ITNAmerica Staff

Robert “Bob” Blancato is the president of Matz, Blancato & Associates in Washington, DC.  

In that capacity, he serves as the Executive Director of the National Association of Nutrition and Aging Services Programs, National Coordinator of the Elder Justice Coalition, and the National Coordinator for Defeat Malnutrition Today Coalition. 

Bob’s prior work includes more than 20 years of public service including 17 years as a senior staffer in the House of Representatives, and an appointment by President Clinton to serve as the Executive Director of the 1995 White House Conference on Aging, one of four he has participated in. Bob is a member of Senior Executive Service.  

Bob is recognized as a national policy advocate for older adults, and has testified on numerous occasions before Senate and House Committees 

As a volunteer, he currently serves as the second vice chair on the AARP Board of Directors and is a member of the AARP Foundation Board. In 2024, Bob was appointed to the Next50 Foundation’s Board of Trustees. He also serves on the Board of the National Hispanic Council on Aging. Previously he served as the chair of the American Society on Aging and on the board of the National Council on Aging. Bob has been appointed to several federal advisory commissions, most recently the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services from 2019-2023. 

Bob was inducted into the American Society of Aging’s Hall of fame in 2022. In 2023, he was awarded Generations United’s highest advocacy award. 

Bill specializes in assurance and consulting services for government agencies. His background in audit and forensic accounting provides an informed foundation for services including budget analysis, cost allocation, revenue management, Health Insurance Exchange audits, and information security assessments. Bill utilizes his experience to successfully translate needs for compliance into practical, collaborative projects with the highest degree of accountability.

Bill is the leader of BerryDunn’s Government Assurance Practice Group. He has been with BerryDunn since 1988. Bill assists clients with financial compliance, risk management, and information security services.

Mark G. Filler, CPA/ABV, CBA, AM, CVA leads Filler & Associates’ Valuation, Litigation and Claims Support practice in Portland, Maine. During the past twenty-five years Mr. Filler has worked on almost 1,400 business valuation and litigation support cases involving business interruption claims, commercial damages, personal injury and wrongful death matters. He has testified over 140 times, of which 50% have been at depositions and 50% have been at references, arbitrations or trials at both the State and Federal level. He has authored or co-authored 30 journal articles pertaining to the application of statistics to business valuation and commercial damages, and has co-authored a book entitled A Quantitative Approach to Commercial Damages published by Wiley in 2012.

David is the President of Dirigo Collective where he leads growth and market development. He has 15 years of consulting experience and has guided impactful work for clients ranging from technology start-ups to national nonprofits. David has a passion for community based economic development. He is currently serving in leadership roles on nonprofit boards with a focus on place-based economic impact.

Alain Kornhauser is Professor of Operations Research & Financial Engineering at Princeton University. He studied Aerospace Engineering at Penn State where he obtained a BS and MS and Princeton, earning a PhD. In 1971 he joined the Aerospace Engineering faculty at U of Minnesota where he applied automation, network analysis and optimal control to the design of Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) Systems.  He returned to Princeton in 1972 continuing and extending his pivotal work to more conventional forms of transportation. In 1979 he founded ALK Technologies, Inc. to help the private North American Railroad System emerge from bankruptcy by rationalizing its network structure and transitioning to emerging computer technology.  ALK created the standard digital map database and computerized routing systems that continue to be relied upon by essentially all railroad and trucking companies in North America.  He transitioned this technology to the consumer marketplace where he pioneered the development and market acceptance of turn-by-turn navigation systems. After 33.5 years, he sold ALK to Trimble Navigation in December 2012. 

