Robert Smith, Chair
Bob had a 25 Year Career with IBM where he worked in product development and managed all phases of the development life-cycle. He also held a variety of managerial and technical leadership roles and had assignments at the group and division headquarters and a three-year international assignment at IBM's development laboratory near Nice in France. Bob also received First and Second Level Patent Achievement Awards during my career with IBM. Bob left IBM at the end of 1988 and formed his own small technology consulting company. He worked primarily in the financial services sector and had long-term consulting engagements of two or more years with Manufacturers Hanover Trust, Chemical Bank, Chase Manhattan Bank, Citigroup Retail Banking, and ended his consulting career with a three-year assignment with Barclays Bank at Canary Wharf in London. Bob retired in February 2009 when he ended my assignment with Barclays Bank and returned to Darien. He then joined the Darien Men’s Association (DMA) in the fall of 2010 and served 1 year terms as Secretary, 2nd VP, 1st VP and President. He is still serving as the Team Leader of the Technology Committee. Being an officer in the DMA provided great training on how to manage the DTC, a volunteer organization, and is radically different than managing in the corporate world.
Jeanne Rozel, Vice-Chair & Outreach
Richard Lurie, Secretary
Rich has lived in New Canaan for 38 years. He spent 31 years at IBM living abroad for 10 of those years in Tokyo and Paris. After retiring from IBM, Rich worked for an IT research company, Forrester Research in New York City for 16 years. He retired in 2014 when he decided to become active in local politics. Rich has an engineering degree from Purdue University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Liz Donovan, Treasurer
New Canaan is Liz’s hometown. Daughter of Harvard Five architect Landis Gores, she went to Princeton after NCHS, and raised her adopted/foster children while holding volunteer positions in her Princeton class and the Boy Scouts. She also worked full time in software and project management. Returning to New Canaan in 2014 with her husband Craig to live with her Mom, she is Secretary for the New Canaan Y’s Togetherhood group, and volunteers at NCMT. As of this summer, Liz has also been serving as Treasurer for the DTC. She was elected to Town Council this fall and would like to continue to serve on the DTC as well.
Jessica Cardon, Deputy Treasurer
Jessica Elliot Cardon is a practicing attorney who has worked primarily in an in-house capacity as a General counsel and Trademark counsel for a variety of companies. She is presently employed by Quality King Distributors as Senior Counsel, advising on a variety of legal matters including contractual negotiations, e-commerce and retail operations and branding and marketing. Jessica is a graduate of Yale College, with a B.S. in Geology & Geophysics, and the George Washington University Law School, with a juris doctorate awarded with honors. She volunteers as a class parent and host family at New Canaan Country School and has been a New Canaan resident for 7 years, alongside her husband, Paul, and son, James. She also volunteers for a number of legal industry organizations, including the National Association of Women Lawyers and the International Trademark Association. Jessica joined the DTC of New Canaan in early 2017.
George Blauvelt, Nominating
Virginia Apy, Communications
5th generation in New Canaan, former chair of DTC. Former member of Commision on Aging (now part of health and human services) did part time work in Reg. of Voters office early 80's as well as headed candidate campaign.
Carole Blauvelt, Communications
Jordan L. Cerbone, Communications
Jordan graduated as an Honors Scholar from the University of Connecticut, where his thesis “Kennedy’s Crisis: How John F. Kennedy Used History to Prevent Armageddon” was published. He is currently applying to law school and aspires to obtain an S.J.D degree. He received the Babbidge Scholar designation for maintaining a 4.0 GPA in 2015 and 2016 as well as the Excellence in History and Honors Awards from both the University of Connecticut History and Honors Departments. Professionally, his memberships include: The Association of Literary Scholars, Critics and Writers (ALSCW); The American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics (ASLME); Dickens Fellowship of New York (Lifetime Member); The Dickens Society; Friends of Dickens, New York; and The Gridiron Club of New Canaan. Jordan became a community activist at the age of twelve when he collected several thousand signatures on a petition to stop the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) from rerouting its flights directly over New Canaan. This led to his first major political speaking engagement with then Attorney-General Richard Blumenthal. Jordan is proud to serve his third term on the New Canaan Democratic Town Committee and looks forward to serving on the By-Laws Committee as well as being elected to a
commission or committee.
