When Lilly broke ground on a $3.9 billion facility in the region, Lehigh Carbon Community College was ready.

Dr. Ann Bieber secured LCCC as the company’s primary workforce provider — co-creating curricula and modernizing biotech labs to pioneer an industry-integrated training model built around proactive innovation rather than reactive response. The partnership is expected to increase STEM enrollment and open high-wage career pathways across the region.

“We aren’t just teaching; we are partners in building infrastructure for enduring community prosperity,” Bieber said.

As president of the Schnecksville institution, she brings 45 years of experience to overseeing academic affairs, workforce development and finance while championing student-centered completion and social mobility.

Preet Chahal runs the Bethlehem nursing and allied-health school she founded, a private institution whose graduates work as nurses and certified nursing assistants across the Lehigh Valley and beyond.

The school trains students for practical nursing and CNA credentials, and Chahal frames her work in terms of student outcomes and a stated philosophy of caring.

“With the start of each day, I feel blessed because so many hundreds of lives have been changed in a positive way at Falcon Institute of Health and Science,” she said in a statement on the school’s website.

She describes her daily focus directly: “My time is spent daily, working toward continuing to build a school that is consistent with our philosophy of caring,” she said on the school’s website.

Yusuf Dahl runs a nonprofit built on an unusual proposition: a high school student who completes its program is guaranteed a job at graduation.

As CEO since 2022 of The Century Promise, an Allentown public/private partnership seeded by The Century Fund, Dahl pairs Allentown School District students with local employers under Pennsylvania’s Act 158, which lets industry credentials be earned during high school.

The pilot launched with 50 seniors in fall 2022, with Lehigh Valley Health Network among the early employer partners.

“This flexibility could not be more timely for our region’s economy,” Dahl said in a 2022 Lehigh Valley Business report, arguing the model could close gaps between schools and the workforce.

Of the state funding behind it, he said the senator’s “leadership in advancing educational opportunities for our students has been tremendous,” per a company statement.

Lisa Greenawalt runs Pennsylvania’s largest career and technical school, a 47-acre Schnecksville campus that enrolls about 2,700 students from Lehigh County’s nine public school districts and ranks among the largest such centers in the United States.

The institute offers more than 45 skills-based programs spanning advanced manufacturing, health and human services and industrial technology, and its students earned nearly 3,000 industry certifications in a single year.

Greenawalt has tied that work to regional employers and economic targets.

“I focus on forging connections between schools and businesses to ensure education supports local workforce needs and prepares students for successful careers,” she said in a previous LVB profile, where she pointed to a culture that has produced state- and national-championship-winning students.

Rev. James J. Greenfield runs the only Catholic university in the Lehigh Valley and the only Salesian university in the United States, a Center Valley institution he has led since Jan. 1, 2018, as its fourth president and first alumnus to hold the post.

In 2025 he set the course for the next three years with Onward!, a strategic plan built from a process involving more than 115 members of the university community and organized around four priorities: academic excellence and innovation, student experience, visibility and growth, and stewardship.

“We hope that DeSales University will become your community for you to grow into the fullness of who you are called to be for our world who needs you to grace it with your learning and service,” Greenfield said in a university statement.

He sits on regional boards including Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network and Lehigh Valley Industrial Park Inc.

Bryon Grigsby has spent 13 years remaking the institution he graduated from in 1990, and the scale of the change is the story. Since becoming the 16th president of Moravian University and Moravian Theological Seminary on July 1, 2013, Grigsby has overseen the Bethlehem institution’s 2021 conversion from college to university, its August 2025 acquisition of Lancaster Theological Seminary and the formation of a new School of Theology, and a building program that includes the $45 million Haupert Union Building, which opened in October 2025.

Full-time enrollment has risen 51 percent since 2014, making Moravian the fastest-growing university in the region, and the endowment now tops $180 million.

Recent program launches include a School of Professional Studies & Innovation and an aviation management track beginning in fall 2026.

The HUB, Grigsby said in a Moravian statement, is “a building designed for the ‘whole student’ — a place where wellness, career preparation, community and belonging all converge.”

Kathleen Harring runs Muhlenberg College, the 2,200-student Allentown liberal arts college, as its 13th president and the first woman in the role, a post she took on an interim basis in June 2019 before being named president in June 2020.

In 2021, she launched the public phase of the Boundless campaign, which by 2025 exceeded a raised goal of $125 million and financed the Fahy Commons academic building that opened in January 2023.

The board extended her contract through at least June 2028.

