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Board of Directors

Officers

The Hon Louis J. Freeh, Chair, Board of Trustees
The Hon. Charles Copeland, President, Board of Directors
The Hon. Dale E. Wolf, Vice Chair, Board of Trustees
The Rev. Canon Lloyd S. Casson, Vice Chair, Board of Trustees
The Hon. Joseph T. Walsh, Vice Chair, Board of Trustees

Honorary Chairs

The Hon. Russell Peterson
Janet Leban, Treasurer

Board Members

Victor F. Battaglia, Esq.
O. Francis Biondi, Esq.
Timothy Brandau, Ph.D.
Christopher F. Buccini
Charles Butler, Esq.
Joseph M. Dell'Olio
The Hon. Joseph G. DiPinto
Thomas A. Foley, Esq.
Samuel Lathem
Marlene Lichtenstadter
Judy Mellen
Stacey Mobley, Esq.
Carl Schnee, Esq.
Bruce Stargatt, Esq.
William H. Sudell, Jr., Esq.
Sam Waltz
Rodman Ward, Esq.
Richard R. Wier, Jr., Esq.

Board of Directors: Biographies

Victor F. Battaglia, Sr., Esq. was admitted to the Delaware Bar in 1960 and is a senior attorney with the law firm of Biggs & Battaglia. He is a native of Wilmington, Delaware.

O. Francis Biondi, Esq. was admitted to the Delaware bar in 1958, and he has served as president of the Delaware State Bar Association and the Delaware Bar Foundation. He has also served as chairman of the Crime Reduction Task Force, vice chairman of the Delaware Agency to Reduce Crime, and co-chairman of the Commission on Delaware Courts 2000.

Timothy J. Brandau, Ph.D., Executive Director of Child Inc., has been in social services for more than 35 years. Prior to his current position, he served as Executive Director of the YMCA Resource Center and as Chief of Community Services for the State of Delaware Division of Youth Rehabilitative Services.

Christopher F. Buccini is a partner in the Buccini/Pollin Group (BPG), where his responsibilities include overseeing acquisitions and redevelopment projects. Prior to working for BPG, he was the Director of Acquisitions, and Senior Vice President of Barrow Street Capital, LLC, in New York. He is also a former vice president of Eastdil Realty.

Charles E. Butler, Esq. was an Assistant District Attorney in Philadelphia, PA and a Deputy Attorney General in Delaware for ten years. He was admitted to the Delaware bar in 1985, where he is now engaged in the private practice of law.

The Reverend Canon Lloyd S. Casson is the rector of the Episcopal Church of Saints Andrew and Matthew, which provides spiritual leadership to church members and the greater community.

The Honorable Charles Copeland is President of Associates Graphic Services. From 2002 through 2008, Charlie served as a Delaware State Senator and in 2006 he was elected Minority Leader. He also serves as President of the Board of the Challenge Program; a Board member of the Delaware Academy of Public Safety & Security; and Vice President of the board of the Mt. Cuba Center.

Joseph M. Dell’Olio served as the Executive Vice President of Child Inc. from 1973 to 2007. He is past executive director of the Delaware Agency to Reduce Crime (now the Delaware Criminal Justice Council) as well as the Delaware Council on Crime and Justice (now the Delaware Center for Justice).

The Hon. Joseph G. DiPinto is the Director of the Office of Economic Development for the City of Wilmington. He served on the Wilmington City Council from 1973-87 and in the Delaware General Assembly as a State Representative from 1987-2007. He is also a former Development Programs manager for the DuPont Company

Thomas A. Foley, Esq. is an attorney in private practice of law devoted to criminal defense. He is also a former deputy attorney general, who was admitted to the Delaware bar in 1990.

The Honorable Louis J. Freeh served as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 1993 to 2001. He has also served as a Special Agent of the FBI and as an Assistant United States Attorney and United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York. He formerly was a senior executive with MBNA, and he now operates his own global consultancy.

Samuel Lathem, President of the AFL-CIO-Delaware, is currently an administrator at the United Auto Workers (UAW)-Daimler-Chrysler Region 8 Family Training Center, as well as a UAW international representative.

Janet Leban has been the Executive Director of the Delaware Center for Justice since 1993. She served as the first chair of SURJ. Prior to coming to Delaware, she was on the staff of the Pennsylvania Prison Society for ten years, where she was the executive director during her last two years.

Marlene Lichtenstadter chaired the state Board of Parole from 1991-2002 and served as a probation/parole officer for the Department of Correction before moving to the Delaware Correction Center as an inmate classification officer and chair of the statewide Inmate Classification Committee. She also served as management analyst for the Department of Labor and as director of special court services in the Delaware Family Court.

Stacey Mobley, Esq. is a retired Senior Vice President, Chief Administrative officer and General Counsel for E.I. Dupont de Nemours and Company. He worked for Dupont for 36 years and had senior management responsibility for legal and governmental affairs.

Judy Mellen is the former executive director of the Delaware American Civil Liberties Union. She received the Delaware Bar Association Liberty Bell Award for her work improving state policy towards juvenile offenders, abused and neglected children and educating homeless children.

The Honorable Russell W. Peterson, Ph.D. served as Governor of Delaware from 1969 to 1973. He chaired the National Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals, and also served as former president of the National Audubon Society.

Carl Schnee, Esq., who was admitted to the Delaware bar in 1962, is of counsel in the Wilmington law office of Bifferato, Bifferato & Gentilotti. He has been in private practice for 40 years and has served as U.S. Attorney for Delaware from 1999-2001. He is former chair of the Delaware Criminal Justice Council and of The Children’s Advocacy Center of Delaware, Inc.

Bruce M. Stargatt, Esq., who was admitted to the Delaware bar in 1955, is a member of the American Bar Association Board of Governors, current President of the Delaware Bar Foundation, and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and American College of Trial Lawyers. He also served as president of the Delaware State Bar Association and chairman of the Delaware Supreme Court Rules Lawyers Advisory Committee.

William H. Sudell, Jr., Esq. was a partner for 32 years at Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell, LLP, and is now of counsel to that firm. Bill has been on the board of directors of the Delaware Community Legal Aid Society for 15 years and is a past chairman of the Bankruptcy Section of the Delaware Bar Association.

The Honorable Joseph T. Walsh, who was admitted to the Delaware bar in 1955 is and is of counsel at McCarter & English LLP, recently retired as a Delaware Supreme Court Justice. He has also served as Vice Chancellor of the Court of Chancery and as a Delaware Superior Court Judge.

Samuel L. Waltz Jr., APR, Fellow PRSA, is an early-retired DuPont Company senior public affairs executive and former State Capitol Bureau Chief of the News Journal papers, who has operated his own strategic consultancy Sam Waltz & Associates LLC Counsel since 1993. He is an adjunct faculty of the University of Delaware who also served as the elected President and CEO of his industry’s international professional society.

Rodman Ward, Jr., Esq., who was admitted to the Delaware bar in 1959, is an attorney with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher, and Flom, LLP in Wilmington. He is also a former president of the Delaware State Bar Association.

Richard R. Wier, Jr., Esq. is a former Attorney General of Delaware and a former Chairman of the Labor and Employment Law Section and Criminal Law Sections of the Delaware State Bar Association. He is also the founder of the law firm of Richard R. Wier, Jr., P.A.

The Honorable Dale E. Wolf, Ph.D. is a former Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Delaware. He chaired the first Drug and Alcohol Abuse Coordinating Council for Delaware. He is also the former Group Vice President of the DuPont Company.