Members join local board of United Way of Western Connecticut
STAMFORD, Conn. (January 19, 2017) — The Stamford Community Council of United Way of Western Connecticut has added three new members to its Council this month - Claudia Vilas, Carmen Hughes and JP Sebastian.
United Way’s Stamford Community Council serves as the local board of United Way of Western Connecticut. The Community Council is responsible for identifying community needs, building long-term funding sources and allocating resources to local nonprofits.
“We are so pleased that Claudia, Carmen and JP will be joining our Council,” said Kurosh Marjani, Chair of Stamford’s Community Council. “Each of these individuals brings their own passion for being involved in the Stamford community and they represent companies that are committed to ensuring their employees are engaged. We look forward to having their experience and insights on our Council, as United Way continues to identify ways to support the Stamford community.”
The following are bios for the new members of the Council. Also included are headshots for each new Council member.
Claudia Vilas
Claudia Vilas is the Vice President, Partner Engagement at FamilyWize, an organization that provides a free Prescription Savings and Wellness Program that helps make prescription medications more affordable and accessible to individuals, families and communities. Ms. Vilas is responsible for developing and growing FamilyWize partnerships across corporations and organizations, as a free benefit to their employees. She is responsible for building an Employer Program that is easy to implement with turnkey solutions, and promotes engagement and sustainability. Claudia began at FamilyWize in 2013 after spending 25 years at Affinion Marketing Group, with her most recent role being Vice President, Partnership Marketing. A graduate of Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA, Ms. Vilas now lives in Stamford with her husband, Mark and her two sons, Matthew and David.
JP Sebastian
JP Sebastian is Advisory Manager at Deloitte & Touche in Stamford. In his role at Deloitte, Mr. Sebastian works with several clients to review their internal controls supporting financial reporting. He also serves as the Chief of Staff to one of the Executives within the Advisory practice. Mr. Sebastian went to Bentley University and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics-Finance. He interned with Deloitte in 2007 and joined full-time upon graduation in 2008. Mr. Sebastian has served several clients in the Stamford area and serves the community in Stamford as well as in his hometown of Norwalk, where he currently lives. He is also active within the Deloitte community, assisting with recruiting events and firm strategies. Mr. Sebastian belongs to basketball, volleyball and softball leagues run by the town of Norwalk and Chelsea Piers of Stamford.
Carmen Hughes
Carmen Hughes is working with Handel Group® to develop and head the Diversity Division for HG Corp. Prior to joining Handel Group®, Ms. Hughes was an Executive Director and Head of Campus Recruiting and Pipeline Development for Chase Bank (a subsidiary of JPMorganChase). In this capacity, she was responsible for creating the national recruiting, mentoring, and promotional strategies across six consumer businesses. Before transitioning to Human Resources, Ms. Hughes spent 17 years of her career at JPMorgan Securities (a subsidiary of JPMorganChase) on the trading floor. While at JPMorganChase, she also acted as Co-Chair of the Investment Bank’s Black Leadership Forum. Most notably, Ms. Hughes implemented several key diversity programs for Blacks and Hispanics with measurable success. Ms. Hughes graduated with honors from Howard University's School of Business with a Bachelor's Degree in Marketing and is an alumna of INROADS. She has a passion for giving back to her community and is a member of the Board and Chair of the Board Governance and Nominations Committee for Habitat For Humanity-NYC.
Members of United Way of Western Connecticut’s Stamford Community Council include:
Bill Callion, Stamford community member; Lindsay Decker, NBCUniversal; Luis Diez, Northern Trust; Leslie Glenn, Remedy Partners; Kimberly Greene, Thomson Reuters; Sally Kelman, Stamford community member; Kurosh Marjani, Wofsey, Rosen, Kweskin & Kuriansky; Laura Ocycz, KPMG; George Schott, Legg Mason; Dan Sheehan, Genworth; Heath Durlester, Pitney Bowes; Sandy Weinberg, PKF O’Connor Davies; Candy Yeager, Stamford community member; Lisa Zana, Shipman and Goodwin; Victoria Zerjav, Holland & Knight, Ryan Tougias, Day Pitney LLP; Delphine Fairley, Nestlé Waters North America.
