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.
President Joe Biden appoints Governor John Carney to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation for a term ending June 2025.
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Governor John Carney | PHOTO COURTESY OF ACHP[/caption]
Born and raised in Delaware, Carney has served as Delaware’s 74th governor since 2017 and began his second term in 2021. He has focused on making Delaware’s economy more competitive, preparing Delaware’s children to succeed, and building a long-term sustainable financial plan for the First State. Carney has directed new resources to high-needs schools and partnered with the private sector to drive new job creation. Carney has prioritized investments in safe and affordable housing and has ensured small businesses get the support they need to thrive. His administration has also developed a Climate Action Plan as a roadmap for how Delaware can combat and prepare for climate change in the years ahead.
Carney served as Delaware’s one member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 2011 to 2017. During his three terms in Congress, he worked with members of both parties to find solutions to the most important challenges facing the nation. Carney previously served two terms as Delaware’s lieutenant governor and as Delaware’s secretary of finance. Carney lives in Wilmington with his wife Tracey and their two sons, Sam and Jimmy.
Carney is the Governor Member of the ACHP, the first governor to serve on the ACHP since 2010.
Best Egg, a financial technology company, announces the appointment of
Amy Thoreson Long as its general counsel. In this key leadership role, Thoreson Long will head the legal and compliance departments at Best Egg and play an essential role in driving legal and compliance initiatives.
As General Counsel, Thoreson Long will lead a team of highly skilled attorneys and compliance professionals, fostering collaboration across all departments and providing essential guidance on legal and business matters. She brings extensive legal expertise in the financial services industry, with a notable background in fintech lending, compliance risk management, and regulatory supervisory and enforcement matters.
"I am honored to be working with Best Egg's talented team of legal and compliance professionals to support this fast-growing and innovative financial services company," Thoreson Long said. "My mission is aligned with Best Egg's commitment to helping people with limited savings build financial confidence, and I look forward to contributing to our collective success."
Thoreson Long has practiced law for over two decades, working for various financial services firms, including fintech lender Oportun, Wells Fargo Bank, and Conseco Finance. She specializes in state and federal consumer finance regulations, capital markets transactions, compliance risk management, and regulatory supervisory and enforcement matters.
Stevens & Lee, a law firm, announces Melissa N. Donimirski has joined the firm’s Litigation Department as Of Counsel in its Wilmington, Delaware office.
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Melissa Donimirski | PHOTO COURTESY OF SL[/caption]
Donimirski concentrates her practice on corporate and commercial litigation in the Delaware Court of Chancery and the Delaware Superior Court. She is an authority in the area of “Business Divorce” and has particular experience litigating and negotiating the legal separation of owners of privately held businesses. Clients also rely on Donimirski for a range of corporate litigation matters that include issues of corporate governance, officer and director fiduciary obligations, officer and director indemnity, non-compete agreements and disputes within limited partnership and limited liability companies.
Donimirski’s practice extends to the litigation of commercial contracts, asset purchase agreements, representations and warranties and intellectual property issues before the Delaware State Courts and the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. She has also assisted clients with significant business transactions, providing advice to Delaware entities on issues relating to corporate governance in connection with mergers and acquisitions as well as interested corporate transactions.
As a thought leader in her field, Donimirski is co-author of Litigating the Business Divorce, a prominent treatise on Business Divorce published by Bloomberg BNA. Additionally, she has authored and presented on a variety of corporate governance issues.
During her final year of law school, Donimirski served as Wolcott Law Clerk to the Hon. Jack B. Jacobs of the Delaware Supreme Court and thereafter served as Law Clerk to the Hon. Peggy L. Ableman of the Delaware Superior Court.
She earned her J.D., cum laude, from Widener University School of Law and her A.B. from Bryn Mawr College.
Nemours Children’s Health name Eric Hall, PhD, MBA, chief research informatics officer (CRIO). In the newly created role, Dr. Hall will oversee all aspects of research information technology and data science across the enterprise. He will also supervise the Biomedical Research Informatics Center based in the Delaware Valley and other research informatics services to bridge the gap between data analytics, science and health care. Dr. Hall will work to increase data sharing and multi-institutional collaboration, advance analytic capabilities and manage data governance activities.
Prior to Nemours, Dr. Hall served as an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Later, he joined Geisinger as the Chief Research Information Officer and Associate Dean for Informatics at the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine.
“I am honored to join Nemours Children’s Health as the Chief Research Informatics Officer where I have the opportunity to combine my passion for research and my dedication to pediatric healthcare,” Dr. Hall said. “My goal in this position is to drive discoveries that change lives and help to create the healthiest generations of children by harnessing the power of data, technology and collaboration.”
Dr. Hall’s major accomplishments at Cincinnati Children’s include direction of informatics research within the Perinatal Institute where he conceptualized and led the implementation of the Lifespan Data Integration Module, a data repository that has become a core resource for maternal and child health researchers, policymakers and epidemiologists to study perinatal outcomes and healthcare utilization. He has also served as Associate Director for Clinical Informatics and Co-director of the Biomedical Informatics graduate program at the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Hall brings over 15 years of expertise, has written more than 80 publications and secured 10 years of funding from the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Hall obtained his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in computer science from Brigham Young University, his PhD in biomedical informatics from the University of Utah, and his MBA from the University of Cincinnati.
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Doug Ferguson | PHOTO COURTESY OF NAMI[/caption]
The National Alliance on Mental Illness, Delaware, name Doug Ferguson its first deputy executive director and chief operatingoOfficer, leading policy, strategy and fundraising to secure NAMI Delaware’s future and strengthen its operations.
