Mid-Shore Pro Bono Welcomes New Board Members

Mid-Shore Pro Bono has announced its new Board of Directors members while recognizing the service of a departing Board member.

Newly elected are Directors Hillary Lindeman, Clinton Pettus, Ph.D., Rosemary Ramsey Granillo, and Anthony Rodriguez, Esq. Officers continuing to serve on the Board are President Timothy Abeska, Esq., Vice President James McComb, Treasurer Michael Starling, Esq., and Secretary Holland Brownley, Esq. Other continuing Board members are Sarah Dahl, Esq., Tawes Harper, Judith Showalter, Esq., Ruth Thomas, Rebecca Burner, Doncella Wilson, and Samantha Bowers Welte.

MSPB also recognized the dedication and work of departing board member Stephanie Shipley, Esq., who served on the Board since 2017.

“We are grateful for the service of all our Board members as we welcome Hillary, Clinton, Rosemary, and Anthony to our leadership,” said Mid-Shore Pro Bono Executive Director Meredith Lathbury Girard, Esq. “Our Board members have rich connections with the many facets of the community as well direct experience with legal services and the people we serve. These qualifications translate into our ability to successfully meet the dynamic legal needs of people on the Eastern Shore.”

“Mid-Shore Pro Bono is a great place to serve on the Board,” said MSPB President Timothy Abeska, Esq., now in the second year of his first term on the Board. “I’ve spent my entire career in law, and now in my retirement, I’m gratified by giving back through my work here, in very meaningful ways.”

Hillary Lindeman of Stevensville, Md. is a consultant with a focus on helping nonprofits meet the transparency and accountability requirements of the Standards for Excellence Institute. Her career spans numerous leadership roles in human-services-related organizations, most recently serving as Executive Director of Nonprofit Prince George’s County, a position held after working with the Community Action Council of Howard County.

Lindeman’s professional career began with the Prince George’s County Consumer Protection Commission serving as Community Affairs Specialist and Special Investigator. She went on to become the Assistant Director of the County’s Office of Emergency Preparedness before serving the majority of her career as Deputy Director for Community Services with Prince George’s County Department of Social Services. Lindeman received a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of Maryland College Park.

Clinton Pettus, Ph.D. of Easton, Md. spent much of his career serving in leadership roles, including President and Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs with Cheyney University of Pennsylvania. Cheyney University of Pennsylvania is the oldest of the historically black colleges and universities in the United States and was founded in 1837. Dr. Pettus currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of TransLutions Group, a consulting organization of which he is a founding member.

Dr. Pettus earned his Ph.D. in Personality Psychology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Ill. He holds a Master of Science degree in General Psychology and a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Virginia State University, Petersburg, Va.

He has served on numerous boards, including the Board of Trustees of Wilmington Friends School; Division II President’s Council of the National Collegiate Athletic Association; Board of Managers of Girard College in Philadelphia.  Currently, he is a Volunteer Community Mediator at the Baltimore County Conflict Resolution Center and Chair of the Board of Trustees of Friends for the Future, Inc., for which he is a founding member, among others.

His professional experience also includes serving on the American Friends Service Committee in Phila, Pa. as Deputy General Secretary of Programs, and as Regional Director out of Baltimore, Md.

Rosemary Ramsey Granillo of Chestertown, Md. is a local government and nonprofit professional with 15 years of experience in community-based projects, engaging regional stakeholders around issues of social and environmental justice, and community advocacy.

Ramsey Granillo serves as Director of the Kent County Local Management Board and has worked in El Salvador as a program director, researcher, and guest lecturer. Granillo earned a Master of Arts degree in Latin American History and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Latin American and Latino Studies from Fordham University. She is a Queen Anne’s County High School graduate. She also serves on the Board of Directors for Choptank Community Health System and Shore Rivers.

Anthony Rodriguez, Esq., of Church Hill, Md., earned his Juris Doctorate from the University of California Los Angeles School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California Santa Barbara. His legal experience includes serving as attorney-advisor and senior counsel for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and as a staff attorney with the Federal Trade Commission and National Consumer Law Center. His bar admissions include Maryland, Massachusetts, and California.

Rodriquez also was an Assistant Attorney General for the Massachusetts Office of Attorney General, where he worked with the National Association of Attorneys General on the Disability Rights in Public Accommodations working group, the Housing Discrimination task force, and the Telemarketing Fraud task force.

He is a member of the Maryland Hispanic Bar Association and has previously served as president of the Massachusetts Association of Hispanic Attorneys.  He has also served as a board member of the Volunteer Lawyer’s Project in Boston, Mass. He has been a presenter at numerous consumer protection law conferences and currently volunteers as an attorney with the Mid-Shore Pro Bono program.

Mid-Shore Pro Bono delivers a mission of helping Maryland’s Eastern Shore residents obtain access to legal assistance, with offices in Easton, Chestertown, and Salisbury, with more at www.midshoreprobono.org.