Staff
Alicia Godsberg, Executive Director, October 2010 – Present
Alicia Godsberg started as the Executive Director of Peace Action New York State/Peace Action Fund of New York State in October 2010. Her background is in nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation policy and deterrence theory. Alicia graduated from The Graduate Center at the City University of New York in 2007 with a master’s degree in political science and received her B.S. in political science from the University of Michigan.
Prior to joining PANYS, Alicia was the Research Associate for the Strategic Security Program and UN Affairs at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington, D.C. In her last year at FAS, Alicia opened a New York City office for the organization to engage FAS with the United Nations on a regular basis. In this capacity, Alicia attended and presented at UN conferences and annual meetings, including at the 2010 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
From October 2007 – May 2008 Alicia took a leave of absence from FAS to work as the research assistant for Dr. Ellen Williams on the Strategic Posture Review Commission of the United States. Alicia’s brief for Dr. Williams and the Commission on outer space arms control treaties was published in the U.S. Institute of Peace’s companion publication, In The Eyes Of The Experts. Before working at FAS Alicia worked as a research associate for the Lawyers’ Committee on Nuclear Policy in New York.
Board Members
Peace Action New York State
Peace Action New York State is a 501(c)4 membership organization that uses lobbying and direct political action to complement the work of the Peace Action Fund of New York State. We currently have seventeen chapters and over 3,000 members throughout New York State. As we are a grassroots organization, our local chapters take a large lead in determining our agenda. Each chapter works on local peace issues as well as state, national and global concerns. For more information about chapter projects, please visit their individual websites.
Christine Brunner, Treasurer
Chris joined Peace Action back in 1982 as a founding member of the newly formed Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign of Chenango County, and has remained a member ever since. She served on the National Board as one of the representatives for New York State for 4 years (12/04-7/08), co-chairing the Fundraising Committee, one project of which was the creation of the annual National Peace Quilt with local chapters. Chris has been the C4 Treasurer since the 2008 PANYS annual meeting.
Sally Jones, PANYS Downstate Co-Chair, former Chair (2005 – 2010) 
In 2002 Sally helped found a PANYS chapter in Staten Island which has been active in protesting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and calling for complete abolition of nuclear weapons. The local chapter has helped organize several educational forums, distributed leaflets, sponsored festivals, and provided speakers to schools, organizations, and places of worship. Sally has participated in organizing Staten Island’s Make Food Not War celebrity chef family dinner and is active in her local community, including the Staten Island Democratic Association and the Unitarian Church of Staten Island. She has volunteered in several campaigns, including the New York City Council campaigns of Debi Rose. Professionally, Sally works as a business analyst. She attended Bucknell University and holds B.A. degrees in Economics and Literature from the College of Staten Island, and received her M.A. in Comparative Literature from the CUNY Graduate Center.
Elaine Klein, PANYS Secretary
Jerry Lotierzo, Board Member At Large 
Gerald R. Lotierzo is a retired high school counselor and
former President of a teachers union in Liverpool, NY. He is presently chair of Peace Action of Central New York, an active member of the Syracuse Peace Council, Chair of the Central New York Alliance for Retired Americans and active with Citizen Action of New York State. He is also Vice-President of the Area Labor Federation of Central New York.
John MacDougall, Board Member At Large
Margaret Melkonian, Board Member At Large
Arnold Matlin, PANYS Upstate Co-Chair
My first exposure to the national peace movement was in October 1969, when my wife and I attended one of the huge peace mobilizations in Washington, D.C. We became committed peace activists, and were among the founding members of the Staten Island Peace Coalition.
When we moved Upstate, we – along with two other couples – formed Genesee Vally Citizens for Peace (May 1972). We’ve been active in GVCP ever since. GVCP affiliated with PANYS in 2006. I was asked to join the Steering Committee and then the Executive Committee. Eventually I was elected Upstate Vice-President.
My other activist commitment is in Nicaragua solidarity. I went to Nicaragua with a delegation from Rochester in January 1988. In January 2011 I made my 30th trip.