Kathleen Corbet, Nominations
Kathleen A. Corbet is founder and principal of Cross Ridge Capital, LLC - a venture capital and management consulting firm offering services in financial and operational best practices to early stage venture firms, state and local government agencies and municipalities and non-profit enterprises.
Ms. Corbet has over 30 years in global leadership experience in the financial services industry – and served previously as President of Standard & Poor’s (S&P) from 2004-2007 and at AllianceBernstein LP, where she served as Executive Vice President and CEO of the fixed income division.
A committed corporate, non-profit and civic leader, Ms. Corbet serves as a Lead Director and member of the board of directors of MassMutual Financial Group, as an Independent Director at TCP Capital and AxiomSL and as a Trustee for The Jackson Laboratory. She has served as a director/trustee for the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority and Pro Mujer International and Boston College, her alma mater.
In 2013, Ms. Corbet was elected to be a member of the Town of New Canaan, Connecticut's Town Council for a four-year term. She has also served on the Board of Finance in New Canaan, CT and the Investment Advisory Committee of the New York Community Trust
A graduate of Boston College and NYU’s Stern School of Business where she earned her MBA, Ms. Corbet is a frequent speaker/guest lecturer on women’s leadership and the financial services industry,
Will Cromwell, Elections
Susan Edmands, Outreach, Nominations
Susan B. Edmands has over 30 years of experience in many segments of the business research and market data industries. She is currently Managing Director at BST American LLC. She has built and managed practice groups covering several industries. She has developed training programs, implemented quality standards for client services, and managed a resource center that provided cutting edge tools and resources to serve 150 end-users that supported a 3000 client user base. She negotiated all contracts with information providers. She also served on acquisition teams to determine synergies with potential partners, built a model for continuity of business services, partnered to build successful outsourcing model for fulfilling business research. She has worked as project manager with financial institutions such as Lehman Brothers, Barclays Capital, Nomura, PwC, Vanguard, William Blair, Brandywine, RBS and Macquarie to provide them with entralization/optimization of market data contracts to realize cost savings, post acquisition resolution of bankruptcy cure practices, end user surveys to streamline content and service models, benchmarking, contract evaluation, implementation of market data management systems and vendor negotiations. Ms. Edmands is a former trustee and Vice President of both the Chemists' Club and the Societe de Chemie Industrielle. She is a member of the Software and Information Industry Association and its Financial Information Services Division, the Special Libraries Association and a former Director of the Fairfield County Chapter. She has served as trustee for Newtown Nursery School, Belmont Day School, Packer Collegiate Institute (where she also served as president of the PTA). She is currently a board member for Canaan Square Townhouses, volunteers at the New Canaan Library and with Staying Put in New Canaan. She is a member of the Democratic Town Committee and serves on the Outreach and Nominating committees.
Gerry Harrington
Gerry is a 35-year resident of New Canaan, is well known in town, having been a residential and commercial real estate agent for more than 30 years. Previously she worked in the real estate department of Cummings & Lockwood (a law firm), General Electric and Brookhaven National Laboratories. Her four children all attended New Canaan schools and have since graduated from college. Gerry is a graduate of the University of Connecticut with a B.A. in English, and is a former board member of the American Association of University Women. Currently she serves on the Board of Assessment Appeals and is a member of the Democratic Town Council.
