Debora McDell-Hernandez

Coordinator of Community Programs and Outreach - Memorial Art Gallery

McDell-Hernandez joined the Gallery in 2001 and holds a B.A. in International Studies from St. John Fisher College. Prior to coming to the Memorial Art Gallery, McDell-Hernandez worked for The Chase Manhattan Bank in Rochester, New York and worked as Community Relations Coordinator in Corporate Communications for five years and a Sales Officer in Retail Sales for three years.

As Membership Manager at the Memorial Art Gallery, she implemented strategies linked to member retention, acquisition, and increased giving, and managed special events related to membership. In 2002, she was hired in the Education Department for a newly created position?Coordinator of Community Programs and Outreach Initiatives and she forms vital liasions between the Gallery and the Greater Rochester Community.

Her current job responsibilities include implementing public programs to make the museum experience accessible and enjoyable to broad sections of the community, representing the Gallery on community boards, participating in evaluation of programs, orchestrating multicultural Family Days, developing advisory councils, overseeing a monthly lecture series, and identifying guest lecturers for educational programs.

McDell-Hernandez has been committed to community initiatives involving arts and culture, education and human services for over 14 years and worked as a volunteer with American Red Cross, Puerto Rican Festival, Rochester Women's Network, Urban League of Rochester's Black Scholars, and YMCA's Minority Achievers program. She is also is a graduate of United Way's Loaned Executive Officer program (class of 1998) and an INROADS alumna. Past board of trustees posts include FOODLINK, Borinquen Dance Theatre, and International Sister Cities of Rochester.

Her current community board posts include ARTWalk and Rochester Police Department's Do the Right Thing program. She also serves as a volunteer on the Arts & Cultural Council for Greater Rochester's Cultural Diversity Committee and the City of Rochester's Pillars of Hope project. She is a recipient of the Democrat and Chronicle's Rochester's Emerging African-American Leaders award and the Phi Beta Sorority/Theta Alpha Zeta Chapter- Community Service Award.

McDell-Hernandez is presently enrolled at the University of Rochester's Warner School part-time, pursuing an M.S. in Human Development with a concentration in family studies.