Leadership
Board of Directors
Georgean Wardzinski, Chair
Ken Sher, Vice Chair
Tom Coia, Treasurer
Wendy Lee, Secretary
Larry Badler, Director
Barbara Taylor, Director
Darshan Kulkarni, Director
Mick Navin, Director
Rich Richardson, Director
Paul Koulogeorge, Director
Member Advocacy Council
The Member Advocacy Council (MAC) is comprised volunteer leaders including the Board of Directors and the chairs and co-chairs of Beacon’s Committees and Subgroups.
Committees
Co-Chair: Pam Seplow
Co-Chair: Pat Schaeffer
The Diversity & Inclusion Committee leads Beacon’s commitment to enhance our organization to better reflect the diverse business community in our region.
The committee initiates and organizes opportunities for dialogue, reflection, and learning and collaborates with the diverse business community in our region.
Chair: Tom Coia
The Finance Committee advises the Board of Directors on matters of financial significance to Beacon.
Chair: Greg Fegley
The Governance Committee supports the Board of Directors in assessing and improving individual and group performance in achieving its objectives. The Committee recommends board development strategies, promotes the pathways for eligible members to serve, and conducts the annual nominations and election process.
Chair: Pat Schaeffer
The Beacon Guide Program matches new, active members with experienced Beacon members. The purpose is to immediately engage new members – with the longer term goal of retaining members.
Guides help their assigned new members to develop targeted Beacon roadmaps and creating a Beacon plan that most benefits each new member. Once a Guide and a new member are matched their formal relationship lasts for three months. Often though, the Guide and new member remain part of one another’s network.
Chair: Kathleen Rohrbaugh
The Marketing & PR Committee provides consistent delivery of brand experiences, both internally and externally, reinforces the value of ‘networking for life’ and fosters our shared culture of helping and giving.
The committee develops social media strategies that leverage the power of our member organization; selects marketing channels that efficiently and effectively reach business leaders, prospective new members and sponsors; and provides hands-on marketing support to all subgroups helping achieve their respective goals; such as increasing membership and event attendance.
Chair: Paul Koulogeorge
The purpose of the Membership Committee is to build Beacon by building membership. We do this, first, by putting in place effective processes and programs to attract, recruit, and onboard potential members, and, second, by engaging and retaining members.
Chair: TBD
The Program Committee produces two ‘Signature Programs’ each year that cater to members’ interests and needs.
Point of Contact: Georgean Wardzinski
Beacon’s sponsorship committee helps to find new sponsors and ensure current sponsors get the most out of their involvement with Beacon.
Staff
Subgroups & Offerings
Click on the plus signs below to read more about each of our subgroups and offerings.
Point of Contact: Barbara Taylor
B-Circles are closed, facilitated affinity groups that provide a way for members to get to know, like, and trust each other. Each B-Circle consists of 6 – 12 members with similar business operations and challenges who commit to meet virtually once a month for one year.
Chair: Charley Timmins
Vice Chair: Drew Ortyn
Business Networking Roundtables are designed to be a better way to learn more in-depth knowledge about other Members’ businesses with whom participants may want to engage, collaborate, or recommend to their business network.
Chair: Richard Marcus
CSAC is a closed group. All applications for membership must be approved by the group’s chair.
CSAC is an in-person peer support group for senior level executives who currently or previously served in C-level roles.
CSCAC members have opportunities to hear from (a) senior leaders whose stories lead to key learnings and takeaways and (b) subject matter experts presenting on topics relevant to top tier organizational leadership.
Co-Chair: Franne McNeal
Co-Chair: John Yankanich
CEO Forum is a closed group designed to serve in-seat CEOs, to network, collaborate and tackle their most pressing challenges, such as managing risk, developing a Board of Advisors, accelerating growth or increasing the capability of its leadership team.
Chair: Jim Wilson
The Delaware subgroup furthers the Beacon mission of Networking for Life in Northern Delaware and the surrounding counties.
