THE JAMES A. FINNEGAN FELLOWSHIP FOUNDATION
PROUDLY PROVIDING SUMMER INTERNSHIPS FOR PENNSYLVANIA'S FUTURE LEADERS
Gerald Lawrence, Jr., Esq.
President
Mr. Lawrence is an attorney sought after by clients for a range of complex litigation matters in the areas of healthcare and investor litigation. He is a shareholder at Lowey Dannenberg PC and the firm’s chief operating officer. Mr. Lawrence represents health benefits plan providers in antitrust litigation and has recovered over a billion dollars on their behalf. He also represents investors in financial services recovery litigation involving antitrust, commodities fraud, and RICO claims.
He has a long history of political and community involvement. He has served two terms on the Democratic National Committee, has five times served as a Delegate to the Democratic National Convention, including in 2020, and served as legal counsel to and Caucus Chairman of the Pennsylvania Democratic State Committee. Mr. Lawrence has twice served in the Electoral College, including as one of Pennsylvania’s twenty electors in 2020
By appointment of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, he served two terms, including as Chairman, on the Pennsylvania Board of Law Examiners and also served two terms, including as Vice-Chairman, on the Disciplinary Board which regulates the conduct of Pennsylvania’s attorneys. He served several terms on the Supreme Court’s Investment Advisory Board which coordinates investment policy.
Mr. Lawrence serves on several nonprofit boards.
Joseph Powers
Vice President
Joseph R. Powers recently retired from Pennsylvania state government after 37 years of service. Mr. Powers most recently served for six years as the Executive Deputy Secretary in the Department of Environmental Protection. In that role, he oversaw each of the other deputies and had direct oversight of the legislative and communications offices. From 1987 to 1993, Mr. Powers served as Chief of Staff to the Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania. In that role, he directed the Lt. Governor's staff and helped to oversee the Pennsylvania Energy Office and the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.
Mr. Powers held a variety of positions in the Pennsylvania legislature. While working in the State House, he served at various times as Director of House Intergovernmental Relations, Chief of Staff to the House Democratic Policy Chair, and Director of the Office of Member Services. Earlier in his career, Mr. Powers worked in the Pennsylvania State Senate. Over a period of 14 years, he served as Director of the Military Affairs and Aeronautics Committee, the Consumer Protection Committee, the Labor and Industry Committee, and the Community and Economic Development Committee.
Mr. Powers has also been the campaign manager for three statewide political races and several legislative and local races. He has taught Political Science classes at St. Joseph's University, Dickinson and Penn State Harrisburg. He was also a Legislative Fellow at Millersville University. Mr. Powers served for a number of years as the Chairman of the Marketing Research Committee for the Capitol Region United Way. He is a graduate of St. Joseph's University.
Mr. Powers lives outside of Harrisburg and is married with two children. He was named to the Finnegan Foundation Board in July of this year.
Julia E. Trimarchi Cuccaro, Esq.
Secretary
Julia E. Trimarchi Cuccaro is a practicing attorney in the state of Pennsylvania since 1986. She received her juris doctorate from Duquesne University in 1986. She graduated from St. Mary's College at Notre Dame, Indiana in 1982. Currently, she serves on the boards of First Commonwealth Financial Corporation and First Commonwealth Bank (six billion dollars in total assets, headquartered in Indiana County Pennsylvania), Seton Hill University in Greensburg PA. The Kiski School, an all boys boarding school in Saltsburg, PA, and the Indiana County Board of View. She was elected to serve on the board of the Finnegan Foundation in the spring of 2009. Her father, E. James Trimarchi, served as Secretary of the Commonwealth under the late Pennsylvania Governor David L Lawrence and was a friend and admirer of James A. Finnegan.
Kathryn Speaker MacNett, Esq.
Treasurer
Kathy Speaker MacNett, Esq., is a Managing member of the law firm of SkarlatosZonarich LLC, who focuses her practice on management-side labor relations, employment law and related legislative and regulatory developments. Her practice combines preventive approaches to labor relation matters and representation of employers before federal and state administrative agencies and courts. She is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court; the Pennsylvania Supreme Court; and the Federal Third Circuit, U.S. Middle and Eastern District Pennsylvania Courts.
Ms. MacNett utilizes her practical knowledge of the legislative, executive and judicial branches of state government and law to gain cost effective results for her clients. She represents public and private sector employers in a wide range of labor and employment law matters; wage and hour matter, including workers' and unemployment compensation proceedings; defense of labor/employment lawsuits; collective bargaining negotiations; settlement agreements; restrictive covenants; prevailing wage disputes; discrimination complaints; unfair labor practices; union organizational defenses; strikes; injunction and contempt proceedings; and relative legislative and regulatory issues.
She is a frequent speaker on labor and employment law topics. Ms. MacNett is a contributing author for BNA's publications on The Fair Labor Standards Act; the Pennsylvania section of Wage & Hour Laws, A State-by-State Survey; and The Family and Medical Leave Act, and the Pennsylvania Chamber's Model Policies and Forms for Pennsylvania Employers. Ms. MacNett is a member of the American Bar Association's Committee on Federal Labor Standards Legislation and has made presentations to that Sub-Committee. She is a long-standing board member of the James A. Finnegan Fellowship Foundation and the Cathedral Consolidated School Board. She also was a delegate for the Fall 2006 People to People program for labor lawyers in China.
