GOVERNANCE

Literally hundreds of volunteers move the work of FRUA forward.  As an all-volunteer organization, FRUA has no paid staff and functions under the governance of a National Board of Directors.

That national board includes four elected officer positions (Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary and Treasurer) serving for two-year terms of office, and board-level chair appointees who are nominated and approved by the board of directors, also for two-year terms.

These national officers and board-level committee chairs are supported by regional chapter leaders, whose leadership is also elected/affirmed for two-year chapter leadership terms. In areas where there is no official chapter, loosely-organized FRUA groups operate as "parent organized development areas (PODs). In areas wehre there is no organization, FRUA membgers join as un-affiliated members of the national organization

As a 501(c)(3) national non-profit organization, FRUA's fiscal year runs from July 1 through June 30. Individual FRUA chapters, which may or may not have state 501(c)(3) designations, may have varying fiscal reporting years.

While our national incorporation is in Washington, DC, our National Board is spread across the United States from the east coast to the west coast, with stops in between. The Board meets eight-ten times per year, only once in person for the FRUA Annual Meeting, typically in July or early August, and via conference call for other meetings.

Board of Directors

The following volunteers fill national board roles for fiscal 2012-14:

Chairman, Sue Gainor:
Chair@frua.org

Acting National Chair, Vice Chair, Jan Wondra:
Vicechair@frua.org

Treasurer, Vacant

Treasurer@frua.org

Secretary, Cindy Anders:
Secretary@frua.org

Advocacy and Outreach: Terry Mandeville
Outreach@frua.org

Education: Felicia Fago, PhD.
Education@frua.org

Regional Liaison: Open
Chapters@frua.org

Technology Chair, Kris Steinwender:

Technology@frua.org

Publications Editor, Marjorie Green:
Familyfocus@frua.org

Orphan Support, Open
Orphansupport@frua.org

 
Board backgrounds

Chairman: Sue Gainor

Chiar@frua.org

As FRUA National Chairman, Sue is a federal government employee specializing in foreign affairs in the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, where Her work has focused on security cooperation activities with U.S. allies and partners.  Ms. Gainor is currently on sabbatical while pursuing a graduate degree in national defense and resourcing strategy at the National Defense University. Sue joined FRUA's board in July 2004 when she became Editor-in-Chief of The Family Focus©. She previously served as a contributing writer for The Family Focus©. Past volunteer work includes serving on the Board of Directors of an international school, fund-raising work for a national women's organization, participation in a several service organizations, and writing articles in several magazines, newspapers, and newsletters.

Sue and her husband, Scott Murdock, reside in Virginia and are the parents of two school-age sons, one of whom they adopted from Russia in 2001.


Acting National Chair, Vice Chair: Jan Wondra

Vicechair@frua.org

As FRUA Vice Chair, and FRUA Acting National Chair, Jan is a marketing expert, brand strategist and writer. As a VP of Marketing, Chief Marketing Officer in Fortune 500 global companies, her background includes strategic communications work on financial services, telecom, energy, consumer goods, transportation and with Silicon Valley technology start-ups, and entreprenuer assignments as her own marketing firm. 

Jan has been a FRUA member since 1994, helping to found FRUA Wisconsin, the second national FRUA chapter.  She and her husband founded the FRUA Colorado chapter in 1997 when they returned to the Denver area. she served as its Chair before seving as the FRUA National Regional Liaison from 2005-2008.  She has led several FRUA national initiatives, including serving on the national media task force, chairing the FRUA Love Letters campaign, starting the FRUA Coffee & Tea for Orphan Support Program, and spearheading the FRUA website redesign and new media project.

Jan and her husband, Mel, reside in Denver, Colorado, and are parents of two children: a bio son, currently attending graduate school in the Washington DC area, and a daughter, adopted from Russia in 1994, now a college student at Colorado State University.

Treasurer: Open position

Treasurer@frua.org

Secretary: Cindy Anders

Secretary@frua.org

Advocacy and Outreach Chair: Terry Mandeville

Outreach@frua.org

Education Chair

Felicia Fago, PhD

Education@frua.org

FRUA Education Chair, is Educational Services Director for Positive Education Program (PEP) in Cleveland, Ohio. PEP's is the largest non-profit child-serving agency in Cleveland, serving over 1,000 children and families thorugh school and community-based mental health programs.  She developed its Intervention-Based Bibliotherapy Curriculum, a specialized curriculum that combines social-emotional objectives and English/Language Arts academic content objectives into a literacy-based instructional intervention. She holds a bachelor's degree in education and reading from Ashland College and a master's degree in special education from Kent State University.  Felicia completed her  doctoral at Case Western Reserve University, conducting research on children adopted from Russia and Ukraine in academic, behavioral, and social-emotional performance. 

An expert on the academic impact of prenatal alcohol exposure, Felicia has advocated in Washington, D.C. in partnership with the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. She has spoken locally and nationally on this issue, as well as the issues of children who have been institutionalized. In her work and research, she continues to develop innovative programming for children with complex needs.

Felicia lives in Brunswick, Ohio, with her two school-age daughters, adopted from Khabarovsk, Russia, and  Lviv, Ukraine.

Regional Liaison: Open       

Chapters@frua.org

Technology Chair

Kris Steinwender

Technology@frua.org

Kris has served for the past year on the FRUA National Technology Committee, taking an active role in the growth of FRUA Facebook and the launch of the FRUA members-only chat room. Kris is a 20 year veteran of the IT industry. After starting an Internet company as a teenager, he soon advanced into systems and network management roles. His current responsibilities include social media trending and analytics for a Fortune 100 technology company. He enjoys the adventure of spending time in web systems development and integration; including custom computer builds, home & network automation, and photography.

Kris and his wife, Meghan adopted their toddler son, Zachary, in 2011 from Borovichi, Russia. The Steinwender family are active members of the FRUA Central/Southern New Jersey chapter and joined FRUA several months before traveling to Russia to adopt their son. Kris's contributions to FRUA will be to assure clarity around its Facebook, Twitter, and other new media presences, as well as the FRUA.org Website, chat room and other technical aspects of the organization.

Editor, The Family Focus
Marjorie Green

familyfocus@frua.org

Marjorie serves as editor-in-chief of The Family Focus©, FRUA’s periodic membership journal, The Family Focus. She is a former newspaper and magazine writer and editor, with more than 20 years of experience in those areas and in public affairs offices. Marjorie became The Family Focus© editor-in-chief in July 2008, after serving on the National Board for three years as Education Chair. In that capacity, she planned and oversaw two, highly successful FRUA National Education confernces.

Marjorie and her husband, Bob, live in Arlington, Virginia, with their twin girls, whom they adopted from the Rostov-on-Don region of Russia in 1997 and who are now in high school.


Orphan Support Chair: Open

Orhpansupport@frua.org