CLE Staff

Dr. Len Marrella, PhD
President - Center for Leadership and Ethics
Born and reared in Reading, PA, Len Marrella is the founder and president of the Center for Leadership and Ethics. Len is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, Class of ’57. After successful military assignments with troops in NATO and Vietnam he returned to Academia and earned an MBA and Doctorate in Finance and Management. He was able to apply this education in a variety of challenging assignments, managing major Defense Projects for the Department of the Army.
After 22 years of commissioned service, he retired at the rank of Colonel, and began a new career in private industry with International Paper Company as their Director of Capital Projects. In this capacity, Len was responsible for the implementation of a six billion dollar capital investment program. As a result, he was selected to be the company's chief financial spokesperson to Wall Street and the world's other financial centers. In this role, he spearheaded the development of a successful international investor relations program.
In May 1990 after years of working and living in many parts of the world, Len returned to Reading, Pennsylvania where he saw an opportunity to share his education and experience with his community. Len was a partner in the Spring Ridge Financial Group. You may have known him as WEEU’s "The Money Doctor".
His vision is to heighten public commitment to the principle that true success is based on trust - emanating from ethics and character. He is the author of In Search of Ethics, Conversations with Men and Women of Character.
Len is married and has three grown daughters and many wonderful grandchildren. Len was recently inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame for his past baseball endeavors. His claim to fame occurred at West Point in 1955 where he threw Willie Mays out at home plate during an exhibition game.

COL(R) US Army - Patrick A.Toffler Sr.
Strategic Planning, Character Development, and Consulting
Pat was born at Fort Knox, Kentucky. He was raised as a typical Army brat and traveled with his family throughout the US, in Canada, and to Europe. In 1968, he graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point and joined the Infantry as a 2nd Lieutenant.
After a tour of duty in Vietnam, serving as an infantry and reconnaissance platoon leader (69-70'), he commanded a mechanized infantry company at Ft. Carson CO (70-71'), then commanded an infantry training battalion at Ft. Benning GA (84-86'). Along the way, he earned a Master of Science degree in Operations Research and Systems Engineering from the US Navy Post-Graduate School, Monterey, CA. Subsequent assignments offered the opportunity to apply this education to a variety of challenging problems in the areas of combat readiness, human resources, and weapons development.
In 1987, Pat returned to the USMA at West Point, to serve as a director of strategic planning and decision-support. In this capacity, he helped design the Cadet Leader Development System and the methodology for assessing the value of the Academy to the Army and the nation. He graduated from the Army War College in 1989 and retired after 30 years of service in 1998.
While on active duty his decorations included the: Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit (2), Defense and Army (4) Meritorious Service Medals, Bronze Star (1V, 3), Air Medal (3), Army Commendation Medal, and the Purple Heart.
For the next 6 years, he served as the director of the research and studies partnership established between the Army Acquisition Community and West Point. Projects were characterized by interdisciplinary teams consisting of military and civilian faculty and cadets. During his stewardship, the partnership grew significantly, embracing each of the Armed Services, the Defense Department, industry, and several academic institutions.
Since August 2004 Pat has focused on supporting the purpose and goals of the Center for Leadership and Ethics: to inspire and enable people to be citizens of character. He presently resides in Hewitt, New Jersey.

