People on the Move is a rundown of recent hirings, promotions, appointments and other notable movements by professionals in the state. If you’re interested in submitting an entry, please contact news@delawarebusinesstimes.com.
Diamond State Financial Group (DSFG) has named Neil Stalter, CFP, ChFC, RICP, CBEC, Bryan Radcliff, CFP, ChFC, and Tyler Malek ChFC, associate partners.
Stalter’s practice focuses on those nearing retirement and business owners. He helps them create strategies around wealth management, tax-advantaged distribution, retirement income, family planning, estate transfer, business succession, executive compensation, employee benefits and key employee retention strategies. Neil takes pride in his relationships with his clients and the community.
Radcliff joined DSFG in 2012, along with Neil. His practice is comprised of small business owners, medical professionals and those approaching retirement, as he works to develop unique and individualized financial strategies to help achieve their financial goals. He is passionate about creating long-term relationships with his clients and works to build a reputation founded on honesty and integrity.
Malek has been a part of DSFG for a decade as well. He works to help medical professionals, business owners and pre-retirees make smart choices with their money and work toward their long-term financial goals.
Sallie Mae, formally SLM Corporation, has named Kerri Palmer chief operational officer, and president of Sallie Mae Bank. Palmer is a member of the company’s leadership team, most recently serving as Chief Risk Officer. She succeeds Dan Kennedy, who has served as Chief Operational Officer since August 2020 and Bank President since January 2021.
As chief operational officer, and President of Sallie Mae Bank, Palmer will be accountable for credit performance with direct responsibility for the company’s underwriting, credit administration, and collections functions. She will also be responsible for operational efficiency and effectiveness, overseeing customer service, technology, retail deposits, and other key functions. As Bank President, she will be accountable for maintaining strong relationships with regulators.
Palmer joined Sallie Mae in 2021 and led efforts to further enhance the company’s risk and compliance function. She previously served as senior vice president of risk management at Capital One. An industry veteran, she brings more than 20 years of experience in risk assessment and management, regulatory compliance, process improvement, operations leadership, and change management to her new role.
Palmer earned a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics and economics from Wheaton College (MA), and a Master of Science in statistics from Texas A&M University.
Potter Anderson & Corroon LLP announced M. Blake Cleary, a Delaware bankruptcy attorney with more than 20 years of experience, has joined the firm as a partner and will serve as co-head of the firm’s bankruptcy practice.
Cleary represents clients in all aspects of corporate restructuring, including debtors, creditors and purchasers in the Chapter 11 reorganization process. He was recently featured in Chambers USA among listed Delaware bankruptcy practitioners, where commentators noted, “he always finds a path out of the trickiest of situations – he works tirelessly to find creative solutions.”
Cleary has been ranked as a Top Bankruptcy Lawyer by The Deal for 13 years running and included in The Best Lawyers in America for bankruptcy and creditor-debtor rights in Wilmington, Del., for the last nine years.
Cleary is a member of several local and national professional associations, including the American Bankruptcy Institute, the Turnaround Management Association, the Association of Insolvency & Restructuring Advisors, the Delaware Bankruptcy American Inn of Court, the American Bar Association and the Delaware State Bar Association. Cleary received his J.D. from Widener University Delaware Law School and his B.A. from the University of Virginia.
Blue Rock Financial Group welcomes Steve Bart as an operations specialist. Bart has an impressive background in leadership and management that has already proven to be an asset in streamlining Blue Rock’s operations.
Bart was responsible for managing the Army’s multi-million-dollar Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT) from the ground up and he also serves as a Platoon Sergeant in the 153rd Military Police Company, where he manages 50 soldiers and an inventory of specialized equipment.
He is extremely passionate about helping others, particularly the veteran community. Bart is the president and founder of 501c3, Redefining Warrior Culture, where he has created a network of veteran and community leaders that serve as mentors, advisors, and volunteers for our local and global communities.
Cole Schotz P.C. announced Andrew J. Roth-Moore has been named a member of the firm’s Delaware office.
Roth-Moore is a member in the Bankruptcy and Corporate Restructuring and Litigation practice groups, based in the firm’s Wilmington, Delaware office. His practice involves representing debtors, lenders, creditors’ committees, and officers and directors and focuses on negotiating and litigating complex transactions and legal disputes. He advises clients in a wide array of industries – most notably, retail, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, oil and gas, automotive, telecom, and travel – navigating through all aspects of the bankruptcy process, including section 363 sales, plan confirmations, contract negotiations, and claims resolutions. Andrew received his J.D. from University of Denver College of Law and his LL.M from St. John’s University School of Law and clerked for the Honorable Laurie Silverstein.
Bancroft Construction wishes the best to Bart Nave, who retired on January 1, 2023, after nearly three decades of dedicated and unparalleled service.
A graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, Nave joined Bancroft Construction in 1993 as a project manager. His vast experience in all phases of the building construction process in multiple markets and his admirable leadership skills enabled him to successfully coordinate the implementation, planning, scheduling, and direction of projects from the development of project scope through completion. Nave was invited to lead the company’s Industrial Division of Operations in 2006 and, subsequently, the company’s entire Operations division as vice president in 2008. During this time, he has guided the operations staff of team Bancroft through incredible growth in overall revenue, the diversity of market sectors, and the complexity of our construction capabilities. The projects Nave has been involved with are too numerous to mention but will be revered for generations.
Bancroft announced Mike Petka as Bart Nave’s successor as vice president of operations. Petka joined Bancroft in 2000 as a project engineer and has received many notable promotions due to his exemplary performance and ability to advance the professional development of his teams. His promotions include project manager, senior project manager, and, most recently, vice president of Preconstruction.
