National Board of Directors

David J. Grissen is president of the America’s for Marriott International, Inc. Mr. Grissen’s specific responsibilities include the financial performance of all of the America’s Lodging operations comprising more than 2,800 hotels and a work force of 110,000 associates. This includes staff responsibilities for sales & marketing, revenue management, human resources, engineering, rooms operations, food and beverage/retail/spa, information resources and development.Mr. Grissen is also chair of the America’s Hotel Development Committee and a member of the Lodging Strategy Group.

Jeff Adams is a Managing Director with Morgan Stanley and the Southern California Region Director for the Global Wealth Management Group.

Prior to his current position, Jeff was the National Director of Sales and Marketing Support. He has also served as the Regional Director of the Midwest, Branch Manager of the North Texas Complex of offices and a member of Morgan Stanley's training faculty, where he served as a Management Training Associate from 1993 to 1995.

Since its inception in 1994 through 2001, Jeff served as Morgan Stanley's liaison to the Securities Industry Continuing Education Program (CEP). While serving a three year term on the CEP Council Jeff also was the Chair of the Firm Element Committee. In addition, he was a founding Board Member and a past President of the "Make a Wish" Foundation of North Texas.

Mr. Adams is a graduate of the University of Texas. He and his wife Kelly are relocating to Southern California.

Anne Berkowitch is co-founder and CEO of SelectMinds, a leading provider of social recruiting and networking technology. SelectMinds’ applications enable organizations to leverage social connections to distribute jobs, source referrals, market their employment brand and engage corporate talent communities. Customers include leading organizations across Financial Services, High-Tech, Professional Services and other industries around the globe.

Previously, Anne was a management consultant with Booz Allen & Hamilton, in New York and London, focusing on growth strategies for financial, business services and consumer services clients. While at the firm, she was also very active in the recruitment and development of senior staff, experience that proved invaluable in the launch and growth of SelectMinds.

Anne has an MBA in finance from MIT's Sloan School of Management and a BS in Applied Math and Biology from Brown University.

Jim Boyle, who is based in Boston, directed all phases of John Hancock’s operations. The company’s core business areas include Life Insurance, Long-Term Care Insurance, Variable Annuities, 401(k) plans, Fixed Products, Mutual Funds, and John Hancock Financial Network. He also is a member of Manulife’s Executive and Management committees.

Egger launched the country’s first “community kitchen” in 1989 where food donated by hospitality businesses and farms is used to fuel a nationally recognized culinary arts job training program. Since opening in 1989, the Kitchen has produced more than 23 million meals and helped 800 men and women gain full time employment. In Washington, Egger was the founding Chair of both the Mayor’s Commission on Nutrition and Street Sense, Washington’s “homeless” newspaper. He was also the Co-Convener of the first Nonprofit Congress, held in Washington DC in 2006. Egger’s book on the non-profit sector, Begging for Change: The Dollars and Sense of Making Nonprofits Responsive, Efficient and Rewarding For All, was released in 2004 by HarperCollins. It received the 2005 McAdam Prize for “Best Nonprofit Management Book” by the Alliance for Nonprofit Management. Robert was included in the Non Profit Times list of the “50 Most Powerful and Influential” nonprofit leaders from 2006-2009.

Beth Ann is dedicated to every aspect of the employee and client experience and recognizes that the growth and attraction of top talent is critical to delivering exceptional client service. She believes that the way to truly offer integrated marketing as an agency is to build integrated teams from diverse backgrounds. During her two decades in the industry she has touched every aspect of marketing communications across consumer packaged goods, retail, finance, restaurant and technology companies. She is a strong advocate of insights-inspired marketing programs, and was a pioneer in strategic-planning research methodologies. In 2011, Beth Ann was named one of Ad Age's Women to Watch and a Women of the Year by the Dallas Business Journal. In 2012 she was honored by NAPW. She serves on numerous advisory boards including Google's Shopper Marketing board, the University of Texas Analytics Board, The PMA, and Downtown Dallas Inc. She is a member of the NY Metro Chapter of YPO. She also devotes considerable amount of time mentoring other female entrepreneurs. Beth Ann lives in Manhattan.

Eric Kraeutler is the leader of Morgan Lewis's Philadelphia Litigation Practice, and a member of the firm's Advisory Board. His practice focuses on trials and appeals involving complex commercial, intellectual property, and white collar criminal matters. Mr. Kraeutler's civil litigation practice has focused on intellectual property disputes, commercial disputes, and litigation relating to government investigations, and he has a broad background in government investigations, internal investigations, and white collar criminal defense.

Between 1984 and 1987, Mr. Kraeutler served in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, where he concentrated in the investigation and prosecution of complex business crimes. In the 1990s, as a Special Pennsylvania Deputy Attorney General, Mr. Kraeutler oversaw the indictment of Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Rolf Larsen and testified at the historic impeachment trial of Justice Larsen before the Pennsylvania Senate.

Mr. Kraeutler first heard about Anne Mahlum's bold vision for BoMF from Anne during an early morning run, and quickly became an early supporter of the organization. Prior to joining the BoMF Board, Mr. Kraeutler coordinated Morgan Lewis's provision of legal services to BoMF. In addition to the BoMF Board, Mr. Kraeutler is a board member of the Committee of Seventy (the Philadelphia region's preeminent political watchdog organization); a board member of The Chester Fund (supporting the Chester-Upland School of the Arts); and the former chairman of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Greater Delaware Valley Chapter.