Chair: Glenn Weber
The Financial Executives Subgroup’s mission is to provide a professional yet personalized and relaxed forum for Financial Executives, Executives in the Financial Industry, and their peers to freely and openly exchange ideas, share lessons-learned, assist one another with problem solving solutions, and to generally impart wisdom.
Chair: Bob Jarvis
Members of this group take our Go-Giver spirit out into our local communities, offering to provide helpful advisors to provide assistance with specific business problem areas (Strategy, Finance, Tax, Operations, HR, Marketing, Sales, Supply Chain, Legal, other) on a pro bono basis.
Chair: John Hadley
The Job Search and Career Development subgroup provides information, support and tools to help members take charge of their careers, find the jobs they love, and earn what they deserve.
If you are “between jobs,” looking for a career you’ll love, or hoping to improve your career management skills, this group will help you achieve your career goals.
Chair: Carol Mitchell
The Leadership subgroup provides an interactive forum for senior executives across Beacon to learn and discuss emerging and effective leadership practices.
Our focus is to provide educational opportunities in leadership – what it impacts and how, and the critical career passages in building a strong leadership base, or leadership pipeline.
Chair: Dalfoni Banerjee
The Life Sciences & Healthcare subgroup of Beacon is for senior level professionals primarily involved with innovation in human health, nutrition, and agriculture, who span R&D, Manufacturing, and Commercialization.
Co-Chair: Hala Shawaf Barson
Co-Chair: Keisha Stephenson Taylor
Beacon’s South Jersey subgroup provides a community where members can establish meaningful and long-lasting professional and personal relationships that will open doors and create new career and organizational possibilities, with a special geographical focus on our local South Jersey business community.
Co-Chair: Jim Van Horn
Co-Chair: Janine Scaff
The Non-Profit subgroup provides an interactive forum for Beacon executives who are nonprofit board members, volunteers, employees or interested in transitioning into the charitable sector; provides educational opportunities on hot topics, trends, and operational realities of the nonprofit world; partners with other organizations who are developing executives for service in the nonprofit field for joint programming and other collaborations; and provides mentoring for Beacon members interested in becoming active in the nonprofit sector.
Chair: Eleanore Meals
The Operations Executives subgroup focuses on general networking, sharing of professional contacts, and collaboration among executives in operations.
Co-Chair: Andy Watson
Co-Chair: Kevin Hott
The Private Equity Subgroup is for those members of Beacon who wish to focus their careers on Private Equity (PE) or PE portfolio companies. Membership in the subgroup is for those who already understand private equity, or are willing to invest the time to become knowledgeable in and helpful to both the other members of the group and the private equity community in general. Members are expected to develop contacts and to assist in bringing these contacts to the group as guests/speakers.
Chair: Nella Bloom
The Professional Services Subgroup assists members in their development and growth as professional services providers. The subgroup facilitates the exchange of information and business opportunities in order to provide enhanced client services and expand professional practices. The subgroup provides a network of learning opportunities.
Chair: Mark Kesti
The Sales and Marketing Subgroup provides a quality forum for networking and educational programs across all industry segments with those who share an interest in the sales and marketing function.
Small Group Networking meetings take place twice per month and allow for members to get to know one another in a casual virtual meeting. Each session has a volunteer facilitator. Some sessions have special topics while others are general networking. See the calendar for upcoming sessions.
Chair: Mitchell Stevelman
Vice Chair: Bob Merkle
The Technology Executives Subgroup provides a forum for all executives to learn, discuss, and debate the use of technology in all areas of business.
Our objectives are to help executives:
- Understand the business implications of new technologies as they develop, and identify those relevant to their industry and business.
- Make technology investment decisions with greater knowledge and confidence.
- Minimize the risks of adopting technology in business processes.
- Identify talent that will help your business advance its goals through technology.
Chair: Jo Ann Morgano
Vice Chair: Jo Colontonio
Women in Beacon network together to collaborate on issues of common interest, build community among women, promote inclusion of women in the membership and leadership of Beacon, support development of emerging women in executive positions, and actively develop programs and activities that are of interest to executive women and support these goals.