Board of Directors

Stephen D. Ramsey is an Executive with Lockheed Martin Corporation, where he has supported our military in various executive management and legal roles with Lockheed Martin and IBM for 25 years. Prior to that, he worked as an attorney with Steptoe & Johnson in Washington, DC. Steve graduated from the University of Richmond in 1981 and the University of Virginia School of Law in 1984. As the son of a career Army officer, Steve was born on Fort Rucker, Alabama, and grew up on multiple military bases. Steve has served on numerous non-profit boards in the past, including Lourdes Hospital and the American Helicopter Society.

Steve Phillabaum is recognized as a prominent Veteran leader in the community.  He is an Executive at NFP and brings unique leadership capability to the technology, life sciences, government contracting and non profit sectors.  Steve also spent several years on active duty leading United States Sailors and Marines during Operation Iraqi Freedom, embarked in USS Bulkeley (DDG 84) and USS Typhoon (PC 5).  Immediately following active duty, Steve advanced through project management, engineering, and new product development positions with a world leader in the robotics and automation material handling industry.  He led business development teams that produced nationally ranked growth while developing new markets throughout the United States and internationally.   Serving and advising Veteran focused organizations are a passion for Steve’s continued “life of service.”

Steve is a United States Naval Academy graduate, NCAA Division 1 Water Polo athlete, and received his MBA from Saint Josephs’ Erivan K. Haub School of Business with a dual degree in Marketing and Management.

Cherie Arabia serves as Vice President of Product Experience Readiness, TPX Integration for Comcast Cable. In this role, she is a customer and employee champion driving product engagement throughout the organization. Cherie leads a team focused on end-to-end employee readiness and feedback platform for Comcast’s Xfinity products including its video, broadband, voice, home and automation services. In addition, her team includes a specialized group of product storytellers who share their experiences and expertise to engage, inform, and delight employees, partners, and customers leveraging the world-class product experience center and virtual environments.

Cherie is a proud daughter of a Vietnam Veteran and is passionate about our Veterans and supporting Veteran causes. An active civic leader, Cherie served for two terms as a Trustee for the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf; she served her final two years as an appointed leader on the Trustees’ Executive Committee. Cherie is now a Senior Advisor for Girls Inc. of Greater Philadelphia and Southern NJ, after eight years of service as a board member.

Cherie holds an MBA from the Villanova School of Business and her undergraduate degree from West Chester University.

MaCherie Dunbar, an Air Force retiree, has been a dedicated advocate for veterans and their families for the past 10 years. She began her career of lobbying and advocacy by serving as president of her Student Veterans of America chapter while earning a B.A. in Communication with a Minor in Military Security Studies. She has since led both a political campaign and two political action committees, worked for the US House of Representatives in PA-06, focusing on constituent services and stakeholder outreach, served on nonprofit boards and a service academy nomination committee, been a veteran service officer, and has lobbied at state, local, and federal government levels while working with national nonprofits and as part of independent consulting efforts. MaCherie currently resides in Washington D.C. where she continues her independent work advocating and lobbying for all who served, while also sitting on the Mayor’s Advisory Committee for LGBTQ Affairs. She has been a champion for the Veteran Multi-Service Center and its mission since her time spent working with PA-06 from 2019-2021, and looks forward to continue serving all veterans within VMC’s reach and beyond.

Joe LaCagnina just recently accepted a new position as the Senior Director of Real Estate (January 2024) for Weis Markets a Mid-Atlantic food retailer, based in Sunbury, PA.  Joe will lead a small team of talented individuals to maintain and enhance the current store fleet, as well as grow the company to serve more communities throughout the Mid-Atlantic.  Prior to Weis, Joe worked for The GIANT Company, another omnichannel grocer operating throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.   In his 21-year tenure at Giant, Joe led the design and format team for 2 years, and 19 years in real estate.   In his real estate role, Joe built growth strategies for the company and facilitated the development of new stores, expansions and acquisitions. In 2021, Joe was honored by the Philadelphia Business Journal as a Dealmaker Honoree for the real estate work he completed in Philadelphia.

