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The Team

The program is a public-private partnership organized by the Hungarian Human Rights Foundation, supported by Hungarian American and Canadian organizations, as well as a grant from the Government of Hungary.

The Reconnect Hungary Team works year round, on two continents, organizing and developing the Program; and providing Reconnected Participants with the resources they need to continue their journey, stay connected and give back.

László Hámos

Co-founder and former President

We announce with profound sadness that our Program Director, László Hámos passed away on April 16, 2019 in New York. Laszlo was a second-generation Hungarian-American, who co-founded Reconnect Hungary’s parent organization, the Hungarian Human Rights Foundation (HHRF), in 1976.

Zsolt Szekeres

President

Zsolt Szekeres, HHRF president since 2019, has been an HHRF activist for more than 40 years. Born in Germany, he grew up in Buenos Aires, then worked in Washington D.C. for several decades. Since 2000, he has lived in Budapest. He is also a founding member of the Hungarian American Coalition.

Emese Latkóczy

Executive Director in New York

Emese is a second generation Canadian-American Hungarian who has managed Reconnect Hungary from the beginning. An NYU graduate in filmmaking, she has been a human rights activist since high school, and is also a director of the Hungarian Human Rights Foundation.

Gabi Vajtay

Program Director in New York

Gabi, a Rutgers University graduate, is a second generation American Hungarian from New Jersey. She has been the Program Manager of Reconnect Hungary since summer 2018, and also organizes fundraising events for HHRF.

Dániel Janisz Indri

Program Coordinator In Budapest

Dániel was a Kőrösi Csoma Sándor Scholarship Program recipient from Budapest interning in our New York office between 2023 and 2025. He obtained a degree in marketing from the Budapest Business University and then a degree in international studies from the Corvinus University of Budapest. In addition, he has been working as a journalist and event organizer for a decade.

Viktor Ivicsics

Program Manager in Budapest

Viktor joined the HHRF team in 2018 when he spent nine months at the New York office as the KCSP scholarship recipient. Currently he is the Budapest office  manager. In his free time Viktor is an expert rock climber and distance runner.

Szilvia Bába

Team Member

Szilvia is Reconnect Hungary’s lead program organizer in Hungary since 2012. A specialist in the Hungarian Diaspora community, she received her doctorate from the University of Pécs in 2015. She is the Director of Art and Operations at the Duna Palota (Palace) cultural venue in Budapest.

Zsolt Árpád Moldován

Program Manager in Transylvania

Zsolt is from Marosvasarhely (Targu Mures) and has been HHRF’s representative in Romania since 2004. He is also the program manager for Reconnect Transylvania, and oversees the Foundation’s new scholarship program, Reconnect Transylvania+. Based in Kolozsvár (Cluj), Zsolt is a sports journalist.

Peer Guides since 2012

Tom Szigeti

Peer Guide
Tom is a second generation Hungarian-American from Cleveland Ohio. In 2016 he completed his Master’s degree in History at Ohio State University and then moved to Budapest. He has been a peer guide twice, in 2013 and 2016. Currently he works for the Friends of Hungary Foundation.

András Dobai

Peer Guide
András hails from Hungary and was a peer guide in 2013. While his profession is in Biology, he has been involved with North American Hungarian communities since 2010. He finished his Masters degree in Biology at Carleton University, Ottawa in August 2017, and he is currently working as a technician at the same university.

Krisztina Nascsó

Peer Guide
Kristina was a peer guide in 2013 and 2014 after becoming involved with the Program as a HAESF scholarship recipient at HHRF for a year. She has a law degree from the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest and practices law in Hungary at an international law firm.

Anett Nascsó

Peer Guide
Anett was a peer guide in 2014 along with her sister Krisztina. She has a degree in public administration and works at the Hungarian Ministry of National Economy.

Eszter Kovács

Peer Guide
Eszter is a junior researcher at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Institute for Minority Studies, Centre for Social Sciences. A doctoral candidate, she has keen interest in diaspora engagement. She has done a research internship at HHRF in New York, written a study about ReConnect Hungary and was a peer guide for the Program in 2015 and 2016. She lives in Budapest.

