Newsmakers

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Prior to his tenure with Union Deposit Corporation, Michael served as a partner with Dermody Properties/DP Partners and was responsible for its portfolio in the eastern region of the United States. In this role, he had shared responsibility for the organization’s regional business plan which involved the development, leasing and management of more than 8.4 million square feet of large-format Class-A industrial space in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Georgia.
Lehigh Carbon Community College of Schnecksville named Maged Botros as its Fulbright scholar-in-residence. Botros, a political science professor from Egypt, will be teaching a course on international relations in fall 2012, and two courses in spring 2013 on political science and North Africa and the Middle East.
Botros will also be helping faculty to develop materials to further internationalize LCCC’s curriculum. Additionally Botros will also be available to make presentations to various community organizations, upon request, and will be assisting in several college-wide academic and cultural activities. He will serve on several committees at LCCC.
Colorectal surgeon Camille Eyvazzadeh, MD, recently became first in the region to perform the InterStim therapy procedure for bowel control at St. Luke’s University Hospital in Bethlehem. He and his physician colleagues from the Eyvazzadeh and Reilly Colon and Rectal Center are all trained to perform the procedure. They include Dr. W. Terence Reilly, Dr. Daniel J. Bowers, and Dr. Daniel J. Eyvazzadeh, who recently joined the practice after completing fellowship at the University of Minnesota, one of the leading programs in the use of the device for fecal incontinence in the U.S.
Serfass Construction of Allentown hired a project manager, Ed Flowerdew. He has completed his project management certification from Lehigh University. Prior to joining Serfass, Flowerdew worked for another local construction management firm and brings a diverse project portfolio with him.
Serfass also hired Chuck Watson, as senior project manager. Watson will be handling Serfass Construction’s newly awarded Houston, Texas operations. Watson has over 30 years of experience in the construction market and has lead teams on many prominent projects such as the Wynn Casino/Hotel in Las Vegas.
Sally Gammon, president and CEO of Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network of Allentown, recently received the annual Leadership Excellence Award of the American Medical Rehabilitation Providers Association, a national trade organization that supports medical rehabilitation. Gammon received the award at AMRPA’s Annual Medical Rehabilitation Education Conference in San Diego, Calif. The award recognizes an individual who has improved, changed or impacted the field of medical rehabilitation through transformative leadership initiatives, life-long service in the field, local and national advocacy leadership, mentoring future leaders, improving patient outcomes, research and education.
First Generation of Allentown hired Tara Hall as an account manager and Francesca Farrisi as a graphic designer. Hall joins First Generation as an account manager, enabling the agency to continue offering excellent customer service to current clients, as well as fostering relationships with new clientele.
Most recently, Hall served as senior customer relationship manager for Lehigh Valley Plastics. She has held positions as marketing manager at F.X. Browne, account manager at STS Transportation and adjunct faculty at Northampton Area Community College’s College of Business and Technology.
Farrisi will focus on print and digital design and production. Farrisi previously worked as a freelance designer for VF Imagewear for Majestic Athletic MLB (Major League Baseball) Apparel and First Generation, producing print collateral for various marketing campaigns.
The Northeast and Lehigh Valley Association of Health Underwriters, a local chapter of the national association, named Kevin Hausmann, broker service specialist at Valley Preferred, as president of the organization. Hausmann and the organization’s board of directors will specialize in providing continuing education and professional development opportunities to the health insurance broker community, and assist in keeping brokers and their clients abreast of current changes brought about by the Affordable Care Act. An Allentown resident, he received his Bachelor’s of Finance and Accounting from DeSales University of Center Valley, has achieved his designation as a Chartered Benefit Consultant, and will soon be graduating with his MBA from the University of Scranton.
Lehigh Valley Financial Group of Center Valley hired Shawn McPeek as a financial services professional. McPeek previously worked at Keystone Human Services. McPeek is licensed in Pennsylvania for life, accident, and health insurance. He is a member of the Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce. As a financial service professional, McPeek is responsible for life and disability insurance programs, estate planning, retirement planning, business insurance, and executive and employee fringe benefits.
Jamie Middleton of Merrill Lynch in Wyomissing recently earned the Certified Portfolio Manager designation. This designation is offered by the Academy of Certified Portfolio Managers, an independent organization tasked with creating and managing a credentialed program of excellence for training discretionary portfolio managers. To attain the CPM certification, Middleton completed 200 hours of coursework including the study of the theory and practice of asset pricing, asset management, risk management, hedge fund management, corporate finance, fixed income analysis and foreign exchange.
Fulton Financial Corp. hired Philmer H. Rohrbaugh as senior executive vice president/chief risk officer. In this newly created position, Rohrbaugh will oversee the corporation’s enterprise risk management activities, and he will be a member of Fulton Financial’s senior management team.
In his new role, Rohrbaugh will oversee all risk management activities of the corporation, including operational, market, financial and reputational risk, and will ensure that the organization’s operations continue to be conducted in accordance with ethical business practices, company policies and legal and regulatory requirements. He will have direct oversight of the company’s compliance and loan review areas as well as information security and vendor management activities. He will also have administrative oversight of the audit area, which will continue to report directly to the Fulton Financial board of directors.
Rohrbaugh previously worked at KPMG, LLP, where he served as managing partner of that firm’s Chicago location, its second largest office. Rohrbaugh joined KPMG in 2002; prior to that, he had more than 25 years of experience in various positions at Arthur Andersen. Rohrbaugh, who is a certified public accountant, has experience throughout his career in the areas of audit, risk management, financial services operations, revenue planning, client relationship management, and regulatory compliance.
HigherNext of Bethlehem recently hired Jen Scherpenseel as a marketing/account manager. Scherpenseel, a Bethlehem resident, recently moved to Pennsylvania from Colorado and has been working with a local, Kutztown-based jewelry company where she served as the marketing assistant, coordinating marketing strategy and campaigns on behalf of the company’s 500 independent retailers. The company’s marketing department was responsible for all three channels of distribution: wholesale, retail and e-commerce.
Phil Trach, a non-destructive test technology coordinator at Laboratory Testing Inc. of Hatfield, successfully completed the requirements of the Pratt & Whitney Non-destructive Test Qualification Specification and is certified as a SIM Level III technician. He is responsible for verifying work performed by Level 1 and Level 2 technicians, for overseeing training of NDT technicians performing testing and inspection for Pratt & Whitney suppliers, and for ensuring and verifying compliance to Pratt & Whitney ultrasonic testing requirements. He has been Laboratory Testing Inc.’s ASNT NDT Level III for ultrasonic testing since 2007. Before joining the NDT Department at Laboratory Testing Inc. in 2005, he had many years of experience in engineering, testing, and quality assurance for large and small businesses in the forging, measurement, and process industries.