About Us

Board of Directors

Andra Munteanu, President
Anca Paunescu, Treasurer
Ramona Mateiu, Secretary
Diana Dumitru, VP of Education and Cultural Affairs
Liana Sava, VP of Economic and Public Relations
Oana Amaria, VP of Social Integration

Andra Munteanu, President
Andra Munteanu is the Romanian Cultural Exchange President and one of the founders. She has always been driven by a duty to service the community to which she belongs. Andra began by volunteering her time with the American nonprofit Global Volunteers in her Romanian home town, Barlad. Soon she became the assistant country manager, coordinating the activity of hundreds of American volunteers who cared for abandoned children and taught conversational English classes.

Andra's philanthropic journey didn't stop at the Romanian border. First, she lived in Ukraine for 3 months and she lead Global Volunteers teams in Dnepropetrovsk, working in a small town orphanage and teaching conversational English classes at the Technical University. Then, she moved to Chicago where, before long, she began to actively volunteer within the Romanian-American community. She served as Treasurer for the Round Table Society where she founded the first Romanian Film Festival of Chicago.

Her passion for diversity and cultural exploration as well as her hope for a more united Romanian-American community inspired her to embark on a new adventure along with some of her best friends and to creat the Romanian Cultural Exchange in 2009. Andra works as the Chief of Staff of the Senior Vice President of Global Marketing Solutions at Discover Financial Services and moonlights as a real estate investor. She has a Bachelor Degree in Law from Romania and a Masters Degree in Computer Information Systems from Northwestern University in Chicago.

Anca Paunescu, Treasurer
Anca is currently a Strategy Consultant with the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and the Treasurer of ROCX. In 2006, she came to the U.S. to pursue her MBA at the University of Notre Dame, Mendoza College of Business. While at Notre Dame, as the President of the Graduate Women in Business Club, Anca took an active role in the local community and led a Habitat for Humanity project in collaboration with Whirlpool Corporation.Since she completed her degree and worked as consultant for multiple Fortune 500 companies, Anca's interest to contribute to activities outside of her professional career became even greater. She moved to Chicago, where she found a unique group of Romanian women who became her friends, and together started a non-for-profit organization, ROCX, dedicated to promoting the Romanian culture locally.

Diana Dumitru, VP of Education and Cultural Affairs
Diana is a Director of Software Engineering with one of the leading software development companies in the electronic trading sector -Trading Technologies. In early 2009, Diana founded the first professional networking group for Romanians from the Greater Chicago area in an attempt to bring the community together and to support local networking. The group includes young students, academia as well as professionals from various industries and had become one of ROCX's more important media communication platforms.

In late 2009, Diana's passion for both the Romanian as well as American cultures prompted her to join friends and create ROCX, an organization which bridges and promotes two cultures that she is very thankful to have experienced. Diana has a Bachelor of Science degree in Theoretical Physics as well as an Masters of Science in Computer Sciences.

Liana Sava, VP of Economic and Public Relations
Liana Sava is currently an Analyst with Huron Consulting Group, in the Healthcare Practice specializing on Revenue Cycle. Previously, Liana was the Director of Research for the Mergers & Acquisitions division of Cook Associates, Inc. where she was responsible for generating prospect target lists and industry overviews to support the interests of private equity clients. Additionally, Liana managed the CEOVisions® research strategy including executive identification, market research, and marketing campaign execution. Liana graduated cum laude with her Bachelor in Business Administration from Loyola University Chicago majoring in Economics.

Originally from Romania, Liana served as a Scout Leader in the National Organization of Romanian Scouts. Continuing her passion for volunteering and non-profit organizations, Liana co-founded the Romanian Cultural Exchange Organization (ROCX). She is also a member of the Global Romanian Students and Young Professionals Organization (www.grspsociety.org).

Oana Amaria, VP of Social Integration
Oana Amaria is cross-cultural consultant with a specialization in workforce development and over 7 years of international development experience in developing countries such as Ghana, India, Mexico, Romania, and China. Oana has worked with various communities in implementing capacity building and revenue generating strategies, microfinace, and cooperative farming programs. She also conducted cultural integration & language training courses for Fortune 500 Companies in Beijing, China. Her exposure to such initiatives developed her passion for enabling cultural integration, education, and development.

Oana has a Bachelor of Science in International Business from North Park University, and a Master of Science in International Public Services from DePaul University. She is also a certified administrator of the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) and member of the Society for Intercultural Education Training and Research (SIETAR.) She is currently an adjunct professor at Illinois Institute of Technology, teaching “Effective Management of Human Resources in Environments of Scarce Resources” to international students in the Masters of Public Administrations program.

More importantly, her own personal experiences of the difficulty of immigrating to the United States developed her capacity to understand the value and need for a strong community network enabling individuals to succeed. Her research on “Developing Romania’s Workforce” was published in The Romanian Digest. Joining the Romanian Cultural Exchange Organization gave Oana the opportunity to meet like minded individuals that are willing to contribute to the Romanian community, in an effort to make a difference.

We could not accomplish our cultural and educational goals without the unwavering support of all of our enthusiastic members and volunteers. Our special thanks go to:

Anda Misin, Diana Ilut, Alexandra Dragomir, Raluca Topor, Casandra Rdzak, Andreea Stuparu, Mihaela Cordos, Eduard Livanu, Alexandra Gliga, Sabin Farcas, Alina Cumpan, Maria Minulescu, Andra Pintiliuc, Cian Quinn.