Denise Doring VanBuren

Denise Doring VanBuren is an American civic leader, clubwoman, and former beauty pageant titleholder. She was crowned Miss Teen New York in 1979. VanBuren served as the 45th President General of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution from 2019 to 2022.

Early life and education VanBuren grew up in Troy, New York. She is related to Hannah Van Buren, the wife of U.S. President Martin Van Buren, and a descendant of Jacob Plattner, a miller from Columbia County who fought in the New York Militia during the American Revolutionary War.

In 1979, she graduated from Catholic Central High School. That same year, she was crowned Miss Teen New York.

VanBuren graduated from St. Bonaventure University in 1983 with a degree in journalism, and then went on to obtain a Masters in Business Administration from Mount Saint Mary College in 1997.

Professional work

In 1993, VanBuren joined the media relations group at Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corporation in Poughkeepsie, NY. She became a Vice President in 2000, ultimately serving as Vice President of Public Relations from 1993 to her retirement from that organization, effective January 2020.

Daughters of the American Revolution

VanBuren joined the Daughters of the American Revolution through her ancestors, father and son Jacob and Marcus Plattner. She has been involved with the DAR in the City of Beacon, New York, then with the New York State organization before her role at a national level. During her term the DAR held its first virtual Continental Congress on account of the COVID-19 pandemic. In June 2020 the NSDAR's Board of Management released the DAR's Continuing Commitment to Equality, in which the DAR "reaffirm[ed] to the membership and the public alike that our organization condemns racism." and stated that "Bias, prejudice and intolerance have no place in the DAR or America." In 2022, she attended the placement ceremony of a historic marker at the grave of Eunice Davis, a multiracial woman and daughter of an American Revolutionary patriot who joined the DAR in 1896.

She is also a member of the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, 1861–1865 and the Daughters of the American Colonists. She served two terms as President of the Dutchess County Historical Society and two terms as President of the Exchange Club of Southern Dutchess.

Board service VanBuren serves on the board of the Mid-Hudson Regional Hospital, the Hudson River Valley Institute at Marist College, Boscobel, and Dutchess Tourism. She was the past chair of the board of Dutchess Tourism.