Fig Lancaster Stories 2017

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CREATED & PRODUCED BY Fig Industries figindustries.com READ, WATCH & SHARE figstorieslancaster.com CREATIVE DIRECTOR Deborah Brandt WRITERS Steve Neumann Liz Smutko Christine Halliday Penny Wren COPY EDITOR Liz Smutko PHOTOGRAPHER Mike Miville DESIGNER Josh Seibert VIDEOGRAPHER Triode Media Group MEDIA SPONSOR WITF Cover image: Vintage spectacles from Albright Opticians.

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FIG STORIES LANCASTER |

2016

is a collection of insightful stories featuring Lancaster County's most influential leaders, bold thinkers, and agents of change. fig stories

letter of welcome Every life tells a story—we all have tales to tell. This year’s edition of Fig Stories spotlights a diverse array of individuals who’ve made a positive, lasting impact on the community we all live in— now and for years to come.

Some of the names will be familiar, but you’ll learn things about them you’ve never known. Others may not be as well known—those working behind the scenes to invigorate our most beloved institutions or to create new initiatives in and around Lancaster.

Though they come from vastly different backgrounds, they all share common goals and values. They are authentic voices, change agents, original thinkers; bringing innovation to the arts, education, business, and how we live today—and will live tomorrow. They value the mentors who helped shape them, and continue those legacies by leading others.

Their values and beliefs guide their work and their lives, as they move us forward. They give back to the Lancaster community, helping those in need and lifting up the marginalized. They strive to make the world we all live in better, more inclusive, more humane.

Fig Industries is honored to bring you the stories of these exemplary individuals. As part of our mission to enrich the community we share, we shine a light on our neighbors and friends who elevate our lives.

Our hope is that they will inspire and embolden us all to become beacons of change, hope, and unity.

We thank them for sharing their time, insight, and inspiration, here and in the larger world.

J o y f u l l y, THE FIG INDUSTRIES TEAM

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TA B L E o f CONTE NTS MIKE BRUBAKER................................... 08

TERRY KRAFT......................................... 38

CHRISTINA HARTMAN......................... 10

DR. PETER TEAGUE............................... 40

KATE LOWRY.......................................... 12

JESSICA MAILHOT................................. 42

DR. RUSTY LONG................................... 14

JOHN SWANSON................................... 44

DR. RITA SMITH-WADE-EL................. 16

MARK HACKENBURG........................... 46

CHIP SNYDER......................................... 18

MELISA BAEZ......................................... 50

MELISSA GREENE................................. 22

LAURA SCHANZ..................................... 52

CASEY BAUM......................................... 24

PEDRO RIVERA...................................... 54

DR. DAN PORTERFIELD........................ 26

ROBIN STAUFFER.................................. 56

DR. AMANDA KEMP............................. 28

STACIE REIDENBAUGH......................... 58

PETER SCUDNER................................... 30

MARIA-JOSÉ TENNISON...................... 60

SCOTT MILLER....................................... 34

PETER BARBER...................................... 62

JENNIFER GOLDBACH.......................... 36

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1 i t s ta rt s with one

“Let us REMEMBER: one book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can CHANGE the WORLD.” - MALALA YOUSAFZAI

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FROM the LAND MIKE BRUBAKER CEO of Blackford Ventures

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ike Brubaker has grown one success after another—in business, politics, and philanthropy—based on the simple lessons he learned as a child working in the family fertilizer business. Today, Mike’s private equity clients at Blackford Ventures LLC benefit from his knowledge and his unmatched network, much like plants thrive in nutrient-rich, well-managed soil.

A track and cross-country standout in high school, Mike earned a scholarship to West Virginia University where he majored in agronomy—the science of crop and soil management.

He launched his first business helping Lancaster farmers improve their soil.

“I loved agriculture and the farm lifestyle—families sharing meals, having a strong work ethic and faith,” he says. “I helped farmers increase their productivity and profitability by improving the soil.”

Mike was ambitious in other ways.

Home on break, out with a friend, he met a fellow athlete named Cindy.

“I told my friend the night I met her, I really would love to marry that woman,” he says. They were married within a year. More than 30 years later, they have three children and three grandchildren.

His business grew to the fourth-largest company of its kind in the nation; other businesses and consultancies followed, focusing on agriculture and then international relations. He sold them when presented with a new challenge—politics.

Though active locally, Mike jumped into state politics when his district’s state senate seat opened up. He got to Harrisburg in 2006. He chaired the agriculture committee and then the powerful finance committee and held other posts, including Chesapeake Bay Commission chair.

Being a truly bi-partisan senator meant pushing back on politics as usual. “I saw my job as being part of a debate of ideas,” Mike says. “If someone wanted

a vote, I wanted to hear their case. I tried to always be open, not bow to lobby pressure but listen to different views and learn from my constituents.”

Based on his knowledge of agriculture and his unshakable belief that wellmanaged American farms can feed every person in the nation, Mike led the fight against food insecurity. In 2009, he founded and co-chaired the Legislative Hunger Caucus.

“Hunger is a one hundred-percent solvable problem,” he says. “Not having enough to eat affects every social class. Most families are only one lost job away from needing food assistance.”

The caucus broke ground on the Hunger Garden on State Capitol property a year later. “Though we had trouble convincing the facilities people it was a good idea,” he recalls.

He approached then-governor Ed Rendell for help. Mike and the caucus got permission quickly. The garden remains, with harvests going to local food banks and soup kitchens. “The tomatoes and peppers grown at the Capitol are eaten a few blocks away at the Downtown Daily Bread soup kitchen,” he says. “This is how it should work.”

Even in a life of success and service, however, tragedy can strike. Mike and Cindy lost their youngest son Ryan,

wasn’t being honest with the citizens.”

After leaving office, he became chief executive officer of Blackford Ventures LLC, a Lancaster private equity firm founded by Richard Welkowitz. “He’s a wise and innovative thinker,” says Mike. “He always finds a win-win in every transaction.”

Life back in the private sector is busy, but Mike revels in the time he spends with his wife and family. “Our children and three grandchildren all live close by, and my son Chris works with me at Blackford,” he says, his face lighting up. “We have a standing Saturday morning breakfast date that’s the highlight of my week.” Still, a little change can be good. Mike and Cindy are embracing the sea as well, mooring a boat on the Chesapeake, and spending summer weekends there.

Mike also serves on many boards and committees and continues to focus on solving food insecurity. He is the chair of Hunger-Free Lancaster County, a coalition of nearly 40 private, nonprofit, faith and public organizations that in 2016 set an audacious goal— ensuring access to three healthy meals a day for every Lancastrian by 2018. That means increasing the number of healthy meals served to children at school, after school, and during the summer, helping eligible families access federally funded food assistance, and building efficiencies with farmers and communities to reach those in need. “It’s being looked at as a test case for how other counties can solve the hunger crisis,” Mike says.

When Mike looks back on his life, he sees a pattern. “I started out

“Working for my father and grandfather's business as a teenager taught me work ethic. I also learned to give the client more than what they paid for and to always have their best interest in mind” then 21, in 2012. There’s nothing more painful than the loss of a child, but Mike and Cindy founded the Ryan Brubaker Foundation along with their adult children. The foundation raises money to help youth in need.

Mike didn’t want to run for a third term in the Senate. Some advised him not to share this decision before election season. He rejected it. “That

helping people grow bigger, healthier crops, and really, that’s what I’m still doing,” he says. From the soil he started with, Mike has grown a thriving network of success, which he now shares to nourish clients, friends, and causes.

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“I’m a disruptor by nature,” says Christina Hartman, who’s also quick to clarify: “I mean, I think of myself as a polite disruptor.”

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hat is a polite disruptor, you ask?

Well, for Christina, a 39-year-old non-profit consultant who has spent the bulk of her 17-year career working as a human rights and democracy advocate in war-torn countries, the word polite shouldn’t be confused with “weak.”

Raised in Lancaster County, Christina is the product of a hardworking middle-class family where faith and service were paramount.

Her mother, Julia, is a first grade teacher at Sacred Heart School, and her dad, Bob, worked as a store manager. Her grandparents were small-business owners who taught her the value of giving back to one’s community through volunteering, entrepreneurship, and standing up for what you believe.

If you ever have the privilege to chat with Christina over coffee at Mean Cup on a Saturday afternoon, don’t be alarmed by her rapid-fire cadence and her matter-of-fact assessments of political headlines. Shy, she’s not.

With Christina’s outspokenness and refreshingly forthright demeanor, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Christina, a change-maker at heart, has always had an eye for rolling up her sleeves and speaking up on behalf of voiceless or misunderstood communities.

“People have always seen me as a talker,” she explains. “But I also knew I was a good listener. My mother is the same way. If one of us is sitting on a park bench, someone will sit beside us and, sooner and or later, we’ll have heard that person’s entire life story in one sitting.”

When Christina was trying to figure out her career path as she prepared to graduate from Manheim Township High School, her initial thought was she wanted to be a diplomat. “In the same way an entrepreneur sees a gap in the market, or sees something that other people don’t see, I could always see where and how to build a bridge between one group of people to another.”

Christina compares herself to an entrepreneur because, in many ways, she is one. After earning her bachelor’s degree in international affairs at

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George Washington University, she went on to get her master’s degree in international political economy and development at Fordham University while working full-time at Freedom House, a Washington, DC-based non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom, and human rights. It was through her roles at Freedom House from 2001 to 2007 that Christina first began putting her penchant for diplomacy and her entrepreneurial spirit to work. With her home base in Washington, DC, Christina took long-term assignments around the world. She moved to

organization dedicated to educating and empowering survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse. Her motivation: To walk the walk.

“I took the job at Joyful Heart because I wanted to focus more on domestic issues,” Christina says. “I quickly began to realize, though, that where I really wanted to get involved was in politics. I've known for a long time I may run for political office someday, at least since 2008 when Barack Obama not only won the election but also won Lancaster County. So what better place to throw my hat into the ring than in my hometown? I was so tired of business as usual. That’s what inspired me to get involved in a different way and use my skills to serve my community.”

“What better place to throw my hat into the ring than in my hometown? I was so tired of business as usual. That’s what inspired me to get involved in a different way and use my skills to serve my community.”

Serbia in 2003. In 2004, she lived in Kazakhstan. In 2004 – 2005, she lived in Uzbekistan and in 2006 – 2007, she ran a youth leadership project in sub-Saharan Africa.

“People trusted me because [I was there to see] how things actually worked,” Christina says. “So then I could be a helpful bridge. I had the experience in the field, so when I communicated with folks they really felt that I understood the things that they face.”

As senior roles at various other organizations followed, Christina moved to New York City. Along the way, she met and fell in love with her husband Martin. While the two were living on the Upper West Side, Christina traveled back to Lancaster regularly to see friends and family.

During these visits, she noticed Lancaster’s fast evolution—from the proliferation of downtown yoga studios to the independently owned coffee shops popping up on every corner. There was a small-business boom in her hometown.

Ever proud of her entrepreneurial roots, Christina struck out on her own in 2014. She left a prominent gig as director of development for Joyful Heart Foundation, an

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For Christina, service came in the form of a 2016 congressional run that pit her against Republican Lloyd Smucker in a contest to replace the retiring Joe Pitts in Pennsylvania's 16th Congressional District. Christina was the rare candidate who wasn’t afraid to ask—or answer—tough questions. “People in Lancaster don’t always want to talk about politics because it’s seen as uncomfortable,” says Christina. “Nobody wants to disrupt the apple cart.”

Recognizing Christina’s enthusiasm and fearlessness, LancasterOnline .com called her “whip-smart” and politicians like former President Obama, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, and Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray endorsed her.

Although Christina lost to Smucker, she hasn’t taken her eyes off the prize.

Does she intend to run again? Yes. If not for Congress, then for something.

Her “why” is simple: She’s interested in doing what she calls “the most amount of good.”

“My goal is to be a true force to better people’s lives. For me, that means believing in my ideas and having enough confidence in them that when I bring them to people, they know this is a train that they should be on.”

THE

DISRUPTOR

CHRISTINA HARTMAN Cyber Civil Rights Initiative and Independent Consultant

Making CHANGE

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THE

RUNNER

KATE LOWRY Vice President of Marketing Listrak

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Inspiring PERSEVERANCE Y

ou don’t peg Kate Lowry as an introvert, but she is. Though Kate loves being around others, working and volunteering for causes she loves, she needs to disconnect and gather her energy through solitude. But when she’s refilled her tank, look out—Kate’s energy is breathtaking. She brings commitment, perseverance, and inspiration to everything she does.

Along with her role as vice president of marketing at Listrak, a digital marketing company in the heart of Lititz, she can often be found volunteering throughout the community, working on her mid19th century farmhouse with her husband, Tyler, and spending time in the garden in the summer and hiking County Park in the winter.

