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Executive Board & Staff
Executive Board
Joy Bonamarte
Executive Director
Joy Bonamarte, Executive Director of ORCMA, is a passionate leader with a deep commitment to fostering community through music. A devoted mom of two amazing young men and happily married to her husband, Robert, Joy is also an avid advocate for arts in education. Her leadership at ORCMA reflects her dedication to enriching the cultural fabric of the Oak Ridge community.
James Rome
Immediate Past President
Jim went to MIT and received 4 degrees. He then worked at ORNL in the fusion Division for 25 years. He then changed to doing computer security and air traffic management. Visit his blog at https://jamesrome.net/blogs
Kathryn York
Orchestra Representative
Kathryn York is a Cellist and Music Educator working in the East Tennessee area. Ms. York performs with various groups including the Oak Ridge Symphony, Symphony of the Mountains, Marble City Opera, and with her Piano Trio (Da Capo Trio). Additionally, Ms.York teaches private lessons in Knoxville and in Oak Ridge, and is the Orchestra Director at Hardin Valley Middle School in Knoxville.
Simon Ballintoy
Lois McKeever
Lois moved to Oak Ridge in the summer of 1960 and has been a long-time resident ever since. Her husband, John, developed a keen interest in ORCMA when he was invited to play in the Oak Ridge Symphony in the 1990s. Lois’s involvement with ORCMA grew when she was invited to join the board as chairman of the finance committee in the summer of 2000. Now in her second term on the board, she continues to volunteer in the ORCMA office, dedicating her time to support the organization and its community initiatives
Gene Spejewski
Gene is a retired physicist having been on the faculties of Indiana Univ Bloomington, Princeton Univ and Oberlin College and managed a facility at ORNL. He was also Director of the largest division at ORAU. Within the community, he has been a cantor and reader at St. Mary's; served on the Playhouse Board for 23 years, all but 2 as treasurer; coached youth soccer and softball, and been a USSF, TSSAA and NCAA soccer referee; has been in 39 productions at Playhouse and has been singing with the Chorus since the early years of this millennium.
Joan-Ellen Zucker
Larry Vance
President
Larry is a father of three and grandfather of four. He works as a Senior Data Analyst. He also serves as the Vice-Chair of Explore Oak Ridge and Oak Ridge Sunset Rotary
Paul Leiby
Chair Finance & Fundraising
Paul Leiby is a 36-year resident of Oak Ridge TN, 6-year Board Member for Oak Ridge Civic Music Association, lifetime music lover and permanent-beginner pianist. Has also enjoyed volunteering for AYSO Soccer, Boy Scouts, Anderson County Beekeepers Association (Past President) and Oak Ridge UU Church. Formerly a Distinguished Research Scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory where he managed ORNL’s Fossil Fuel Modeling program and lead the Energy Analysis Team for the Environmental Sciences Division.
Bill Schwenterly
Chamber Representative
Bill Schwenterly, an avid Horn player since his teens, played in the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and co-founded the Yale Symphony Orchestra. During graduate studies at Cornell, he performed in campus orchestras. He joined the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra (ORSO) in 1972, serving as Principal Horn from 1974 to 2010 and as Orchestra President in the 70s and 80s. He enjoys chamber music and is a member of the Tanasi Wind Quintet. Bill has been on the ORCMA Board of Directors since 1978, focusing on the Chamber Concert Series since 2006. Before retiring in 2011, he worked in ORNL's Fusion Energy Division on cryogenics and superconductivity applications.
Bonnie Carroll
Bonnie C. Carroll is Founder and retired CEO of Information International Associates, Inc. (IIa), an
information management and technology company which had almost 300 employees when she sold it
after 30 years of operation in 2018. She has supported government, academia and industry in managing
information as a strategic resource for almost 5 decades. She serves on the US National Academy of
Sciences’, Board of Research Data and Information, is the Secretary General of CODATA, and is Chair of
the US National Committee for CODATA. She staffed two US White House Interagency Working Groups
in Biodiversity Informatics and Digital Data. She has extensive experience in organization planning and
analysis. For over three decades, she has helped two major U.S. agencies restructure their information
exchange programs. She had a principle role in international development projects, including one to
help develop a national information policy for the Kingdom of Jordan (a joint Jordanian Technical
Information Center/World Bank project) has done special studies for the International Atomic Energy
Agency, and a pilot project to develop telematics services to the Eastern Caribbean. She is a fellow of
the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and has served on its Council. Ms.
Carroll has written and presented extensively on information policy, information strategy, and planning
for scientific and technical information management. Ms. Carroll is on the editorial board for the journal
Information Services and Use. She has an MS from Columbia University and a BA from Cornell
University. Her experience working across organizational lines and international boundaries in different
subject areas helps her understand the needs of various stakeholders in the public and private sectors.
Tom Rosseel
Tom retired in 2023 from ORNL as the National Materials Research Lead for the DOE Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program. Over nearly 42 years, he performed research and managed numerous research projects and programs. He received his Ph.D. in Physical Analytical Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin and received his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Michigan.
Tom served in numerous community capacities including Chairman of a combined home-owners group to protect neighborhoods adjacent to the Turkey Creek commercial development, four years as the Farragut North Ward Alderman, six years on the Farragut Municipal Planning Commission, and numerous limited-term Farragut committees including the Recycle, Community Center, and Leisure Services Strategic Planning.
Josh Sumter
Josh Sumter is a native of Knoxville, TN graduated from Maryville College with a Bachelor of Arts in music and from the University of Tennessee (UT) with a Master of Music in Organ Performance. He has served as accompanist for choir from middle and high school to community and collegiate. Josh is currently the Organist & Choirmaster at First UMC in Oak Ridge where he oversees six choral and instrumental ensembles and manages a staff of 6+ singers and a music assistant.
Cathy Whitten
Secretary
A native Oak Ridger, Cathy received her bachelor's degree in piano performance from CCM in Cincinnati, and her master's degree in collaborative piano from the UT School of Music in Knoxville. She has been a member of the music faculty at Pellissippi State since 2016, teaching class piano and cello. Much in demand as an accompanist for recitals and competitions, she also teaches privately in the Oak Ridge area, and sings in the choir at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church.
Martha Damiano
Orchestra Representative
Long time orchestra teacher and clarinetist with the Oak Ridge Symphony.
I have held teaching positions with Maryville College and Knoxville College as Woodwind Instructor. I hold a BS in Music Education from ETSU and a Masters Degree in Clarinet Performance from UTKnoxville. Also work on my Doctorate at University of Iowa. I spent six summers studying and performing in Austria and Hungary at the Classical Music Seminar in Eisenstadt Austria.
Robin Lambert Graham
Chorus Representative
Grew up outside of Chicago, went to college in NH, did PhD in forest ecosystem ecology at Oregon State. Worked at ORNL for 26 years, then Argonne and retired to Oak Ridge in late 2022. Have 2 grown daughters and enjoy Kayaking with my husband of 44 years when I’m not singing in the Oak Ridge chorus.
Tiffany Malone
Ellen Smith
Native of Connecticut. In Oak Ridge since 1981..Retired from ORNL (environmental. scientist).. Serves on Oak Ridge City Council.
Jo Vaccaro
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