Anne M. Mahlum is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Back on My Feet (BoMF).  After launching in Philadelphia in July 2007, the organization has expanded across the country. Anne has led the organization to grow to a staff of 45+ full-time professionals with thousands of volunteers and hundreds of Members.  Anne is responsible for the vision, strategy and national fundraising efforts for Back on My Feet as it expands across the country. It is Anne's responsibly to set the direction of the organization in order to help more people, help them better and help them more efficiently.  Under Anne's leadership, the organization has seen revenue growth of 92% from 2009-10, 32% from 2010-11 and 38% from 2011-12.  BoMF currently has a $6.5M operating budget.  Anne attended graduate school at American University where she obtained her Master’s Degree in Political Communications in 2003. 

Fred Penny has been with Bimbo Bakeries and its predecessors for 29 years. His career began in Kraft Bakery’s Finance function in the Northeast. In 1990, he was appointed Director of Strategic Planning and Productivity for Kraft Baking and from 1993 to 1997, he served as General Manager of the Intermountain Market Area in Denver. In 1997, he was appointed VP and General Manager, Northeast Market area for Entenmann’s and in 2007, he was appointed Executive VP of George Weston Bakeries, Inc. Penny received his MBA in Finance from New York University in and his B.S. in Business Administration from Long Island University.

A hospitality industry veteran, Mr. Sibley joined White Lodging in 2000 and is responsible for the operating results of all hotels in the management portfolio and the recruitment and development of all nearly 8,000 associates. Mr. Sibley currently oversees 158 hotels in 20 states, all affiliated with the industry's leading premium brands. He started with the company as the opening General Manager of the Indianapolis Marriott Downtown, and has also served as Regional Vice President of Operations and Senior Vice President of Operations/Eastern Division. Prior to joining White Lodging, He spent more than 17 years with Marriott International.

He received his business degree from Gettysburg College and is active in community engagement, currently serving as a member of the executive committee of Indianapolis Convention and Visitors Bureau. Mr. Sibley also serves on Residence Inn by Marriott’s Advisory Board, and is on the National Board of Directors for Back on My Feet.

Larry Solomon, COO, Human Resources for Accenture, was appointed as Chairman of the Board for Back on My Feet on Dec. 9th, 2009. During the 1990's Larry held a number of leadership positions in HR, including HR Director for the Americas-Government and Health Services business, Americas HR Lead, and HR Director for Global Geographic Services. He was promoted to partner in September 2000, and became the Managing Director for Global Geographic Services in 2004. He has held a COO position since 2008, and has occupied his current HR COO role since March of 2011.

Jay B. Shipowitz became Chairman of ACE Cash Express, Inc. (ACE) in October 2006, Chief Executive Officer in July 2004 and has served as the President and as a Director of the Company since January 2000.  Mr. Shipowitz served as the Company's Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer from May 1997 to January 2000. Prior to joining ACE, from July 1996 to May 1997, Mr. Shipowitz was the Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of USDATA Corporation, a software company located in Richardson, Texas. From June 1993 to July 1996, Mr. Shipowitz was the Vice President of Finance and Administration and Chief Financial Officer of Westinghouse Security Systems, Inc., a residential security company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. From 1987 to 1993, Mr. Shipowitz worked at Price Waterhouse in Baltimore, Maryland. Mr. Shipowitz worked at KPMG Peat Marwick in Greensboro, North Carolina from 1985 to 1987. Mr. Shipowitz currently serves as a director of the Financial Service Centers of America, Inc., the primary trade association pertaining to ACE’s business.  Mr. Shipowitz is on the Board of Advisors for the Love School of Business at Elon University and on the Dallas Advisory Board for Back on My Feet. Mr. Shipowitz holds an MBA from Southern Methodist University and a Bachelors of Science in Accounting from Guilford College.

Natalie Morales joined “Today” as a National Correspondent in February 2006 and was named Co-Host of the third hour of “Today” in March 2006. Morales also serves as a National Correspondent for all NBC News platforms including “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams,” Dateline NBC,” and MSNBC.

Prior to joining “Today,” Morales was an anchor and correspondent at MSNBC from March 2002 to February 2006. While working for “Today” and MSNBC, she has contributed to NBC News’ Emmy Award winning election coverage in 2004 and 2008, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s appointment, Pope Benedict XVI’s first visit to the U.S., and several major breaking news stories including the Minneapolis bridge collapse; Hurricane Katrina and the recovery efforts; the Tsunami disaster; the death of Pope John Paul II; the Battle for White House in 2004; Operation Iraqi Freedom; and the Columbia Shuttle explosion. She also has enjoyed being a part of NBC’s and the Today Shows Olympics coverage at the 2004 Summer games in Athens, as well as the Winter Olympics in Torino in 2006 and Vancouver in 2008. “Hispanic Magazine” named Morales as one of the “Top Hispanics to Watch” in 2005 and one of the “Top Trendsetters” of 2003.