Kate got her first understanding of inspiration from her high school art history teacher, Susan Gottlieb. Initially, Kate found Ms. Gottlieb to be too disciplined. “I dropped her class and began taking art classes independently,” Kate says. The following year, Kate found she could learn a lot from Ms. Gottlieb. They developed a strong bond in the ensuing years, and when Kate left for Washington love what you do College in 2001, she had no doubt she wanted to major in art history.

“Susan and I get a kick out of this story because today she’s one of my dearest friends,” Kate lifetime says. “Thank goodness she gave me a second opportunity chance!”

“My dad always said, ‘strive for the job where you .’ I consider myself lucky that in my thirties I haven’t had to wait a for that .”

Kate melded her passion for art history and combined it with business and marketing courses.

She rowed for a semester, but thought her time would be better spent working. A job with oncampus dining led to becoming banquet manager and catering captain by her senior year; she also worked for an accounting firm, and was an admissions tour guide. “Washington College was the first college in the new nation and the only school George Washington gave money to for starting a college,” she says. “Fifty guineas.” By the time she graduated, Kate had completed every art history course offered and all the courses to fulfill a business minor.

Kate’s commitment to her community began early—her mom was heavily involved in the Junior League of Lancaster, serving as the president from 1990 – 1991. Even as a toddler, Kate was included in League projects with her mom, such as the

development of Hands on House and the Spanish American Civic Association.

When Kate and Tyler moved back to Lancaster in 2006, Kate was working more than 60 hours a week, but managed to find time to serve in the community. As a Lancaster City resident, she got involved with James Street Improvement District, Lancaster City Alliance, Lancaster Central Market, Lancaster Museum of Art, the Demuth Museum Young Modernists, and sat on the Alumni Council for Lancaster Country Day School for seven years.

Kate’s career wasn’t always a career. In the beginning, like most starting out in their early twenties, it was only a job. But when Kate joined Listrak in January 2013 as a customer- and channel-marketing manager, she was ready for a new challenge. What she didn’t realize was her time at Listrak would develop into a career with purpose that would challenge her in ways she hadn’t experienced. “I love coming to work every day and that’s not something that many people can say,” she says. “My dad always said, ‘strive for the job where you love what you do.’

I consider myself lucky that in my thirties I haven’t had to wait a lifetime for that opportunity.”

But she still has energy for many other things, due to her focus. Kate followed her mother and grandmother by joining the Junior League of Lancaster. Nostalgia for the projects she did with her mom as a young girl, combined with a commitment to stay in Lancaster and a desire to meet new friends, led her to join in 2012. And now, as the presidentelect beginning in June, Kate has a lot on her plate, but she’s enjoying it. The leadership opportunities afforded through the League enable her to be a stronger leader at work and her career opportunities allow her to better serve her community through the Junior League.

Kate copes with the stress of her busy schedule by taking time out to recharge and renew. She's an avid runner—training in the early mornings with a group of women who hold each other accountable. “Those winter months are the worst,” she laughs. “Running at sub-twenty degrees in the pitch black, you need other women equally as strong whom you can count on.” Kate also allows her creativity to bubble up by refinishing furniture or re-pointing the stone foundation in the basement of the farmhouse with Tyler. “Tyler is extremely handy,” she says. “If he wasn’t, we would be just plain crazy to purchase a house this old! We make a good team.”

Kate strives to find purpose and intent in everything she does. For Kate, her life is the Lancaster community, her career, and those around her who support her inspiration, dedication, and energy.

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LIVING the LEGACY DR. RUSTY LONG Executive Director of Lancaster Cleft Palate Clinic

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he Lancaster Cleft Palate Clinic on a “team-day” morning moves quickly.

Patients, parents, and a cadre of pediatric specialists hustle confidently in and out of offices and treatment rooms. As the clock edges toward noon, the waiting room empties out, the last patients of the morning are waving goodbye, and a mom whose child has been here for years exchanges contact information with parents holding a newborn before heading into the late morning.

Dr. Ross “Rusty” Long, the thirdgeneration head of the Clinic, heads into the conference room, where the team has gathered for a working lunch and progress reports on each patient. A laptop projector beams each child’s data on a pull-down screen, with photos and dates of treatment.

The treatment team gathers around the table—specialists in dentistry, medicine, plastic surgery, infant feeding, audiology, speech therapy, and social work, along with residents and interns in these disciplines learning on the job. Each person adds to the total picture of the treatment,

between the fifth and twelfth weeks of pregnancy. A cleft can occur in the lip, the roof of the mouth, or both, and on one or both sides of the mouth. Clefts can affect speech, hearing, eating, breathing, and appearance. It’s the most common major birth defect in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control, affecting one in 575 live births.

When the Clinic began, it was the first center in the world dedicated exclusively to the multidisciplinary care of patients with facial birth defects. At that time, Dr. Cooper, as the only orthodontist between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, was seeing many children with clefts he considered “facial cripples” with unintelligible speech and mutilated facial appearance. He realized that successful treatment would require a team of specialists.

Rusty went off to college and then to dental school, and then more school, following the family into orthodontics as a specialty. He joined the family orthodontic practice, worked at the Clinic, and settled into raising a family. His grandfather, dad, and uncle had retired and the Clinic was going on, guided by a director and a board outside of the family. But around

“This is a continuation of what my grandfather started— the idea of having several disciplines in one place treating these kids started with him. I’m proud of his legacy.” both what happened that day and how it figures into the history and the future of their young patients.

“This is a continuation of what my grandfather started—but the photos used to be slides and the notes were by hand,” says Rusty. “But the idea of having several disciplines in one place treating these kids started with him.

I’m proud of his legacy.”

It’s always been a family thing. Rusty’s grandfather, Dr. Herbert K. Cooper, started the clinic in 1938, to treat children with facial clefts. A cleft lip and palate occur when the lip or roof of the mouth don’t form completely p.14

2000, the director was dismissed, and the future of the Clinic was uncertain.

“At that point, I became certain I wanted to do this,” he says. “I felt very strongly about holding up the legacy.”

The Clinic is not profit-driven. In fact, it runs at a deficit and needs outside funding to operate. Many of the patients qualify for Medicare, though reimbursements fall short of fully funding the treatment, which starts as early as two weeks after birth and continues through to adulthood.

Along with facial clefts, the team comes together to treat facial and dental issues caused by accidents

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and disease.

Fundraising is an important part of the job. Rusty and his colleagues continue to operate a traditional general and specialty dental practice, with all revenue going to support the Clinic. But even that’s not enough.

Fundraising campaigns, donation drives, and lobbying efforts on behalf of the patients go on throughout the year. The support of the Lancaster community and the Lancaster County legislative delegation has been critical.

One part of the legacy of this historic clinic that will end with Rusty’s eventual retirement is the direct family tie. None of his four children went into dentistry. But he’s confident the work will go on due to the leadership, dedication, and commitment of the current staff and continuation of the strong support from its 45-year affiliation with Hershey Medical Center.

Rusty admits his dedication to the Clinic hasn’t left as much time for outside hobbies as he’d like. His time not working has been spent on his farmette outside the city with his wife, children, and grandchildren. Rusty says his accomplishments at the Clinic would have been impossible without their love and support.

So retirement is coming, and he’s taking stock a bit and looking back.

While he takes pride in his work as a private-practice orthodontist, it’s the clinic and its patients that grabbed his heart.

“In private-practice orthodontics, you take ordinary looking kids and can make them look extraordinary,” Rusty says, a catch in his voice as he continues. “But with the Clinic, we have kids who already look and sound extraordinary as a result of their facial differences. Our goal, at the least, is to make them look and sound ordinary, which lets them lead an ordinary life, something those of us more fortunate take for granted. They can walk down the street or in their hallways at school and you’d never know they started life out looking and speaking any different. That’s a powerful thing.”

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THE

LIBERATOR

RITA SMITH-WADE-EL Professor of Psychology and African-American Studies Millersville University

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Still SHE Rises N

ine times out of 10, when Rita Smith-Wade-El enters a room in downtown Lancaster, someone knows her or vice versa. Rita’s hard to miss: She has the presence of a pharaoh and—speaking of royalty—often wears purple or red, both of which could be a nod to Rita’s innate don’t-mess-with-me authority.

Most days, unless she’s donning an African headdress, Rita proudly displays her bald head, which is nearly clean-shaven, save a little “peach fuzz,” as she calls it. Twice a month, she travels to Philadelphia’s Rena Rowan Breast Center for chemotherapy treatments, a first line of defense in Rita’s second battle with cancer.

Thirty years ago, she declined an administrative role at Temple University, instead moving from Philadelphia to Lancaster for a faculty position at Millersville University. Currently a professor of psychology and director of Millersville's African-American Studies minor, Rita earned her M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania. She’s the vice president of the Lancaster NAACP, serves on many committees, and has a pivotal role in bringing notable speakers to Lancaster as part of the Frederick Douglass Black Culture Celebration.

In 2015, Rita received the Essence of Humanity Award from the Crispus Attucks Community Center.

Rita has made significant strides in and for Lancaster, though when she moved, the smaller-than-she-wasused-to city was a bit of a culture shock. “My view often of Lancaster was that I got caught in a time machine, and I didn’t plan to be here long,” she says. “Thirty-four years later, here I stay.”

As a young adult in the late 1960s, Rita attended undergrad at the all-female Barnard College at Columbia University. She befriended likeminded African-American students. “We were the feminists,” says Rita of her time at Barnard. “I marched against the Vietnam War; I was involved in the 1968 Columbia University protests and the takeover of Hamilton Hall.”

With Columbia University close to Harlem, Rita and her friends frequented now-defunct haunts like the soul food restaurant Wells’ for late-night chicken and waffles. On warm sunny days, they’d walk to 125th Street to catch the attention of young gentleman callers. “The guys at Columbia were nice, but when it was warm, we’d go to 125th Street to hear the cat calls. I know that sounds horrible,” she says.

You might say Rita’s liberated confidence in college was an extension of growing up as an only child. Rita’s a daddy’s girl and quite literally her father’s running buddy. “I grew up in a household with a mother and father, and they both did a great job,” she says. “I was a stubborn child. In 1955 or 1956 when they integrated the schools, I was told I needed to go to the white school, which was a block away. Well, I was in the top reading group at my school, and when I talked to the kids who went to the white school, I learned they were behind us. So I decided I didn't want to go there. And I didn’t. I kept going to my old school, though I wasn’t supposed to. My mother was fed up.

Finally, after three or four days, my father connected went to my school and said ‘You gotta keep her here. My wife's going to kill her and she's obviously not going to go to the other school. Can we work this out?’

And they did.” always

“I am to a number of our students, especially Latinos from Lancaster.

I am asking myself, ‘How can we support what the young people are doing?’”

Rita credits her village of elders, who “believed in talent and spent a lot of time cultivating us,” for instilling in her a sense of fortitude. “That’s one of the things I like about being a college professor,” she says. “I am connected to a number of our students, especially Latinos from Lancaster. I am always asking myself, ‘How can we support what the young people are doing?’”

For decades, Rita has been an irrepressible voice for inclusion and equality, and a stern voice of encouragement when it comes to the next generation of leaders in her classroom. “I don't want to wear makeup. I never learned to walk in heels, so I don't wear them,” she says. “My sons tease me, but I want to present to my students that excellence is about their brains, not about how they dress.”

Of all Rita’s roles—professor, leader, breast cancer survivor, activist, organizer, devout Catholic, voracious reader, friend, colleague—the one she’s proudest of is “mother.” Rita raised two sons, Ismail, a writer and budding politician who is running for Lancaster City Council, and Ayodele, a computer programmer and developer who also lives in Lancaster.

“There’s an African book called Children of the Sun that talks about the choice between being good or being great.” By Rita’s distinction, goodness is about service and greatness is about notoriety. “I think both of my sons have chosen to be good, and in the end it's the higher choice.”

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A LIFE’S Ministry CHIP SNYDER Owner and Director of Charles F. Snyder Funeral Home

C

hip Snyder has never been far from work. At 10, he scoured Lancaster City, towing a wagon he’d fill with bottles, newspapers, and metal he could turn in for money. “If I collected two dollars, it was a good day,” he says. Chip, the oldest of six siblings, and his family lived above his father’s business, the Charles F. Snyder Funeral Home, on East King Street. At 13, he had his first real job—two paper routes, one he completed before school and later changed to an evening route, plus the Sunday paper. It gave him an early appreciation for running a business.

“Every week I had to go and collect money from the customers,” Chip recalls. “Saturday mornings I had to go to the newspaper office and pay off my account. Whatever was left over was profit.” It also helped him get to know his customers. “To this day, people still remember me from when I was their paperboy,” he says. He also worked with his father at the funeral home, cleaning the grounds and the car fleet, and helping in the parking lot during funerals.

“It gave me a foundation to better understand the many responsibilities of what it would be like to run a family company,” he says.

It wasn’t all work growing up, though. “Playing in

of Mortuary Science. He did his internship with his father and received his funeral directors license in 1976.

