Bertrand H. Snell Awards

Clarkson University's highest community service honor, the Bertrand H. Snell Award, was bestowed upon Kate Fish, retired executive director of the Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA) at a reception on October 15, 2021.
Fish’s unyielding optimism and energy, coupled with a contagious vision for the future helped drive ANCA to be seen as a leading organization looking to strengthen and identify new opportunities in the region. Prior to her recent retirement, Fish was recognized as a leader who led ANCA to becoming an innovative and responsive organization that produces tangible results for every sector on which the organization focused.
“Kate Fish worked relentlessly during her term as executive director of the ANCA to develop a skilled staff and board, to establish a sustainable clean energy program, to identify and secure new sources of revenue and to fast-track the organization’s entrepreneur and small business programs,” said Tony Collins, President of Clarkson
University. “Kate left an eternal legacy at the organization, as well as the Adirondack North Country. Her vision, her innovative way of thinking and her penchant for achievement has helped ANCA to become a real leader in sustainable economic development.” 
Fish joined the organization as executive director in 2010 and quickly identified renewable energy as a critical path to developing more resilient local economies. She focused ANCA’s strategies on creating stronger local economies, including a clean energy economy. In addition to building a professional and efficient organization with an outstanding staff, she helped to attract millions of dollars in investment into the region. ANCA’s Clean Energy Program and Center for Business in Transition – developed under Fish’s leadership – have become models for other rural areas.
Prior to joining ANCA, Fish served as the managing director of Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) in Europe, a global nonprofit that works to develop sustainable business strategies and solutions. Headquartered in Paris for six years prior to moving to the North Country, her experience developing social responsibility strategies for major multinational corporations, developing climate policies and clean energy transportation strategies and leading complex collaborations between companies and other stakeholders has served ANCA well.
Before BSR, Fish was vice president of Public Policy for the Monsanto Company. There, she directed the company’s global stakeholder engagement program and its global biotech advisory council, both very sensitive and complex challenges.
Fish was a member of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority board of directors and a former member of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Community Advisory Group. She also served on the executive committee for the North Country Regional Economic Development Council and was a member of the
Common Ground Alliance Core Team.
 

Clarkson University's highest community service honor, the Bertrand H. Snell Award, was bestowed upon the St. Lawrence County Public Health Department, including its recent former Director Dana McGuire, Ph.D., and Interim Director Jolene Munger, MPH, on October 15, 2021. 
The St. Lawrence County Public Health Department, McGuire and Munger were recognized, in part, for leading the county’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the direction of then-director McGuire and current interim director Munger, the Department of Public Health helped to guide residents of the country through unprecedented times while fulfilling the department’s commitment to its 17 other programs, including rabies and flu clinics, early intervention referrals and other communicable disease investigations. The department had a hand in nearly every phase of the fight against the pandemic, including coordinating efforts at hospitals, rescue services, schools and colleges.
“The measured and comprehensive manner with which the St. Lawrence County Public Health Department responded to the pandemic cannot be understated. The swift action of the department reflected the invaluable leadership shown by Dana McGuire and Jolene Munger,” said Tony Collins, President of Clarkson University. “The knowledge, work ethic and capability to strive for excellence during this health crisis served residents of the county well and saved countless lives.” 

Raised in Minnesota, McGuire first moved to the North Country in 1998, working as a physical therapist for United Helpers. She studied and taught at Clarkson, earning her master’s degree in business administration in 2002 and she served on the task force for the St. Lawrence Health Initiative. She later earned her doctorate in epidemiology at the University of Rochester in 2015. After working as an epidemiologist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, McGuire returned to the North Country to serve as the county’s public health director. 
In her role with the St. Lawrence County, McGuire directed local health department programs, activities and grants, and led countywide opioid response efforts. She regularly briefed community stakeholders and the county Board of Legislators on the COVID-19 pandemic. She also led the department’s testing-contact tracing and initial community vaccination efforts. McGuire returned to Clarkson this summer as clinical associate professor of physical therapy. 

Munger, a native of Croghan, NY, in Lewis County, was appointed interim public health director when McGuire resigned to take on her new role at Clarkson. She has taken on responsibilities once held by McGuire, which have expanded to include vaccination efforts and screening and testing at local schools. 
She is an experienced project manager with a demonstrated history of working in the COVID-19 Information: What You Need to Know hospital and health care industry. Prior to joining the public health department in 2020 as deputy director of public health, Munger served for three years as practice transformation program manager at the Adirondack Health Institute in Glens Falls, NY. She also served as DSRIP/population health coordinator for Carthage Area Hospital in Carthage, NY. 
A strong business development professional, Munger earned a master’s degree in biological anthropology from the University of Kansas and a second master’s degree in public health from the University of Kansas Medical Center. She received her bachelor’s degree in history and archeology from State University of New York College in Potsdam. She returned to the North Country in 2015.