Christine & Rokas
Welcome to our website! You can follow all of our latest happenings on our “What’s New page”, or for those of you just getting to know us, you can learn a little about us below.
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Rokas on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, Fall 2009
Rokas Beresniovas, a leader in the DC business community, currently works as a vice president of business banking with Wells Fargo & Co.
Born in Kaunas, Lithuania, Rokas immigrated to the U.S. after graduating with a marketing degree from Kaunas College in 1999. He began his career in the retail industry, working as southwest regional distribution manager with Whole Foods Market in Dallas before being promoted to specialty operations manager in Washington, DC. During his tenure, he received two Regional Awards for Excellent Service. He also won several awards and boosted revenue working as the head of one of the largest DC stores in the CVS Caremark Corporation chain from 2004 to 2006.
His retail experience caught the attention of Bank of America, where he worked from 2006 to 2007. There he won the National Award of Excellence for top performance by guiding his office to one of the company’s top three regional performers.
In August of 2007 Eagle Bank came calling and named Rokas a vice president of business development for Washington DC market. In his position there, he helped grow the bank in double digits and brought in new key relationships with entertainment professionals, politicians, local schools and hospitals. This summer, Rokas expanded the breadth of his experience and the scope his community focus by accepting the position of vice president of business banking with Wells Fargo.
Giving back to the community is also important to Rokas, and in 2007 he joined the Georgetown Business Association. In 2009 was named its vice president — a title he will hold until 2011. Rokas also sits on the Board of Directors of the Georgetown Ministry Center, and the executive committee of the National Jewish Health Association, which does fundraising for the Kunsburg School, a program for children with chronic illness.
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Christine on the Nemunas River, Kaunas, Lithuania, Summer 2009
Christine Beresniova is currently a PhD Fellow in Education Policy and Anthropology at Indiana University. Her focus is on tolerance education in Lithuania.
Born in Denver, Colorado, Christine was trained in theatre arts from a young age and always thought that her future would be in acting. However, one night in college she was forced to choose between attending a “Teach-in” at Columbia University about the newly-begun war in Kosovo or a mandatory dress rehearsal for a play that she was in. While she went to the dress rehearsal, she changed her major to international affairs the next day. During her senior year, Christine studied abroad with the School for International Training in Berlin, Germany and Geneva, Switzerland.
After receiving a BA from Sarah Lawrence College in NY, Christine worked as an Americorps volunteer with the American Red Cross, during which time she served as a Disaster Services Team Leader for local disasters and the 9/11 Catastrophe in NYC. Following Americorps, Christine worked as an International Student Advisor for international students matriculating at various US institutions and also completed a Master’s degree in International Education at The George Washington University.
Realizing that her passion lay in research and teaching at the college level, Christine applied to the PhD program at Indiana University and was awarded a four-year fellowship to continue her Master’s research on anthropology and education policy in Lithuania and other post-Soviet states. Christine divides her time between Indiana, Washington, DC, and Lithuania.