At Princeton, Prof. Kornhauser is in his 50th year on the faculty. He serves as Director of the Transportation Program where he continues his basic research in Transportation focused on the real-time operation of large fleets of driverless vehicles and on the development of Deep-Learning Neural Networks that safely drive road vehicles. He was the Faculty Leader of Princeton’s entries the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge and 2007 Urban Challenge. He is particularly focused on the use of aTaxis to deliver Equitable, Affordable, High-quality Mobility to everyone, especially economically challenged households. He is Faculty Chair of Princeton Autonomous Vehicle Engineering (PAVE), Editor of the Smart Driving Cars Newsletter (www.SmartDrivingCar.com), Co-host of the SmartDrivingCar Podcasts, Organizer of the Annual Princeton SmartDrivingCars Summits, Board Chair of the Advanced Transit Association (ATRA), Board Member of the New Jersey Commission on Science, Information and technology, and a member of New Jersey’s legislated Autonomous Vehicle Task Force.  In addition to his teaching and research duties he serves as the ORFE’s Department’s Director of Undergraduate Studies.  Professor Kornhauser completed 14 NYC Marathons. 

Sam Ladd has been in banking since the mid-1960s. He retired as the Maine Division President of People’s United Bank. A 1963 graduate of Bowdoin College, he joined Maine National Bank after spending one year with Aetna Life Insurance Company and two years in the U.S. Army in Berlin, Germany. By 1985 Ladd was the Executive Vice President responsible for Trust, Retail Banking, Operations and Commercial Lending at Maine National Bank. In 1991 he was a founder of Maine Bank & Trust and was with the bank through its rebranding to People’s United Bank in July 2010. Sam Ladd has been President of the Maine Bankers Association and Chair of the Maine Chamber of Commerce.

He has served as the Greater Portland United Way Campaign leader, and as a Trustee of Bowdoin College and the Portland Symphony Orchestra, where he served as Treasurer. He is the past Chairman of Maine Maritime Museum and past Chairman of the Southern Maine Community College Foundation. He has been a trustee of The Portland Museum of Art, the Maine Historical Society and the Gulf of Maine Research Institute.

In 2005 Sam was the recipient of the Portland Regional Chamber’s Henri Benoit Award for Leadership. He received the 2007 Distinguished Citizen Award by the Pine Tree Council of the Boy Scouts of America, and he won the National Distinguished Eagle Scout Award in 2008. He was also added to the The Business Hall of Fame by Junior Achievement. Sam was the Finance Chair for Susan Collins’ two recent successful runs for the U.S. Senate.

Dave has retired from Liberty International, a business unit of Liberty Mutual Insurance, where he served as Managing Director – Global Road Safety, Liberty International in Hopkinton, MA. He continues to be an advocate for road safety as a volunteer supporting senior mobility, a consultant on motor vehicle safety, and a contributor to articles on transportation safety.
Dave was responsible for the development and advocacy of a roadway & occupational safety strategy for Liberty International Region operations in Asia, Europe and Latin America. He also participated in transportation related research projects at the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety and was a frequent speaker at national and international conferences.
He is a past-chairman of the Board of Directors of the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety (NETS) and is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Professional Truck Driver Institute.
He is a Canadian Registered Safety Professional (CRSP) and also holds two certifications by the North American Transportation Management Institute (NATMI): Certified Director of Safety (CDS) and Certified Cargo Security Professional (CCSP).

Dave is a retired member of the Permanent Committee on Truck and Bus Safety (ANB70) of the Transportation Research Board, National Academy of Sciences, and is now a Friend of the Committee. He is a past member of the Advisory Council for the Center for Transportation Safety, Texas Transportation Institute, Texas A&M University.

Dave represented Liberty Mutual on the ANSI Z-15.1 Accredited Standards Committee on Safety Requirements for Motor Vehicle Fleet Operations, and he was a voting member of the ISO 39001 Road Traffic Safety Management Systems committee. He was also the technical consultant and spokesperson to the Liberty Mutual Insurance Teen and Senior Driving initiatives.

