JoAnn Falletta, Multiple GRAMMY Award-winning conductor and Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic, and Lynn Marinelli, Director of Intergovernmental Relations at Empire State Development’s Western New York Office, have been appointed to the Daemen University Board of Trustees. The board voted unanimously to appoint Falletta and Marinelli during its Tuesday, March 11 quarterly meeting.
“We continue to fill our board with exceptional trustees whose commitment to academic excellence will continue to propel our university forward,” said John Yurtchuk, chairman of the Daemen board. “JoAnn’s and Lynn’s expertise and contributions to society will be an invaluable resource to our Daemen community.”
Falletta and Marinelli will each serve three-year terms, with the possibility of two additional terms. Daemen awarded Falletta with an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters in recognition of her tremendous accomplishments. Marinelli, a Daemen alum, was awarded the 2006 Distinguished Alumni award from Daemen, where she earned her BA in English.
Daemen’s board includes a number of prominent Buffalo leaders: Byron Brown, Buffalo’s longest-serving mayor and now President and CEO of Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corporation; Brian Higgins, former congressman and now CEO of Shea’s Performing Arts Center; Candace Johnson, President and CEO of Roswell Park Cancer Institute; Scott Bieler, President of West Herr Auto Group; and Thomas Reynolds, former congressman and now Senior Policy Advisor at Holland and Knight.