Development Council

After earning her English degree at Penn State, Jinnie Chapel became a computer programmer for Insurance Company of North America, then the second largest commercial insurer in the world. She later became a stay-at-home mother who, as her two sons progressed through school, took on a variety of part-time posts before embarking on a sixteen-year career with Booz Allen Hamilton. While there, she performed several duties, including senior aide to a partner, contract management, project management, proposal preparation, organization development and management, and finally senior associate. She later became a partner at LeapFrog Solutions, a Fairfax, Virginia-based strategic marketing communications firm. Now retired, Jinnie has been involved in a variety of volunteer efforts, both before and after retirement. With a major philanthropic pledge in 2009, Jinnie and her spouse, John, a business executive and entrepreneur, created the Virginia Todd Chapel Executive Internship Program Endowment, which provides recognition and financial assistance to outstanding undergraduate Liberal Arts students who are participating in an internship. Jinnie and John enjoy visiting with the students who have been part of the Chapel Executive Internship Program.

After graduating from Penn State, Robert earned his master of law degree from George Washington University National Law Center. Since 1983—virtually his whole career—Robert has been a partner at Venable LLP, a firm of advisors serving businesses, organizations, and individuals in many of the most important aspects of their work. He has also served as an adjunct professor at George Washington University Law School and Georgetown Law School. A member of the American College of Real Estate lawyers, Gottlieb and his wife, Lois, used their philanthropy to establish a director’s fund in the Paterno Fellows Program. As an undergraduate, he worked as a guidance counselor for first- and second-year students.

After graduating with bachelor’s degrees from Penn State, Jeff earned a juris doctorate at the Dickinson School of Law and a master of law degree (tax) from Temple University School of Law. An expert on state tax policy and tax issues in the U.S., Jeff retired following a distinguished career working with Pennsylvania government offices, including the Department of Revenue and Auditor General; top accounting firms such as Arthur Andersen & Co. and PriceWaterhouseCoopers; and major corporations such as General Electric and IBM. He is a member emeritus of the Political Science Board of Visitors and a current member of the McCourtney Institute for Democracy and School of Public Policy Boards of Visitors. Beyond Penn State, Jeff serves as secretary/treasurer of The Carlisle Project, and as chair for both the Council on State Tax and the State Tax Research Institute. He and his wife, Sharon, a 1982 graduate of Dickinson School of Law, have two children.

After graduating from Penn State, Dennis earned an MBA degree from Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management. He was a senior legislative aide to U.S. Senator Arlen Specter, after which he went on to senior government and public affairs positions in the biopharmaceutical industry. He retired in 2019 as senior vice president for global policy and public affairs from CSL Behring. Today, Dennis is a faculty member for Rare Diseases International and vice chair of the board for the National Association for Rare Disorders, where he also chairs the Strategic Planning Committee and serves on the Advocacy Committee. In addition to serving on the Liberal Arts Development Council, Dennis is a liberal arts mentor and a member of the boards of visitors for the Rock Ethics Institute, the McCourtney Institute for Democracy, and the School of Public Policy. He and his wife, Gail ’77, established an endowed professorship, a dean’s fund, a graduate endowment, and a trustee scholarship in the college as well as an undergraduate research grant fund in the Rock Ethics Institute. In 2020, the Jackmans were named Penn State’s Fundraising Volunteers of the Year. Dennis notes his ultimate Penn State experience was meeting Gail, his future wife, which “changed my life in the most positive way forever.”

After graduating from Penn State, Gail earned a master’s degree in consumer economics as Cornell University. A devoted volunteer for the University, Gail serves on the boards of the Rock Ethics Institute and the School of Public Policy in addition to her role on the Liberal Arts Development Council. She has also served as a Liberal Arts alumni mentor. For the past fifteen years, Gail has been the president and owner of Reach Research, a marketing and business development firm. Before Reach Research, Gail was a consumer educator with the Allegheny County Department of Consumer Affairs and a market research consultant with other companies, including Synovate, Marriott Corporation, and Shugoll Research. She is especially proud of having worked with non-profit arts organizations. Gail and her husband, Dennis, made philanthropic gifts to establish the Jackman-McCourtney Career Development Professorship in the College of the Liberal Arts as well as a dean’s fund and endowments supporting undergraduate and graduate students. In 2020, the Jackmans were named Penn State’s Fundraising Volunteers of the Year.