Eli Peli, MSc, OD, FAAO is the Moakley Scholar in Aging Eye Research at Schepens Eye Research Institute, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, and Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. He also serves as Adjunct Professor of Ophthalmology at Tufts University School of Medicine and adjunct professor of Optometry at NECO. He is the director of the Vision Rehabilitation Service at Tufts-Medical Center Hospital. Dr. Peli is a Fellow of the AAO, a Fellow of the Optical Society of America, a Fellow of the Society for Information Display, and a Fellow of the International Society of Optical Engineering.

Dr. Peli’s principal research interests are image processing in relation to visual function and clinical psychophysics in low vision rehabilitation, image understanding and evaluation of display-vision interaction. He also maintains an interest in oculomotor control and binocular vision. Dr. Peli is a consultant to many companies in the ophthalmic instrumentation area and to manufacturers of head mounted displays (HMD). He served as a consultant on many national committees, including the National Institutes of Health, NASA AOS, Aviation Operations Systems advisory committee, U.S. Air Force, Department of Veterans Affairs, U.S. Navy Postdoctoral Fellowships Program, U.S. Army Research Labs, and U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Dr. Peli has published more than 200 peer reviewed scientific papers and has been awarded 9 U.S. patents. He edited a book entitled Visual Models for Target Detection with special emphasis on military applications and co-authored a book entitled Driving with Confidence: A Practical Guide to Driving with Low Vision.

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Goodwill Industries of Northern New England, where she provides strategic guidance for Goodwill’s programs and retail stores in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.

Most recently, Ms. Roosevelt served as Vice President, Global Corporate Citizenship for the Boeing Company in Chicago. During her ten years with Boeing, Ms. Roosevelt and her team influenced the company’s approach to corporate citizenship, including their community investment. Prior to her time with Boeing, she served as the Executive Director of the Brain Research Foundation at the University of Chicago. Ms. Roosevelt also previously provided leadership for several arts and cultural organizations, including the Kentucky Museum (Bowling Green), the Center for Scandinavian Studies (Chicago) and Museums in the Park (Chicago), and political organizations and candidates including the DNC, Senator Paul Simon (D-IL) and Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago.

In 2008, Ms. Roosevelt received a Leadership in Diversity Award from Access Living, Advocates for the Disabled. In 2010, she received the Public Humanitarian Award from the Illinois Humanities Council. She currently serves as Chair of the Roosevelt Institute and is a Fellow at the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship, a board member of NetImpact and the Maine Community Foundation.

Ms. Roosevelt holds a master’s from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a bachelor’s from Stanford University.

Leonard Sherman is an Executive in Residence and Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School with over forty years of experience in business, teaching and research on business strategy and entrepreneurship. He currently teaches courses in the MBA and EMBA programs, where he received the Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence in 2013.
Sherman is the author of “If You’re In A Dogfight, Become A Cat: Strategies For Long-Term Growth”, published by Columbia University Press, which was selected as the Business Book of the Year by Strategy + Business Magazine in 2017. He frequently contributes to Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine, Wired, The Financial Times, The Economist and other business publications.

Prior to his academic pursuits, Sherman was a Senior Partner at Accenture, where he provided management counsel to CEO’s in a variety of industries, served as the president of two business units, and helped launch the firm’s corporate venture group as a General Partner, serving as a board member for five technology-based startups.

Prior to these positions, Sherman was a managing partner of J. D. Power and Associates, where he led the firm’s management consulting practice and was a partner at Booz, Allen & Hamilton with responsibility for its U.S. automotive practice. Sherman has a BS in aeronautical engineering and an MS and Ph.D in transportation systems from M.I.T.

Stephen E. Still is a Professor of Practice in Transportation Planning at the University at Buffalo. His prior experience is in transportation planning and IT for consulting firms and private transportation providers.

