Our Boards

Allison Taylor Levine

Allison Taylor Levine, MPA, is passionate about democracy, journalism and community – especially in Delaware. After starting her career as a reporter at several newspapers, including The News Journal, Allison has spent the past 20 years in various communications and community leadership roles. Before becoming the full-time CEO of LJI, Allison spent 12 years as vice president for marketing and communications at the Delaware Community Foundation. She lives in Wilmington with her children, Rhys and Maya.

Patricia Rivera

Patricia Rivera, CEO of Hook PR & Marketing, provides high-level counsel to organizations throughout the mid-Atlantic – building their brands with strategic stories and content across multiple channels and in multiple languages. She founded Hook in 2007 after an award-winning career in journalism, working for The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News, and The News Journal. Patricia received the Entrepreneurial Woman of the Year Award from New Castle County Chamber of Commerce and the Delaware Minority-Owned Business of the Year Award from the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Schlonn Hawkins

Schlonn is Chief Executive Officer and Publisher of Shelterforce. She is a communication expert with more than 15 years of experience in publicity, digital media, community relations, nontraditional fundraising, and strategic planning. Schlonn is a pioneer of innovation–having led countless organizations in the power of storytelling digitally to create meaningful resources and embrace social media to expand their influence. Also spearheaded Delaware’s largest giving day, which now raises millions of dollars for the nonprofit sector. Schlonn is a huge consumer of content daily and believes that information is vital to our daily lives. Without it, we would not progress.

Mark Baxter

Mark Baxter is the senior program director at Rodel. His focus is supporting the creative design and implementation of sound public-private partnerships. Before joining Rodel, Mark held leadership positions at the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, Texas Education Agency and Educate Texas focusing on strategy and policy implementation at the local, state and national level. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland and the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas-Austin.

Vikram Bhagat

Vikram Bhagat is a seasoned media lawyer with an impressive background in both legal and media sectors. He has served as assistant general counsel for American Public Media Group in Saint Paul, MN, and corporate counsel for the Associated Press in Washington, DC. Bhagat’s previous roles include positions at Bingham McCutchen in New York and Loeb & Loeb in Los Angeles. He holds a B.A. in English from Stanford University and a J.D. from Columbia Law School and is admitted to the state bars of New York, California, and Minnesota. A native of Hockessin, Bhagat is also an alumnus of Alexis I. DuPont High School, where he was editor-in-chief of the school newspaper. He resides in Centreville with his husband, Dr. Benjamin Chaon, and their dog, Chauncey.

Darrin Kerr

Darrin Kerr is the Head of Growth Investments at the American Journalism Project (AJP). In that role he focuses on how to build strong, resilient nonprofit news organizations across the United States. Before joining AJP, he held leadership positions at Teach For All, helping found and scale education nonprofits across the globe and building the network infrastructure for those organizations to learn from one another. He is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

Chuck Posnecker

Chuck Posnecker is a senior wealth advisor at Bryn Mawr Capital Management, a subsidiary of WSFS Bank, where he counsels high-net-worth families and nonprofits on portfolio management and financial planning. Born in Las Vegas and a graduate of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, he and his wife moved to the Delaware region in 2012. He is also a proud Leadership Delaware Class of 2020 Fellow, where he began to truly embrace the need for community engagement and partnership.

Jaimie Watts

Jaimie Watts serves as the chief of operations for Leadership Delaware. Previously, she was the director of marketing and events for the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce. Watts is a graduate of the University of Delaware with a B.A. in marketing from the Lerner College of Business and Economics. Her expertise in operations and marketing will support LJI’s efforts to expand its impact and strengthen local journalism.

Brandon Brice

Chief Development Officer, Covenant House Pennsylvania

John Collins

Strategic advisor

Stuart Comstock-Gay

President and CEO, Delaware Community Foundation

Patrick McCrummen

Global Leader of Community Impact, DuPont

Shawn Mooring

Head of Programs, Philadelphia-based Lenfest Institute for Journalism

José Quiñones

Broker/Owner, Linda Vista Real Estate

Laurisa Schutt

Founder, First State Educate; current student of law

Michele Schiavoni

Vice President of Communications & Marketing

Dave Singleton

Former Delaware Secretary of Finance. Roles he has held include Associate Vice President for Facilities at the University of Delaware; managing director at J.P. Morgan & Co.; chair of Diamond State Hospital Cost Review Board; and Chief Administrative Officer for New Castle County.

David Singleton

Retired finance executive and former Delaware Secretary of Finance

Gina Ward, along with husband Rod Ward III, are well-known Delaware philanthropists. Gina Ward serves on several local boards, including Tower Hill School, Nemours Delaware and the Delaware Community Foundation.