The Independence Business Alliance, the region’s LGBT chamber of commerce, recently elected six new board members.
The new members were voted in at the IBA’s Annual Membership Meeting, held June 24 at Ralph’s Café in the Comcast Center.
More than 130 people attended the event, which IBA executive administrator Tom Cavanaugh said was the highest attendance yet for the meeting.
“It was fantastic,” he said. “It was the largest annual meeting that IBA has had ever. The venue was great and the event was sold out.”
The meeting also coincided with IBA’s new monthly networking mixer, ConnX. Cavanaugh said the monthly mixers, which started earlier this year, have been successful.
“They are going really well. We average each month between 75-100 attendees,” he said. “The brand seems to have taken off and people seem to have really noticed and taken to them.”
During the event, the board and general membership voted on the new leaders. The election process began in March, when IBA sent out an email to all IBA members asking for nominations for new board members. The nomination committee then reviewed the candidates’ biographies and résumés and made recommendations to the board, which were approved Tuesday.
The six new members are Deb Cassidy, director of sales, marketing and family services at West Laurel Hill Cemetery; Greg DeShields, executive director of the Philadelphia Multicultural Affairs Congress; Mike Fanelle, director of new business development at Bozeken; Samantha Giusti, executive director of the Delaware Valley Legacy Fund; Rob Nonemacker, events manager at the Metropolitan Area Neighborhood Nutrition Alliance; and Christopher Whibley, executive assistant for information, security and data protections at Elsevier.
The new board members will begin their terms July 1. The IBA also re-elected secretary Tom Streeper and member Conrad Kahn for another term once their current term ends June 30.
Cavanaugh said the new members come from very diverse backgrounds and experiences and noted that Streeper and Kahn bring a historical perspective to the board due to their longtime membership.
“A few within the pool of new directors are new to the IBA and a few have been a part of IBA for quite some time but they will come to the board with new ideas and new energy that will serve to benefit our members and grow and expand the organization,” Canvaugh said.
For more information on the Independence Business Alliance, visit http://independencebusinessalliance.com.