Staff Bios

Ramsay Adams Executive Director, (845) 482-5400

Ramsay Adams is the Founder and Executive Director of Catskill Mountainkeeper, an environmental advocacy organization dedicated to protecting the Catskill Region in New York State. Mr. Adams is also the Secretary and a board member of the Sullivan Alliance for Sustainable Development, a county wide organization that promotes sustainable energy, companies and working wage jobs , the Executive Producer of the online environmental video website Environmental Countdown, and a film and television music supervisor, author, and educator. Prior to founding Catskill Mountainkeeper in 2006, Mr. Adams created and taught the “Music Supervision” course at New York University’s Center for Advanced Digital Applications and wrote the book “Music Supervision: The Complete Guide to Selecting Music for Movies, TV, Games, and New Media” (Schirmer). He co-founded MusicSupervisionCentral.com, a music supervision services company. Mr. Adams was the Music Director for the Fox News Channel for over 4 years and is the film music supervisor of many award winning films including “Jihad for Love”, “The Break Up Artist”, and “Heights.” Mr. Adams and his wife Ananda live in the Catskills with their two children.

Wes Gillingham Program Director, (845) 482-5400

Wes Gillingham is one of the founders and the Program Director of Catskill Mountainkeeper, an environmental advocacy organization dedicated to protecting the Catskill Region in New York State. Wes serves on the New York Sate Forest Preserve Advisory Committee providing advice and guidance to the State Department of Environmental Conservation, which manages the 3.4 million acres of the State Forest Preserve. He is on the board of Directors for the Sullivan County Farm Bureau and the legislative policy committee for The Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York (NOFA-NY). From 1997 to 2007 Wes with his wife Amy ran a 150 member Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) vegetable operation in Youngsville NY and during that time he also served on the Board of Directors of NOFA-NY. Prior to farming Wes was an Acting Director of Field Programs for the National Audubon Society Expedition Institute (AEI), a fully accredited, traveling undergraduate and graduate environmental studies program at Lesley University. Wes spent ten years working as a Park Ranger for the National Park Service at the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River where he lead the canoe training for incoming Park Rangers, lead interpretive history and natural history programs, and did canoe patrols along the river. For two years he was a wildlife technician for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s 3 offices in New Paltz, NY. Wes and Amy are raising their two children on land in the Catskills that has been in his family for 55 years along with their Scottish Highland Cattle, Icelandic and Scottish Blackface Sheep.

Kathleen Nolan High Peaks Regional Director, (845) 417-6489

Kathleen Nolan is Regional Director for the High Peaks at the Woodstock, NY office of Catskill Mountainkeeper. Dr. Nolan was born in Kansas and raised in a rural area of middle Tennessee. She majored in philosophy and theology at Saint Louis University and graduated with honors, going on to pursue her Medical Degree, along with a Masters of Studies in Law, from Yale. Following a residency in pediatrics and fellowship training in clinical research design, she worked at the Hastings Center, writing and teaching on diverse topics in bioethics. She came to the Catskills in 1989 to pursue residential training at a Zen Buddhist monastery and in 2003 she became Executive Director of Tibet Aid in Woodstock. In 2009 she founded Catskills Live! Trails and Wilderness Association. Dr. Nolan serves on the Ulster County Tourism Advisory Board, the Ulster County Trails Advisory Committee, and as an officer for the Catskill Heritage Alliance and the Ashokan-Pepacton Watershed Chapter of Trout Unlimited. Dr. Nolan lives near the stream in Shandaken, where she can watch eagles ride currents up the mountains.