The Green-Wood Board of Trustees elects new chair

Two new members also appointed

GREENWOOD HEIGHTS — The Board of Trustees of Green-Wood Cemetery and the Green-Wood Historic Fund have elected Peter Davidson as the new chair, it was announced on Monday. Davidson replaces C. Payson Coleman, Jr., who has served as chair since 1997.  Coleman will remain an active board member. Davidson’s term as chair is effective immediately.

A Green-Wood trustee since 2004, Davidson is the CEO of Aligned Climate Capital LLC, an investment group focused exclusively on clean energy, efficient transportation, green real estate and sustainable natural resources.

A resident of Brooklyn Heights, Davidson serves as chair of the J.M. Kaplan Fund, his family foundation, which champions transformative social, environmental and cultural causes through inventive grant-making. He is also an adjunct professor at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.

Davidson was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as executive director of the Loan Programs Office (LPO) at the U.S. Department of Energy where he oversaw the program’s portfolio of over $30 billion of clean energy and advanced vehicle loans and loan guarantees, making it the largest project finance organization in the U.S. government. For his work, he received the Secretary’s Exceptional Service Award from DOE Secretary Ernest Moniz.

Prior to leading the LPO, Davidson was senior advisor for energy and economic development at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Earlier, he served as the executive director of New York State’s economic development agency, the Empire State Development Corporation. Davidson earned an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BA from Stanford University.

The board also welcomed two new members, Kathy Kermian-Leicht and Rudolph (Rudy) Wynter.

Kermian-Leicht enjoyed an impressive 13-year career at Christie’s Auction House in New York, where she was a member of the executive committee and advanced to several senior executive positions, eventually becoming senior vice president and deputy managing director for the Americas. She resides in Brooklyn Heights.

Wynter, a resident of Cobble Hill, is president and chief operating officer of Wholesale Networks and US Capital Delivery at National Grid. A 25-year veteran of the utility company, he is leading the transformation of National Grid’s transmission network into a highly intelligent, resilient system that will help enable a clean energy future.

“The collective professional experience of Peter, Rudy and Kathy will be invaluable assets as we continue to innovate in areas including preservation, sustainability, education and the arts. We welcome Rudy and Kathy to the board and congratulate Peter on his new role,” noted Richard Moylan, president of Green-Wood.

“I’d also like to extend my sincerest thanks to Payson Coleman on his 22 years of dedicated service shepherding the cemetery through a period of unprecedented growth. His many remarkable accomplishments include initiating the cemetery’s drive to embrace its status as a cultural institution, the dramatic expansion of our education programs, and countless restorations, fundraising efforts and other initiatives,” Moylan added.

Trustees of Green-Wood enjoy the unique dual role of overseeing the operations of a not-for-profit cemetery corporation and the growth of its educational, cultural, historical and environmental organization, the Green-Wood Historic Fund. Both are 501c tax-exempt organizations.