Alumni Awards

2023 Alumni Award Winner

Elisa Ford is the 2024-2025 recipient of the Wong Moss Alumni Award.

Ford considers DCCC the catalyst that propelled her forward into professional and personal paths for which she has great passion, impact and gratitude. She earned her associate degree in Applied Science in General Studies from DCCC in 2012, graduating with high honors. This year, she rejoined the College on the track and field coaching staff. Under her tutelage and that of head coach Cara Fordenbacher, six DCCC Phantoms Track and Field student athletes qualified for the 2025 NJCAA Division III Track & Field Championships, May 8-10 in Utica, New York.

A Philadelphia high school track and field champion and among the 1980 Olympics hopefuls who lost the opportunity to compete due to the U.S. boycott, Ford received multiple athletic scholarships. She attended Arizona State University for two years before coming home due to illness. She remains an active track and field competitor with a concentration in field events, participating in the 2019 National Senior Games and planning to compete in the 2025 National Senior Games this July.

As a talent acquisition executive with SEPTA, Ford co-chairs its Employee Preparedness Training & Development Committee while serving on multiple advisory boards for various skilled trade technical schools and colleges throughout the five-county region, including DCCC. Since 2007, she has volunteered her time and talents as an outreach manager and transformation coordinator at Christian Fellowship Community Church in Philadelphia.

Ford holds a bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, in Biblical Studies from Lancaster Bible College and will complete her master’s degree in Nonprofit Organization Management from that institution this spring. In August 2025, she will begin pursuing a Ph.D. in Biblical Studies at Queens College of Theology. She and her husband of 33 years, McDonald E. Ford, are the parents of eight children.

The Wong Moss Outstanding Alumni Award

This award recognizes distinguished alumni for their outstanding professional, community, and educational accomplishments. It was created by the late Barbara Wong Moss, a former College trustee, and her son John in honor of her father, an immigrant from China who believed in the value of education. To qualify, the nominee must have successfully completed at least 30 academic credits at the College.

Anyone, including faculty and staff, may submit nominations. Alumni may also nominate themselves. Nomination form for the Wong Moss Outstanding Alumni Award.

Past Winners

2025 – Elisa Ford ’12
2023 – Rachel Berry ’05
2022 – Dr. James Plummer ’06
2021 – George Shadrach Kamanda ’14
2019 – Honorable John R. Bailey ’96
2018 – Captain Matthew LeTourneau ’95 (posthumous)
2017 – Cheryl Colleluori ’04
2016 – Dr. Rosa Cooper ’04
2015 – Jeanie Heffernan ’84
2014 – Louis Belliace ’87
2013 – Denise Romanelli ’94

2012 – Joseph Oaster Jr. ’89
2011 – Stephen Brown (ALCR ’80)
2008 – Joseph F. McGinn ’75
2007 – Robert M. Madonna ’74
2005 – Edward DiPilla ’85
2004 – Nicholas A. Pacitti ’73
2003 – George Hettenbach ’79
2002 – Wilma Fernandez Charles ’92
2001 – James Mendez ’93
2000 – Robert B. Oliver ’73

1999 – Mitchel Robbins ’74
1998 – Kenneth J.D. Boyden ’84
1997 – The Hon. W. Curtis Weldon ’73
1996 – B. Rena Huntsman ’78
1995 – John DiBuonaventuro ’75
1994 – Carol Cunningham Base ’83
1993 – Thomas J. Davis ’74
1992 – Kathleen Breslin Walker ’88
1991 – Jacqueline Butcher ’91
1990 – James Reaves ’76

Alumni Professional Achievement Award

The Alumni Professional Achievement Award annually recognizes Delaware County Community College graduates who are accomplished in their profession, having demonstrated a significant level of distinction within their chosen field. To qualify, the nominee must have successfully completed at least 15 academic credits at the College.

Anyone, including faculty and staff, may submit nominations. Alumni may also nominate themselves. Nomination form for Alumni Professional Achievement Award.

Past Winners

2023 – Scott Sauer ’03
Chief Operating Officer for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA)

2021 – Sharon White ’14
CEO of Grip Dynamics LLC

2020 – Enrique Latoison, Esq. ’01
Founding and Managing Partner, Latoison Law

2019 – Gwendolyn McCullough ’18
Chief of Staff to Rep. Mike Zabel (D-163)

2018 – Habibah Sulayman Smith MS ’04
Project Specialist, US Department of Health and Human Services’ Runaway and Homeless Youth Program

2017 – Francis X. Shields ’80
Owner, Executive, Advisory Services

2016 – Dr. Luli Akinfiresoye ’04
Pharmacologist, United States Drug Enforcement Administration

2015 – Melissa Maani ’94
Graphic Designer, Philadelphia Phillies

2014 – Dr. Dori Lawson ’03
Nurse Practitioner, Cardiology Associates of West Reading

2013 – Frank J. McKee ’70
President of The McKee Group

2012 – Laura Kasper ’84
Chief Executive Officer, Monarch Staffing

2011 – Robert F. Downey ’74
Former Assistant Special Agent in Charge FBI Philadelphia Field Office

2010 – Jane Griffin ’82
Information Assurance Manager, National Air & Space Intelligence Center

2009 – Susan F. Haindl ’84
Senior Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer, Essential Utilities, Inc.

2008 – Robert R. Mandos, Jr. ’78
Senior Vice President and Controller, AMETEK

2007 – Mel Lindauer ’81
Financial advisor, author, business entrepreneur

2006 – James Benoit, Jr. ’95
Owner Benoit Czarnecki Design/Construction LLC

2005 – Linda Vona-Davis, Ph.D. ’74
Associate Professor of Surgery, Department of Surgery, West Virginia University

2004 – Keith Huss, Ph.D. ’81
Principal Analyst, Abbott Bioresearch Center

2003 – Moira G. Kelly ’75
Senior Trust Advisor, PNC Wealth Management

2002 – John Mulvaney
Master of Fine Arts, Boston University, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial, Foundation of New York Fellowship