Board of Directors

The members of our Ridgefield Symphony Youth Orchestra Board of Directors hail from many locales and embrace many areas of talent and expertise. We are fortunate to have each of them helping behind the scenes to guide our organization. Below is a bit of background to help you get to know them.

Gina Wilson Co-Founder RSYO
Gina is a 15 year resident of Ridgefield . She and her husband have a daughter and a son, ages 18 and 16. Gina received her law degree in 1986. She is a life-long pianist and performs regularly with musical groups in and around Ridgefield .

Carrie A. Moore Co-Founder RSYO
Carrie received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Pratt Institute in 1981 and a Masters of Fine Arts from Columbia University in 1985. She has worked as an artist the past 20 years. Carrie has lived in Ridgefield for 15 years and has three daughters.

Giustino Capodilupo
Giustino is an attorney whose law practice is located in Ridgefield . He has lived in Ridgefield 20 years and has two daughters, one who graduated from RHS in 2006 and another who will be a sophomore at RHS this coming year. He has been involved in the Ridgefield Community throughout his residency in Ridgefield , and has previously been on the Board of Directors for the Ridgefield Playhouse and Ridgefield Community Foundation.

Louis Haber
For the last seven years, Louis has served as a senior director in the Corporate Affairs department of The McGraw-Hill Companies, working closely with the corporation’s Chairman, President and CEO on issues relating to public affairs, government, marketing, media relations, and corporate philanthropy.  He also served as in-house producer of The McGraw-Hill Companies’ Young Artists Showcase on WQXR FM.  Louis recently accepted an offer by Marsh to be Senior Vice President, Knowledge Management, and he starts in his new position at the end of July.  In addition to his background in communications and marketing, Louis is an attorney as well as a former writer and editor for CBS News.

Laurie C. Kenagy
Laurie is a stay at home mother who has lived in Ridgefield for 4 years with her husband and two children, ages 13 and 10. She is involved in the community as the President of the East Ridge Middle School PTA and the Secretary and Treasurer of Ridgefield Little League Softball. Laurie is formerly an Investment Banker with an MBA Degree. Her daughter, Margot, has been a member of the Ridgefield Symphony Junior Orchestra since its inception.

Keitha Kinne
Keitha joined Citigroup Asset Management in 2004. She leads the business management effort for their Third Party Retail Business. Her career began at GE handling assignments in financial and systems management before joining the Corporate Audit Staff. 1990 took her to Kidder Peabody Asset Management and in 1999 she joined Prudential Investments to lead product management of its investment consulting programs. In addition to guiding the RSYO Keitha is a member of the advisory committee to the Investment Management Consultants Association. She lives in Redding with her partner Daniela Sikora.

Michael McNamara
Michael is from Providence, RI. He was a self taught guitarist until becoming a jazz performance major at Providence College, where he also majored in accounting. After a short stint in the business world, Michael extended his degree to include Music Education, with a concentration in instrumental conducting. He teaches guitar privately, and currently serves as the Ridgefield Middle School Orchestra Director. Many of Michael's students play in the Ridgefield Symphony Youth and Junior Orchestras. He has played in many jazz combos and big bands, as well as in two original rock bands. He continues to be an active performer.

Vincent Perry
Born and raised in Manchester , CT Vince’s lifelong love of music began with guitar lessons at the age of 8. His first profession was in the jewelry industry working in Buffalo/Rochester NY. Eventually he decided to relocate back to Connecticut to pursue his banking career. Through his work at Union Savings Bank he has been involved in many Ridgefield Community events. Based on his love of classical music and his business expertise he’s a natural to help guide the RSYO. Mr. Perry lives in Danbury with his wife Donna, son Mike and daughter, Jennifer (all musicians!)

Joseph Russo
Double Bassist Joe Russo is an alumnus of Juilliard and Yale. Joe has a busy private teaching schedule in the New York/Connecticut area and also freelances in the New York , New Jersey and Connecticut areas. He is currently the manager and Principal Bass of Orchestra New England based in the New Haven , Connecticut . Joe also performs with the Ridgefield Symphony , the Greenwich Symphony, the Hartford Symphony and the Springfield (MA) Symphony, among other orchestras. Other past activities include performing Principal Bass with the Opera Orchestra of Mexico, New York City Opera Touring Orchestra and various Broadway shows. As a composition student, Joe studied with Robert Starer and Vincent Persichetti (among others) at Juilliard and with Luther Noss at Yale. He has composed numerous chamber and orchestra works. Joe’s most recent composition is his Chamber Symphony (2004) which was premiered by Orchestra New England in New Haven on May 1, 2004 . Joe has held a number of orchestra administration positions. He was Executive Director of the Norwalk Youth Symphony in 2003. He has been Development Director of a number of NY and CT orchestras, including Orchestra New England. He is currently Executive Director of that organization. He has extensive experience in working with Board of Directors and in nonprofit fundraising activities.

Jacqueline Sifford
Bassoonist Jacqueline Sifford holds a Master of Music degree from the University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of South Carolina . Her teachers have included Dan Welcher, Harold Goltzer, and Ryohei Nakagawa. An active free-lance musician, Jackie has performed with a number of ensembles throughout the New York metropolitan area and more recently in Fairfield County . In addition, she has extensive experience playing opera, having been engaged by the Sarasota Opera, the Austin Lyric Opera, and the Columbia (S.C.) Lyric Opera. She has also participated in the Bowdin Music Festival, Music at Gretna Festival in Ohio and the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado .

Peter J. Simon
Peter is a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Financial Planner. He owns a tax and accounting firm (Peter J. Simon, CPA, CFP) and a registered investment advisory firm (PJS Financial Advisory Services, LLC) located in Ridgefield . Peter has over 20 years of public accounting experience in accounting and taxation and over 10 years experience in financial planning including investment, estate, retirement, and college planning. He has worked in Ridgefield for five years and in Fairfield County for over twelve years. He lives in South Salem, New York with his wife and daughter.