LGBTQ center taps legislator as new leader
KINGSTON, N.Y. » Peter Criswell, a first-term Ulster County legislator from Kingston, has been hired as executive director of the Hudson Valley LGBTQ+ Community Center.
The center announced Sunday that Criswell was chosen after a nationwide search for a successor to Jeff Rindler-Jordan, who stepped down in September.
“We are pleased that a person with Peter’s breadth and depth of experience will be joining us to lead the center,” the announcement from the center’s board of directors stated.
Rindler-Jordan stepped down Sept. 30, after four years at the helm, saying he needed to care for his ailing mother. Criswell’s start date is to be Jan. 13, the center’s board said.
Criswell, in a prepared statement, said becoming executive director of the center “is an incredible opportunity to combine my passion and personal commitment for community service and blend it with my professional business experience.”
“I can’t think of a better place to do this than at the Hudson Valley LGBTQ+ Community Center,” he said. “For over 15 years, the community center has been a leader in the fight for equality and inclusion, and I’m honored to continue that fight and grow the center.”
The center opened at 300 Wall St. in Uptown Kingston in 2007, but the organization was formed in 2005, a year after then-village of New Paltz Mayor Jason West performed two dozen samesex“solemnization” ceremonies when samesex marriage still was illegal in New York state.
The center provides advocacy, programs and services to the LGBTQ+ communities in Ulster, Dutchess and Orange counties.
Criswell, a Democrat, was elected to his first two-year term as the Ulster County legislator for District 7 (part of the city of Kingston) in November 2019. He also is a member of the Kingston Arts Commission and sits on the boards of Bard College’s Alumni Association, and Key of Q/The LGBTQ and Allied Acapella Singers of the Hudson Valley.
Criswell, 56, received a bachelor’s degree from Bard and also holds a master’s degree in business leadership and strategic management from Manhattanville College. He currently is the executive director of the Dharmakaya Center for Wellbeing in Cragsmoor, which opened two years ago. His other executive experience includes leading the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus.
During Rindler’s tenure as executive director, the Hudson Valley LGBTQ+ Community Center’s budget more than doubled, and the number of programs for LGBTQ youths tripled. The center also doubled its offerings for the TGNC (transgender and gender nonconforming) community and created new programs for older LGBTQ adults.