Governance
Governance
The Paris American Club began as informal luncheon meetings in 1940, but was officially incorporated as a Type A corporation on August 24, 2001 for the purposes of a 501(c)(7) non-for-profit corporation, with its principal offices in the city and state of New York.
Its purpose is to:
- Conduct, operate and maintain a social club;
- Provide friendship and socialability among its members;
- Foster, develop and promote better understanding among citizens of the community;
- Continue the tradition established by Benjamin Franklin in 1777 in Paris, France by organizing meetings where members, all involved in the Franco-American community of New York, can interact and foster bonds of friendship between France and the United States.
The seven-member Board of Directors has the control and management of the affairs and business of the club, which is administered by the Officers, who by virtue of their positions, are members of the Board.
The Officers include a President, the chief executive officer of the association, who is responsible for the general management of the affairs of the corporation and carries out the resolutions of the Board of Directors, a Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary.
Any member in good standing who has attended at least three events during the prior year may be a candidate for Director. Candidates shall inform the Board of his or her candidacy prior to the date of the Annual Meeting, held in January.
The Directors hold a calendar-year term of office for two years and may be re-elected upon the expiration of their term. Once elected, the Directors appoint the Officers. The Board may also establish committees of interested members to manage various activities as needed.
BY-LAWS of the Paris American Club, revised February 12, 2024
Board of Directors (2024–2026)
John F. Bennett, President
Born in the Hudson Valley town of Newburgh, NY, John began studying French in junior high school and immediately fell in love with all things French. He went on to get his BS in French from Georgetown University, spending his junior year in Nice, France. At GU, he was president of Le Cercle Français and Les Bateleurs, a Francophone theater troupe.
John spent 28 years with the Berlitz Schools of Languages, starting as a management trainee in its flagship Rockefeller Center location in 1978 and culminating his career as Managing Director of North America, responsible for a $50m operation, 50 language centers, and some 2,500 employees. In 2007, believing in reinvention, John met the founder of MAYA Press in Aix-en-Provence and agreed to form a New York partnership of its marketing and communications company. Acquiring complete ownership in 2012, the firm became Alouette Communications, producing print, web, and video content, including the PAC video presentation, for many New York-based French organizations, including the Taste of France.
He purchased Château Village, his Greenwich Village apartment in 1989 and became president of the co-op the following year. Very concerned about the local community, his GoFundMe campaign raised over $11k for the workers of Monte’s and Denino’s restaurants during Covid. In 2022, he purchased Château Riviera, his apartment near Place Garibaldi in Nice, where he alternates living between Nice and New York.
A member of the Paris-American Club since 2007, he served as vice president from 2011–2015, before becoming president in 2015, with the goal of revitalizing this 84–year old institution. At the time, there were 72 members and approximately $18k in the bank, there are now 151 members and a $56k account balance. A junior member committee was formed. New formats and meeting places, such as cocktails, pétanque, cooking classes, wine tastings, a ski weekend, and a French Open brunch have supplemented the monthly dinners.
Among his cultural affiliations, John is a member of the French American Chamber of Commerce, Non-profit Coordinating Committee of NY, FIAF, and the Chefs de Cuisine Association of America. John studied the history of graphic design at Parsons, the New School for Design, speaks French, some Spanish and Italian, and loves to cook and entertain an eclectic group of friends. Ever the bon vivant, his motto is: “On ne vit qu’une fois!” (We live but once!)
Francis Dubois
Francis Dubois was born and raised in Alsace, France, and had a very distinguished career with the United Nations. He started his career in Uganda, and then served at Headquarters in New York before being assigned to the Palestinian Territories as the Deputy Coordinator of the UN Secretary General. Francis was then posted to Iraq as the Head of the UN Office (with the rank of Ambassador), and subsequently in Algeria and Tunisia in the same capacity.
Since his early retirement, Francis is an active member of several non-governmental organizations and serves on their boards. Presently, he serves on the board of the Paris American Club and is also President of Le Comité La Fayette, in New York; both organizations promote French-American relations.
