Board of Directors

2023-2024

Patrick Gainsforth was born and raised in Rome to American and Irish parents. He lived in San Francisco from 2016 to 2021 and has travelled extensively.
With an education in IT and software, Patrick has worked in the hospitality and restaurant industry for over 15 years, currently holding the position of Director of Operations for a restaurant company. His knowlege in IT systems and marketing contributes to his effectiveness in this role.
Outside of work, Patrick is involved in organizing cultural events and volunteering initiatives through various associations. His personal interests include sports, history, cooking, and enology.

Experienced graphic designer and video producer with a passion for documentary filmmaking. For the past decade, I have worked as a video editor, producer, and graphic designer in the Middle East, the U.S, and Italy. she has developed branding solutions for companies, creating digital media assets, for international televisions, movies, websites, and social media.

Cristina Posa has been living in Rome since 2021, and previously from 2014 to 2019, when she served as the Department of Justice Attaché at the US Embassy in Rome after a career as a US federal prosecutor and private lawyer in New York. While at the Embassy, Cristina was responsible for criminal justice cooperation between the US and Italy, including extraditions and transnational crime investigations. Since then, Cristina has continued to work in an international legal capacity as a legal director at Amazon and then Meta. Cristina regularly engages in public speaking and university guest lectures on cybercrime and digital investigations. The daughter of Italian immigrants, Cristina is a native Pittsburgher and speaks Italian, French and Spanish. She graduated from Harvard Law School and Johns Hopkins University. In her spare time, you can find her on an art or history walking tour of Rome, taking the train to a far-flung corner of Italy, exploring the food scene with friends…or at an American Club of Rome event!

Stela Taneva was born in Bulgaria. She has been living in Italy for almost 30 years. The first ten years she lived in Milan where she graduated in psychology at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Milan. She continued her studies in Rome where she specialized in strategic psychotherapy. She continued her training with Ericksonian hypnosis, sexology, legal psychology and effective communication techniques. She manages group activities for the prevention of burnout for health professionals, psychological support and grief counseling at the "S. Maria Goretti" Hospital in Latina at the Organ donation coordination UOCs, Emergency room, Neurology, Reanimation and Intensive Care. She also works as a freelancer with clinical activities, psychotherapy, training and counseling. She commits herself with passion to create events dedicated to personal development and the improvement of quality of conscious life. She is interested in books (she reads over 200 books a year with different genres), art, music and travel.

She is a member of the American International Club of Rome for several years and she is part of other international communities. She has two citizenships. She speaks English fluently. She aims to organize cultural activities for the club, events dedicated to socialization with the opportunity to make short trips outside Rome, to create contacts with other international communities in Rome and to share each other's events in order to enrich the culture, exchange knowledge and increase awareness of the members.

For more information on Stela Taneva, please follow the link: www.stelataneva.it

Scotti Rhodes is proud to be living in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. She has been fortunate to be able to continue her work for her New York theater clients since moving to Rome over thirteen years ago. Although her clients are primarily actors and playwrights she has also worked with international artists over the years including an engagement with a Rome based dance company known as Compagnia di Danza Vera Stasi which introduced her to the Eternal City. She has been a publicist for award winning New York productions and worked independently for playwrights such as Murray Schisgal, Dale Wasserman and Oscar winner Alan Ball. She holds a BA in Dramatic Arts from the University of California Berkeley. Having grown up in Los Angeles with family in the film industry she retains a passion for American cinema and is also an enthusiast of art, music, fashion, travel and yoga. She has dual citizenship (US/Italy) and has been on the ACR Board since 2009.

Robert Sonnabend comes from an international business background. He held VP of Marketing & Sales positions for US-based technology businesses, and was the Principal and Managing Director of a UK-based training and consulting company. He developed manufacturing and distribution channels in China and India, including factories in Tianjin, China and Bangalore, India, for mid-size computers and software. He has also worked with businesses in Japan, the UK, France and The Netherlands, as well as extensively throughout the US and the Americas.

Currently, he teaches courses in marketing, management, and communications at The American University of Rome, and the Rome Business School.

Owner of Edilizia Rosazza Srl a company specialized in residential and commercial property management.