Angela Jameson, Nominations
Elizabeth Jones, Nominations
Betty J. Lovastik, Outreach/By-Laws/Fundraising
Nick Mitrakis, Nominations
Nicholas is a corporate finance executive with 19 years experience at large, global firms where he is and has been responsible for corporate finance & accounting, mergers & acquisitions as well as P&L responsibility. Nicholas is a graduate of Fordham University and has worked and lived in Germany, NYC, Dallas and London, UK and moved to New Canaan in 2010 with his wife Kristen and daughter Katherine where Katherine attends Saxe Middle School. He is an advisory board member of the Fordham University Alumni Association, he is on the board of Financial Executives International in NYC, an advisory board member of FinTech startup Cashforce, a member of the New Canaan Democratic Nominating Committee and a Constable in New Canaan. He previously served as a New Canaan Constable from 2011-2013.
Elizabeth Orteig
Liz was born in Brooklyn, raised in Queens, NYC, and lived in Manhattan for 20+ years. She moved to New Canaan, the hometown of her husband, Steve Orteig, 12 years ago. She has been a woodwork artisan and antique restorer for over 45 years. She began creating furniture at age 18 for design showrooms, namely Karl Springer; crafting pieces using exotic materials such as ivory, ebony and mother of pearl. She owned a business with her first husband employing three other workers. In 1982, she joined Sotheby’s woodworking department, for two years repairing important pieces from Louis XVI gilded chairs to a Ruhlmann desk. Since Sotheby’s, Liz has worked independently with various workrooms in Manhattan, including 11 Street and Broadway, Union Square and 14 Street and 6 Avenue. While operating her independent business, she studied Architecture at City College in Manhattan and obtained a five year B Arch degree. She worked for a while as an apprentice architect, keeping her business as a side job and after a year went back to it full-time. She continues to operate her own business in New Canaan and has restored some pieces for the Parks & Recreation Department at Waveny House. Liz has been a board member of the Beautification League since she moved to New Canaan, and was formerly a board member of the League of Women Voters. She is currently a member of the Democratic Town Committee. She has participated in the Women’s Paddle Tennis League and the Women’s Tennis for many years. She and her husband were town pool members when their daughter lived in town. Liz is fluent in French, Spanish and Italian a little and English.
Sandy Rama, Communications/Business
Graduated Rutgers University, 1977, BA Psychology. Graduated Marywood University, 1988, MBA. Sandy was employed as a computer programmer, analyst and manager for over 20 years, at several fortune 50 companies including Metropolitan Life Insurance, Nabisco Brands, Kraft Foods and Philip Morris International, where she Installed and supported financial software. She has lived in New Canaan for 22+ years. During these years, Sandy has volunteered at the NC High School; was the Boy's basketball liaison from 2009-2011; soccer and baseball parent coach; worked at the First Presybyterian pre-school for 10 years and worked for 1 year, at NC South Elementary School as the computer room assistant teacher.
Ram Sriram, Communications/Business
Ed Vollmer, Outreach
A 34-year resident of New Canaan, Edward Vollmer is a Constable for the town and has supported New Canaan through his membership on various town committees, including the Historical Review Committee, Democratic Town Committee. He also served on the Board of the New Canaan Historical Society. A U.S. Navy veteran, Ed has also worked as a New York State Parkways Police Officer. He is a graduate of the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. His varied career positions, included, Creative Director with a New York City advertising firm and in 1979 he cofounded a medical device company, Unimar, Inc.. Unimar was a specialized medical devices company which worked with physicians in the U.S. and Europe, helping to develop and marketing their device concepts for cancer screening and infertility.