Tammy M. Toso
Director of Instruction, Senior Executive for Education & Administration
Born into a military family, Tammy was raised in the true tradition of an “Army Brat.” She spent her early years in Europe and returned to the USA only to continue moving throughout her high school years. These experiences gave her a first-hand and lasting appreciation for the many demographic factors that characterize our world and our society.
Tammy wanted to serve as a teacher and she graduated from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia with a degree in education. However, before long, something about the adventure of travel led her to continue exploring the world. She became a Flight Attendant for Northwest Airlines, traveling to Europe, Asia, and all points in between. This opportunity provided additional, invaluable experience developing Tammy’s understanding of the cultural, ethnic, and religious differences among people and nations.
Her next professional opportunity arose in the corporate world where she served as a Senior Account Executive with a recruiting firm in Washington D. C. In this capacity, she demonstrated great skill in the complex arena of human resources, receiving both awards and promotions.
It was here that she experienced the imperative of trust and integrity in successful business relationships. She also realized that Character, the essential first-quality for all leaders, could not be taken for granted. Accordingly, with her father COL(R) US Army, Len Marrella, who had retired from the Army and then devoted several years to corporate executive leadership, she helped create the Center for Leadership and Ethics.
As Senior Executive for Education & Administration Tammy develops presentation material, teaches, and orchestrates the activities of CLE. She is especially motivated to work with teenagers and is the principal coordinator for the Annual Berks County, PA High School Conference for Leadership and Ethics (a joint project conducted with the United States Military Academy at West Point).
Beyond her baccalaureate degree, Tammy’s formal education and training include programs provided by the Josephson Institute and the Institute for Global Ethics. She is presently pursuing her PhD in Leadership at Alvernia College in Reading, Pennsylvania. Tammy’s professional dedication is to motivate and develop people to be "Leaders of Character". Tammy resides in Sinking Spring, PA with her daughter Tory and her son Todd .

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Associates and Affiliates

Laurianne Brunetti
Character Education Coordinator and Language Arts Teacher, Memorial Middle School, Fairlawn New Jersey.
Laurianne Brunetti, M.A.E., is the author and presenter of the “Celebrate Character” program. She is the Character Education Coordinator and a Language Arts teacher at Memorial Middle School in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. Memorial School is a National School of Character Winner and a two-time New Jersey State School of Character Winner. Memorial School has received six Promising Practices Awards for programs and practices which she created to promote character, leadership, service and citizenship.
Laurianne has led a character education core team to serve as a Mentor/Coach school for aspiring schools within the “Fostering Change in School Culture” Program through Rutgers University.
Presently, Laurianne teaches seventh and eighth grade literacy courses in writing, reading and research. She is also an adjunct professor at Seton Hall University and serves as a member of the Alumni Board. Laurianne is also an independent Curriculum Consultant working with schools to develop programs of character and to design and develop curriculum.
She is a Best Practices Award recipient and has served as a presenter for the National Character Education Partnership, CharacterPlus, the New Jersey Education Association, Kappa Delta Pi, the New Jersey Association of Middle Level Education, the NJ Alliance for Social-Emotional and Character Development and the Center for Leadership and Ethics.

Deirdre P. Dixon
Program Director, Leadership Center at the University of Tampa’s John Sykes College of Business
Deirdre Dixon is the Program Director of the Leadership Center at the University of Tampa’s John Sykes College of Business.
She graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1984 with a Bachelor of Science degree. Additional education includes a Master of Business Administration from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and a Master of Science degree from Central Michigan in Public Administration. Her military education also includes the United States Air Force Command and Staff College and Jumpmaster school.
LTC Dixon began her career as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where she held numerous positions and was one of the first female master parachutists in the Army. Her next assignment was to serve in the 260th Quartermaster Battalion with the 24th Infantry Division (ID). While there she deployed with the unit to Saudi Arabia and took command of the 24th Ordnance Company. Her unit was responsible for supplying all of 24th ID’s ammunition during Desert Shield/Storm from locations in both Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
After her return to the United Sates, she attended The Fuqua School of Business in preparation for her next assignment, teaching the core Leadership course and a leadership elective at West Point. After additional military schooling at the Air Force Command and Staff College, LTC Dixon returned to Fort Bragg to be the XVIII Airborne Corps Parachute officer and Executive Officer for the 530th Quartermaster Battalion (Airborne). Her final position in the military prior to retirement was as a Professor of Military Science.
Deirdre Dixon is also very involved in the local community. She is past president and the current programs chair for the local West Point society. She is on the board as scholarship VP for the Suncoast Chapter of the Association of the US Army, and she recently chaired the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce Military Affairs Committee. She was a member of Leadership Tampa Class of ’05. Deirdre was also just elected by alumni to serve on the board of advisors for West Point.
Deirdre resides in Tampa with her husband Paul and three children, Caneel 12, Carlin 10, and Cowboy 7. They spend their weekends on the soccer and baseball fields and at the Patel Conservatory doing various sporting activities.

