Speakers

Tom has 20 years of leadership and executive management experience in the healthcare environment, as well as manufacturing and technology. He has extensive experience in strategic planning, market development, physician network development, clinical program development, mergers and acquisitions, academic affiliations, as well as a background in marketing, branding and crisis communications and issues management.

Tom Stoessel serves Penn State Health as its Chief Business Development Officer. In this role, he is responsible for the growth of the emerging Penn State Health system, with a focus on strategic program extension and partnerships with regional community systems.

Prior to joining Penn State Health, Tom served PinnacleHealth as Senior Vice President, Strategic Planning and Business Development. During his time with Pinnacle, Tom was responsible for the development of the high level strategic direction for the organization, inclusive of its long rage vision, incremental strategies and annual plans of execution. He held ultimate responsibility for year-over-year growth of all health system service and product lines, and the development of new ventures and businesses. Tom served in a leadership capacity for all merger and acquisition, and affiliation activity, including hospital system expansion, as well as growth of the primary and specialty care physician network.

Prior to his role at PinnacleHealth, he served as Senior Vice President & Chief Strategy Officer for Mount Nittany Health System for nearly 10 years. While in State College, he produced significant growth and expansion of the organization, including its complete re-branding, development of a new inpatient tower, expanded emergency department, the launch of an affiliated cancer institute, the consummation of a master academic affiliation and the founding and build-out of the employed physician network, which now boasts more than 130 providers.

Earlier in Tom’s career, he was a shareholder in one of Pennsylvania’s largest Marketing and Straregic planning consultancies.

Tom earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Penn State’s Smeal College of Business, and holds a bachelor degree from Penn State University’s College of Communications.

Following nearly 14 years in New York City (NYC), Kathleen McGraw returned to her home state of Pennsylvania in late 2012 to work for Hershey Entertainment & Resorts (HE&R), a premier entertainment and hospitality company that enhances the legacy of Milton S. Hershey. At HE&R, she serves as Director of Communications.

In this role at HE&R, Kathleen oversees external communications including traditional media relations and social media efforts to generate awareness for Hershey The Sweetest Place On Earth. She is pivotal in crisis communications management, internal and executive communications. In her time at HE&R, the team has led the outreach for the unveil of The Circular at The Hotel Hershey, the launch of Laff Trakk  the 13^th roller coaster at Hersheypark, introduction of The Sweet Escape, the company’s new blog, a revamped social media strategy, enhanced employee communications, and more.

Prior to her appointment at HE&R, Kathleen was a Senior Vice President at GolinHarris in NYC where she worked on a variety of accounts including Energizer Personal Care, Slim-Fast, and Hartz.  Prior to GolinHarris, Kathleen was a Vice President at Edelman where she led the Barilla account and oversaw HSBC Bank’s Premier Banking PR initiatives. 

From January 2006 to February 2010, Kathleen was a Vice President at Emanate overseeing key lines of business for Bank of America, Celebrity Cruises and Embassy Suites accounts. Kathleen came to Emanate from IBM’s Systems and Technology Group where she served as global media relations specialist for the company’s iSeries server division and handled media relations for the company’s technology partnership at the US Open Tennis tournament.

Prior to joining IBM, Kathleen was a manager at Burson-Marsteller where she focused on media relations and account management for Accenture, WWII Memorial, US Trust, Dale Earnhardt, Inc., and United Way of NYC.

Kathleen started her public relations career in NYC at Martin PR in 1999 where she worked on Bank One, Olympus, and Seiko. Before moving to NYC in 1999, Kathleen served as Communications Associate for the United Way of York County, PA.

Throughout her career, Kathleen has led programs and initiatives that earned numerous industry accolades including the Big Apple Award, SABRE, Silver Anvil, Bulldog Awards, and the HSMAI Adrian Award.  A graduate of the University of New Hampshire, Kathleen earned a bachelor’s degree in English and a minor in Spanish. She also studied literature at Cambridge University. 

David Everett

For David Everett, just dreaming BIG is never quite enough. David has a vast imagination. Harrisburg Magazine quoted David’s employer Jen Delaye as saying that David “…was born with an innate ability to see a blank space and transform it into something truly unique.”

David began his career as a theatre performer. He attended school in Indiana and Chicago, and travelled extensively around the globe in his twenties. David uses his world travels to inspire his wedding and event designs, and his theatrical side definitely comes through, as well.

When David met Jen Delaye, the CEO of The JDK Group, he had no real experience with event planning beyond growing up around his aunt’s career as an event planner, but Jen saw his potential and offered him a position as an Event Specialist with her special events company JDK. 

David has been a part of the JDK team for 13 years now. Early in his career he was recognized outside the Central PA area by Event Solutions Magazine at the Spotlight Awards as the Rising Star Male of 2007. Another highlight of his career was serving as Lead Catering and Event Designer for the USA House during the Beijing Olympics. Although David has won countless awards for his wedding designs since then, he is very proud of being named Harrisburg Magazine’s Simply the Best Wedding Planner for 2013, 2014 and 2015.

David’s favorite part of being an event designer is bringing his clients dreams to life and visualizing possibilities for them. The creative process of organizing and designing a sensational event is what drives him to be one of the most sought-after event producers in the region. He believes that every event, whether large or small, deserves the same imaginative effort and attention to detail. David credits his JDK teammates with making it possible to execute his ambitious designs. “It is definitely something I could never do by myself,” he says.