Greenwich United Way Board of Directors and Advisory Board Welcome New Members

The Greenwich United Way’s tag line is “Local Insights. Lasting Results.”

“That says it all,” said Greenwich United Way Board Chair, Karen Keegan, earlier this month the election of five new Board of Directors members.

The new Board of Directors are Anne Franscioni, Diane Viton, Frank Carpenteri, Joui Hessel and Nancy Kail.

Four members were voted onto the organization’s Advisory Board: Ken Mifflin, Lisa Baird, Frances Deutsch and Mary Laughlin during the organization’s Annual Meeting at Innis Arden Golf Club.

“Our mission is to identify unmet local human service needs, raise awareness and support, and then mobilize the community to create and implement lasting solutions with measurable and sustainable results,” Keegan continued.

In 2016 the organization had several events including a roundtable in September at Greenwich Library where Greenwich United Way CEO, David Rabin, hosted an interactive presentation, titled ‘Making Tough Choices.’

Last year Greenwich United Way held approximately 20 information sessions to raise awareness for the critical human service needs in the community and programs that are funded to help meet the needs outlined in the 2016 Needs Assessment.

“One of the highest priorities of the Community Planning Council and Greenwich United Way Board is to keep the Needs Assessment front and center in the minds of people in Greenwich who care about the people in their community,” Keegan said.

Upcoming Events

12th Annual Sole Sisters Luncheon at Greenwich Country Club on Tuesday, April 25
Inaugural Golf Tournament at the Stanwich Club, Thursday, May 4
Annual Legislative Breakfast at Greenwich Town Hall in May 2017
3rd Annual Brew Ha Ha Comedy Night at Arch Street Teen Center on Friday, Sept 29

New Board Member Biographies

Franscioni graduated from Greenwich High School and received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Pepperdine University. She is a residential Real Estate agent with Sotheby’s International Realty in Greenwich. Franscioni was elected to the Junior League Board of Directors as the Membership Director for 2016-2017 and co-chaired the Membership Events & Training Committee for the JLG from 2014-2016. She has been a member of the JLG since 2010 and volunteers at her children’s preschool.

Carpenteri graduated from Greenwich High School and Providence College. He is the owner of Garden Catering and a member of Greenwich, Stamford & Norwalk Chambers of Commerce. Carpenteri is currently on the Community Planning Council and is the Event Director for Greenwich Wiffle Ball Tournament. He actively participated in fundraising for Safe Rides, donated and sat in on meetings for the First Selectmen’s Youth Commission, is a current member of the Board of Advisors for STREETS International, a non-profit based in Vietnam. His past community involvements include; Vice President of White Plains Men’s Rugby Club and he initiated Garden Catering’s “Nuggets for Non-Profits” give back program, through which over $100,000 has been donated to various non-profits throughout Fairfield & Westchester County.

Viton was born and raised in Trafford, Pennsylvania, outside of Pittsburgh. She earned a B.A. in Economics at Penn State and a B.A. in Interior Architecture at Harrington Institute of Interior Design in Chicago. Viton is a real estate agent with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and has her own interior design firm, DSV Interiors. She co-chaired the Sole Sisters Luncheon in 2015 after serving on the Luncheon committee for three years. Viton is co-chairing Sole Sisters again in 2017. She has also been a benefit chair at both Putnam Indian Field School and Stanwich School.

Hessel was born in Jacksonville, Florida and raised in Miami, Florida. Her education includes; BSEd, The University of Georgia, MAHL, Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR), MAJE, HUC-JIR Rabbinic Ordination, HUC-JIR. Hessel is the HUC-JIR, Recruitment and Admissions Consultant and formerly was Rabbi and Director of Religious Education, Washington Hebrew Congregation from 2009 until 2014. She is a Board Member of the Women’s Rabbinic Network and Central Conference of American Rabbis. Hessel is a Greenwich JCC, Women’s Philanthropy Auxiliary of the UJA Board Member and Co-Chair for the UJA Women’s Philanthropy luncheon (November 2016).

Kail has worked in the not-for-profit, public and finance sectors and serves on the Board of the Joseph H. Lauder Institute at Wharton/University of Pennsylvania, as well as the Women’s Leadership Council at Brown and several other Boards. She also mentors high school graduates and first generation college students through various nationally recognized programs. She is the recent past president of Saving the Next Generation, a Lebanon-based organization that helps at risk young people in the Middle East through education programs. Kail started and served as the Founding Chair of the Greenwich Alliance for Education, a public/private partnership supporting economically disadvantaged students and driving innovation in public schools. She was publicly elected to serve a four-year term on her town’s Board of Education and served as Treasurer of the Brown Alumni Association. She worked for several years in the Corporate Finance Department of Wertheim Schroder & Co. PLC. She is fluent in Spanish and has traveled extensively, including several trips to Cuba. In 2014 Kail organized and led the Greenwich High School Band’s musical performance based trip to Havana. She was born in New York, NY and grew up in Westport, CT. She has a BA from Brown University and an MBA/MA from Wharton/UPenn.