Bob had a 25 Year Career with IBM where he worked in product development and managed all phases of the development life-cycle. He also held a variety of managerial and technical leadership roles and had assignments at the group and division headquarters and a three-year international assignment at IBM's development laboratory near Nice in France. Bob also received First and Second Level Patent Achievement Awards during my career with IBM. Bob left IBM at the end of 1988 and formed his own small technology consulting company. He worked primarily in the financial services sector and had long-term consulting engagements of two or more years with Manufacturers Hanover Trust, Chemical Bank, Chase Manhattan Bank, Citigroup Retail Banking, and ended his consulting career with a three-year assignment with Barclays Bank at Canary Wharf in London. Bob retired in February 2009 when he ended my assignment with Barclays Bank and returned to Darien. He then joined the Darien Men’s Association (DMA) in the fall of 2010 and served 1 year terms as Secretary, 2nd VP, 1st VP and President. He is still serving as the Team Leader of the Technology Committee. Being an officer in the DMA provided great training on how to manage the DTC, a volunteer organization, and is radically different than managing in the corporate world.
Jeanne Rozel, Vice-Chair & Outreach
- An Indiana Hoosier and graduate of Indiana University in 1963
- Elementary teacher in the Washington, D C area
- New Canaan resident since 1975
- Both of our children attended Center School in New Canaan
- Parent volunteer in the New Canaan schools and St. Luke’s
- Girl Scout volunteer for more than 45 years
- Served on the Merrie Bee Girl Scout Cabin committee as a volunteer and occasional chairman since 1986
- Recipient of the Thanks Award, an important national award from The Girl Scouts of America
- Realtor for 25+ years / Now retired:-)
- As a realtor I was chairman of the committee that raised the Center School bell for New Canaan’s Bicentennial in 2001
- Former President of the New Canaan Board of Realtors
- Former Director of the Connecticut Board of Realtors
- Recognized as Realtor of the Year by the New Canaan Board of Realtors
- Served on the Assessment Board of Appeals
- Serving on the Zoning Board of Appeals
Richard Lurie, Secretary
Rich has lived in New Canaan for 38 years. He spent 31 years at IBM living abroad for 10 of those years in Tokyo and Paris. After retiring from IBM, Rich worked for an IT research company, Forrester Research in New York City for 16 years. He retired in 2014 when he decided to become active in local politics. Rich has an engineering degree from Purdue University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Liz Donovan, Treasurer
New Canaan is Liz’s hometown. Daughter of Harvard Five architect Landis Gores, she went to Princeton after NCHS, and raised her adopted/foster children while holding volunteer positions in her Princeton class and the Boy Scouts. She also worked full time in software and project management. Returning to New Canaan in 2014 with her husband Craig to live with her Mom, she is Secretary for the New Canaan Y’s Togetherhood group, and volunteers at NCMT. As of this summer, Liz has also been serving as Treasurer for the DTC. She was elected to Town Council this fall and would like to continue to serve on the DTC as well.
Jessica Cardon, Deputy Treasurer
Jessica Elliot Cardon is a practicing attorney who has worked primarily in an in-house capacity as a General counsel and Trademark counsel for a variety of companies. She is presently employed by Quality King Distributors as Senior Counsel, advising on a variety of legal matters including contractual negotiations, e-commerce and retail operations and branding and marketing. Jessica is a graduate of Yale College, with a B.S. in Geology & Geophysics, and the George Washington University Law School, with a juris doctorate awarded with honors. She volunteers as a class parent and host family at New Canaan Country School and has been a New Canaan resident for 7 years, alongside her husband, Paul, and son, James. She also volunteers for a number of legal industry organizations, including the National Association of Women Lawyers and the International Trademark Association. Jessica joined the DTC of New Canaan in early 2017.
George Blauvelt, Nominating
Virginia Apy, Communications
5th generation in New Canaan, former chair of DTC. Former member of Commision on Aging (now part of health and human services) did part time work in Reg. of Voters office early 80's as well as headed candidate campaign.