“One thing I’ll never forget is soon after I started to work for my father, he called me into his office and sat me down,” Chip says. “He started discussing what it takes to be a funeral director. He said, ‘This is a very hard profession and you are with people at the worst time in their lives. Always remember your job is to take care of them.’ This is still our philosophy.’”

He and Doreen were married in 1979 and moved into a place on West Orange. In 1985, the family moved back to Chip’s childhood home over the business on East King. “One of our favorite pastimes was walking to Central Market,” Chip says. “It's a real gem in this community.”

Chip is active with many volunteer and charitable organizations. “Lancaster City and County is a truly giving community and I’m grateful to be a part of it,” he says. Still, one in particular stands out for him. Share of Lancaster provides support to grieving families through the loss of an infant. “I hold that one a little closer to my heart,” he says.

Still, one in particular stands out for him.

Share of Lancaster provides support to grieving families who experience the

In his business, too, he provides the community with a valuable service, at times when it’s needed most. “Being a funeral director has been a blessing—I enjoy meeting so many different people and the opportunity to serve them humbles me,” Chip says. “This is more than a job, it’s a life ministry.”

While Chip says he’ll never officially retire, the family business is in good hands. Chad is poised to “pick up the baton,” Chip says. “I know the future of Charles F. Snyder Funeral Homes & Crematory will be well taken care of.”

loss of an infant. “I hold that one a little closer to my heart,” he says the city was awesome—we were always outside in the parks, school yards, or the Boys Club,” Chip says. Sports were a way of life for him; he reports playing just about everything, though baseball and golf were favorites. That love for sports and the outdoors has continued through his life, and he has shared it with his family—wife Doreen, son Chad, daughter Christina. “I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to coach both of my children,” he says. “Chad with ice hockey, golf, and soccer, and Christina with golf and soccer.”

A city kid, Chip walked to grade school every day at St. Anthony Parochial School, and graduated from Lancaster Catholic High School. He went to college in Wisconsin, then a year at the Pittsburgh Institute

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In work and in life, the family is close-knit and all live close by. Chip loves spending time with Doreen, Christina and her husband Mike and their daughter Scarlett, and Chad and his wife Lee. Chip’s quick to point out that Chad’s dog Otis and Christina’s dog Reef are also counted in the family.

“I consider myself a lucky guy,” Chip says. “God has blessed me with a wonderful family, friends, coworkers, and a life of service to the best community in the USA.”

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2 finding unity

“Coming together is a BEGINNING; keeping together is PROGRESS; working together is SUCCESS.” - HENRY FORD

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Teaching to ILLUMINATE MELISSA GREENE Founder of Write From The Heart

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or 16 years, Melissa Greene has helped people of all ages heal and grow through writing. As owner and teacher at Write From The Heart Creative Writing Workshops, she downplays grammar and spelling, focusing instead on the lightheartedness and emotional freedom needed to take artistic risks.

She creates space where anyone can capture that moment that comes to all of us—if we are mindful—when we have to make a choice to follow the script that’s been written for us or have faith in becoming who we are at heart.

That moment is momentous, and can be as fleeting as it is elusive.

For this reason, Melissa doesn’t rush her workshops. She creates the opportunity for her students to pause, reflect, and illuminate their inner lives through art—to welcome that mercurial moment of creative inspiration. “I see the classroom table as a sort of Japanese tea ceremony,” she says, “a place where we approach writing through poise, delicacy, and precision of thought. A ritual that provides us with the safety and sanctuary necessary to dream.”

Melissa is tailor-made for this vocation, because she knows all about scripts and dreams—she’s the child of showbiz parents. Her mother was Jan Wiley, a model and actress best known as Dick Tracy’s girlfriend in the original 1930s serial, as well as for small roles in Stagedoor, the classic Citizen Kane, and many others. Her father, Mort Greene, was a longtime staff writer for the Red Skelton Show, as well as an Academy Award-nominated

lyricist, composing the words to “Stars in Your Eyes,” “Nevada,” and the theme to Leave It To Beaver.

As a young woman, Melissa became an actor in her own right. During her career, she appeared with Robert Blake in the film Electra Glide in Blue, and negotiated a seven-year contract with Universal Studios that enabled her to co-star on such TV series as The Six Million Dollar Man, and in the title role of Aura Lee Benton in the popular Rockford Files episode “Aura Lee, Farewell.”

But Melissa eventually exited the stage. “I’d had this crazy, romantic idea that all of Hollywood could see my contemplative, poetic nature,” she says, “that becoming a star meant the world would finally understand my depth. Instead, I was cast in roles where I was being shot and killed, or having affairs with senators, or falling off horses and being rescued by the bionic man.”

Melissa’s home life was frustrating too, living with parents mostly concerned with their own lives and careers. “My mother smoked Kools in a sterling silver cigarette holder. Occasionally, she spoke in a British accent, though she was from Marion, Indiana,” Melissa says.

In order to survive in a showbiz household, she had to be “on” 24/7 to keep up with her ambitious parents. There was never time for contemplation or looking inward.

Melissa inherited her father’s talents, but had no idea where to channel them. “I thought being an actress would win my parent’s love,” she says,

“I see the classroom table as a sort of Japanese tea ceremony, a place where we approach writing through poise, delicacy, and precision of thought. A ritual that provides us with the safety and sanctuary necessary to dream.”

“but putting up a front for the rest of my life was going to kill me.”

Years later, she realized that what she had learned behind the scenes proved to be more fruitful than what she had experienced in front of the camera.

Before acting, she worked as a production secretary at NBC Studios for comedy writers Sam Denoff and Bill Persky, producers of The Dick Van Dyke Show. It was in their office, working on the comedy series The Funny Side, that she had the chance to observe consummate professionals first-hand. “I marveled at how the joyful tone of our workspace inspired a TV show from idea to camera,” she says. “I saw the importance of playfulness and humor in the creative process, how it fed collaboration. I somehow knew it didn’t just apply to comedy, and I tucked that idea away.”

This understanding lives in the atmosphere she teaches in today, whether in her personal studio or the hospital setting where she supports cancer patients as a therapeutic writing coach. Sensitivity, warmth, and humor lead the way, no matter the topic. Simply making art becomes a way to transform pain.

Every session with Melissa could be described as a ritual of clarity.

In that sense, she’s like the “All-Day Bird” in fellow poet Denise Levertov’s “Claritas”: The All-Day Bird, the artist, white-throated sparrow, striving in hope and good faith to make his notes ever more precise, closer to what he knows.

The journey that brought Melissa from Los Angeles to Lancaster was long and complex. But it was here, through writing, that she found the safe space for her essence to blossom.

An evening around Melissa’s table tells her story, gently guiding others to understand the essential reason we create at all. “We write to discover more about the world around us, and within us,” she says, “We write to become whole.”

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Casey Baum always enjoyed being on a team. He played volleyball in high school and college, and coached the girls’ team at Hempfield after he graduated. “I was always a well-rounded athlete, but never the all-star by any stretch of the imagination,” he says. “I was used to being part of very successful teams but was never the one in the spotlight.”

B

ut Casey found himself in the spotlight just three years ago when his father Aldus (Al) Baum, founder of Bass Mechanical Inc., died suddenly in an ATV accident near the family lodge in Potter County, PA. Casey was 25.

Al started the company in 1996, after having been with a number of firms over the years in a project management role. He was frustrated, and wanted to see what was so challenging about running a business. “When my father had a vision it was impossible to stop him,” Casey says.

Al came home from work one day and told his wife, Shelley, that he quit his job and was buying a van and starting a company. At the time, they were a typical working-class family comprised of three kids and a stay-at-home mom with a small house and a mortgage. “It was a bold move, but that’s how he rolled,” Casey says.

“During his eighteen years of running Bass he managed to build quite the empire” Casey says of his father. Over that time frame, Al was able to start several business ventures, including Bass Mechanical, a lodge, a beach house, several multi-family properties, and even a BBQ chicken company. “Working alongside my father through all of his ventures was an incredible learning experience,” Casey says. “He taught me how to seek out opportunity, how to treat employees, and most importantly, how to pursue your vision.”

Despite the respect Casey had for his father’s success, he had no intention of getting involved in the family business, much less any intent to run it. “When I was younger I wasn’t very passionate about the trades,” Casey says, “but now that I’ve had the opportunity to develop and lead a team I realize that this industry has such incredible people and so much potential that I can’t imagine a more rewarding path.”

Casey graduated from Juniata College in 2011. His original plan was to work in California, where a fellow alumnus had offered him a job. But his would-be boss pushed the start date several months forward to just a few days before Casey was due to graduate. “Meanwhile, my dad had recently obtained a distributorship through a company in Norway,” Casey says, “and he needed someone to join the team to develop marketing and sales strategy for building subdistributors across the U.S. So I came on in 2011 just a few days after I graduated.”

Over the course of the next few years Casey got involved with sales, estimating, finance, project management, safety, and other facets of the business. After two and a half years, Casey began to feel that his dad’s company had reached a plateau. He felt they needed to be more consistent, systematic, and streamlined if they were to continue to grow. In short, they needed to be more strategic growing the business.

“I wrote a fifteen-page strategic plan that explored several components of the business.

While the plan covered many aspects of the day-to-day, it focused primarily on the ‘soft skills’ of the employees and the weaknesses in the business due to personality conflict within the management team,” he says “Looking back, that was the beginning of my passion for psychology and group dynamics in the work place.”

Now Casey’s long-term goal is to change the prevailing dynamic of the construction industry into working more hand-in-hand instead of dog-eat-dog. “If there’s a message to be heard by local companies,” Casey says, “it’s that I would like to work with people and not against them.”

Casey views his role as leader as one that brings the people on the team toward an active level of engagement, providing better communication and more clarity, more open feedback, and stronger relationships born of real conversations.

His philosophy can be summed up like this: “My personal mission at Bass Mechanical is to grow the business through sustainable relationships—both internally and externally. This results in employees that are empowered, vendors that are engaged, and customers that feel our business is an extension of their own. By doing this, we ultimately drive innovation and profitability for all companies involved, as a team.

Plus, it’s a hell of a lot more fun this way.”

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“Working alongside my father through all of his ventures was an incredible learning experience. He taught me how to seek out opportunity, how to treat employees, and most importantly, how to pursue your vision.”

THE

TEAMBUILDER

CASEY BAUM CEO of Bass Mechanical Inc

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DAN PORTERFIELD President of Franklin & Marshall College

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“If America is going to be a meritocracy, then the top schools have to have a talent strategy that lets them find the students who might not find them. When we help make sure that talent rises, we help everyone.�

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Creating INROADS to EDUCATION

higher GPA, but who didn’t even apply to a school with a 70% or higher graduation rate.

D

an Porterfield, president of Franklin & Marshall College, grew up in the sixties and seventies in a Baltimore experiencing desegregation. When his grandmother passed away, his family moved into her house a mere two miles from where they had been living—from a street with very few white families into a completely white working-class neighborhood.

When an African family moved there a few years later, people began throwing tomatoes at their house and writing epithets on their sidewalk. The family didn’t leave; so within a year, half the white residents on the block moved out instead.

Eventually the area stabilized into a well-integrated neighborhood. “What I didn’t understand then, but understood later,” Dan says, “was that communities can fear one another or they can engage one another.

That gave me this great positive understanding of what can happen when people come together across the supposed divides of background or identity.”

This understanding has served Dan well his entire life. When Dan came to F&M in 2011, he dove into a three-month process of intensive listening and engaging with the institutional community about its values. “I could hear a sense of passion in the school for deeply impactful learning experiences,” Dan says, “for challenging students to dig deep and push themselves, and to grow as thinkers and as people.”

It became clear to Dan they needed to develop a talent strategy that involved partnering with K-12 district, public charter, and private schools, educational nonprofit organizations, and scholarship programs to recruit students to come to F&M from more of the American mosaic. As the college identified well-prepared, highly motivated, hardworking kids from a broader array of communities, schools, and backgrounds, it ended up tripling the number of low-income students.

“If you recruit inclusively and actually learn from the K-12 educators who are getting breakthrough learning with their students,” Dan says, “and then join those schools in partnership, the next thing you know you can work with all these great kids that weren’t even applying before.”

This strategy addresses a pressing national problem called “under-matching,” where lower-income students don’t realize they have the qualifications that would get them accepted into schools with strong aid packages and high graduation rates.

The problem was first highlighted by Stanford University economics professor Caroline Hoxby in a 2013 study. She documented there were at least 25,000 low-income students a year in the country who scored in the top 10% of the SAT, had an A- or

“If America is going to be a meritocracy,” Dan says, “then the top schools have to have a talent strategy that lets them find the students who might not find them. When we help make sure that talent rises, we help everyone.”

