(Posted August 30, 2006)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- The Juniata College board of trustees has added four new members to begin the 2006-2007 academic year. The new trustees appointed to begin service Sept. 1, 2006 through August 2009 are: Ronald Blanck of Fenwick Island, Del.; Linda Hamilton of Naples, Fla.; Jodie Monger Gray of McLean, Va.; and Jerome Dvorak (alumni trustee) of McAdoo, Pa.
Retired Lt. Gen. Ronald Blanck, a native of Ephrata, Pa. and a partner and vice chairman of the board of Martin Blanck and Associates, a health care consulting firm, recently retired as president of the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth, Texas in June 2006.
As president, Blanck oversaw a multifaceted academic health center that included the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, the School of Public Health and the School of Health Professions. He joined the university's administration in August 2000 after he retired from the U.S. Army.
A 1963 graduate of Juniata and a graduate of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Dr. Blanck is board certified in internal medicine. He began his military career in 1968 as a medical officer and battalion surgeon in Vietnam and finished his career as Surgeon General of the U.S. Army and commander of the U.S. Army Medical Command, which encompasses 46,000 military personnel and 26,000 civilian employees.
Over his career, Blanck served as commander of Walter Reed Medical Center North Atlantic Region Medical Command, assistant chief of the General Medicine Service at Walter Reed Medical Center, assistant dean of student affairs at the Uniformed Services University School of Medicine and chief of the Department of Medicine at Brooke Army Medical Center. In addition to teaching duties at the University of North Texas, he also has taught at Georgetown University, George Washington University, Howard University School of Medicine and the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
He earned a variety of military honors, including the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit and the Bronze Star. He also received the Dr. Nathan Davis Award from the American Medical Association, the association's highest award for government officials. He was named a Master by the American College of Physicians/American Society of Internal Medicine and was elected to the National Board of Medical Examiners. He also serves on the boards of several corporations, institutes and policy centers. He also serves as an adviser on bioterrorism issues and on mass casualty accidents and weapons of mass destruction.
Linda Hamilton, a resident of Naples, Fla., is president and director of The Drax Group, a private family office in Naples focused on wealth management and administrative services. The Drax group manages a substantial equity portfolio with a significant focus in venture capital and real estate.
Hamilton also serves as president and director of The von Liebig Foundation. The von Liebig Foundation, established in 1975, supports medical research, the arts and education. The Foundation continues to be a supporter of Juniata College. The foundation's founder, William J. von Liebig, a Juniata alumnus, gave Juniata $14 million to build the college's von Liebig Center for Science, and the foundation continues to fund educational and research programs at the college.
Hamilton started her career in the corporate sector in 1988, serving as assistant to the chairman and corporate secretary at Meadox Medicals Inc., an Oakland, N.J. manufacturer of medical devices such as surgical stents. The company was later purchased by Boston Scientific Inc. Hamilton left the company in 1995 to establish The Drax Group.
Jodie Monger Gray, a 1988 graduate of Juniata and president of Customer Relationship Metrics, works tirelessly as a volunteer for Juniata College, first in official positions as vice president and president of Alumni Council and then as alumni trustee from 2003 to 2006. She is chair of the Juniata Scholarship Fund, the college's annual fund. She paved the way, together with the college's development staff, to focus Juniata's annual fund on funding student scholarships rather than college operational expenses.
On an informal basis, Gray has volunteered as a mentor for the Juniata College Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, as a host for alumni events in the Washington, D.C. area, and as creator, editor and publisher of the Juniata Alumni Newsgroup. She also was instrumental in revitalizing volunteerism at Juniata by leading the effort to have all Juniata alumni dedicate five hours of volunteer time to the college every year.
She earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Juniata and went on to earn a master's degree and doctoral degree in consumer behavior, both from Purdue University. In 1991 she accepted a job as associate director of Purdue's Center for Customer-Driven Quality, leaving that position in 1993 to found Customer Relationship Metrics, a firm specializing in developing, implementing and measuring customer feedback. She is recognized as the inventor of real-time surveying in the contact center industry. Her firm implements and hosts real-time surveying programs for contact centers in numerous industries. Her company offers a particular focus on customer call-center improvement and measurement.
Gray has co-written two books, "Customer Relationship Management," and "Call Center Management By the Numbers." She also lectures at IBM's Advanced Business Institute, AT & T's College of Call Center Excellence and other conferences. Her company also received the 2004 Product of the Year from Call Center Magazine.
Jerome Dvorak, a resident of McAdoo, Pa., is president of Anthracite Financial Group, a mortgage brokerage company. He is a 1987 graduate of Juniata College, earning a bachelor's degree in management and finance. He earned certification as a personal financial planner in 2004 from Moravian College.
Before starting his own company, Dvorak was director of portfolio transaction sales at GMAC Institutional Capitol in Bethesda, Md. Dvorak started his financial career at Meridian Bank in Reading, Pa. in 1987. He joined Meridian Bancorp Inc. as a fund management specialist in 1989 and moving to Meridian Capital Markets Asset Securitization Group in 1991. By 1995 he had been promoted to senior vice president of the asset strategies unit.
In 1995, he became senior vice president of transaction management at CoreStates Capital Markets in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and was promoted to managing director of the asset and portfolio research and strategies unit in 1997. In 1998, he became managing director of strategies and analytics for Redwood Financial Services Inc. in Fort Lauderdale, leaving in 1999 to join GMAC.
He remains active in his community, serving as a lector at his church, St. Kunegunda's Catholic Church in McAdoo. He also served as treasurer for the Anthracite Scouting Organization from 2003-2005. He volunteers extensively for Juniata College, serving on the college's enrollment committee and as the former chair of the Juniata Admissions Advisers.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.