GRCA_CommerceQuarterly_Winter2018 - 4

Board of Directors
2017-18
CHAIRMAN:
Robert Firely, Herbein + Company, Inc.
VICE CHAIR:
Peter Rye, Brentwood Industries, Inc.
TREASURER:
Steve Horvat, Baker Tilley
IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIR:
Scott Gruber, Tompkins VIST Bank
LEGAL COUNSEL:
Tim Dietrich, Esq., Barley Snyder
DIRECTORS:
Marilu Rodriguez-Bauer,
Owner, RB Legal Counsel, LLC
Karen Baxter, Manager, External Affairs,
Met-Ed, A FirstEnergy Company
Gregg Bogia, President, Bogia Engineering, Inc.
Marianne Brown Egolf,
General Manager, F.M. Brown's Sons, Inc.
Johanny Cepeda,
Owner/Manager, Mi Casa Su Casa
Lucy Cortez,
Chairman, Berks County Latino Chamber
Robert Firely,
Partner, Herbein + Company, Inc.
Andi Funk, CEO,
Cambridge-Lee Industries, LLC
Thad Gelsinger, Esq., President,
GRYP & Associate, Leisawitz Heller
Scott Gruber, President & CEO,
Tompkins VIST Bank
Dr. Jill Hackman,
Executive Director, BCIU
Laura Haffner,
Area President, Central PA,
Wells Fargo
Bob Harrop, VP Personnel,
East Penn Manufacturing Company
Sara Kuzma-Stump,
Director, Sales & Marketing,
Suburban Testing Labs, Inc.
Tracy Hoffmann,
President, Hoffmann Publishing
Brian Levan, President, Levan
Machine & Truck Equipment
William Long,
Administrative Vice President, M&T Bank
Toni Miller, Senior Executive Vice President Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Financial
Officer, Boscov's Department Store, LLC
Pete Molinaro,
President, Adhezion Biomedical, LLC
Ann Moll, President, Gallen Insurance
Dr. Khalid Mumin, Superintendent,
Reading School District
Michele Richards, Senior Vice President,
Commercial Banking Group, Fulton Bank
Michael Rivera, VP Business Development,
RIG Financial Solutions
David Roche, President, Dave Roche Electric Inc.
David Roland, Senior Vice President,
Market President, Berks, BB&T
Dr. Rudy Ruth, Former Superintendent,
Wilson School District
Peter Rye, President, Brentwood Industries, Inc.
Mark Schlott, Executive VP of Operations/Chief
Operating Officer, R. M. Palmer Company
Stayce Schlouch,
Project Manager, Schlouch Incorporated
Nicholas Stoltzfus, President, DESCCO Design
Ira Tauber, President, Triose
Scott Vaughn, CEO, The Standard Group
John Woodward,
President, Third & Spruce Café, Inc.
4 COMMERCE QUARTERLY

letter from the editor
2018 is full of promise and opportunity.
For the Greater Reading Chamber Alliance (GRCA), 2017
was a year of tremendous change and energy. With three affiliates
(Greater Reading Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Greater
Reading Economic Partnership, and Greater Berks Development
Fund) under one umbrella, leadership and staff launched a new
brand of business prosperity in the Greater Reading region. We
fully embraced a "Reach for the Stars" approach, launching a new
talent attraction video (https://youtu.be/5M0wPK-WU7Y) at the
end of 2017. It was a great endcap to a year of hard work and new
possibilities.
Nowhere is that promise and opportunity better exemplified than in the example of Downtown Reading. Aaron Gantz,
GRCA's Executive Director of Downtown Revitalization, takes you
through a new vision for our City of Reading in "Downtown Reading: Historic Foundations, New
Beginnings." Whether you've ventured into the city for an event like Fire + Ice, or you've stopped
by Lang Restaurant after its move back to the city (or any other activity), you've seen firsthand a
downtown full of momentum.
One feature highlights a truly amazing list: businesses celebrating 75-plus years of Chamber
membership. We look back, and look ahead, at two longtime members: Tompkins VIST Bank and
UGI Utilities. While much has changed for both companies (we love the great historic images), one
thing has remained the same: the dedication to the Greater Reading area. In each issue this year, we'll
feature a few of these longstanding members and pillars of the business community.
Businesses in Berks and beyond are looking to new models of career development and workforce
training to tackle the "silver tsunami" and prepare Greater Reading's students for in-demand careers.
GRCA too has a new, three-pronged approach highlighted by President & CEO Randy Peers. In
addition, our partners at the Berks County Intermediate Unit (BCIU) take us through the Career
Pathways model, which will transform the way current and future Berks County students interact
with career prep and planning. It's a model that has buy-in not just from each of our county's school
districts, but from the business community as well. We're excited to spread the word about a model
that has impressive ramifications not just for Berks County, but for the Commonwealth as well.
For our local nonprofits, this year could be a gamechanger in a multitude of ways. A few nonprofit
leaders give their thoughts on the impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act as well as other changes to
nonprofit giving and fundraising in our Focus On section. And Virginia Rush, who heads the Capital
Campaign Review Board (CCRB) of Berks County, outlines what the CCRB does-and why a
nonprofit considering a capital campaign might contact the CCRB for support.
Coupled with these stories of momentum are stories of opportunity. Wes Stefanick tackles the
pest that's on the minds of many Berks business owners: the spotted lanternfly. Berks County is now
part of a larger quarantine area, making this pest public enemy number one.
I also found inspiration in the report from Chamber Member LCBC Berks, whose membership
took on a global crisis and tackled the problem in a truly Berks County humanitarian story.
For the gains, hard work, and new energy of 2017, 2018 promises to be something special. The
entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in Berks County. Let's continue to reach for the stars-together.

Sarah Hunter-Lascoskie
Sarah Hunter-Lascoskie
Director of Communications & Marketing
Greater Reading Chamber Alliance

WINTER 2018

https://www.youtu.be/5M0wPK-WU7Y

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of GRCA_CommerceQuarterly_Winter2018