Montgomery County Community College invites the public to attend its free online Deans’ Lecture panel discussion about “The Disparate Effects of COVID-19” on Wednesday, March 24, 12:15-1:30 p.m. Register for a free ticket, and a Zoom link will be provided via email.  

The online discussion will feature Jim Cafone, Vice President of Strategy & Business Operations for Pfizer Global Supply; Luca Valentine, CEO, Arbonite; and Stacey Woodland, CEO, YWCA Tri-County Area. Dr. Sharla K. Willis, Director of the Public Health Program, Gwynedd Mercy University, will serve as the moderator and Dr. Gloria Oikelome, MCCC Vice President of Academic Affairs, will provide the opening remarks.

The panelists will discuss how COVID-19 has affected them in their respective areas of expertise.

As vice president of Strategy & Business Operations for Pfizer, panelist Cafone is responsible for business development, supply network design, Pfizer’s production system, performance reporting, analytics and decision science. He is also responsible for the global manufacturing network design for the BioNTech/Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.

Panelist Valentine, the CEO of Arbonite, draws heavily on a wide array of entrepreneurial experiences and a 20-year career in financial services, real estate and private business ownership. He oversees and guides Arbonite, a Division of Valjon Industries Inc. Arbonite, is a 70-plus-year-old industrial service manufacturer and applicator of protective coatings for essential industries, such as water, wastewater treatment, chemical process, power generation, Petrochemical, and liquid bulk transportation.

Panelist Woodland joined the YWCA Tri-County Area (YW3CA) in 2014 as CEO. In this role, she has led the YW3CA’s expansion by increasing the number of adult education students and enrollment in early education and youth empowerment programs. YW3CA is building a reputation as a thought-leader in and advocate for Equity in Education, offering Implicit Bias training and collaborating with other organizations in the fight for the elimination of racism and the empowerment of marginalized women, girls, and families.

Panel moderator Willis is the founding program director of the Public Health Programs in the School of Arts and Science at Gwynedd Mercy University. She also will serve as an assistant professor for Gwynedd’s Bachelor of Science in Public Health and Master of Public Health degree programs starting in the fall 2021. Before joining Gwynedd, Willis was the associate program director of the public health program at the University of New England where she directed curriculum development.

The Deans’ Lecture series began in the 2004-2005 academic year. Annually, the academic deans of Montgomery County Community College sponsor guest speakers to discuss topics relevant to the college and local communities.