Carole Blauvelt, Communications
Jordan L. Cerbone, Communications
Jordan graduated as an Honors Scholar from the University of Connecticut, where his thesis “Kennedy’s Crisis: How John F. Kennedy Used History to Prevent Armageddon” was published. He is currently applying to law school and aspires to obtain an S.J.D degree. He received the Babbidge Scholar designation for maintaining a 4.0 GPA in 2015 and 2016 as well as the Excellence in History and Honors Awards from both the University of Connecticut History and Honors Departments. Professionally, his memberships include: The Association of Literary Scholars, Critics and Writers (ALSCW); The American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics (ASLME); Dickens Fellowship of New York (Lifetime Member); The Dickens Society; Friends of Dickens, New York; and The Gridiron Club of New Canaan. Jordan became a community activist at the age of twelve when he collected several thousand signatures on a petition to stop the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) from rerouting its flights directly over New Canaan. This led to his first major political speaking engagement with then Attorney-General Richard Blumenthal. Jordan is proud to serve his third term on the New Canaan Democratic Town Committee and looks forward to serving on the By-Laws Committee as well as being elected to a
commission or committee.
Kathleen Corbet, Nominations
Kathleen A. Corbet is founder and principal of Cross Ridge Capital, LLC - a venture capital and management consulting firm offering services in financial and operational best practices to early stage venture firms, state and local government agencies and municipalities and non-profit enterprises.
Ms. Corbet has over 30 years in global leadership experience in the financial services industry – and served previously as President of Standard & Poor’s (S&P) from 2004-2007 and at AllianceBernstein LP, where she served as Executive Vice President and CEO of the fixed income division.
A committed corporate, non-profit and civic leader, Ms. Corbet serves as a Lead Director and member of the board of directors of MassMutual Financial Group, as an Independent Director at TCP Capital and AxiomSL and as a Trustee for The Jackson Laboratory. She has served as a director/trustee for the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority and Pro Mujer International and Boston College, her alma mater.
In 2013, Ms. Corbet was elected to be a member of the Town of New Canaan, Connecticut's Town Council for a four-year term. She has also served on the Board of Finance in New Canaan, CT and the Investment Advisory Committee of the New York Community Trust
A graduate of Boston College and NYU’s Stern School of Business where she earned her MBA, Ms. Corbet is a frequent speaker/guest lecturer on women’s leadership and the financial services industry,
Will Cromwell, Elections
Susan Edmands, Outreach, Nominations
Susan B. Edmands has over 30 years of experience in many segments of the business research and market data industries. She is currently Managing Director at BST American LLC. She has built and managed practice groups covering several industries. She has developed training programs, implemented quality standards for client services, and managed a resource center that provided cutting edge tools and resources to serve 150 end-users that supported a 3000 client user base. She negotiated all contracts with information providers. She also served on acquisition teams to determine synergies with potential partners, built a model for continuity of business services, partnered to build successful outsourcing model for fulfilling business research. She has worked as project manager with financial institutions such as Lehman Brothers, Barclays Capital, Nomura, PwC, Vanguard, William Blair, Brandywine, RBS and Macquarie to provide them with entralization/optimization of market data contracts to realize cost savings, post acquisition resolution of bankruptcy cure practices, end user surveys to streamline content and service models, benchmarking, contract evaluation, implementation of market data management systems and vendor negotiations. Ms. Edmands is a former trustee and Vice President of both the Chemists' Club and the Societe de Chemie Industrielle. She is a member of the Software and Information Industry Association and its Financial Information Services Division, the Special Libraries Association and a former Director of the Fairfield County Chapter. She has served as trustee for Newtown Nursery School, Belmont Day School, Packer Collegiate Institute (where she also served as president of the PTA). She is currently a board member for Canaan Square Townhouses, volunteers at the New Canaan Library and with Staying Put in New Canaan. She is a member of the Democratic Town Committee and serves on the Outreach and Nominating committees.
Gerry Harrington
Gerry is a 35-year resident of New Canaan, is well known in town, having been a residential and commercial real estate agent for more than 30 years. Previously she worked in the real estate department of Cummings & Lockwood (a law firm), General Electric and Brookhaven National Laboratories. Her four children all attended New Canaan schools and have since graduated from college. Gerry is a graduate of the University of Connecticut with a B.A. in English, and is a former board member of the American Association of University Women. Currently she serves on the Board of Assessment Appeals and is a member of the Democratic Town Council.
