Staci L. Vernick was promoted to senior vice president of external affairs and board and trustee relations at Christiana Care. She joined Christiana Care in 2013 as vice president of communications in the external affairs department and has been responsible for strategic communications planning and oversight of all external affairs functions and programs, including marketing, media relations, digital communications and social media, website, publications, government relations, internal communications, fundraising support and community outreach.
Dr. Neil Jasani was named chief learning officer of Christina Care’s Learning Institute. He is also chief academic officer and vice president of medical affairs and works with the health system’s academic mission. He will retain these roles and continue to serve as the designated institutional official for graduate medical education.
Dr. Jasani is an associate professor of emergency medicine at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. He has a background in graduate medical education, and has served as Christiana Care’s program director for emergency medicine since 2007 and assistant program director from 1992 to 2007.
St. Francis Healthcare announces new hires
Dr. Joanne Ilustre joined St. Francis Healthcare’s cardiology practice partners in cardiovascular health. The practice provides evaluative, diagnostic and management services for all types of cardiac and vascular diseases as well as coronary and peripheral vascular procedures.
Prior to joining St. Francis Healthcare, Dr. Ilustre completed an interventional cardiology fellowship at Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia and a cardiology fellowship at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Illinois.
Dr. Sandra Mancilla joined the family medicine department at St. Francis Healthcare.
Prior to joining St. Francis Healthcare, Mancilla practiced family medicine at Penn Family New Garden, affiliated with Chester County Hospital. She also served as a workman’s compensation specialist at a family medical practice in Los Angeles, California.
Executive appointments at Bancroft Construction
Cindy Campanella was appointed vice president of organizational development at Bancroft Construction Co. to assist the company with its strategic organizational growth plan. She is responsible for leadership, human resources, organizational and people development, external affairs, and strategic initiatives.
Prior to joining Bancroft, Campanella held an executive position at the University of Delaware as director and assistant vice president of alumni relations. She held a variety of leadership positions at Bank of America (formerly MBNA America) for 21 years and earned her bachelor of science degree from the University of Delaware and her master of science in management from Wilmington University.
Bob Batley was named to the newly created senior level position of vice president of business development at Bancroft. Batley will lead the organization’s business development and work acquisition strategies, which includes managing the efforts of the preconstruction and marketing teams as well as expanding the business development staff in strategic markets. Bob previously served as the director of business development and marketing at Nason Construction for three years.
Three join WSFS as vice presidents
Christopher Scarpitti joins WSFS Bank as vice president and senior relationship manager in the business banking division. He has more than 20 years of local banking experience with M&T Bank Corporation, 18 spent in commercial banking serving clients in Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland. He has held positions in business development and client management, with the last seven years spent overseeing the local commercial and industrial portfolio.
John Matarese joins WSFS as vice president and relationship manager in the middle market division. Matarese joins WSFS following nine years with M&T Bank Corporation where he was a middle market relationship manager. Prior to that role, he acted as a credit analyst and a portfolio manager.
Kristin Pearce joins WSFS as vice president and relationship manager in the business banking division. Prior to joining WSFS, Kristin spent nine years at M&T Bank Corporation. During her time there, she acted as a credit analyst, commercial banking portfolio manager and as a relationship manager. In her previous position, Pearce also served on the inaugural diversity development program to help establish and engrain diversity initiatives throughout the bank.
Blaskovitz joins Center for Economic Policy
Dace Blaskovitz was named co-director of the Center for Economic Policy and Analysis. He is a former member of WEFAC, the Wilmington Economic and Financial Advisory Council, as well as a former Board Member of the New Castle County (Delaware) Employees Pension Plan.
He hosts Clear Channel radio’s “Money & Politics in Delaware” which airs on Saturday mornings on WILM and WDOV from 9 to 10 a.m. He also hosts an interview segment “Dace on Biz” for PBS-TV’s “FIRST.”
Delaware Tech appoints VP for academic affairs
Justina M. Sapna was voted vice president for academic affairs at Delaware Tech. Since 2012, Sapna has served in a college-wide leadership role as principal investigator and project director for Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) Round 1 and Round 3 grants.
She began her career at Delaware Tech in 1997 as a full-time instructor in the developmental studies department at the Owens Campus, then served as instructional coordinator and department chair and the teaching resource center coordinator.
She led implementation of the U.S. Department of Labor grants of $7.4 million spanning 17 college wide initiatives.
Meyer accepts VP position at Benchworks
Christian Meyer was named vice president of strategic accounts at Benchworks. His areas of responsibility include business development in the life sciences space and providing consulting services to brand teams supporting emerging campaigns and product launches. Meyer has experience in the pharmaceutical industry having guided brands through varying strategies, market dynamics, and operational environments.