Because F&M was having success with its own talent strategy, it started to take part in conversations the school hadn’t been a part of before. Three years ago, Dan asked Bloomberg Philanthropies to convene a series of workshops with a group of K-12 educators to talk about how they might create a bridge between high school and college. Those gatherings proved to be fruitful, and last summer the group created the American Talent Initiative, in which 56 institutions including Harvard, Stanford, and F&M, set a national goal of recruiting 50,000 more Pell Grant students to any of the 270 schools that have 70% or higher graduation rates.

As a college president, Dan is passionate about helping students develop the talent, passion, interests, and goals they have into an advanced stage of self-actualization and purpose in life—and to work with colleagues to set organizational goals that reflect F&M's values. This mission reflects Dan’s values as well.

In high school, Dan coached boys and girls basketball teams associated with the Putty Hill neighborhood of Baltimore County, drawing youngsters from Baltimore City as well, and playing at a high level of competition.

“I thought that was a fantastic way to be a person, to be a coach,where the real game was about more than what happened on the court,” Dan says.

“Committing to what happened on the court was just part of learning and bonds of friendship that would then transfer well beyond the basketball experience.”

If you had asked Dan in his twenties what he was going to do with his life, he would have said he was going to become a public defender and then a judge, or maybe run for political office.

“The truth is,” Dan says, “I found education exciting and innovative and deeply human, while law seemed more about disputes. I wanted more collaboration than conflict in my life, so I decided that the way to help the young, bring people together, develop ideas, and see people flourish was through education. I’m lucky I was able to discern that being an educator would be the richest way to live.”

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PIVOTING from Despair to Hope THROUGH ART S

he teaches and lives a credo that creativity and art will not only allow you to survive stress and trauma, but may indeed be an intrinsic method to thriving in response. Dr. Amanda Kemp is a teacher, author, activist, poet, playwright, performer, diversity trainer, and advocate of social justice and equality.

She’s taught at Cornell University, Dickinson College, Millersville University, and Franklin & Marshall College, where Amanda served as chair of Africana Studies. She’s currently a visiting scholar in Africana Studies at F&M. It’s a long way from where she started.

Born in Mississippi, she grew up in the foster care system in the South Bronx.

It wasn’t easy. “It was scary,” she says.

“The effects are long-term, leaving a legacy of how I see the world for those who are marginalized.” It left her with a thirst for justice and equality along with a craving for safety.

Her coping mechanism was far different than others she came up with; rather than self-medicate, for example, she found escape early in novels.

“I read about other people who had different problems,” Amanda says.

“Stuff about werewolves, vampires, and other outcasts who found love.”

As she grew up, she found solace in creating her own art.

It’s something she’s relied on as racial and social injustice has dominated the news—including but not limited to Trayvon Martin, Ferguson, the Charleston church shootings— and throughout the contentious presidential campaign and election. “I pivot from despair through creativity,” Amanda says. “I write poems and songs; I wrote a piece after Sandra Bland died in police custody (after a traffic stop). It was so wrenching I had to do something creative.”

Because that survival pivot has been crucial in navigating her life, she’s committed to teaching young people who find themselves marginalized to do the same thing. “When they feel bad, I want them to make art,” Amanda states. p.28

She’s been working with a group of kids ranging from middle school to high school, of different social and economic backgrounds on a performance piece, “14,” based on the 14th amendment. Ratified by congress in 1868, the amendment protects the rights of newly freed African Americans, granting citizenship to anyone born in the United States.

“Fourteen says our lives, liberty, and property could not be taken by the states and that we are all born equal regardless of race, sex, or class,” Amanda says. “It put the heart of the Declaration of Independence into the Constitution.

“I want to promote what the 14th amendment promises, and build a movement around it.”

Amanda also created “Inspira: The Power of the Spiritual,” with her husband, violinist Michael Jamanis, saxophonist Francis Wong, and Matthew Armstead, a community organizer and storyteller and vocalist.

It’s a mix of spirituals, spoken word, and instrumentals. Audience participation contributes to making every performance unique.

in which we all have privilege,” she says. She realized her own privilege when attending a performance by a disabled Filipino transgender man. It was an intersection of race, gender, and disability.

“He was angry, and I saw all my privilege, and I began to take it personally; I began to understand what it feels like for white people to hear about their privilege,” she says.

“It was good to feel that discomfort, and realize how we need to bridge the gaps through love.”

Because of her grueling public schedule, Amanda says there are times when she reverts to her childhood escape plan and just powers down at home. This isn’t always easy— she and Michael have five children between them, an energetic dog, and Michael’s busy career as a musician and teacher. “There are times when I do just hide in a book and let Michael and the kids have dinner,” she says.

“I also meditate.”

And when she’s re-centered and rejuvenated, she’s ready to fight on in an uncertain world that appears to be ever more divided. “We need to be broader in our thinking,” Amanda says. “There is more of an imperative than ever to bring people together. I come from a framework of oneness.”

“I saw all my privilege, and I began to take it personally; i began to understand what it feels like for white people to hear about their privilege. it was good to feel that discomfort, and realize how we need to bridge the gaps through love.”

All this is coming off the publishing of her latest book, “Say the Wrong Thing: Stories and Strategies for Racial Justice and Authentic Community,” and its accompanying audio book.

In all her creative and instructive work, Amanda is striving to open dialogue and break down barriers created by racial, social, and economic differences. “We all need to take ongoing inventories and build in ways

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THE

PEACEMAKER

DR. AMANDA KEMP

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THE

FILMMAKER

PETER SCUDNER Owner of Triode Media Group

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Spanning the GLOBE P

eter Scudner is known in the Lancaster community as the chairman of the board for the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce & Industry, his time as president of the North Museum, and for his work in wealth management for the last 33 years. He just launched a new venture, partnering with his son to open Triode Media Group in Lancaster.

Pete is immediately engaging. He’s knowledgeable on a broad scope of topics spanning history, art, geography, and literature. However, it’s soon apparent there’s little that’s ordinary about Pete—or the life he’s lived. Pete is a Renaissance man—he has a magnitude of historic experiences and encounters collected throughout his adult life. Understated in his recount of his various adventures, Pete draws threads of connection between his interests, his volunteer work, and his breadth of cinema-worthy experiences.

Pete’s interest in travel, geography, and history converge in his globe collection. “I started collecting globes almost 30 years ago.” Pete explains.

“The way you figure out the age of a globe is to look at geography and history and figure out what’s changed since the globe was made.

For example, I have a globe where the Dakotas are still a territory or parts of Africa where the countries are still named as colonies of Europe before they were countries. That’s what intrigued me about the globes. They’re snapshots of the world’s history.”

Pete nonchalantly mentions trips to Singapore, China, Russia, France, and other parts of Europe. He says he appreciates feeling a connection to history by owning something that existed in another time.

Pete holds a degree in politics, a minor in journalism, and has a background in photography, writing, and graphics. The latter had him working in marketing and merchandising, which led him to a job in Lancaster representing a tool company. In the mid-1980s, he made a career change to wealth management, using his

diverse background as a way to relate to his clients. Now, Pete uses his goals-based approach when working with his clients at Janney Montgomery Scott. He helps people have a good sense of what’s going on in the market and economy, and to understand the underlying planning and strategic concepts to building a portfolio and achieving their goals. Pete relishes the opportunity to bring clarity, understanding, and strategy to the financial goals of his clients and to help them realize their desired outcomes.

An attention-grabbing framed photo hangs in Pete’s office at Janney. It depicts a table-tennis match, and looking on are Pete, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, and current president of China, Xi Jinping. Pete casually explains he has served as chairman of the board of USA Table Tennis for the last eight years.

Through his work with the governing body for the Olympic sport of table tennis, Pete attended the Olympics in London and has traveled to China and Russia. The photo was taken in Beijing, in the Great Hall of The People in 2011, when Pete was part of the delegation of athletes and representatives for the anniversary of 1971’s “Ping Pong for Diplomacy.”

A man of faith, Pete serves as treasurer of the Order of MaltaFederal Association, USA, an ancient Catholic order dedicated to faith and humanitarian issues. They’re first responders to crises around the world, actively involved in serving the sick and poor, aiding refugees on

the Mediterranean, operating clinics on the border in Syria, and serving in typhoon-ravaged places in the Philippines and Haiti.

One mission trip involves a combination of spiritual life and humanitarian work. The group takes sick people on a pilgrimage to the Catholic shrine in Lourdes, France, where many go for spiritual or even physical healing. “As a volunteer, we transport people and spend the week with them as caregivers,” Pete explains. After years of making this pilgrimage with the church, Pete wanted to share the experience with his children. He took each of his children when they turned 18. His son Evan went as a volunteer and was so taken by the experience that the next year they decided to make a documentary film telling the story of people’s individual journeys of healing. It was their first official cinematic collaboration. It wouldn’t be their last.

In 2016, Pete combined his avocation for film and Evan’s film degree from Franklin & Marshall College into a business venture known as Triode Media Group. “I believe Lancaster can be a focal point for the film industry,” Pete says. “Lancaster has always had a lot of content creators—we built a studio with the belief that it would help to keep that infrastructure and content here in Lancaster.” The Triode team wants to be part of helping to build that industry, and to make Lancaster a place people look to in the film business.

“I believe Lancaster can be a focal point for the film industry. Lancaster has always had a lot of content creators—we built a studio with the belief that it would help to keep that infrastructure and content here in Lancaster.”

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The STORIES continue

BEYOND the PAGES Watch the videos produced by Triode Media Group online at:

FIGSTORIESLANCASTER.COM Read, watch & share.

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THE Homecoming

felt called to retirement communities but they were uninterested in him, because he lacked industry experience.

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inding Scott Miller at Garden Spot Village in New Holland is easy. Ask one of the residents at the on-site Starbucks just off the airy entrance or in the lounge chatting with neighbors and friends of all ages. They all know Scott and invariably say they just talked to him or saw him. While his duties as chief marketing officer for this sprawling adult community are focused outward, he’s also a guy who likes to know what’s going on inside, with the folks who live there.

While he’s a fixture at Garden Spot, it’s not where he thought he’d end up when he was younger. Scott’s from nearby Lititz, and spent his childhood and teen years dreaming of the time he could escape his small town.

Scott doesn’t give up easily, though. About a year later he responded to a newspaper ad for the position of director of marketing at Garden Spot Village. “Unlike all the other places I contacted or interviewed with, Garden Spot Village liked the idea that I didn’t have industry experience,” he says. “They were more interested in my broader background.”

He got the job.

“I felt like it was all timing and that God placed me here,” he says. “I felt like the prodigal son.

I was home and working in a place that is life-giving.

I can be a blessing to God by being a blessing to others. We enrich lives and help people live with purpose here.”

He’s brought everything in his toolkit to his work on the senior leadership team at Garden Spot Village.

“We are very blessed and our occupancy reflects it,” Scott says. “But we needed more than that to ensure we sustain a culture that gives people what they want and need.”

Strategic initiatives were put in place to make that success replicable.

“I couldn’t wait to get out and start living a life of adventure, fortune, and glory,” he says.

“I’d always wanted to live in New York City.” After graduating from “If you don’t know college, he started why something’s working with working when it’s Unisys, and living working,” Scott enrich lives in Downingtown. explains, “you don’t When his wife was know how to fix it offered a position live with purpose when it’s broken or in New York he how to replicate it.” encouraged her to Scott says that while he’s no longer in search of take it, while he walked into the Unisys New York fortune or glory, he still has a thirst for adventure.

City sales office and asked for a transfer. Next thing A runner, he championed the Garden Spot Village he knew, he was working in Manhattan. “We lived Marathon in 2009. It has since blossomed into a it up,” he says. They explored the city together, full marathon, half marathon, and a kids’ marathon availing themselves of restaurants, museums, and every spring, and is a qualifying race for the the theater. They enjoyed it immensely. prestigious Boston Marathon. Residents, their It wasn’t all bright lights and hustle in the big families, and people from the area all volunteer city, though. There were quieter, more spiritual for and run in the event. adventures, as well. They started a family, and

“I felt like the prodigal son. I was home and working in a place that is life-giving.

I can be a blessing to God by being a blessing to others. We and help people here.”

became involved in their local church. As part of his spiritual journey, Scott enrolled in seminary.

He and Cheryl worked at several small country churches while raising their three daughters. He welcomed that meaningfulness in his life.

Scott was at the top of his game—traveling the world for Unisys, teaching personal and leadership development for Dale Carnegie, and pastoring with his wife. Then life melted down—Unisys laid him off and about the same time the church responsibilities came to an end. After much soul searching, he felt called in two directions. One was to move home to Lancaster County. The other was to the healthcare field, more specifically, retirement communities.

After moving back to Lititz he secured a position as a retail sales manager at a furniture store. He may have

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He’s got other goals that also scratch the adventure itch. Scott SCUBA dives, and one of his three daughters became interested at a Discover SCUBA class held in Garden Spot Village’s pool. They dive together at nearby Dutch Springs. “I’ve dived in the Florida Keys, but I really want to dive the Great Barrier Reef.” Oh, and he’d really like to get his helicopter pilot’s license.

