Reading Eagle: Newsmakers for May 8
May 8—Tower Health
Dr. Fernando Garcia, MD has been named chairman, department of pathology and laboratory medicine at Reading Hospital and medical director, pathology service line for Tower Health. In this role he is responsible for providing medical leadership and program development for the department, as well as integrating and evolving pathology services provided across Tower Health.
Garcia most recently served as chairman of pathology at Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) in Philadelphia. At CTCA he served as chairman of cancer committee, overseeing the effort that achieved accreditation with commendation as a Comprehensive Cancer Center from the Commission on Cancer. He also spent 19 years at Drexel University College of Medicine as a professor of pathology, medical director of immunopathology laboratory, medical director of the image analysis laboratory and medical director of tissue procurement facility. He also served as regional director of anatomic pathology and medical director and service chief of Hahnemann University Hospital.
Garcia graduated from Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia Medical School in Lima, Peru and completed a residency in pathology at the University of Kansas, followed by a fellowship in surgical pathology and infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee.
Tompkins Community Bank
Jeffrey Wessner has joined Tompkins Community Bank as vice president and commercial relationship manager. In this role, Wessner will expand relationships, manage commercial loans and support the long-term success of commercial business clients in Schuylkill and Berks Counties.
He previously worked at M&T Bank and then Riverview Bank as a commercial relationship manager. He is a graduate of the American Institute of Banking and of the Schuylkill Leadership and Executive Leadership programs.
Wessner is a member of the Schuylkill County Chamber of Commerce and serves on the boards of Child Development Inc. and Schuylkill United Way. He also is on the finance committee of Pottsville Area Development Corp.
Community Health & Dental Care
Dr. Marie Gwinn, optometrist at Community Health & Dental Care was presented with the 2022 Young Optometrist of the Year Award at the Pennsylvania Optometric Association Spring Congress Awards event April 8. The award recognizes an optometrist in practice less than 10 years who demonstrates outstanding leadership skills when serving their profession, patients, and community.
Gwinn joined the Community Health & Dental Care family in January 2022 as an optometrist provider at the Coventry Mall location. In addition to general optometry, Gwinn is skilled in specialty care, including pediatrics, learning-related vision disorders, myopia management, specialty contact lenses, and medical optometry.
Gwinn earned her Doctor of Optometry from Pennsylvania College of Optometry at Salus University in Elkins Park, and bachelor's degree from West Chester University in West Chester. She serves as vice-president of the Chester-Delaware Optometric Society and is affiliated with the American Optometric Association, the American Academy of Optometry, among others.
Barley Snyder
Michael L. Mixell, a partner at the law firm Barley Snyder has been named to the board of directors for the Counsel Trust Company.
Counsel Trust Company provides investment advisory, consulting, retirement planning, custody, and fiduciary trust services to individuals and organizations, as well as services to attorneys and independent registered investment advisors.
Mixell is a member of Barley Snyder's business, trusts & estates, and finance & creditors' rights practice groups as well as the alternative dispute resolution (ADR) service team. He has extensive experience in estate and trust administration as well as mediating complex trust and estates matters, both as counsel for a beneficiary and as counsel for a fiduciary involved in disputes between beneficiaries.
Mixell currently serves as a board member at the Berks County Community Foundation and was named The Best Lawyers in America 2022 "Lawyer of the Year" for trusts & estates.
Unique Snacks
Justin Spannuth, chief operating officer and a member of the sixth generation managing the family-owned and operated Unique Snacks, has been elected to join the executive committee of SNAC International as the second vice chairman, and the board of directors for Manufacturers Resource Center (MRC).
Spannuth has served as a member of the board for SNAC International since 2019. His election to the executive committee as the second vice chairman means he will serve as the board's chairman beginning in 2024. The organization is the leading international trade association for the snack industry and represents more than 400 companies worldwide.
Spannuth was one of four industry executives to join MRC's board of directors. The organization is a nonprofit focused on economic development and job creation in eastern Pennsylvania's Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton and Schuylkill counties.
Saxton & Stump
Saxton & Stump has announced that shareholder Michael T. Traxler has been named the chairman of the firm's insurance law group. Traxler brings experience handling matters for both insurers and insureds in a variety of industries including trucking and commercial transportation, construction and others.
The firm has also deployed additional resources to back the group's growth and support clients. Eight Saxton & Stump professionals have been added to the group, bringing the total number of professionals in the group to 15.
Traxler will oversee a team of attorneys focusing on commercial and professional lines of insurance. Traxler is also chairman of the Saxton & Stump trucking and commercial transportation group and is a graduate of the Dickinson School of Law of the Pennsylvania State University.
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