First Commonwealth Federal Credit Union, the #1 ranked credit union in PA by Forbes and leader in financial services innovation and inclusive banking in the Lehigh Valley, is pleased to announce the election of Ngozi Bell, to its Board of Directors.
As a member-owned, not-for-profit financial cooperative, First Commonwealth is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors, Associate Board of Directors and Supervisory Committee. First Commonwealth volunteers are charged with the credit union’s vision, long-term strategy and financial stability. “The board and management team has worked diligently to ensure that First Commonwealth’s leadership represents our membership and the communities we serve. I am delighted to welcome Ngozi and look forward to leveraging her significant talent, expertise and energy to help us further our mission,” said Donna LoStocco, President and Chief Executive Officer of First Commonwealth.
With an extensive multidisciplinary technology and business leadership background, Bell is a partner in Trans-Sahara Investment Corporation and was a Regional Advocate appointee in President Obama’s administration for the US – Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, representing the mid-Atlantic states. Prior to her appointment, Bell was Vice President of Birchmere Ventures (Pittsburg, PA), an early-stage venture capital firm focused on clean technology, medical and technology with over $160M under management. Prior to that, she was a director at LSI Corp and held senior management and technical roles in Agere System, Lucent Technologies, AT&T Microelectronics and R.W. Beck. Bell holds a bachelor’s degree in Physics and a master’s degree in electrical engineering and has more than 23 years of experience ranging from core technology development and support, marketing, corporate and business development and mergers and acquisitions roles. Bell is an adjunct professor of physics, business law and management, a public speaker featured on Voice of America as an expert on Africa-US matters, a TedXLehigh-River speaker and on the board of Med Aditus, an organization working on building a state of the art product development, manufacturing and distribution network of quality medicines in Sub Saharan Africa. Bell previously served on First Commonwealth’s Associate Board since July 2020 and has been a member since 1993.
Additionally, First Commonwealth welcomed the addition of Lisette Santana to its Associate Board of Directors and appointed Director Eric Schantzenbach as its new treasurer. Schantzenbach has previously served on the Supervisory Committee from 2012 - 2019, including serving as Chairman from 2018 - 2019 the Associate Board in 2019 and was appointed to the Board of Directors in 2020. He has been a member of First Commonwealth since 1997.
“We are positioning First Commonwealth for the future and accelerating our growth in order to be able to help more people, non-profits and businesses in the Lehigh Valley. We continue to work toward strengthening our communities and making even more affordable financial services available and accessible in order to meet the diverse and evolving needs of the Lehigh Valley,” added LoStocco. First Commonwealth’s 2021 Board of Directors are: William Ehritz (Chairman), Vince Gorman (Vice Chairman), Eric Schantzenbach (Treasurer), Pete Hance (Secretary), Eugene Auman; Ngozi Bell; Gary Matika; Ritchey Ricci; Stephen Siessmayer; and Stephen Besz (Director, Emeritus). First Commonwealth’s 2021 Associate Board of Directors are Qiana Cressman, Lissette Santana and Amanda Seddon.
