Director Biographies

Board of Directors

Biographies

Harrison Bink

Harrison Bink, RA, NCARB, LEED AP is registered in PA, NJ, and MD currently and has owned Bink Architects in the Harrisburg area for 40 years. He concentrates on multi-family housing as well as municipal, schools and churches. His professional interests include low cost housing, improved zoning, and efficient and sustainable design. His design education includes RISD, Harvard, Rome, Beijing and Mumbai, and his passion is travel.

Shireen Farr, Treasurer

Shireen Farr, SCA Treasurer, is the Chief Operating Officer for the Cumberland Area Economic Development Corporation (CAEDC) and its real estate subsidiaries. CAEDC is Cumberland County’s designated economic development and tourism promotion agency charged with promoting and advancing economic health (www.cumberlandbusiness.com and www.visitcumberlandvalley.com). Shireen is proud to lead a strong and passionate team of talented professionals that support a collaborative and partner-centric approach to good community development in support of the Commonwealth’s fastest growing County.

Nancy Besch

Nancy Besch is a charter member of South Central Assembly; former Cumberland County Commissioner (1992- 2004); former member Camp Hill Borough Council; former Member of Camp Hill School Board; former appointed member Pennsylvania State Board of Psychology; Trustee Emeritae Wilson College.

Bev Cigler PhD.

Beverly Cigler, Ph.D., is a Professor of Public Policy and Administration at Penn State Harrisburg and an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. She specializes in intergovernmental relations, especially state-local relations, multi-community collaboration, alternative service delivery, emergency management, public finance, and general issues of governance.

In addition to many other honors and notable achievements, Cigler received the PSH Faculty Excellence in Research Award; the Donald Stone Award for Intergovernmental Scholarship and Research from the American Society for Public Administration; and awards for public service—Friend of County Government Award, County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania. She serves on advisory committees of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center and the Metropolitan Policy Center at the University of Pittsburgh. She also served on board of directors of the Bureaucrat, Inc., Washington, DC.

Ray D'Agostino

Ray D’Agostino is the Executive Director of the Lancaster Housing Opportunity Partnership (LHOP), a county-wide community benefit organization that is focused on affordable and fair housing education, financing and advocacy. Previous to serving as the Executive Director, he served on the Board of Directors.
In a previous role as municipal manager he has overseen the development and implementation of several community strategic comprehensive plans and co-authored a chapter in a recently published book on regional planning. He sits on several boards and commissions including the Lancaster County Planning Commission, Lancaster County Smart Growth Coalition, the Lancaster County Transportation Coordinating Committee and the South Central PA Assembly. Ray holds an MPA and BSEd, both from Shippensburg University and is a certified Housing Development Finance Professional. He lives in Lampeter with his wife and two children.

Joan Brodhead, President

As COO of Community First Fund in Lancaster, Joan oversees fundraising & development, communications and impact evaluation of lending and loan operations. Joan is responsible for oversight of financial management and is a member of the Senior Loan Committee. Joan has more than 30 years of experience in finance and community development lending. Joan is also a 2008 recipient of Eastern Pennsylvania SBA Women in Business Champion of the Year Award. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cedar Crest College, Pennsylvania.

George Klaus MPA, Secretary

George is currently a Board member of the Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania, the South Central Assembly, and the York Housing Advisory Commission. He is active with the York Housing Task Force and Penn State University’s Economic Development Course Advisory Board. Retired from federal service in 2010 as Southeast Area Director, USDA Rural Development, where he managed staff and financial assistance serving southeast Pennsylvania communities through single and multi-family housing, community facilities, infrastructure, energy and business development programs. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Alfred University and a Master’s in Public Administration from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University. George has lived on a small farm in Dillsburg, York County for the last 33 years, raising bamboo, Christmas trees, and an occasional ruckus.

Susan Armstrong

Susan Armstrong is the Assistant Borough Manager for Carlisle Borough, a Home Rule municipality in south-central Pennsylvania (www.carlislepa.org). In addition to assisting the Borough Manager in overseeing the Borough’s operations/departments, Ms. Armstrong works closely with community stakeholders, elected officials, and Borough team members on community development and quality of life issues; aging infrastructure; fiscal management; and, economic development. She also has the pleasure of representing the Borough of Carlisle on various boards throughout the area and is the main point of contact for the Borough’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program.

Fred Reddig

Mr. Reddig has over 40 years of local government experience. He most recently served as Special Assistant for Act 47 and Local Government Affairs in the PA Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) from March 2013 until his retirement July 31, 2017. Prior to his appointment as Special Assistant he served 8 years as Executive Director of the Governor's Center for Local Government Services. He has 30 years of service with the Commonwealth, having served initially in the former Department of Community Affairs and then DCED. He administered the Municipalities Financial Recovery Program (Act 47) since its enactment in 1987

Steve Nevada

Steve Nevada is the Assistant County Administrator of Franklin County. Prior to that he was the Human Service Administrator of Franklin County and the Franklin Fulton County Mental Health / Intellectual Disabilities / Early Intervention Administration. He has been responsible for the administration of quality mental health, intellectual disabilities, early intervention, and housing services for the Franklin and Fulton communities. He is a gubernatorial appointee and president of the South Mountain Restoration Center Board of Trustees and chair of the Franklin County Criminal Justice Advisory Board Behavioral Health Subcommittee.

