Board Members

Theresa Widmann

Theresa Lyn Widmann is a writer, teacher and community uplifter who uses her superpowers to help people heal and create a life filled with meaning. Founder of Anahata Yoga and Healing Arts, she believes in the supreme power of compassion to heal ourselves and our communities and is driven by this defining principle in all her work. With a network of generous healers and community uplifters, Theresa strives to bring yoga and the healing arts to women and children who are survivors of domestic violence and others who are unable to regularly afford these services. She shares her passion for community building and activism as the Board President for the O+ Festival, as co-host of I Want What She Has podcast, and as an organizer and co-instigator of Hudson Valley’s One Billion Rising and “Pay What You Can” day at Outdated: an Antique Cafe. Building upon her experience as a prosecuting attorney and a sales manager in the tech industry, Theresa also brings her wellness expertise to the business world, inspiring more health conscious and compassionate business practices capable of enhancing the triple bottom line. In this capacity, she is a contributing member of Coherence Collaborative business advisory services.

If there’s spare time in the day, she might be caught writing, strumming her guitar, roller skating at the Ashokan Reservoir or digging in the dirt.

Michael Pisacane

I LO+VE O+ because as the father of an alumni artist I have been able to witness the mission in action in a very personal way.

I was introduced to the O+ Festival in 2013 when my son was commissioned to paint a mural in the back wall of the old Reade Theater (currently BSP). I made the drive to Kingston from my home in Teaneck, NJ to watch him work on the huge project holding my breath as he worked on a lift 60 feet above Crown Street. I met Joe Concra and Denise Orzo and was completely swept up in the love and support my son was receiving. The mural is now a destination and inspired me to return as a festival volunteer in 2015 when my son was painting a new mural in Fair St on the side of RUPCO. I spent an entire week volunteering and watching my son’s mural and watching the other murals by well known street artist taking shape in Midtown. My son and all these artists were able to receive dental and medical care in return for their art. Accepting the invitation to become a board member was an honor and an opportunity to give back to the O+ community and help make the mission a reality.

David Ping

David Ping was the managing partner for a healthcare consulting firm prior to relocating to the Hudson Valley. He served as the Senior Vice President for Strategic Planning for Health Quest for 12 years, growing it to the largest health system in the region. David now is the President of the David Ping Group, a consulting firm providing planning, financial, operations and capacity development consulting to nonprofit organizations. David has served on a number of boards including Family Services in Poughkeepsie and Walkway Over the Hudson. He has a master’s degree from the University of Minnesota and a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University. David lives in Rhinebeck with his wife Cyndie, and their two Border Collies. They have three children who no longer live at home full-time.

John Cappello

John Cappello is a partner in the full service firm of Jacobowitz and Gubits, LLC in Walden, New York. His personal practice area is primarily land use development and municipal law. He has a special interest in development of affordable/ work force housing and alternative energy/ sustainable development.

John serves as Board President of RECAP, Inc a local anti-poverty agency as well as the Josephine Louise Library Board and the Pattern for Progress Housing Advocacy Committee. He has attended and volunteered with O+ for several years since meeting executive director Joe Concra at the LongDock TEDx talk in Beacon, where they both presented. John is drawn to O+ efforts since it serves the dual purpose of promoting the arts and music as well as the need for a community to provide compassionate care to those who may need it.

Amy Short

Alchemical Entrepreneur and Baltimore native, Amy Short expresses her highest good and feels her happiest when working to create, shape, shepherd, and sustain participatory communities that engender personal and societal transformation. In addition to her service on the O+ board, Amy’s vision of collective social impact includes her work through 2015 founding and growing NYC Social, a friend factory for young professionals in New York City that worked to eradicate loneliness and touched over 20,000 lives annually. Amy also spent several years as volunteer facilitator of the life-changing Opening the Heart workshop and is a Good Work Institute Fellow. Amy is trained in sharing-economy principles, offers consulting services to for-profit and social-benefit organizations, and is currently working to establish the Drug War Memorial, an online monument to the casualties of the War on Drugs. You can find Amy tending to her backyard garden, at the Stockade games in Kingston, in the dust of Black Rock City, wandering the cobblestone streets of Lisbon, Portugal, and zooming around the Catskill mountains on her vintage Honda motorcycle.

Justin Goldman

Justin Goldman is a banker with the Bank of Greene County who focuses on long-term relationships and growing the local economy in a sustainable and equitable way. He is inspired by the way O+ helps communities take control of their wellbeing and brings humanity to the healthcare system. Justin is also a Good Work Institute Fellow and serves on the boards of Columbia County Habitat for Humanity and the Hudson Business Coalition. He lives in the City of Hudson with his wife, Andrea, and their daughter, Bessie.