Our Story
In 2020, in the middle of COVID, our founder was determined to find some comfort for her mom, Mary Ann, who had Alzheimers Disease. She wanted her to feel safe and be surrounded by beauty. Together, they found a magical location near the town of Woodstock, NY - peaceful, immersed in nature, with a spectacular view of the Catskill mountains. Mary Ann loved the Mountain House and today it celebrates her generous spirit in the form of the Swimming Hole Foundation, a welcoming place, warmed by convivial and creative people coming together to share their talent, their good will and their their love of humanity.
The Advisory Board members are the heart and soul of the Swimming Hole.
deb johnson (aka gus)
Founder & Executive Director
A thought leader in sustainable design, design fiction and design for collaboration, Deb has over 30 years of experience of envisioning and leading new, highly collaborative initiatives, focused on design for a better world. As a tenured, full-time faculty of Pratt Institute, Deb founded the Center for Sustainable Design Strategies, the Pratt Design Incubator for Sustainable Innovation, The Partnership for Academic Leadership in Sustainability and the Brooklyn Fashion + Design Accelerator. She currently teaches Drawing, Design Fiction and Design Theory at Pratt Institute.
Mary Boone
Advisory Board Member
An early innovator and thought leader in the field of collaboration, Mary has decades of experience helping corporate, not-for-profit, and government organizations improve their face-to-face, virtual and hybrid collaboration. Her award-winning research and writing includes four books, a lead article for the Harvard Business Review and dozens of articles for a variety of business and academic publications. Mary has been featured in a wide range of media including NPR, CNN, The New York Times, The Financial Times, and The Wall Street Journal.
Matt Nolan
Chairman of the Board of Advisors
Matt Nolen is a studio artist living and working in New York City and Narrowsburg, NY. Trained as a painter and architect, Nolen’s work includes sculptural objects and architectural installations using clay and mixed media. His work has been exhibited internationally and is in numerous private and public collections including: The Cooper-Hewitt Museum, NYC., The Museum of Arts and Design, NYC., The Newark Museum, NJ., The Houston Museum of Fine Art, TX., The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The de Young Museum, and The Everson Museum of Art. Nolen is Adjunct Professor of Art at New York University, Hunter College, and Pratt Institute. He has served on the Board of Trustees at Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts and the Robert M. McNamara Foundation.
Leah Caplan
Advisory Board Member
Leah Caplan is the VP of Design and Project Planning for the design and innovation studio, Birsel + Seck and an entrepreneur. Throughout her career, Leah has dedicated herself to creating award-winning brands, products, strategies, and businesses for a diverse range of clients, including Amazon, Colgate-Palmolive, Fila, GE, Johnson & Johnson, Limited Brands, Herman Miller, Staples, and Target. She believes the best collaborations are built upon reciprocal trust, deep understanding, and curiosity.
Mariana Amatullo, Ph. D
Advisory Board Member
Mariana is an Associate Professor of Strategic Design and Management at Parsons School of Design and serves as Vice Provost and Academic Dean for Continuing and Professional Education at The New School. Previously, she co-founded and led Art Center’s award-winning social innovation department, Designmatters. Her research focuses on the agency of design in organizational culture. She publishes and lectures
internationally; her publications include LEAP Dialogues: Career Pathways in Design for Social Innovation (lead editor; Designmatters/DAP, 2016); LEAP Dialogues: The Educator’s Guide (co-editor; Designmatters, 2017); Design for Social Innovation: Case
Studies Around the World (co-editor, Routledge, 2021) and Inflection Point: Catalytic Moments in Designer’s Lives (working title, 2025), an upcoming monograph on design leadership and social innovation. Mariana serves on prominent boards and juries in the arts and design fields, including the Board of Aalto University, Finland. Mariana is a
native of Argentina and grew up around the world.
Regina Reyes
Advisory Board Member
Regina is a marvel and her superpower is synthesizing fast paced discussions into concise frameworks. A budding artist. UX/UI designer. She is a graduate of the Products of Design program at SVA.