Each year, the Brandywine Health Foundation celebrates its outgoing board members and thanks them for their leadership, time, and treasure. BHF also takes the opportunity to welcome new board members and officers as they work to build and support the foundation’s long-term strategies, ensure its financial viability, and help it remain a responsive philanthropic organization.

All of BHF’s board members adamantly support the foundation’s mission, vision, and guiding principles and understand its evolving philanthropic role. They bring a collective set of background experience and demonstrate both empathy and capacity to grapple with complex issues.

BHF thanks all of its board members, past and present, for their hard work, dedication, and shared appreciation of the foundation’s purpose and value to the community.

Outgoing Board Chair
Jason D. Alexander
Principal & Co-Founder, Capacity for Change, LLC

Alexander successfully guided the board over the last three years and will remain a board member. As board chair, he moved the organization from charity to philanthropy in order to support sustained community impact. Under his leadership, the foundation embraced a more inclusive culture. Alexander helped transform the foundation by leading the implementation of a new strategic direction and was instrumental in streamlining board committees, which created more opportunity for mission-aligned strategic action.

New Board Chair
Richard C. Clark
Senior Vice President, Pillar Wealth Advisors, LLC

With a background of six years of service on various board committees and 35 years of experience in financial planning, Clark is a financial expert passionate about his mission to positively address the social determinants of health in our county. In his new role as board chair, he plans to focus on several issues of vital importance to the Greater Coatesville community, including the continued embrace of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility for all residents.

Board Vice Chair
Valerie K. Martin
Chief Financial Officer, The Connelly Foundation

Martin is currently the Chief Financial Officer at The Connelly Foundation, a Philadelphia-based private foundation with a mission that focuses on education, human services, and civics/culture in the region. Martin will assume the role of board vice chair after serving as Treasurer and Chair of the Finance Committee for six years. Her love for the foundation’s mission is supported by her sound business acumen coupled with her desire to improve the health and social conditions in the community.

Board Treasurer
Isabel Pryor
Chief Administrative Officer and Senior Vice President, Key National Trust Company

Pryor has been an area resident since the mid-’90s and filters her work at the foundation through the lens of her own observations and experiences as an immigrant to this country. She will assume the roles as Treasurer and Co-Chair of the Investment Committee and remain a vital member of the Grantmaking Committee. Her keen sense of community and lived experiences allows the foundation to amplify diversity of thought and perspectives, which lends to strategic discussions regarding the foundation’s purpose and programmatic initiatives.

Board Secretary
Hannah Hill
Business Analyst, ArcelorMittal

Hill has been active with the foundation for the past four years. Her involvement has included serving as the Chair of the Grantmaking Committee and as a member of the Governance and Executive committees. Hill is especially drawn to the foundation’s initiatives to address social determinants of health and the need for access to quality healthcare and nutrition for children. She holds dual degrees from Temple University and an MBA from Saint Joseph’s University.

New Board Member
Dave England
Associate Broker, Berkshire Hathaway Home Services

With more than 20 years of experience and a master’s degree in real estate from Wharton, England is an expert in all things commercial and residential real estate construction and management. After serving on the board from 2005 to 2014, BHF is excited to welcome England back. He not only brings institutional knowledge; he also brings to the board his desire to build strategic partnerships to develop projects that improve housing stability and quality of life for the most vulnerable residents of Greater Coatesville.

Outgoing Board Member
Dawn M. James
Principal, Vanguard

James is rotating off the board after serving nine years. During her time at the foundation, she served as board chair from 2015 to 2017 and led the search committee and hiring of CEO Vanessa Briggs. James served as Chair for the Development Committee and was a member of both the Grantmaking and Audit committees. Her direct approach to solving community health problems helped position the foundation as it launched several programs under a culture of health framework.

Outgoing Board Member
Margaret C. Rivello
Retired Chester County Public Health Director

Rivello served as Grantmaking Chair for five years. She stepped down from the board in January after dedicating a total of six years to the foundation and its mission. Rivello used her unique perspective and Chester County insight to advance the foundation’s programming and philanthropic role in the community.

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