June 29, 2011

HARRISBURG – Norma Gotwalt, Edward G. Lanza, Esq., and Sheryl Simmons, CPA, CPCU, have been appointed to three-year terms on the board of directors of the HACC Foundation.

“They bring individual experiences to the board that will serve to strengthen our mission to support the college,” said Jayne Abrams, executive director of institutional advancement and the HACC Foundation. “Norma offers a lifetime of leadership and service to the community with a particular passion for education, youth and literacy, while Sheryl brings a strong knowledge base in fiscal management.”

Abrams added, “Ed brings his wealth of legal expertise and a deep commitment to serving the needs of the Hispanic community in our region.”

Gotwalt, a former Camp Hill resident now living in New York City, spent a major part of her career in the Harrisburg School District as a teacher and administrator. She moved to Washington, D.C., to work for the Margaret Thatcher Foundation and later the Office of Presidential Correspondence under President George W. Bush. She returned to Pennsylvania, where Gov. Tom Ridge appointed her chairman of the Pennsylvania State Civil Service Commission, and then Gov. Mark Schweiker appointed her executive director of the Pennsylvania Commission for Women.

Gotwalt has served numerous nonprofit organizations, including the Girls Club of Harrisburg, Hemlock Girl Scout Council, Children’s Play Room, Inc. and the Art Association of Harrisburg. She also is the recipient of the Twentieth Century Award for Achievement, the Mayor’s Distinguished Community Service Award and the Capitol Area Chamber of Commerce Athena Award.

A graduate of Bucknell University, Gotwalt has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in elementary education. She also earned a graduate degree in educational administration from Penn State.

Lanza of Lower Paxton Township, is an associate in the Harrisburg office of Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC, and practices in the area of utilities and telecommunications law, energy regulation, civil litigation and administrative law. He previously was a judicial clerk to the Honorable William H. Kaye for the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Franklin County.

Lanza is a member of the board of directors of the Hispanic National Bar Association, president of the group’s Region IV of Pennsylvania and Delaware, vice president of the Keystone Bar Association, and a member of the Dauphin County and Pennsylvania Bar Associations and the Hispanic Bar Association of Pennsylvania.

He is founding member and director of the Hispanic chamber of Commerce of Central Pennsylvania and member of the President’s Leadership Council and Latino Partnership, both at Messiah College, and is counsel and advisory board member of Estamos Unidos of Pennsylvania.

Lanza received the International Academy of Trial Lawyers Award for Distinguished Achievement in Advocacy and was selected for includes in “Pennsylvania SuperLawyers – Rising Stars.”

He earned a J.D. in 1997 from The Dickinson School of Law of The Pennsylvania State University in Carlisle and a bachelor’s degree in 1989 from Messiah College in Grantham.

Simmons of New Cumberland, a HACC alumna, is chief financial officer and treasurer for School Board Services, LLC where she has responsibility for the management and oversight of all financial functions of three insurance-related entities. Prior to that, she served 17 years with PHICO Insurance Company in positions of growing responsibility, including being appointed chief liquidation officer by the Pennsylvania Insurance Department. In that role, she completed 80 to 85 percent of the liquidation process in slightly more than five years.

A Certified Public Accountant and Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter, Simmons is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Simmons earned an associate degree in business administration from HACC before earning a bachelor’s degree in business administration at Penn State. She also has a master’s degree in taxation from Villanova University and a master’s degree in financial analysis from the College for Financial Planning.