President: Dr. Ron Dixon
Ron Dixon received a B.S. degree in Biological Science from Colorado State University. He taught science to junior and senior high school students for several years while earning a Masters degree from Florida Atlantic University. After graduation from the University of Florida's College of Dentistry, he taught dentistry to undergraduate students as an assistant professor.
He started the first comprehensive dental/oral surgery practice in St. Augustine and is the senior doctor in a multi-doctor practice. He is the co-founder of the St. Augustine Dental Society and has served as chairman/president of numerous professional and community organizations.
Ron has been going to Cuba regularly since 1992. He is a free lance journalist and has published several articles about the health care system in Cuba.
Ron serves as Chair of the Friendship Association Medical/Dental Committee.
Vice-President:Dr. Alberto Jones
Alberto Jones was born August 29, 1938 in Banes, Oriente, Cuba. He received a Masters degree after studying Environmental Heath Services at Hunter College, N.Y., Veterinary Pathology Internship at the University of Havana, Cuba, and Microbiology and Epizootiology of exotic diseases at the Karl Marx University, Leipzig, Germany.
Alberto is the owner and director of Ortho Medical Waste Management, Daytona Beach, Florida.
He is also the founder of The Caribbean American Children Foundation (Palm Coast, Florida) whose mission is "to promote better understanding among minorities and to reduce prejudice and misconceptions."
Secretary: Soledad Pagliuca,
Soldedad graduated from the Catholic University of America and did graduate studies at the University of Rome and the University of North Florida.
With her husband, Jo, she worked with farming cooperatives for 10 years in central Italy, then spent ten years in human rights efforts in Central America (U.N. High Commission for Refugees in Honduras, Peace Brigades in Guatemala, Quakers in Nicaragua). While Jo worked with the U.N. Development Program, Soledad taught at the University of Salerno. When they moved to the Philippines, she worked with a non-governmental organization that focused on the elimination of the exploitation of women in the international sex trade and other women's health issues.
Currently Soledad volunteers at a local women's shelter for victims of domestic violence. She also hosts a classical music program at the Flagler College Radio.
She is a founding member of the St. Augustine-Baracoa Friendship Association, and also serves on the Board of Directors of Balkan Sunflowers, a non-governmental organization working to create safe areas for children victims of war in the Balkans.
Soledad serves as Chair of the Friendship Association Delegations Committee
Treasurer: Jo McIntire
Jo McIntire spent the first 30 years of his life in Europe. He graduated from London University with a B.Sc. (Honors Degree) in Mechanical Engineering.
He worked with farming cooperatives for 10 years in central Italy, then spent ten years in human rights efforts in Central America (U.N. High Commission for Refugees in Honduras, Peace Brigades in Guatemala, Quakers in Nicaragua). From 1990 through 1994 he worked with the U.N. Development Programme, first in Rome and then in Manila, on a program designed to facilitate industrial exchanges between developing countries.
Jo serves as chair of the Friendship Association Communications/Outreach Committee.
Director: Catherine Brown
Cathy is a fifth generation Floridian and mother of two. She is a graduate of FSU School of Social Work.
She serves as Executive Director of the St. Johns Council on Aging of the United Way and on the boards of the St. Johns Housing Partnership, Salvation Army, and the Planning and Zoning Agency.
Director: Jim Raffini
Dr. James Raffini is Professor of Educational Psychology, Emeritus, at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater where he taught for 29 years and served as Chair of the Department of Educational Foundations. He received his bachelor's degree from Wisconsin State University, his master's degree from the University of Florida and his doctorate from Northern Illinois University. He has authored several books and articles for helping elementary and secondary school teachers deal with discipline and motivational problems in their classrooms. In 1995, Jim and his wife, Carol, took early retirements from their jobs in Wisconsin. They sold their home, cars, and furniture and moved aboard their 47 ft. sailboat, SEPTEMBER SONG, and spent the next five years living and cruising the Caribbean Islands from the Dominican Republic to Venezuela. Since they had always enjoyed St. Augustine from the water, they decided to move here permanently after selling their sailboat. They now have a home at Beachwalk on Vilano, and limit their cruising to the ICW and the Bahamas in their trawler, OCTOBER.
Director: Dr. Ivan Schulman
Dr. Schulman is Professor Emeritus of Spanish and Comparative Literature at the University of Illinois. He has published more than fifteen books and over a hundred essays. He has lectured at major universities in the United States, Latin America and Europe.
In addition to some thirty years of university teaching he has served as Chair and Head of Departments of Romance Languages and Spanish, and as Director of the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Florida. He held an endowed Chair (Graduate Research Professorship) at the University of Florida and was a Richard and Carole Cline Senior Scholar at the University of Illinois and at Jordan Davidson Distinguished Visiting Professor at Florida International University. He was the Distinguished Alumnus Lecturer for 2001 at UCLA.
At present, in addition to writing and lecturing on literary and educational subjects, he is the Coordinator of Cuban Programs for the University of Havana at the Institute for Study Abroad. He designed and currently oversees the first full year academic program for American undergraduates with direct enrollment at the University of Havana.
Ivan serves as Chair of the Friendship Association Education and Culture Committee.
Director: Len Weeks
Len is a nearly life long resident of the City of St. Augustine. He received a Bachelors and Masters degree from the University of Florida's College of Architecture, School of Building Construction. In 1977, he started a general contracting firm, Len Weeks Construction Design Development, specializing in historic preservation.
Len served on the St. Augustine City Commission from December 1994 through December 2000, and served as Mayor of St. Augustine from December 1995 until December 2000. During this time he was very involved with Sister City projects in Aviles and Menorca, Spain. He also made his first trip to Cuba during this time. Prior to becoming a City Commissioner, Len served on the City's Planning and Zoning Board, Vision Planning Project and Transportation and Parking Committee.
Len is a founding member of the Friendship Association and also serves on the boards of about a dozen other civic associations.
Len serves as Chair of the Friendship Association Historic Preservation Committee.