MINNesota-uruguay partners of the americas
Board of directors and past presidents
roger moon, president
roger moon is a retired professor who taught entomology and statistics to agriculture and veterinary medicine students at the university of minnesota from 1981 to 2016. his involvement with minnesota-uruguay partners began as a farmer-to-farmer volunteer in the early 1990s. he continued to serve the chapter as an officer, board member and previously has been president of the organization. he is looking forward to helping the chapter grow and develop new projects as member interests and opportunities arise.
kerry meagher, director and secretary
kerry and his spouse, deb, have made many trips to uruguay, where they had a vacation home in punta del este for over 15 years. they became acquainted with minnesota-uruguay partners when looking for tannat wine in minnesota. in 2020, kerry retired from his position as a senior underwriting counsel of first american title insurance company, and he joined the board in 2021.
roy lyford-pike, director and treasurer
roy was born montevideo, uruguay. he was educated in american universities where he obtained a masters in chemical engineering. roy is also fluent in portuguese, having lived in brazil for many years while working for the dupont company. he is currently retired and expects that his connections to uruguay can help the partnership achieve its full potential.
carman mills, director
carman mills is our newest board member. she has lived in montevideo, mn since 1970 when her parents moved to the city for teaching positions in the school district. she graduated from concordia college in moorhead, mn with a spanish and secondary education degree. currently, she is the executive director of the montevideo housing and redevelopment authority. she has one daughter, katie and one son-in-law, mitch who work in grand forks, nd. she likes to attend concerts, travel, knit and gather with friends and family. carman has been involved with montevideo fiesta days serving in a number of different roles within the organization since the mid-1990's. she is looking forward to working with minnesota uruguay partners and creating new relationships.
silvana brown, director
silvana grew up in montevideo, uruguay and moved to minnesota in 1997. she and her husband patrick live in minnetonka and have two boys attending college. silvana has nearly 20 years experience in the medical device industry, and previously held positions in international regulatory affairs at companies including novartis healthcare, covidien, and wright medical. she is currently the senior director for international market access at balt usa. silvana has an mba from the university of st. thomas, an ms in regulatory affairs from st. cloud state university and a ba in international business from universidad de la republica in uruguay.
graciela cuadrado-vielguth, director
graciela is the former export & marketing administration manager at me global inc. in minneapolis. she also served for many years on the board of midwest global trade association prior to her retirement in 2020. originally from uruguay, graciela enjoys cooking, sewing, and volunteering with different organizations.
gerard lagos, director
gerard lagos was born and raised in minnesota. he resides in saint paul with his superstar wife, jane, and has three wonderful children. he has worked for andersen corporation for the last 25 years and is currently in the engineering department. gerard was introduced to partners when he was just 12 years old. partners members assisted his family on their travel to uruguay where he attended school and developed a love for uruguay and soccer. he continues to work on connecting youth with the powerful life skills of sports like soccer.
rachel limon, director
rachel serves as the regional trade manager & protocol officer for latin america, the caribbean, and protocol for china at the minnesota trade office. she received her protocol certification from the protocol school of washington. she has organized and led several minnesota governor's trade missions to china, india, brazil, chile, united kingdom, and finland. she serves as an advisor to the board of study minnesota. rachel is an artist and devoted mother to her 12-year-old son.
kristine martin, director
kristine is the president of east side neighborhood services, a nonprofit human service agency that provides social and other services to individuals, families and the communities of primarily northeast and southeast minneapolis. their purpose is to assist people of all ages and backgrounds in realizing a higher quality of life. kristine has 30 years of working in public and nonprofit organizations, concentrating on social welfare, community development, and systems change. she has been involved with minnesota-uruguay partners since 1992. kristine has traveled worldwide and specifically worked on juvenile justice reform in uruguay.
sue vonbank, director
sue is a special projects coordinator at the minnesota department of agriculture. she initially became involved with partners through her experience as an international educator with the mast (minnesota agricultural study trainee) program at the university of minnesota, where she worked with uruguayan students and several faculty who were involved with partners. she grew up only 20 miles from montevideo (minnesota), and loves building connections with people from around the world.
chapter historian emeritus
gary kuhn
honorary advisory committee
darlene diesch
honorary board member
david pace