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Lynette M. Brown-Sow (Chairperson) is the
Vice President of Marketing and Government Relations at Community
College of Philadelphia. In 1980, she founded L.M. Brown Management
Group, a certified minority/female-owned consulting firm that
provides professional services to corporations, non-profits, and
governmental entities. As an entrepreneur, Ms. Brown-Sow helped to
create Health Pass, one of the nation's first health insurance
organizations (HIO), in the mid-1980s. In 2008, Mayor Michael
Nutter appointed her to the Philadelphia Zoning Board of
Adjustment, which she chaired from 2010-2013. In 1991,
then-Mayor Edward Rendell appointed Ms. Brown-Sow to the position
of Deputy Mayor of Administration to manage appointees to
all boards, commissions, and non-civil service positions.
A member of Cheyney University of Pennsylvania Council of
Trustees, her diverse board appointments include The Philadelphia
Tribune Co. Inc., Hahnemann University Hospital, and Girard
College. In 2009, she founded and now chairs the Hardy Williams
Education Fund, a non-profit organization that provides support for
educational endeavors, and scholarships for people interested in
careers in law, government, or social action. She is also chair of
the Board of Directors of Youth Advocate Program Inc., an
international youth service organization, and a member of the Board
of Directors of YAP Ireland.
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Leslie D. Callahan, PhD serves as pastor of
St. Paul's Baptist Church in North Philadelphia. She received her
Bachelor of Arts in Religion from Harvard/Radcliffe, her Master of
Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York
and her PhD in Religion from Princeton University. Her research
interests include religious history in the United States,
particularly independent African American Christianity and
Pentecostal studies. |
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Rev. Bonnie Camarda has served as Director of
Partnerships for the Salvation Army of Eastern Pennsylvania and
Delaware since 1999 as a tireless advocate for the underserved.
Rev. Camarda co-chaired the Mayor Nutter's Faith Leaders Advisory
Task Force for Community Safety with the goal of maximizing the
neighborhoods' spiritual assets, social capital and civic values.
She is a non-violent activist encouraging mutual trust and respect
through amnesty programs that provide musical instruments to
Philadelphia schools for weapons turned in to authorities. An avid
supporter of education, Rev. Camarda serves as Moderator for the
Faith and Community Partnerships of the School District of
Philadelphia. She is also the past president of the Hispanic Clergy
of Philadelphia, which she helped co-found. |
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The Hon. Nelson A. Diaz has served as a Judge
for the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas and as City Solicitor of
Philadelphia. He was appointed by President Clinton to be the
general counsel for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development where he focused on reforming public and mixed-use
housing programs and served on the President's Commission on White
House Fellowships. A national leader who has worked for three U.S.
Presidents, Judge Diaz has made history as the first Latino lawyer
and judge in Pennsylvania. Judge Diaz has been honored with the
Thurgood Marshall College Fund Award of Excellence, and several
civil rights and management awards from HUD. Recently, he was named
a winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award by The Legal
Intelligencer, honoring attorneys who represent the best the
Pennsylvania legal community has to offer. He is currently a board
member of Exelon and a partner at Dilworth Paxson, LLP. |
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Joan Markman, Esq. was the first-ever Chief
Integrity Officer for the City of Philadelphia. She served as the
city's compliance officer, monitoring government practices and
procedures, especially as they relate to contracting and
concessions, the sale or lease of city-owned land, and the use of
city buildings and equipment. Ms. Markman served as an Assistant
United States Attorney from 1987 through 2007. A Philadelphia
resident since 1984, she held a key role in the FBI investigation
of City Hall during the John F. Street administration, prosecuted
numerous fraud and corruption cases, and was counsel in the
corruption trial of former City Treasurer Corey Kemp and several
City contractors. She has also served as an adjunct professor at
the University of Pennsylvania Law School. |
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Kenneth A. Murphy, Esq. is a partner and
vice-chair of the Products Liability and Mass Tort Practice Group
at Drinker Biddle. His background encompasses a broad area of legal
expertise in federal and state courts in New York, New Jersey and
Pennsylvania. He is a former member of the Pennsylvania Bar
Association's Minority Committee and current vice-chair of the
Philadelphia Bar Association's Judicial Selection and Retention
Commission. He is also a member of the International Association of
Defense Counsel and the Defense Research Institute. |
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Vernell Tate is an elected PHA resident leader
serving as a representative voice to the PHA Board of Commissioners
on issues including Low Income Housing Tax Credit site development,
site maintenance, major system repairs, and security system
improvements. Possessing excellent technological skills, she worked
with PHA to ensure responsiveness to site based quality of life
issues, helped convert a former day care center into a
state-of-the-art computer laboratory, and extended its use to
resident leaders from other sites for computer classes. For the
past 30 years, Ms. Tate has been with the U.S. National Archives
and Records Administration. |
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Herbert Wetzel is the Executive Director of
Housing and Community Development for the Philadelphia City
Council. He is also a founding member of the board of directors and
former executive director of the Greater Germantown Housing
Development Corporation. Mr. Wetzel has a long history of community
development activities and during the past 20 years, he established
a small business in the Germantown section of Philadelphia to
create neighborhood-based economic development, and also served as
Director, Deputy Executive Director and, upon appointment by former
Mayor John Street, Executive Director of the Philadelphia
Redevelopment Authority. |
