Meet our Board of Directors

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Connie Fortunato

Founder and Director of Music Camp International Connie has spent her entire adult life in music: teaching, conducting, writing curriculum, training, and doing research. Connie began working in Romania in 1992 doing music therapy with orphans after the fall of the brutal Ceausescu regime.Through the encouragement of a colleague, she piloted the first Music Camp in a small village south of Timisoara in 2002. And the rest . . . is history!

Anya Bazilo

Anya has been with Music Camp International for 17 years, since the first time she attended Music Camp in Kyiv in 2003. She later became an administrative assistant to the MCI Director helping in implementation of music camps all over Ukraine. She is now works in various EU institutions and projects –most recently – in the EU Advisory Mission to Ukraine. One of her most unforgettable MCI projects was a concert “Ukrainian Children – European Recognition” in Strasbourg, France during Ukraine’s Chairmanship at the Council of Europe in October 2012.

Deanna Gardiner-Garcia

Deanna, our newest member to the Board of Directors, received her BA degree from Corban University in Salem, Oregon and General Elementary Teaching Credential from California State University, East Bay. Deanna taught in public school for 10 years. In addition to education, she has a passion for travel and helping those who are marginalized and vulnerable.

Dr. Sarita Kwok

The former director of the undergraduate lessons program at Yale, Sarita served for eight years on the faculty of the Yale Department of Music. She currently holds the Adams Endowed Chair in Music and serves as Professor of Music and Chair of the Department of Music at Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts. In August 2019, Dr. Kwok brought a team of 11 students from Gordon College to participate in a Music Camp International project in Zhytomyr, Ukraine.

Gabriel Enache

Gabriel is a software developer that develops applications used in the automotive industry. At age 4, Gabriel became an orphan and was raised by an NGO called SOS Children’s Village. Rotary Club was an important sponsor for SOS and gifted Gabriel with his first personal computer. At the age of 14, he had the chance to become a founding member of Interact Club (Rotary’s club for teenagers) and he took it.

In 2014, Connie came to the Rotaract Club in Cluj Napoca in search for a partnership and volunteers to start the first Music Camp for Pata Rât, the marginalized community living in the landfill area outside Cluj. After hearing Connie talk about empowering children through music and helping them develop, Gabriel decided to volunteer and help make that dream a reality because it resonated with him and his core values. Ever since, Gabriel has followed Connie on this journey because he knows better than most how important it is for a child to be heard, supported and have good role models, especially for those with whom life is not so fortunate.

Jim Fortunato

After spending several years in music, Jim changed careers to become a senior representative with Health Markets Insurance. His distinguished career of over 35 years has awarded him numerous company awards and career titles. In 2002 he fulfilled a lifelong dream of “giving back to those in need”when together, with Connie, they formed the Canticum Novum Corporation, the parent company of Music Camp International. His support of that dream has taken him to both Ukraine and Romania several times. He has served on the Board of Directors since its birth in November, 2002.