Category Archives: Women In Business

By Ann Donnelly

When Sharon Horton took over as executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Northern Saratoga, Warren and Washington counties in June 2025, she brought extensive nonprofit experience and a deeply personal understanding of the power of homeownership. Today, she is leading the organization through a critical period of expansion to address a severe regional housing shortage.

The need for affordable housing in the area is dire. According to Horton, “Warren County’s overall housing vacancy rate is 3.6%, and the rental vacancy rate is an exceptionally low 0.4%, well below the 5% threshold that signals a housing shortage. Nearly 47% of renter households in the county are cost-burdened, and affordable rentals priced at levels accessible to minimum-wage workers are almost nonexistent.”

“The Warren County Housing Needs Study identifies significant gaps for households earning 0–50% and 50–80% AMI, particularly those seeking affordable starter homes and ownership opportunities below $300,000,” Horton shared. “These shortages are especially acute in communities outside Queensbury and Glens Falls. Also in Hudson Falls in Washington County. The combination of near-zero vacancy, long waiting lists, rapid absorption, and rising costs demonstrates a clear and urgent unmet need for affordable homeownership opportunities in our region.”

To address the crisis, Horton is leaning into Habitat’s core purpose, “to bring people together to build communities, homes, and hope.”

Her path to Habitat was shaped by personal adversity and a strong desire to serve. Horton began her career as a general manager in the hospitality industry before transitioning into nonprofit work with the American Cancer Society in Florida, the American Heart Association in New York and later serving as statewide executive director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

By Ann Donnelly

Colleen Carlson’s career at Saratoga Casino Hotel began long before the property added a luxury hotel, a premier steakhouse or a busy casino floor. At 15, Carlson sold race programs at the harness track where her mother also worked. Today, as director of sales, she oversees a thriving corporate and events business built on the property’s decades of expansion.

“I have a long history here,” Carlson said. “I started here when I was 15 years old, selling programs. I moved up the line and worked in the press box, doing all sorts of interesting things. It’s like home to me being here.”

The property’s evolution has reshaped Carlson’s sales portfolio. Years ago, the on-site restaurant Fortune’s regularly hosted 350 guests for lunch and dinner. Today it operates exclusively as a private-event space, reflecting the venue’s broader focus on large-scale hospitality.

“Through the whole changeover of getting a hotel, casino, it’s been a great ride,” Carlson said. “When we got the hotel, it made it more interesting. It really ramped up everything.”

Carlson now oversees multiple event spaces across the Saratoga Casino Hotel campus, including conference rooms, a ballroom, Morton’s The Steakhouse and the Vapor nightclub. A standout venue is The Lodge at Nelson and Crescent avenues, featuring a dark green exterior and Adirondack-style woodwork. A large tent installed on a stamped-concrete slab outside The Lodge allows the property to host larger weddings and galas.

By Rod Bacon

Dr. Jacquiline S. Touba, the founding director of the World Awareness Children’s Museum, was the recipient earlier this month of the 37th J. Walter Juckett Community Service Award. 

It was presented at the Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce’s annual dinner on March 6 at the Sagamore Resort in Lake George.

“Even though I got the award it really belongs to so many people who have participated and supported the museum over the years,” said Dr. Touba. “Some have served on the board of directors, others have volunteered. They’ve helped in so many ways to make it a success.”

A precursor to the museum was the International Arts and Culture Association, established in 1985 to formalize participation by a group of community arts leaders in the International Festival of the Adirondacks. In 1988 the group started the International Youth Art Exchange to share children’s artwork from around the world. In 1995 they applied for a charter for a museum, which absorbed the assets of the association. After years of moving from place to place the board of directors was able to purchase the building at 89 Warren Street, where the museum is currently housed. 

By Ann Donnelly

Wendy Waldron’s journey is far from conventional. “I’m actually just a grown-up Girl Scout,” she begins, a statement that encapsulates her approach to business: strategic, collaborative, and driven by a desire to “win the game.” Even as a young girl, she understood the power of understanding the rules and working together. 

