The Bar Foundation

 

Our People

Board Of Trustees

Amy B. Ginensky, Esq. – PRESIDENT
Pepper Hamilton LLP

Amy started her two-year term as president of the Philadelphia Bar Foundation in January of 2009 before which she served as president-elect and Secretary. She co-chaired the Andrew Hamilton Ball, a significant source of funds for the Philadelphia Bar Foundation, in 2006 and 2007.

Amy has co-chaired the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Law Firm Pro Bono Committee for many years and was chair of her former law firm’s pro bono program. Amy is a senior partner in Pepper Hamilton LLP’s Philadelphia office.



Wendy Beetlestone, Esq. – PRESIDENT-ELECT
Hangley, Aronchick, Segal&Pudlin

Wendy was elected to the Board of Trustees in 2005 and served as treasurer of the Bar Foundation from 2007-2009. She will succeed Amy Ginensky as president of the Bar Foundation in 2011. Wendy was the first co-chair along with Philadelphia Bar Association chancellor, Alan Feldman of the Raising the Bar effort in is the 2010 Raising the Bar co-chair. In 2008 she was chair of the Awards Committee.  She co-chaired the successful 2009 Andrew Hamilton Benefit.

After working as general counsel of the School District of Philadelphia, Wendy returned to the private sector and has continued her commercial litigation practice.


Deborah R. Gross, Esq. - SECRETARY
Law Office of Bernard M. Gross, P.C.

Debbie was elected to the Board of Trustees in 2004 and was vice president in 2009. She co-chaired the Andrew Hamilton Gala in 2006 and 2007 and is co-chair of the Cy Pres Committee. Debbie's work is responsible for many of the cy pres distributions the Bar Foundation has received in recent years.

An expert on class action, Debbie is an attorney at the Law Offices of Bernard M. Gross.



Glenn D. Blumenfeld, Esq. – TREASURER
Tactix Real Estate Advisors, LLC

Glenn was elected secretary of the Bar Foundation in 2009. In 2008 he chaired the Strategic Planning Committee and is a co-chair of the 2010 Planned Giving Committee.

Since joining Tactix Real Estate Advisors, Glenn has led some of the largest and most complex real estate transactions in the region.



Christopher Ritchie – ASSISTANT TREASURER
Huntington National Bank

Chris was elected to the Board in 2004 and serves as co-chair of the Cy Pres Committee.

Chris is senior vice president of the National Settlement Team at Huntington Bank. For more than 20 years, Chris has assisted attorneys with their financial needs.





Rod E. Wittenberg, Esq. – ASSISTANT SECRETARY
LexisNexis – Four Penn Center

Rod has been a trustee of the Philadelphia Bar Foundation since 2001. He focuses his energy on leading the Golf Classic which he has chaired since 2002. He also collaborates with fellow trustees on the Marketing Committee and Grants Committee.

Rod currently manages the business relationship between LexisNexis and the top 100 law firms in the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and West Virginia. Leading a team of 50 professionals, Rod helps organizations successfully implement and execute their key business initiatives.



Michael Barrett, Esq.

Michael was elected to the Bar Foundation’s Board of Trustees in 2010.

Michael is his firm's Managing Shareholder, combining his lifelong interests in trial law and medicine to champion the cause of medical malpractice victims and to raise the level of care provided by healthcare providers.






Steven E. Bizar, Esq.
Buchanan Ingersoll&Rooney PC

Steve joined the Board of Trustees in 2007 and was the 2009 and is 2010 co-chair of the Raising the Bar committee. With his wife, Lisa Brody, he was the 2008 co-chair of the 30th Anniversary of the Andrew Hamilton Gala.

Steve has significant experience in the trial defense of multidistrict class actions and regularly represents clients in government antitrust and securities fraud investigations and enforcement proceedings and before administrative agencies and self-regulatory organizations.
Anthony J. Bolognese, Esq.
Bolognese&Associates, LLC

Tony was elected to the Bar Foundation Board of Trustees in 2009 and serves on the Cy Pres Committee and as a co-chair for the By-laws Committee.

Tony is the founding principal of Bolognese&Associates, LLC and has had extensive experience as counsel in complex commercial litigation in state and federal courts throughout the nation.



Thomas A. Brophy, Esq.
Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman&Goggin

Tom was elected to the Bar Foundation Board of Trustees in 2009 and is the co-chair for the 2010 Andrew Hamilton Benefit.

Tom has served as president and CEO of Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman & Goggin since 2005 and, as such, maintains administrative responsibility for all firm-wide activities.



Wilson M. Brown III, Esq.
Drinker Biddle & Reath

Wilson was elected to the Board of Trustees in 2009 and serves as a co-chair of the Individual Giving Committee and chair of the Awards Committee.

His practice is concentrated in the areas of commercial litigation, intellectual property and technology litigation, and insurance coverage disputes; he is recognized as one of the premier trial attorneys in the country.


