Anthony “Tony” Andreoli

Board Member

Anthony “Tony” Andreoli is a native of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and is extraordinarily proud of his Italian heritage. He is a cum laude graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He earned his Juris Doctorate from Villanova Law School, and is currently corporate counsel with a technology company that focuses on artificial intelligence.

Tony is also a member of the Italian Heritage Lodge in Fairfax. He fondly recalls pasta Sunday at his grandparents and is a steadfast advocate for the preservation of Italian culture and our ancestors’ legacies. He enjoys playing the drums, skiing, martial arts, and most importantly, spending time with his son, Michael. They reside in the Crystal City section of Arlington.

Julie Finigan Dal Forno

Board Member

Julie was born and raised in Massachusetts, and after completing her Master’s degree at Johns Hopkins, she moved to Rome, Italy for six years; Bangkok, Thailand for two years; and Singapore for five years. Julie has taught high school for over twenty-five years on three different continents and currently teaches at the Bullis School in Potomac, Maryland.

She has had a lifelong interest in Italian language, literature, and culture and is a member of the Italian Language Foundation (ILF) and Italians in D.C. Julie enjoys traveling to Italy each year and skiing whenever she can. Julie is married to Corrado and they have two sons, William and Nicholas, They reside in Potomac, Maryland.

Lucio D’Andrea

President Emeritus & Board Member

Lucio D’Andrea is a native of Roccamandolfi in the region of Molise. He immigrated to the United States in 1948 along with his brother Joseph and mother Candida to join his father, who lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Upon completion of his secondary school education, he enrolled at the Univeristy of Pittsburgh, graduating in 1957 with a bachelor of Science degree in Petroleum Engineering and a commission as Second Lieutenant in the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Following his military service, he moved to Wyoming to work for an oil company. He later accepted a position with the Federal Power Commission in Washington, DC. He served in a number of government agencies and in 1986 he accepted an appointment by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to serve as Senior Economic Officer with the Economic Commission of Europe (ECE) in Geneva, Switzerland, becoming deputy director of its Energy Division. He retired from the ECE in 1983 and entered private practice as an energy consultant.

During his long professional and military career, Lucio received numerous awards and recognitions. One which he is particularly proud of is the “Order of Merit of the Republic of Italy,” which he received in 1972 for his involvement with the Italian Cultural Society in promoting Italian culture in the Washington, DC area. He has maintained a steadfast commitment to the promotion and development of Italian culture, traditions and values. His pride in his heritage was demonstrated when he took the initiative to establish the Abruzzo and Molise Heritage Society of the Washington DC area. He remains active in the Italian-American community by also being a member of the Order of the Sons of Italy and the National Italian American Foundation.  Continuing his commitment to the promotion of Italian culture, Lucio established the Italian Heritage Society of St. Mary of Sorrows in Fairfax, Virginia, and the Italian Heritage and Cultural Society at the Church of the Nativity in Burke, VA.

Lucio is married to Edvige (Pitassi) D’Andrea, a native of Pacentro, in Abruzzo. They have six children and eight grandchildren. Lucio and Edvige reside at The Westminster at Lake Ridge, where they enjoy an volunteer in the local community, teach Italian language to the residents, and overall enjoy an active social life. Lucio is a member of the AMHS Scholarship Committee.

Maria D’Andrea-Yothers

Board Member

Maria D’Andrea-Yothers is a second-generation Italian American. Her mother and father were both born in Italy, her mother Edvige in the region of Abruzzo, her father Lucio in the region of Molise. They immigrated to the United States in 1949, after World War II, and met in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, where they were married before moving to the Washington, D.C. area. Maria was raised with her four sisters and one brother in northern Virginia. Maria has spent over 20 years promoting and working with the Italian-American community in the Washington, D.C. area, mainly as an officer and past president of the Abruzzo Molise Heritage Society, which was co-founded by her father in 2000.

Maria is Director of the Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) at the U.S. Department of Commerce. She manages a team of 12 International trade specialists, international economists, and business and industry specialists. She is responsible for administering the U.S. textile trade program, and she has been involved in the negotiation of several top trade priorities including special safeguards against China and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. She is considered an expert in the field of domestic and international policy issues related to textiles and apparel. Her advice is sought by industry stakeholders, as well as by U.S and foreign government representatives. Prior to joining OTEXA in 1992, Maria worked on textile and clothing trade issues as a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland.

Maria is married to Sam Yothers and has two stepdaughters, Lauren & Mara (John) and one granddaughter, Lillie. She and her husband enjoy all types of outdoor activities, especially hiking, camping, and cycling.  She is looking forward to her retirement from federal service in December 2024.

