Kevin T Campbell
President & CEO, Barry Isett & Associates
Kevin is currently President and CEO of Barry Isett & Associates, a multi-disciplinary engineering firm with seven locations in Pennsylvania. Kevin joined the Lehigh Valley headquarters of Barry Isett & Associates, Inc. in September 2005 as a staff management analyst. Kevin brought twenty years of leadership and technical experience that would serve to improve the efficiency and resource coordination for the company in the next decade to come. For his hard work and success, Kevin was named VP within his first year in the company and promoted to President in 2011. Kevin has degrees in Metallurgical Engineering (B.S), Electrical Engineering (M.S), and Business Administration (MBA).
During Kevin’s tenure as president, Barry Isett & Associates has been recognized as a Morning Call Top Workplace every year since the program’s inception, and was accorded the Societas Award for Responsible Corporate Conduct in 2016. Lehigh Valley Business also named Isett the 2016 Corporate Citizen of the Year and 2017 Company of the Year
Steve Follett
Former Chairman & CEO, Follett Corporation
Steve was Chairman and CEO of Follett Corporation for twenty-five years, retiring from the business in March of 2019. Follett is an industry leader since 1948 in designing and manufacturing high-quality, innovative ice and refrigeration-related products for foodservice and healthcare markets. With a BS in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from Cornell University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University, Steve joined Follett Corporation in 1987 after two years with The Trane Company and five years with IBM Corporation.
Steve is actively involved in the local community, and has served on both business and nonprofit boards. He served on the Board of Asbury Carbons in Asbury, New Jersey, and Cornell Ironworks in Mountain Top, Pennsylvania. He is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of Lehigh Valley Health Network and the Foundation Board of Northampton Community College. He is also active in leadership positions at Grace Church of Bethlehem.
Mike Gausling
Managing Partner, Originate Ventures
Mike is currently a co-founder and managing partner of Originate Ventures LLC. Originate is a venture capital investment firm which invests in early stage and emerging growth technologies companies in Eastern Pennsylvania. Mike began his career by holding a variety of financial management positions at Proctor & Gamble from 1984 to 1987. From then, he became the co-founder and CEO of OraSure Technologies where he helped build the company from a start-up to more than $50 million in annual sales and a market cap of over $500 million in a 17-year period. The Company was best known for developing and securing FDA approval for the first rapid oral fluid HIV test in the world.
Mike is the Chairman of Lehigh Valley Industrial Park, Inc. a local non-profit land development company. He is also a board member of KNBT Bancorp, is the owner of the Victory Firehouse, and served on the Healthcare Advisory Board of Safeguard Scientifics. In addition, he is a Board Member and Treasurer for the Community Action Corporation of Lehigh Valley. Mike was recognized as Ernst and Young Central and Eastern PA Biotech Entrepreneur of the Year in 2005 and OraSure was named for seven consecutive years to the “Fast 50 Technology” companies in Eastern Pennsylvania. He graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a BS in Mechanical Engineering and received his MBA in Finance from Miami University of Ohio.
Adam Lazarchak
Executive Director, Bethlehem Area Vocational-Technical School
Co-Owner, Did You Run Today? LLC
Adam is the Executive Director of the Bethlehem Area Vocational-Technical School. He was a graphic designer by trade and began his educational career as a Graphic Communications teacher at the Monroe Career & Technical Institute in 1997. Adam was hired by BAVTS in December of 2000 as their Commercial Art Instructor, joined their administrative team in 2006, and in 2015 was appointed as the Executive Director. A strong believer in innovation and entrepreneurship, he started his own business in 2020 and is the Co-Owner of Did You Run Today? LLC, an online store that sells unique running clothes and accessories.
Mr. Lazarchak received his undergraduate at Moravian College (Go Hounds!) and his Masters through Temple University. Although he didn't plan on becoming a CTE teacher Adam has a passion for its mission and for the institution he works for. The Nation and the Lehigh Valley is seeing a shortage of skilled labor and Mr. Lazarchak, along with his business and industry partners, are on a crusade to promote the values of career and technical education, dispel the stigma of Vo-Tech, and de-bunk the myth that a college degree is the best shot at success after high school.
Peter Luethi
Co-Founder, Dreamjet SAS
Peter currently holds the position of advisor to the CEO of Dreamjet SAS which is stationed in the U.S. Peter is a co-founder and shareholder of Dreamjet after the airline was built from scratch and registered in 2013. Aside from Dreamjet, Peter has worked with several other aviation companies such as Swissair, where he served as the COO and head of task force, Jetairways, where he held the position of COO, and Aviation Solutions International, LLC, where he was the president and owner. He has proven capabilities in managing multicultural organizations with specific experience in change management, restructuring of organizations, integration of new partner airlines as well as reduction of business units.
Peter attended Harvard University. In addition he is also very involved in the community as he is the Class Chairman for the Harvard Alumni Association, a part of the Harvard Club, the Wings Club, President of the Association Amigos da Canto Verde, and he is also a part of the Vaughn College, International Advisory Board.
Khanjan Mehta
Vice Provost of Creative Inquiry, Lehigh University
Khanjan Mehta is the inaugural Vice Provost for Creative Inquiry and Director of the Mountaintop Initiative at Lehigh University. Mehta champions the creation of learning environments and ecosystems where students, faculty, and external partners come together to increase their capacities for independent inquiry, take intellectual risks and learn from failure, recognize problems and opportunities, and effect constructive and sustainable change. Previously, Mehta was Founding Director of the Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship (HESE) Program, Assistant Professor of Engineering Design, and Affiliate Professor of International Affairs at Penn State University.