Petka has extensive experience with cultural, institutional, healthcare, K-12, and higher-education projects, and he approaches each project, large or small, with the same intensity to ensure we exceed the customer’s expectations. He has demonstrated an ability to focus on project schedules and cost control to meet the goals of each individual project. Petka’s relationships with facilities personnel and project stakeholders have a positive lasting effect, resulting in a true eagerness to continue working with him on future projects.
A graduate of the University of Delaware (B.S., Civil Engineering), Petka is currently on the board of the Delaware Contractors Association and previously served as a Board Member for Associated Builders and Contractors Delaware.
Bancroft also announced Kelli Racca, AIA, as Petka’s successor as vice president of Preconstruction. Racca joined Bancroft in 2015 as a project executive, and her expertise as a registered architect, combined with her previous professional experience, has greatly benefitted Bancroft and our partners. In this role, she has been responsible for providing leadership for project teams while ensuring clients’ goals are in clear focus. Racca’s keen ability to approach project management with the perspective of the construction manager, design professional, and owner has enriched the experience for all through exceptional project management.
Prior to joining Bancroft, Racca served as a director and chief operating officer in the Christina School District, providing leadership for major divisions, including Major and Minor Capital Improvements, Strategic Planning, Maintenance and Operations, Transportation, Child Nutrition, and Student Services. She previously worked at the University of Delaware as a Facilities Architect in the Facilities Planning and Construction department, where she provided advisement, planning, and management assistance, as well as technical support for all types of construction projects on the University’s campuses. With a joint appointment at UD, her experience in the Center for Historic Architecture and Design incorporated her love for preservation and research into project management and documentation.
Racca is a graduate of the University of Delaware (MA, Urban Affairs and Public Policy / Specialization in Historic Preservation) and the University of North Carolina, Charlotte (BA, Architecture). She is also a registered Architect (Delaware and Pennsylvania) and is ICRA certified.
The Nature Conservancy in Pennsylvania and Delaware has named Rich Innes vice chair and Carol Collier as chair, each will serve a two-year term.
Innes excels at navigating both science and policy, serving as a senior fellow at Meridian Institute where he helps lead the work of the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative to catalyze ocean policy reform at the national, regional, state and local levels. Based in Lewes, Delaware, and Washington D.C., he also helps direct the work of the Association of National Estuary Programs, working directly with the 28 programs on every coast to assure sound policy and federal support for implementing comprehensive, broadly supported plans to protect and restore some of our most vital bays and estuaries.
Previously, Innes served as a lead staffer for the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee where he helped shape bedrock laws including the Clean Water Act. He has strong bipartisan credentials, including a role in managing regulatory analysis as a part of the transition team for the incoming Bush administration. He began his career in government at the EPA as a Presidential Management Fellow under then-Administrator Bill Ruckelshaus.
Collier, who has served as vice chair for TNC’s Pennsylvania/Delaware Chapter since 2021 and been a Trustee since 2015, is a highly decorated water scientist and environmental planner, and a longtime environmental leader in Pennsylvania, working across aisles to improve water quality in the Delaware River Watershed and beyond. She is currently the Senior Advisor for Watershed Management and Policy at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. For 15 years, she served as executive director of the Delaware River Basin Commission.
Prior to that, she was the executive director of Pennsylvania’s 21st Century Environment Commission and director of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) Southeast Region. She began her career at BCM Environmental Engineers, Inc., starting out as a student intern and ultimately becoming vice president of environmental planning, science, and risk.
Beebe Healthcare announced the addition of two Board of Directors and one retirement.
Stephen Fanto, MD, a board certified anesthesiologist with Delaware Anesthesia Associates, has retired from the Board after reaching his term limit. He joined in October 2003. He was the first chair for the Quality and Safety Committee, which was formed in 2007.
Taking Dr. Fanto’s place on the Board is Mary McLoughlin. She was appointed as a community member for the Quality and Safety Committee in February 2022 and then the Board of Directors in October 2022.
McLoughlin has more than 30 years of experience in health care management, including many years with the American Hospital Association leading quality and patient safety initiatives. Most recently, she served in a variety of quality improvement and health economics leadership roles with a medical device company, focused on developing partnerships to improve outcomes with hospitals and health systems across the country.
In February 2022, Pam Baker officially joined the Board. She had been appointed as a community member of the Audit and Compliance Committee in September 2019 and then was appointed as the Chair of the Committee when she became a board member.
Baker has dedicated her entire career to providing audit and accounting services specifically to the nonprofit and government sectors and currently serves as the Managing Partner of a regional CPA firm. In addition to the Beebe Board she also presently serves on the Board of the PICPA Foundation.
The Delaware State Chamber of Commerce (DSCC) voted on and approved the following new members to its Board of Directors and Board of Governors.
The State Chamber welcomes:
- Andrew Cottone, Ph.D., Adesis
- Dr. LaVerne T. Harmon, Wilmington University
The following business leaders were elected to the State Chamber’s Board of Governors:
- Matthew Lantagne, TD Bank
- Jeff Mitchell, Siegfried Advisory, LLC
- Jed Patterson, LabWare
- Colleen Perry Keith, Ph.D., Goldey-Beacom College
- Michael Smith, Navient
- Jana Tidwell, AAA Club Alliance
- Rebecca Veeneman, Ph.D., Agilent Technologies
“On behalf of the Delaware State Chamber and its Board, we welcome these representatives from DSCC member companies,” Board Chair Nick Lambrow said. “We look forward to working with them to promote Delaware’s business community and allow all Delawareans to prosper.”
