The Duluth Sister Cities International Board of Directors
Christy Rounds Executive Director
Christy Rounds is a 4th generation native of Two Harbors, MN, who returned to northern Minnesota after spending most of her adult life in Michigan, Colorado, California and western New York.
After graduating from Gustavus Adolphus College with a degree in International Relations with an Eastern European focus, Christy worked for an international cultural exchange organization called Friendship Ambassadors. During the Cold War, she traveled with American performing groups behind the Iron Curtain and organized tours for Eastern European artists performing in the U.S.
In December of 2022, she published her first book, Escape Bound, which is a travel memoir documenting an 18,000 mile road trip with her teenage daughter.
Christy loves running, mountain biking, cross country skiing, high altitude hikes, writing, playing piano, singing… and of course, traveling!
Terese Tomanek City Council Liaison
Terese Tomanek has been involved with Sister Cities for over 25 years, first serving as a chaperone for the youth delegation to O’Hara in 1996. She has been a member of the Vaxjo committee and traveled with that delegation in 2015. Terese is currently the mayor’s appointment to be the city liaison to DSCI.
Terese has been an At-Large City Councilor since 2020 when she was appointed to fill the seat of Barb Russ. She is the current Vice President of the Council. She serves on the ARDC, the AHC, the MIC, the mayor’s tourism task force, the mayor’s child care task force, and chairs the personnel committee of the Council. She has had several professions prior to serving on the council including chiropractor, ordained minister and chaplain.
Terese is committed to person to person diplomacy and values the contributions made to our city by Sister Cities. She is excited by the new leadership, enegy and plans of DSCI and is ready to help in any way she can.
Romesh Lakhan Board President
Romesh Lakhan was born and raised in Duluth MN. He graduated from the College of St. Scholastica and the University of MN School of Medicine and has been teaching high school and college science classes for over 18 years.
During this time he caught the travel bug from his parents, Jill and Koresh Lakhan, and has had to opportunity to chaperone a group of students to our sister city of Ohara-Isumi. He has served on boards of several organizations in the community and various committees at UMD.
Romesh is married with three children who generally consider him a bad influence because they too love to travel more than is fiscally prudent. In his spare time he enjoys reading, mountain biking, hiking, cooking, and ahem…traveling to new places and meeting new people.
Tim Velner Växjö Committee Chair
Tim moved to Duluth in 1976 from his childhood home in Minnetonka. He attended UMD and graduated with a BS degree in Biology and BS minor in Chemistry along with a teaching science license. Most of Tim’s adult life has been teaching in Duluth Public Schools including coaching the Duluth East Daredevils Robotics Team for 12 years.
Tim has a long history of working with Duluth Sister Cities. In the early 90’s Tim participated in a Russian/American bike exchange and has participated in numerous events with the Duluth East Robotics Team at Enger Park and the DECC. In 2017 the Duluth East Robotics Team helped start a team in our sister city Växjö, Sweden. The team competed in Duluth for three seasons before Covid hit the planet. Tim is now chairperson of the Växjö committee planning events between the two cities.
In a world where two or more people can video talk (Jetson style) in real time, makes the world so much smaller and more connected. Knowing each other and understanding one another is of paramount importance. Tim is committed to participating in a world of connectedness.
Some of Tim’s favorite activities are Traveling, camping, eclipse hunting, biking and pickleball.
Melissa Hepokoski Ohara Co-Chair
Melissa Hepokoski is a long-time resident of Duluth, Minnesota. While in high school, Melissa was active in Family Career and Community Leaders of America. In the summer of 1989, Melissa was awarded a scholarship to spend eight weeks in Japan through FCCLA and Youth for Understanding. During that summer in Tokyo, Melissa lived with a gracious host family who provided her with abundant opportunities to learn about Japanese culture. This enriching experience was a pivot-point in Melissa’s life, igniting her passion for learning about people all over the globe.
After graduating from high school, Melissa attended the University of Minnesota, Duluth (UMD). While attending UMD, Melissa participated in a nine-month study abroad program in Birmingham, England. In Europe, Melissa was able to participate in additional first-hand experiences that enhanced her studies in history, culture, and language. In 1995, Melissa graduated from UMD with a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations.
Later, Melissa decided to pursue a career in Education. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Superior in 2009 with a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education and in 2016 she completed a Master of Education degree through St. Mary’s University of Minnesota.
