The Chester County Food Bank has announced its officers and the appointment of five new members to its Board of Directors.

The following officers have been elected to the Chester County Food Bank’s Executive Committee:

• Dr. Bradley Dyer, Chair (Founder, All Star Pediatrics)
• Robert D. McNeil, Immediate Past Chair (Founding Chair of Chester County Food Bank)
• Ed Breiner, Secretary (Retired, President & CEO Schramm)
• Yvonne Bartlett, CPA, Treasurer (Manager, Umbreit Wileczek & Associates)

The following individuals are newly elected to the Board of Directors class of 2023:

• Elizabeth Blake, Divisional Risk Advisor, Vanguard
• Virginia Calega MD, MBA, FACP, President, VCC Healthcare Solutions
• Julie Dietrich, Executive Director for External Relations, West Chester University
• Maureen Hugel, Retired Physical Therapist and Administrator
• Lou Martel, Retired, Technology Sales Executive

“We are excited and honored that these community leaders will help guide Chester County Food Bank as we continue our hard work to ensure access to real healthy food,” said Founding and Immediate Past Chair Bob McNeil. “Their expertise in healthcare, business, finance, governance, advocacy, technology and human service will help us explore opportunities and define solutions to create a food secure Chester County.”

Dr. Bradley Dyer has served on the Food Bank board for two years and is following founding chair Bob McNeil, who has served on the board for eight years with a hiatus in 2016-2020. McNeil will remain on the board for one year for the newly created immediate past chair position.

“The Chester County Food Bank was fortunate to have Bob chairing our Board during the transition of the current CEO, Andrea Youndt in 2020 and during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dr. Dyer. “It is truly an honor to follow Mr. McNeil’s leadership and to be a part of an organization and community that is committed to helping our neighbors struggling with food insecurity.”

“We are fortunate to have a Board of Directors comprised of some of Chester County’s most dedicated, strategic leaders,” said Andrea Youndt, CEO of Chester County Food Bank. “I look forward to working with each of them and their collective expertise to fulfill our mission to mobilize the community to ensure access to real, healthy food.”

CCFB would like to thank and acknowledge the hard work and long-time dedication of Joseph Riper, Shareholder of Riley Riper Hollin & Colagreco Attorneys at Law for his nine years of service to the Board.

CCFB welcomes new Chair and the following Board Members:

Dr. Bradley J. Dyer graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. and an M.S. in Biology. After a brief stint as a marine biologist, Dr. Dyer attended medical school at Stanford, earning his M.D. in 1989. Following his residency program at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, he had the honor of serving as Chief Resident at the same institution. He has been practicing pediatrics in Exton since 1993. ​In 2002 he purchased the practice from the University of Pennsylvania and founded All Star Pediatrics, where he continues to see patients two days a week.

Dr. Dyer lives with his wife Ann, a pediatric nurse practitioner and lifelong resident of Chester County. They have two adult sons, Jack and Mark, and live in Chester Springs. In addition to his commitment to CCFB, Dr. Dyer also volunteers with The Clinic in Phoenixville, Community Volunteers in Medicine in West Chester, and French and Pickering Creeks Conservation Trust.

Elizabeth Blake is a Divisional Risk Advisor at Vanguard. She has been with Vanguard since 2013, spending most of her career supporting the advice business in a variety of roles including operations, client-facing, leadership, lean management, and risk. As a risk advisor, she consults with the advice business on strategic initiatives, helping to identify and assess key risks and opportunities. She graduated with honors from Lafayette College with a B.A. in Psychology and French and is a licensed financial advisor, holding the Series 7, 63, and 65 licenses. Blake is currently an MBA candidate at Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business through Vanguard’s executive program and a member of Vanguard’s accelerated leadership development program, taking classes with Harvard Business School. She is a Chester County native and currently resides in Malvern.  

Dr. Virginia Calega is an alumna of the University of Pittsburgh (B.S), Drexel University (M.D.) and Villanova University (M.B.A). After practicing as an Internist and Geriatrician, she worked for 17 years in the health insurance industry before founding VCC Healthcare Solutions, which works with providers, payers, and employers in a patient centric approach to optimize the delivery of care. She is passionate about fixing what is broken in our healthcare system.

Dr. Calega received the Pittsburgh Business Times 2016 Healthcare Hero Award for work on the innovative Highmark Cancer Collaborative. She lives in Honey Brook with her husband Mark. In addition to her commitment to the CCFB, Dr. Calega is Board Secretary for Make-A-Wish of Philadelphia, Delaware and Susquehanna Valley.

Dr. Julie Dietrich graduated from West Chester University with a B.A. and M.A. in Philosophy. Dr. Dietrich received her Doctor of Education from Widener University. As the Executive Director of the Office of External Relations for West Chester University, she serves as the institution’s primary government relations officer, cultivating and sustaining relationships with local, state, and federal elected officials and their offices, and a leading liaison within the community. Through this position, she focuses upon executing strategic community and economic development as well as facilitating communication and negotiating partnerships among key leaders to help leverage and optimize the use of institutional assets and addressing community need. Dr. Dietrich is a native and lives in the Borough of West Chester.

Maureen Hugel was Vice President of Clinical Operations for Theraplay, Inc. where for over 20 years served as a liaison to local, state and federal government agencies. She maintained state and federal regulatory compliance as well as lead their quality management initiatives. Hugel has extensive experience with policy development and implementation across a variety of programs and funding streams. She led conflict resolution initiatives with staff and customer base throughout her career as a physical therapist and administrator. 

One of Hugel’s greatest accomplishments at Elwyn, Inc. was serving as lead director and managing USAID grants to initiate early intervention services to children ages birth through five in Ukraine and Lithuania while providing strategic and fiscal management. In addition, she managed a PEW grant for a community-based parenting program working closely with the local county Children and Youth Agency. She has a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Physical Therapy from Ithaca College.

Hugel’s passion for working with children and families and ensuring their needs are met led her to the Chester County Food Bank.  Food sustainability was instilled in her by her parents as a young child and has continued through the years. She is a Fabulous Farmer with the volunteer group at CCFB. You can find her on the farm in her free time or with her grandchildren. She and her husband Mike are long-time residents of Chester County.

Lou Martel studied accounting and business at Chowan University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Now retired, Martel had a notable career in technology, initially on the operations and engineering side then transitioning to sales and sales leadership roles. His greatest achievements are in what he has been able to provide for his family and what he has been able to contribute to others – his employers, his clients, colleagues, partners, industry peers, and people who he has never met but was fortunate enough to support in some way. In addition to his service to CCFB, he also serves on the Board for the Cerebral Palsy Association of Chester County. He lives in Downingtown with his wife of 36 years (and counting) and recently became proud grandparents. 

Learn more at the Chester County Food Bank.