Executive Advisory Council-DO NOT PUBLISH

The Executive Advisory Council offers robust advocacy and guidance to the Dean on matters of strategy and planning.

MelanieJCataldi

Melanie J. Cataldi

Senior Vice President, Chief Impact Officer
Philabundance

As Chief Impact Officer, Melanie oversees the development and execution of key strategies that contribute to ending food insecurity in the Delaware Valley. Primarily focusing on identifying, developing, and launching partnerships and policies that help to end hunger, Melanie manages programs that help alleviate hunger and move individuals and families towards ending hunger for good. Melanie has been with Philabundance since 2000, first serving as program Director of the Delaware Valley Community Kitchen (now Philabundance Community Kitchen). Her subsequent positions at Philabundance include Nutrition Services, Director of Programs, and Senior Vice President of Programs and Operations. Most recently, Melanie served as Chief Operating Officer and oversaw Philabundance logistics and programs including warehousing and inventory control, transportation, repack, facilities, job training, meal production and all community food programs. Prior to Philabundance, Melanie served as a nutrition educator at Temple University and has over 10 years of experience in the life insurance industry. Melanie received her Masters of Public Health from Temple University and her Bachelor of Science degree from Drexel University.


PamelaDeCampliRNMSNNEABCPamela DeCampli RN, MSN, NEA-BC

Executive Leadership Coaching Consultant

Pam has thirty-five years of broad management experience in university teaching hospitals, private not-for-profit hospitals, and for-profit community hospitals. She has held senior nursing leadership positions at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia. She was the Vice President for Patient Care Services at Graduate Hospital and the Chief Operating Officer at Medical College of Pennsylvania. Pam retired in December 2019 from her position as Executive Vice President at Kirby Bates Associates, LLC where she led healthcare management consulting and executive coaching projects for over 14 years. Pam has served on the Nurse Advisory Council of the Hospital Association of Pennsylvania and was an Adjunct Assistant Professor at MCP Hahnemann University for over six years. She has also been a Clinical Instructor at Thomas Jefferson University and the University of Pennsylvania, and a Clinical Associate at the Villanova University College of Nursing. Pam currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Consultors for the College of Nursing at Villanova University.

Pam is a Past President of the Pennsylvania Nurses Association (PNA), Philadelphia County District, and has served on multiple PNA committees and boards. She served as Secretary and President to the Board of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Organization of Nurse Leaders and was a Board Director for the Pennsylvania Organization of Nurse Leaders as well as the local American College of Healthcare Executives Chapter serving as the Co-chair for the Career Development Committee for four years. She is a member of the American Organization of Nurse Executives, the Association of Perioperative Nurses, the Healthcare Leadership Network of Delaware Valley, and the American College of Healthcare Executives. Pam received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing from Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN and her Master of Science in Nursing Administration from Villanova University in Villanova, PA. She is a certified executive coach and as well as a Nurse Executive, Advanced through the American Nurses Credential Committee. Pam was recognized by the American Society of Fundraising Professionals in 2016 as a community supporter; received the Raker Memorial Award from Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network; is a member of the Clara Barton Society, American Red Cross; a member of the Founder’s Society of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; is a lifelong Girl Scout and former Board Member and Co-chair of Take the Lead as well as former Co-Chair for the Lehigh Valley Capital Campaign; and an avid United Way supporter representing the Tocqueville Society as an active cabinet member. Pam was recognized by GSEP in 2017 as a Lehigh Valley Take The Lead honoree.


Tobey Dichter-headshotTobey Dichter

Founder and CEO
Generations on Line

Tobey Gordon Dichter, M.Ed., founder and CEO, was named One of the 50 Most Influential People in Aging by PBS news in aging service Next Avenue in October, 2015. Ms. Dichter is the former Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs and Executive Committee Member at SmithKline Beecham Healthcare Services (now Glaxo SmithKline), a worldwide healthcare company. She was known for the first corporate television news program for employees worldwide, and later as the founder of the Drug Testing Index and repositioning Pap Screening from a finite test to a screen. Ms Dichter left SmithKline in 1999 to pursue Generations on Line. She has served on the Boards of The Free Library of Philadelphia, Maternity Care Coalition, The Philadelphia School, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, The Wilma Theater, and The Philadelphia Film Society. Ms. Dichter is a frequent speaker and consultant on the digital divide. She is a full-time, unpaid chief executive of the organization, responsible for strategic direction, partnership development, finance, and Board and public relations.


richard-hRichard H. Fortinsky Ph. D.

Professor, Center on Aging,
Health Net, Inc. Endowed Chair in Geriatrics and Gerontology
University of Connecticut School of Medicine, UConn Health

Richard H. Fortinsky, PhD, is a professor at the University of Connecticut (UConn) School of Medicine, where he is a core faculty member at the UConn Center on Aging and holds the Health Net, Inc. Endowed Chair in Geriatrics and Gerontology. He holds secondary academic appointments at UConn in the School of Nursing and in the Department of Public Health Sciences, and provides academic mentorship to students, trainees, and junior faculty members in geriatric medicine, nursing, and public health. For nearly 40 years, Dr. Fortinsky has collaborated with colleagues from a wide range of clinical and scientific disciplines, and with numerous community-based organization and health care system partners, to design and carry out studies intended to improve care and optimize health-related outcomes for older adults and their families. He has published extensively in the aging field, has chaired study sections for the National Institutes of Health, and has held national leadership positions with the Gerontological Society of America and the American Public Health Association. Dr. Fortinsky presently serves as principal investigator for clinical trials funded by the National Institute on Aging and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute designed to test in-home, team-based interventions targeting older adults with dementia, depression and a history of delirium and their families. Dr. Fortinsky received his doctoral degree in Sociology from Brown University, specializing in medical sociology and gerontology.


