Jessica Elliott is executive director of Habitat for Humanity of the Lehigh Valley, bringing 18 years of industry experience to the organization’s operations, $5 million budget and grant management — including government grants.

She oversees staff performance, facilitates coordination among volunteers, board committees and community partners, and provides executive leadership in accordance with the Board of Directors’ policies and objectives.

Under Elliott’s leadership, the affiliate expanded well beyond new home construction to include home repair and fall prevention programs, growing the number of families served from four or five per year to nearly 100 annually. That growth reflects a philosophy rooted in equity.

“Not all people are given the same life opportunities,” Elliott said, adding that when opportunities arise, “it is our job as humans to lift up our neighbors and do our best to create equity.”

As CEO of the Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley, Dawn Godshall has worked her way up over 12 years at the nonprofit organization, where she first began as director of the Sixth Street Shelter in Allentown.

“I’m proud of building momentum across three areas that reinforce each other: strengthening fundraising to grow what we can deliver, elevating advocacy so community needs are reflected in policy and systems and prioritizing staff wellness so we can lead with excellence and sustainability,” said Godshall.

Godshall faces her fair share of challenges, including increasing community need, constrained and uncertain funding, elevated cost of living and workforce strain and burnout.

“The organizations that will thrive are those that can diversify revenue, demonstrate outcomes and advocate effectively for systems-level change,” she said.

Amy Kocis runs the only stand-alone pet food bank in the Lehigh Valley, a nonprofit that now distributes food to more than 3,000 pets each month.

Founded in 2005 as an outreach of a Bethlehem soup kitchen, the organization operates on about $415,000 in annual revenue and holds distributions two to three times a month.

As executive director, Kocis is overseeing the food bank’s move from Emmaus to a larger facility at 417 N. 14th St. in Allentown, beginning in spring 2026, a relocation tied to rising demand across the region.

The Allentown site centralizes service for client families.

Marci Lesko is president and CEO of United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley in Allentown, where she has led one of the region’s largest philanthropic institutions for 20 years. Lesko translates board vision into measurable community impact across Lehigh, Northampton and Carbon counties in education, healthy aging and community stability, reaching more than 250,000 people annually.

She launched and scaled the nationally recognized Community Schools model in the Greater Lehigh Valley, transforming schools into neighborhood hubs that remove barriers to learning, and introduced the Collective Impact model to the region.

Under her leadership, revenue has grown from $30 million in her first year as CEO to $34 million. A service-first leader, Lesko began her tenure volunteering alongside staff at a partner organization.

“This work begins and ends with service,” she said.

Erik McGaughey runs one of the Lehigh Valley’s largest home-delivery operations, a daily logistical undertaking that reaches more than 1,000 home-bound seniors and adults with disabilities.

He became CEO of Meals on Wheels of the Greater Lehigh Valley in November 2022, taking over an Allentown nonprofit that traces its local roots to 1971.

Under him, the organization moves meals across a network of roughly 90 daily routes out of eight delivery hubs, work carried out by a staff of more than 30 and a corps of more than 900 volunteers.

The job extends past food: drivers conduct wellness checks, and the organization supplies groceries, emergency meals and pet food to the people on its routes.

Lisa Musselman has run The Arc of Lehigh and Northampton Counties since Aug. 19, 2024, when the board appointed her to succeed Karen Shoemaker, who retired after 25 years.

The organization advocates for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities across two counties, work that grew under Shoemaker to an annual budget topping $30 million, 60 full-time staff and more than 850 part-time employees.

Musselman came to the role from Martha Lloyd Community Services in Troy, where as president and CEO she moved programs toward a more community-inclusive model, and earlier ran daily operations at Citizen Care Inc. in McKees Rocks.

“I welcome the opportunity to return to the Lehigh Valley to lead an organization that has such a wonderful impact on the community,” she said in a previous LVB profile.

Since joining the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation in 2014, Erika Riddle Petrozelli, CPA, CAP®, has transformed the organization from a transactional grantmaking body into a $130 million regional philanthropy leader.

As president and CEO, she provides strategic leadership for LVCF’s philanthropic mission, donor engagement and community impact initiatives — building partnerships across the nonprofit, donor and civic sectors while guiding the Foundation’s long-term vision.

The Critical Support Fund, launched in 2025 as a joint effort with United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley, exemplifies that impact: the fund raised $689,000 to deliver immediate food and emergency relief to thousands of Lehigh Valley families. Combined with LVCF’s direct grantmaking, the Foundation provided $1 million in critical community funding in 2025-26.

Since 2019, Michael Slack has served as president and CEO of KidsPeace, a nonprofit serving the behavioral and mental health needs of children, families and communities.

Slack has been with the organization, which is based outside of Allentown, since 2001, working his way up from director of business development.

Slack works to ensure KidsPeace fulfills its mission of giving “hope, help and healing” by shepherding its 1,800 associates as they deliver community services.

“I have been blessed in my career to have the opportunity to develop and support teams of professionals who have dedicated their careers to helping others,” said Slack. “By doing so, I have been able on numerous occasions to ensure some of our society’s most vulnerable populations receive the services and support they both need and deserve.”

Jeff Tkach has spent 20 years advancing a simple but consequential idea: healthy soil builds healthy people.

As CEO of the Rodale Institute, a nonprofit headquartered in Kutztown, Berks County, Tkach leads an organization at the forefront of regenerative organic agriculture through research, farmer training and education.

He directs long-term field trials, consulting services and farmer support programs aimed at transitioning 10 million acres to regenerative organic practices by 2030.

“We’re committed to building healthier soil, communities and food systems,” Tkach said.

That mission recently took literary form with his book, The Farm Is Here, which connects soil science to food security and climate resilience.

Pennsylvania today ranks among the nation’s leading states in organic agriculture production. “Advancing the link between soil health and human health has been the driving force of my work,” Tkach said.

Belief in people and their potential is the foundation on which Lisa Walkiewicz leads. As president and CEO of Via of the Lehigh Valley in Bethlehem, she directs strategy and operations aimed at expanding opportunity, access and meaningful work for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities — partnering with staff, board members and community leaders to build pathways toward rewarding careers, meaningful relationships and enriching community life across the region.

Walkiewicz guided Via through a long-term organizational transformation that strengthened culture, improved employee retention, stabilized critical services and achieved consistent growth — efforts that have positioned the organization as a trusted leader in disability services.

Her approach centers on listening closely, investing in people’s growth and translating shared purpose into lasting, mission-driven impact.