The Overlook has named its board of directors, assembling a group of journalists, media executives, nonprofit leaders, and community advocates to help guide the nonprofit newsroom as it builds out coverage across the Catskills.
The board includes President and Co-Founder Scott Widmeyer, Secretary and Co-Founder Jacqueline Kellachan, Treasurer Donna Price, Peter Cherukuri, Susanne Craig, Lauren Johnston, Josh King, and Mark Land.
“From its launch, The Overlook has been built around a belief that strong communities depend on strong local journalism. This managing board brings together a group of people deeply committed to that mission and to the future of the Catskills region,” Widmeyer said. “Together, we will continue to grow a news organization that informs our residents, connects our towns, and helps foster thoughtful civic conversation across the communities we serve.”
The Overlook is a nonprofit news organization, and member of the Institute for Nonprofit News, committed to serving the Catskills communities of Hunter, Hurley, Olive, Saugerties, Shandaken, Windham, and Woodstock. The organization received its 501(c)(3) status in October 2025. Its board, which oversees governance and strategy, brings together experience in local and national journalism, corporate communications, public health, higher education, philanthropy, and nonprofit governance as The Overlook expands its reporting and community presence. The board is responsible for overall governance and strategy, including financial oversight, fundraising support and helping ensure the long-term strength of the organization, while newsroom staff retain responsibility for editorial decisions and day-to-day operations.
Widmeyer, The Overlook’s president and co-founder, has spent decades in journalism, communications, and political strategy. He founded Widmeyer Communications, now part of Finn Partners, and has advised leaders ranging from presidents to chief executives and labor leaders. A longtime Ulster County resident, he also chairs the Country Roads Angel Foundation and co-chairs the Stubblefield Institute for Civil Political Communications.
Cherukuri is a media executive whose leadership roles have included positions at POLITICO, Huffington Post, and The Economist Group. He is the founder of two media ventures: upNEXT, a leadership media platform focused on industry, technology, and public policy, and LeaderBoard, a media and intelligence platform focused on governance and leadership in major institutions, and has worked with startup incubators and angel investment networks including 1776 and K Street Capital. He also serves on several media-related boards, including NPR affiliate WAMU and the National Press Foundation.
“Great local journalism is critical civic infrastructure. It helps communities understand their past, present, and future,” Cherukuri said. “What excites me about The Overlook is the opportunity to help build a trusted source of reporting and a sustainable model that serves the towns and hamlets of the Catskills while helping the region develop a stronger shared identity.”
Craig, an investigative reporter for The New York Times, has spent much of the past decade reporting on the finances of powerful public figures. She is the co-author of “Lucky Loser, How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success,” and was part of a reporting team whose work on Trump family finances and tax records earned a Pulitzer Prize. Craig lives near Windham and joined The Overlook board to help support the growth of local journalism in the region.
“My local newspaper is where I found my first car, and eventually, my first job. Local news really is the lifeblood of many communities; it’s often how we connect with and better understand the place we call home,” Craig said. “I couldn’t be more excited to help grow The Overlook’s voice in the Catskills, especially as it expands into my own home base of Windham.”
Kellachan, a co-founder of The Overlook, purchased The Golden Notebook in Woodstock in 2010 and has helped sustain it as a major literary and cultural hub in the region. Her background includes work in public health at the New York City and New York state health departments and at The Rockefeller Foundation. She has also served on the boards of the Ulster Literacy Association and the Woodstock Day School.
“Our new board is a terrific mix of community members with experience in journalism, finance and public service. As a nonprofit community newsroom, The Overlook is 100% reader-supported,” Kellachan said. “Our new board is essential to ensure the paper’s financial growth, maintain its independence and keep it aligned with its editorial mission.”
King has owned a home in Windham for 15 years and serves on the board of directors of the Windham Foundation, which supports historical preservation, the arts, education, recreation, and other local initiatives. He is head of corporate affairs at Citadel, where he leads marketing and communications, and previously held similar roles at the New York Stock Exchange, First Data, Willis Group, and The Hartford.
“The Catskills offers so much to so many people but, like many regions across the country, independent and trusted news can sometimes be in short supply,” King said. “I’m pleased to serve on the board of The Overlook to provide our communities and our neighbors—particularly Windham and Hunter, where my family and friends have deep roots—with extraordinary nonprofit journalism, delivering the truth in an expert, elegant digital form.”
Johnston is chief product transformation officer at Atlas Obscura, where she works across editorial, product, and audience teams. Her career has included senior leadership roles at Yahoo News and the New York Daily News, and she previously taught journalism as an adjunct professor at St. John’s University. Johnston lives in Woodstock and Brooklyn.
“Journalism is navigating a moment of profound disruption, with many local outlets closing just as trusted community reporting is needed most,” Johnston said. “I spent the first decade of my career in local news and saw firsthand how deeply communities rely on it. The Overlook is already filling a critical gap in the Catskills, and I’m excited to help it grow and serve the region I now call home in Woodstock.”
Land brings a 40-year career that has included leadership roles in journalism, corporate America, and higher education. A newspaper journalist by training, he has led community newsrooms including The Saratogian and also worked in reporting and editing roles at major newspapers. He is now vice president for communications and marketing at Union College in Schenectady.
Price, the board’s treasurer, is a health care executive who serves as treasurer for multiple nonprofits. She holds a master’s degree from Harvard Kennedy School and has lived in the Town of Olive for the past 25 years.
The Overlook launched to provide independent local journalism to communities across the Catskills, with a focus on local news, public policy issues, culture, accountability reporting, and civic life. The board, the organization said, reflects an effort to pair deep local ties with broad experience in journalism and institutional leadership.