James D. Chiafullo is a Business Group Director at Cohen & Grigsby where he focuses on corporate, securities, commercial finance and real estate law.  Earlier in his career, he spent ten years as General Partner with Thorp, Reed & Armstrong and as in house counsel for Gulf Oil in Pittsburgh and Houston, Texas.  He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America for corporate mergers and acquisitions and business.  He has a BA in Economics from the University of Pittsburgh and a JD from the University of Pittsburgh Law School.  Jim is a Member of the Hearing Committee serving the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.  He is also a member of the boards of PDG Environmental, Inc., the Western Pennsylvania Epilepsy Foundation and the Community Bank Board of First National Bank of Pennsylvania.

Rachel Allen is the general counsel for ALung Technologies, Inc. Rachel was formerly a Partner with Jones, Day where she practiced in the areas of private equity, mergers and acquisitions, general corporate, transactional, securities law, and corporate counseling. She has extensive experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestiture activity, corporate restructurings, capital formations, joint ventures, strategic alliances, and venture capital transactions. Rachel's experience in these areas includes extensive work in certain highly regulated industries such as energy and health care. Prior to rejoining Jones Day, she served as Vice President, General Counsel and New Business Development Officer for DQE Enterprises, an affiliate of DQE, Inc. which invested in and developed businesses in the energy services and technologies and electronic commerce industries. Rachel is listed in Chambers USA, the guide to America's leading lawyers for business. She serves and has served on a number of boards, including H Power Corp. , The Women's Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh, Neighborhood Legal Services, Alpha Chi Omega Foundation, and Brother's Brother Foundation. In addition, Rachel served as chairperson of the Three Rivers Venture Fair in 2005.

Dr. Ashar, led the initiative for NACD to establish the NACD Three Rivers Chapter, serving the needs of the boards and providing cutting edge education programs for directors, and was elected as its founding President and CEO. She attained a Certificate of Director Education from NACD and is involved with its education initiative, which researches and revamps the curriculum needs for director education to keep up with the current rapidly changing environment in Corporate Governance. Within the larger community, Dr. Ashar has participated and engaged in programs associated with NACD, The Governance Institute and Institute for Healthcare Improvement. She served on the Advisory Council of Strong Women and Strong Girls’ citywide initiative and as a Marketing Director for the Women’s Small Business Association in Pittsburgh. She has developed the syllabus and curriculum for Corporate Governance at Carnegie Mellon’s H. John Heinz lll School of Public Policy and Management Institute & Institute for Social Innovation and has led an award-winning project at the Heinz School’s Institute for Social Innovation while managing research projects in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience at Carnegie Mellon University. Rand Center for Corporate Ethics and Governance invited Dr. Ashar to participate in the think tank session, “Directors as Guardians of Compliance and Ethics Within the Corporate Citadel.” Dr. Ashar serves as a trustee of Excela Health System – a complex health care system with multiple for-profit sub-entities – and served as Chair of the CEO Search Committee and the ad-hoc Compensation Committee. She currently serves as the Vice Chair for Nominating and Governance Committee and is a member of the Strategic Planning Committee for the health care System. 

Dr. Ashar had a large, clinical anesthesiology practice in Mumbai (Bombay), India. As a successful entrepreneur, she founded BirthMatters, an organization with a mission of helping families deal with every aspect of pregnancy and childbirth as well as introducing early child rearing practices. The experience and challenges of raising a profoundly gifted son and dealing with his educational needs led Dr. Ashar to become a passionate advocate for the gifted and talented. She has been active with the Davidson Institute for the Talented and Gifted and believes that the development of talent and management of strategic human capital is key to success in the global economy. In her organizational work, Dr. Ashar uses insights derived from the study of medicine, science, education and business as well as from the experience of bridging two cultures - American and Indian - to build complex, non-conventional solutions to organizational challenges. She is energetic, imaginative and confident in the face of an unpredictable, emergent world along with a natural inclination to connect with people. She has unusual comfort with ambiguity and has a predisposition towards cognitive playfulness and intellectual curiosity. Dr. Ashar earned her MBA from the University of Colorado and has attained a diploma in Entrepreneurship for Life Sciences Technology from UPMC. She earned her MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) and MD from KEM Hospital and University of Mumbai’s Seth G.S. Medical College. She is a Diplomate of the National Board in Anesthesiology (India).