McCarter & English names business litigation partner
Luke Mette joined McCarter & English as a partner in the business litigation group. He spent more than 20 years as an in-house counsel at a global biopharmaceutical company, where he was the global head of litigation. Mette works in the areas of litigation strategy, conflict resolution and cost reduction, with experience operating in highly regulated environments.
Tower Hill School names three trustees
Tower Hill School has appointed three new members to the Board of Trustees:
Laird Hayward is the co-founder and COO of Foxspring Labs Inc., a mobile app development company. He previously served as vice president of Integrated Home LLC and vice president of Robert Downs Nature Conservancy in Wilmington. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Delaware and lives in San Francisco, Calif. He is a member of the class of 2002.
Carmen Wallace graduated from Duke University, where he studied history and sociology and captained the men’s basketball team. Wallace became one of the founding members of Athletes First and has 15 years experience in the representation field, having assisted with contract negotiations for NFL clients. He resides in Tustin, Calif., and is a member of the class of 1993.
Gina Ward is an experienced health-care finance professional who worked in consulting in Illinois before serving on the boards of St. Francis Hospital, Nemours Children’s Health System and the Delaware Health Resources Board. She graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in accounting. She has been active with the Rodney Street Tennis and Tutoring Association, Tower Hill’s Home and School Association, the Right Hands Initiative and many other community organizations.
Perdue foundation, Blood Bank team up
The Arthur W. Perdue Foundation, the charitable giving arm of Perdue Farms, recently awarded a grant of $5,000 to Blood Bank of Delmarva (BBD) to help fund the implementation of more sophisticated testing for blood donors. The Hemoglobin A1c test that Blood Bank of Delmarva intends to implement measures the average glucose level of a blood donor over a past four-to-six week period.
“This is a much more accurate screening test than simply measuring a single random glucose level, which is currently done at BBD,” said Dr. Scott W. Hall, the Blood Bank’s medical director. “The primary goal of the Hemoglobin A1c project is to detect diabetes among Blood Bank donors. This test predicts with a higher degree of certainty the likelihood that a donor is either pre-diabetic and or has diabetes.”
Complications from diabetes can include vision loss, heart disease, stroke and other debilitating medical conditions.
DuPont’s Rittenhouse receives Sustainability Leadership Award
Dawn Rittenhouse, director of sustainable growth at DuPont, was awarded one of Green Building & Design’s Women in Sustainability Leadership Awards.
“Throughout her career, Dawn has been an innovator and pioneer who has earned the respect of her peers within the sustainability field,” said Linda J. Fisher, vice president of safety health and environment and chief sustainability officer.
“Beginning with our first set of footprint goals set in 1989 to our most recent goals announced earlier this week embedding sustainability into our innovation process, Dawn has worked to make DuPont a leader in sustainability – both in how we run our operations and in our product portfolio. She is a true change maker and I believe no one better exemplifies all that this recognition represents.”
Pauline Morgan, Anne Gaza named Women Leaders in the Law
Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor partners Pauline Morgan and Anne Gaza were selected as 2015 Women Leaders in the Law. Women Leaders in the Law are profiled in a special section of Fortune, which also features Fortune’s 50 Most Powerful Women. According to Fortune, these Women Leaders “exhibit the highest level of professional excellence.”
Morgan serves as Chair of Young Conaway’s bankruptcy and corporate restructuring section and is a member of the firm’s management committee. She has been practicing business bankruptcy law for more than 25 years, representing debtors and secured and unsecured creditors in some of the nation’s largest Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases.
Gaza is a partner in the firm’s intellectual property section and serves as co-chair of the firm’s diversity committee. She represents national and international clients in intellectual property and commercial cases in Delaware’s state and federal courts. A Fellow in and Delaware State Chair of the American Bar Foundation, Gaza is also a Fellow in the Litigation Counsel of America and was recently named to the IAM Patent 1000. She also serves as a neutral arbitrator through the American Arbitration Association.
Three named to 2015 Class of Licensed Consultants
The Delaware Alliance for Nonprofit Advancement (DANA), along with The Standards for Excellence Institute, an initiative designed to help nonprofit organizations operate more ethically and accountably, announced the Delaware 2015 Class of Licensed Consultants. Signe Bell, David Kubacki, and Robert McCreary, all of Wilmington, recently completed the three-day training. The class members are now licensed in every aspect of the Standards for Excellence program and are capable of assisting nonprofits nationwide.
Standards for Excellence Licensed Consultants use their new, extensive knowledge of the multi-faceted initiative to help nonprofits strengthen their governance practices and satisfy the rising demand for nonprofit accountability.