Dr. Kimberly E. Gates, Ph.D.
Dr. Gates completed research on character education and professional development and earned her PhD from Capella University.
Currently, she is an elementary teacher in the Atlanta Metropolitan area where she has taught for eleven years. Teachers, parents, local PTSA, colleagues, and administration have recognized Dr. Gates for her strong dedication to character education.
She has served as chairperson for her school’s Character Education Design Team, PTSA Board of Directors chairing the Character Education Division, and school representative for the school district.
Educating minds and building character is Kimberly’s passion and she enjoys sharing her passion with other educators. Dr. Gates has presented strategies for character education implementation at two of School District of Jefferson’s Character Education Conferences in Wisconsin; three years at Character Education Partnership’s (CEP) Annual Conferences; National Council for Social Studies conference.
In addition, Dr. Gates has presented her strategies and techniques to teachers of Cobb County School District and the Georgia Independent Schools Association’s Annual Conference (GISA). Furthermore, Dr. Gates has taught with a strong passion for educating minds and building character.
With character education as her teaching philosophy, Dr. Gates strongly practices what she teaches and believes as Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Intelligence plus character - that is the true goal of education.”
Dr. Gates' Blog - the Gates Express

Brigadier General John L. Gronski
Assistant Adjutant General, Pennsylvania Army National Guard Senior Management Consultant, Greencastle Associates Consulting.
BG John Gronski serves in the Pennsylvania National Guard and is currently assigned as an Assistant Adjutant General. He is a combat veteran of Operationa Iraqi Freedom, commanding the 2ND Brigade Combat Team, 28th Infantry Division in Ramadi, Iraq from 2005 to 2006. He also commanded 55th Brigade, 28th Infantry Division and he commanded infantry units at the company and battalion level.
BG Gronski received his commission in 1978 through the ROTC program at the University of Scranton. He is a graduate of numerous military schools to include the U.S. Army War College, the Command and General Staff Course, the Infantry Officer Advanced Course, Ranger School, and Airborne School. He has received numerous military decorations, service medals, and badges to include the Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, Bronze Star, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Combat Infantry Badge, Ranger Tab, and Basic Parachutist Badge.
In his civilian career John is a senior management consultant with Greencastle Associates Consulting in Frazer, PA. He has over 12 years experience leading large complex projects and coaching and mentoring business leaders.
John earned a Master of Business Administration from Penn State Great Valley, a Master of Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College, and a Bachelor of Science in Human Services from the University of Scranton. He is currently a doctoral student at Alvernia University in Reading, PA.
John was awarded the Frank J. O’Hara Award for government service by the University of Scranton and the Alumni Society. He serves on the board of directors for the Hawk Mountain Boy Scout Council and the First Regiment Infantry of PA and he also serves on the Management Division Academic Advisory Council at Penn State’s School of Graduate Studies in Malvern, PA.
John and his wife Berti have been married over 29 years and live in Berks County, PA. Their son Stephen served in the Marine Corps and son Timothy serves in the PA Army National Guard as a staff sergeant and is a combat veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Kathleen M. Lawrence, MA
Child, Couple and Family Counseling
Therapy Kathleen is an associate marriage and family therapist working with individuals, children, couples, and families dealing with a wide range of life issues. She is currently in private practice, having previously worked in the community mental health field where her focus was children in trauma, new foster families, and restoration of families dealing with drug addiction.
As part of her practice, Kathleen facilitates a variety of workshops and programs, including “Families Living with Multiple Sclerosis” and “Let’s Talk About Sex”, a conversation about sex, sexuality, gender roles and gender identity. Kathleen was Chairman of the Board and co-facilitator of Foundations for Success, an organization dedicated to teaching motivation from compassion rather than from fear, where she facilitated programs for private groups and public sector agencies. Kathleen received her Master’s degree in Psychology from Antioch University in Seattle. Kathleen’s undergraduate studies were in philosophy of religion, psychology, law, and business administration.
Prior to becoming a therapist, Kathleen worked for over 25 years in law and business where she originated real estate syndications of low income housing in over 20 states. She founded and was president of multiple mortgage and escrow companies, as well as real estate companies developing single and multi-family residential projects. She worked with her husband, Kerry (USMA ’70), in construction and real estate law and litigation.
Kathleen has taught numerous seminars on law and business topics. Kathleen and her husband live outside Seattle, Washington. They enjoy world travel for work and pleasure, sometimes with their two adult daughters. Together they work throughout the world promoting alternative dispute resolution and effective multi-cultural communication.

