Council for Relationships Welcomes New Board Directors
8 OCTOBER 2018
The Board of Directors is integral to advancing the mission of Council for Relationships: to help people from all walks of life improve their important relationships by providing exemplary therapy, educating and training clinicians in the family systems approach, and advancing the behavioral health field through research. We are pleased to welcome the following Directors to the Board.
James Ask
James Ask is a Banker with the J.P. Morgan Private Bank. He is responsible for developing and managing relationships with families, individuals, and not-for-profit organizations, while delivering the global resources of the firm. He leads a team of specialists providing holistic advice for the client’s entire balance sheet: Investment management, lending, trust & estate planning, and charitable endeavors. Prior to joining J.P. Morgan, James spent 9 years as an officer and Naval Aviator in the service of the United States Navy. James exited the Navy with the rank of Lieutenant after leading his Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance aircrew with distinction in a variety of operations around the globe. James continues to serve as an ambassador for the Travis Manion Foundation, a veteran service organization empowering veterans and families of fallen heroes to develop character in future generations based in Doylestown, PA. James is also an Investment Committee member for the Williamson College of the Trades in Media, PA, a private 3 year trade college providing full scholarships to its students in order to fulfill its mission to serve the underprivileged. James received a B.S. from the United States Naval Academy and an MBA from the Hough Graduate School of Business at the University of Florida. He and his wife, Mary Jane, live in Bryn Mawr, PA with their three children: Betsy, James, and Izzy.
Rev. David W. Brown
David W. Brown has owned or managed five advertising/public relations firms throughout his 30+ career in Philadelphia. He has the distinction of being the only person to have served over his career as both the President of PRSA’s Philadelphia chapter and the Philadelphia Advertising Club. He is also the only living African American inducted into the Philadelphia Public Relations Association (PPRA) Hall of Fame. He was named a “Champion of Change” by the Obama Administration for his communications work around empowering non-profits to make a difference in the communities they serve. In 2018, Brown was awarded the Harris Wofford Active Citizenship Award by the Philadelphia Martin Luther King Day of Service Committee for his “dedication and longtime support” of the King Day of Service–the largest single day of service in the country. He also co-founded the “Bridge Walk for Peace” which includes a sunrise walk across the Ben Franklin Bridge and is the nation’s longest such observance marking the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4th. He is a published author and has served as the General Manager for 900 AM WURD (Pennsylvania’s only African American-owned talk radio station). He is an ordained Reverend in the United Methodist Church and is currently an Assistant Professor of Instruction at Temple University’s Klein College of Media and Communication where he is also pursuing his PhD in Media and Communication.
Marla Green
Marla Green has co-chaired numerous events benefiting organizations in both the Philadelphia area and nationally. Events she has worked on in the past have benefited the National Museum of American Jewish History, The Prince Music Theater, The Ambassadors Circle Dinner, the American Red Cross Breakfast (honoring Joe Banner, President of the Philadelphia Eagles), the Anti-Defamation League (honoring Sidney Kimmel, owner of Jones NY), and the Laurel House Gala (honoring Tammy & Andy Reid of the Philadelphia Eagles). Much of Marla’s work focuses on efforts to benefit women and/or children at risk. She is a past co-chair of the Children’s Crisis Treatment Center Round Up, and while serving on the Board of the Eagles Youth Partnership, she co-founded the “Philadelphia Eagles Annual Carnival.”
Marla Green is a past member and current member of many organizations’ boards. The Please Touch Museum, the Billy Penn Picture Corporation. Marla is also the chair of the American Benefactor Foundation, dedicated to building capacity for non-profits, and is a new member of the State Board of Directors of Economics Pennsylvania as well as the Development Committee of the Wistar Institute, located on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 2002, Marla Green was recognized by City Year Philadelphia with the “Idealist of the Year Award,” for her “commitment to volunteerism and national youth service.”
Steven Kempf
Steven Kempf is a lifelong resident of the Philadelphia area. Steven was born in, raised in and attended school in Lower Merion Township. Steven holds both undergraduate and graduate degrees in business from Saint Joseph’s University. Steven began his professional career working for his father’s building material supply business, the George F. Kempf Supply Company, located in Southwest Philadelphia. In fact, Steven comes from a family with deep entrepreneurial roots in Philadelphia. His grandfather, Winfield F. Kempf, was originally in the ice supply business in West Philadelphia during the early 1900’s. This business later became the W.F. Kempf Fuel Company located at 52nd & Jefferson Streets selling coal and eventually fuel oil throughout West and Southwest Philadelphia. Steven’s father, George, opened his building material business in 1951 at the corner of 56th & Grays Avenue later moving to 51st & Grays Avenue and ultimately to 58th & Lindbergh. After spending almost 20 years with the company his father began, Steven left to start his own company, the Steven Kempf Building Material Company. Since it’s founding in 1994 the company has operated from three different state of the art facilities located in Conshohocken and King of Prussia, the first at 309 Washington Avenue, the second at 1103 West Ridge Pike and the current facility a 125,000 square foot facility at 381 Brooks Rd. King of Prussia. In August of 2016, Steven sold his business to GMS, Inc., a national building materials company headquartered outside of Atlanta, Georgia. Steven has remained with GMS and is currently the Regional Manager for the Mid Atlantic area.
Robert L. Perkel, MD
Born in 1950 and raised in Bayonne, New Jersey, Dr. Robert Perkel graduated from Yale University, 1972, then from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in NYC 1978. He completed his residency in Family Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital 1981 and joined and remained full time faculty at Jefferson for the past 37 years. As a family doctor, Dr. Perkel is a clinician-educator, teaching and learning from medical students, residents, fellows, and colleagues. He is a founding member (1985) and Chair of the TJUH Ethics Committee since 1990. With a colleague, he started the Home Visit Program, having made thousands of house calls to under-served, elderly, infirm Philadelphians since 1981. Dr. Perkel is particularly interested and dedicated to the melding of the humanities and medicine, believing in the importance of knowing the whole patient in a bio-psycho-socio-cultural context. He has two wonderful children, Julia and Michael. He and his significant other, Cathy, share a love of music and the arts.