Board of Directors

Board Members Emeritus
Leasa Meyer and Michael Worthen are founding Board members of Wellness Foundation and the Foundation gratefully acknowledges their service from 2005-2012. They will remain Board Members Emeritus.

Stuart Baker

Director

Mr. Baker is a senior executive of a worldwide group of pharmaceutical companies. He is also a senior partner of the law firm Chadbourne and Parke LLP. His practice involves a wide range of legal disciplines. In addition, he is a director of over forty pharmaceutical companies worldwide. Mr. Baker and his wife Alixandra, have a strong interest in various charitable endeavors. Mr. Baker has three children and six grandchildren, and has homes in West Palm Beach, New York and Southampton. Mr. Baker exercises regularly and believes that what you eat is a crucial factor for good health.

Michele Sacconaghi

Director

Michele Sacconaghi is a non-profit consultant and yoga teacher on the East End. She previously was Executive Director of the Time Warner Foundation and a Vice President overseeing Corporate Social Responsibility at Time Warner. She served in the Clinton Administration working in Education and Civil rights and was a Peace Corps Volunteer in West Africa. She has 3 young sons and is passionate about a healthy lifestyle. She just completed the Wellness Challenge and believes that everyone deserves the opportunity to feel this good.

Lynn Follenius

Director

Lynn Follenius is a licensed Property and Causality, Life and Health Insurance broker at the Amaden Gay Agency in East Hampton. She is an active advocate of healthy eating and knows that changing lifelong dietary habits is a process. The Wellness Foundation provides the encouragement, the information and the tools to make the transition to a plant-based diet which Lynn supports wholeheartedly. Growing up on Long Island in a farm and sea rich environment has provided Lynn with a healthy and happy lifestyle. Tennis, golf, horseback riding and Pilates are among the activities that she enjoys the most.

Anthony R.H. Gerard

Director and Secretary

Mr. Gerard is a Director and member of the Investment Committee of Azimuth Investment Management, LLC, an investment advisor managing an institutional quality fund of hedge funds. He is a Special Advisor to the Chairman of New York Private Bank and Trust Corporation and is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Supply Pro, Inc. Mr. Gerard is a former Trustee of The Cardigan Mountain School, was a member of the Advisory Board of the Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico from 1983-2005 and is involved in a number of other charities. He lives in New York City and East Hampton and is the father of two grown sons. Mr. Gerard has been an advocate for healthy eating for some fifteen years. Early in the morning he can be found practicing yoga, on the tennis court or in the gym.

Douglas D. Mercer

Director

The founder of Wellness Foundation graduated from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy with Honors. In his professional life, Mr. Mercer worked in his family shipping business, States Marine Lines, for twenty-five years, and was CEO for the last ten. During his business years he was on the board of Moore McCormack Resources, Maremont Corporation and Paine Webber's Family of Funds. Daily exercise is a highlight of his life. As an avid outdoorsman he has a passion for saltwater flyfishing (catch & release) and competitive Laser sailing. A father of six, and grandfather of nine, Mr. Mercer resides in East Hampton, with his second wife Pat.

George Yates

Director

George Yates was born and raised in Grove City, Ohio. He graduated from Harvard University in 1971 and entered the property/casualty insurance industry with the Insurance Company of North America that year. Since 1990 he has been President of Dayton Ritz & Osborne, the longest continuously operating insurance agency on Eastern Long Island with offices in East Hampton and Bridgehampton. In addition to his support of The East Hampton Wellness Foundation he is a current Board Member of the Long Island Chapter of The Nature Conservancy as well as Guild Hall of East Hampton. George and his wife, Linda, reside in East Hampton year round.