MAJ(R) - Priscilla W. Locke
Senior Advisor, Army Family Team Building
Pat Locke graduated from West Point in 1980 with the first class of women. She was commissioned as an Air Defense Artillery Officer and served in many positions and locations worldwide.
After an exciting career, but one also including several injuries, Pat retired in 1995 and joined the volunteer ranks as a senior advisor and Army Family Team Builder Master Trainer, while her husband, Michael, continued his service to the Army.
After her most recent master’s in education, Pat established the Seeds of Humanity Foundation to help underserved children and adults with core life skills and to raise awareness of their importance. Most recently, she established LifePlan Services, LLC, in which she is President and CEO. The company’s mission is to train and develop core life skills for those in transition and on their “ascent to excellence.”
Pat is currently a student of moral theology at Christendom College. She has participated in a number of West Point Leadership and Ethics Conferences in the region and is on the Class of 1979 West Point and Leadership and Ethics Committee for high schools in the Northern Virginia area. She is also the Civility and Ethics director for her Rotary Club of Springfield. She is the treasurer for her classmates of the Capital Speakers Club of Washington DC.
Pat is married to Michael Locke and has one daughter, Sarah who is a junior at Mount Vernon High School in Alexandria, VA. Pat is ecstatic about returning to serve with the National Conference on Ethics in America.

Donald L. McCabe
Don McCabe is a Professor of Management and Global Business at Rutgers University. Over the last nineteen years he has done extensive research on college cheating, surveying over 175,000 students at more than 170 colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada. He has also surveyed over 25,000 high school students in the United States during the last seven years.
His work has been published widely in business, education and sociology journals and he is founding president of the Center for Academic Integrity, a consortium of over 350 colleges and universities based at Clemson University who are joined in a united effort to promote academic integrity among college and university students.
Don has a B.A. in Chemistry from Princeton University (1966), an M.B.A. in Marketing from Seton Hall University (1970), and a Ph.D. in Management from New York University (1985).
He worked for over 20 years in the corporate world before joining Rutgers in 1988. His last corporate position was Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Devro, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company.

LTC (R) US Army – John Norton Jr.
Leadership, Execution, Organizational Change Contract Training Consultant – FranklinCovey Company
John Norton's mission statement reads "to live with integrity and make a difference in the lives of others." He has sought to live up to these principles since graduating from West Point in 1970.
His Army career, 1970-92, includes combat in Viet Nam with the 101st Airborne Division and the Vietnamese Airborne Division; patrolling the East German and Czech borders with the 2nd Cavalry Regiment; and Commanding of an Airborne-Infantry Company in Italy. He also served as Battalion Executive Officer and Brigade Operations Officer in the 7th Light Infantry Division. As Professor of Military Science, Army ROTC, at Brigham Young University, 1987-91, he taught leadership and ethics in preparing young men and women to become Army officers. Upon retiring from the military in 1992, John began a second career as consultant and facilitator for the Covey Leadership Center. In 1994, he worked as Deputy Project Manager for the World Bank, training business leaders in Kazakhstan in a major transformation project. In 1995, he joined Shenandoah University, where he helped create the Center for Organizational Excellence (COE). He served there as Director of Learning and Innovation, and until August, 1998, when he joined First Bank, and where he served as Senior Vice President and Director of Human Resources and Marketing, 1998-2004 and Director of Marketing, 2004-2010. In August 2010 he re-joined FranklinCovey as a Contract Training Consultant. He is certified in 8 FranklinCovey programs including The 7 Habits Signature and Managers programs, Leading at the Speed of Trust, and Leadership and Execution.
John serves on the Executive Boards for the Shenandoah Area Council for the Boy Scouts, Shenandoah University’s Center for Public Service and Scholarship, the National Pathfinder Association and as President, West Point Society of Northern Shenandoah.
He holds Master of Arts degrees in International Relations (MAIR) from the University of Southern California (USC) and in Organizational Behavior (MAOB) from Brigham Young University (BYU). He is also a graduate of the Command and General Staff College and the Army War College. John and his wife, Cindy, reside in the Shenandoah Valley in Berryville, VA and are parents of seven young adults (which includes an “adopted” Russian daughter).