jerry-ryan-headshot

Jerry Haffey Sr.,

Founder and CEO
Ambrosia Treatment Center

Jerry is the CEO and Founder of Ambrosia Treatment Center. In 1999, he began working at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital as a cardiothoracic nurse where he notices that patients with alcohol or substance dependency were not receiving the same level of care as other patients. Later Haffey segued into the medical sales field with Hill-Rom and moved to Medline Industries in Florida. It was then that he saw an opportunity to help change the perception of addicts by raising public awareness and building his own treatment centers. He opened his first Ambrosia Treatment Centers on October 7, 2007. Over the next several years, Haffey opened four more treatment centers in Singer Island and West Palm Beach, Florida; Medford, New Jersey; and Beverly Hill, California. His centers have treated over 15,000 clients and Haffey has awarded over $5,000,000 in scholarship to provide in-depth, one-on-one treatment and launching an entire department dedicated to educating and supporting the loved ones affected by addiction. A son of a veteran himself, Haffey plans to expand by providing programming specifically for veterans at his centers. Jerry recently opened up a center in his hometown Philadelphia aimed specifically to combat the opioid crisis. 

  • Winner of the Humanitarian Award from the Harold and Carole Pump’s Cancer Foundation for his passionate and courageous work in the health field. 
  • Named by the College of Nursing and Health Professions as a Person of Purpose
  • Winner of the 2019 Drexel University Alumni Entrepreneurship award


Rev Dr Lorina MarshallBlake MGARev. Dr. Lorina Marshall-Blake, MGA, FAAN

President, Independence Blue Cross Foundation
Vice President of Community Affairs, Independence Blue Cross

Rev. Dr. Lorina Marshall-Blake is president of the Independence Blue Cross Foundation (Foundation), leading strategic, programmatic, and operational efforts to fulfill the Foundation’s mission to lead sustainable solutions that improve the health and wellness of the community. While overseeing grant-making work for Foundation, Marshall-Blake steered the Foundation to be a collaborator, innovator, convener of diverse organizations, and thought leader in addressing emerging health needs in southeastern Pennsylvania. Marshall-Blake is devoted to her church and community. She serves as an associate minister at the Vine Memorial Baptist Church in Philadelphia. In addition, she is affiliated with more than 30 professional and civic organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League and the United Negro College Fund, and is the 28th President of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Omega Omega Chapter. She has been recognized for her leadership and community service by diverse organizations such as the NAACP, the Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Tribune, and the United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey. She has also been recognized with numerous awards and was listed among the Philadelphia Business Journal’s Power 100, an exclusive list recognizing area leaders who are shaping the future of Greater Philadelphia. Marshall-Blake serves on more than 25 non-profit boards and committees of local, state, and national organizations including Blue Cross Blue Shield Association -- Corporate Responsibility Committee, Chamber’s Paradigm Award & Scholarship Committee, the Urban Affairs Coalition, and the Urban League of Philadelphia. She also serves on Drexel University’s College of Nursing and Health Professions Executive Advisory Council and Rutgers School of Nursing-Camden Dean’s Leadership Circle. Marshall-Blake holds a bachelor’s degree in human services from Antioch College, a master’s in government administration from the University of Pennsylvania, an honorary doctorate of Humanities from Albright College and an honorary doctorate of Health Care Innovation from Harcum College. She is an Honorary Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and was appointed to the National Advisory Council on Nursing Education and Practice in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.


Jeff Ryan Headshot with Drexel Yellow triangle at the top left and Drexel Blue triangle at the bottom right

Jeff Ryan, MPT, FACHE

CEO
Legacy Healthcare Services.

Formally trained as a physical therapist and athletic trainer he earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Temple University, a master’s degree in physical therapy from Drexel University (at the time Hahnemann University), and a Master of Business Administration degree from The Johns Hopkins University. Prior to joining the Legacy team, he served as Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President of Finance at Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) - Philadelphia. There he oversaw all hospital operations, finances, and led strategy and business development efforts. Prior to that he held numerous leadership positions in hospital operations and hospital-based physician practices in complex academic organizations. He began his career in leadership positions in rehabilitation at Pennsylvania Hospital and with the Temple University Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine where he also served as a Clinical Instructor. Jeff has served as a board member for the National Athletic Trainers' Association Research & Education Foundation and as a board member and President of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Board of Certification. He has been active on several community and charitable boards as both a board member and president. Additionally, he is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. In his personal time, he and his wife enjoy spending time with their five children and their three dogs while hiking, kayaking, golfing, traveling, attending concerts, and gardening.


NevilleEStrump-headshotNeville E. Strumpf, PhD, RN, FAAN

Professor of Nursing and Dean Emerita
University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing

“Throughout her nearly forty-year tenure as a member of the Penn community, Dr. Strumpf has demonstrated extraordinary leadership and exceptional teaching and mentoring, all driven by her innovative research in the field of elder care and her commitment to equitable and quality health care,” said Penn Nursing Dean Antonia Villarruel. “She is a generous scholar and School and University citizen.” Through two decades of research, first published in 1988, her work showed the emotional and physical harms of being restrained and established a scientific basis for restraint-free care. Strumpf, and her research colleague, testified before Congress, wrote papers, and worked with professional organizations and regulatory agencies to advocate for restraint-free care. By 2000, restraint-free care was widely recognized as the standard of practice, especially in nursing homes. When the American Academy of Nursing developed “Five Things Nurses and Patients Should Question” in 2014 to ensure patients receive necessary but not harmful care, not using physical restraints with older patients was on the list, because of their groundbreaking research. Along with her leading-edge work in gerontology, Strumpf led Penn Nursing as interim dean from 2000-2001. During that time, she facilitated strategic planning, faculty governance, and scholarship, easing the transition from one dean to the next.