“We are excited to have Doug join our leadership team and play a vital role in NAMI Delaware’s continued growth and future plans,” Dr. Joshua Thomas, CEO and executive director, said. “His background and experience make him an excellent fit to support and lead our organization for the benefit of our clients and members.”
Ferguson, whose career includes extensive experience in nonprofit management, higher education and working with volunteer organizations, said he was eager to get started with NAMI Delaware.
As COO, Ferguson will oversee government relations and policy and run NAMI Delaware’s day-to-day operations, including grants and contracts, housing programs, human resources and event logistics.
Ferguson was most recently director of development at Delaware County Community College in Pennsylvania, handling fundraising, donor stewardship, events and more. He also previously served as director of alumni programs and foundation events. Before joining DCCC, he was vice president of operations and director of programs at the Association of Educational Publishers as well as assistant director of alumni relations at Widener University.
PAWS for People select Clarice Ritchie as the new executive director following the recent retirement of PAWS’ founder, Lynne Robinson.
Ritchie began her PAWS career in 2014 as Community Engagement Director where she had responsibility for volunteer appreciation, community, and special fundraising events. From 2019 to 2022, she served as Director of Events and Operations, supervising administrative, community event, website, social media and training staff members. In this position, she also managed key finance and operations policies and procedures. In addition to representing PAWS in the community, she successfully guided PAWS’ response to Covid, monitoring CDC guidance and creating protocols to maximize impact while minimizing risk.
Previously, Ritchie held a variety of positions with the South Atlantic Division of the American Cancer Society specializing in staff training and fundraising events. With a BS in mathematics from the University of Mary Washington, she holds a Master of Education from the University of Delaware.
As Executive Director, Ritchie will continue to work with the staff, board of directors, and volunteers to grow and solidify PAWS. The demand for pet-assisted therapy programs has dramatically increased since the onset of Covid and PAWS has become an important driving force in the battle to improve mental wellness the community.
The Greater Wilmington Convention and Visitors Bureau has promoted its long-time marketing director, Scott Ciancio, to deputy director. Social media manager Jessica Horstmann has been promoted to digital marketing manager.
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Scott Ciancio | PHOTO COURTESY OF GWC[/caption]
In his new role, Ciancio will help manage the day-to-day operations of the office while maintaining a leadership role in the Bureau’s marketing efforts.
Horstmann will expand her responsibilities beyond social media management to include involvement in digital content development, digital advertising, and digital campaign development.
Ciancio joined the Bureau in 2011 as director of marketing. For more than a decade, he has planned and executed all the Bureau’s marketing initiatives. Most recently, he oversaw the largest and most successful multi-channel advertising campaign in the Bureau’s history. He was also responsible for the Bureau’s 2023 partnership with PBS show Travels with Darley, putting Greater Wilmington’s tourism offerings in front of the show’s 46 million viewers.
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Jessica Horstmann | PHOTO COURTESY OF GWC[/caption]
Prior to joining the Bureau, Ciancio worked in marketing and advertising with Wilmington-based agencies RT&E and the Archer Group. In his early career, he was project manager with one of Wilmington’s first website development companies, EMERON (today, Diamond Technologies), and a producer with the entertainment and video game company Microleague Interactive Software.
Horstmann has been with the Bureau four years. In that time, she has grown its social media following to more than 45,000. She has created a robust social media influencer program, bringing in more than 20 influencers each year, and is the brainchild behind the Bureau’s highly successful social media-based photography contest. Prior to joining the Bureau, Horstmann was a web designer for the Village of Fountainview and the social media specialist for Holy Angels Catholic School. She graduated from West Virginia University in 2018.
The National Elder Law Foundation (NELF) – the only organization approved by the American Bar Association to offer certification in the area of Elder Law - announce Catherine B. (“Kylee”) Read, Esquire of Wilmington, Delaware has successfully completed its examination.
Certification in Elder Law – one of the fastest growing fields in the legal profession – will provide a measure of assurance to the public that the attorney has an in-depth working knowledge of the legal issues that impact the elderly.
Read, Esquire of Estate & Elder Law Services of Delaware LLC in Wilmington, Delaware, is now a Certified Elder Law Attorney. Building on her foundation of fifteen years of practicing and teaching corporate law, and feeling called to serve the needs of the elderly, Read converted her practice entirely to Elder Law for the last six years. Read focuses her practice on: Trusts, Estate Planning, Guardianships, Probate, Medicaid Planning, and Special Needs Planning. Read is a graduate of Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law, Magna Cum Laude, has served as Chair, Vice-Chair, or Secretary of the Elder Law Section of the Delaware State Bar Association since 2018, and has been a lifetime resident of Wilmington, Delaware.
Corporate Chef for Highwater Management Christopher Parks recently completed the Transformative Dynamics Leadership Program.
Parks graduated with a culinary degree from the Restaurant School in Philadelphia in 2002 and has been working in the industry ever since. He spent twelve years in Washington D.C. and New York City working under some celebrity Chefs such as Tom Colicchio and Andrew Carmellini. Chris moved to Sussex County in 2014 and in 2022 was promoted to Corporate Chef for Highwater Management.
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Chris Parks | PHOTO COURTESY OF HIGHWATER[/caption]
The leadership program is a ten-month program that is meant to advance great leaders beyond what they already know program meant to advance great leaders beyond what they already know. Leaders are given tools and encouraged to experiment with new ways of thinking that foster growth, creativity and innovation both in their professional and personal lives. Leaders commit to creating, implementing and executing initiatives that maximize growth and profitability through great leadership.
“The leadership program provided me with new skills that took my leadership to the next level. We learned different ways to process information that create a positive environment for our teams that encourages growth. I’ve enjoyed implementing these skills into my professional life, as well as my personal.” Chris Parks, corporate chef of Highwater Management, said.