Ray LaVerghetta

Board Member, Immediate Past President

Ray LaVerghetta is a second-generation Italian-American born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. His paternal grandparents were born and grew up in Vasto, in the province of Chieti, in Abruzzo. His maternal grandfather was also born and raised in Vasto, Abruzzo, while his maternal grandmother called home Pizzone, a small mountain town originally part of Abruzzo but incorporated into Molise, province of Isernia, in 1861.

Ray graduated from Loyola University in Maryland and went on to earn a Ph.D. in Linguistics at Georgetown University. He divided his career between academia and government. In the academic world, he taught at Georgetown University, Loyola University, the U.S. Naval Academy, the Community Colleges of Baltimore County, and Howard Community College. In government, he worked as a linguist and analyst, focusing on linguistic issues of interest to multiple government agencies. He retired in 2013 and is now working as an adjunct professor at Howard Community College. In his spare time, he is working on a language documentation project targeting one of the latin-derived languages that was spoken in Italy (and still is by older residents) prior to the dominance of Italian.

Ray is married to Michele and they have two daughters, Gabriella and Maria. He is the Immediate Past President of AMHS and Chair of its Scholarship Committee.

Mark Lino

Board Member

Mark Lino’s paternal family is from Avellino in the Campania region of Italy. He has been a member of the AMHS for about 15 years and is looking forward to serving on the Society’s board. Mark was born in East Boston, Massachusetts and holds degrees from Boston College (B.S.) and Cornell University (Ph.D.). For the past 33 years, he has been employed as an economist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture where he works on food policy and programs. Outside of work, he enjoys reading mysteries and wine tasting.

Julia Paola

Board Member

Julia Paola is originally from Annapolis, MD and will be graduating this Spring from The George Washington University with a Bachelors’ Degree in International Affairs and Political Science with concentrations in International Politics and Europe and Eurasia. She is also obtaining a minor in Italian Literature and Language and has served as the president of GW’s Societa’ di Cultura Italiana since May 2020. She was an AMHS scholarship recipient in 2019 and served as a temporary intern for the Society. Her paternal grandparents are Torinese and Calabrese, and she has been fortunate enough to visit her family in Torino and study abroad in Italy. During the 2020-2021 school year, she worked as a teaching aid for Italian virtually at her former high school. Currently, she interns for a non-profit in DC promoting family diplomacy and hopes for a career in immigration, refugee studies, or international diplomacy. Following graduation in the Spring, Julia intends on staying in DC to attend graduate school for her MA in International Relations or begin a full-time job. She loves her rescue dogs back home, her ever-expanding collection of plants, and despite having Celiac disease, has a great love for Italian food and culture.

Teresa Margaret Talierco

Board Member

Teresa was born in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, on April 15, 1951. Her paternal grandfather, Giovanni Taliercio, had emigrated from the island of Ischia in the Bay of Naples and her paternal grandmother, Olivia Nerone, had emigrated from the city of Naples.

Teresa graduated from Coatesville High School in 1969 and received a full scholarship to attend Trinity College (now University) in Washington, D.C. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology in 1973, and then she earned a Master of Arts degree in sociology from Loyola University in Baltimore in 1975. After graduation, she moved to Falls Church, Virginia, where she was employed as a Licensed Professional Counselor by the Dominion Psychiatric Hospital.

In July 1982, she joined the Avanti Italiani Lodge in Alexandria, Virginia. It was associated with the Order of the Sons (and now Daughters) of Italy in America. She served as the lodge treasurer from 1983 to 1984 when she was elected president. She served two years until July 4, 1986, when she married Joseph Scafetta Jr. They honeymooned in Italy, visiting both her family in Rome and Ischia and her husband’s family in Rome and Abruzzo. After their marriage, because the lodge was for singles only, Teresa and her husband transferred to the George Washington Lodge in Arlington, Virginia. She was elected vice president in 1991 and served for two years until she was elected president, serving from 1993 to 1995.

When their son, Joseph Anthony Scafetta III, was born on October 28, 1998, in Washington, D.C., Teresa resigned from the Dominion Psychiatric Hospital and started a private practice in McLean, Virginia, specializing in counseling teenagers, young adults, and families with young children.

When the George Washington Lodge was dissolved, Teresa and her husband transferred their memberships to the Italian Heritage Lodge in Fairfax, Virginia, where they remain active. Teresa, her husband, and their son last visited their families in Italy in 2002. After her husband became a member of the Abruzzo Molise Heritage Society (AMHS) in 2008, Teresa and their son joined later. Teresa has been active in AMHS events and activities.