Cheryl Wade (2006)
Board Chair
Director for Philanthropy, The Kendal Corporation

Cheryl Wade serves as both Director for Philanthropy and as Executive Director of Kendal Charitable Funds. She came to Kendal from the American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A. (ABC), headquartered in King of Prussia, PA, where she most recently served as the Associate General Secretary and Treasurer. In that position, Wade functioned as the Chief Operating Officer and CFO after previously working as Treasurer of the Ministries and Missionaries Benefit Board. Wade, an ordained Baptist minister, earned a B.A. from the College of William and Mary, an M.Div., from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary, and an MBA, with a concentration in non-profit management and finance, from Columbia University.  She holds an Honorary Doctorate from Central Baptist Theological Seminary and is a past recipient of the Joann Martin Award for Public and Non-Profit Management granted by Columbia University. She was an active member of the World Council of Churches as a member of its Central Committee through February 2006 and is currently a member of the governing board of the National Council of Churches of Christ.  She has served in a variety of community based programs, including the Northwest Interfaith Movement, an interfaith alliance of 36 congregations in Northwest Philadelphia, Betak AIDS Residence - a community based housing program in Philadelphia for persons with AIDS, and Summerbridge of Germantown, Inc., a two-year academic enrichment program for educationally and economically disadvantaged middle school students.

Gary Nicholas (2008)

Gary A. Nicholas, 62, retired Vice President & General Manager of Hope Gas, Inc..  He is past President of the West Virginia Oil & Gas Association and former member of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce.  He is a member of the Board of Governors of Alderson-Broaddus College.  Mr. Nicholas received his undergraduate degree in business administration from West Virginia University.  He served in a variety of management and executive positions with Consolidated Natural Gas for 32 years.

 
Diane Robertson (2007)
Director of Health Technology Assessment Group, ECRI Institute

Diane Robertson’s professional life for 30 years has focused predominantly in healthcare communications, health technology research and translating technical health research information into consumer and patient information designed to promote shared decision making between patients and their clinicians. She has worked in corporate, academic and nonprofit settings. Since 1994, she has been with ECRI Institute, an international private nonprofit organization in Plymouth Meeting, PA, whose mission is to improve the safety, effectiveness and quality of patient care through its research, education and publishing activities to promote evidence-based decision making in healthcare. Ms. Robertson is the Institute’s Director of Health Technology Assessment Information Services. Her avocation is textile arts. She received formal education and a degree in textile arts and design from Philadelphia College of Textiles and Sciences (now Philadelphia University) and Moore College of Art and Design. Her graduate work was in Communications at Temple University.  She has taught students of all ages in both her professional and avocational life. As a textile artist, she has taught workshops and community art classes in various methods of weaving, chair caning, banner making and other textile forms. She especially enjoys creating liturgical textiles that serve a decorative and faith story-telling purpose similar to that of stained glass.

Ronald W. Hevey, Sr. (2007)
Artist, Retired DEC Executive

Since joining the BuildaBridge board in 2006, Ron Hevey has brought art two years-in-a-row to Guatemalan prison gangs, "a tough group of young men and women who do wonderful art to pull themselves up to a better life," as he says.  Ron retired from corporate life following twenty-three years with DEC, an HP computer company, where he served as Vice President of the New York Area, U.S. Financial Services and the Japanese Initiative.  His sales and marketing business developed low-cost channels for telecommunications, energy and Internet companies. Ron's extensive non-profit experience as a volunteer and board member includes:  Business Council for the United Nations, UNICEF, Adopt-a-School, Wisconsin Alumni Association, Appleford , Main Line Art Center and Fox Subacute Care before joining BuildaBridge's board as an artist/volunteer and Treasurer.  Educational background:  BSEE, MBA, Harvard Advanced Management Program. 

Carla Romarte-Knipel (2007)
Interim Ministry Specialists, American Baptist Churches
Board Member, Executive Committee member and Secretary, American Baptist Historical Society

David Knipel (2007)
Legal Council, American Baptist Churches
Interim Ministry Specialists, American Baptist Churches

Roxanne Hill (2006)
Manager, Dollar General
Community Member

John Clarke (2005)
Assistant Vice President, Bank of America

Mark Halsey (2005)
Director of Extension Programs, Old Dominion University

Mark C. Halsey

Director of Operations and Administration for Distance Learning and Summer Sessions at Virginia Tech

Mark has been a university faculty member and administrator for more than twenty years.  He is currently Director of Operations and Administration for Distance Learning and Summer Sessions at Virginia Tech, where he is responsible for enrollment management, marketing, human resources, contract management and the unit’s fiscal affairs.  He has been Regional Director for Distance Learning at Old Dominion University (Virginia), and Chair of the Department of Business and Associate Professor of Management at Eastern University (Pennsylvania).  While at Eastern, he founded the Graduate Program in Nonprofit Management, one of less than twenty such programs in the nation at the time of its founding focused exclusively on the private nonprofit sector.  He served as its Director for twelve years.  Before transitioning his career into higher education, Mark was a Director with two management consultant firms with national client bases, and continues a part-time practice that specializes in strategic planning and human resources assessment and performance management.  He has served on several boards of directors of nonprofit organizations, including BuildaBridge.

Dr. J Nathan Corbitt (2000)
President and Co-Founder
Professor of Cross-Cultural Studies at the Campolo School for Social Change, Eastern University

Dr. Vivian Nix-Early (2000)

COO and Co-Founder
Dean of the Campolo School for Social Change, Eastern University