Board of Directors

Sylvana Ehrman, our President, has a political science degree from L’Ecole des Sciences Politiques de Paris and a degree in literature from the University of Lisbon. She is a graduate gemologist and co-founder of the Brazilian Institute of Gemology, Sao Paulo and, in conjunction with Sao Paulo’s art museum, organized an exhibit on “Brazilian Gems and Jewelry.” She was Smithsonian Cultural Liaison for Italy and Portugal during the 1976 Washington, DC Bicentennial celebration. During her husband’s Foreign Service career, she assisted Peruvian anthropology Professor Amat with research on the Chavin civilization and was a docent at the Ayala Museum, Manila. She speaks French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.

Luigi De Luca, our Vice President, is a nutrition scientist, the author of more than 200 articles in peer-reviewed journals and an associate editor or editorial board member of multiple cancer and nutrition research journals. His professional career includes cancer and tuberculosis research in Italy and at MIT and more than 30 years at the National Cancer Institute, NIH. He is currently a Senior Associate at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. An enthusiast of the classics, he has earned an M.A. in Latin from the University of Maryland and a Certificate of Graduate Proficiency in Greek from the Catholic University of America.
Active in the Italian Cultural Society of Washington, he served as its President for ten years. He speaks Italian and French and is proficient in Latin and Greek.

Deborah McDonald, our Secretary, works at the US Department of State as a Support Services Specialist in the Bureau of Consular Affairs. She began working for State at the American Embassy, Rome, where she served as Community Liaison Officer and rover secretary, and has continued domestically since returning to Washington. She has taught Spanish in Baltimore County and City Public Schools and English as a Second Language in Washington, DC, Texas and Louisiana. She holds degrees in Spanish Education (BA) and Teaching English as a Second Language (MS) from the State University of New York at Albany. She speaks Spanish and Italian.

Joel Ehrman, Treasurer, is a Senior Director of Sales at ARINC Inc, the world's largest aviation communications company. He has 16 years of international sales experience working with airlines and the business aviation community. He holds a degree in gemology from the Federal University of Ouro Preto (Minas Gerais, Brazil) and a degree in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has a special interest in the history of Imperial Rome. Joel speaks French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Thai.

Hanne Caraher, Member at Large, has the equivalent of a Master’s degree in conference interpreting and translation from the University of Heidelberg, Germany. She acted as Cultural Liaison for Germany during the Smithsonian Institution's Folk Life Festival in 1975 and for Germany and Austria during the Smithsonian’s Bicentennial celebration in 1976 in Washington, DC. Her work experience includes translating, magazine and newsletter publishing, and editing. Besides her native language, German, she speaks Spanish and has a reading knowledge of French.

James Ehrman, Member at Large, spent 22 of his 38 years as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer at postings abroad (France, Italy, Portugal, Brazil, Peru, India, Philippines, Thailand). He headed the State Department’s International Labor Affairs office in 1996-98 and retired after completing his last foreign assignment, Labor Minister Counselor at the American Embassy, Rome. He has a BA in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and did graduate work at Harvard University’s Littauer Center (now the Kennedy School of Government). He speaks French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.

Lucy Falcone Hamachek, Member at Large, is our Development Chair. She is a graduate of Georgetown University in French and economics and pursued graduate studies in economics at the Universite' de Strasbourg as a Fulbright scholar. She served as an economist for Congress' Joint Economic Committee and in various capacities in the U.S. Department of Commerce, including Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy from 1977-1980. She is a student of Italian, having pursued studies both in Italy and the U.S. She has served on the boards of the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) and the Italian Cultural Society (ICS) of Washington, DC. She is a volunteer teacher of English to adult immigrants. She speaks French and Italian.

Anna Lawton, Member at Large, holds a PhD in Russian Language and Literature from UCLA and a Doctorate in Languages and Institutions of Eastern Europe from the Istituto Universitario Orientale, Naples, Italy. She has been an Associate Professor of Russian studies at Purdue University and currently teaches courses in visual culture and film studies at Georgetown University. She has published numerous articles and books on Russian/Soviet film and has served on the National Gallery of Art’s Film Advisory Board. She is Managing Editor of the World Bank magazine Development OUTREACH and is the Publisher of an independent press, New Academia Publishing. She has lived in Italy and Russia and speaks Italian, Russian and French.

Dian Olson, Member at Large, has a BA in psychology from Lewis and Clark College and an MA in psychology from North Carolina State University. The wife of a U.S. Foreign Service officer, she has lived 15 years abroad in India, Austria, Tunisia and Panama. She served as a consular officer and community liaison officer at three embassies and, in the U.S., has been a mental health and substance abuse counselor. She speaks Persian, French and Spanish.

Romeo R. Sabatini, Member at Large and Webmaster, spent 36 years as a research meteorologist and analyst with private industry and the US government. He has an MS Degree in Meteorology from the U. of Wisconsin, studied agronomy at the U. of Maryland Graduate School, and obtained a Diploma in Economic/Commercial Studies from the Foreign Service Institute. His main areas of work have been in satellite meteorology, remote sensing, and forecasting crop production, Global Humanitarian Emergencies, and state failures. In his spare time, he taught evening courses in meteorology and math at Park College in the DC area, did translations (Italian-English) for the USJPRS, and was Science Book Reviewer for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Mr. Sabatini is a Certified Consulting Meteorologist of the American Meteorological Society.

Tom Wukitsch, Member at Large, spent the first 7 of his 35 years of U.S. Government service in the Navy and the rest as a State Department Foreign Service Officer, working principally in Middle East and European assignments. Between military and Foreign Service employment he designed computers for a major U.S. communications company and taught ancient history. He has BA (History/Archeology -- Loyola-Chicago) and MA (Strategic Asset Management -- JMIC, Washington DC) degrees. He teaches Roman history at the Arlington Learning in Retirement Institute (George Mason University, Arlington, Virginia) -- Website: http://www.mmdtkw.org/ALRItkwPages.html. He speaks Arabic and Italian and has worked in German, ancient Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and other classical languages.