“I sold the cookies, and I sold those cookies by the case because it was easier. And so I won all the prizes. Then, the next year, I taught all my little Girl Scout friends to sell them by the case whenever they could. And then we all won the prizes.” 

This early lesson, honed through record-breaking cookie sales, laid the foundation for her current success as CEO of her own company, WaldronWorks. “We just have to make sure we understand what the rules of the game are,” advises Waldron. “And then stick together and find a way to go win the game. And so, in a way, I’ve pretty much been doing that ever since.”

Her path wasn’t a straight line. After graduating from Colgate University on a scholarship, where she took on an unexpectedly demanding role managing student housing, she ventured to Mozambique, Africa, for a year of volunteer work. This transformative experience broadened her perspective and instilled a deep appreciation for opportunity.

Upon returning, a chance encounter with her future husband at a wedding led her to rural Pennsylvania and a temp job at a healthcare facility. “I was at the front desk with a day and a half training, trying to figure out if I pressed F11 or F9,” she recalls. Despite the initial chaos, she quickly rose through the ranks, eventually managing Cardiovascular Services at the Guthrie Clinic.

By Ann Donnelly

In a move sparking excitement among local artists, Light & Lens Studio, opening on Broad Street in Glens Falls later this month, offers a unique space for digital and traditional film photography enthusiasts. Unlike other studios, Light & Lens Studio, founded by the passionate photographer Jess Keller, is not just a rental space but a community hub for creatives.

Keller’s journey to opening this studio is a testament to her love for photography and entrepreneurial spirit. A self-described “hobby photographer,” Keller’s interest in the art form began in her teenage years. “I’ve been interested in photography since I was a teenager,” Keller explains. Her passion deepened during her time at Hofstra University, where she worked in the photo lab, eventually managing it and learning the intricacies of film development in a darkroom.

The inspiration for Light & Lens Studio stemmed from a desire to create a space that offered more than just a studio rental. “I knew I always wanted to start a business, preferably in the art world,” Keller said. “And when it comes to the darkroom and studio, there weren’t places where people could go and rent the space – or even just artistic hangout spaces.” This realization fueled her desire to create a space that was both accessible and inspiring.

“The equipment is expensive, setting up a darkroom is… you gotta get the chemicals, you gotta get everything,” Keller noted. She wanted to make these resources more accessible, fostering a community where photographers could share knowledge and inspiration. The studio offers a fully equipped darkroom and a modern studio space with lighting, catering to both film and digital photographers.

By Jill Nagy

April Weygand was at loose ends. Shortly after finishing college, she was back home living with her parents, working part-time jobs and generally miserable. 

“I needed something different to do,” she recalled. 

So, on little more than a whim, she decided to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail, approximately 2,100 miles of some of the country’s most difficult hiking, from Georgia to Maine.

At the time, she had hiked a bit as a Girl Scout and camped out one night in the Catskills. 

“I was not considered a hiker by any stretch of the imagination but I loved the outdoors,” she said. 

She read everything she could find about the trail, including a two-volume, 2,000-page book about the first 50 people who thru-hiked the trail soon after it opened in the 1940s. She made a pilgrimage to a large outdoor store in New Jersey and spent about $1,500 on gear for the expedition. And, she was ready to go.

It took two tries, but she did complete the hike and, 20 years later, she wrote a book about it. The book also required two attempts. The first version was over 1,000 pages, unwieldy to put it mildly. After many months of workshopping and editing help, she produced a lively, sometimes funny, 230-page paperback called Trail Gimp. The book is available, in paperback or as an e-book, at Northshire Books in  Saratoga Springs and  Manchester, Vt., And Weygand is ready to start marketing it further afield.    

By Ann Donnelly

Artistry of Face, a medical aesthetics practice operating in the Capital District since 2016, opened offices at 481 Glen Street, Glens Falls, in November 2023.

 Owner Kelly Heffernan NP saw the potential to restore the Victorian-era home that previous owners had cut into apartments to its original beauty and make a comfortable and luxurious environment for her clients in the area. Heffernan reached out to the family that first owned the property and got access to pictures of how the home looked. She has carefully decorated with furniture and accessories from that era or fit the style.

