1. CCP names Jasmine Sessoms and Herman Nyamunga to newly created positions.

Jasmine E. Sessoms, who has made Business Journal’s list of top leaders under age 40, will serve as  Community College of Philadelphia’s government relations officer, a new cabinet-level position.

Sessoms was founder and CEO of She Can Win, a movement that provides training and resources for women who are interested in seeking political office. In addition, she worked as managing executive director of the Fund for Philadelphia, where she provided leadership in addressing the mayor’s philanthropic priorities. She also served a the interim vice president of institutional advancement and external affairs at Cheyney University, and as senior manager of corporate giving for the ACE Insurance Group (ACE Charitable Foundation).

Sessoms has a master’s in organizational development and leadership from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, a bachelor’s in hospitality management from Morgan State University, and a certificate in fund development from Villanova University.

She owns J & S Strategies, a consulting firm, and is part of the Governor’s Advisory Commission on African American Affairs and the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus Foundation.

Herman Nyamunga.

Herman Nyamunga will be the new director of Power Up Your Business, CCP’s neighborhood-based approach to economic development that offers free training to small businesses in vital commercial corridors.

Nyamunga previously served as the director of the Global Enterprise Hub for the Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians, where he helped to obtain grants to fund a micro incubation program for 52nd Street, an immigrant innovation hub, and a Global Startup Accelerator. He also built the entrepreneurship and innovation programs for the Welcoming Center.

An entrepreneur himself, Nyamunga has an extensive background working across entrepreneurial ecosystems. He worked as a business coach for Power Up Your Business before taking the helm of the program.

Nyamunga serves on the board of the International Business Innovation Association, and in 2019, he received a U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs grant to develop Philadelphia Business Opportunity Compass (PBOC), a project aimed at connecting neighborhood minority and immigrant entrepreneurs to the thriving Center City tech ecosystem.

2. Women Against Abuse names new board chair, appoints three new officers.

Leslie Miller Greenspan.

Leslie Miller Greenspan, a partner at Tucker Law Group, will chair the board of directors of Women Against Abuse — a 43-year old nonprofit domestic violence agency which operates Philadelphia’s only emergency shelters for survivors fleeing abusive relationships.

Greenspan has served on Women Against Abuse’s Board since 2014. During her tenure, the organization made the significant shift to serve survivors of all gender identities and sexual orientations in its residential facilities; and its Legal Center – the only one of its kind with a team of staff attorneys who specialize in providing free representation for domestic violence victims – has tripled in size.

Greenspan is a litigator who has handled both civil and criminal cases. Her work focuses primarily on employment discrimination cases, civil rights litigation, and complex commercial disputes.  She has been selected as a “Rising Star” among Pennsylvania Super Lawyers since 2006.  She is a member of the Rodeph Shalom Congregation in Center City Philadelphia.

Greenspan will be joined by three newly appointed officers to the executive committee of the Board:

• Dr. Ana Núñez, FACP, vice chair, is a professor of medicine and obstetrics and gynecology; associate dean of diversity, equity & inclusion and the director of the National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health and Women’s Health Education Program at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia. She has served on Women Against Abuse’s Board since 2015.
• Margaret Flynn, CFA, treasurer, currently serves as the pension and post-retirement investment manager at American Water. She has served on Women Against Abuse’s Board since 2013.
• Yvette Kamimura Jones, M.S., secretary, is an associate training specialist with Behavioral Health Training and Education Network. She has served on Women Against Abuse’s Board since 2017.

3. PICC appoints two new members to its board.

Mary Jayne McCullough (left, above)  is the founder and director of Global Wordsmiths, a social enterprise dedicated to improving language access for immigrants and refugees in Rustbelt Cities.

McCullough is a translator and interpreter who spent the first half of her career identifying ways to improve access to translators and interpreters for individuals with limited English proficiency. Global Wordshmiths is a Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition member organization, and has provided language support for PICC activities in Allegheny County.

Emma Tuohy (right, above) is an associate attorney at Landau, Hess, Simon & Choi, where she represents businesses and individuals in immigration matters. During law school, she served as a legal intern at the Pennsylvania Innocence Project and the Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center. She also participated in a clinical at the Nationalities Service Center, where she represented low-income individuals in immigration issues ranging from cancellation of removal to asylum to adjustment of status. She also served as a fellow at HIAS PA, where she represented victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in their immigration matters.

4. Shanti Mulpuru Katona and Robert Redden-Huff join Pathways PA’s board.

Shanti Mulpuru Katona, shareholder of Polsinelli PC, and Robert Redden-Huff, operational lead of care standardization for medical group operations at Christiana Care Health Systems were appointed to the board of directors of PathWays PA.

Shanti Mulpuru Katona.

Katona, a graduate of University of Pennsylvania and Washington University-St Louis School of Law, serves on both the Women’s Initiative and the Diversity & Inclusion Committees at Polsinelli PC. She’s earned distinction as one of the American Bankruptcy Institute’s 40 Under 40 and a Delaware Super Lawyers Rising Star. In 2019, Chambers USA recognized Katona as an Up and Coming lawyer in its Bankruptcy/Restructuring category in Delaware.

Redden-Huff, a graduate of Delaware Technical and Community College and Wilmington University, has had a 20+ year career with Christiana Care Health System. Redden-Huff has is Lean Six-Sigma certified, and is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives and the National Council of University Research Administrators.

5. Six appointees join the board of the Kelly Anne Dolan Memorial Fund.

The Kelly Anne Dolan Memorial Fund — a nonprofit that provides help to families caring for seriously ill children — announced the appointment of six new board members. The new board members are:

• Yvonne McGinley, CFO for Griswold Home Care
• Amy Field, senior vice president, director of regional accounting, Liberty Property Trust
• Benjamin Jacobs, attorney
• Tim Jimenez, morning drive reporter at KYW Newsradio
• Michael DiGirolamo, attorney
• Christine Gordon, associate at Timoney Knox, LLP

6. The Kimmel Center appoints four new board members.

The Kimmel Center Cultural Campus — a non-profit, board-led institution whose mission is to engage the region’s diverse communities with art through performance and education — announced in late July that it had appointed four new members to its board of directors. They will serve under the direction of chair Michael D. Zisman, who was appointed in early July. The new board members are:

• Vanessa Z. Chan, entrepreneur, angel investor, speaker and educator
• Nicole Perkins, executive vice president and managing executive of Hawthorn, PNC Family Wealth
• Sulaiman Rahman, founder and CEO of DiverseForce and UPPN
• Dr. Joseph R. Zebrowitz, founder and president of Versalus Health