Beth Harrison, Secretary
Beth became a member of the Paris American Club in 2023. She is the Senior Director of Institutional Giving at World Monuments Fund, where she oversees relationships with foundations, corporations, and government entities, including the U.S Department of State and U.S. Embassies worldwide.
Previously, Beth served as the Deputy Director of the National Book Foundation and held executive positions at the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers and the Academy of American Poets. Beth has also worked as an editor at book publishers including Princeton Architectural Press and Oxford University Press.
She enjoys the arts, culture, world literature, international travel, hiking, and yoga; is an active volunteer at God’s Love We Deliver and LaGuardia Corner Gardens; and looks forward to recovering some of her French language skills through membership in the Club.
Hilary J. James, Vice President
Hilary J. James is a Licensed Associate Real Estate Broker with Brown Harris Stevens. As an accomplished professional with more than 25 years of experience, Hilary is respected by her colleagues and her clients for her expansive knowledge of the Manhattan real estate market. Hilary’s buyers and sellers benefit from her professionalism, discretion and vast understanding of the often-complex process of buying and selling in the City.
Before joining Brown Harris Stevens in 2014, Hilary was a marketing executive and Director of Sales for Bristol Plaza’s developer, Milstein Properties, working with the managing partner and senior executives in launching the luxury condominium at 200 East 65th Street. Responsible for the development, marketing and management of the thirty-day minimum stay concept, she successfully reached a global market of multinational corporations, the diplomatic corps, the entertainment industry and private individuals.
Born and educated in England, Hilary began her career in the film industry and has held positions with Columbia Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Warner Brothers. Fluent in French, she lived in Paris for four years until Warner Brothers brought her to the States to work in their New York office. She subsequently founded her own theater company and produced Off-Broadway plays by Samuel Beckett, Jean Reavy and the Obie Award winning Hess, written and performed by Michael Burrell.
Ms. James, who has been a member of the Paris American Club since 1995, serves as its Vice President and plans and coordinates many Club events.
Philip Michel Mahin
Born to an American father et une mère française at l’Hôpital Américain de Paris, Philip Michel Mahin has felt a natural kinship with the Paris American Club ever since having been introduced to it by Peter Hurwitz, son of former club President Myron Hurwitz. Philip is grateful to have been a member since 2012 and is enthusiastic to serve on the board of this organization whose mission that includes fostering bonds of friendship between France and the United States so closely mirrors his own values and lived experience.
Philip has been bilingual since birth, though growing up mostly in the U.S. he’d usually opt to speak to his mother in English even when she’d say something to him in French as he leaned into assimilating into the American part of his identity. At some point he matured enough to fully embrace the French part of his identity as well and has never looked back. Accordingly, one feature of the Paris American Club that he greatly values is the forum it provides to exchange some bons mots en français with others whether it’s their native language or they’ve come to it through school and/or their profession.
While continuing to nurture his own ongoing connections to France through family, friends’ families and his work in global healthcare communications, Philip is eager to support the mission of the Paris American Club that seems to him as timely and relevant today as it did when it was founded in 1940.
Cathy Mangan, Treasurer
Cathy Mangan was born and grew up in Chicago. When she was a teenager, the family moved to New Rochelle, NY, where she attended the Ursuline School and later Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart. Fascination with French culture began in Chicago, most likely because her grandfather was French, but serious study did not begin until high school and college where she was a French major and immersed in the classics. When she graduated, she worked briefly for Eastern Airlines in New York.
Next came married life with four children in the suburbs of Philadelphia. She began studies for an MBA at Drexel University and passed on her enjoyment of all things French to her children who spent time in Paris studying and working. She even managed to ‘swap houses’ with a French family in the 13è for the family home on Cape Cod.