After 17 years in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries working in both field sales and brand and portfolio marketing, Michelle joined the staff of the American Thoracic Society in 2007, serving as a liaison between the Society and its industry partners. Her experience launching multi-million dollar products through a comprehensive corporate association strategy as well as working with start-up companies where $500 is a big decision allows her to have conversations with customers at all stages of the product life cycle. Among her many responsibilities, she leads a team of people who manage all interactions with the Society’s industry partners including the ATS Corporate Member program. The team she has built has been recognized three times with Commendations from the ATS President.

Michelle also serves as staff to the ATS Committee on Drug Device Discovery and Development, which provides a forum within the Society where members discuss the basic, translational and clinical science surrounding the discovery and development of new drugs and devices, regardless of genesis or financial support with a goal of enhancing collaboration among all scientists.
She is a member of the American Society of Association Executives and the Healthcare Convention Exhibitors Association (HCEA). She was elected to four terms on the HCEA Board of Directors, and she served for four years as co-chair of the Education Committee (chair of the Association Educational Track). She has been a regular speaker at the HCEA Annual Meeting.

Michelle received a business degree from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA, where she was an active member of the marching band and several other ensembles. She is a life member of Kappa Kappa Psi, and in her spare time she flies stunt kites, volunteers serving marching band programs, and with the National Association of Music Parents.

In 2005 President Bush appointed Bill to serve on the Advisory Committee for the 2005 White House Conference on Aging. Throughout his career Bill has served on many non-profit boards, including The Public Affairs Council, The Multiple Sclerosis Association, and the Tomas Rivera Center, an institute of policy studies affecting Hispanic Americans.

Bill retired from Eli Lilly and Company in 1995 after 31 years with the company. He then formed a public affairs and business consulting firm that specializes in organizational development, particularly in the integration of strategic business planning with public affairs programs for healthcare client organizations and state and federal government. Since 2001 he has served as a consultant to the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services.

A native of Danvers, Massachusetts, Bill received a Bachelors of Science degree from the University of Connecticut in 1962 and attended Boston College Graduate School of Management (1967 – 1970).

David E. Warren is Senior Counsel in the law firm of Verrill Dana, LLP, based in Portland, Maine, with offices in Augusta, ME; Boston, MA; Providence, RI; Westport, CT; White Plains, NY; and Washington, D.C. David served as Managing Partner of the firm for 14 years from 1994 to 2008.
From 2009 to 2016, David served as President of Tranzon, LLC, a nation-wide franchise of real estate auction companies that ranks as one of the most prominent and successful real estate auction companies in the country. During this time, he worked closely with the principals of all Tranzon member companies from coast to coast and became an active member in the National Auctioneers Association.

David completed his service as President of Tranzon in 2016 and returned to the full-time practice of law at Verrill Dana, resuming his general corporate and transactional practice with a concentration on representing and counseling family-owned business clients. His practice extends more broadly, however, to include the areas of general corporate law, mergers & acquisitions, business financing, and corporate governance, building on his experience as General Counsel to numerous corporations, including large institutional clients as well as smaller, closely-held family businesses and nonprofit organizations.

David was inducted into the Maine Business Hall of Fame in 2004, and received the Alton Cianchette Business Hall of Fame Award from the Maine State Chamber of Commerce in 2004. He is listed in ‘The Best Lawyers in America’ as a leading attorney in the field of corporate law, and has been selected by Best Lawyers as “Lawyer of the Year” for the State of Maine on three separate occasions in the areas of Business Organizations, Corporate Law, and Closely Held Companies and Family Business Law.

David has been active in community and professional associations. He has served as Board Chair of the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce, Maine Medical Center, the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, and the Independent Transportation Network; as Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of Bowdoin College and the Finance Council of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland; and as Chair of numerous fundraising campaigns including the United Way of Greater Portland and the statewide Maine Campaign for Justice. He has also served on numerous other nonprofit and community boards, and is currently a Director of the Boston-based New England Legal Foundation and the Cumberland Club.

David graduated summa cum laude from Bowdoin College in 1976, and from the Columbia University School of Law in 1979. David and his wife Diana and their three adult children live in Portland.