Peter Morales
Founder & Chairman
Black Hawk Beverage Group
Peter Morales is founder and chairman of Black Hawk Beverage Group, a New York-based global food and beverage trading company. Prior to founding Black Hawk, Morales held executive positions at Metz Metallurgical Corp, Johnson & Johnson, Grand Metropolitan PLC of London, and Peerless Importers of NY. Peter earned a Bachelor’s degree in Natural Science and Psychology from the Lehigh University College of Arts and Sciences, and previously served as a member of the Lehigh Alumni Association Board of Directors as well as President of Zeta Psi Fraternity Alumni Association. Peter is the Founder/ President of "Vision 57," a global education/arts foundation established in 1998 at the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. Vision 57 supports primary school educational initiatives in agricultural regions worldwide.
Peter is a board member at Lehigh University.
Tom Stine
Business Advisory, Rising Tide Community Loan Fund
Tom has co-founded and led multiple firms from an early stage to successful exits. He brings a passion for guerilla marketing and always has a sense of urgency tempered with his collaborative team centric approach to leadership. He is an experienced, creative go-to-market focused entrepreneur, coach, fundraiser, community leader, and volunteer that seeks the next opportunity to lever skills, and to build and improve the community economically and socially. Tom is the current President and investor in Bethlehem based Viddler, Inc. This Ben Franklin and VC funded online video platform team delivers secure interactive video training to over 1,000 clients in 160 countries. He’s also led companies engaged in technology incubation, funding, software development, EMR software for Orthopedics, and digital prepress and print production.
Tom has also served in several leadership and community service roles. He has served as a board member for the Rising Tide Loan Fund, Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern PA, Microlog Inc., Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, and Equi-librium. He has been a part of the Steering Committee at the Community Action Development Corp. in Bethlehem, and has guest lectured at Lehigh University.
Richard Thompson
Founder & Managing Partner, Factory LLC
Rich created over $3 billion in enterprise value as Founder and CEO of American Italian Pasta Company, Meow Mix Company and Freshpet. He has deep operational experience across multiple disciplines, having built each of these organizations from scratch, including marketing and sales, manufacturing, supply chain and distribution, and innovation infrastructure. He supervised the design and construction of seven manufacturing facilities. With CPG startups, one home run can be a lifetime achievement. Rich has hit three of them and does not seem to be slowing down.
Tim M. Fehr
President, BerkOne, Inc.
Tim is a business professional with an expertise in information technology and services. He has been with the Berkheimer family of companies for 45 years. His early professional years included work in all areas of computers including: computer operations, programming, system design and eventually to overall operations/management.
Tim is also a graduate of Northampton Community College.
Shahriar Naghshineh
Founder & President, LBN, Inc.
Shahriar Naghshineh is the president/founder of LBN, Inc., a 3D Printing, Additive Manufacturing consumables supplier. He has also assisted with set up of the Northampton Community College Fab Lab that includes 3D Printing and laser etching tools. He is the president/founder of Surface Chemistry Discoveries Inc., that patents and commercializes surface preparation products for use in the both the Semiconductor fabrication and PV Solar fabrication industries. The company also co-invents, markets and licenses products to fortune 1000 companies.
Shahriar received a BS in Civil Engineering from Birmingham University in Birmingham, England and a MS in Chemical Engineering from Lehigh University. He was awarded two Ben Franklin Tech Partnership awards, Best Product and Serial Entrepreneur.
Dorothy Lindblad
Supervisor of Career & Technical Education
Career Institute of Technology
Dorothy Lindblad graduated from the University of Maryland with dual degrees in special education and elementary education. She went on to earn her early childhood education certification while working in a residential school/hospital setting for children with disabilities, as well as several public school early intervention settings. After raising a family and partnering with her husband in a family manufacturing sales/repair business, she opened and was the director/head teacher of an early childhood center in Easton. She then returned to public school teaching, and later taught early childhood education at the Career Institute of Technology for 11 years. She earned her Supervisor of Career and Technical Education certification from Temple University and currently serves in that position at CIT.
Catherine Bailey
Former President/Chief Operating Officer
Rea.deeming Beauty, Inc.
Catherine Bailey is the former President/Chief Operating Officer at Rea.deeming Beauty, Inc., the "home" of the original beautyblender® and most recently, Bounce foundation,. She was part of the start up working with the Company’s Founder beginning in 2002. She held the position of President/Chief Operating Officer since 2010 until her recent transition to an Advisory role, the first step to semi-retirement. Catherine’s role was to manage and lead the day to day functioning of all departments. Her 30+ years of experience in the cosmetic industry, has been instrumental in leading Rea.deeming Beauty to the industry position as a category creator. The company continues its innovations supporting the category leadership it developed around the world from their location in Bethlehem. Prior to coming to RBI, Catherine led product development and marketing efforts at another Cosmetic applicator company located in the area.
She is an avid supporter of local charities including “A Perfect Fit’, Via Foundation, Go Red for Women, Pediatric Cancer Foundation and Girl Scouts of America and the BAEF to name a few. She was honored by Ben Franklin with the Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2016 as well as Executive of the Year by Lehigh Valley Business and recently honored with the Circle of Exxcellence Award from LVB.
Amit Parmar
Founder, Cliquify
Amit Parmar brings over 17 years of HR expertise with large global corporations such as IBM, Deloitte., and Unisys. Most recently, he was the global Vice President of Talent for Unisys Corporation where he led a team of 150 HR practitioners globally and managed a multi-million dollar budget. He is now the Co-Founder and CEO of an employer branding and social media recruitment software company Cliquify. Cliquify is leveraged by large enterprises to engage and attract quality talent at scale. Amit serves on the board of the Philadelphia Society of People Strategy and is part of the Forbes HR Council. In his spare time, he enjoys coaching youth football with NFL Play 60.
