WITF Names Two New Directors, Elects Chair and Vice Chair
Harrisburg, PA –The WITF Board of Directors elected two new board members who will begin their service with the March 12, 2019 meeting.
Anne Parmer is the Director of Engagement for Andculture, a design company focused on the future of healthcare, education and government. Anne has spent more than a decade advising startups, planning national conferences, fundraising, and coordinating of countless projects. Anne works with Andculture’s clients to craft engagements that add value to both organizations. She earned her bachelor’s degree in English and piano performance from Lebanon Valley College and completed an MBA at Penn State.
E. Jeffrey Roof is President & CEO, Roof Advisory Group, a fee-only investment management and financial advisory firm he founded in 1998 to meet the needs of high net worth clientele. Jeff provides strategic leadership for the firm, guides the firm’s Senior Management team and helps direct Roof Advisory Group’s comprehensive and disciplined investment management process. Previously, Jeff was Executive Vice President at Fulton Bank, heading that organization’s Investment Management and Trust Services division and spent a decade in various management positions with Mellon Bank’s Institutional Trust group. Jeff has a BA from Rutgers University and an MA from Lehigh University.
The Board of Directors of WITF has elected Mark Van Blargan, Esq. as Chair of the Board and Susan Eckert as Vice Chair. Their first board meeting as Chair and Vice Chair of the WITF Board of Directors will be March 12, 2019.
Mark is a member and vice chair of the Management Committee and Member-in-Charge of Innovation at the law firm of McNees Wallace and Nurick. Mark is also chair of McNees’ Healthcare Practice Group and a member of its Education Law Group. His practice focuses on serving large healthcare providers and college and universities. Mark started his career at the firm, became in-house counsel for a large health system in Pennsylvania, and rejoined the firm in 1997. For some clients, Mark acts as outside general counsel. For other clients, he acts as special counsel, particularly for complex mergers and acquisitions.
Mark has served on the WITF Board since 2008. He also serves on the Board of the Susquehanna Art Museum.
Susan Eckert was elected Vice Chair of the WITF Board, on which she has served since 2012. A long-time advocate for children, education, and women’s issues, Susan joined United Way of Lancaster County as president in 1987 from the YWCA of Lancaster where she was executive director.
She retired in January 2012 as president of United Way. During her service, more than 140 million dollars was raised to improve lives in Lancaster County and three important collaborative efforts were established — Success by Six, a focus on early care and education, the Coalition to End Homelessness and an effort to support the public health needs of Lancaster: the Partnership for Public Health. Following her retirement, Susan established The Eckert Group. Through her consulting practice, she served the Partnership for Public Health (PPH) an effort to find local solutions to health problems and to improve the public health infrastructure of Lancaster County.
Susan has served as a trustee of Hobart & William Smith Colleges; chair of Leadership Lancaster; board member for Lancaster Chamber of Commerce, Lancaster General Hospital and the Lancaster General Health Foundation.
Currently, Susan serves on the Boards of the Edward Hand Medical Heritage Foundation, Fulton Theatre, Hourglass, Housing Development Corporation (HDC). Susan and her husband, Jerry Eckert, retired Vice President of Advancement at Millersville University, live in Manheim Township.
The WITF board of directors is comprised of 19 board members and meets quarterly. The WITF Board of Directors is responsible for WITF’s mission–to use media to connect citizens to each other, and to opportunities for lifelong learning.
About WITF
WITF is a valued source of educational, inspiring and creative content for adults and children in every community in Central Pennsylvania. WITF’s programs and services reach nearly two million citizens in 19 counties throughout the region. WITF is comprised of public broadcasting stations WITF TV, WITF 89.5 & 93.3, WITF.org. The organization also includes Pennsylvania Public Radio, and production services division Media Solutions.
