RUF works with a permanent staff plus a core team of committed volunteers who put in 4-10 hours/week.
The larger RUF team of volunteers counts up to 100 people at any given time. Over 400 volunteers have contributed to RUF over the years.
RUF Volunteers are supported by RUF's full time and part-time staff. We are super thankful to all our volunteers who make RUF: watch our volunteer thank you.
👉 While you're on this page, you might want to learn more about our open positions.
400+ RUF Volunteers
We are thankful to our volunteers all over the world who contributed to the over 200 projects and over 1,000 fundraisers in which RUF got involved since our inception. We may have lost count: if you don't see yourself below, will you please let us know? Thank you!
Mihai Lehene
Board of Directors
Founding Angel
Founder, Romanian United Foundation
Founder
Volunteer (full)
Teacher
Mihai is the Owner of MDL Investments, a real-estate and VC family-office with a focus on emerging technologies, including fintech, biotech and crypto. In 2020 Mihai resigned his business roles to run RUF, and in 2022 he was elected as President of FORA.
Simona Oarga assists taxpayers and small businesses with taxes in Chicago IL and the surrounding communities. Whether you are an individual or a local business in or around Chicago IL, Simona C. Oarga has years of valuable experience as an IRS registered
Monica Ferchi
Founding Angel
RUF Fundraiser & Founding Angel, Honorary Member of ROCO, the Romanian Community Center
Volunteer
Founder and CEO of TransUSA Exchange, a cultural exchange organization that specializes in placing international students and young professionals with industry leaders in the U.S.
Miruna Zamfirescu
Founding Angel
Founding Member, Reporting Officer, VP of Fundraising
Founding Member
Volunteer
Originally from Bistrita, Miruna earned her BA in Economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago and has built her career in the financial markets as an algorithmic trader/quantitative analyst.
Diana Gini serves as the GlobalRomania Director at RUF, where she is deeply committed to strengthening the Romanian diaspora community. She is also a Founding Angel and RUF Ambassador to Madrid for the organization.
Graduated from UIC, College of Business, with a degree in finance and works as a Digital Manager at Mainland. Fun facts: prefers a camera, unable to make a choice between hiking a mountain or walking in the sand, an incurable optimist.
Ciprian is the owner of Chicago Clean Home since 2013. The company was founded with a great desire to offer top-quality, detail-oriented cleaning services to home and business owners that aim at having not just cleaner spaces, but also healthier ones.
Oana is the Executive Director of ROCO. Prior to this role, she was one of the most active volunteers. She believes in the strength of our community, in doing good things, and in leaving something worthwhile behind.
Ligia Apostoaia
Board of Directors
Founding Angel
Secretary of the Board, CEO of MDL Investments
Founding Member
Volunteer
Teacher
Ligia’s charity involvement began at a very young age, helping her family foundation with the distribution of humanitarian aid to the families in need in the area immediately. Today she continues to do what she is most passionate about: doing good.
Cosmina has a Master Degree in Economics from University of Targu Mures. She is the RUF office wizard, handling all accounting and administrative issues. She moved to Chicago from Romania more than a decade ago and she is passionate about helping people.
Valentin Daraban
Founding Angel
Founding Angel, Ambassador of the Romanian Community Center of Chicago
Volunteer
Beatrice Radu is a business and life coach with expertise in management, community-building, and holistic practices like yogic astrology, empowering clients to align personal and professional goals.
Anamaria Neamt
Member
Founding Member, Word Whisperer (Newsletter), Supporter of the Romanian Community Center of Chicago
Founding Member
Volunteer
“Don’t Panic” (aka Douglas Adams’ version of today’s “stay calm”)
Born with an affinity for numbers and words in a family of educators. My journey: music school, writing club, math, economics, and, closing the circle, teaching. Going back to the roots se
Georgiana is bringing extensive experience in Communication & Marketing gained from her previous roles as a journalist in the biggest media trust in Romania and coordinator of international campaigns for well-established clients at Ogilvy and Grey G2.
Diana Muresan
Founding Angel
Founding Angel, Honorary Member of ROCO, the Romanian Community Center
Volunteer
Diana Muresan is Mortgage Banker with The Federal Savings Bank, member of the Chairman Club and currently creating the first Senior Housing Department at the TFSB. She has a master degree from DuPaul University, Kellstadt Graduate School of Business.
Flaviu is a serial entrepreneur who co-founded Troy Medicare and previously iMedicare, a Software-as-a-Service platform that 10,000+ pharmacies use to grow their business and care for each patient.
Full stack engineer working at Amazon/Alexa. Not long ago, breaking the cloud at AWS, building web services at scale to solve BigData problems. Mike lives in San Diego and chose to teach Math to be an inspiration for children, including his two daughters.
Simona Vasile
Board of Advisors
Founding Angel
Tax Principal and Global Mobility Expert | KPMG Culture Champion & Leadership Advocate
Volunteer
Simona is a Tax Principal in the Global Mobility Services (GMS). She is a KPMG Culture Champion, a member of the KPMG KNOW NYO Leadership Council, RomAmPro board member, and Ms. President US advisory board member.
Irina Nedeljkovic
Member
RUF Core Team Member, ROCO Events Team Coordinator, "Trips To Romania" Program Manager
Staff
I am a dedicated member of the Romanian United Foundation (RUF) Core Team, I'm serving as the "Trips to Romania" Program Manager. Born and raised in Romania, I immigrated to the United States in 2006 at the age of 23.
At RUF, I coordinate annual Trips to
Alexander Mihai Popovici is Chief Executive Officer and Chairman at Z-Terra Inc., a provider of state-of-the-art geophysical and geological technology, services and software for the oil and gas industry. He holds a Ph.D. in geophysics from Stanford Univ.
Originally from Romania, I relocated to the US in 2013 with a Bachelor's degree in Economics. Currently, I serve as the administrative expert at RUF, where I handle all accounting and administrative issues. I have a passion for teaching young children.
Monica Horga
Member
Founding Member, Ambassador of RoCo, Supporter of RoCo
Founding Member
Volunteer
MSW from Washington University in St. Louis, firm believer in the importance of building a strong Romanian community to enrich the lives of individuals, their families, and society as a whole. Currently volunteers as Founding Angels Liaison for RUF