While his early travels and experiences took him far and wide, he’s happy here. “I love Mondays,” Scott says. “I get to help people. I fit in here.” The prodigal son came home, and his community seems all the better for it.

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DIVER

SCOTT MILLER Chief Marketing Officer Garden Spot Village

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FAMILY Ties

JENNIFER GOLDBACH Vice President of Business Development, Rhoads Energy

A

s Jennifer Goldbach unfolds her work history with unassuming humility and candor, it’s clear that this is a woman of tremendous vision and capacity for good old-fashioned hard work. At those times when most people see obstacles, roadblocks, and excuses to pause, reconsider, or retreat, Jen has the clarity of purpose and fortitude of spirit to see a pathway, roll up her sleeves, move aside whatever is blocking the path, and keep moving forward.

She embraced each opportunity with resolve, vision, and purpose, ignoring the obstacles to focus on a successful outcome. Success was consistently Jennifer’s outcome.

Jen’s drive comes from a legacy of hard work and persistence. Her grandfather’s parents emigrated from Italy and his mother placed him in a Philadelphia orphanage while he was a baby. As a young man, his charm and moxie impressed Jerome H. Rhoads, founder of Rhoads Energy Corp., who took him under his wing. Years later, Jennifer’s father served his country as a corporal in the U.S. Army during the Korean War and he, too, made a place for himself at Rhoads Energy, working his way up to a position as the

secretary and president of the company.

Inspired by a legacy of family and commitment from her parents and grandparents, Jennifer set out to forge her own path. In 1984, finishing her manager training at Fulton Bank, she had a career track decision to make. At the time, women typically left the commercial lending lane to the men and went the retail route, but Jennifer wasn’t interested in retail. Jen didn’t see her gender as a deciding factor in what she was capable of— or of what she should do with her life. She took the commercial lending route and, in line with her propensity for knowing and going after what she wanted, Jennifer asked her manager out on a date on her last day of working for him, and the two are still happily married.

With each opportunity Jen pushed through fears that the task was too lofty or that she wasn’t ready for the increased responsibility. Instead, Jen came to a place of resolve. Grateful to her business mentors who recognized her work ethic and potential, Jennifer was compelled to prove herself worthy of their faith. She embraced each opportunity with resolve, vision, and purpose, ignoring the obstacles to focus on a successful outcome. Success was consistently Jennifer’s outcome.

After years of working in banking, followed by a period of time in commercial construction, Jennifer’s path took her back home to work for her brother in the business she grew up in. It might have been easy for her to work for her father right out of college, but Jen chose a different route. She knew she needed others to push her, mentor her, and help her to step out of her comfort zone. Throughout her career, she’s demonstrated the rare ability to befriend and learn from business competitors. Embracing an attitude of abundance and camaraderie, Jennifer remains a fierce competitor who can celebrate the successes of others. She enjoys getting together with her peers and talking about life and business.

With a strong work ethic influenced by her parents and a prevalent growth mindset, Jennifer has had a wildly successful career. Yet it’s her final move to rejoin the family business as vice president of business development at Rhoads Energy that brings her truly full circle.

When her brother Michael took her out for a drink and asked her what she thought about coming to work for him, she knew her path had led her to that exact moment and opportunity. Thinking back on her father’s commitment to family, hard work, and his country, Jennifer felt the convergence of that legacy coming together for her as well. She looked at Michael. “Dad would be so proud,” she said.

“My brother and I were joined at the hip growing up, so it’s fitting that I now work for him at Rhoads Energy, where he’s the president, CEO, and owner.” Although Jennifer is tasked with helping Michael move the company and the industry forward, she also appreciates the ways the company stays true to its roots and honors her father’s legacy. They continue the tradition of decorating veterans’ graves with flags on Memorial Day and to find meaningful ways to support and give back to their staff and community.

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Rallying TOWARDS Common GOALS TERRY KRAFT Executive Director of the North Museum of Nature and Science

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erry Kraft, executive director of the North Museum of Nature and Science, is an excellent communicator, relationship builder, and problem solver who knows how to get results in today’s workplace. But her drive to achieve isn’t self-centered— it’s informed by a long history of experience in helping others. “My passion is bringing people together to rally toward a common goal,” Terry says. “I love being a mentor, and I love empowering people.”

Her role at the North Museum has been perfect for her. It starts with a mission she fully supports: to inspire others. “For me, this environment has been the best,” Terry says, “because I can maximize my core competencies and be creative. That’s my favorite part of any job I’ve had.”

Like most kids, Terry didn’t know what she wanted to be when she grew up, but once she embraced the roles of advocate and teacher, it infused everything she’s done in her life. At Lancaster Catholic High School, she signed up for a community-service project where they picked from a long list of non-profits to help, and she was the only one in the class unassigned.

After class, Terry’s teacher told her that she didn’t get what she wanted because “I could handle a challenge,” Terry recalls. That's when she was assigned to work at the LancasterLebanon Intermediate Unit 13 with children who had severe mental and physical disabilities.

Terry objected at first because she didn't think she could handle it.

“It turned out to be one of the most rewarding experiences of my life,” Terry says. “It confirmed that my desire to help others wasn't a fleeting thought—it was my mission.”

Terry has remained faithful to that mission by consistently positioning herself in different opportunities within organizations that allow her to make the most of her key attributes.

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Knowing how to find hidden opportunities and overcome obstacles powers Terry's abilities in uniting teams and giving them the tools to soar. She can empower, motivate, and inspire others to seek their personal best, and help others see their unlimited potential. She embraces change no matter how challenging the situation. “I see everything as an opportunity,” Terry says.

executive director position, she knew the museum was an icon in the community, a treasure for people who had grown up around there. She took her own children there on field trips when they were young. “They were specifically looking for someone with my skill set as a leader and community builder,” Terry says. “I’ve been able to offer a fresh perspective.”

Terry realized museums today are gravitating toward a much more interactive approach. People want instant gratification for their curiosity, to be able to know and understand and feel immersed. “We have that type of individual experience now thanks to our recent renovation,” Terry says, “and we want to be known for that. The museum’s atmosphere has changed to be a friendlier, more customizable, two-way conversation.

“The museum’s atmosphere has changed to be a friendlier, more customizable, two-way conversation. Our guest experience has been dramatically enhanced. They feel engaged and inspired.”

When Terry joined the American Cancer Society as an incomedevelopment specialist, she jumped in only a few months before they hosted a brand-new event called the Relay For Life. There was no manual, no training—the team had to figure it out on the fly. “There was something very special about that event,” Terry says.

“They had a Survivor’s Lap celebrating the people I worked with every day, a Luminaria Service to memorialize those we have lost, and educational activities to promote awareness and prevention. It touched people in so many ways.”

For Terry, it was a beautiful moment to marry mission with the money that funds the mission. She felt so connected to it she asked her boss if she could take it over. “It was, and still is, a fantastic event,” she says. “It demonstrates the power of a community that rallies around people and supports a cause.”

When Terry was approached by the North Museum about the

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Our guest experience has been dramatically enhanced. They feel engaged and inspired.”

In addition to a revitalized experience for visitors, the North Museum has been known in the community as an organization that takes on projects the community wants but other organizations can no longer support, like the Science and Engineering Fair and the What in the World?

Career Fairs. Both programs are examples of the museum’s critical role in the community: to inspire students through science and nature and encourage STEM career exploration. “We want to spark curiosity, get students excited about their possibilities, to be that resource for them. We see ourselves as the ‘convener’ in the community.”

Throughout Terry’s career, she’s loved collaborating with people to figure out solutions, to sit down with them and discover what their goals are, and map the plan to achieve them. “Working together, we can accomplish so much more than working individually.”

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A HEART for STUDENTS PETER W. TEAGUE President of Lancaster Bible College Dr. Peter W. Teague, president of Lancaster Bible College for the past 18 years, is an avid reader.

One of the writers dearest to him is the beloved Christian scholar and author C.S. Lewis. In his book The Problem of Pain, Lewis wrote: “When pain is to be born, a little courage helps more than much knowledge, a little human sympathy more than much courage, and the least tincture of the love of God more than all.”

Peter knows this sentiment well. One of the defining moments in his life happened 35 years ago when his third daughter, Jessica, was born. Peter’s wife, Paulette, became concerned with Jessica’s muscle tone early on, so when she was 18 months old they took her to Johns Hopkins University for testing.

After three days, they met with a team of doctors and a social worker in a sterile 8x12-ft. room and learned their daughter was—in the terminolgy in use at that time—profoundly mentally retarded. When the team leader suggested they medicate and institutionalize Jessica, the social worker immediately chimed in that eight out of 10 marriages end in divorce when there’s such a child in the home.

“We honestly don’t know how we got our car back from Baltimore to York,” Peter says. “It was devastating.”

Yet Peter and Paulette share a strong faith. Both grew up in homes where Christ was the center and believed in the sovereignty of God. But this was quite a test. He says they cried out to God and asked “Why us?” But they didn’t put their fist in God’s face and demand—they simply asked why.

Peter grew up in the 1960s in a stable, loving environment in an idyllic little town in Iowa, where his father was a pastor. He then attended a small Christian liberal arts college in Kansas where he met his wife—and where the different threads of his life began to be woven into the consistent fabric of an established worldview.

After he and Paulette married, they intended to go into the mission field to be cross-cultural missionaries, but the agency they applied to said they first needed to work off their school debt.

While they were living in Denver, CO, Peter’s father was pastoring a church in Pittsburgh, where he heard there was a man in York who needed an assistant for his youth ministry. Peter applied and got the job, and he and Paulette crossed the country to York as newlyweds. Now, 43 years later, Peter has had two assignments: as superintendent of The Christian School of York, and as president of Lancaster Bible College. It was in York that they started looking for a group home where Jessica could

go and live with others in a faith-based environment, but they weren’t satisfied with what they found.

“So eighteen years ago,” Peter says, “we brought a group of twelve friends into our living room and shared our hearts, our burden, and our vision.” That night the Jessica and Friends Community was born, and it has grown to employ more than 100 people and serve 136 clients seven days a week.

Peter says he’s old enough now that he looks at every student through the lens of his own children and grandchildren. He believes you respond differently when you see people that way. “I think you look through a different lens when you have a special daughter too,” he adds. “Your heart is so much more sensitive and tender to people who struggle.

“I think you look through a different lens when you have a special daughter too. Your heart is so much more sensitive and tender to people who struggle.”

“I’m a blessed man,” Peter continues. “I just always wanted to have a heart for students.”

Peter has a heart for students because he’s a student himself—a lifelong student of God and of life.

He’s lived the prescription found in C.S. Lewis’s The Problem of Pain. He found the courage to trust God’s will, even when it’s not always discernable.

He’s accumulated enough knowledge to know the difference between problems that can be solved and tensions that must be abided in the field of education. He’s cultivated the seed of empathy, passed onto him by his father, that lets him pay attention to those who are down and out, hurting, and marginalized—and has accordingly expanded the footprint of Lancaster Bible College into areas where people who historically haven’t been able to take advantage of such an education can now do so.

And, finally, he’s enjoyed the fruit of a ripened love of God and family. In short, Peter has let his life be the lesson plan.

“I often say to my wife Paulette,” Peter says, “that nobody has taught me more about the deep lessons of life than my daughter Jessica—even though she’s never uttered a word.”

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The MARKET Manager JESSICA MAILHOT Manager of Lancaster Central Market

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he Lancaster Central Market is dark today, closed to customers, but it’s not deserted. Workers and standholders are busy renovating or repairing the stands. Tools and voices echo in the vast space as Jessica Mailhot, the market manager, works in her office just off the selling floor.

A repairman sticks his head in the doorway, reporting the leak he was trying to fix in one stand was coming from the sink, not from the new refrigeration unit as suspected.

“You’d better call a plumber,” he advises.

“Thanks, I’ll take a look at it,” she replies.

Waiting a beat after he leaves, she looks at a visitor. “I’m not calling a plumber yet; I’ll be under that sink with a wrench,” she says. She is, to say the least, a hands-on manager.

That trait blossomed early. Jessica grew up helping her carpenter father on building sites in her native Connecticut. She admits it’s probably not what most would classify as a typical girlhood, but she loved the work and learning new skills. It’s a pattern she’s followed throughout her life and career.

“I’ve always been attracted to the kind of work that’s seen as more traditionally male,” she says. “It’s not something I set out to do consciously; I just followed what I was interested in. I also didn’t talk about it—I just tried to do what I do well.”

Her drive to succeed took her from Connecticut to the University of Pennsylvania. Jessica graduated with a degree in chemical engineering, a field in which she was one of the few female students. “I loved my studies,” she says. But when it came time to start her career, she realized she didn't want to do research in a lab every day. She moved to Lancaster with her then-boyfriend and started working as a management trainee at R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co. As she progressed with a swift trajectory in the company, that

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boyfriend was long gone, and Jessica moved to Florida as part of a management team to start up a new printing facility for Donnelley.