Angela Jameson, Nominations
Elizabeth Jones, Nominations
- Lifelong New Canaan resident
- Former DTC chairwoman
- Town Councilwoman 2007-2011
- Selectwoman 2011-2017
- Cook at the ABC House
Betty J. Lovastik, Outreach/By-Laws/Fundraising
Nick Mitrakis, Nominations
Nicholas is a corporate finance executive with 19 years experience at large, global firms where he is and has been responsible for corporate finance & accounting, mergers & acquisitions as well as P&L responsibility. Nicholas is a graduate of Fordham University and has worked and lived in Germany, NYC, Dallas and London, UK and moved to New Canaan in 2010 with his wife Kristen and daughter Katherine where Katherine attends Saxe Middle School. He is an advisory board member of the Fordham University Alumni Association, he is on the board of Financial Executives International in NYC, an advisory board member of FinTech startup Cashforce, a member of the New Canaan Democratic Nominating Committee and a Constable in New Canaan. He previously served as a New Canaan Constable from 2011-2013.
Elizabeth Orteig
Liz was born in Brooklyn, raised in Queens, NYC, and lived in Manhattan for 20+ years. She moved to New Canaan, the hometown of her husband, Steve Orteig, 12 years ago. She has been a woodwork artisan and antique restorer for over 45 years. She began creating furniture at age 18 for design showrooms, namely Karl Springer; crafting pieces using exotic materials such as ivory, ebony and mother of pearl. She owned a business with her first husband employing three other workers. In 1982, she joined Sotheby’s woodworking department, for two years repairing important pieces from Louis XVI gilded chairs to a Ruhlmann desk. Since Sotheby’s, Liz has worked independently with various workrooms in Manhattan, including 11 Street and Broadway, Union Square and 14 Street and 6 Avenue. While operating her independent business, she studied Architecture at City College in Manhattan and obtained a five year B Arch degree. She worked for a while as an apprentice architect, keeping her business as a side job and after a year went back to it full-time. She continues to operate her own business in New Canaan and has restored some pieces for the Parks & Recreation Department at Waveny House. Liz has been a board member of the Beautification League since she moved to New Canaan, and was formerly a board member of the League of Women Voters. She is currently a member of the Democratic Town Committee. She has participated in the Women’s Paddle Tennis League and the Women’s Tennis for many years. She and her husband were town pool members when their daughter lived in town. Liz is fluent in French, Spanish and Italian a little and English.
Sandy Rama, Communications/Business
Graduated Rutgers University, 1977, BA Psychology. Graduated Marywood University, 1988, MBA. Sandy was employed as a computer programmer, analyst and manager for over 20 years, at several fortune 50 companies including Metropolitan Life Insurance, Nabisco Brands, Kraft Foods and Philip Morris International, where she Installed and supported financial software. She has lived in New Canaan for 22+ years. During these years, Sandy has volunteered at the NC High School; was the Boy's basketball liaison from 2009-2011; soccer and baseball parent coach; worked at the First Presybyterian pre-school for 10 years and worked for 1 year, at NC South Elementary School as the computer room assistant teacher.
Ram Sriram, Communications/Business
Ed Vollmer, Outreach
A 34-year resident of New Canaan, Edward Vollmer is a Constable for the town and has supported New Canaan through his membership on various town committees, including the Historical Review Committee, Democratic Town Committee. He also served on the Board of the New Canaan Historical Society. A U.S. Navy veteran, Ed has also worked as a New York State Parkways Police Officer. He is a graduate of the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. His varied career positions, included, Creative Director with a New York City advertising firm and in 1979 he cofounded a medical device company, Unimar, Inc.. Unimar was a specialized medical devices company which worked with physicians in the U.S. and Europe, helping to develop and marketing their device concepts for cancer screening and infertility.
