Category: Members (Page 7 of 27)

Jim Gleason

2 Careers – Financial Risk Management & 6th Grade Science Teacher post 9/11. Darien Resident for 32 years. Helped Sarah raise/launch four boys.  Retired 7 years now, yikes!  Passionate Sailor, Kite Boarder, Wood worker, gardener & DIYer.  Aspiring wing-foiler, scuba diver, traveler, writer & inventor.  Currently living in a cluttered, empty house (compared to before they fledged) with Sarah, 2 dogs and 3 cats.   

Richard Shear

Partner and Chief Creative Officer, Invōk Brands

Founding Faculty, Masters in Branding Program, School of Visual Arts

For the last 44 years Richard and his wife Pam have raised their family in Darien.

As a graphic designer his 50-year career has been influenced by a fascination with visual history, driven by a curiosity for the culture of retail brands, and guided by rich experience in brand identity and package design.

As a Founding Partner and Chief Creative Officer of Invōk Brands, his expertise lies in helping clients uncover the visual heritage of their most iconic brands and using this design equity to help them build and position brands in ways that inform, connect and motivate. He has had the privilege of working with a wide range of global CPG clients in the beauty, beverage, food, personal care, household product and retail private brand categories.

As Founding Faculty of the Masters in Branding program at the New York’s School of Visual Arts his course, focusing on the history of retail brands, builds an awareness of the rich legacy and growth of the global consumer culture and its intrinsic connection to the evolution of visual history. 

As an adjunct to his research he will be publishing, “A History of Brands: Origins of Consumer Markets”, scheduled for release by Rockport Publishers in July of 2025. He is also a Contributing Editor of “The Brand Bible, The Complete Guide to Building, Designing, and Sustaining Brands”.

He has been a frequent speaker at conferences including HOW/Dieline and the Design Management Institute consistently contributing to thought leadership on critical issues facing the retail brand design community. He has been a guest lecturer at colleges including Columbia Business School, Trinity College, and the Fashion Institute of Technology, as well as the President Emeritus of both the American Institute of Graphic Art’s  Branding Chapter and the Package Design Council.

Richard has a BFA from Temple University’s Tyler School of Art and attended Yale School of Management’s AIGA program for senior design leadership. 

Peter Smith graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1978 and Rutgers Law School in 1981. He has been a partner at Connell Foley LLP for more than 36 years. He assists clients with the litigation and arbitration of construction disputes in New Jersey and New York. His deep understanding of complex construction issues and applicable legislation has been honed by his experience providing counsel in regard to a broad range of public and private construction projects.

Peter has served on a variety of construction industry arbitration panels, deciding claims involving major commercial, public and quasi-public construction projects and surety matters. He has been Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as Civil Trial Attorney.

Peter moved to Darien in August, 2024 from Mendham, New Jersey, where he raised his family. His wife passed in 2020. His two married daughters and grandchildren live on the upper west side of Manhattan. He enjoys live music, theater, cycling, hiking and travel.

Personal: 

• Born Wilmington, DE 
• Married to Ellen 
• Three children – Molly (Sydney, Australia), Chip (Darien, CT), Laurie (Portland, ME) • Six grandchildren – Two in Tokeneke, two in Maine, two in Australia 
• Live on Long Neck Point Rd., Darien 

Education: 

• Columbia University – New York, NY 
• University of St Andrews – St. Andrews, Scotland 
• Duke University – Durham, NC 
• Tatnall School – Wilmington, DE 

Work Experience – Retired: 

• American Express – Numerous positions around the world in the UK, Bahrain, South Africa, and  Japan 
• GE Capital – Chief Risk Officer Consumer Lending – Connecticut 
• Standard Chartered Bank – Chief Risk Officer Consumer Bank – Singapore  
• Octane Lending – Chief Risk Officer – New York 

Work Experience – Current: 

• Mula Financial – Cofounder fintech lending startup – Bangkok 
• Octane Lending – Advisor 
• FinTech Start-Up Investor – Kafene, Trade Sun, Octane Lending 
• Darien YMCA – Board of Directors 

