The American Red Cross of Northeastern New York (NENY) has elected three new members to its board of directors: Brad Bentley of Ballston Spa National Bank (BSNB), Vanessa Toney Bobb MD, PhD of Capital District Physicians Health Plan (CDPHP) and Amber Cooleen of Sunmark Credit Union.

“We pleased to welcome this impressive group to our NENY board of directors,” said Kevin Coffey, Regional CEO, Eastern New York Region. “Their collective expertise and commitment to service will help us continue to deliver our humanitarian mission in the communities we serve and beyond.”

Brad Bentley joined BSNB in 2020 as VP, Commercial Relationship Manager. Based in the Latham Branch Office, Bentley is responsible for developing and managing commercial banking relationships in the Albany, Schenectady and Troy markets. He also serves clients as a liaison to treasury management services and wealth management solutions.

He began his banking career with Chemung Canal Trust Company in Elmira where he worked in the credit department and then became a commercial relationship manager. He continued his banking career with Catskill Hudson Bank on the commercial lending team.

Dr. Vanessa Toney Bobb is Vice President of Behavioral and Medical Integration at CDPHP. Dr. Bobb is a board-certified child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist, and a certified health insurance executive, who provides physician leadership to the administration of plan benefits to ensure that mental health and physical health needs of CDPHP pediatric and adult members are met. 

Dr. Bobb has treated and provided consultation for youth and adults with complex psychiatric and medical comorbidities and was awarded honors of distinction for psychiatric excellence by the Consumer Research Council of America. Dr. Bobb presents at local, national, and international conferences, and developed workshops on topics related to mental health, physical health, health disparities, and health plan initiatives and interventions.

Amber Cooleen is Chief Marketing Officer at Sunmark Credit Union. In this role, she is responsible for supporting organizational goals and generating results through marketing planning, strategy, execution, and measurement.

She oversees member experience, public relations, branding/messaging, content marketing, advertising, sales and business development, and serves as President of the Sunmark Charitable Community Foundation. Prior to joining Sunmark Credit Union in 2020, she was senior director of marketing at GlobalSpec.

The Northeastern New York Chapter and its 800 volunteers are proud to serve the communities of Albany, Schenectady, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Warren, Washington, Hamilton, Fulton, Montgomery, Schoharie, Clinton, Franklin and Essex counties.