VFES Board Of Trustees
The VFES Board of Trustees (“Board”) is accountable for governance of the organization. Members oversee and shape VFES policies and hold fiduciary responsibility for the long-term well-being of the organization. The Board’s fiduciary duties ensure the effective management of the financial, physical and other assets of VFES, balancing the needs of current and future generations of students.
The Board is also responsible for the establishment and perpetuation of strong leadership and planning for the organization. VFES’s Executive Director is directly accountable to the Board, which sets and monitors annual objectives for her/him. They also work in collaboration with the VFES Leadership Team to establish long-term strategies for VFES and its programs.
The VFES Board draws Trustees from a wide range of education, medical, business, and non-profit areas for the skills required to fulfill its governance duties. Each Trustee participates in regular board meetings and serves on or leads one or more committees.
Committees Under the Board of Trustees:
- Executive Committee
- Development Committee
- Trustee Committee
- Finance Committee
- Strategic Planning Committee
- VFES Trustees embrace the VFES mission, contribute ongoing time and effort in support of the Board’s work, and directly support the development and fundraising efforts of VFES.
VFES Board of Trustees
Members are presented in alphabetical order.
Mr. Jack E. Burns
Mr. Burns was born in Darby, Pennsylvania, was raised in Upper Darby until he left home for college at the University of Virginia. He ultimately earned two degrees from Temple University (a BBS in Finance and an MBA in Marketing/International Business). Mr. Burns spent his career in commercial banking, corporate treasury and for the last ten years in senior financial management positions with area non-profit organizations. He worked very closely with employer boards of directors in several of these positions. He now works for an auditing firm developing new non-profit and corporate business relationships. Mr. Burns also is a certificate holder of the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce Business on Board program. He has served as a board member for Audubon Mill Grove and the Phoenixville Library (Treasurer). He is a former mentor for Chester County Futures. He is a former Finance Committee member for Audubon Pennsylvania. Mr. Burns also taught evening finance courses in several area universities and colleges over a 35 year period. Most of these years were spent at Ursinus College. He headed the Finance department for ten of these years. Mr. Burns is a former member of The Philadelphia Treasurer’s Club and the Financial Executive Institute. He is a current member of the Greater Philadelphia Senior Executives Group and serves as a member of the GPSEG Finance Committee. Mr. Burns moved to Chester County (Phoenixville area) in 1980. He raised his family and they are all graduates of Phoenixville Area School District. He still lives in the Phoenixville area and is active in local community initiatives.
Dr. Michael J. Kelly
Dr. Michael Kelly has been working directly with or on behalf of students with disabilities since his high school years. As a freshman, Dr. Kelly began volunteering at St. Edmunds in Rosemont and by his senior year was working after school each day with the resident students at the Don Guanella School in Springfield. Upon graduating from West Chester University, Dr. Kelly began his career in public education that spanned almost thirty years and included working as a Special Education Teacher, Special Education Supervisor, Director of Student Services, Assistant Superintendent, and Superintendent of Schools. Along the way, he continued his education taking graduate courses at Penn State, earning a law degree from Widener University School of Law, and receiving his doctorate in Educational Leadership from Immaculata University. In September 2016, Dr. Kelly was appointed as Executive Director of CCRES, Inc., a non-profit organization that provides educational and behavioral health services to students, families and educational agencies throughout the region.
Mr. Jerome N. Kline
Jerome N. Kline, Esquire was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania but was raised in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The overwhelming majority of his professional career has been spent in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He earned his B.S. Degree in finance from Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania; his J.D. Degree from Villanova University School of Law; and his LL.M. Degree from George Washington University School of Law. He has been a practicing attorney in Philadelphia for over 48 years. Mr. Kline has been a long time partner in the Business and Finance Department of the law firm Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel LLP, which is based in Philadelphia.. His areas of professional concentration as a transactional attorney have been real estate, corporate, banking and finance. He has represented real estate development companies, commercial banks, investment banks, pension advisory firms, pension funds, REITs, mortgage banks, private equity funds, and numerous other corporate and financial institutions. Mr. Kline has lectured on real estate topics and has been a frequent guest on television and local radio talk programs. He has also been published on real estate and environmental topics. In addition, he has been active in numerous civic, community, charitable and cultural activities, including the arts, and has been involved in foreign affairs and U.S. foreign policy. Mr. Kline is a Fellow in the American College of Mortgage Attorneys. He has been named for many years as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer. He is presently a member of several Boards of Directors.