Interesting Experiences: 

• Was once Christie’s largest client selling post-impressionist artwork seized as collateral for  nonperforming assets at GE Capital in Japan 

• Came in second in the Masters Category in Singapore bicycle national time trials 2013

Charles (Chuck) Andreae

Born in New York City – grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey, attended University of
Colorado Boulder, BA in Economics.
Married Anne Welker Andreae from Syosset, NY June 26, 1982, lived in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, moved back to Metro NY and lived in Hastings on the Hudson, NY;
Greenwich, CT; and moved to Darien in 1993. Active at Saint Lukes, YMCA, Darien
Boat Club, and Noroton Yacht Club. My older son Mark and his wife Priyanka have
moved back to Darien with his family, Mark is a doctor at Bridgeport hospital. My
younger son Will is a software engineer and lives with his wife Michelle in Sunnyside
Gardens, Queens.
Spent my career Wine & Spirits business for the past 46 years specializing in Imported
Wine and spirits. Highlights were 16 years with the Domains Baron de Rothschild (Lafite Group) us Importer Pasternak Wine Imports as National Sales Manager, General
Manager of Nestor Imports (Greek wines specialist), and relationships with large national accounts. I am currently self employed at W&S Craft Connections which we started in 2000.

Dougal was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1951.  He attended Trinity College Glenalmond where he played cricket avidly and was Captain of the School.  Dougal graduated from the University of Leeds, England with a BA hons. in textile design in 1975, whereupon he joined the British luxury textile company Holland & Sherry, taking up a sales executive position in the USA.  In 1981 he became President of Holland & Sherry Inc., traveling extensively and often in the US and overseas, driving the sales growth of the company, including under his watch the founding of the luxury textile interior design division in New York in 1998, since when it has spread globally.

In addition to his sales and corporate responsibilities, he spent much of his career teaching retailers and their sales people in the custom clothing and apparel industry about luxury natural fibres and the design and manufacture of fine woven textiles. He retired in May 2023 after 47 years with Holland & Sherry.

Dougal and Becky, his wife of 45 years in 2024 and a real estate agent with Brown Harris Stevens, moved to Darien in 1987.  They have two adult children, Katrina and Rob, both of whom attended Darien High School.  Dougal became a US citizen in 1994.

Dougal and Becky have been active members of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Darien since 1987 and are long time members of Country Club of Darien.  Dougal is a member of St. Andrew’s Society of the State of New York, founded 1756, was on the board of managers of the Society for two four year terms, and subsequently served as First Vice President 2014 to 2015. He currently serves on the Scholarship committee of the Society.  He is a member of Robert Burns Society of the City of New York and served for several years as a trustee.  He is also a member of  Connecticut State Seniors Golf Association, Darien Boat Club and New Club, Edinburgh, Scotland.  Additionally, together with his wife, he enjoys the performing arts, reading, traveling with friends to culturally interesting destinations, boating on Long Island Sound, swimming at the Darien YMCA and in the Sound, as well as walking with their dog.  In retirement, Dougal is keen to play more golf and rekindle some of his dormant creative interests in photography, painting and writing, as well as being a useful, participating member of the DMA.

Jim Clarke was born and raised in Southern California.  After graduating from Boston College he moved to New York City to begin his career in wealth management.  He joined Lehman Brothers in 1994 as a Client Associate and became an Investment Representative in 1999 where he began advising institutional and high net worth clients.  In 2008 he became a Director at Barclays Capital upon their acquisition of Lehman Brothers in the United States.  Sensing the need to widen the scope of the advice and services he provides high net worth families, Jim and his team transitioned their business to Merrill Lynch in 2014.   He joined the Merrill office in Darien in 2021.  Jim is married to his college sweetheart, Susan.  They have lived in Darien since 2000 where they have raised their 4 daughters.  In his free time Jim enjoys running, racket sports, skiing, and cooking.

