2025 – 2028 SBN Board Member Candidates

Personal Bio:

Melissa R. Gilbert is Professor of Geography, Environment and Urban Studies at Temple University. She is an urban geographer interested in environmental, economic and social justice. At Temple, she serves as the Director of the Center for Sustainable Communities and Co-Chair of the Collaborative for Sustainability Science and Environmental Justice both of which promote interdisciplinary research, education, and community engagement towards just futures. She recently developed an interdisciplinary Professional Science Masters in Sustainability.

Personal Bio:

Joe Martinez, CFP®, is a Shareholder and Associate Investment Advisor with Entrust Financial LLC. Entrust Financial is a Certified B-Corp and is a woman-founded, women-owned, independent, fee-only investment management firm, founded to provide customized, holistic financial advice based upon clients’ most important goals. Joe earned his Finance degree from Temple University and has called Philadelphia home for the past 20 years. He currently resides in Old City with his wife, Chanda.

Personal Bio:

A seasoned wealth management professional, Tom Paluszynski delivers a highly engaging consulting experience. For more than 25 years, he has been a strong advocate for his clients, serving the specialized needs of institutional and private wealth clients at his Philadelphia-based consulting practice.

Prior to joining Morgan Stanley in 2009, Tom spent 21 years at UBS, where he played an instrumental role in driving the growth of the firm’s regional institutional sales group. With hands-on experience working closely with leadership teams of many of the region’s institutions and nonprofits, Tom understands how to guide and harness effective decision-seeking to drive performance and achieve short- and long-term goals.

Today, Tom combines his institutional knowledge with his passion for sustainability and philanthropy. At the heart of his practice is his commitment to helping each client do more than just beat a benchmark. He does this by aligning each client’s specific finances with their overall values and mission, using appropriate strategies and disciplines to help achieve their specific goals. If done properly, Tom believes individuals and institutions can earn competitive returns, while achieving specific social, environmental or philanthropic goals – a discipline that delivers a “double bottom line.”

A graduate of Slippery Rock University, Tom is proud to be a member of Morgan Stanley, a firm deeply committed to the same mission-based principles in which he believes. Morgan Stanley has devoted significant resources to these important efforts and is a recognized leader in the Socially Responsible Investing and Impact Investing arena. Moreover, the firm’s open architecture platform enables Tom to work with investment managers who can screen for certain securities and introduce investments that correlate to an individual or institution’s specific mission.

Personal Bio:

Stanford B. Ponson is an associate in Dilworth’s general litigation practice. He holds a strong interest in plaintiffs’ rights and commercial litigation.

Prior to joining Dilworth, Stanford worked for a national firm representing states and municipalities affected by the opioid epidemic. He also has experience in multidistrict litigations where he has represented hundreds of individual plaintiffs in defective medical device and pharmaceutical cases. In the process, he has gained experience in all aspects of litigation, while standing up for clients across the country in state and federal proceedings. Stanford is also interested in promoting corporate social responsibility and how corporations can and should establish objectives to invest in and improve the communities in which they operate.

Stanford received his bachelor’s in marketing from Louisiana State University and his Juris Doctor from Thomas R. Kline School of Law at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In law school, He earned recognition as a leader in the law school community, especially in the area of pro bono work, where he counseled Philadelphia-based entrepreneurs in navigating the complexities and uncertainties of starting a business. He is also a former entrepreneur and remains active in the Philadelphia startup and small business community.

In addition to being a full-time attorney, Stanford is also an Advanced Sommelier currently studying to become a Master in Wine.

Personal Bio:

Joe Pelusi, owner of Green Investment Strategies, Inc., is passionate about helping clients make intelligent, sustainable investment choices that positively impact both their portfolios and the planet. Growing up in Wildwood Crest, New Jersey—a small barrier island town—Joe faced challenges early on. Raised by a single working mother and overcoming hearing loss, he learned the value of hard work and perseverance. After earning degrees from Amherst College and Harvard Law School, he secured positions at top law firms in Philadelphia and Atlanta. Yet, despite these accomplishments, Joe saw the effects of stagnant wage growth and income inequality firsthand. After years in a demanding job with a modest salary and long commute, he turned to investing, successfully boosting his income, and gaining the freedom to retire from the practice of law and focus on climate work.

Joe’s investment philosophy centers around the urgent challenge of climate change, using Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria. His goal is not only to help clients achieve strong financial returns but also to contribute to a more sustainable future. When Joe began his sustainable investing journey, he discovered a lack of expertise among financial advisors and dedicated himself to mastering the ESG landscape. Today, he guides clients by connecting them with top fund managers who have a track record of responsible and high-performing investments. For Joe, investing in a greener future is about creating meaningful change: reducing pollution, improving public health, and generating new job opportunities.

Living in Montgomery County with his wife and four children, Joe is deeply committed to building a better world for future generations. He believes that by empowering clients to meet their financial goals through responsible investing, we can collectively contribute to a healthier, more sustainable planet—one investment at a time.

Personal Bio:

Carmel Deane joined the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC) in 2018 and has over 15 years of experience in finance, banking and economic development. PIDC is Philadelphia’s public private economic development corporation and has financing resources to serve the unique needs of businesses, nonprofits, and real estate developers, including those that are BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color), women-, veteran-, immigrant-, disabled-, and LGBTQ+ owned and operated.  As Senior Loan Officer on the Business Lending Team, Carmel is responsible for leading PIDC’s underwriting of loans to small and midsize commercial businesses in Philadelphia. Her portfolio consists of business and economic development loans ranging from $50,000 to $2 million. Carmel has special expertise in delivering flexible financing to small businesses across a wide range of industries in Philadelphia. Prior to PIDC, Carmel held lending positions in Commercial Banks in both Toronto, Canada and Cork, Ireland. She holds a Degree in Finance from University College Cork in Ireland.

Personal Bio:

A Persian-Canadian entrepreneur, he began his career in the editorial department at a non-profit art photography publisher, Aperture, before moving to Philadelphia to co-found Fishtown’s Cake Life Bake Shop. He is proud to be one of the city’s few transgender business owners.