Background
March attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where she worked to divest her college from South Africa to end Apartheid. After graduating college March worked as the committee clerk for then-Assemblyman Maurice Hinchey. After several years, she moved on in the Assembly to work as a budget analyst for the Ways and Means Committee. March realized that she needed more skills to really help people and the planet. She went on to earn master’s degrees from Bard College and SUNY Albany, as well as a law degree from Boston University’s School of Law. Upon graduation, she practiced environmental law.
In 2001, she returned to the Hudson Valley, and in 2006, became the first-ever chairwoman of the Ulster County Industrial Development Agency (IDA), eventually heading up Ulster County’s Office of Economic Development. In both roles, she worked tirelessly to keep businesses afloat in our community during a national economic crisis while holding businesses accountable on tax break deals.
In 2013, she joined Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress as its Chief Strategy Officer, where she conducted research on regional infrastructure and healthcare, particularly on the care needs of seniors. A big part of the job was taking high-level findings and communicating them to different communities and stakeholder groups in order to make good policy decisions.
In 2015, March became the President & CEO of the Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley, managing over $80 million in assets across 500 different funds, and awarding millions of dollars annually in grants to nonprofit and students throughout the Hudson Valley. March served on Congressman Antonio Delgado’s Small Business Advisory Board and serves on the board of the Farm and Food Growth Fund, a new Hudson Valley financial resource for agriculture and food businesses. March is a member of the Bloomington Fire Department Auxiliary. In 2013 March was recognized as a Hudson Valley Women in Business Awardee.
March has also served on the boards of the Mid-Hudson Regional Economic Development Council, Hudson Valley Economic Development Corporation, Hudson Valley Regional Council, Ulster County Development Corporation, Ulster County Workforce Investment Board, Hudson Valley Agribusiness Development Corporation, Dutchess County Community Development Advisory Board, Dutchess County Economic Development Advisory Council, Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine – Middletown, Foxhall Ambulatory Surgery Center, and Esopus Creek Conservancy.
