Meet the Officers

Officers

Christopher John Renneker

President

Christopher John Renneker

President

Christopher John Renneker has been a member of the Abruzzo Molise Heritage Society since 2017 and has served one term on the Society’s board and is currently serving on the social committee. He has been a member of the National Italian-American Foundation since 2016, the Order Sons and Daughters of Italy in America since 2021, and Filitalia International since 2023. He has family members from the region of Abruzzo and the city of Foggia in the region of Puglia.

Chris graduated in 2017 from the George Washington University Law School. He also earned an MBA from the Sungkyunkwan University Global School of Business in 2017, and a B.S. from Florida State University in 2011 with majors in Political Science and History, focused on European Union integration and Renaissance Italy, respectively, and minors in Classical Civilization, focused on Etruscan studies, and Philosophy.

Between undergrad and law school, Chris taught overseas, including one year of English in Shanghai, China, and taught one year of English, Social Studies, and Math in Mexico City, Mexico. Chris studied abroad for a semester in Italy while at Florida State. He has since visited Italy twice, including a six-week road trip in 2019.

Chris was admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia in 2017 and currently works at the United States Patent and Trademark Office as a Trademark Examining Attorney. He previously worked as an Attorney Advisor in the Small Business Administration, Office of Disaster Assistance.

Nancy DeSanti

Nancy DeSanti

1st Vice President, Programs

Nancy DeSanti

1st Vice President, Programs

Nancy DeSanti

1st Vice President, Programs

Nancy DeSanti was born in Massachusetts and while growing up, lived in Athens, Greece for 4 years, and in Manila, the Philippines, for 3 years. She was a legal specialist with Reed Smith LLP, a top-15 global law firm and prior to that, she was an editor at The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc., a legal publishing company.

As the daughter of immigrants, Nancy appreciates and loves her heritage and is interested in Italian genealogy, history, culture, and language. She is a member of the National Italian American Foundation and enjoys traveling to Italy each year. She resides in Alexandria, Virginia.

Americo (Rico) Allegrino

Americo (Rico) Allegrino

2nd Vice President, Membership

Americo (Rico) Allegrino

2nd Vice President, Membership

Americo (Rico) Allegrino

2nd Vice President, Membership

Americo (Rico) Allegrino grew up in upstate New York. His father came from Chieti in the Abruzzo region of Italy and his maternal great grandparents came from Sicily and Naples.  He earned a Masters’ degree in Meteorology from the University of Maryland.   He current works as a government contractor for NOAA’s satellite division providing programming support to the next generation of weather satellites.  Rico has worked for NOAA for 21 years.  Previously, he worked at Goddard Space Flight Center studying sea ice and snow cover using various remote sensors.

He has volunteered as a special events coordinator for an organization of single Catholics called the Catholic Alumni Club.  There, he organized picnics, happy hours and dinners.  He was also membership chair for several years for this group. Currently, he leads a group of volunteers from his local parish to provide a monthly dinner for homeless men in Prince Georges County.   He also volunteers his gardening services to his local parish.  He is an avid gardener.   Rico previously served on the AMHS Board from 2018-2020.

Joseph "Sonny" Scafetta Jr.

Secretary

Joseph “Sonny” Scafetta Jr.

Secretary

Joseph “Sonny” Scafetta Jr. is the son of Giuseppe Scafetta (1896-1975) who emigrated from the city of Vasto in Abruzzo to Washington, D.C., in early April 1915. Sonny earned a B.S. from Penn State University in aerospace engineering in 1969, a law degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1972, a masters in patent law from Georgetown U. in 1973, and an M.B.A. in the administration of science and technology from George Washington U. in 1983. Before entering the private practice of law in 1975, he served as a law clerk for two years for a federal trial judge in Columbia, South Carolina. He was admitted to practice before the state courts in Pennsylvania in 1972, the District of Columbia in 1978, and Virginia in 1979. He was also admitted to practice before the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office in 1973, the U.S. District Court in D.C. in 1978, and the Eastern District of Virginia in 1982, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in 1982, and the U.S. Supreme Court in 1980. He has worked for several law firms in the District and northern Virginia. Over the years, he has published ten articles in various legal journals and won the prestigious Robert C Watson Award from the American Intellectual Property Law Association in 1976. He is now semi-retired, but works part time as Senior Counsel for Ditthavong, Steiner, & Mlotkowski in Alexandria.

He has been a member of the Abruzzo Molise Heritage Society since 2008 and served on the board of directors from January 1, 2020, through December 31, 2022. He is also on the board of directors of the National Columbus Celebration Association. Sonny is also a member and officer of the Italian Heritage Lodge which is a branch of the Order Sons & Daughters of Italy in America which he joined in 1979. He served as the state president of the Grand Lodge of Virginia from June 1993 to June 1995 and on the state council of the Grand Lodge for a record 24 continuous years from 1983 to 2007.

Currently, Sonny resides in Falls Church with his wife of 37 years, Teresa Talierco, who is currently on the AMHS board of directors. They have a son, Joseph Scafetta III, who is currently a grad student studying data science at Marymount University in Arlington.

