(Posted September 8, 2014)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- The Juniata College board of trustees has added three new members to begin the 2014-2015 academic year. The new trustees appointed to begin their service Sept. 1, 2014 through August 2017 are: Ethan Gibbel, of Manheim, Pa.; Elaine Jones, of Wayne, Pa; and William Rys, of Alexandria, Va.


Ethan Gibbel, president of Gibbel Insurance Agency in Lititz, Pa., graduated from Juniata College in 2002, studying business management.


Gibbel joined the family-owned insurance agency in 2004 as vice president and was named president in 2014. He represents the fourth generation of family ownership of the agency.

Gibbel and his family has been associated with Juniata almost since the college's founding as more than four generations of the Gibbel family have graduated and attended the college. Gibbel also is continuing a tradition in serving as a trustee. His uncle, Henry H. Gibbel, served as chair of the board of trustees from 2000 to 2006 and remains on the board, while Ethan's grandfather, Henry B. Gibbel, and great-grandfather, Henry R. Gibbel, also were Juniata trustees.

Gibbel oversees a full-service insurance agency that specializes in property and casualty insurance, business insurance, health insurance, and life insurance.

He is active in the Lititz area business community as a member of the Lancaster chapter of Business Networking International and the Professional Referral Exchange. He also is a member of Insurance Agents and Brokers and the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce.

Elaine Jones, a native of York, Pa., is executive director, venture capital, for Pfizer Venture Investments in New York City. A 1975 graduate of Juniata, she earned a bachelor's degree in biology and went on to earn a doctorate in virology and microbiology in 1981 from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

She has worked for Pfizer's venture capital firm since 2008. Her responsibilities include investing in emerging biotechnology companies that are focused on drug discovery and development in areas of breakthrough science and medicine.

Jones started her career in biotechnology venture capital in 1999 when she worked as an investment manager, and then vice president, for S.R.One, the venture fund of the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline. She managed investments in such companies as Adolor, Avantium, Nucleonics, Vicuron and Scynexis.

In 2003, she became a general partner in the venture fund Euclid SR Partners, which focused on life sciences and information technology investments. She oversaw the firm's investments in companies such as Acurian, Fluidigm, InnaPhase and Targacept.

Jones started her career as a scientist, joining SmithKline Beecham as a research scientist after finishing a three-year postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1981 to 1984. She joined SmithKline Beecham's SKF Laboratories in 1984 as an associate senior investigator in molecular genetics, where she worked on veterinary vaccines. In 1987, she moved to SmithKline Beecham Animal Health, where she worked as a research manager in molecular biology.
From 1994 to 1999, Jones was director of scientific licensing for the pharmaceutical company, where she identified product opportunities and led the technical evaluation of drug candidates being considered for licensing.

She has published numerous research articles in professional journals and has written numerous patents and patent applications.

Jones remains active professionally, participating as chair of the Corporate Venture Capital Group Advisory Committee in 2013-2014. She also has been a member of the Ben Franklin Technology Partners Bio/Life Sciences Investment Advisory Committee since 2003. She was a member of the board of directors for the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Association from 1991 to 1998. Jones also was president of the Alliance of Women Entrepreneurs from 2008 to 2010 and served on the organizations board of directors from 2006 to 2011.

William Rys, director of federal government affairs for Citi and a 1996 graduate of Juniata College, has been employed with the bank since 2013.

Rys, a native of Altoona, Pa., has been involved in the political sphere since 2000, when he started his career as legislative director for Melissa Hart, a three-term Republican U.S. Representative who represented Pennsylvania's 4th district in Congress. From 2006 to 2007, Rys was executive secretary at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

In 2007, Rys left government service for the private sector, working for the National Federation of Independent Business Tax Council until 2011, when he became vice president for federal policy for Shell Oil Inc.

Rys earned his law degree in 1999 from the Boston University School of Law. He also earned a master's degree in taxation from the Georgetown University Tax Center in Washington, D.C.

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