“It is a privilege to serve Muhlenberg College as its 13th president,” Harring said in a college statement, adding that a Muhlenberg education prepares students “for what’s next.”

Dr. Joseph J. Helble, a 1982 Lehigh University graduate, became the university’s 15th president in August 2021, bringing 30 years of industry experience to Bethlehem’s flagship research institution.

He works with the campus community to set priorities, invest in areas of distinction and champion students, faculty, staff and alumni in pursuit of recognition as a world-class research university.

Under his “Inspiring the Future Makers” Strategic Plan — targeting doubled research output within a decade and deeper interdisciplinary education — Lehigh achieved R1 status, the Carnegie Classification’s highest designation for research activity, driven by more than 50% growth in research funding over four years.

A community and economic impact report found Lehigh generated $1.4 billion in regional economic activity in fiscal year 2024, while 101 first-year students from Lehigh and Northampton County high schools enrolled — the largest local contingent in nearly a decade.

Nicole Farmer Hurd runs Lafayette College, an Easton liberal arts college now preparing for its 2026 bicentennial, and in August the Board of Trustees extended her contract through June 2030.

She became Lafayette’s 18th president July 1, 2021, after founding and leading College Advising Corps, a national college-access organization.

Applications have climbed 28 percent since fall 2021 to a record 10,528 for the fall 2025 class.

Hurd made Lafayette the first liberal arts college to waive a complex financial aid form for students from high-poverty high schools and raised to $200,000 the family-income ceiling for its no-loan policy.

She also brought the 2024 vice presidential debate to campus.

Shelley Maley is a credentialed career coach and human resources professional who founded Dreamcatcher Career Coaching “from my own career experiences with boredom, burnout, confusion, and a toxic workplace.” Those experiences led to developing a passion for helping others navigate their careers with clarity and confidence and to build connections.

With Dreamcatcher Career Coaching, Maley assists with career exploration, job search strategy, resume building, personal brand and LinkedIn development, interview coaching and salary negation, with a focus on mindset and confidence coaching.

“Unfortunately, anyone can call themselves a career coach,” Maley notes. “There’s a lot of questionable advice coming from ‘coaches’ who are not only not credentialed, but they have never even worked in HR or as a recruiter. (And) at this point, any experienced HR professional can recognize a resume or cover letter crafted with AI.”

Susan Mauser has been at the helm of Lehigh Valley Academy Regional Charter School since the day it opened. Leading the Bethlehem institution since its inaugural year in 2002, she has guided its growth from 175 students and 13 employees into a thriving K-12 community of 1,935 students and more than 300 staff members.

As CEO — a role she describes as analogous to a superintendent — Mauser balances educational leadership with executive management, overseeing vision, operations and the school’s long-term sustainability. During her tenure, the school purchased its own property, renovated its building and constructed a gymnasium, creating a campus that mirrors its growth.

Mauser’s philosophy centers on the belief that education changes lives — and that her role is to build the conditions where both students and staff can thrive together.

Dr. Radha Pyati is chancellor and dean of Penn State Berks in Wyomissing, bringing 21 years of experience to her oversight of the college’s academic programs, research, outreach, enrollment, strategic planning, budgeting, philanthropy, and diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging efforts. She also serves on the boards of several community organizations in Berks County.

Pyati led the establishment of the Manufacturing Innovation and Learning Lab — known as The MILL — connecting students and faculty with small- to mid-sized manufacturers seeking to implement robotics, smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0 technology to support regional economic development.

Under her leadership, Penn State Berks earned the Carnegie Opportunity Colleges and Universities – High Access, High Earnings Classification, placing the institution in the top 16% of colleges and universities nationwide.

Dr. Tina Q. Richardson is the chancellor and executive director of cooperative education at Penn State Lehigh Valley, where she leads a campus of approximately 1,000 students, more than 50 full-time faculty members and 100 staff. Over 11 years as chancellor, Richardson has overseen strategic planning, academic affairs, enrollment management, student affairs and community engagement — increasing enrollment by 17% over two recent years, securing $29 million for campus improvements and raising more than $2.4 million for scholarships and student support.

With 36 years in higher education, she has built her career on advancing leadership, equity, access and regional impact. Richardson’s most meaningful accomplishment, she said, has been cultivating leadership teams and a collaborative culture that transformed Penn State Lehigh Valley into a vibrant, student-centered campus.

“I believe higher education should remove barriers, create access, and prepare students with the skills, experiences, and networks to thrive,” Richardson said.