Peter Bell

Peter Bell

Treasurer

Peter Bell

Treasurer

Peter Bell

Treasurer

Peter Bell is a lifelong resident of the Washington, DC area, growing up in Silver Spring, Maryland. He has lived on Capitol Hill since 1974. He is retired from the Federal government with over 35 years experience as an auditor and financial manager with three different Federal agencies. Currently, he heads his own consulting and training practice, providing support for the needs of the affordable housing industry. Peter is a member of the AMHS Scholarship Committee.

Board of Directors

Anthony "Tony" Andreoli

Board Member

Anthony “Tony” Andreoli

Board Member

Anthony “Tony” Andreoli is a native of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and is extraordinarily proud of his Italian heritage. He is a cum laude graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He earned his Juris Doctorate from Villanova Law School, and is currently corporate counsel with a technology company that focuses on artificial intelligence.

Tony is also a member of the Italian Heritage Lodge in Fairfax. He fondly recalls pasta Sunday at his grandparents and is a steadfast advocate for the preservation of Italian culture and our ancestors’ legacies. He enjoys playing the drums, skiing, martial arts, and most importantly, spending time with his son, Michael. They reside in the Crystal City section of Arlington.

Julie Finigan Dal Forno

Board Member

Julie Finigan Dal Forno

Board Member

Julie was born and raised in Massachusetts, and after completing her Master’s degree at Johns Hopkins, she moved to Rome, Italy for six years; Bangkok, Thailand for two years; and Singapore for five years. Julie has taught high school for over twenty-five years on three different continents and currently teaches at the Bullis School in Potomac, Maryland.

She has had a lifelong interest in Italian language, literature, and culture and is a member of the Italian Language Foundation (ILF) and Italians in D.C. Julie enjoys traveling to Italy each year and skiing whenever she can. Julie is married to Corrado and they have two sons, William and Nicholas, They reside in Potomac, Maryland.

Lucio D'Andrea

Lucio D'Andrea

President Emeritus & Board Member

Lucio D'Andrea

President Emeritus & Board Member

Lucio D’Andrea

President Emeritus & Board Member

Lucio D’Andrea is a native of Roccamandolfi in the region of Molise. He immigrated to the United States in 1948 along with his brother Joseph and mother Candida to join his father, who lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Upon completion of his secondary school education, he enrolled at the Univeristy of Pittsburgh, graduating in 1957 with a bachelor of Science degree in Petroleum Engineering and a commission as Second Lieutenant in the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Following his military service, he moved to Wyoming to work for an oil company. He later accepted a position with the Federal Power Commission in Washington, DC. He served in a number of government agencies and in 1986 he accepted an appointment by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to serve as Senior Economic Officer with the Economic Commission of Europe (ECE) in Geneva, Switzerland, becoming deputy director of its Energy Division. He retired from the ECE in 1983 and entered private practice as an energy consultant.

During his long professional and military career, Lucio received numerous awards and recognitions. One which he is particularly proud of is the “Order of Merit of the Republic of Italy,” which he received in 1972 for his involvement with the Italian Cultural Society in promoting Italian culture in the Washington, DC area. He has maintained a steadfast commitment to the promotion and development of Italian culture, traditions and values. His pride in his heritage was demonstrated when he took the initiative to establish the Abruzzo and Molise Heritage Society of the Washington DC area. He remains active in the Italian-American community by also being a member of the Order of the Sons of Italy and the National Italian American Foundation.  Continuing his commitment to the promotion of Italian culture, Lucio established the Italian Heritage Society of St. Mary of Sorrows in Fairfax, Virginia, and the Italian Heritage and Cultural Society at the Church of the Nativity in Burke, VA.

Lucio is married to Edvige (Pitassi) D’Andrea, a native of Pacentro, in Abruzzo. They have six children and eight grandchildren. Lucio and Edvige reside at The Westminster at Lake Ridge, where they enjoy an volunteer in the local community, teach Italian language to the residents, and overall enjoy an active social life. Lucio is a member of the AMHS Scholarship Committee.

Maria D'Andrea-Yothers

Board Member

Maria D’Andrea-Yothers

Board Member

Maria D’Andrea-Yothers is a second-generation Italian American. Her mother and father were both born in Italy, her mother Edvige in the region of Abruzzo, her father Lucio in the region of Molise. They immigrated to the United States in 1949, after World War II, and met in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, where they were married before moving to the Washington, D.C. area. Maria was raised with her four sisters and one brother in northern Virginia. Maria has spent over 20 years promoting and working with the Italian-American community in the Washington, D.C. area, mainly as an officer and past president of the Abruzzo Molise Heritage Society, which was co-founded by her father in 2000.

Maria is Director of the Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) at the U.S. Department of Commerce. She manages a team of 12 International trade specialists, international economists, and business and industry specialists. She is responsible for administering the U.S. textile trade program, and she has been involved in the negotiation of several top trade priorities including special safeguards against China and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. She is considered an expert in the field of domestic and international policy issues related to textiles and apparel. Her advice is sought by industry stakeholders, as well as by U.S and foreign government representatives. Prior to joining OTEXA in 1992, Maria worked on textile and clothing trade issues as a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland.

