Biographies of Committee Members

Jim Abbruzzese is co-owner of Altamont Orchards and Orchard Creek Golf Course. He has served on the Farm Service Agency Albany County Committee for over 20 years serving as chairman for several years during his term.

Jim has been a longtime supporter of the Regional Food Bank, Altamont PTA, Altamont ACT, Altamont Library, and other community organizations.

Jim grew up in Guilderland, attended Guilderland schools, and graduated from GHS in 1981. He holds a B.S. in Agricultural Science from Cornell University. He lives in Altamont with his wife and daughter, who is a student at Guilderland High School.

Cody Betton is a Guilderland resident, who spent the majority of his childhood in southern Wisconsin but graduated from Guilderland High School in 2009.

Cody attended the University of Buffalo, graduating with a Health and Human Services degree in 2013. He is currently working as a Commercial Lines Underwriter for Travelers Insurance. Cody and his wife Brittany have two boys (age 8 and age 5).

Richard Brustman has been a Guilderland resident for over fifty years. He and his wife, Loretta, raised their son and daughter here. They loved growing up in this town. And we have a deep affection for this place.

The Comprehensive Plan Update is a chance to make Guilderland still better. Rich volunteered for this committee for three reasons. First, he believes that he has the skills and experience that could be useful. Second, while driving the town's thoroughfares, shopping its stores, bicycling the roads, and enjoying its parks he often thinks of ways to improve them. And, third, everyone should give time and thought to better their community.

Rich has both undergraduate and graduate degrees from the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cornell University. Studies there included water supply and waste-water management, highway and bridge construction, and various earth sciences. He is a lifetime member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Rich's career was with the New York State Department of Transportation, where he embraced responsibilities for traffic safety and for transportation planning. He managed the state's accident surveillance system, set safety project standards, and conducted traffic safety research. He planned local and regional networks, conducted project benefit-costing, and was the principal author of the Statewide Master Transportation Plan update.

Since retiring, Rich has done volunteer work that included serving as Board President of the New York Bicycling Coalition, an advocacy group. He also regularly lectures on current events and history at the Massry Residence, an assisted living facility.

Tara Cristalli has lived in Guilderland for 14 years with her husband Guy and two daughters. She is a graduate of Boston College and is originally from Massachusetts.

Tara currently works in Human Resources for the New York State Department of Health. She enjoys volunteering at her daughter's school and is a member of the Christ Child Society through her church St. Madeleine Sophie.

Tara has volunteered at the Albany Institute of History and Art and enjoys attending events sponsored by the Guilderland Historical Society. Tara is a former member of the Junior League of Albany. She looks forward to serving the community.

Caitlin Ferrante has been a resident of Guilderland for six years. With her husband, Pete, she's become an avid explorer of Guilderland's parks, preserves, and hiking trails.

After earning her Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the College of Saint Rose, Caitlin joined the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter where she has worked on public policy issues in the state since 2010. She is currently serving as the Atlantic Chapter's Conservation and Development Program Manager. Caitlin has advocated on a myriad of issues including working to get toxic chemicals out of everyday consumer products, pollinator protection policies, NYS fracking ban, plastics reduction policies, and much more.

Caitlin also serves on the advisory board of the NYS Pollution Prevention Institute and has been serving on the Town of Guilderland's Conservation Advisory Council since the beginning of 2022. She is looking forward to working with fellow residents of the Town to update Guilderland's Comprehensive Plan.

Lisa Hart has lived in Guilderland with her husband Tom and three grown children since 1988; first in McKownville until 1999, and for the last 23 years in Westmere. Lisa grew up in Albany and graduated from the Albany City School District.

In 1995, Lisa went back to school and graduated from HVCC after taking courses to become a medical transcriptionist, which she did for 12 years. Lisa left the medical transcription field to become a legal transcriptionist. These jobs enabled her to work from home and be there for her children while they were in school. Lisa is now working part-time from home, still doing legal transcription.

Tom and Lisa have enjoyed living and raising their three children in Guilderland. They have become more active in the community because they are interested in the direction the town is going and hoping to be part of that process. This is the reason why Lisa applied to work on the Comprehensive Plan Committee. Lisa is hoping that by working with others from the town, they can come up with a plan that will be positive for all who live and work in Guilderland.

Elizabeth Lott grew up in Westmere and attended Guilderland Elementary, Farnsworth Middle, and Guilderland High Schools. She has also lived in other neighborhoods in Town: the hamlet of Guilderland, Nott Road, and currently on Lydius Street.

Elizabeth joined the New York State Workers' Compensation Board a few years after graduating from Cardozo School of Law in Manhattan. She served in various attorney positions and rose through the ranks to eventually serve as Deputy Executive Director. Elizabeth recently retired after a 25-year career with the Board.

Elizabeth has been active in the community and has served on the board for several non-profits. She is currently on the Board of Community Caregivers.

Elizabeth also serves as a board member of the Town's Zoning Board of Appeals.

Dominic Rigosu and his family have been Guilderland residents for 20 years. He holds a Masters of Architecture degree and is a practicing NYS licensed Architect. He has 30 years of experience providing architectural services focused on a variety of multi-family housing types, including market-rate apartments, senior living, special needs and affordable housing for non-profit sectors.

His loyalty to Guilderland began in his volunteer position on the Guilderland YMCA Building Committee for four years and then proceeded to establish his architectural firm in Guilderland in 2011. Early in his career he was an Adjunct Professor at Hudson Valley Community College for ten years. Most recently, he had the privilege of serving on the Albany County Planning Board for 13 years and in those years he was Acting Chairman for seven years.

Stephen is a long-time beekeeper, who resides on Stitt Road overlooking the Watervliet Reservoir. He came to Guilderland in 1966 as a Colgate University faculty member to co-found the Department of Geography and Planning at the University of Albany, where he established the cartography lab and conducted the first statewide application of geographic information systems (GIS) to identify potential recreational open spaces. As a co-founder, and later chairman of the Guilderland Conservation Advisory Committee, he oversaw the first Town wetlands identification map in the State, as well as maps of present Constraints-to-Development.

After a graduate fellowship in water resource management, he participated in the founding of Empire State College, where he mentored many students in environmental sciences and environmental perception.

After several years of managing energy and natural resource programs, including research on acid deposition at USEPA- ORD, he retired from the State to take over as the Executive Director of the Hudson River Environmental Society.

Presently he serves on the Albany County Water Quality Coordinating Committee, the Hudson-Mohawk Resource Conservation and Development Council; a Board Member of the national Pollinator Stewardship Council; Chair of the Legislative Policy Committee of the Empire State Honey Producers Association.

He was involved in the development of Guilderland's original Comprehensive Plan, as a member of the Environmental - Open Spaces Subcommittee.