Young Conaway announces promotions

Margaret (Molly) DiBianca

Margaret (Molly) DiBianca has been promoted from associate to counsel at Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor. She joined the firm’s labor and employment practice in 2004. She maintains a legal practice consisting of equal parts litigation and client counseling, and represents employers in a variety of industries in employment rights claims, discrimination matters and equal employment disputes at the state and federal court level.

DiBianca defends employers against claims brought by former and current employees and assists employers seeking to enforce restrictive covenants. She assists clients with internal investigations, wage-and-hour reviews, and employment-practices audits. DiBianca also counsels employers in the facilitation of reasonable accommodations and strategies for compliance with federal leave laws.

Sara Beth A.R. Kohut

Sara Beth A.R. Kohut joined the firm in 2001 and was recently promoted from associate to counsel. She focuses on representing and advising the legal representatives for future claimants in connection with more than a dozen mass tort Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases and post-bankruptcy personal injury claim settlement trusts.

As co-chair of Young Conaway’s cybersecurity, privacy and data protection practice team, Kohut assists clients with developing policies and strategies for the protection of confidential and sensitive data. She has advised clients with respect to website terms of use, privacy policies, incident-response plans, legal compliance, security audits, data retention, and vendor contracts.

Jen Spofford

Spofford takes top spot at The Archer Group

Jen Spofford was promoted to chief client officer at The Archer Group.

As head of client service, Jen has been instrumental in the growth and success of The Archer Group. Since she joined the agency in 2009, it has nearly doubled in size and has continued to expand its responsibilities with a number of Fortune 1000 clients in the retail, financial service, and utilities sectors, among others.

Prior to joining Archer, Jen worked both in creative boutiques as well as established industry giants in New York City. She has managed integrated communications – including broadcast, print, OOH, online, and emerging media – for brands such as Kraft, Johnson & Johnson, LG, The Coca-Cola Company, J.P. Morgan Chase, and Six Flags Theme Parks.

New hires on board at Santora CPA Group

Colin C. Soukup

Colin C. Soukup joined Santora CPA Group as a bookkeeper in the tax department. She is a graduate of Goldey-Beacom College with a bachelor of science degree in accounting. Soukup comes to the firm with years of bookkeeping experience with several local companies. She will be providing bookkeeping support to the firm’s clients.

Bonnie L. Igo

Bonnie L. Igo has rejoined the firm as a supervisor in the tax department. She originally joined the firm in 1983. Igo is a graduate of the University of Delaware with a bachelor of science degree in accounting. She will be providing tax services to the firm’s clients. 

Meghann M. Felice

Meghann M. Felice has rejoined the firm as a senior accountant in the A&A Department. She originally joined the firm in June 2002. Felice is a 2000 graduate of the University of Delaware with a bachelor of science degree in accounting.  She will be providing a variety of accounting and auditing services to the firm’s clients. 

Opera America recognizes Cynthia du Pont Tobias

Opera America, the national service organization for opera, has named OperaDelaware’s Cynthia du Pont Tobias as one of its recipients of its 2016 National Opera Trustee Recognition Awards. Now in its ninth year, the awards program honors outstanding trustees of U.S. opera companies for their exemplary leadership, generosity and audience-building efforts on behalf of their respective opera companies.

Cynthia du Pont Tobias

Honorees were chosen by the National Opera Trustee Recognition Program selection committee.

A set designer, director and vocalist, Tobias has served almost continuously on opera boards, including the Opera Company of Boston, The Santa Fe Opera and OperaDelaware. She is vice president of the board at OperaDelaware, where she is also interim chair of the Resource Development Committee and serves on the Executive/Finance and Artistic Committees.

Tobias played an integral role in the turnaround story of OperaDelaware. She helped to guide the company through a restructuring that led to the launch of a spring opera festival, now entering its second year. Tobias also helped secure the largest single capital gift that OperaDelaware had received in its 71-year history. This gift set the stage for a second unrestricted foundation grant of $450,000, making it possible for OperaDelaware to return to the Grand Opera House with Verdi’s “Falstaff ” and the East Coast premiere of Franco Faccio’s lost opera “Amleto” (Hamlet) in May 2016. 

J. Mack Wathen

J. Mack Wathen named chair at Delaware State Arts Council

The Delaware Division of the Arts (DDOA) announced that Gov. Jack A. Markell has appointed J. Mack Wathen of Hockessin as chair to the Delaware State Arts Council.

The Delaware State Arts Council is the advisory body to the Delaware Division of the Arts. The Council advises the Division of the Arts on matters of arts policy, funding for the arts, and other issues relevant to support for the arts in Delaware.

Wathen is active in the Delaware arts community serving on the Delaware State Arts Council from 2010-2015, and as a board member of the Arts Consortium of Delaware from 2011-2015, which manages the Arts Stabilization Fund supporting capital needs of the state’s eight largest arts organizations.

He also serves on the board as an officer of the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation from 2014-present, an organization based in Baltimore which connects performing artists, arts presenters, and state arts agencies throughout the Mid-Atlantic and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Wathen serves as vice president, support services for Pepco Holdings, Inc.

Dan Cruce

Cruce named board president at Delaware Arts Alliance

The Delaware Arts Alliance announced the appointment of Dan Cruce to president of the DAA Board of Directors at its 2016 annual meeting
in January.

Cruce is vice president of education at the Hope Street Group, a national organization that works to ensure every American will have access to tools and options leading to economic opportunity and prosperity. Previously, Cruce was deputy secretary and chief of staff at the Delaware Department of Education. He was also assistant superintendent/chief of staff at the Christina School District.

He is immediate past president of the Delaware Humane Association and current president of the Delaware Arts Consortium Board of Directors. He also sits on the Executive Committee of the Delaware Theatre Company’s Board of Directors. Cruce earned his JD from Widener University School of Law.

Four new board members were elected at the annual meeting: Peter A. Harrigan (president of the board, Coastal Concerts Inc.); Krys Johnson (executive director, Rehoboth Beach Main Street); Lindsay Lederman (registered and board certified art therapist, Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children); and John Sarro (adjunct assistant professor and coordinator of music management studies, Department of Music, University of Delaware).