Along with the MBA, Cathy passed the CPA exam and worked for Arthur Young and Company in Philadelphia. Rather than pursue a career auditing banks and financial institutions, she joined the Sun Company where she worked for a subsidiary that managed extensive real estate holdings across the country. The position ended when the company chose to terminate the business. Briefly, she worked for a company owned by Elf Aquitaine as their GAAP ‘expert.’ Soon after, the company was taken over by Totalfina and so, other projects outside the business world beckoned.
For a lovely period of time, there was Main Line School night where an elegant French woman taught and prodded her students to speak. Soon after there were casual groups meeting at the local bookstore or in each other’s home for coffee and French conversation. The pinnacle, perhaps, was the ‘French Café,’ a group of French women, school professors and eager novices who met once a month in different homes. All of this ended when her husband retired and a decision was made to return to New York City to begin le troisième âge, joining the Paris American Club in 2018. Cathy has also graciously filed the club’s income taxes pro bono for the past several years.
Janet Schneider
Janet Schneider is a professional book club facilitator, author liaison and book reviewer. She has served as a judging panelist for numerous American Library Association best-books-of-the-year committees as well as co-chair of Long Island Reads, the annual One-Island, One-Book Reading and Literacy Initiative, from 2013 through 2023. As Adult Programming Librarian at Peninsula Public Library in Lawrence, NY, she provided outreach from 2020 through 2023 to the extended home-bound community by providing online adult education and enrichment content, making it available to all without restrictions.
Prior to receiving her MLS, Janet spent over twenty years in magazine publishing, where she worked at Hearst, Conde Nast, Time Inc. and Brant Publications. Her roles included Operations Manager at InStyle Magazine and Production Manager at McCall’s. A University of Texas graduate with a French major, Janet was born and raised in Corpus Christi. Currently, she is active in the Community Volunteer Committee of Women’s Connection in both their NYC and Long Island chapters.
As a member of the Paris American Club, Janet is excited to rediscover and enhance her previous French language skills while connecting with fellow Francophiles. She travels frequently to France.
Advisory Committees
Committee members assume responsibility for various club activities and goals, holding meetings as needed to formulate and then present action plans and proposals to the Board. The President is an ex officio member of all committees.
Communications
Ellie Abdi
Speakers
Terrence Bennett, Francis Dubois, Patricia Duffy, Dening Lohez
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Past Presidents
| KEVIN MACCARTHY | 1999-2015 |
| FRANCOIS HUGHES DE MONTMORIN | 1998-1999 |
| MYRON L. HURWITZ | 1976-1997 |
| ALEXIS C. COUDERT | 1972-1975 |
| ADRIAN H. ALCAN | 1969-1971 |
| MICHEL L. DREYFUS | 1966-1968 |
| RICHARD DE ROCHEMONT | 1963-1965 |
| H. GREGORY THOMAS | 1960-1962 |
| THOMAS H. KOERNER | 1956-1959 |
| FERDINAND V. COUDERT | 1952-1955 |
| FRED H. HOTCHKISS | 1949-1951 |
| THEODORE ROUSSEAU | 1946-1948 |
| HUGH ROBINSON | 1944-1945 |
| RAYMOND HARPER | 1941-1943 |
Honorary Members
| His Excellency the Ambassador of France to the United States |
| His Excellency the Ambassador of France to the United Nations |
| His Excellency the Ambassador of the United States to France |
| The Permanent Representative of the Principality of Monaco to the United Nations |
| The Consul General of France in New York |
| The Commercial Counselor to the French Embassy in New York |
| The President of the American Club of Paris |
| The President of the Cercle de l’Union Interalliée in Paris |
| The French Deputy of Overseas French for the United States |
| Past Presidents |
Tax Filings
We are very grateful to Cathy Mangan for filing our taxes over the years.
View the 2024 990-EZ_2024
View the 2023 990-EZ_2023
View the 2022 990-EZ Federal Tax filing.
View the 2021 990-EZ Federal Tax filing.
View the 2020 990-EZ Federal Tax filing.
View the 2019 990-EZ Federal Tax filing.