Gwen Pongracz
Gwen Pongracz is the founder of Kids of Character, a nonprofit organization that promotes character education for children and youth in the Lehigh Valley, PA. Their mission is to inspire youth to become ethical, responsible citizens who will live lives of integrity and make good decisions in their personal lives, family lives and future work lives. They do this by promoting character education programs, recognizing kids who demonstrate character and developing community support for character education.
Gwen graduated magna cum laude from Kutztown University receiving a Bachelor of Science Degree in Secondary Education with a double major of social studies and Spanish. She later graduated summa cum laude from Kutztown University with a Master of Education Degree and a certificate as a reading specialist.
She has taught computer classes and was an adjunct faculty member for Lehigh Carbon Community College for whom she taught GED classes. In 1996, Gwen founded a support group in the Lehigh Valley for people with spasmodic dysphonia, a neurological voice disorder. Under her leadership, the group has promoted awareness by sending literature to 800 local physicians, placing articles about SD in several local newspapers, speaking on a local radio talk show and presenting to Kutztown University's speech pathology students. The group has also done several fundraisers including a benefit concert to raise money for research on Spasmodic Dysphonia.
For two years she held the position of Regional Coordinator of the Mid-Atlantic States for the National Spasmodic Dysphonia Association and continues to lead the Lehigh Valley support group. Gwen is a member of the Character Education Partnership, Rotary International and Toastmasters International. For ten years, she worked in an administrative role for corporations including Xerox and Autodesk.
After a large company layoff, she decided to return to education but this time focus on the fourth and fifth R’s - respect and responsibility. To that end she founded Kids of Character. Gwen was instrumental in bringing Youth Leadership & Ethics Conferences to the Lehigh Valley and looks forward to continuing to promote character education and development in her area.

Henry "Hank" Shea
Senior Distinguished Fellow, St. Thomas School of Law
Fellow, The Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership in the Professions
Hank Shea is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the University of St. Thomas School of Law and a Fellow at the Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership in the Professions.
He administers a unique ethics program that he founded which involves joint presentations with more than a dozen felons, most of whom he prosecuted, at law schools, business schools, colleges, high schools, and other locations. He also teaches a course in ethical leadership at the University of St. Thomas School or Law in Minneapolis, MN and speaks frequently both nationally and locally on ethics and how to best address white collar crime.
Hank served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota for 20 years, where he prosecuted a wide range of corporate and other economic crimes. During his tenure, the U.S. Attorney’s Office collected more than $50 million in restitution, fines, and forfeitures from cases that he prosecuted.
During 2004 – 2005, Hank served as an Executive Fellow at the Center for Ethical Business Cultures, University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business, splitting his time with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. In addition, Hank previously worked for the Minneapolis law firm of Leonard, Street and Deinard and served four years of active duty and seven years of reserve duty in the Army’s Office of the General Counsel in the Pentagon.
Hank graduated with honors from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in 1978 and Harvard Law School in 1981. He is married to Chris Shea, Senior Vice President of External Relations for General Mills, Inc. and President of the General Mills Foundation. They have four children.

COL (R) US Army - Gary R. Steele
Principal – G. Steele Enterprises
Consultant – Learning Dynamics
Gary Steele has over twenty-five years of extensive national and international human resources experience as a problem solver, project manager, and team leader.
He has successful leadership, management and consulting experience with a broad, unique background from the military, education, telecommunications, and pharmaceutical industry sectors.
Gary formerly held positions as a Director of Human Resources and a Director of Organization Effectiveness at the world headquarters of Pfizer in New York City.
He has designed and delivered programs on team assessment and development, performance evaluation, change management for managers and employees, leader development, business ethics, and employee orientation and onboarding.
Gary is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and holds a Masters degree in International Relations from Boston University. In addition to holding a number of professional certifications, he is a Greek linguist.
Active in the community, Gary is an active member of Rotary Club International, Toastmasters International, and is a board member of the Newtown, CT Scholarship Association.