Since then, she’s also worked in training, human resources, and as a globetrotting sales and project management consultant. When the travel and pressure made her weary, she took six months off to cruise the Bahamas. After a stint as a project manager for an architectural firm, she found herself wanting to move back north. “Don’t be afraid to get off the path you’ve been on,” she says.

Landing back in Lancaster, she had no firm plans, but found work at several architecture firms. Ultimately, Jessica started work at The Turkey Lady in the market. That part-time job behind the counter led to her becoming the first female market manager.

“I’ve been a lot of ‘firsts,’” says Jessica.

“I didn’t used to think it was a big deal, but it is a big deal.” She believes that women need to point out their accomplishments to make them accepted, expected, and normal.

While Jessica’s busy managing the day-to-day operations of the market (and fixing the occasional sink), she’s also looking forward. And overhead.

She’s spearheading the drive to raise funds for a new roof for this, the oldest public market in the country, to ensure this architectural and cultural treasure can continue serving as a community gathering point.

Outside of work, her interests and pursuits aren’t any more traditionally “girly” than her work life has been.

She’s a serial renovator and remodeler, and not the kind that sits back until it's time to write a check. Jessica has created an extensive woodshop in her basement, where she skillfully cleans and refinishes original moldings, doors, and windows for her house projects. She also designs and builds furniture.

Jessica shares her life with her loyal companion, rescue dog Betty White, named for the legendary comic actress and animal activist. This continues a naming convention that started with a mutt originally named Gina. “That seemed like the wrong name for her,”

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“It’s home, the market is home,

and

everything I’ve done has prepared me to manage this place. It goes from strategic long-term thinking to fixing toilets. The market means so much to so many for so many reasons. It’s a crazy, amazing place.” says Jessica. “A friend and I were driving her home, and we decided she was more of the girl next door.” Gina became Doris Day. Though she hasn’t picked her next dog yet, Jessica has picked the name, Bob Barker.

With her siblings scattered—her sister lives in Switzerland working for the World Heath Organization and her brother’s a corporate chef in New Hampshire—Jessica has made her friends her family here in Lancaster.

“It’s home, the market is home, and everything I’ve done has prepared me to manage this place. It goes from strategic long-term thinking to fixing toilets,” Jessica says. “The market means so much to so many for so many reasons. It’s a crazy, amazing place.”

Since the release of this publication, Jessica has accepted a new position— Director of Forever Lancaster at Lancaster County Community Foundation.

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THE

BOXER

JOHN SWANSON President of Willow Valley Living Partner, CCS Building Group

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IN the RING “P

eople have told me the boxing ring is the last place they’d figure I’d be,” says John Swanson, president of Willow Valley Living, the developer and manager of Willow Valley Communities. John’s been going to Nye’s Gym every night after work for the past eight years. “I’m not there to become a fighter,” he says.

“I wanted to try something different exercise-wise, and I liked it. It’s my stress reliever.”

John doesn’t mind the reaction he gets to his workout routine; in fact, he welcomes it. It mirrors his approach to his work at Willow Valley—always trying to create the unexpected.

John, a certified public accountant, began his career working with activeadult real estate developers, and has come full circle in some respects. He joined Willow Valley in 1991, but before that he was a senior director with A.V. Powell & Associates, an actuarial and consulting firm providing services to continuing-care retirement communities nationally.

Before entering the field of retirement housing and long-term care, his

“Our business is with seniors, but what we do on the side is focused on young people. Our community outreach efforts

are focused

on children at risk and Lancaster City schools and trying to do what we can to make the world a better place for young people.”

experience working for Toll Brothers Inc. was great training for handling a multitude of various tasks.

“When I interviewed with Bob Toll,” John says, “he told me he didn’t have a specific job in mind, but just needed people because they were going to be doing lots of different things—and that really appealed to me.”

What excites John most is innovative forward-thinking—seeing what comes up out of the ground, creating things you can feel and touch and see. That’s what appealed to him at Willow Valley.

“I’ve been able to be involved in a lot of inventive things,” he says. “I’ve never had a day I didn’t enjoy.”

One of the things John has cherished most is working with Marlin Thomas, chairman of the board for Willow Valley, who has been a mentor to him for 25 years. “I’ve learned a lot from him,” John says, “and there’s a lot I admire in him. I look up to him as the person that he is—a fair, compassionate person of integrity, and very smart, very intuitive.”

John has a similar disposition, which manifests itself as a feeling about buildings, about how people live and what they’re looking for in their lives.

Much of what John and Marlin have done at Willow Valley has been based on a combination of observation and intuition about what’s been successful in other places, then modifying it to their specific situation, and making it unique to them in its own right. “You can copy what’s been successful,” John says, “you see the ‘what,’ but I think real success comes from understanding the ‘why’—and then trying to create the environments and programs that address the ‘why.’”

John says they weren’t bound by things like ageism, presuming to know what an 80-year-old can and can’t do, or wants or doesn't want. They didn’t see seniors as a monolith, but rather as a diverse group of people at varying points in their lives with a wide range of interests and physical abilities.

That belief is reflected in the types of activities Willow Valley offers that go well beyond the physical amenities of house and home. “Our business is with seniors,” John says, “but what we do on the side is focused on young people. Our community outreach efforts are focused on children at risk and Lancaster City schools and trying to do what we can to make the world a better place for young people.”

It’s a classic win-win arrangement.

Willow Valley residents work with young people in the city, tackling tasks like tutoring in many subjects in the schools, supporting foster kids’ programs. Residents help out at women’s shelters. A special partnership is with Music for Everyone—Willow Valley residents provide music lessons while Music for Everyone provides the instruments.

“I run into lots of kids at the boxing gym,” John says, “and a lot of them are without real goals or aspirations for the future. So if we can help in some way to open people’s eyes to opportunities, then we like to support those things.”

Expanding opportunities for living by continually creating the unexpected is the bob and weave, the sway and fade, that John looks forward to every day—at Willow Valley and beyond.

One of Willow Valley’s pillars of success is harnessing that intuition to challenge the conventional wisdom in their industry—for example, their Willow Gables project devised in the 1990s. At that time, the one thing you’d never do in senior housing was create two-story living. “Well, it’s still our most popular product,” John says, “and it was the first ever two-story living in a continuing-care retirement community.”

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RESPECTING His HERITAGE “T

he fabric of where we live, work, and play can be sterile or it can have meaning,” Mark Hackenburg says. “This is a profession that has deep meaning in our community.”

Raised in rural Selinsgrove, where his grandfather worked the land and his father worked as a contractor, today Mark is a registered landscape architect and one of the principals at RGS Associates.

“Growing up, I did a lot of things in an agricultural setting that had deep meaning for me,” Mark says, “and I chose this profession because it’s about the sensitive placement of man in his built environment yet respecting our heritage.”

When Mark was five years old, his grandfather set him up with a roadside stand selling pumpkins, gourds, and Indian corn around Halloween from his little red wagon. That modest start continued to grow and develop all the way through his college career at Penn State University, helping him pay for his textbooks and supplies. When Mark was a little older, his grandfather helped him get started with a 4-H project that involved raising and selling rabbits for market. He not only learned the rudiments of animal husbandry, but how to network and interact with adults, and to keep a budget—in essence, to be a small-business owner. The design profession offered Mark a unique and satisfying way of bringing together all the elements of his childhood interests and experiences.

After college, Mark started working in land planning and development consulting for Rettew Associates.

He was hired by Dick Stauffer, who would later go on to found RGS Associates and subsequently recruited Mark to work with him. After several years, Mark and two others were identified as the associates who would eventually succeed Dick in the ownership of the business. “Dick was a leader in our profession and a community leader in this region,” Mark says, “and he was a great mentor to me.”

A main focus of Mark’s work today is large-scale retirement communities. “That’s a passion of mine,” he says. “It’s a different kind of project, because you’re providing people with a place to spend their golden years. And these are lifelong clients—you get to know the organization and understand and embrace their values. The meaning is deeper when you're working with a client like that, creating value beyond just an economic outcome. You’re truly creating places for people to experience.”

Interestingly, one of Mark’s other passions reaches all the way to the opposite end of the life spectrum: kids. “I don’t have any kids of my own,” he says, “but I love seeing young people learn and grow and express themselves.” Whether it’s serving on their boards, fundraising for them, or actively participating in their work, Mark continues to find ways to benefit kids through organizations such as his college alumni association, the Rotary Club, the

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YMCA, and projects like Daniel’s Den—one of the largest community-built playgrounds in the county specifically designed for children with disabilities.

Having had a long apprenticeship in responsible cultivation of the environment, Mark’s driving themes today are stewardship and mentorship.

Looking forward, Mark says his biggest challenge is trying to continue to raise awareness of his organization’s mission and values while identifying the next generation of leaders who share those thoughts and ideals.

In addition to his past personal and professional experiences, one of Mark’s enduring guiding lights has been the photography of Ansel Adams. “There's this appreciation for nature that you derive from his work,” Mark says, “and that striking beauty is what I like to think about even in the context of creating a built environment.”

“How do you strike this healthy balance between preservation and economic prosperity?” Mark continues. “What are the little elements of finesse that create that unique setting that’s different from what people might normally get the opportunity to experience? That’s the role of a landscape architect.”

Mark’s fondness for the contemplative landscapes of Adams’ art serves as an inspiration for his professional ethic and his own personal convalescence. So it’s no surprise that Mark’s favorite pastime is snowmobiling. “It’s the one thing I do where I can honestly say I can leave this place behind, the one separation I have from the work world. There’s no cellphones, you come back at night and get warm, and realize you’ve just seen and experienced things you’d never get to see otherwise.”

But snowmobiling was also a cherished family

“Growing up, I did a lot of things in an agricultural setting that had deep meaning for me, and I chose this profession because it’s about the sensitive placement of man in his built environment yet respecting our heritage.” activity. “That always brought our family together,” Mark says. “We started snowmobiling when I was five, and I’ve had a lifelong passion for this sport.

Mom and Dad both traveled with me to Maine for many years until Dad’s health started to decline.”

The last year his father was with him on a trip, they were out for a short ride on the day they were leaving, and it started to snow. “There were these two moose off to the side of the trail,” Mark says.

“We just shut off our snowmobiles and sat there and watched them in the quietness of the falling snow.

It’s a moment in time and surreal experience with Dad that I’ll remember forever.”

THE

PLACEMAKER

MARK HACKENBURG Landscape Architect and Partner RGS Associates

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3 making change

“PROGRESS is impossible without change , and those who cannot change their MINDS cannot change ANYTHING. - GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

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THE

TRAILBLAZER

MELISA BAEZ Director of Women’s Business Center ASSETS

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FORGING a Path FORWARD “Don’t worry about being successful, but work toward being significant and the success will naturally follow.”

- Oprah Winfrey

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hat compels someone to follow that path of significance? Melisa Baez came up during the age of Oprah Winfrey, making her familiar with the idea of an “aha moment,” when people have a sudden insight or discovery of life’s purpose. Melisa was awake and aware at a very young age, open to the direction that such a moment might provide. Looking back, she sees that a passion for people was inside of her but wouldn’t be ignited in a single moment; her sense of purpose seemed ingrained from the start. The infectious smile that spreads across her face as she recounts the path that led her to now only grows when she says, “There wasn’t just one moment for me. My whole life prepared me for the kind of work I’m doing now.”

Melisa grew up in Lancaster with her siblings and their hard-working single mother. She says her early years were never comfortable, but she always felt secure. She credits her mother, aunt, and several other strong women in her life for consistently making her feel safe, empowered, and for providing her with an example of how to stay optimistic through hardships. Her father also played a pivotal role is forming her spiritual and optimistic foundation. Melisa recognized early on that she admired resiliency. She found herself developing her own sense of resilience as she grew older.

“I’ve always had a sense of wanting things to be fair,” she recalls. “I saw my mom working hard, and that made me want to work hard.” Melisa grew up with the heart and mindset to embrace growth and a desire to make a difference. As she cultivated and refined her own resilience, she found herself gravitating to situations many would shy away from. She discovered she had no problem being the minority, the pioneer, or the outlier.

Melisa quickly embraced a role as a path-forger for her peers, with the grit

and determination to take action and pave the way for others. “I wanted to open doors and show other people it could be done; if I can do it, I want you to know that you can go through anything and do what you want to do too. No excuses, just do it!”

Melisa followed her passion for people, change, and competition into the sports management program at Temple University. She envisioned helping athletes unlock their potential to excel at a high level and then to cultivate their philanthropic momentum to mentor and encourage the next generation of athletes. She immersed herself in researching methods for young people from poverty to develop a plan of selfsustainability that also enabled these

“I’ve always had a sense of wanting things to be fair. I saw my mom working hard, and that made me want to work hard.” successful individuals to give back to others in the struggling communities they came from. Soon, Melisa’s vision of personal and professional growth expanded to people in all stages of life. Melisa grew increasingly passionate about understanding the mindset that moves generations forward despite circumstances that threaten to hold them back.

