World Trade Center Delaware welcomes three new Board members, elects new Chairman of the Board

New Castle — World Trade Center Delaware is pleased to be growing to meet the needs of its members and as part of those efforts, would like to welcome three new members to its Board of Directors—Damian DeStafano, Carmen Facciolo Jr. and Howard Henderson—and to announce that Charlie Tomlinson has been elected as the new Chairman of the Board and that the Center is open in its new location at 42 Reads Way, Suite B in New Castle, Delaware with a grand-reopening planned for next year.

Charlie Tomlinson | Photo courtesy of World Trade Center Delaware

Charlie Tomlinson is the newly elected President of the Board of Directors of the World Trade Center in Delaware. He is the vice president of business development for Today Media, publishers of Delaware Today Magazine, Delaware Business Times and six other publications. He joined Today Media in 1993 as director of sales and marketing for Delaware Today Magazine and was instrumental in launching Main Line Today Magazine in the western suburbs of Philadelphia. After graduating from Temple University, he had a career in radio, coming to Wilmington to serve as general sales manager of WJBR/99.5 FM. He was also director of marketing for two local retail automotive groups. In addition to the World Trade Center, he is active in the Committee of 100, several Delaware chambers of commerce and the CIRC, and serves on several other boards including the American Heart Association as well as on the marketing advisory group of the Greater Wilmington Convention & Visitors Bureau.

“I have always had an affinity for economic development and I wasn’t on the World Trade Center board for more than a meeting when it was clear to me that WTCDE is an economic development driver for Delaware,” Tomlinson said in a statement. “The other aspect that attracts me to care about this organization is the services Carla Stone and her team provide to anyone looking to import, export, or otherwise engage in international trade, whether they are members or not. WTCDE is a true resource.”

Damien DeStefano | Photo courtesy of World Trade Center Delaware

Damian DeStafano is the Director of the Delaware Division of Small Business, a position he has held since August 2018.  Prior to that, he worked as the Deputy Principal Assistant at the Office of Management and Budget, as the Economic Development Policy Advisor to Governor Jack Markell, handling workforce development, business attraction, and related legislative policy for the Governor, and as a legislative aide in the Delaware General Assembly. ​Damian graduated from the University of Delaware in 2011 with an undergraduate degree in Economics and Political Science, and from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 2020 with a Master of Business Administration degree with a major in finance.

Carmen Facciolo, Jr. | Photo courtesy of World Trade Center Delaware

Carmen Facciolo Jr., who became an Emory Hill partner in 1983, is the Director of NAI Emory Hill, President of Emory Hill Real Estate Services, Inc. and Vice President of Emory Hill & Company, the construction division. ​Carmen was previously with the Jackson Cross Company and Facciolo Construction. He is a past member of the Board of Directors of the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce and current board member of CIRC and the Mary Campbell Center, where he also serves on the golf committee for the prestigious annual Charmie Welch Open golf fundraiser. ​Carmen is a graduate of Widener University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science with a minor in business, as well as his MBA degree. He is a licensed real estate agent and broker of record in Delaware and New Jersey.

Howard Henderson | Photo courtesy of World Trade Center Delaware

Howard Henderson works as a Senior Associate for Triad Associates, a premier economic development consulting firm in Southern New Jersey.  Previously, Howard had a 42-year career at USDA Farmers Home Administration/Rural Development providing financial assistance to rural communities and individuals to promote economic development.  During his career, he worked in New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and at the headquarters office in Washington, DC.  Howard served as State Director for New Jersey from 2009 until his retirement in January 2017, as Acting Chief of Staff to the Administrator of the Rural Housing Service in the USDA, and as a special advisor to the Under Secretary for Rural Development. Howard is a graduate of Rutgers University in New Brunswick with a Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural economics and earned an MBA degree from American University in public financial management.