{ BOARD OF DIRECTORS }

A commercial trial lawyer for more than 40 years, Rob is also a philosophy professor and journalist, who splits his time between Chicago and Honeoye, NY.  During the pandemic, he has continued his teaching in the U.S. and, virtually, abroad, in India, China, and Vietnam.  Starting in the spring of 2022, he will be teaching philosophy at St. Bonaventure University.  He and his wife, Susan, a retired high school history teacher and Holocaust scholar, are enthusiastic patrons of the arts.  In addition to being a board member at FLO, Rob serves on the boards of Chicago Opera Theater and the University of Chicago’s Court Theater and has a weekly radio show on classical music and opera on student radio.

Rose-Marie Klipstein has been a community volunteer in Rochester for over 45 years, serving on boards of schools, libraries, and the arts, including The Norman Howard School, Literacy Volunteers, Brighton Memorial Library, Friends of Eastman Opera, among others. She taught at Nazareth College and maintained a private practice tutoring learning disabled adolescents while raising three sons with her late husband, Dr. Frederick Klipstein.

Bliss has over 40 years of experience as a CPA assisting businesses with accounting, taxation, and succession planning. She currently is employed at Gray Locey CPA, PLLC. In addition to her Board position with Finger Lakes Opera, she is a Trustee and Assistant Treasurer of the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester, Board Member of the Corporation for the Relief of Widows and Children of the Clergymen of the Episcopal Church and Board Member of the Estate Planning Council. Recently she served for 6 years as a Board Member and Treasurer of the Urban Choice Charter School. She also served for many years on the various Boards of Episcopal Senior Life Communities.

Helen Zamboni, a lifelong lover of opera, is one of the founding members of the Board of Directors of Finger Lakes Opera, Inc. She grew up in the New York City metropolitan area and went to her first performance at the “old” Metropolitan Opera House on her eighth birthday. Helen has served on the Board of Trustees of Geva Theatre Center, a regional theater in Rochester, New York, and the Board of Directors of the YMCA of Greater Rochester (Board Chair 1999-2001) and remains an active volunteer of both organizations. In her professional life, Helen is Senior Counsel at the Rochester, New York, law firm of Underberg & Kessler LLP, concentrating in the corporate, real estate and health care practice areas of law.

Christopher Dahl is President Emeritus and retired Professor of English at SUNY Geneseo. A life-long choral singer and opera lover, he helped Gerard Floriano found Finger Lakes Opera at Geneseo in 2012. He achieved the pinnacle of his operatic career, however, in the 1980s, when he appeared as an extra in several Metropolitan Opera productions in Detroit, back when the Met still toured. He has served on or chaired a variety of Rochester-area and national boards including those of the Rochester Area Colleges, the Allendale-Columbia School, the Center for Governmental Research, and the Association of American Colleges and Universities.

An operatic soprano by trade - performing in the Rochester area as Gwen Paker, soprano - fundraising professional Gwen Green is a systems-thinker and gregarious socializer, merging a data-driven approach to fundraising while building heartfelt, genuine relationships with donors of all types. She is the Director of Development at The Hochstein School, where she also enjoys teaching singing lessons as a member of the Voice Faculty. Gwen received her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Voice Performance from the Eastman School of Music, where she also earned a Certificate in Arts Leadership from Eastman's Institute for Music Leadership. In all of her work as a performer, teacher, and arts administrator, Gwen supports diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and is a strong advocate for increased equity and justice in opera, music education, and beyond.

Marion Swett Robinson is a financial services professional at Atrevida Partners, an investment advisor and hedge fund manager located in Rye, NY. Her business career spans a number of global financial institutions, including Bankers Trust Company, Deutsche Bank and Nomura Securities. In addition to her role on Finger Lakes Opera's board, she also serves on the Mesa Verde Foundation, a non-profit philanthropic partner to Mesa Verde National Park. Her interests include classical music, travel, and western plein air art. As a child, she studied music (piano, drum, theory, sight reading) at the Eastman School of Music. She has a BA from Wellesley College and an MA and MBA from Stanford Business School. 

Sharon Salluzzo is a retired children’s librarian and a member of The Genesee

Storytellers, a professional storytelling troupe. She is a Trustee of the

Rochester Public Library, and of the Reynolds Library Board. Sharon is a past

board member of The Friends & Foundation of the Rochester Public Library,

and the Susan B. Anthony Museum & House, as well as the author of the book

“Opening Doors for Women: A History of the Susan B. Anthony House – A

National Historic Landmark.” She and her husband, Ron, are delighted to live

in the greater Rochester area.

​Margaret A. Sánchez is Principal of Sánchez & Associates; a Rochester-based, organization development consulting firm. Her experience includes senior management roles in both the private and not-for-profit sectors and as adjunct faculty member at both the university and community college levels. Her expertise includes organizational culture change, strategic planning, diversity initiatives, leadership development, assessment and research, and group facilitation processes.

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She currently resides in Rochester, NY, where she dedicates significant time and energy in volunteer activities and has served in volunteer leadership roles for the Rochester Area Community Foundation, the American Red Cross-Greater Rochester Chapter, the Al Sigl Foundation, and Literacy Volunteers of Rochester. In addition to Finger Lakes Opera, she currently serves on the board of PathStone Foundation and Action for a Better Community.

Crystal Sellers Battle, DMA (she/her) is the inaugural associate dean of equity and inclusion at Eastman School of Music of The University of Rochester. She previously served as the Dean of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer at Juniata College in Huntingdon, PA before coming to Eastman in June 2022. In her role, Crystal works to advance programs and policies that promote mindsets and behaviors that value and support equity, diversity, and inclusion. She co-founded DIEMA (Diversity, Inclusion and Equity in Musical Arts) Consulting Group LLC, to help schools of music address DEI related challenges and initiatives. She is a sought-after speaker and consultant related to DEI efforts in classical music organizations, higher education institutions, religious institutions, and K-12 music programs. Crystal holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in voice performance with a specialization in Singing Health from The Ohio State University and a Bachelor of Music from Bowling Green State University, a Master of Music degree from Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University and a Postgraduate Diploma from Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, UK.