David G. Argall
Board Member
Senator David Argall was elected to represent the 20th Senatorial District (including all of Schuylkill County and parts of Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Monroe and Northampton Counties) in the Pennsylvania State Senate in March 2009.
Before his election to the Senate, Senator Argall served 24 years as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. He was a member of the House leadership, serving terms as Whip, Appropriations Committee Chairman and Caucus Chairman.
Senator Argall earned a bachelor's degree in political science and international studies from Lycoming College and a master's degree in American Studies at Penn State's Harrisburg campus. In 2006, Senator Argall earned his Ph.D. in public administration from Penn State. His doctoral dissertation reviewed the benefits and drawbacks of Pennsylvania's tax free "Keystone Opportunity Zones" for economic development. Senator Argall lives in Rush Township with his wife, Beth, and their children, A.J. and Elise.
Timothy Briggs, Esq.
Board Member
Representative Tim Briggs was elected to represent the 149th Legislative District (Montgomery County) in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in November 2008.
Public service and community involvement have been priorities for Tim throughout his career. Before serving in the House, Tim served as an advisor to County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel and state Sen. Connie Williams.
Tim is a graduate of West Chester University, where he received a degree in Political Science. At 30 he returned to school and, while still working full-time, fulfilled a personal goal of obtaining his law degree from Temple University School of Law. He joined the law firm Hamburg, Rubin, Mullin, Maxwell & Lupin as an associate in January 2008. Tim and his wife, Robyn, live with their four young children, Emily, Jack, Alexandra and Morrison, in Upper Merion Township.
Jaret A. Gibbons, Esq.
Board Member
Representative Gibbons was elected to represent the 10th Legislative District (including parts of Lawrence, Beaver, and Butler Counties) in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 2006. Before his election to the state House, he worked with local government, a state senator, and several of law firms in the greater Pittsburgh area. He is also a 2001 Finnegan Foundation alumni. Rep. Gibbons earned his bachelor's degree in political science and business administration from Duquesne University and graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, where he received his Juris Doctorate and Certificate in Comparative and International Law. During that time, he served as editor-in-chief of the legal journal the Pittsburgh Tax Review. Rep. Gibbons resides in Franklin Township, Beaver County with his wife Jennifer, daughter Annabella, and their two coonhound dogs, Bentley and Max.
Andrew M. McCloskey
Board Member
Mr. McCloskey is the Vice President of the McCloskey Financial Group, a boutique wealth management practice located in West Conshohocken, PA. In his capacity as financial advisor, he assists his clients with comprehensive wealth management solutions. He serves in an investment advisory capacity to several Philadelphia based non-profit organizations. He is a 1992 graduate of the University of Notre Dame with a B.S. in Government. Mr. McCloskey has served on the Finnegan Foundation's Board of Directors since 2007.
Debra K. Wallet, Esq.
Board Member
Debra K. Wallet has served on the Board of the Finnegan Foundation since 1986. She maintains an office for the general practice of law that emphasizes legal services in the areas of social security disability, wills and estates, elder law, employment arbitration, and fact finding. She serves as a hearing officer for State administrative agencies.
Ms. Wallet is a graduate of Gettysburg College (B.A., double major: Mathematics and Political Science, 1973) and of the Dickinson School of Law, Carlisle, (1976). She is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, the United States District Courts for the Middle and Eastern Districts of Pennsylvania, and all of the Pennsylvania state courts. She is Past-President of the James S. Bowman American Inn of Court, a professional organization dedicated to ethics, civility, and professionalism in the practice of law, and remains active in this organization.
An active member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association's Legal Services to Persons with Disabilities Committee for a number of years, Ms. Wallet is the immediate past Chair.
A native of Camp Hill and a graduate of Cumberland Valley High School, Ms. Wallet lives in Mechanicsburg, Pa.
Richard J. Welsh, Esq.
Board Member
Jane Woodside, Esq.
Board Member
Jane F. Woodside graduated from Dickinson College in 1968 and received a Juris Doctor's degree from Dickinson School of Law in 1971. She worked for 25 years on the Pa. State Senate Republican Legal Staff dealing with legislation and parliamentary matters. She is active in her community of Millersburg and is currently serving on the borough's Planning Commission.
Eric Fillman, Esq.
Board Member
Eric Fillman is a graduate of Philadelphia’s Central High School and LaSalle University (B.A. in Political Science, 1984). In 1984 he moved to Central Pennsylvania to pursue a career in public service; earned his Juris Doctor degree in 1993 from Widener University School of Law, attending classes at night while working for the Commonwealth.
His 36 years of public service with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania included 1.3 years (1984-85) with the PA Department of Transportation, as Manager of Customer Services; 19 years (1986-2005) with the Pennsylvania General Assembly as a Research Analyst then Legal Counsel; 2 years (2006-2007) with the Office of the Governor as Deputy General Counsel for Legislative Affairs; an additional 10 years (2007-2017) with the General Assembly as Deputy Chief Counsel for the House Democratic Caucus (including 7 years as Counsel to the Bipartisan House Ethics Committee); and 3.7 years with the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General as the Agency’s first Chief Integrity Officer (2017-2020).
He continues to offer his services to the Commonwealth as a Volunteer Instructor with the Office of Attorney General, teaching a monthly Ethics class for OAG New Employee Orientation, and twice a year for New OAG Agents. He also teaches programs twice each year in both Ethics and in Bias & Procedural Justice for the newly established Commonwealth Investigators’ Training Program (CITP).