Domestic Violence Service Center
Solmari Vince, Domestic Violence Service Center (SUBMITTED)
The organization announced that its court advocate, Solmari Vince, was selected as the 2025 Light of Liberty Community Partner Advocate of the Year. This award is presented by the Pennsylvania Immigrant Resource Center, PIRC. The PIRC provides free high-quality legal services so that vulnerable immigrants and their families have access to justice and a more secure future.
Vince was honored at this year’s Light of Liberty ceremony in recognition of her extraordinary commitment to supporting immigrant survivors and her innovative work that strengthens both legal and human rights advocacy.
Fidelity Bank
Charles Hangen, Fidelity Bank (SUBMITTED)
Charles Hangen has joined the bank as senior vice president, chief risk officer.
Hangen will be responsible for safeguarding the bank’s strategic integrity, a role that leads to the identification and mitigation of critical competitive, regulatory and technological risks. He will be focused on advancing the enterprise risk management framework and ensuring robust policies and procedures that adapt to an evolving financial landscape.
Currently residing in Nazareth, Hangen is a graduate of Northampton Area High School and graduated from Bloomsburg University in 1994. He has completed the American Bankers Association Stonier Graduate School of Banking, the Wharton Leadership Program, Central Bankers School of Commercial Lending, and has also been recognized as a Northampton Area Konkrete Kids Education Foundation 2019 Distinguished Alumni Inductee.
Penn State Scranton
Alan Peslak, Penn State Scranton (SUBMITTED)
Professor of information sciences and technology Alan Peslak has been named the 2025 Computer Educator of the Year by the International Association for Computer Information Systems (IACIS). The award is the highest honor bestowed by the organization.
The Computer Educator of the Year award recognizes individuals who demonstrate exceptional research and teaching achievements, and who have made significant contributions to the fields of information systems, information technology and computer science. Recipients are selected for their national and international impact on information science education and scholarship.
Peslak, who also serves as professor in charge of Penn State’s information technology degree program and as information sciences and technology discipline coordinator for the university’s 14 Commonwealth Campuses, has played a key role in advancing IT education across Penn State. He recently co-chaired a universitywide committee to design the new IT degree focusing on broad-based technology skills for entry-level professionals, particularly in small and medium-sized organizations.
Peslak joined Penn State more than two decades ago after a 25-year career in the private sector, where he served as vice president of finance for Akzo Nobel.
University of Scranton
Jacqueline Cleary, University of Scranton (SUBMITTED)
Elizabeth Madden, University of Scranton (SUBMITTED)
Frank Pearn, University of Scranton (SUBMITTED)
Mark Santarsiero, University of Scranton (SUBMITTED)
The university named four new members to its board of trustees: Jacqueline A. Cleary ’87, Elizabeth A. Madden ’96, Francis J. Pearn, CPA ’83 and Mark W. Santarsiero, CPA ’80.
Cleary serves as founder, president and CEO of Atlas, a fully woman-owned global consulting firm that tackles intricate business hurdles for Fortune 100 giants and rising startups alike. With a sharp focus on life sciences, her guidance has elevated Atlas to a top-tier provider of program management services across the U.S. and Europe, with offices in the United States and the Czech Republic.
A passionate champion for women leaders, Cleary engages deeply with the Women Presidents’ Organization and the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, where she participates as a forum member. In 2014, her efforts in nurturing fellow women entrepreneurs earned her the WBENC Star Award, the highest national honor for excellence in women-owned businesses.
Cleary holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from the University of Scranton and is an alumna of Harvard Business School’s Owner/President Management Program (OPM 48), an elite training for visionary entrepreneurs.
Madden is the founder and managing member of Compass Advisors & Coaching, where she combines executive coaching and human resources advisory services to support senior leaders and high-impact organizations. With more than 25 years of experience spanning Goldman Sachs, Davidson Kempner and her own consultancy, she brings deep expertise in leadership development, talent strategy, organizational transformation and employee engagement. During her 18 years at Goldman Sachs in New York and Hong Kong, she led the company’s Prime Brokerage HR Consulting Practice for almost a decade.
As a dedicated alumna, Madden has been engaged with the university for over two decades.
Madden earned a Bachelor of Arts in communication from the University of Scranton and a Master of Arts in higher education administration from New York University. She is a Certified Executive Coach through Columbia University’s Teachers College and holds additional certifications in several coaching assessment tools.
Pearn is a corporate board director and the former global chief compliance officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co, where he was responsible for the end-to-end risk management oversight of the financial institution’s compliance, conduct and operational risk management activities globally. He oversaw the company’s anti-money-laundering, technology and cybersecurity risk management and market conduct programs.
After graduating from the university with a bachelor’s degree in accounting, Pearn began his career at Price Waterhouse as a certified public accountant. He joined J.P. Morgan in 1990, holding a number of financial and operational management positions in New York, Milan and London before retiring in 2024.
Pearn is former vice chair of the board of trustees, former chair and founding member of the President’s Business Council (PBC) and a member of the Pride, Passion Promise Campaign executive committee. He was awarded the President’s Medal at the PBC Award Dinner. He currently serves on the board of directors of the Toronto-Dominion Bank.
Santarsiero serves as president and chief executive officer of Marshall & Stevens, and executive managing director for MS Capital Investment Banking. Founded in 1932, Marshall & Stevens, headquartered in Los Angeles, is a recognized leader in valuation services and is one of the oldest and most respected independent multidisciplinary valuation firms in the U.S.
Santarsiero began his 39-year career with Marshall & Stevens as a corporate controller of the public company that originally owned it. He was a member of the team that led the employee buyout of Marshall & Stevens from its corporate parent in 1985, which transformed the business. He was appointed to his current position at Marshall & Stevens in 2000.
He earned a Bachelor of Science in accounting from the University of Scranton and an MBA from the University of Southern California. He is a certified public accountant in Pennsylvania and California and is an active member of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants and the New Jersey and California CPA societies.