Edward F. Chacker, Esq.
Gay Chacker & Mittin, P.C.

Ed served as the Bar Foundation’s president in 2004 and has served on its Board of Trustees since 1998. He serves as a co-chair of the Planned Giving Committee and as a member of the Awards Committee.

Ed, a past chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association (1999) and former president of the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association, is recognized as one of the outstanding trial lawyers in Pennsylvania. Ed lectures frequently, with a special emphasis on trial techniques.



Scott F. Cooper, Esq. – CHANCELLOR, Philadelphia Bar Association
Blank Rome

Scott serves on the Bar Foundation Board of Trustees in his capacity as chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association.

Scott's practices involves litigation and business counseling. He is one of Blank Rome's leading employment law litigators and proactively advises business and government clients on deals and contracting.



Jane L. Dalton, Esq.
Duane Morris, LLP

Jane has been a trustee of the Bar Foundation since 1997 and was chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association in 2007. She serves on the Finance Committee and as a co-chair of the Leadership Council.

Jane practices before trial and appellate courts and administrative agencies in the areas of employment discrimination and personnel management, unfair competition and constitutional litigation, and other administrative litigation.



Rudolph Garcia, Esq. – CHANCELLOR-ELECT, Philadelphia Bar Association
Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney

Rudy serves on the Board of Trustees in his capacity as chancellor-elect of the Philadelphia Bar Association and is a co-chair of the 2010 Andrew Hamilton Benefit.

His practice consists of various types of complex business litigation. The National Law Journal listed one of his antitrust recoveries as among the largest jury verdicts in the country and the largest in Pennsylvania. He was designated International Legal Professional of the Year 2004 and is regularly included in The Best Lawyers in America and as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer.


Kevin P. Gilboy, Esq.
Teeters Harvey Gilboy & Kaier LLP

Kevin was elected to the Board of Trustees in 2009 and serves as a co-chair of the Planned Giving Committee.

Kevin is a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, listed in The Best Lawyers in America and as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer for Estate Planning & Probate in Philadelphia Magazine.


Richard Grobman
Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.

Rich has been a member of the Board of Trustees since 2006 and serves as the chair of the Finance Committee.

Rich is a Senior Managing Director at Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., one of the nation’s largest and most respected financial services companies.



David J. Kessler, Esq.
Barroway Topaz Kessler Meltzer & Check, LLP

David Kessler was elected to the board of trustees in 2010 and serves on the Cy Pres Committee.

David is on the management committee of his firm and manages the firm’s nationally recognized securities department. In addition, David is currently representing Lead Plaintiffs and their respective classes in numerous securities class actions related to the subprime crisis brought against financial institutions, including Bank of America, Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and Wachovia.



Joseph C. Kohn, Esq.
Kohn, Swift & Graf

Joseph Kohn was elected to the Board of Trustees in 2010 and serves on the Cy Pres Committee.

A shareholder and director of his firm, Mr. Kohn has spent the last 27 years litigating major cases in a variety of fields, including antitrust, securities, product liability, environmental, lender liability, employment and civil rights. In January, 2001 he was appointed by Chief Judge Becker of the Third Circuit to a task force analyzing whether competitive auctions should be used to select lead counsel in class actions and also serves as a “Judge Pro Tem” in the Philadelphia County Commerce Court Program mediating settlements of business litigation.



Douglas W. Kreitzberg
USI Affinity

Elected to the Board of Trustees in 2004, Doug is the chair of the Marketing Committee and has been instrumental in developing this website as well as many of the other Bar Foundation marketing initiatives--the Access e-newsletter and the Case for Support are just two examples.

In March 2004, Doug became chief executive officer of USI Affinity, an insurance services company.



Fred T. Magaziner, Esq.
Dechert LLP

Fred was elected to the Board of Trustees in 2009 and serves as co-chair of the Individual Giving Committee.

A partner at Dechert, he litigates complex product liability cases and major commercial and patent cases and has been recognized for his work in commercial and mass torts litigation in The Best Lawyers in America.



Kenneth Shear – Ex Officio
Philadelphia Bar Association

Ken serves on the Board of Trustees in his capacity as executive director of the Philadelphia Bar Association.






Norman W. Weinstein, Esq.
Weinstein Schleifer & Kupersmith, P.C.

Elected to the Bar Foundation’s Board in 1997, Norm chairs the Grants Committee and serves on the Marketing Committe.

Norm concentrates his practice in the areas of workers’ compensation and Social Security disability matters. He has donated substantial time to performing pro bono work for the Support Center for Child Advocates, Legal Clinic for the Disabled and Philadelphia Volunteers for the Indigent Program (VIP)He is president of the board of HIAS and Council.


Staff

Gene Sirni, Executive Director
215-238-6334

Lynne Brown, Deputy Executive Director
215-238-6347

Elizabeth Pannulla, Administrative and Projects Coordinator
215-238-6337