OUR TEAM

ELIHU “HUGH” BAVER
BOARD CHAIRMAN

LARRY RUTTMAN
BOARD MEMBER / AUTHOR

DR. DENNIS LAFFER
BOARD MEMBER / HISTORIAN
He has come to agree with the viewpoint proposed by Professor David Wyman and others that President Franklin D. Roosevelt did little to aid Jewish refugees during the critical pre-war and intra-war periods and that this international gathering was primarily a publicity ploy designed to deflect any changes in American immigration policies.

BABETTE RITTMEYER
Board Member/ Human Rights & Photographer

TODD SALOVEY
BOARD MEMBER / ART & THEATER

Ayaguana Ayiti
BOARD MEMBER / Taino Indian Indigenous Culture

SKYE STEVENSON
ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER
Skye Stephenson is a global educator and writer. She received a doctorate in International Relations and Latin American Studies from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and was one of the first students at Wellesley College to graduate with a Latin American Studies major. She lived more than a decade in Latin America, and has helped to develop educational programs in many of the countries of the region – including the Dominican Republic. Skye currently makes her home in southern New Hampshire, working at Keene State College as Director of their Global Education Office. In recent years, she has served as U.S. representative for the indigenous pluriversity of Ecuador. In her free time, Skye enjoys writing and spiritual activities. She is the author a full-length book about South American culture, a novel, two poetry books, numerous academic articles as well as a monthly newspaper column in the Monadnock region.

Hernani Isaac Del Giudice
BOARD MEMBER / TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES
As a founding member of the non-profit Fundacion SLD, Hernani is helping a team, together with CabareteNetwork, to develop free educational internet service to the various neighborhoods in Cabarete. In the past, he also proposed educational solutions to the Dominican Government and other Dominican North Coast communities.

MARY HILLIARD
INTERN
Mary Hilliard is a sophomore at the University of Notre Dame in the Mendoza College of Business with a second major in English. Upon completion of a “Europe at War” course detailing European history between 1900-1945, Mary learned about the Evian Conference in the context of the destruction of European Jewry. Although only mentioned in a short sentence in the span of 50 pages, Mary was intrigued by this event due to the general lack of knowledge about this Conference and its immense repercussions. As a result, she applied for and received an Undergraduate Research Opportunity Grant from Notre Dame’s Institute for Scholarship in Liberal Arts to conduct archival research at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. and College Park, Maryland. Through her research, Mary drew parallels between the attempts to ameliorate the refugee crisis in the 1930s and actions taken to address the Syrian refugee crisis and others taking place today in contemporary times. Originally from Kansas City, Mary is a member of the Sorin Scholar undergraduate research Honors program, a manager for the lacrosse team, and a Student Government Senator for her dorm at Notre Dame.

JILLIAN OFFERMANN
INTERN
Jillian Offermann is a Junior pursuing a Bachelor’s of Art Degree in Media and Culture with a Minor in Psychology at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts. Very involved in her campus community, Jillian is the Vice President of Marketing of Bentley’s chapter of the Alpha Psi Omega Theater Honor Society, a player on the Bentley Women’s Rugby team, the director of the Bentley D1 hockey arena control room, and is also a Bentley marketing multimedia producer. Jillian is originally from Baltimore, Maryland, which has a thriving Jewish community and has contributed to her long withstanding appreciation for faith and history. One thing, specifically, that has always interested Jillian and drew her to the Sosua75 program is her life-long support of the Red Sox and their ability to create a community within their fanbase. Exploring the team’s ability to bring a diverse set of people together under a common interest or pastime, as well as the team’s connection to Sosua75 will be a highlight of Jillian’s experience working on this project. She has a passion for storytelling through media, something she is eager to utilize as a tool to support the Jewish community and ensure that the many historical stories worth telling aren’t only told, but also heard.