Ponzo named to Executive Leadership Council
Sam Ponzo, vice president and general manager of DuPont Industrial Solutions, has been inducted as a member of The Executive Leadership Council (ELC).
The ELC is a global organization, comprised of current and former Black CEOs, board members and other senior executives, that works to open channels of opportunity for the development of Black executives to positively impact business and communities. The ELC held its induction ceremony at its annual meeting last week in Las Vegas.
Over a 25-year career with DuPont, Ponzo has held a variety of business and functional leadership positions. He served as a project engineer, site electrical safety leader, and first-line supervisor for the Automotive Systems/Nylon Apparel business and has since held roles in the company’s Food Industry Solutions and Safety Resources, Finance, DuPont Sustainable Solutions, and the Advanced Printing business.
WSFS names Tranfalia SVP
WSFS Bank announced the hiring of Jamie Tranfalia as Senior Vice President and Senior Middle Market Team Leader.
Tranfalia will support and develop a team of Middle Market Relationship Managers to retain and deepen existing Middle Market relationships, acquire new ones, and promote the WSFS Middle Market brand in general.
Prior to joining WSFS, Tranfalia was Market President and Middle Market Team Leader at KeyBank, where he oversaw customer service and business development throughout Eastern Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey. He has held similar roles with Citizens Bank, Wells Fargo and Brown Brothers Harriman.
Sussex emergency manager retiring
Sussex County’s longtime emergency manager is retiring.
Joseph L. Thomas, director of the County’s Emergency Operations Center and a familiar face to the public and news media during hazardous weather events over the past quarter-century, announced his plans to step down as the county’s lead emergency manager.
During his time in the post, the county built a new emergency complex in 2008, and expanded the facility last year to house the county’s EMS offices.
Mensh named Wilmington Hospital’s chief medical officer
Emmanuel Mensah, M.D., MBA, has been appointed chief medical officer of ChristianaCare’s Wilmington Hospital, effective January 2024.
Mensah serves as Wilmington Hospital’s senior physician executive, responsible for quality, safety, care standardization, clinical outcomes, and patient experience. He also works to be the liaison between the medical staff, operational leadership, and the community.
Throughout his career, Dr. Mensah has developed an interest and expertise in health equity and disparities, quality improvement and health system design, with a focus on global health and developing countries.
Prior to joining ChristianaCare, Dr. Mensah served as managing director of the Center for Integration Science in Global Health Equity, a World Health Organization Collaborating Center, at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and Firm Chief in the Department of Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Union Hospital chief medical officer named
Arsalan Sheikh has been named chief medical officer of ChristianaCare Union Hospital.
Dr. Sheikh will serve as the senior physician executive of Union Hospital, responsible for quality, safety, care standardization, clinical outcomes, and patient experience across the continuum of care. He will be the liaison between the medical staff, operational leadership and the community.
Sheikh most recently served as medical director of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism for Luminis Health, which serves over one million patients in Maryland.
Bowman named to White House advisory committee
J. Michael (Mike) Bowman, associate director of the University of Delaware’s Office of Economic Innovation and Partnerships, has been appointed by President Biden to the White House Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations.
Bowman, who also is CEO and president of Delaware Technology Park and state director of the Delaware Small Business Development Center, was among nine individuals selected to join the committee, which provides overall policy advice to the United States Trade Representative on matters related to the development, implementation and administration of U.S. trade policy.
Phreesia names chief technology officer
Phreesia, north Wilmington, named Jack Callahan as the company’s new Chief Technology Officer.
Callahan has been with the company for 14 years and previously served as its vice president of engineering. He succeeds Dan Nathan, who has been with the company for 17 years and played an integral role in establishing Phreesia’s technical capabilities. Nathan will remain as Senior Engineering Advisor.
Phreesia is a developer of medical patient intake software.
Convention bureau adds team members
The Greater Wilmington Convention and Visitors Bureau (GWCVB) has added two new members to its team. Courtney Haywood, joins as director of public relations, and Kristin Mohr is the Bureau’s sales administrator, assisting director of sales Jessica Bittmann with meetings, conventions and group tours.
Haywood served as the external communications manager at The Salvation Army’s National Headquarters, where she played a pivotal role in national campaigns such as The Red Kettle Challenge. Before that, Haywood served as the publicist for three nationally syndicated PBS shows.
Courtney has more than 14 years of experience in public relations, including five years as a strategic communications lecturer at Lincoln University of Pennsylvania.
Mohr brings more than 20 years of sales experience to the team, with a background in event planning and execution, previously with the Chase Center on the Riverfront sales office.
Schirvar joins Beebe
Beebe Healthcare announced that Wendi Schirvar joined the healthcare system, with a focus on assisting the growth of the organization’s behavioral health services. Dr. Schirvar is the first licensed clinical psychologist to be hired by Beebe.
Schirvar will look to help develop, implement, and coordinate behavioral health programs by fostering collaborative networks between primary care and behavioral health specialists at Beebe.
She also sees patients of all ages at Beebe Primary Care Long Neck.
Schirvar earned her doctorate in Educational Psychology and School Psychology at the University of Minnesota. She then completed a postdoctoral clinical fellowship in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Minnesota Medical School.
Kerr named to Journalism Initiative board
Darrin Kerr of the American Journalism Project (AJP) has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Local Journalism Initiative (LJI).
He is Head of Growth Investments at AJP. AJP awarded a $1 million, three-year grant to LJI to launch Spotlight Delaware.
Before joining AJP, Kerr held leadership positions at Teach For All, helping found and scale education nonprofits and building the network infrastructure for those organizations to learn from one another.
LJI President Allison Taylor Levine said Kerr’s expertise in scaling early-stage organizations will help LJI build Spotlight Delaware into the type of sustainable local news organization Delawareans need.
