Our Board of Directors

Friends Life Care is a nonprofit 501(c)3 charitable organization governed by a volunteer board of directors — the majority of whom must be members of the Religious Society of Friends “Quakers”*.

The Friends Life Care Partners board consists of up to 13 individuals. These board members, and the boards of the Friends Life Care Partners subsidiaries — Friends Life Care, Intervention Associates and Friends Life Care Consultants — are appointed at an annual meeting. Additionally, the board of directors may occasionally appoint one or more emeritus directors.

Below, please find more information on the board members serving Friends Life Care Partners and its subsidiaries:

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Samuel T. Barnett has spent over 30 years consulting and building professional services businesses. He founded what was to become one of the leading industry-focused consulting and training companies in the Life Sciences industry. Sam led the Life Sciences consulting practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers and subsequently at IBM and retired from IBM/PWC several years ago.  Sam remains active as an Independent Consultant and serves as a director for several public, private, and non-profit organizations. Sam is a recognized speaker across the industry, and has published frequently in industry periodicals. He received his Bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University, and both his Masters and Doctorate degrees from Temple University.

Maceo N. Davis* has more than 30 years of experience in investments and public service. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics from Lincoln University and a Master of Business Administration in finance/international business from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. His career includes global banking with Citibank, public service with the City of Philadelphia and entrepreneurial experience in trade and investment for projects in the Middle East and Africa. Maceo spent most of his career as a stock and bond trader. In 2005, he established Quoin Capital, where he serves as President. Located in Philadelphia, Quoin is an institutional financial services firm. Maceo has served on the boards of various Friends charities and organizations.

Richard R. Fernandez is a Minister of the United Church of Christ and serves as a consultant to nonprofit organizations and religious congregations. He has been the Executive Director of three interfaith/ecumenical organizations focused on public policy advocacy and service programs. In 2002, Dick concluded 21 years as the Executive Director of the Northwest Interfaith Movement in Philadelphia. He has also served on nearly two dozen nonprofit boards, chairing six of them. He is a founding member of three of these organizations.

Virginia Frantz* is President and CEO of Montgomery County Foundation, Inc. She has spent 20 years of her career overseeing the development and growth of human services organizations. Her leadership roles have included strategic planning, management and revenue enhancement. She is a member of the Council on Foundations, of Philanthropy Network, and a board member of The Montgomery County Estate Planning Council, the Montgomery Bar Foundation and the Montgomery Bar Association Community Task Force.

Anne B. Hagele has been active with a wide variety of non-profit organizations for the last 30 years. These range from grassroots organizations (Welfare Rights Organization) to cultural institutions (Wagner Free Institute of Science) and private foundations (Emergency Aid of Pennsylvania Foundation). Until 2000, she was Executive Director of Philadelphia Senior Center, the largest of its kind in Pennsylvania. Most recently she was a founding member of an all-volunteer, membership organization to help older residents remain living in East Falls for as long as possible. She has an undergraduate degree from Goucher College and a Master’s degree from Bryn Mawr College.

Ron D. Johnson is the former Principal Partner at Johnson, Fenner, & Levy — a human resources consulting firm in Villanova, Pennsylvania.  Prior to this, he held managerial positions at P.T. Sharples, Pennwalt Chemicals, A.E. Staley Manufacturing, American Express and GTE.  He has worked with corporate officers and line management as a consultant to resolve human resources and organizational issues; particularly in areas of executive coaching, supervisory/management development, organizational change and succession planning.  Ron was formerly President of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Institute of Management Consultants and is also past President of the Central Illinois chapter of the American Society for Training and Development. He holds an MBA from the University of Illinois.

Philip Jones*, a graduate of Rice University in Houston, TX, spent two years in the Peace Corps in Brazil in the late 1960s. On returning to the US, he earned a Master of Arts in teaching degree at Washington University, St. Louis, and taught in a public high school there. In 1972, he moved to Pennsylvania, and taught middle school science for eight years at Friends Select School. For the next 21 years, he wrote software documentation, most of that time in the employ of Towers Perrin (now Willis Towers Watson). Philip retired in 2009.  He is a member of Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting, where he also works part-time as the meeting secretary.

Marguerite B. Knysh has been a Registered Nurse for over 30 years, caring first for critically ill patients in the ICU. Meg then became a hospital-based Case Manager, which included arranging and authorizing home care services and planning patient’s discharges. She also did utilization review, which included obtaining authorization for payments for in-and-outpatient medical services. From there, Meg became a Patient Care Advocate, helping patients navigate through the health care system; including obtaining prior authorization of treatments and the appeal of denied services. Currently, Meg works for a law firm as a Legal Nurse Consultant reviewing cases for medical negligence. She was the Executive Director of her family foundation for 16 years. She attended both Drexel University and Widener Law School.