Mary Hoffman Ohara Co-Chair
Mary Hoffman was born and raised in Michigan. She attended Eastern Michigan University and Michigan State University before moving to upper Michigan as a special education consultant. Here she met and married her husband Dave Skolasinski. Before landing in Duluth in 1998, Mary worked as a case manager for Hmong hearing impaired in California and science and art teacher in Salt Lake City.
Dave and Mary came to Duluth with their two daughters and three sons. This began the adventure with DSCI when their son Lee went on a student delegation. In 2004, the family toured several Asian countries with homestays in Japan (with the family that hosted Lee), South Korea, Hong Kong, and China.
From 2007-2017 Mary was involved in “Rural School Initiative” which meant travel to a boarding school for 8-10 weeks each fall to work with Chinese teachers who taught English. Mary has also chaperoned Girl Scouts on trips to Ecuador, London, Mexico, France, and Switzerland and traveled to India to present workshops in the arts to young adults.
Dave and Mary have hosted many students from overseas. Some stayed a few days and others were here for a year. Our children always liked having a foreign student attend high school with them. Our family strongly believes in the benefits of travel to foster world understanding.
Cory Erickson
Cory Erickson was born and raised in Duluth, MN until he left to attend Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. After a number of years away he moved back to Duluth where he is now an Analyst at Minnesota Power with a focus on energy forecasting and the mining industry.
In his teenage years, he was a part of the Duluth-Växjö Soccer Exchange where he traveled to Sweden to play soccer. He quickly developed a bond with his host family that's lasted to this day and are now essentially family. In college he also volunteered as a U.S. citizenship test tutor for elderly Burmese refugees.
Cory is a track and field coach at Duluth East High School, an avid triathlete, and in his free time enjoys spending time with his dog, riding his motorcycle, traveling, trying new foods, and having new experiences.
Beth Fait
Beth has always been interested in learning about other countries and exchanges. In 1998 her husband came home from his side-job as a soccer coach and asked if we could host a player from Norway that was looking for a home. Spending a year hosting a student was a powerful experience and demonstrated the benefits of student exchanges first-hand. That student is now grown with his own family and career and Beth has now benefited from getting advice from him on how to improve systems here.
The soccer connection from Beth’s husband also led to participation with the Duluth Växjö Soccer Exchange with trips to Växjö and hosting players here in Duluth. After participating in a trip to Sweden in 2019, Beth took over as the president with the program being halted in 2020 due to the pandemic. Beth has been working with folks in Växjö to develop an exchange with teens that can get the program restarted.
Beth participated in a Duluth/Växjö city exchange in the summer of 2023 and found there were many opportunities for Duluth to learn from Växjö. Beth’s background is in healthcare, teaching, and public health. This fall she was able to set up an exchange where the health director from Kronoberg County where Växjö is located partnered with Beth to give a presentation to the St. Louis County health department about the pandemic response.
Leila Jindeel
Leila Jindeel was born in CA and moved to Duluth in 2011. She is currently a clinic dentist at the Lake Superior Community Health Center. She loves to play outdoors and to dance. Leila is excited to meet new friends and to foster relationships with Duluth’s sister cities.
Kremena Stoyanova
The majority of Kremena’s professional experience has been in the educational world and mostly in higher education. She holds an administrative position at the University of Minnesota Duluth, and in addition to that, Kremena teaches a couple of classes in order to stay connected to students and expand her perspective when working with instructors on her team.
Throughout her career, she has traveled extensively around the world to support cooperative internationalization efforts. Last year, she served as the President on the Duluth Sister Cities International Board whose mission of building bridges to global understanding strongly aligns with her vision. Kremena grew up in Bulgaria, so she speaks Bulgarian, Russian, and Serbian.
Her family regularly hosts international college age students and sees great benefits in these cultural and social exchanges. One of her inspirations is to create gourmet dishes with ingredients from locally sourced farms, so you can regularly find her at the Farmers' Market.
In her spare time, she enjoys reading, biking, walking on the beach, working in her art studio, and other creative activities that involve her family.
Shar Valentine
Shar Valentine MD has been a Duluth resident for 21 years. She’s a pediatrician at Essentia Health. Upon finishing residency training in Madison Wisconsin and moving to Duluth, her mentor’s sendoff included a six pack of beer and a book on ice fishing. While she hasn’t cracked that book, she appreciates the beauty of Lake Superior, the area’s mountain bike trails and the BWCA and loves to share it with visitors.
An avid traveler in her medical and military career, she and her partner, Pete, look forward to being delegates to our sister cities and opening up their home to visiting delegations. She looks forward to promoting the Sister Cities mission of peace by sparking local interest in our DSCI’s initiatives, especially with youth and families.