Frances Capaccio is the Executive Assistant at the Karsh Institute of Democracy, and previously served as the administrative coordinator at UVA’s Democracy Initiative from 2021 to 2022. Before moving to Charlottesville and joining the UVA community, she worked in loan administration at The Caton Companies. Throughout college and after graduation, she was a higher education consultant at Minerva Education Consultancy, where she helped students prepare for the transition to college. Before her work in higher education and administration, she worked in the classical music space as a violist, performance coach, and production coordinator. She holds a Specialist Degree, equivalent to a BA and MFA, in Music Performance from the St. Petersburg Conservatory in St. Petersburg, Russia.