Mary Beth Moore, PANYS Board Member At Large 
Mary Beth Moore belongs to the Roman Catholic group of nuns called Sisters of Charity. She has worked for almost 40 years, alternating between her profession as a rehabilitation counselor and as a pastoral worker in the Catholic Church. A transformative experience was her 10 years in Peru where she accompanied the people of a poor barrio. The country at the time was in the throes of a national terrorist movement, (Shining Path) and she learned the importance of working through fear and embracing nonviolence. Her work in the peace movement has taught her the deep bonds that can grow among persons of different religious, ethnic and class backgrounds when all are struggling together to reverence Earth and fashion a peaceful planet.
Cheryl Wertz, Chair PANYS 2011 – present
Cheryl Wertz has been on the board of the Peace Action Fund of New York State since leaving her position as the Executive Director of PANYS in 2010. Before coming to Peace Action, Cheryl worked as an immigrant community organizer and advocate at New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE) and in New York City Council. Cheryl has a BA in Political Science and Women’s Studies from George Washington University and an MSc in Human Rights from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Peace Action Fund of New York State
The Peace Action Fund of New York State is dedicated to promoting the non-violent resolution of conflict, the abolition of nuclear weapons, halting the global spread of conventional arms, building a human rights culture and supporting human needs instead of militarism. We pursue these goals through the production and dissemination of educational materials for the public, activists and policy makers, as well as through community organizing initiatives and public outreach. The Peace Action Fund of New York State is a non-partisan, non-profit 501(c)3 organization.
John Collins, Board Member At Large
Mary Giegengack Jureller, Secretary (On Leave)
Carol Price Husten, Chair 
Carol has been working with Peace Action in New York since before it was Peace Action and called SANE. Not only is Carol the Chair of the Peace Action Fund of New York State, she is also the Chair of the all-important fund raising committee. Before it merged with Brooklyn For Peace, Carol chaired the Brooklyn Heights chapter of Peace Action. Later, she became more involved with the Metro Council of Peace Action, which then became part of Peace Action New York State. Carol is a proud grandmother and loves to work with kids. She is also active in the group Granny Peace Brigade, which had this to say about her:
Carol Husten is our Bombshell Granny. She has such a powerful personality, it’s impossible to ignore her. When she speaks, in her husky, Brooklyn-tinged voice, we all stop talking and listen. Carol is a whirlpool of ideas, a cascade of imagination. It is no wonder… that Carol has been a very astute and successful business woman. That is just part of her range… the woman is full of surprises. (excerpted from: Grandmothers Against the War by Joan Wile, Citadel Press Books, 2008)
David Jones, Board Member At Large
Joanne Robinson, Board Member At Large
Stan Romaine, Co-Chair
Bob Siegel, Board Member At Large
Donald Shaffer, Treasurer
Education: Brooklyn College –1949—BA economics honors (a year of graduate study in economics at the university of chicago (1949-50); NYU School of Law 1991 JD
Family: widower (after 60 years of marriage), 3 sons , 7 grandchildren
Work: founded and built an insurance agency, retired in 1986 and started law school in 1988 at age of 60. As a lawyer worked pro bono for 15 years as volunteer cooperating attorney with the ACLU and the New York Civil Liberties Union (2 big cases – inadequate and unequal education in NYS and a racially discriminatory residential assessment system in Nassau County).
Political and organizational: On the left– civil rights, civil liberties, economic justice, anti -war all my life
Current: State Board member New York Civil Liberties Union–organizer of community chapters; Founding member and currently State Committee Working Families Party President –Progressive America Fund d/b/a Center for Working Families (a think tank devoted to issues designed to improve the lives of lower income, working and middle class people); Treasurer –Peace Action Fund of NYS (Board member and Treasurer of National SANE and SANE/Freeze in mid 80′s)
History: Gene McCarthy Presidential campaign –1968 Long Island Chair –delegate to Democratic National Convention; George McGovern Presidential campaign 1972, Long Island chair-delegate to Democratic National Convention; Jesse Jackson campaign — activist—1984, 1988
Diane Swords, Secretary (Interim)