Marian Heard is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Oxen Hill Partners, specialists in leadership development programs and brand enhancement strategies. She is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of the United Way of Massachusetts Bay in Boston and the Chief Executive Officer of the United Ways of New England. During her tenure, this United Way moved from the #87 position in major gifts to the #1 position in America. Mrs. Heard is renowned on the national level where she served as the Founding President and Chief Executive Officer of the Points of Light Foundation which was organized to perpetuate President George Bush’s (#41) idea to support volunteers who are addressing serious social problems. She also served as the CEO of the Steering Committee of the Presidents’ Summit for America’s Future which was co-chaired by former Presidents Clinton and Bush. General Colin Powell served as the Honorary Chair. In addition, she is a Founding board member of MENTOR, the recipient of 16 Honorary Doctorate Degrees, serves as a Trustee of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and is a Board member of several corporations.
cityLIVE! panelist
Geoffrey Canada
In his 20-plus years with Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ), Geoffrey Canada has become nationally recognized for his pioneering work helping children and families in Harlem and as a passionate advocate for education reform. Since 1990, Mr. Canada has been the President and CEO of HCZ, which The New York Times magazine called “one of the most ambitious social experiments of our time.” In 2005, Mr. Canada was named one of “America’s Best Leaders” by U.S. News and World Report. He was the first recipient of the Heinz Award in the Human Condition bestowed in 1995 by Teresa Heinz and the Heinz Family Foundation. The work of Mr. Canada and HCZ has become a national model and has been the subject of many profiles in the media.
Although Mr. Canada grew up in a poor, sometimes-violent neighborhood, he was able to succeed academically. Drawing upon his own childhood experiences Mr. Canada has written two books: “Fist Stick Knife Gun: A Personal History of Violence in America,” published in 1995, and “Reaching Up for Manhood: Transforming the Lives of Boys in America,” published in 1998. In its review of “Fist Stick Knife Gun,” Publishers Weekly wrote, “a more powerful depiction of the tragic life of urban children and a more compelling plea to end ‘America’s war against itself’ cannot be imagined.”
Bill Isler
Bill Isler, president and CEO of Family Communcation, Inc. (FCI), is a longtime professional educator and advocate for children. His career spans teacher, administrator, Commissioner of Basic Education and Senior Program Advisor for Early Childhood Education for the PA Dept of Education. In 1984 he joined Family Communications and in 2005, became the inaugural Executive Director of The Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media at Saint Vincent College. Under his leadership, FCI continued to produce the award-winning Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, longest running program on PBS, while expanding into the development of training materials for individuals who work with children.
Bill’s civic service is long and varied and includes membership with organizations such as the Pittsburgh School Board, the Council of Great City Schools and the National League of Cities Council on Children, Youth, and Education, He received The Pittsburgh Foundation’s Isabel P. Kennedy Award for child advocacy and was named “Person of the Year” in 2007 by the Mentoring Partnership of Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Mark DeSantis
Entrepreneur Mark DeSantis is President and Co-founder of Mobile Fusion, a technology firm that builds portable sensor platforms for the military. Mark co-founded several technology-based businesses in the US prior to that.
Mark has served in a number of policy positions in government including as a Senior Policy Analyst in both The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the U.S. Department of Commerce in the administration of George H. W. Bush, and on the staff of the late U.S. Senator John Heinz.
His civic activities range from serving on various boards (The Veterans Leadership Program of Western Pennsylvania, Sustainable Pittsburgh, Propel Schools), hosting a local monthly radio program on Pittsburgh Renaissance Radio focused entrepreneurship and writing frequently as a columnist for Pittsburgh Quarterly magazine. He has co-founded several local non-profit organizations and advocacy groups whose mission is to improve the performance of local government and promote economic development in western Pennsylvania. In 2007, Mark ran as a candidate for Mayor of Pittsburgh.
Georgia Berner
Georgia Berner is owner and CEO of Berner International Corporation and Berner Energy Recovery, Inc., both privately held, indoor-air energy efficiency and conservation companies. In 1984, Georgia took over Berner International Corporation upon her husband’s death. During her tenure as owner, the company has seen a triple digit increase in growth and profits.
Georgia is a recognized advocate for energy conservation, social programs and philanthropy both locally and nationally and for small business leadership. She created WhatIfPost.com to simplify and make sense of the health care debate in this country.
Georgia has held board positions for many organizations including the Federal Reserve Bank, the Lawrence County Economic Development Corporation, and for the National Association of Manufacturers in Washington DC and currently serves on a number of boards including Catalyst Connection, Children’s Advocacy Center, Economy League of Western Pennsylvania, Adagio Health, Women’s Campaign Forum Foundation and the Pennsylvania League of Young Voters. In 2006, Georgia ran as a candidate for Congress.
Jules Rosen
Dr. Jules Rosen is a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh and at the Katz Graduate School of Business. He serves as the Chief of Geriatric Psychiatry Services at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and is the Director of the ACGME – approved Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship Program and Co-Director of the Hartford Foundation Center of Excellence in Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship, Clinician-Educator Track.
Dr. Rosen has a medical degree from the University of Cincinnati and completed his psychiatry residency at the University of Michigan. In 2003, he was named Educator of the Year by the American Association of Geriatric Psychiatry. In 2006, he was honored with induction into the “Academy of Master Educators” at the University of Pittsburgh and was awarded the “Golden Apple Teacher of the Year Award” in 2008 by the residents and fellows at the University of Pittsburgh, Dept. of Psychiatry. He has authored over 75 peer-reviewed articles in his subspecialty of geriatric psychiatry. His areas of research interest include pharmacological and behavioral treatment of behavioral disturbances in dementia, nursing home depression, and organizational changes in nursing homes to enhance quality of life.