Advisory Council

Since 2015, Michele DeLorenzi has represented the director of the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre internally and externally, leading business development,  customer and people management, and communication strategy. He has also provided leadership for finance, control, procurement, and IT security. He holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in computer science from ETH Zurich as well as memberships in the Association of Computing Machinery, IEEE Computer Society, Instituto Ricerce Solari Locarno, Swiss Informatics Society, and Societa Astronomica  Ticinese.

Paola Garzoni manages the investments of her family real estate businesses, including the Garzoni SA construction company, student accommodations, a hotel, and other initiatives in Switzerland, Italy, the U.K. , Poland, and the U.S. She holds a bachelor’s  degree in architecture from ETH Zurich and a master’s in real estate development from Columbia University. She has successfully managed several turnarounds and real estate asset repositionings in different countries and accelerated the growth of family businesses. She is a member of the LastMinute Foundation and has recently started the Angeli Foundation of L.U.C.A. She is also a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization in Italy.

Tombo Jones’ unique blend of aviation expertise and skilled leadership anchor his role as MAAP’s director. He leads the partnership’s work as a Federal Aviation  Administration-designated unmanned aerial systems testsite as well as its leadership of Virginia’s team in the BEYOND program, directing the management and growth of a portfolio that encompasses major federal droneintegration initiatives and complex technical research projects. He joined MAAP in 2017, after serving for 12 years in the U.S. Coast Guard in a series of progressively larger management roles. Before that, Jones served in the U.S. Army, where he received numerous awards and commendations, including the Meritorious Service Medal and the Bronze Star.

Cassiano Luminati has been director of Polo Poschiavo since 2001. He is involved in the development and implementation of cross-border projects in the Alpine Arc, mainly in the fields of sustainable development, culture, and education. From 2001 to 2014, he was president of the Valposchiavo Destination Management Organization. He has been politically active as an elected member of the legislative body of the Municipality of Poschiavo and of the Governing Board of the Valposchiavo Region, of which he was president from 2011 to 2015. Since 2016, he has represented Switzerland in two action groups of the Alpine Macro-Regional Strategy EUSALP. He was co-creator and coordinator of the Interreg Alpine Space project AlpFoodway, aimed at the preservation and enhancement of the Alpine Food Heritage.

Jake Lutz is a graduate of Virginia Tech and William & Mary Law School. A retired attorney, he chaired the financial services practice of one ofAmerica’s leading law firms and was a director of one of the world’s largest networks of independent law firms. He is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. He has served Virginia Tech in various capacities, including as rector of the Board of Visitors.

A senior researcher in ancient and modern music, Hrisanta Trebici- Marin holds a Ph.D. from the University of Vienna, Austria, and has received fellowships from Harvard University/Dumbarton Oaks Institute, the University of Virginia, and the University of Copenhagen/Institute of Greek and Latin Medieval Philology. Her area of specialization includes the research and transcription in modern notation of Byzantine and post-Byzantine musical manuscripts,  determination of their origins, and their dating. As a music consultant and program developer, she has worked since 2011 with the Cantus Mundi National Program for children in Romania. She currently trains the instructors for this educational project, based on music as a means to promote social integration.

A Romanian-born conductor, Ion Marin received his musical training as a composer, conductor, and pianist at the George Enescu Music Academy in Bucharest, Romania, the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, Austria, and the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy. After leaving his homeland in 1986, Marin became one of the most interesting composers on today´s music scene. During his first engagement as a resident conductor at the Vienna State Opera  during Claudio Abbado’s tenure as director), he conducted a large repertoire of works ranging from Mozart to Alban Berg. Marin’s discography has already earned three Grammy nominations, the German Recording Prize, and the Diapason Palme d´Or. In 2004, Marin received the Alfred Schnittke Award for his extraordinary services to contemporary music.

Anthony L. Pinder serves as the inaugural vice provost for internationalization & equity at Emerson College. As Emerson’s chief international officer, Pinder is responsible for managing and building on all of the college’s global operations, notably the Emerson European Center at Kasteel Well in the Netherlands. Pinder also provides leadership to the offices of International Student Affairs, Education Abroad & Domestic Programs, and English Language Learning. He established Emerson’s Global Pathways Program, which features nearly 30 faculty-led education abroad programs around the world. Pinder holds a doctorate in educational leadership from Clark Atlanta University; a certificate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Institute for Higher Education, a master’s in international economics and Latin American studies from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and a bachelor’s in finance from Morehouse College.

Katy Powell is the founding director of the Center for Refugee, Migrant, and Displacement studies at Virginia Tech and is a professor of rhetoric and writing in the Department of English. She teaches courses in rhetorics of social justice, feminist autobiography, and research methodologies. Powell’s research focuses on displacement narratives and the ethical dimensions of archiving those narratives in alternative spaces. Her current project, Resettled: Beginning (Again) in Appalachia, is an oral history collection in which narrators describe their experiences relocating to and within the Appalachian region.

Marion Repetti has an academic background in sociology with a specialization in aging and social policy. She has also worked as a social worker concentrating on the care and reintegration of individuals dealing with addiction. In 2015, she earned a doctorate from the University of Lausanne. Between 2017 and 2019, she conducted her postdoc with Toni Calasanti in Virginia Tech’s Department of Sociology. Her current position is head of research in the School of Social Work at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland HES-SO Valais-Wallis.

Nhan Tran holds a graduate degree in international public health and a Ph.D. in health systems research with an emphasis on road traffic injuries from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He started his career as an educator and then as a science advisor within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Later, as a researcher at Johns Hopkins, he co-founded the International Injury Research Unit. Tran joined the WHO in 2011, having previously served as manager of the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research. In 2017, he assumed his current role as WHO’s head of safety and mobility.

Pio Wennubst is an experienced development diplomat with expertise in multilateral systems governance and thematic approaches related to the 2030 agenda. A trained agricultural economist, he started his career as managing director of a Swiss chemical company. He moved to the public sector as an academic researcher in the Middle East region, later joining FAO in Nepal as a marketing expert. Within the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), Wennubst served in Bolivia and Madagascar, where he reorganized all Swiss development cooperation activities. In Tanzania, he was appointed country director for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). In 2008, he moved from multilateral affairs to the permanent representations to the United Nations in Rome and New York. As ambassador, Wennubst was first appointed vice-director general of SDC. He substantially contributed to the launching of Blue Peace, a movement focusing on hydro diplomacy. He also represented Switzerland to the multilateral agencies based in Rome, including FAO, IFAD, and WFP. He currently serves as senior advisor to the external network of the FDFA.

Emilia Zankina brings a wealth of experience in international education to her role as vice provost for global engagement. Since 2020, she has served as dean of Temple University Rome Campus. Under her direction, Temple Rome was among the first half-dozen U.S. programs in Italy to restart in-person instruction after the pandemic. Before joining Temple, Zankina served as provost of the American University in Bulgaria, where she oversaw all academic processes and units, including graduate and undergraduate programs, faculty, accreditation, enrollment, and student services. Previously, she was associate director of the Center for Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. She holds a Ph.D. in international affairs and a certificate in advanced East European studies from the University of Pittsburgh.