Zoltán Székely-Mádai

Peer Guide
Since 2013, Zoltan has been both a HAESF and KCSP scholarship recipient at the HHRF offices in New York. He has been responsible for designing and implementing many aspects of ReConnect Hungary Program. Zoltan was a peer guide in 2015 and 2016. He has studied history, international relations and multicultural education at Pázmány Péter and Eötvös Lóránd Universities.

Réka Horváth

Peer Guide
Réka was a peer guide in 2016 and 2017. She has a Master’s degree in. Information and Library Science and hails from Szeged–nicknamed the City of Sunshine–but now lives in Budapest. She has spent nine months in New York at the American Hungarian Library on a KCSP scholarship. This Hungarian government program sends talented young people to serve at diaspora organizations throughout the world.

Lili Kunfalvi

Peer Guide
Lili was a peer guide in 2016 and became intimately involved with the Program through her volunteer work at HHRF and the American Hungarian Library since 2013. In 2015 she completed her Master of Arts in American Studies at Columbia University and returned to New York in Fall 2017 to begin a master’s program in Business at NYU.

Bíborka Kása

Peer Guide
Biborka hails from Hungary and became involved with Reconnect Hungary in 2016 during her nine-month long internship at the American Hungarian Library in New York as a KCSP scholarship recipient. An avid photographer, Bibi, as she is nicknamed, studied Cultural Anthropology at Miskolc University. She was a ReConnect Hungary peer guide in 2016 and 2017, She currently lives in London.

Mikolt Tózsa

Peer Guide
Mikolt was a peer guide in 2017. She has a degree in social studies from the University of Szeged and is doing her Master’s in theater studies in Budapest. She became involved with ReConnect Hungary also as a KCSP intern for nine months at the Hungarian Scout Organization and Hungarian School in Garfield, NJ.

Victoria Vass

Peer Guide
Viki joined the ReConnect Hungary Program in 2012 when she went on our very first birthright trip. In 2017, she was the group’s transatlantic escort, peer guide, and a peer guide for Reconnect Transylvania as well. She is currently finishing a Bachelor of Technology in Graphic Communications Management at Ryerson University in Toronto. She was born in Los Angeles, grew up in Toronto and her family comes from Transylvania.

Reka Vasicsek

Peer Guide
She was a peer guide for Reconnect 2018 and could not help but return after having a wonderful experience. She grew up in Hungary until the age of 8, and then moved to San Francisco to be with my mom’s side of the family. She graduated this year from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and she is moving to Madrid to teach English in the fall. She is an avid hiker, camper, and ocean goer

Timea Domjanovity

Peer Guide
She was a peer guide for Reconnect 2019. Timea studies biology and will graduate this year. She works as a photographer and makeup artist, and has been a scout for 13 years.

David Malatenszki

Peer Guide
He was a peer guide for Reconnect 2019. David is a programmer and he has as strong passion for photography. He has been a scout for 15 years and was an activist in numerous youth organizations..

Gábor Salopek

Peer Guide
Gabor is a Hungarian American university professor of mathematics. He is s a member of the Hungarian community in New Brunswick, NJ with interest in popular culture video depictions of math and seeing his respective countries' national soccer teams return to former glory. He was a peer guide for Reconnect 2019.

Zsuzsanna Cselényi

Peer Guide
Zsuzsanna was the Program Coordinator between 2013 and 2017. She is a cultural heritage specialist with a Ph.D. in Folklore and Anthropology. In 2015, she was also a peer guide on the trip.

Eszter Borbély

Peer Guide
Eszter was a peer guide for ReConnect in 2021. Eszter just started her fourth year as a dentistry student in Marosvásárhely. In her free time she likes to go running, swimming, cycling, and anything involving exercise. She’s even started taking part in triathlons, which she wants to get into more seriously. In the past she was a Hungarian scout in Canada, and even did Hungarian folk dancing.

Beáta Csáki

Peer Guide
Bea was a peer guide for ReConnect in 2021 and 2023.

Petra Kovács

Peer Guide
Petra, a first-generation Hungarian-American, was a program coordinator at the HHRF in 2021-22 dividing her time between human rights advocacy and the ReConnect Hungary program and with a focus on marketing. Petra graduated from Central European University in Budapest with a Master’s degree in Human Rights.