintage and antique business. She has an academic background (M.A.) in Art History and Museology, and has worked in art museums, art galleries, the interior design products business and the textile industry. Special interests and pursuits include psychology, travel, food, music, gardening and cats.
Scott Schuldt, Artist
Scott is an artist living in Milford and has a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering. He was an engineer at Boeing for 20 years, where his job was to calculate and document aerodynamic and inertial loads. He was the lead engineer for nacelle and strut loads for all Boeing commercial airplanes. In 2005, he left his job 2005 to work full time as an artist. From 2014 to 2016, he was co-curator and facilities manager for Artspace’s City Wide Open Studio Alternative Space.
Tristan G. Ward, New Haven Public Schools
Tristan is a founding member and President of College Bound BIPOC Students Alliance and a College Board Big Future Ambassador. He serves on the State Student Advisory on Education Committee and was appointed to the City of New Haven’s Youth Commission and serves as a student board member of Higher Heights Youth Empowerment Programs, Inc. He is also a member of the Ron Brown Guided Pathway Support Program’s Student Leadership Council. As a 12th grade New Haven Public School student, he serves on his school’s Facing History Council, Black Lives Matter Club, and Gender and Sexuality Alliance. He is a team member of his school’s Model UN and Model Congress Club and Yale Urban Debate League Club. Tristan is passionate about social, racial, educational and environmental justice for Black, Indigenous and other People of Color and he is dedicated to helping create and promote diversity, inclusion and equity in the volunteer work that he performs, both within his school and the wider community.
Jonas C. Ward, New Haven Public Schools
Jonas is a founding member and Vice-President of College Bound BIPOC Students Alliance (“CBBSA”) and is the first New Haven Public School (“NHPS”) College and Career Pathways Intern. Jonas earned the College Board African American National Recognition Award and also served as College Board Big Future Ambassador. He serves as a student board member on the Institute Library Board of Directors. He is a Social Justice Readers (“SJR”) Fellowship Alum and is a student representative of the SJR Fellowship Advisory Committee. He is also a member of the Ron Brown Guided Pathway Support (“GPS”) Program’s Student Leadership Council. Jonas is an alum of the ECHO Perfect 10 Experiential Leadership Training and Internship program. Jonas has served as an intern for the Yale Beinecke Library, Community Action Agency and Horizons (“Horizons”) at Foote School. He also served on Horizons’ Junior Advisory Committee and has been recently promoted from a New Haven Reads (“NHR”) tutor volunteer to NHR’s Reader-to-Leader Intern. As a 12th grade student at New Haven Academy (“NHA”) Jonas serves on his NHA’s Facing History Council and is an advisory leader and runs the after school chess club. Jonas was the Program Director for High School Democrats of America New Haven County Chapter. Jonas served as a youth organizer with Citywide Youth Coalition and Students for Educational Justice. Jonas is dedicated to the promotion of equality of opportunity for all students and is always ready to volunteer to participate in programs for less advantaged youth including organizing chess clubs at a local library or volunteering at back-to-school rallies.
Comments may be directed to executivedirector@institutelibrary.org
STAFF
Jan Swiatek, Executive Director
Jan has served as a library director in academic and health sciences organizations for 25 years. She has an MLS in Library Science and a PhD in Information Science. Jan’s focus has always been on information usability, humanizing databases by training users and staff. Her commitment to life-long learning has given her an emotional connection to libraries, and she envisions the Institute Library as an intellectual home for everyone. It does her heart good when she sees people enjoying the library.
jswiatek@institutelibrary.org
Eva Geertz, Operations Manager
eva@institutelibrary.org