Stephen R. La Pierre has served the senior living market for over 30 years. He consulted with and directed operations at CCRCs, skilled nursing facilities and hospital-based senior outreach programs. During his time as a long-term care insurance executive, Steve worked closely with insurance regulators and served as Secretary to multiple insurance companies’ Boards of Directors. He has opened new skilled nursing facilities, and worked together with staff, residents, families and regulators to effectively lead campuses through ownership transitions. Steve is currently serving as Executive Director for Acts-Retirement Life Communities at The Evergreens, a newly affiliated CCRC campus in New Jersey. He received his MBA from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Paul J. Manz is the Chair of the Friends Life Care Partners board.  He is also Managing Partner of Vydahl, LLC — a health care precision medicine analytics firm focused on investment and consulting opportunities.  Paul also serves as the President of the firm, Health Care Strategic Solutions, Inc. He is the former Vice President of provider contracting & reimbursement for Independence Blue Cross. Paul has extensive experience in the health insurance industry, having held leadership positions at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Connecticut, John Hancock Health Plan and Anthem, among others. Paul earned his Master of Business Administration in Health Care Management from Temple University and his Bachelor of Science from Villanova University.

Dianne E. Reed* is a Principal at reedgroup LLC, a marketing research and management consulting firm based in Philadelphia. She previously served as a university Professor, an Executive Director of three nonprofit organizations, as a Senior Manager in the national public sector practice at KPMG, and as Budget Director of the City of Philadelphia. She serves as a member of the finance committee of Friends Life Care Partners and of Germantown Friends School, and serves as chair of the finance committee of Friends Center City anad of the Cosmopolitan Club. A graduate of UCLA, she holds a doctorate from Stanford University and a Master of Government Administration from the Fels Center, University of Pennsylvania.

Jeannette Sanders has more than 25 years of experience serving the pharmaceutical industry with expertise in brand marketing for pre-launch and inline products, customer segment marketing, global pricing and tendering, market access, product forecasting, planning and analysis.  For the majority of her career, Jeannette has been at Merck & Company where her responsibilities have grown and expanded over time as she successfully honed skills in business/marketing, market access, customer focus, interpersonal and communication skills, strategic thinking, analytics, negotiation as well as leadership skills. Jeannette received her Bachelor’s degree from The Pennsylvania State University and her MBA from New York University.

Scott Townsley has over 30 years’ experience in the senior care field.  He was managing Principal of Third Age, Inc. – one of the largest consulting and strategy firms serving senior living organizations.  He was also a Principal in the CliftonLarsonAllen senior living practice for 7 years.  After that, Scott formed Trilogy Consulting.  He has led hundreds of client assignments for planning, market analysis, affiliations/mergers, project development and executive search. He formerly served on the faculty of the University of Maryland Baltimore County’s Erickson School and co-founded their Center for Innovation, a 501(c)(3) organization that serves as the sponsor for The Green House Project.  Scott is a frequent speaker at national and state conferences.  He received a Bachelor’s degree from Drexel University and Juris Doctorate from Villanova University.

Howard A. Trauger is Managing Director, Carnegie Investment Counsel – Philadelphia, whose total assets under management (AUM) exceed $1 Billion. Howard provides advisory services to a select group of pension funds, endowments, foundations and private asset clients totaling $100 million AUM. His 30 years in the investment business encompasses a variety of roles with banking and asset management firms, including research analysis and portfolio management. At PNC Bank he was portfolio manager for $120 million of personal trust assets and co-manager of $140 million in common trust fund assets. He has acted as merger and acquisition advisor to the Rohm & Haas Company acquisition program. Howard is the current president of The Bond Club of Philadelphia and is an active member of various charitable and professional organizations in Philadelphia.

Sam Swansen* was a founding Director of Friends Life Care in 1990.  He served as Board Chair for many of the organization’s earlier years before taking a hiatus in 2006 and returning several years later as a board member.  Sam was a Partner for 20 years at Dechert, Price and Rhoads — a major Philadelphia law firm with one of the nation’s largest trust and estate practices. His professional affiliations include admittance to the Bar of the United States and Pennsylvania Supreme Courts as well as the American Bar Association and state, regional and local Bar Associations.  In addition, he founded a law firm in 1994 to bring innovative estate planning services to individuals, families and small businesses.  Sam has served as General Counsel to the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of Friends. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the University of Wisconsin Law School.

*This individual is either a member or an active attender of the Religious Society of Friends (Quaker) Meeting.