Endre Mészáros

Endre was born in Hungary; after receiving his degree in agronomy he studied management in the United States. He has worked in the field of international insurance for over twenty years; his professional career has given him the opportunity to live in seven different countries for varying lengths of time. His job brought him to New York in 2009 and here he started his family. He has been a member of the Arany János Hungarian School community since 2017 and has been a member of the school board since 2018. He has always been keenly interested in the process of cultivating an awareness of Hungarian identity; to the present day he remains in close contact with several Hungarian communities living in the Carpathian basin outside the borders of Hungary, and other communities in South America, in the Near East and in Western Europe. For these reasons, the Hungarian community in New York is important to him; his children, being raised in a mixed marriage, are active members of the community.

Zsuzsanna Móder

Ildikó Nagy

Ildi was born in Győr and has a degree in sociology from Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE). While living in Hungary she worked for the Institute of Political Science, Hungarian Academy of Sciences; in addition, she was the organizer of the jazz and folk music components of the Mediawave International Film and Music Festival. She has lived in the United States since 2009, has been director of the Hungarian House of New York from 2014 and currently is enrolled in the masters program in Nonprofit Management at Columbia University. She has been involved with Hungarian folkdance and folk music for over twenty-five years. She is the leader of the Délibáb Folk Dance Ensemble in New York and regularly organizes folklore events for adults and children. Since 2014 she has led the Bóbita Mommy-and-me playgroup and since 2016 also has taught the folkdance component of the curriculum of the Arany János Hungarian School. She has been a member of the school board since 2018, with her main areas of responsibility being organization of community events and grant writing.

Ildi Sebestyén 

Ildi was born in Szeged, Hungary, living there until the completion of her Master of Science degree in Biology from the University of Szeged, in 2005. After living and working in Spain and Denmark, she moved to New York in 2009. In 2013 she became a certified birth doula and childbirth educator and while living in Seattle between 2014 and 2018 she was a volunteer with the Hungarian School of Washington and the Istvan Fekete Hungarian Scouts of Seattle. After moving back to New York, Ildi joined the leadership team of Arany Janos Hungarian School in 2021 to primarily help with the school’s online presence, website and other promotional tasks. As a Hungarian living abroad, Ildi finds it important to preserve Hungarian culture, history, language, and traditions. With her British husband, she manages to raise her children bilingually, which she believes the Hungarian School has greatly contributed and helped.

Zsuzsanna Szalai

Zsuzsanna was born in Budapest and completed her studies in Latin/Hungarian language and literature at the School of Liberal Arts, University of Debrecen. She has lived in the United States since 2000; she received her masters in computer science in 2012 from Queens College, CUNY, and worked for the Morgan Library and Museum. From 2015 she has been employed at the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation as grant manager. She has been a member of the Arany János Hungarian School community since 2016 and has been a member of the school board since 2018, where her primary area of responsibility has been to plan the program curriculum and school communications as well as other tasks related to administrative planning.

Zoltan Windisch

Zoltán was born in Budapest into a large family with seven siblings. A dedicated Boy Scout since 1989, he developed a deep appreciation for education and a love for Hungarian culture. He graduated from the Technical University of Budapest with a degree in Computer Science. Starting his career in telecommunications, Zoltan transitioned into the financial services sector. Having lived in the U.S. since 2016, he became an active member of the Arany János Hungarian School community in 2022 and joined the Board in 2024.

Réka Windisch-Mihala

Réka grew up in Kecskemét, Hungary, where she inherited a love for education from her mother, a teacher. She graduated from Corvinus University with a Master’s in International Relations. Réka worked as a global leader in procurement for a multinational company. A devoted mother of two girls, she has been living in the U.S. since 2016. She joined Bobita in 2022, became an active member of the school community, and joined the Board in 2024.