Maria is married to Sam Yothers and has two stepdaughters, Lauren & Mara (John) and one granddaughter, Lillie. She and her husband enjoy all types of outdoor activities, especially hiking, camping, and cycling.  She is looking forward to her retirement from federal service in December 2024.

Ray LaVerghetta

Ray LaVerghetta

Board Member, Immediate Past President

Ray LaVerghetta

Board Member, Immediate Past President

Ray LaVerghetta

Board Member, Immediate Past President

Ray LaVerghetta is a second-generation Italian-American born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. His paternal grandparents were born and grew up in Vasto, in the province of Chieti, in Abruzzo. His maternal grandfather was also born and raised in Vasto, Abruzzo, while his maternal grandmother called home Pizzone, a small mountain town originally part of Abruzzo but incorporated into Molise, province of Isernia, in 1861.

Ray graduated from Loyola University in Maryland and went on to earn a Ph.D. in Linguistics at Georgetown University. He divided his career between academia and government. In the academic world, he taught at Georgetown University, Loyola University, the U.S. Naval Academy, the Community Colleges of Baltimore County, and Howard Community College. In government, he worked as a linguist and analyst, focusing on linguistic issues of interest to multiple government agencies. He retired in 2013 and is now working as an adjunct professor at Howard Community College. In his spare time, he is working on a language documentation project targeting one of the latin-derived languages that was spoken in Italy (and still is by older residents) prior to the dominance of Italian.

Ray is married to Michele and they have two daughters, Gabriella and Maria. He is the Immediate Past President of AMHS and Chair of its Scholarship Committee.

Mark Lino

Mark Lino

Board Member

Mark Lino

Board Member

Mark Lino

Board Member

Mark Lino’s paternal family is from Avellino in the Campania region of Italy. He has been a member of the AMHS for about 15 years and is looking forward to serving on the Society’s board. Mark was born in East Boston, Massachusetts and holds degrees from Boston College (B.S.) and Cornell University (Ph.D.). For the past 33 years, he has been employed as an economist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture where he works on food policy and programs. Outside of work, he enjoys reading mysteries and wine tasting.

Julia Paola

Julia Paola

Board Member

Julia Paola

Board Member

Julia Paola

Board Member

Julia Paola is originally from Annapolis, MD and will be graduating this Spring from The George Washington University with a Bachelors’ Degree in International Affairs and Political Science with concentrations in International Politics and Europe and Eurasia. She is also obtaining a minor in Italian Literature and Language and has served as the president of GW’s Societa’ di Cultura Italiana since May 2020. She was an AMHS scholarship recipient in 2019 and served as a temporary intern for the Society. Her paternal grandparents are Torinese and Calabrese, and she has been fortunate enough to visit her family in Torino and study abroad in Italy. During the 2020-2021 school year, she worked as a teaching aid for Italian virtually at her former high school. Currently, she interns for a non-profit in DC promoting family diplomacy and hopes for a career in immigration, refugee studies, or international diplomacy. Following graduation in the Spring, Julia intends on staying in DC to attend graduate school for her MA in International Relations or begin a full-time job. She loves her rescue dogs back home, her ever-expanding collection of plants, and despite having Celiac disease, has a great love for Italian food and culture.

Teresa Margaret Talierco

Board Member

Teresa Margaret Talierco

Board Member

Teresa was born in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, on April 15, 1951. Her paternal grandfather, Giovanni Taliercio, had emigrated from the island of Ischia in the Bay of Naples and her paternal grandmother, Olivia Nerone, had emigrated from the city of Naples.

Teresa graduated from Coatesville High School in 1969 and received a full scholarship to attend Trinity College (now University) in Washington, D.C. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology in 1973, and then she earned a Master of Arts degree in sociology from Loyola University in Baltimore in 1975. After graduation, she moved to Falls Church, Virginia, where she was employed as a Licensed Professional Counselor by the Dominion Psychiatric Hospital.

In July 1982, she joined the Avanti Italiani Lodge in Alexandria, Virginia. It was associated with the Order of the Sons (and now Daughters) of Italy in America. She served as the lodge treasurer from 1983 to 1984 when she was elected president. She served two years until July 4, 1986, when she married Joseph Scafetta Jr. They honeymooned in Italy, visiting both her family in Rome and Ischia and her husband’s family in Rome and Abruzzo. After their marriage, because the lodge was for singles only, Teresa and her husband transferred to the George Washington Lodge in Arlington, Virginia. She was elected vice president in 1991 and served for two years until she was elected president, serving from 1993 to 1995.

When their son, Joseph Anthony Scafetta III, was born on October 28, 1998, in Washington, D.C., Teresa resigned from the Dominion Psychiatric Hospital and started a private practice in McLean, Virginia, specializing in counseling teenagers, young adults, and families with young children.

When the George Washington Lodge was dissolved, Teresa and her husband transferred their memberships to the Italian Heritage Lodge in Fairfax, Virginia, where they remain active. Teresa, her husband, and their son last visited their families in Italy in 2002. After her husband became a member of the Abruzzo Molise Heritage Society (AMHS) in 2008, Teresa and their son joined later. Teresa has been active in AMHS events and activities.