Steve received his bachelor's degree in Political Science from Grove City College in 1994, and a master's degree in Social Work from Temple University in 2004. Steve obtained his Pennsylvania Social Work licensure in 2004.

Stephen Scanlon MLA,
Assembly Coordinator

Stephen Scanlon currently serves as the Assembly’s part-time generalist/coordinator. He joined the Assembly in 2004 to provide support to its housing, predatory lending, and human services initiatives. He holds a B.A. in Anthropology from McGill University, a Masters of Liberal Arts with emphasis in cultural geography from Boston University, and has done graduate coursework with the Community and Regional Planning program at Temple University in Harrisburg. Stephen lives in Marietta, Lancaster County but is wedded to the south central region of Pennsylvania.

Jesse McCree, MPA

Jesse McCree is the CEO of SCPa Works (www.scpaworks.org), the regional workforce development board whose mission is to unlock the human talent that drives the development of businesses and individuals, creating opportunity for growth and prosperity for the South Central PA region. Jesse has a Bachelor's Degree from Bowdoin College (Maine) and a Masters in Public Administration from Cornell University (NY), and 11 years of experience in nonprofit management, public policy and workforce development. He is currently enrolled in Harvard Kennedy School's Executive Education program for nonprofit leadership, and serves on numerous boards of community organizations such as the PA Workforce Development Association and U.S. Conference of Mayors Workforce Development Council.

James Shultz

Recently retired from the staff of The Lancaster Housing Opportunity Partnership, Jim spent 30+ years working on affordable housing and issues/ opportunities within the City of Lancaster, including the creation of The SoWe Neighborhood Group; the first Downtown Revitalization Plan; the creation of the Downtown Investment District; The Clipper Magazine Stadium; and the Smart Growth Transportation Program.

Stephen Snell

Steve Snell retired from 30 years as the Executive Officer of the Realtors Association of York & Adams Counties. Steve is a former president of the Assembly. Since retirement he has remained active in a variety of housing and food justice organizations. He attended Susquehanna University, earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Kentucky and his MEd from Millersville University.
Steve lives in Red Lion, York County.

Jessica Trimble, MPA

Jessica Trimble is a Policy Specialist and State Planner in the Governor’s Center for Local Government Services, a division of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (www.DCED.pa.gov). In this role, she has the privilege of helping Pennsylvania’s municipalities strive for the highest levels of government service delivery and resiliency through training and technical assistance. Trimble has a BA in Political Science from Loyola University Maryland and a Master of Public Administration from Penn State Harrisburg. Her professional background includes GIS, affordable housing, public administration, CDBG, floodplain management, and community/development planning. Trimble hails from Lebanon County but currently resides in Susquehanna Township, Dauphin Co.

Tim Whelan

Tim Whelan has served as the Vice-President for Community Impact with the United Way of the Capital Region since February 2001. In this capacity, he is responsible for implementing the United Way’s “community building” activities which focus on developing the Capital Region’s capacity to respond to human service needs. In addition, he oversees the organization’s fund distribution process, Volunteer Center and community research activities.
Tim previously served as Executive Director of the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art and the South Central Pennsylvania Food Bank. In addition, he worked as the first Eastern Region Coordinator for Second Harvest, the National Network of Food Banks and for the American Red Cross, Baltimore Regional Chapter in Disaster Services.
Whelan holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Frostburg State College in History, Far Eastern Concentration and a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Maryland at Baltimore.
A native of Washington, D.C., he resides in Harrisburg, PA with his wife Barbara Miller. His son, Noah is a teacher and resides in Pittsburgh, PA, and stepdaughter, Sara Miller is pursuing her doctorate at Boston College and resides in Brighton, MA.

Dominic DelliCarpini, PhD.

Dr. Dominic DelliCarpini is the Dean of the Center for Community Engagement and Naylor Endowed Professor of Writing Studies at York College of Pennsylvania. He holds a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the Pennsylvania State University. His numerous articles and presentations focus on the role of writing as a tool for civic engagement. For his work within the community of York, he has received the York College Professional Service Award, the York County Economic Alliance’s Spirit of York County Award for Community Engagement, and the 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania Award.

Natalie Williams

Natalie Williams is the Assistant Director of Community Impact at the United Way of York County and has been with the organization since January 2017. Her responsibilities include management of key United Way processes including Allocations, Agency Review and the Affiliation’s process. Natalie also works in public policy in the areas of Education, Health and Financial Stability for working families at the local, state and federal level. William’s professional background includes community development, affordable housing advocacy, economic development and business recruitment.