Welcome our New Board and Advisory Board Members!

Band Together is fortunate to have  many talented and passionate people serving on our boards - willing to share their time. Each person brings a unique community perspective and a set of skills that will help us to achieve our goals in 2017 and beyond.Our current board consists of 19 business and community leaders. During their three-year term, board members’ responsibilities involve voting on important issues, committee involvement, recruiting and fundraising. Our advisory board has now grown to more than 50 business and community leaders. During their three-year term, advisory board members’ responsibilities include annual and long-term fundraising and giving feedback and advice to the Band Together Board of Directors.Welcome to our new leaders, and we thank them for their service and efforts to make the Triangle even better.Jodi Strenkowski, The Merrimon-Wynne HouseJodi joins our board and is originally from Ontario, Canada - by way of Florida, DC and Colorado. She's been in Raleigh since 2010 and she's a past Band Together donor, concert attendee and host for last year's Main Event recap party. She owns the Merrimon-Wynne House, Downtown Raleigh's premier wedding and special events venue.Jodi is a University of Florida graduate, where she majored in Business with a concentration in marketing and entrepreneurship and was also a student athlete (track and field and cross country). Since coming to Raleigh she's also supported Wake county Guardian Ad Litem, Read and Feed, and the Raleigh Rescue Mission, and she lives in Raleigh with her husband  and 18 month old son.Michael Anderson, Anderson Automotive GroupMichael joins our advisory board, and although he's been in Raleigh since 1987, he's originally from Asheville. Since January, 2014, he's served as president of Anderson Automotive Group and previously was the COO and VP of Sales and Marketing. He is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College, with a BA in Management Economics and he holds an MBA from Kennesaw State University.Active in our community, Michael was a sponsor of the Main Event the past two years and also supports the Thad and Alice Eure Walk for Hope, SafeChild and WakeMed Foundation. He lives in Raleigh with his two children, ages seven and four.Justin McDonie, Bridge BankJustin joins our advisory board and has lived in Raleigh for 7.5 years after moving from Arlington, VA. He is currently Managing Director, Life Sciences with Bridge Bank in Durham, and is responsible for originating banking and debt opportunities to VC-backed and publicly-traded life science companies throughout the Midwest, Southeast, Mid-Atlantic and New England. He's also a 2003 graduate of Hampden-Sydney College with a B.A. in Economics and Commerce.Prior to moving to Raleigh, he was a volunteer Wish Granter with Make-A-Wish Foundation of the Mid-Atlantic and also served on the Finance Committee for Habitat for Humanity of Northern Virginia. Since moving to Raleigh, his family has supported Habitat for Humanity of Durham, SAFEchild and United Way of the Greater Triangle, and they are active supporters of the Museum of Life and Science and Raleigh Moms Care.Justin met his wife in Krakow, Poland in 2002 while on a study abroad trip and they have two daughters, ages eight and five.Matt Illuzzi, icimoMatt joins our advisory board and is the Principle and Chief Operations Officer at icimo. He's been in the Triangle since 2007 when he relocated from New York City. He holds an accounting degree from Rutgers University.So far, Matt has sponsored Band Together previously and attended four Main Event shows as well as supporting events. He's the current VP of Finance & Treasurer of the AMA Triangle and the financial manager of the NC PRSA Board.  His company, icimo, has supported the Meg’s Smile foundation as the title sponsor for the past four years. Matt and his two daughters, ages nine and seven, live in Five Points in Raleigh.