Heffernan and her staff provide minimally invasive treatments to enhance their clients’ appearance and assist those who have suffered from disease-driven facial asymmetry, such as Cleft Palate, Bell’s Palsy, and severe burns. The latter is a particular passion for Heffernan, who has been a medical professional for 20 years.

After receiving a four-year nursing degree and attending night school to qualify as a Nurse Practitioner, Heffernan moved into medical aesthetics in 2005. She has worked as a Nurse Practitioner, Senior Clinical Specialist, and most recently as Senior Medical Science Liaison for Nestlé Skin Health, traveling the country and teaching doctors, NPs, PAs, and RNs the art of injections. Her experience has allowed her to work and learn alongside the top thought leaders in the dermatology and plastic surgery fields, both in the country and internationally.

She then decided to open her own “med spa.” “It’s a big leap. Very scary and easy to come up with a million reasons not to, but I felt I had to,” she said. 

By Ann Donnelly

Since Falcons Brewhouse Bistro and Tavern opened in Hudson Falls on January 3, “business has been steady,” according to co-owner Kim Bender. 

“We’ve got a lot of community support, and most people coming are local, but we are also getting many people from Glens Falls and South Glens Falls. Word of mouth has been great. We have had a wonderful response from people who have come in.”

Bender and her co-owner and cousin, Alice Huntington, are Hudson Falls natives and have many relatives there. While neither has been in the restaurant or bar business before, they have established a successful menu. 

“We did our research, talked to food distributors, attended food shows out of state, and reviewed many recipes,” says Bender, a licensed real estate salesperson. “I’m a project manager, and as a project manager, you are supposed to be able to do everything.”

By Jill Nagy

Tricia Rogers, the President and CEO of the Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce (ARCC), grew up in the Glens Falls area and, except for her college years, never left. 

“I love this area,” she said, and enjoys working with people she has known “forever.”

Rogers came to work at the ARCC as membership manager almost eight years ago. When her predecessor as President and CEO announced plans to retire, she applied for the position and was hired. She came on as head of a thriving organization with a new strategic plan in place.

Among other projects, the strategic plan aims to encourage member businesses to look outside traditional ways of hiring employees. A recent alternative workforce hiring panel, moderated by Rogers, focused on ways to reach groups such as the formerly incarcerated, veterans, disabled people, refugees, and other sometimes marginalized populations. There are plans to expand on this conversation in the future.

Meanwhile, 2023 was a busy year for the ARCC: 42 ribbon-cuttings in 2023, 143 new members bringing total chamber membership to 824, and 60 events attended by some 2,900 people. She attributes much of that growth to “increased engagement and support in the community.” 

With the warmer skies and spring temperatures on the way, the Battenkill Conservancy (“BkC”), a not-for-profit land trust that works within New York and Vermont’s Battenkill watershed, has announced some exciting hellos and some bittersweet goodbyes.  

In January, the organization lost its long time BkC Board Chair, Stuart Bartow, who passed away after a relatively brief battle with cancer.  His dedication to BkC’s mission coupled with his talents as a writer, poet and avid fly fisherman helped guide the organization’s work for over 18 years. A memorial tree planting and a scholarship announcement will take place later this spring. 

Simultaneously the BkC Board in conjunction with Lorraine Merghart Ballard, its first Executive Director, was working to secure her replacement. In 2016 with assistance from the NYS Conservation Partnership Program, Ballard  was appointed BkC’s first Executive Director.  During her tenure, she helped revitalize the organization with popular river related events, increased the public’s river access through the Battenkill Corridor Connections Project and used a simple “Picky Bugs Exhibit” containing macroinvertebrates to demonstrate the importance of cold, clean water and a healthy watershed.  She promoted the Battenkill as one of the area’s most important recreational, cultural, historical and environmental assets.  Advocating for “Clean Water & Open Space for All” became the organization’s motto during her tenure. She will continue to stay involved and act as Board Chair to help with the transition.