Mr. Paul Mitchell
Paul is an executive in the finance industry. He has over 35 years experience financing growing businesses as a Commercial Banker and President of a regional Mezzanine Fund, CoreStates Enterprise Fund (provided growth financing to Urban Outfitters). He also was President of his own Investment Banking firm raising Venture Capital and Private Equity funds for entrepreneurial companies. He has been a Commercial and Real Estate Lender with several Philadelphia area banks and served as Regional Associate for Allied Capital. Paul is a 11 year key member of the Greater Philadelphia Senior Executive Group (GPSEG) where he has served as Director, Treasurer, Chair of the Financial Executives Sub Group, Chair of the Golf Outing Committee, and an active participant in the Private Equity and Professional Services Sub Groups. He has a passion for helping small businesses. He has served as Director, Small Business Board, Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and Chairman of the National Association of Business Development Corporations. He has been a Speaker/Panelist for the Philadelphia Bar Association, RMA, CFA and Wharton School of Business on Mezzanine Finance. He is a published author, “Why Regional Banks Should Have SBIC’s” in the Journal of Commercial Lending, and is a frequent guest, host and director (DVD, Entrepreneurial Financing: Tips from Investors) on the “Money Matters TV Show.” He represented RMA at the White House Council on Small Business. His memberships have included ACG, the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation and NASBIC. He is a regular participant in the Entrepreneurs’ Forum of Greater Philadelphia and the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG).Paul earned his B.A. at Colgate University.
He grew up in Stamford, CT and raised his family in Collegeville and Oaks, PA until 2011. He currently resides in Center City, Philadelphia near the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Personal Interests include golf, tennis, skiing, snowboarding, bicycling, running (4 Boston Marathons plus a 50 Mile Mountain Trail Ultra Marathon), photography, wine tasting and travel.
Mr. Jeffrey C. Rohrbeck
Mr. Rohrbeck was born in Philadelphia and has been a Pennsylvania resident most of his life, growing up in State College, PA. He received a BS in Engineering Science from Penn State and an MS in Computer Science from Johns Hopkins. Mr. Rohrbeck currently works for DuPont as the systems development manager for the Nutrition & Health Diagnostics group. He is responsible for the development of automated systems to detect bacterial contamination in food and other similar products. Prior to that, Mr. Rohrbeck was for many years an independent consultant doing software and systems development in industries such as health care, RADAR and antenna measurement, communications, etc.
Mr. Rohrbeck and his wife Stacey have been living in Devon, PA since 1988 and have three children. Their son Scott became a Vanguard school student in the second grade and stayed in the school until he was 21. Scott recently graduated from Cabrini College and lives and works in the area. Jeff is active in St. David’s Church and in Boy Scouts, where he is a trustee of Devon 50, Inc.
Mr. Robert M. Stirling, Chair
Mr. Stirling was born in Queens, New York and spent most of his school age years in Syracuse, New York. He earned his BS in Business from LeMoyne College. Upon graduation, he began his career with Johnson & Johnson in Hartford, Connecticut as a sales representative. He advanced through a number of managerial and marketing roles in Chicago and the New Jersey and Pennsylvania offices for J&J. In his current role, Mr. Stirling is the Sr. Director of Professional Marketing and Sales for Johnson & Johnson, working out of a number of the consumer headquarters in the US and Canada. He is responsible for leading all marketing, sales and commercial operations for the Consumer Sector of J&J. He has over 25 years of experience within the healthcare industry.
Bob resides in Malvern with his wife Maureen and three children, Annie, Patrick and Molly.
Mr. Robert P. Weaverling, Vice-Chair
Mr. Weaverling was born in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania and spent most of his life in the Delaware Valley. He earned his BS in accounting and management and MBA from LaSalle University. He has achieved the following professional designations CIA (Certified Internal Auditor), CFE (Certified Fraud Examiner), CHC (Certified in Health Care Compliance), CRMA (Certification in Risk Management Assurance), and CCSA (Certification in Control Self Assessment). Mr. Weaverling is the Corporate Compliance Officer and Director of Internal Audit for AtlantiCare Health System. He is responsible for leadership of the Compliance and Internal Audit Departments of the health system. He has over 20 years of experience addressing compliance issues within the healthcare industry. Prior to joining AtlantiCare Health System, he held internal audit and compliance leadership positions with the Nemours Foundation (a Children’s Health System), Kennedy Health System, and Allegheny Health, Education, and Research Foundation. Additionally, he is a former consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and Heffler and Company. Mr. Weaverling is a member of the Institute of Internal Auditors, Association of Healthcare Internal Auditors, Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, Health Care Compliance Association, Healthcare Financial Management Association, Information Systems Audit and Control Association, and Society of Clinical Research Associates