A member of Law Review at Duquesne Law School, Fulbright Lecturer and Guest Scholar at the Brookings Institution, Ms. Baldwin was a trial judge in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas for 16 years before being appointed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court by Governor Rendell. A distinguished public servant, she previously served as Attorney-in-Charge and Deputy Attorney General, Western Regional Office of Attorney General, Bureau of Consumer Protection. Ms. Baldwin is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Pennsylvania State University, which she chaired from 2004-2007 and a director emerita of the Duquesne University's Board of Directors. She currently chairs the Association of Governing Boards of Colleges and Universities (AGB) in Washington, DC and is a member of the Board of Directors of Koppers Holdings Inc. in Pittsburgh. Ms. Baldwin was a professor at Duquesne University School of Law and has lectured and taught extensively both in the United States and internationally and was honored with the Athena Award in 2007.

James J. Byrne is the Executive Director of the Beard Institute and The Executive Professor in Residence at the Palumbo-Donahue School of Business at Duquesne University. He continues to serve as Chairman of Byrne Technology Partners, Ltd., founded in April 1995. The firm provides interim management at the CEO and senior executive level for technology companies. The services include turnaround, valuation improvement and exit strategies. In addition, Mr. Byrne will assist his clients by assuming management control of their investments and consequently became Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of OpenConnect, a worldwide software company, from 1999 until 2001. From April 1990 to April 1995, Byrne was President of Harris Adacom Corporation, which was formed from the 1990 merger between the Data Communications Division of Harris Corporation and Adacom Inc. From December 1986 to April 1990, he served as Vice President and General Manager of the Data Communications Division of Harris Corporation. Previous to Harris, Byrne was Senior Vice President of United Technologies’ Semiconductor Operations and President of the North America Group of Mohawk Data Sciences. Mr. Byrne began his technology career with General Electric, where he served in a number of capacities, including District Manager of the New York Operations. Mr. Byrne currently serves on the Board of Directors of Lennox International Inc., an industry-leading provider of residential and commercial air conditioning and heating systems, a NYSE listed company. At Lennox, Mr. Byrne chairs the Compensation and Human Resources Committee and in that capacity served as Chairman of the CEO Selection Committee in 2007. Byrne has served on boards of three American public companies. Internationally, he served on corporate boards in Mexico, Hong Kong, Germany, France, Israel and the United Kingdom. In addition, he served as a board member of the American Electronics Association (AEA) and was Chairman of AEA’s Texas Council. Byrne was a founder and board member of the Microelectronics and Computer Corporation (MCC), a consortium, approved by the Department of Justice, of major American corporations collaborating in advanced research and development and was also a member of the Advisory Council of the University of Texas (UTD) School of Engineering and Computer Sciences. Mr. Byrne is a Fellow and a founding board member of the Legacy Center for Public Policy and periodically lectures at leading universities around the country on issues of technology and corporate strategy.

Bill Flanagan is the Executive Vice President-Corporate Relations for the Allegheny Conference on Community Development and its affiliated regional development organizations: The Pennsylvania Economy League of Southwestern Pennsylvania LLC, the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance and the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce. He is responsible for all investor relations, including fundraising, membership services and educational programming. He is also the host of “Our Region’s Business” on WPXI-TV, WJAC-TV, WTOV-TV and the Pittsburgh Cable News Channel (PCNC), a program the Conference produces in partnership with Cox Television. Earlier, he spent 20 years as a broadcast reporter, much of it as Money Editor of KDKA-TV. He has a BS, Speech from Northwestern University and a Masters in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