A devoted Penn State alumnus and leader who has served on the University’s Stewardship Committee as well as other boards and committees, Keith and has been a mentor for both the Smeal College of Business and the College of the Liberal Arts. Before retiring, Keith enjoyed a forty-year career in finance, the last thirty-seven of which he spent at Citibank, where he was the global head of trade finance. For twelve years, Keith served as an NGO member of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Laws. He has been a generous benefactor of the College of the Liberal Arts, establishing endowments supporting undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty in Asian Studies and other units. He has also supported other Penn State colleges including Agricultural Sciences, Arts and Architecture, and Eberly College of Science.

Following a twenty-six-year career with The Walt Disney Company where Sherri most recently served as senior vice president for consumer products licensing and franchise management, Sherri joined the Girl Scouts of America in 2022 to lead new business development and licensing initiatives. Her Penn State volunteer activities include nine years of service on the Smeal College of Business Alumni Society Board before joining the College of the Liberal Arts Development Council in 2017. Sherri and her husband, Daniel Zebrowski, created the Lombra/Zebrowski Family Trustee Matching Scholarship in the College of the Liberal Arts and two scholarships in the Smeal College of Business—the Lombra/Zebrowski Family Trustee Scholarship and the Raymond and Roberta Lombra Trustee Scholarship. The latter honors her parents, Penn State alumnus Ray Lombra, former senior adviser to the dean and professor of economics in the College of the Liberal Arts, and his wife, Bobbi. Sherri and Dan also joined Ray and Bobbi in making generous donations to the Penn State Men’s Ice Hockey program and to the Tally Sepot Memorial Award, which honors the legacy of their family friend and her devotion to Penn State and THON.

An avid hockey enthusiast, Geoff was a member of Penn State’s national champion team, serving as its captain his senior year. He received the hockey team’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2016, and he and his wife, Stephanie, established a scholarship for men’s hockey. In his professional life, Geoff is the chief executive officer of Medtronic, one of the world’s leading biomedical engineering corporations. Before joining Medtronic, Geoff spent nineteen years in a variety of business development, strategic marketing, and sales management roles at GE Healthcare and GE Capital. Passionate about socio-economic issues, Geoff serves on the board of directors for several nonprofit organizations including Children’s HeartLink, the Northside Achievement Zone, and the YMCA of the North. He is also part of OneTen, a coalition of cross-industry leaders committed to breaking down systemic barriers for Black Americans.

After graduating from Penn State, Cathy earned her MBA degree at Pace University. She is the chief executive officer of Kemark Financial Services Inc., joining Kemark after twenty years as the principal in charge of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Insurance Risk Management Solutions. She is a dedicated volunteer, having served as chair of the college’s strategic communications task force for A Greater Penn State for Twenty-First Century Excellence campaign; a Liberal Arts alumni mentor, and an adviser to the dean, in addition to her work on the Liberal Arts Development Council. She has received several awards for her service and philanthropy including the Liberal Arts Outstanding Alumni Award, the 2014 Alumni Fellow Award, and the Chaiken Leadership Award. Beyond Penn State, Cathy has held positions on several professional boards. In their combined family, Cathy and husband, Bob McKeon have approximately twenty-three Penn State degrees and counting.

After graduating from Penn State, Donna earned her juris doctorate at Temple University. An avid history buff and dedicated Liberal Arts volunteer, Donna is a retired attorney who has often engaged with the McCourtney Institute for Democracy and the Richards Civil War Era Center in addition to her work as a member of the Development Council. Outside of Penn State, she served on boards of the Chester County Historical Society, the Chester County Fund for Women and Girls, the Waynesborough Country Club, and the Willistown Conservation Trust. Donna and her husband, Bill, also a Penn State graduate, took advantage of a matching program created by Ted and Tracy McCourtney, to establish the William L. and Donna F. Oliver-McCourtney Professorship in the Department of History.

A longtime liberal arts advocate and volunteer leader, Sue worked briefly as an English teacher before stopping to raise her five children. She served as a tutor for more than 40 years and later gave time and energy to the Special Olympics. She was instrumental in forming the Liberal Arts Alumni Council, and she has also served on the Penn State Libraries Board, Alumni Council, and on campaign committees for the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center and the Catholic Student Faith Center, which bears her name. Generous philanthropists for decades, Sue and her husband, the late Joe Paterno, established and supported funds across the University. In Liberal Arts, they created the Paterno Family Professorship in Literature and also endowed funds supporting undergraduate and graduate education, the Richards Civil War Era Center, the Paterno Fellows Program, and a scholarship in Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies.

