There are fourteen members who serve on the Linkages Board of Directors, each for a three-year term. They attend a monthly Board Meeting and also meet with their committee(s). Included are present and former educators, business people, a lawyer, a nurse, an historian-librarian and a social worker. Most have visited Russia at least once but each one has her/his own story of willingness to be involved with Russia from afar and up close.

Joe Gersitz, Linkages President, is serving in his fourth term on the board. In 1991, he retired after 31 years of teaching, chiefly foreign languages, in McQuaid Jesuit, Rush-Henrietta and Brighton schools. In the late 1980s a partnership between Brighton High School and Moscow School 67 sparked his interest in the Soviet Union and then Russia. Upon his retirement, he joined the Board of Linkages and since has been active in many of the humanitarian, social services and educational activities of Linkages. He has led groups of Rochestarians to see the sights in Moscow, Velikiy Novgorod and St. Petersburg.

Ronald A. Schoeneberger retired as vice president and manager of the international trade banking department at JP Morgan Chase Bank, where he also managed the international trade banking department of Chase Lincoln First Bank. He is is the director, treasurer and chair of the Finance Committee of Linkages of Rochester, Inc. Ronald is also a co-founder and managing director of R.A. Schoeneberger & Associates, LTD., an international management consulting firm, specializing in international business and trade finance. He also serves as the director and chief financial officer of Genesee-Volkhov Connection, Inc and the Treasurer and member of the executive committee of the Upstate New York District Export Council. Ronald is a former president and director of the Rochester International Development Corporation and of the International Business Council of the Rochester Business Alliance. He earned his BA from St. John Fisher College where he studied political science and a Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C. Ronald visited Velikiy Novgorod in 2000.

Jack Schottmiller is chairman of the Partnership for Prevention of Substance Abuse and also serves on the Business Committee of Linkages. He has been a member of the Board of Directors since 2001 and has made five trips to Russia, including three to Velikiy Novgorod. Jack is retired from Xerox Corporation and continues to do consulting and training in quality management. He holds a Ph.D. from Syracuse University, where he did research in physical chemistry, and a BA from the University of Rochester. Jack lives with his wife in Mendon and has a son John Jr., living in Rochester. One of his interests is the study of languages (naturally Russian is his current favorite). He is a pupil of Linkages member Ludmila Fayn-Girsh.

Paul L. Caccamise has been a member of the Linkages Board since 2002 and has been involved in Linkages activities since 1998. He is also the chairperson of the Linkages Partnership for Childrens Services. Paul has traveled to Novgorod four times to deliver training and consult with Russian colleagues around the development of child welfare services in the Novgorod region. He has also been a member of the Partnership for Elder Services team that arranged seminars both in Rochester and in Novgorod on aging issues such as elder abuse and geriatric addictions. Both he and his wife, Sandra, have hosted Russian visitors from Novgorod in their home in Irondequoit, NY. Paul continues to learn Russian in order to understand the culture better and to communicate with the many friends he has made in Russia through Linkages activities and homestays in Novgorod. Paul is a licensed social worker in New York State who retired from Monroe County Department of Human Services in 2002. He is presently the Vice President for Program at Lifespan of Greater Rochester, Inc., an agency that helps older adults take on the challenges of the second half of life through a variety of programs.

Cathy Cohen, a homemaker and mother, joined the board in 1999 and has been Linkages’ secretary since 2000. She has visited Velikiy Novgorod twice and enjoys the richness of Russian culture.

Walter Boston is a retired history professor from SUNY College at Brockport, where has taught courses in American History, Women’s Studies and International Business. Currently, Walter serves as an adjunct Professor at Rochester Institute of Technology's Center for International Business & Economic Growth. He is the Chairman and CEO of Genesee-Volkhov Connection, Inc, a Russian company specializing in photography. As the Vice-President of Linkages of Rochester, Inc., Walter brings to the board his extensive expertise in the fields of business and intercultural communication. He has been to Velikiy Novgorod several times and continues to be instrumental in organizing the business exchange between the two sister cities. Walter is also a member of the International Business Council of The Rochester Business Alliance.

Galina Jirmunsky was born in Moscow, Russia and graduated from Moscow Architectural Institute. Over the course of her professional career, many buildings of varied purposes were built by her design such as universities, high-rise apartment houses, resorts and many others. She was awarded the State Prize of Russia for architecture. In 1993, she left Moscow for Rochester and from that time on has been involved in photography. Three of her solo photo exhibitions took place in Rochester in 2001, 2002 and 2004. As a member of the cultural committee of the board of "Linkages" from 2003 until the present time, she has proposed and provided the following cultural events for public meetings in Rochester and Novgorod:

· 2003 - Celebration "300 years from the founding of St. Peterburg".

· 2004 - 150 years of the birth of George Eastman. (in Novgorod)

· 2005 – “Two icons of Russian culture” Movie presentation of “Eugene Onegin”

· 2006 - Forthcoming movie presentation “Alexander Nevsky”

Ruth Rosenberg-Naparsteck is the Rochester City Historian and author of multiple books, including: Runnin Crazy: A Portrait of the Genesee River with Edward P. Curtis, Jr., Rochester: A Pictorial History, A Growing Legacy: A Centennial History of Rochester's Parks with Dr. Blake McKelvey and Shirley Cox-Husted, Rochester Neighborhoods with Shirley Cox-Husted and A Young Peoples History of Rochester. She is also the editor of Rochester History, a quarterly journal published by the Office of the City Historian. Ruth, the mother of two daughters, has interests ranging from archaeology and world culture to rivers and canals, education, music and children. She has learned to speak Russian and has visited Novgorod twice, where she has also sent her daughters. Over the past three years, she and her family have hosted students from Novgorod, two of them for a full year. This relationship and growing friendship has been richly rewarding as my family has grown with many of those in Novgorod.

Erin Cole is the Director of the U.S. Department of Commerces Export Assistance Center in Rochester, NY, which covers the nine counties of the Finger Lakes region. She joined the board of Linkages in 2004. Prior to working with the U.S. Department of Commerce, Ms. Cole lived and worked in Russia for almost four years, and frequently visited our sister cityVelikiy Novgorod. She speaks Russian fluently, and enjoys home hosting Russian-speaking visitors to Rochester.

Maya McGary is the Chair of the Linkages Business Committe and has been a member of the Board of Directors since 2005. Maya is a native of Veliky Novgorod, Russia. She has obtained a MBA in Finance and Marketing from Rochester Institute of Technology and a B.S. in Business Administration from SUNY Geneseo.

Candace Black is a French teacher at Rush-Henrietta Senior High School, where she has taught for the last 6 years. She regularly organizes exchanges between Rochester and its French sister city of Rennes to encourage students to study abroad and is also a member of the Rennes-Rochester Sister Cities Board. Candace achieved National Board Certification in World Languages Other Than English in December of 2005 and is a regular presenter at professional conferences. After studying at the Sorbonne in Paris, she attended the University of Rochester and obtained both a Master of Arts in Teaching and a Master of Business Administration. A firm believer in foreign language education and cross-cultural understanding, Candace joined the Linkages Board in 2005 and serves as the Chairperson for the Education Committee as well as the webmaster.