Berks County Community Foundation Elects New Board Members

The Berks County Community Foundation has announced it has elected new board chair and members this week.

Business strategy consultant Alfred J. Weber has been elected chair of the board of Berks County Community Foundation, which also welcomed new board members Susan Denaro, Esq., and Gabriela Raful, Esq.

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In addition, board member Michael L. Mixell, Esq., has been elected Assistant Treasurer of the Community Foundation. Also, board members Stephen M. Fritz, Elaine McDevitt, and Mixell were re-elected to additional three-year terms.

Weber has been in the consulting industry since 1974 and has been the president of his own company, Tweed-Weber-Danks, Inc., since 1984. During that time, he has worked with hundreds of businesses, not-for-profit organizations, health and home care agencies, and associations across the country. The fundamental focus of Weberā€™s work is helping clients build and implement strategies to gain and sustain competitive advantage in their marketplaces.

Weber also serves on the boards of Our City Reading Inc., Tompkins Financial Corporation, Tompkins VIST Bank, Boscovā€™s LLC, New Standard Corporation, and Misco Products Corporation. He formerly served on the boards of United Way of Berks County, Berks County Chamber of Commerce (now Greater Reading Chamber Alliance), Berks County Workforce Investment Board, Greater Berks Development Fund, Burn Prevention Foundation (now Burn Prevention Network), and Alvernia University.

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Sue Perrotty, immediate past board chair, will serve as an ex-officio board member for one year. Following a distinguished 27-year career in banking, she served as the Chief of Staff to the First Lady of Pennsylvania, the Honorable Marjorie ā€œMidgeā€ Rendell. While in banking, Perrotty held the position of Executive Vice President and head of Global Operations for First Union Corp. as a member of the Office of the Chairman in Charlotte, N.C., retiring after serving on the merger integration team overseeing the Wachovia Bank merger. Perrotty has served many nonprofit organizations around Berks County. She is president and owner of BAC Services LLC.

Denaro is an attorney at Georgeadis Setley. Denaro has practiced law for 31 years, primarily in the area of estate planning/administration and adoption. She also handles guardianship, real estate, mediations, and family law matters. She is the Solicitor for the Prothonotary of Berks County, a position she has held for 26 years. Denaro serves on the boards of the Yocum Institute and Co-County Wellness Services. She is an honorary board member of both the Wyomissing Public Library and the LGBT Center of Greater Reading. She is a sustaining member of the Junior League of Reading.

Raful is a Senior Partner at Galfand Berger, LLP, where she represents injured clients in the areas of workersā€™ compensation, personal injury, products liability, and social security disability. A native of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Raful is fluent in Spanish. Raful is passionate about immigrant rights and injured workers. Raful is a past board member of the Berks County Bar Association, where she still serves as Chair of the Minority Law Section. The sectionā€™s purpose is to promote full and equal participation of minorities in the justice system. Because of her contribution to community and her extensive pro bono work, the Berks County Bar Association awarded Raful its 2017 Presidential Award of Merit.

Mixell is a partner at Barley Snyder, where he advises clients in the areas of corporate succession and estate planning, as well as banking and commercial, corporate, and real estate matters. He has extensive experience with mergers and acquisitions for privately controlled businesses and nonprofits. Mixell also represents commercial and nonprofit-lending institutions.

Fritz retired as president of VF Outlet Inc. after 30 years with VF Corp. He served in several roles for VF Corp. before being named president of Jantzen in Portland, Ore., and then becoming president of VF Outlet in 2002. He has served on various nonprofit boards in Berks County.

McDevitt is the retired CEO of The Rose Corporation, Reading. She worked in that family business for more than two decades. She is a board member at bctv.org and the Berks County Municipal Authority and previously served as a board member and marketing vice president for Hawk Mountain Council, Boy Scouts of America.

James S. Boscov and Latisha Bernard Schuenemann, Esq., have stepped off the Community Foundation board after completing the maximum-allowed three terms of three years each (for a total of nine years as board members). Boscov is CEO of Boscovā€™s. Schuenemann is a shareholder at Leisawitz Heller.

Other current Community Foundation board members: Eric Burkey, President, Burkey Group; Lyn Camella-Rich, Co-owner and artist, Dancing Tree Creations Artisans Gallery and Studio; Vicki Ebner, Senior Counsel, East Penn Manufacturing; P. Michael Ehlerman, Former Chairman, Yuasa Battery Inc.; Kevin K. Murphy, President, Berks County Community Foundation; Bala Peterson, Senior Staff Engineering Lead, WarnerMedia; Marilu RodrĆ­guez-Bauer, Esq., Founder, RB Legal Counsel LLC; and Ramona D. Turpin, Workforce Development Coordinator, Literacy Council of Reading-Berks Inc.

Frances A. Aitken, CPA, COO at the Community Foundation, serves as board treasurer. Jay R. Wagner, Esq., a shareholder at Stevens & Lee, serves as board secretary. They serve as officers but not as board members of the Community Foundation.

The Community Foundation manages about 350 charitable funds. Each year, those funds distribute scholarships and grants to support local students and assist a variety of nonprofit organizations and causes. Since 1994, the Community Foundation has awarded more than $60 million in grants and scholarships.

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