Seth Wohlberg was born and raised in the Five Towns on Long Island.  He graduated from SUNY at Albany in 1976 with B.S. in Business Administration.  He worked for two years at American International Group and then attained his MBA degree at Emory University in Atlanta.  Early in his career he studied for and received two industry designations, the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA). Upon graduating from Emory Seth spent two years working in Atlanta.  He then returned to live and work in Manhattan as a portfolio manager and later as a sales executive at investment management firms.  For the last 25 years he was a Senior Managing Director and Partner at Far Hills Group, a boutique investment banking in firm in New York City focused on raising capital for alternative investment strategies.  Seth has been fortunate to travel the world through his work to the Far East, Africa, and Europe.  Seth recently retired from his professional career.

Seth has been married to his Debra (Deb) for 40 years.  They have two grown children, Michael and Grace.  They have lived in Darien since 1992 where they have enjoyed being a part of the community.  Michael was a captain of the Darien High School Football team and Grace was a manager on the Girl’s Swimming Team.  Deb is an active member at St. John’s Church.     

From 1990 to 2000 Seth was on the Board of Trustees of the National Psoriasis Foundation, Washington DC where he advocated for research, increased awareness for psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, and raised funds to expand the organization’s efforts.  From 2012 to 2014 he served on the Board of Trustees of CURE Epilepsy, headquartered in Chicago.  In 2010 he founded the RE Children’s Project a 501 (c)3 organization devoted to increasing awareness and funding research into Rasmussens encephalitis, a rare and devastating epilepsy syndrome.  The disease impacted his daughter, Grace at the age of 10 when she had to undergo hemispherectomy surgery.    

Seth enjoys eating pizza, always in search of the perfect pizza whether in NYC or in New Haven or other localities.  He is also a tennis fan having played recreationally, he now enjoys watching the tennis tour and traveling to the professional tour events.  Other hobbies include listening to jazz music and podcasts, exploring the neighborhoods of NYC, reading about current events, and meeting new people.   

Ian Webb was born in Childers, Australia in 1957. He received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in mechanical engineering at the University of Queensland in 1978 and 1981 respectively, and was the secretary and captain of the University of Queensland Rugby League club. In 1983 he moved to the US and enrolled in the Operations Research graduate program at MIT, receiving his Ph.D. in 1989. Ian spent several years on the faculty of the UConn business school at Storrs CT before transitioning into a career of more than 25 years in multiple areas of risk management in the payments industry – first with American Express and later with Mastercard. Ian and his wife Lisa have been in Darien since 1996 and have two children. He enjoys travel, photography, reading, and sports, and is a member of the Tokeneke Club.

James Hansford has spent his whole career working in Finance in the UK and USA, performing a wide cross section of roles under the umbrella of Financial Controller, Finance Director, CFO, COO, Real Estate manager and Treasurer.

After qualifying as a chartered accountant, James joined Philip Morris for 2 years, before moving to Midland Bank / HSBC for 12 years. James then joined Lazard in their London office in a Financial Controller / Director role. In 2001, James was offered a 2 year secondment to the New York office to act as the CFO for a newly started private equity business line, which became a 22 year work experience in the USA.

During this time, James’ role expanded and he was responsible for all financial and many operational aspects of Lazard’s global alternative investments’ businesses, historically comprising private equity in the US, Europe and Far East, and venture capital and real estate in the US. James played a significant role in Lazard’s 2005 IPO. James had responsibilities and board director positions for many of Lazard’s worldwide overseas operations for varying periods, performing a COO role.

Recently, James has been involved in some non-profit projects. He assisted the National Executive Service Corps, performing a maturity assessment of a rare disease organization for a large foundation. For several years and still on-going, James has acted as a financial advisor for a Jamaican baker, with an affiliation to the charity Trees That Feed.

James holds a MA (Hons) Degree in Engineering Science and Economics from Oxford University in the UK. He then qualified as a chartered accountant in the UK with Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co (now called KPMG) and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, the equivalent of a CPA qualification in the USA, and is also a member of the Association of Corporate Treasurers.