“Hope is powerful, but it’s still just an idea. What I’m passionate about is helping to create action, through steps, tools, and resources to make things happen,” she says.

Recently, Melisa was awarded a fellowship through the Cordes Foundation. The foundation looks for leaders all over the world who do social enterprise, work with nonprofits, and promote change through humanitarian work.

in Mexico with other young, actionoriented, big-hearted visionaries.

From nearly 300 applicants across the globe, Melisa was one of 40 change agents invited to attend. She found the experience humbling, clarifying, and inspiring. Surrounded by peers from around the world, Melisa found commonality and perspective with peacekeepers from Zimbabwe and boundary pushers from China who were creating job opportunities for women. She carried the passions and perspectives of these peers with her— compelling her to continue her work in her own community.

Upon her return home, an opportunity to bring her passion and drive to the mission at ASSETS of Lancaster greeted her.

Through her work at ASSETS, Melisa embraces the mission to alleviate poverty through economic development and create jobs for at-risk and underrepresented communities. Entrepreneurs come to her in various stages of development and she plugs them into the resources, training, and expertise needed to put their plans into action. She helps local visionaries create a sustainable business and then give back to the community that sustains them. Most of the visionaries Melisa works with are women who, like her, have a passion for pioneering and forging a path forward, while looking for ways to give back. “Your economy and community is an ecosystem” says Melisa, who invests time in forming relationships and understanding across generations in her community.

She sees hope in inspiring entrepreneurs to go beyond business as usual and look for ways to make a social impact. In the next year, Melisa seeks to continue her education with an MBA that focuses on social enterprise as well as preparing for married life. The future feels ripe to Melisa. “I have this sense that the next chapter is going to be a game changer,” she says. With all she's already accomplished, it will be nothing short of significant.

The fellowship provided Melisa the opportunity to attend a conference

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Encouraging, EDUCATING, and INSPIRING Perseverance LAURA SCHANZ Owner of Laura Schanz Consulting Associates

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ransition and growth have always been a part of Laura Schanz's life. One of nine children, and the daughter of a military man, Laura attended seven schools by the time she was in seventh grade. After the Vietnam War, her father was downsized from the military and her family moved to her mother's birthplace, Lancaster City. “Change and transition were just part of my life,” she remembers.

As a student at J.P. McCaskey High School, she enrolled in the Distributive Education Program at Willow Street Vo-Tech School where she logged hours in the school store. “The program focused on merchandising, marketing, and management,” she says. “I had no idea I was learning business, but I was.”

After graduating, Laura married and moved to Lititz. After a rough year— her mother died, her husband lost his job, and she had a newborn to care for—Laura knew another transition was necessary. She applied for a job at Hershey & Gibbel Managing General Agency, which represented Harleysville Mutual Insurance Co. in Lititz. The position required typing 35 words per minute. She shook as she sat down for the typing test, and her heart sank when she failed to meet the word-per-minute requirement.

She left in tears, but was elated to receive a call about another job at the agency. Laura accepted the mailroom position and laughs about her job requirements. “Basically, each day was the same. I typed envelopes, picked up the mail, folded it, mailed it, and typed new envelopes,” she says. In three months, Laura became such a proficient typist she was promoted to the original position.

Though Laura never viewed herself as a good student, learning, growing, and achieving were hard-wired in her. Laura’s curiosity was piqued as she typed policies, asking questions

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to deepen her understanding.

Encouraged by her first mentor, she enrolled in night classes. Laura was quickly promoted to a job in coding, learning more math and reasoning skills. At night, each time a class ended, she enrolled in another.

While she was learning quickly, her income wasn’t meeting her family’s financial needs. “I was getting raises of $250 a year, which was about a nickel per hour,” Laura says. “When I looked at how long I'd have to keep doing that to rise above the poverty line, I knew I had to do something.”

She heard she could earn 25 cents more per hour at an insurance broker, and Murray Insurance in Lancaster had a good reputation. Laura found mentors in the brokerage’s new owners. They recognized her work ethic, dedication, and coachability—

Laura is passionate about encouraging, educating, and inspiring those around her to persevere in spite of challenges. “All things may not be good, but good can come out of bad situations.”

She then worked for her uncle, who had a book business and did motivational speaking and writing.

Working for “Charlie Tremendous Jones,” Laura realized how to add more value to any business. Drawing on her journey, she created a valuesdriven organizational model, by taking risk management, decision-making, business, strategic and succession planning, and adding one-onone coaching. She had found her sweet spot. Laura founded her first consulting business in 1997, then sold it to her then-business partner in 2002.

Laura worked as president and chief operating officer of a small business while she earned her Bachelor’s in business and professional studies at Elizabethtown College. She returned to consulting, launching a solo practice in 2005.

Laura closed the practice to spend time with her second husband, Terry, as he battled a brain tumor. She was devastated by his death after 17 years of marriage. Returning to work a year later, she followed her heart to Africa, working as COO for Horizon Initiative, a microcommunity for orphaned children in Kenya. Maintaining prior consulting commitments in the U.S., she traveled between continents until relaunching her solo consulting practice in 2016.

placed her in the field selling insurance when she was 25, and advanced her to their core team.

Laura is passionate about encouraging, educating, and inspiring those around her to persevere in spite of challenges.

“All things may not be good, but good can come out of bad situations,” she says.

Her hard work paid off—though she was somewhat astonished when she found herself a minority shareholder at Murray Insurance with a salary and a company car.

She remains involved in Kenya and also in Lancaster by working to eradicate poverty, serving in her place of worship, and with non-profit organizations.

While many would have relaxed, Laura kept moving forward. Her experience showed her growing people was paramount to growing a business. “I was too naïve to be afraid of the responsibility,” she says.

“I relied on my faith and just kept going.”

Laura delights in traveling to new places, and loves music and spending time with her family and friends.

Laura’s thrilled about her next role as a “Lala” to a grandbaby due in April.

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Though Pedro originally contemplated a career in engineering, his first-year humanities course at college involved tutoring kids in math at Reading High School. “That’s when I found my calling,” he says. “I just fell in love with interacting with high school students.” Teaching in Reading also helped Pedro realize education was, in fact and practice, a social-justice issue. “Education is that one way we can pull ourselves up and improve our quality of life,” he says. “As educators we help connect kids to resources and postsecondary opportunities to improve their lives.”

Activist, ADVOCATE, Educator PEDRO RIVERA Pennsylvania Secretary of Education

I

n the political arena, an activist and an advocate both try to change the system in service of the same goal. The difference between the two is the activist confronts the system while the advocate works from inside it.

Pedro Rivera, Pennsylvania Secretary of Education, has experience being both. “One of my mentors once said we have a lot of activists out there, but we don’t have enough advocates,” he says. Pedro says there must be someone in education who understands the issues of social justice and equity, and be able to push forward that agenda for children. He sees that as his responsibility as education secretary.

Pedro was the first member of his family to graduate from college. He was raised in the Hunting Park section of Philadelphia by his mother, aunt, and grandmothers, who moved there from Puerto

“I think we’re going to swing the pendulum the other way and understand that this is about transforming the system and thinking more holistically about what the needs of kids are.”

Rico to sew zippers at five cents per zipper. The neighborhood was predominantly Latino and African-American, with a few white peers. Everyone was in the same socio-economic position, though— they all grew up poor. He remembers standing in line at the food bank with his grandmother, getting their block of yellow cheese and loaf of bread.

“There were lots of grilled cheese sandwiches with scrapple in those days,” he says.

Attending Penn State University was the first time Pedro saw ethnic and socio-economic diversity.

During his first semester, while he would wait to use the computer lab and the CAD lab for his engineering classes, he couldn’t help but notice how other student’s drawings were so much better than his. It turned out they had computers in their dorm rooms. “My first straight edge was particle wood, so it was never really straight,” he says. “I couldn’t afford the expensive stuff, so it was hard getting points taken off for not having a perfect straight line when the tool you’re using couldn’t even make straight lines.”

That’s what’s driven Pedro every step along his career: from science teacher to assistant principal to principal to superintendent to secretary of education. He’s always sought to do his best in each job—and when the next opportunity to make a difference presented itself, to sit down with his wife, Erika, and think on it, pray on it, and decide whether or not to take the next leap.

That closeness and support of family has always been important to Pedro. And his 13-year-old son, Lucas, has apparently inherited his father’s penchant for making a difference. For years, the Rivera family rented a house in North Carolina for their yearly vacation. However, recently they’ve been choosing different places to stay.

“We’ve always talked about social-justice issues with him,” Pedro says. “So when HB2 passed in North Carolina, he said he didn’t think we should vacation there anymore.” Pedro and Erika have always made sure Lucas is culturally competent—that he knows where he comes from, knows Puerto Rican history, and understands social justice from a poverty perspective. But they’ve never explicitly encouraged activism. Nor have they discouraged it—they know both are needed to effect change.

“Being an activist is great; it was nice to be on the other side and just yell for social change. But being an advocate is so much harder,” he says. “It takes a lot more nuance and compromise. But that’s the lens I see leadership through—that at the end of the day you’re creating an environment for kids that is better than when the day started. That’s what drives me day to day as secretary.”

And Pedro does feel like he’s making a difference.

“Being secretary has been an amazing ride,” he says. “Education is the one job that creates all other jobs, but it’s been one of the most disrespected occupations. I think some of the policies we’re proposing will value the art and science of teaching again.

“We tend to forget that it’s really about improving the quality of life for kids,” he says “As secretary— and I hope I get to be here when it happens—I think we’re going to swing the pendulum the other way and understand that this is about transforming the system and thinking more holistically about what the needs of kids are.”

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WOMAN of STEEL (and Concrete) Robin Stauffer loves to golf. She delights in the beauty of wide-open spaces, and appreciates the sense of tradition, the etiquette, and the culture around the sport. With her husband Bob, Robin has been playing golf for 20 years. She loves that golf is something that she and her husband can do together now and for years to come, and that they can see the world while doing it. Robin also enjoys the practice of yoga, embraces travel opportunities and curling up with a great movie, and takes pleasure in their two cat-babies. Underneath the hobbies and activities that she enjoys is a foundational work ethic, drive, and determination of steel.

W

orking in the industries of steel and concrete, Robin comes by her appreciation for a strong foundation naturally. Through her earliest memories, she credits her parents with providing her with a foundation of support and affirmation. “I don’t ever remember hearing, ‘You can’t do that’ when I was growing up,” she says. That sense of empowerment helped her to embrace opportunities for growth, development, and advancement throughout her career.

Robin attributes her success to the fact that she was taught at a very young age to always treat others as she wishes to be treated, with kindness and respect. She endeavors to follow this philosophy in all areas of her life and work.

When Robin accepted her first position at the High Companies in 1985, she had no idea it would be the beginning of a 30-year relationship with the High family. As she reflects on the path of her life and career, she realizes how fortunate she was to have this unique opportunity to witness and be a part of the growth the High Companies have experienced under the leadership of Dale High and the High family. More deeply, she feels fortunate to have her life’s passion and mission fit so seamlessly into the goals and mission of her employer.

Starting her career as a clerk in the accounting department, Robin is now the corporate secretary for High and also serves as executive director of

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The S. Dale High Family Foundation.

“The opportunities that I’ve been given through my career have been tremendous,” she says. Robin shared that Dale High has consistently been a major influence in her life related to community and civic-minded matters.

“In many ways, he has demonstrated the importance of not only being a good steward of what has been entrusted to us, but doing so with integrity and a spirit of humility and gratitude—putting the greater good ahead of what we may seek personally.” Grateful for a mentor who led by example, she was determined to continue that legacy with her own team. Each time she was pushed outside of her comfort zone, she felt supported and enabled to take on the task, at times surprising even herself with the successful outcome.

Robin is particularly passionate about her work with The S. Dale High Family Foundation. The foundation is a philanthropic non-profit organization that was established by the High Family in 1980 to support positive change within the community.

Its primary focus is to assist in eliminating poverty in Lancaster County/South-Central Pennsylvania by supporting programs focused on systemic change. The Foundation prefers to invest in projects and organizations that improve the city of Lancaster with regard to aesthetics, cultural and artistic venues, and other projects that lead to enhanced

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economic vibrancy for the entire community. The Foundation also assists High co-workers in meeting the cost of college education for their children through a competitive scholarship program. Robin delights in this work and feels privileged to be able to develop relationships in the not-for-profit sector and to be part of the solution to some of the most challenging issues that our community faces. “There is nothing more satisfying than to see lives changed and communities impacted by the generosity and compassion of those with whom I serve and work,” she says.

