News & Events

November 24, 2008

CLEVELAND, Ohio/November 24, 2008 – The Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland has announced the election of new Board officers, including Chair Daniel J. Flannery, Ph.D., Professor of Justice Studies and Director of the Institute for the Study and Prevention of Violence at Kent State University. The officers are eligible for two one-year terms.

A licensed clinical psychologist, Dr. Flannery is also an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals of Cleveland. In 2006 he was named a University Distinguished Scholar at Kent State University and he has been a consultant to various local and national organizations including the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Resource Center for Safe Schools.

Dr. Flannery is author of Violence and Mental Health in Everyday Life: Prevention and Intervention for Children and Adolescents (2006). He is also senior editor of Youth Violence: Prevention, Intervention and Social Policy (1999) by American Psychiatric Press and of the Cambridge Handbook of Violent Behavior and Aggression (2007) by Cambridge University Press.

Previously, Dr. Flannery served as Assistant Professor of Family Studies at the University of Arizona and as Associate Professor of Child Psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. He received his Ph.D. in 1991 in clinical/child psychology from The Ohio State University.

The Board of Directors of the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland also elected new officers to the position of Vice Chair, Secretary and Treasurer. The position of Vice Chair will be jointly filled by Jennifer Bell, President, COO and Managing Director, Aon Risk Services, Inc. of Ohio; and Giesele Robinson Greene, M.D., Health Plan Medical Director, UnitedHealthcare of Northern Ohio. The position of Treasurer is held by Thomas E. Pernsteiner, Managing Director, Loughlin Meghji & Co., and Geoffrey S. Mearns, Esq. Dean, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Cleveland State University serves as Secretary.

The Sisters of Charity Foundation Board of Directors also expanded its presence in the broader philanthropic community with the addition of a new Director, Pauline M. Seitz. Ms. Seitz is the Director of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Local Funding Partnerships, a national matching grants program that funds original, community-based health projects in collaboration with local grantmakers.

She previously worked as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Senior Program Officer, responsible for a portfolio of grants including multi-site programs on nursing and school-based health centers. During her tenure at RWJF, Ms. Seitz also helped create the foundation’s original local funding partnerships program. She left RWJF in 1994 to become the program’s full-time director.

Ms. Seitz is past president of the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers and a former member of the National Board of Directors for the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers. From 1995 to 2001 she directed New Jersey Health Initiatives, another RWJF program office that funds innovative community health projects.

After earning an undergraduate degree in nursing from Georgetown University, Ms. Seitz received a Master’s in midwifery from Columbia University and a Master of Public Administration degree from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She was a 1998 Leadership New Jersey Fellow.

ABOUT THE SISTERS OF CHARITY FOUNDATION OF CLEVELAND
The Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland serves as a grantmaker, collaborator and advocate for non-profit organizations primarily focused on addressing causes and consequences of poverty. In 2006, the Sisters of Charity Foundation joined with the Saint Ann Foundation —

America’s first “healthcare conversion” foundation — to form a single organization. The combined Foundation has awarded more than $52 million in grants through 2006.

Current funding priorities for the Sisters of Charity Foundation across Cuyahoga County include initiatives to reduce chronic homelessness through permanent supportive housing and reduce health disparities by improving health literacy. Special emphasis is given to Cleveland’s Central neighborhood where disparities in health and education are among the city’s highest.

The Foundation also works to build awareness of the many contributions of Catholic women religious and to support their vital health and human service ministries supports congregations of Catholic women religious (primarily in Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and South Carolina). In addition, local efforts responding to basic human needs such as food or clothing are eligible for the annual Good Samaritan grant program.

The Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland was established by the Sisters of Charity Health System in 1996 through sale proceeds involving St. Vincent Charity Hospital, which has been located in the Central Neighborhood for more than 145 years.

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