Joe is also a strong supporter of our youths’ education and has been an active volunteer for Junior Achievement (JA) for over 10 years, teaching elementary students lessons about financial literacy and the importance of their community.

He graduated from Binghamton University (NY) with an MA in Retail Geography.  Joe lives in the Harrisburg area with his wife and two daughters.

After a 20 year career as a Police Officer for Philadelphia Housing Authority and 29 years at Fort Dix in the United States Army Reserve where he retired as a Sergeant Major, Rodney Little began serving as President/CEO of the consulting firm, RL Little Consulting, where he advises on managerial, policy, and security based strategies. As Co-Host of “The Board Room Meeting” on WWDB AM Talk Radio 860, Rodney lends this expertise to the general public, leading on-air discussions on topics related to business, politics, and social issues. Rodney is also involved in many local organizations and currently serves as the Commissioner of Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett’s Advisory Commission on African American Affairs, Board Member of the United States Military Academy Selection Panel, and President of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #106.

Marie Nahikian has a distinguished career as a community organizer and developer who has financed, built and developed more than 5,000 affordable homes and apartments in Washington, DC, New York and Philadelphia. Marie has worked in the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development under President Barack Obama. She served under the Mayors of Washington, DC (Hon. Walter Washington and Hon. Marion Barry), New York (Hon. David Dinkins) and, Philadelphia (Hon. Wilson Goode and Hon. Michael Nutter). Marie has provided leadership for such non-profit community development organizations as Habitat for Humanity, Queens Economic Development Corporation, Enterprise Foundation, Housing Works, DC Coalition for the Homeless and Adams Morgan Organization. Marie led organizing efforts in the District of Columbia’s Home Rule movement as well as housing for the homeless, anti-gentrification, the American Federation of Government Employees and the Building Trades Council. She was on the Board of Directors of the Pacifica Foundation and the Homeless Assistance Fund; She worked with National Public Radio and Harper’s Magazine as well as several community-based newspapers. Marie is a graduate of the University of North Carolina in Greensboro and attended the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government.

Jonathan Saidel is a partner at Rosen Law where he specializes in class action litigation, real estate consulting and represents individuals and corporations with large tax liabilities before cities, states, and the federal government. Jonathan previously served as the City Controller of Philadelphia where he won local and national plaudits for reforming and professionalizing the Controller’s Office. He is lauded for his dedication during that time to fiscal discipline along with his proposals of innovative ideas which contributed to growth within the city of Philadelphia. His work culminated in the publication of the widely praised book, “Philadelphia: A New Urban Direction,” which is still used as a guidepost for effective government and corporate governance and is required reading in many colleges and universities.

As Head of Wealth Management at Janney, John Yackel is responsible for the strategic direction and oversight of Janney’s comprehensive advice and solutions platform that supports the Firm’s Financial Advisors in providing clients a personalized, goals-based wealth management experience. He is also a member of Janney’s Executive Leadership Team.

John has 30 years of experience in financial services, wealth management and technology as an accomplished executive and team leader. He brings to Janney a deep understanding of advisory, investment, insurance, trust, lending, retirement, and planning solutions.

He has worked with financial advisors, insurance companies, private banks, family offices, trust companies, institutional money management firms, and CPA firms. He has held leadership roles at various platform and solution providers, including SEI, Envestnet, Fortigent, and Prudential.

John is a previous board member of the ABA National Wealth and Trust Conference, a Board Member and co-founder of LibertyFi, a previous contributor to Stonier School of Banking, and an Advisory Board Member for the Wealth Advisory Growth Network (WAGN). He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Bucknell University.

Ed is a Gulf War era U.S. Navy Veteran and current Army National Guard Judge Advocate Officer.  He has almost two decades of experience as a labor and employment attorney having worked at Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP in Philadelphia and as in-house labor and employment counsel at The Hershey Company and Wawa, Inc., where he has served as Assistant General Counsel for the past ten years.  Ed earned his BA from The College of New Jersey and his JD from Rutgers University.  Ed has served on various non-profit Boards including Liberty USO and the Chester County Chamber of Commerce Foundation.