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The newly-created BCIU Education Foundation has unveiled its inaugural board of trustees. (Courtesy of the BCIU Education Foundation)<\/p>\nA newly created foundation dedicated to supporting education in Berks County has announced the members and leadership of its inaugural board of trustees.<\/p>\n
The Berks County Intermediate Unit Education Foundation was established in September to serve as the philanthropic arm of the BCIU. Its primary purpose is to provide sustainable financial support for programs and projects that expand educational opportunities for kids across Berks.<\/p>\n
The foundation will work so secure corporate, foundation and community investments, as well as federal and state grants that support educational programs, innovative initiatives and facility improvements benefiting children and families throughout the county.<\/p>\n
The newly-created BCIU Education Foundation has unveiled its inaugural board of trustees. (Courtesy of the BCIU Education Foundation)<\/p>\n
Last week, the foundation announced the cast of characters who will help lead that effort as part of its inaugural 18-member board of trustees. The leadership team for the board was also announced.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Chair \u2014 Scott L. Gruber, retired president and CEO of Tompkins VIST Bank and executive director of economic development for Our City Reading Inc.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Vice chair \u2014 P. Sue Perrotty, retired president and CEO of Tower Health.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Secretary \u2014 Angel Lee Helm, retired investment banker and current nonprofit leader.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Treasurer \u2014 Ralph Richard, commercial banking executive.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Member \u2014 State Rep. Johanny Cepeda-Freytiz.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Member \u2014 Michael Fromm, executive chairman of Fromm Electric Supply.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Member \u2014 Patricia Giles, president of The Wyomissing Foundation.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Member \u2014 Barbara Hall, retired educator.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Member \u2014 Bradley Hall, Pennsylvania Early Learning Investment Commission commissioner and retired president of GUI Energy Services.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Member \u2014 Ginger Kunkel, Pennsylvania market president for Tompkins Bank and Trust.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Member \u2014 Dr. Susan Looney, president of Reading Area Community College.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Member \u2014 Alyssa Redding, executive director of commercial banking at JPMorgan.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Member \u2014 Karen A. Rightmire, former president of The Wyomissing Foundation.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Member \u2014 Timothy D. Romig, executive vice president of Customers Bank.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Member \u2014 Jeff Rush, senior executive and executive market president at Fulton Bank.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Member \u2014 State Sen. Judy Schwank.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Member \u2014 Tammy White, president of United Way of Berks County.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Member \u2014 Jay Worrall, president of Helping Harvest Fresh Food Bank.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am honored to serve as chair of the BCIU Education Foundation alongside an exceptionally talented and dedicated group of trustees and staff,\u201d Gruber said in a statement announcing the new board. \u201cOur mission \u2014 building futures, enriching lives \u2014 reflects our shared commitment to expanding educational opportunities and strengthening the communities we serve.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe recognize the critical importance of early childhood education and lifelong learning, and we believe that by investing in learners today, we can help shape brighter futures for children, support families and create lasting benefits for our region. Together, we look forward to building partnerships, inspiring philanthropy and advancing innovative programs that make a meaningful difference in the lives of students and educators.\u201d<\/p>\n
The foundation board will also include several non-voting members representing the BCIU.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Gary McEwen, BCIU board president.<\/p>\n
\u2022 James E. Mancuso, BCIU board solicitor.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Dr. Jill Hackman, BCIU executive director.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Jan Krotee, BCIU administrative coordinator and Foundation recording secretary.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Melanie Serrano, BCIU chief financial officer and Foundation assistant treasurer.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Robert Farina, BCIU director of professional learning.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Dr. Michelle Reichard-Huff, BCIU director of early childhood and student services.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Chris Celmer, BCIU consultant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A newly created foundation dedicated to supporting education in Berks County has announced the members and leadership of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,227,182,139,28,128,130,129,706],"class_list":["post-307236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-berks-county","tag-education","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-top-stories-reg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}