Generally the steel and concrete industries have been widely populated by men, however, Robin has always felt that women bring unique attributes and assets to the business world, and would love to see more women working towards leadership roles. Robin remembers a former supervisor whose professionalism, strength of character, integrity, and humility were all traits that Robin sought to emulate throughout her own career. This strong woman mentor modeled for Robin the balance between giving your best to your profession, and yet staying mindful to invest in a personal life that is also rewarding and meaningful. Inspired by both male and female mentors in her own career, Robin looks for ways to pass the torch, to connect with and support young women who have the drive and dedication to be future leaders.

High has a mantra that is referred to as The High Philosophy, which is built on two major tenets: building trustworthy relationships and being innovative leaders. This has been an important guiding force in the company for many years, and Robin feels fortunate to be part of both an outstanding team of co-workers, and a solid, community-minded organization that inspires her each and every day.

THE

BUILDER

ROBIN STAUFFER Corporate Secretary of High Companies and Executive Director of The S. Dale High Family Foundation

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“I don’t ever remember hearing, ‘you can’t do that’ when I was growing up,” she says. That sense of empowerment helped her to embrace opportunities for growth, development, and advancement throughout her career.

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THE

EDUCATOR

STACIE REIDENBAUGH Executive Director of Lancaster Lebanon Habitat for Humanity

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Building HOUSES, Skills, and LIVES S

tacie Reidenbaugh has a wholehearted love for Habitat for Humanity, and not only because she’s the executive director of the Lancaster-Lebanon location. From the time she was born until she was 14 years old, she moved eight times. Her parents were young when they had her, and didn’t have a lot of money. That experience helped her understand what it’s like to be uprooted and not really know what your future’s going to be—which is much the same situation many of the families Habitat serves find themselves in.

“We’d be in a house and the rent would go up or the utilities would be too high after a year,” Stacie says, “so we’d move. As a child, it was really challenging because every time you move you pack up everything into boxes and purge some of your belongings.”

But moving wasn’t just about material things, it was about resettling in a new place and getting to know the kids in that neighborhood. Stacie remembers being somewhat withdrawn at times, because she knew she wasn’t going to be there very long. Thankfully, her situation eventually stabilized. “When I was 14,” Stacie says, “we bought a house in East Petersburg that was really our family’s first experience with home ownership. It changed everything for me.”

Stacie has been with Lancaster Lebanon Habitat for Humanity for 14 years, and executive director for 10 of them. Prior to that, she led a somewhat peripatetic life of her own, working through college in retail and then as a pastry chef for Donecker’s Restaurant in Ephrata—until she had her first daughter, Kaitlin. “Food service wasn’t for when you had a family,” Stacie says. “I realized I needed more of a nine-to-five job, and that’s when I ended up at United Way.” Working for the United Way was a pivotal moment for Stacie because of her mentor, Dave Lewis, now head of Lehigh Valley United Way. “He gave me a lot of opportunities to learn new things,” Stacie says. “If it weren’t for

him, I probably wouldn’t be where I am today.”

Another experience that’s shaped Stacie’s life and work is her work in areas affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Stacie traveled down to assess the situation and figure out how they could help. Driving down the

“My dream would be to have a working farm, but bring in youth and teach them how to grow the food and use it. There would be a restaurant on site that would have guest chefs come in, but the kids would work the restaurant, so they'd also be learning valuable skills for the workplace and for life.” streets they’d see only concrete steps where a house used to be. That was bad enough, but they’d immediately realize that there had been people in those homes. “We went on a tour of the Lower Ninth Ward where the greatest amount of devastation had occurred,” Stacie says. “We were all just reduced to tears.”

great deal of hurricane relief, sending a group of volunteers six weeks after the storm, and then sending them every six months thereafter. That’s one of the things Stacie’s been most proud of during her tenure at Habitat—that they contributed to something good in New Orleans after so much bad had happened. Her experience in Louisiana drove home the necessity of rebuilding, and ensuring the people who were left had decent places to live.

Every time Habitat finishes a house they do a house dedication, which is a time to celebrate all the hard work each of the families have done—each family puts 500 hours of sweat equity into their own houses as well as those of their neighbors. “Those are always really awesome moments for me,” Stacie says. “But even better is when we go to the attorney’s office to sign the deed and mortgage documents and say: ‘Congratulations, you’re a homeowner!’”

Habitat’s goal isn’t just to make sure someone has a decent house, but to empower them to create a better life— to give people the chance to build their self-esteem and confidence as they build their homes.

“I’m so inspired by the people we work with, because they work so hard and are so committed to finishing this, and to their kids having a better place to live,” Stacie says. “I have tremendous respect for them.”

Stacie loves the difference she’s able to make through Habitat, but would do even more for kids if she could, like creating a safe and stable place to learn how to create something together. “My dream would be to have a working farm, but bring in youth and teach them how to grow the food and use it, to understand where their food actually comes from,” she says. “There would be a restaurant on site that would have guest chefs come in, but the kids would work the restaurant, so they'd also be learning valuable skills for the workplace and for life.”

Lancaster-Lebanon Habitat provided a

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Maria-José Tennison doesn’t see herself as someone with an overly unusual story. But there’s more to her humble selfevaluation than meets the eye. Her confidence is unmistakable.

She exudes grace and poise. And while this level of character refinement might be expected after reading her resume, her journey has been anything but typical.

I

n the tumultuous political climate of Argentina in the 1970s, Maria’s parents believed the United States would be the land of opportunity for their family. They immigrated to Los Angeles when Maria was three years old. In the early years, while learning a new culture and language, the family struggled in ways they hadn’t expected. As her father found work and the family began adjusting to life in their new home, Maria emerged as a driven and competitive force. Her parents fostered this. They taught their daughter to capitalize on her strengths and embrace her tenacious spirit. Maria excelled with an unmatched work ethic. Even as a young girl, she placed value on overcoming obstacles.

After college, the drive and determination of her youth landed her in the agency world of L.A. based national advertising. She worked on coveted accounts like Pedigree, Disney, Fisher-Price, Caesars, and Jaguar. But at the peak of her career, as one of the youngest vice presidents in the agency with the possibility of a promotion to a post in Europe, Maria received an unexpected phone call. A recruiter was in search of a marketing director for a little-known faith-based theater in Lancaster County, PA. She turned it down. They called again.

And again. Each time Maria dismissed the inquiry, thinking it had no place in her career plan. The third request came in the form of a three-page written explanation, detailing that this opportunity was far more than a career move. With encouragement from her husband Matthew, she agreed to visit Lancaster.

Maria was blown away. She remembers standing in the Sight & Sound parking lot, watching in awe as buses poured in from New York and elsewhere. As expectant visitors poured into the theater, she was baffled at how this all could make sense. On a tour inside, she was moved by the dedication and passion that employees on every level

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were investing in their jobs. This highpowered “it girl” from Los Angeles with a resume fit for the Fortune 500 suddenly felt so unqualified. “That’s how the Lord works,” Maria says.

“He presents us with opportunities that seem so counterintuitive on the surface. I began to sense that this was something so much bigger than me.”

Maria realized she wanted to be a person driven by significance rather than success. And she knew the legacy she wanted to live was less about salary, promotions, and accounts and more about the depths of her relationships and developing that in others.

breathtaking. And yet in the midst of all the wow factors, Sight & Sound is crystal clear that merely creating a spectacle is not their purpose. “It’s all about serving the story,” says Maria.

“We never pursue technology for technology’s sake.”

Though poised and professional on the surface, if you pop by the Tennison house unexpectedly, don’t be surprised to find Maria donning silly costumes and embodying one of her many alter egos for imaginative play with her two sons—something she says she never would have discovered without taking her leap of faith to the East coast. “I never imagined that life could be this meaningful,” Maria says.

“When I look back on the journey of the last 12 years, it’s humbling to see that, while on paper the move didn’t make sense, who I am now is very different than who I would have been had God not stepped in and changed my path.”

“That’s how God works. He presents us with opportunities that seem so counterintuitive on the surface.

I began to sense that this was something so much bigger than me.”

Today, Maria is the vice president of brand and show production at Sight & Sound Theatres. And Sight & Sound remains nothing short of its own unexpected story. Sitting in the middle of a cornfield in Lancaster County, PA, is one of the largest stages in North America. Theatergoers who may be drawn in by the promise of seeing a spectacular production are overcome by an uplifting experience that you’d be hard-pressed to find anywhere else. The 2,000-seat theater is groundbreaking, with a stage that engulfs the audience on three sides and hosts 10,000-pound sets wired to move autonomously in front of the audience, guided by GPS technology designed for the military. The scope and scale of each production is

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THE

PAINTER

PETER BARBER Co-founder of Two Dudes Painting

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The SELF-DETERMINED Life “I

’ve lived here my whole life,” says Peter Barber, co-founder of Two Dudes Painting. “I’m living in the house I grew up in, I went to Franklin & Marshall. When someone says to me, ‘Pete, you need to see the world’—I can see the world, and from a super-comfortable home base. If I moved somewhere I’d want to move someplace just like Lancaster.”

Peter just finished a year as chair of the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce & Industry, one of the most recognized chambers in the country, winning national Chamber of the Year in 2013. “At the end of the day,” Peter says, “this chamber really has a powerful impact, because there’s a fundamental belief of selfdetermination in the community.”

Peter knows a lot about selfdetermination. Though he had planned on becoming a teacher after graduation from F&M, plans changed.

“During Christmas break of freshman year,” Peter says, “my girlfriend Kara—who’s now been my wife for 29 years—comes back and says she’s pregnant.” Supporting his new family became paramount.

So Peter partnered with Brian McCaskey, a friend of his from Lancaster Catholic High School, and started a painting business that summer. They used a room in Peter’s house as a makeshift office and storage space, and hauled their gear in a bright orange 1979 Volkswagen Bus. For the next three years, Peter painted year-round while going to college full time, scheduling morning classes so he could work the rest of the day.

“The painting business made sense because I could control everything— I wasn’t dependent on someone to say what hours I could work,” Peter says.

“If I needed to work 100 hours a week to support our growing family, I could do that.”

Two Dudes Painting provided Peter with the essentials of self-determination: autonomy, commitment, and a sense of purpose, which is also mirrored in his affinity for running. He ran cross country at F&M, and has run between 30 and

40 marathons to date—including the Ironman Triathlon—and more than a half-dozen ultra-marathons, which is any race over 26 miles. “Marathon training is a simple metaphor for my success and the success of the Lancaster community,” Peter says.

“There is a clear and direct correlation between training and performance— being willing to prepare for and commit to things.”

From the beginning, Peter wanted to ensure the commitment Two Dudes made to their painters was equal to the commitment they expected from them.

“We’ve always tried to make sure we’re being responsible in our employment,” Peter says, “giving our painters the

Conservancy and the city to provide street trees—49 to date—in the neighborhood at no cost to residents.

“Here’s an opportunity,” Peter says, “in a very parochial way to impact the community our business is located in—and if we can do that in a way that encourages others to do it, even better.”

Two Dudes Painting has enjoyed over 29 years of steady growth due to its solid foundation of balancing the needs of its business and its community. “One of the best compliments I ever got,” Peter says, “was when I was introduced to a philanthropist in the community who didn’t know who I was.” When they

“The opportunity to do what we're doing, to push and advocate for the things we believe in, and to demonstrate that with our employees, our clients, and our community— that’s what’s going to win the day.” things they need like health insurance and retirement plans, to make sure they’re going to be able to sustain themselves in a meaningful way.”

That’s why the B Corp certification was so important to them. B Corps are for-profit companies certified to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.

“We not only have a commitment to our employees, but to the community we live in, and to the greater environment,” Peter says. “If we can do all of that and impact those things in positive way, then I think we’ve been successful.”

Two Dudes Painting is located in Cabbage Hill, a German immigrant community where Peter’s grandfather grew up. It’s densely populated with narrow streets, so there’s not a lot of room for trees. But for the last two planting seasons, Two Dudes has worked with the Lancaster County

were informed that Peter owned Two Dudes, they replied, “Oh, you guys do such good things in the community!”

But a community doesn’t just happen on its own; its members have to intentionally invest in it. In Lancaster, Two Dudes represents the symbiotic relationship that exists between business and community, because businesses can’t prosper unless the whole community does.

“The opportunity to do what we're doing, to push and advocate for the things we believe in, and to demonstrate that with our employees, our clients, and our community— that’s what’s going to win the day,” Peter says. “The rewards of my life wouldn’t have been the same if I only focused on the business.”

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4 building tomorrow

“Real GENEROSITY toward the FUTURE lies in giving all to the PRESENT.” - ALBERT CAMUS

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forever on a mission. champions

for change

Fig believes creative thinking and powerful communication can transform businesses and communities.

building

relationships

Fig creates connections—between businesses, between people, between communities, and between ideas.

Loving local Fig believes in supporting neighbors and strengthening local economies. In fact, it’s at the very heart of what we do.

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creative thinkers & makers w ith a forever mission of

D E S I G N FOR G O O D