William H. Hernandez is the retired Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of PPG Industries, Inc. He currently serves on the boards of Albemarle Corporation; BlackBox Corporation; Eastman Kodak, where he chairs the Finance Committee; and USG Corporation, where he chairs the Audit Committee. He previously served on the board of Pentair Corporation. Mr. Hernandez was recognized by Institutional Investor Magazine for four years as Best CFO in the Chemical industry, and by Chemical Week magazine as CFO of the Year. He is a Certified Management Accountant, and member of the Institute of Management Accountants and the Financial Executives Institute. He has published in Management Accounting Magazine and The Harvard Business Review. He received his Bachelor in Economics degree with majors in Finance and Accounting from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, and his MBA degree from Harvard University with concentrations in Finance and Control. Prior to PPG, Mr. Hernandez had finance, management, operational, or executive positions at the Ford Motor Company and BorgWarner Corporation.

Derya A. Jacobs is Vice Provost for Research and Graduate Study at Robert Morris University. Her experience include accreditations, research and grant administration, recruitment and retention, outcomes assessment, program and curriculum development, international programs, distance education, statewide live televised programs, online programs, alumni relations, fundraising, corporate and community relations, technology, strategic planning and budgeting, diversity, labor relations, marketing and public relations.

Dr. Jacobs joined Robert Morris University in 2001 as the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs. Her responsibilities included research, outcomes assessment, communications skills program, honors program, international programs and the academic media center. During 2002-2011, she served as the Dean of the School of Business. As the Dean, Dr. Jacobs successfully led RMU’s School of Business to achieve AACSB Initial Accreditation in Spring 2009. Following the AACSB initial accreditation, Dr. Jacobs led the faculty and students in the design of the state-of-the-art new business building housing the PNC Trading Center, U.S. Steel Videoconference and Technology Resource Center and the Allegheny Technologies Center. Dr. Jacobs collaborated with RMU’s Institutional Advancement and participated in the capital campaign which resulted in major gifts for the new business building, including the successful grant proposals for the PNC Foundation, U.S. Steel and Allegheny Technology. The new building opened for classes in Fall 2011.

Prior to joining Robert Morris University in 2001, Dr. Jacobs worked at Old Dominion University (ODU) in Norfolk, Virginia. During her eleven-year tenure at ODU, she held various positions including Associate Dean and Director of Engineering Fundamentals Division of the Batten College of Engineering and Technology, Interim Regional Director for Commonwealth Graduate Engineering Program, Acting Chair in the Department of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering, and as the Graduate Program Director for master’s and doctorate programs in the Department of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering. Prior to ODU, Dr. Jacobs worked as a Research Engineer at Missouri Enterprise and the Center for Technology Transfer and Economic Development in Rolla, Missouri.

During her academic career, Dr. Jacobs secured various research grants from major funding agencies. These agencies include NASA Langley Research Center, National Science Foundation, Lockheed Martin, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Laboratory, U.S. Army, Virginia State Council for Higher Education, and American Red Cross. She also secured funds to develop and conduct summer camps for underprivileged K-12 minority students. She authored or co-authored over sixty refereed journal/proceeding articles, nine refereed abstracts, and twenty-five technical reports as a result of her research activities.

Dr. Jacobs is a certified mentor by the AACSB International and she serves on the AACSB Initial or Maintenance Accreditation peer review teams. She is currently the President of the Middle Atlantic Association of Colleges of Business Administration. She serves on the Board for the National Association of Corporate Directors-Three River Chapter and on the Board of Directors for Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management.

In the past, she served as a judge on the 2005 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards Committee and the Girl Scouts Women and Girls of Distinction Awards Committee in Pittsburgh, PA. She was a member of the Board of Directors for the American Society of Engineering Management, Engineering Management Advisory Board at Missouri University of Science and Technology, and Board of Directors for the Family House in Pittsburgh. Dr. Jacobs also served as the President of the American Society for Engineering Management, and the secretary of the INFORMS Richmond/Tidewater Chapter Management.

She has a B.S. in Computer Science, M.S. and Ph.D. in Engineering Management from Missouri University of Science and Technology (formerly known as the University of Missouri-Rolla).

