OUR BOARD
Jake Samascott
President
Jake is one of the 4th generation farmers at Samascott Orchards in Kinderhook NY. After studying Agriculture and Plant Science at SUNY Cobleskill Jake returned home to the farm to help expand and diversify crops, value added products and markets. Through partnerships with local businesses like Nine Pin Ciderworks Jake has overseen tens of thousands of new trees put in the ground. This includes over 100 cultivated varieties as well as 300 brand new seedling varieties. Jake is also a board member of the NewYork Berry Growers Association, Columbia Friends of the Electric Trail and an advisor on Farm Credit East's Customer Service Council.
Alejandro del peral
Vice President
Alejandro grew up as an all-around apple enthusiast in Columbia County, New York, fascinated by the gnarly apples from the trees his father planted from seed. After studying biology at McGill University in Montreal and hydrology at the University of Vermont, Alejandro came home and founded Nine Pin Ciderworks in Albany one of the first orchard based cideries located in an urban center in New York. The folks at Samascott Orchards, his orchard partner, have provided intense training in growing New York apples over the past six years since Nine Pin’s inception. Together, they planted Albany’s first Urban Orchard in historic Washington Park in 2018.
gabrielle sant'angelo
Secretary
Gabrielle is a Long Island native turned Upstate NY'er. With a degree from SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry in Environmental Policy, Planning & Law. Gabrielle is the Executive Director of the Pine Hollow Arboretum in Slingerlands, NY since 2020 and is a member of the Historic Heath Farm Advisory Committee for the Town of Bethlehem. In winter 2023, Gabrielle received the Graduate of Distinction Incipiens Quercu Award from SUNY ESF for being a pioneer in the environmental field.
Joe bonilla
Board Member
Joe Bonilla is the managing partner, senior media director, and co-founder of Relentless.
Recognized as a leading communications professional in the Northeast, major brands, companies, organizations, and public figures rely on Bonilla’s counsel and insight in moving their message forward with impressive results.
Bonilla serves as president of the board of directors for Capital CarShare, Inc., managing director of the Knickerbocker Film Festival, board secretary for the University at Albany Alumni Association, and a board member for Troy Preparatory Charter School, Maria College, the Nelson A. Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy. Bonilla is also a regular panelist of WAMC Northeast Public Radio’s nationally-syndicated and award-winning news and discussion program The Roundtable.
Bonilla, a graduate of the Nelson A. Rockefeller College of Public Affairs & Policy at the University at Albany (B.A., Public Policy), has recognized by the Hispanic Coalition of New York (40 Under 40 Latino Rising Stars 2012), the Albany Business Review (40 Under Forty 2014), University at Albany (Thirty Under 30 2014), City & State Magazine (Albany Rising Stars 2017), and Nelson A. Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy (Young Alumnus in Political Science 2017).
Haley Viccaro
Board Member
Haley works at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation leading climate communications. She previously served as senior advisor of communications for Governor Kathy Hochul, deputy communications director in the Governor’s office, and communications director for then-Lieutenant Governor Hochul. She was also a reporter at the Daily Gazette in Schenectady and the Albany Business Review.
Haley lives in Schenectady and serves on various boards including as an advisor to the Schenectady City School District Educational Foundation, member of the Junior League of Schenectady and Saratoga Counties, and former board chair and longtime board member of the Schenectady Greenmarket, Schenectady’s year-round local farmers market. She is a graduate of the University at Albany with a degree in journalism and biology.