Harrisburg – The Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry’s Board of Directors has added eight new business leaders and set in place its leadership team for 2022. The elections took place at the PA Chamber’s Annual Membership Meeting, which was held on Dec. 2 in Lancaster.
“During these challenging times, we are honored to welcome a diverse group of business leaders who bring industry expertise that will be critical to advancing the Chamber’s ‘Bringing PA Back’ initiative,” said PA Chamber President and CEO Gene Barr. “We look forward to working with them to advance critical initiatives on behalf of the state’s broad-based business community.”
The following individuals were newly elected to serve on the PA Chamber board:
- Stephen Fera, Independence Blue Cross
- Roxanna Gapstur, WellSpan Health
- John Herman, Lancaster General Health/Penn Medicine
- Laura Karet, Giant Eagle
- Ricardo Maiz, Vitro Architectural Glass
- Nandish Patel, Phoenix Nexus
- Sara Thorndike, Penn State
- Kevin Walker, Duquesne Light Company
The GIANT Company President Nicholas Bertram will continue to serve as PA Chamber Board Chair and Bank of America Merrill Lynch Senior Vice President Manuel Mar, Jr. will continue to serve as first vice chair. Robert Scaer, Chairman of the Board and CEO for Gannett Fleming, and Laura Haffner, Regional Bank President for Wells Fargo, will both serve as a vice chair.
“Over the past two years, Pennsylvania’s business community has overcome daunting challenges,” Bertram said. “I am honored to lead Pennsylvania’s diverse business community and work collaboratively with our board of directors, members, and staff to advance our bold plan to foster long-term economic growth and equality of opportunity throughout the Commonwealth.”
In his role as board chair, Bertram, along with a search committee, is also leading the succession process to find a replacement for Barr, who announced his retirement in November.
Those who were re-elected to the board are:
- Robert Beard, UGI Utilities, Inc.
- David Breidinger, Breidinger & Associates LLC.
- Richard Ehst, Retired – Customers Bank
- Janis Herschkowitz, PRL, Inc.
- James Hoehn, The PNC Financial Services Group
- Mike Huwar, Peoples Natural Gas
- Dave Kerr, AT&T Pennsylvania
- John Lawn, Hershey Entertainment & Resorts
- Manuel Mar, Bank of America Merril Lynch
- Christine Martin, PPL Services, Corporation
- Chris Masciantonio, United States Steel Corporation
- Dan Onorato, Highmark Health
- Kathleen Smarilli, Smarilli Strategic Partners
- Robert Sodini, Sodini & Company, Inc.
- E. Philip Wenger, Fulton Financial Corporation
The PA Chamber also thanked the following board members for completing their service on the PA Chamber board:
- Allison Davenport, UnitedHealthcare Optum Behavioral Health
- Michael Dunleavy, Crown Holdings, Inc.
- Geoffrey Eddowes, Lancaster General Health/Penn Medicine
- David Gray, Retired, Penn State