Bob Krizner is the Managing Partner of the Pittsburgh office of KPMG. He serves as an Audit Partner, primarily serving public companies ranging from local to global organizations. He has also served for several years in KPMG’s Advisory practice where he specialized in providing risk management services throughout the U.S. Bob worked in both the New York and Chicago offices of KPMG before returning to Pittsburgh in 2005. He has served as a National Instructor for KPMG technical trainings and acts as moderator for the semi-annual KPMG Audit Committee Institute Roundtables. Bob is a member of the boards of trustees of the Pittsburgh Ballet, the Corporate Circles Board of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, the Allegheny Conference Board, and the Pittsburgh United Way.

Sarah recently moved to Pittsburgh as a Principal in the Board Practice of Boyden, a global executive search firm with more than 70 offices in 40 countries. Previously, she has conducted board director search and governance consulting projects as a Senior Associate, Executive Director and Partner with two New York-based search firms, Spencer Stuart and Boardroom Consultants. During her career, her work has resulted in more than 300 director placements for public, private and nonprofit organizations, about one-third of which were for diversity candidates. She has also consulted with clients on corporate governance issues including board evaluation, management succession and board effectiveness. In addition to her board work, she has managed selected recruiting assignments for CEOs, CFOs, General Counsels, and senior human resources, investor relations and corporate communications professionals. She has a BA from Colorado College and also studied at the University of London’s Goldsmith’s College. She is a member of the Private Business Advisory Board at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Kelly Szejko (Shako) has been a respected presence in the region’s business community for more than two decades. With a gift for growing organizations, managing prospects and building expansive networks of volunteers, Kelly has parlayed her experience as an accountant and corporate controller into leadership roles in numerous non-profit business associations.

Kelly’s dedication to the region’s economic vitality, her ability to capitalize on untapped opportunities and the talented consortium of professionals that she has amassed are invaluable assets to western Pennsylvania aand the organizations for which she serves.

Most recently, Kelly was named the Executive Director of the National Association of Corporate Directors Three Rivers Chapter [NACD3R], January, 2012. NACD3R is a non-profit membership organization focused on promoting good corporate governance practices in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincinnati & Buffalo.

Membership in the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) provides directors and governance professionals outside of the boardroom with a forum to deepen their knowledge of leading practices, discover emerging governance trends and broaden their peer-to-peer networks.

Kelly also serves as President of the Pittsburgh Venture Capital Association [PVCA], an association that advocates on behalf of the investment community, and is the Executive Director of the Association for Corporate Growth [ACG], Pittsburgh Chapter, a trade association that fosters corporate growth through mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures, and is the Executive Director of the Turnaround Management Association (TMA), the only international non-profit association dedicated to corporate renewal and turnaround management.

Under her leadership, all the organizations have experienced impressive gains in membership, outreach and impact.

She attended the University of Pittsburgh and resides in South Fayette with her husband and two children.

Lou Testoni recently retired as Managing Partner of the Lake Erie Market of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), a $200 million professional services regional practice comprised of the PwC offices in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Buffalo, and Rochester. During his tenure with PwC, Lou served in numerous leadership roles, including National Leader for the Firm's Midcap Client Practice and the Pittsburgh Entrepreneurial Advisory Services Practice Leader. He was a long-standing member of the firm's US Extended Leadership Team, and he spent two years in the New York office as a member of the National Accounting and SEC Directorates.

Lou has served private and public sector companies in the manufacturing, metals, oil and gas, mining, media, distribution, retail and technology market segments. He has deep knowledge and understanding of organizational and financial structures that include investments through debt and equity private placements, venture capital and private equity firms, and companies seeking initial and secondary public offerings, highly leveraged debt financings, and evaluating business acquisitions and dispositions.

Lou’s current business activities include sitting on the Board of Advisors of ABARTA, Inc., business consulting with growth oriented companies, and as an external professional educator, coach and mentor.

Lou currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of the Carnegie Library System of Pittsburgh, and sits on the boards of the Three Rivers Chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors, the National Epilepsy Foundation, the Laurel Highlands Council of the Boy Scouts of America, and Venture Outdoors.