After graduating from Penn State, Cathy earned her juris doctorate at the New York University School of Law. She retired in 2008 as senior executive vice president and chief administrative officer at Met Life, where she held a variety of positions since 1985. Before her time at Met Life, Cathy was an attorney and then general counsel of Continental Can Company in Stamford, Connecticut, and an associate at  Dewey, Ballantine, Bushby, Palmer, & Wood, a New York-based corporate law firm. In addition to her service as a member of Development Council, Cathy is a long-time board member of Penn State Alumni Association. Cathy has directed her philanthropy toward undergraduate and graduate student support as well as an early career professorship in the College of the Liberal Arts. She has also generously supported the University in other ways. Cathy is particularly proud to have three nephews who graduated from Penn State.

Doug Rock, and his wife, Julie, made a transformational gift in 2001 to establish the Rock Ethics Institute. They further invested in the institute by endowing the Nancy Tuana Directorship. For 20 years, Doug served as chief executive officer of Smith International, Inc., a Fortune 500 company with 25,000 employees all over the world. As an undergraduate, Doug worked as a statistical analysis assistant in psychology and as a lab assistant in statistics. He also was part owner of a company that installed high end stereos in cars. In addition to his service on the Development Council, Doug also serves on the Rock Ethics Institute Board of Visitors.

Before retiring from Bloomberg Consulting in 2019, Mike spent five years at Deutsche Bank and fifteen years at Merrill Lynch, where he headed up research efforts in currency and international fixed income research. His research was ranked first in the world according to Institutional Investor magazine, Euromoney Magazine, and Global Investor Magazine. He was also ranked first in the United Kingdom-based Extel Survey, FX Week magazine and FXMM magazine. The Basking Ridge, New Jersey resident has two daughters, both of whom are Penn State alumnae. Mike has established two undergraduate scholarships and an endowment supporting graduate students in the Department of Economics.

After graduating from Penn State, Raven earned master’s degrees in psychology and counseling from Bucknell University. An active community volunteer who serves on several boards, Raven was a partner and family therapist for several decades at the Courtyard Counseling Center. She was the first non-lawyer to serve as chair on the disciplinary board for the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Today, she serves as the scholarship chair for the Selinsgrove (Pa.) Community Giving Board. She also chairs the nominating committee for the Susquehanna Valley Choral Board and serves on the Geisinger MyCode Ethics Advisory Committee overseeing genetics research, among other activities. A member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, Raven comes from a long line of Penn Staters, including her parents, siblings, and more than 40 relatives. Raven’s grandfather played football for Penn State and graduated in the early 1900s. She and her husband, Marvin, have created two undergraduate scholarships in the college and supported several other Liberal Arts and University initiatives.

After earning his bachelor’s and juris doctoral degrees, Marvin earned a juris doctorate at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. He served in the U.S. Army JAG Corp from 1968-72, the last two years of which he was a special courts military judge in the U.S. Army judiciary. After his time in the service, Marvin spent more than 35 years as a managing partner of the RHP Law Group in Selinsgrove, Pa., followed by ten years as senior counsel. He was a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association House of Delegates for over 25 years, eventually earning the association’s Gilbert Nurick Award for lifetime service. He was elected to three terms in the American Bar Association House of Delegates, served as president of the PA Bar Institute, and was appointed to PA Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court and served as chair. He and his wife, Raven, have created two undergraduate scholarships in the college and supported several other Liberal Arts and University initiatives.

Hellene retired as president and chief executive officer of the Berwind Group, a pharmaceutical services, industrial manufacturing, and real estate company. Earlier in her career, she served as executive vice president for Universal Studios and president and CEO of General Electric Information Services. She is a board member for the National Park Trust and has served on a variety of other boards. As a student at Penn State, Hellene was a member of the Kappa Delta sorority and the Penn State choir. In 2001, she was named as one of Penn State’s distinguished alumni, and she now serves on the executive board of the Society for Distinguished Alumni. A generous Liberal Arts benefactor, Hellene has used her philanthropy to support undergraduate and graduate students as well as several other college funds and initiatives.