Leadership – DELAWARE VALLEY VETERANS CONSORTIUM

Executive Committee

Executive Committee members hold two-year terms, beginning on the first day of January following election. The Chair, Secretary and two members-at-large are elected in even years; the Vice Chair and two other members-at-large are elected in odd years. Elections are conducted at the Fall annual meeting in October.

Chair

Hugo Lentze

Public Sector Strategy Advisor, RallyPoint

Vice Chair

Tammy Cartagena

Health Benefits Consultant, US Family Health Plan

Secretary

Ashley Griffiths

Executive Director, Gloucester County Habitat for Humanity, AmeriCorps Alumna

VA Liaison

Fern Billet

Congressional Liaison & Community Relations, Cpl. Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center

Hugo has served DVVC since 2016 and began his second term as Chair in 2021, focused on growing the relationships between veteran-serving organizations in the region and creating the conditions for success for the next DVVC leadership team.
He is proud of the team that has been built to lead DVVC, the service it has provided, and how those services have grown over the last four years.

A retired SMSgt, NJ Air National Guard, Tammy is Tricare certified with DEERS access with the ability to assist all service members with Tricare questions. In addition, she serves as the Secretary of the Board of Retiree Association at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, on the Board for the Philadelphia Parade Committee, and volunteers at the Retiree Office at the 111th Attack Wing, Air National Guard.

Ashley serves as chair of the DVVC Membership Committee. She is a proud AmeriCorps alumna and has held multiple leadership positions with local nonprofit organizations. She also participates in the Honorary Commander Program at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. Ashley recognizes and values the work of DVVC to bring veteran service organizations together to share knowledge and resources to better serve the Veteran community.

Fern plays a critical role as a non-voting member of the Executive Committee, integrating the work of DVVC into the community engagement efforts of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and ensuring we retain our status as a Community Veterans Engagement Board (CVEB).
Fern serves as Executive Committee liaison to the Marketing and Social Media Committee.

Members-At-Large

Ryan McGoldrick

Deputy Executive Director, Mission Execution, Veterans Multi-Service Center

Ted Gallagher

Director, NJ Camden County Office of Veterans Affairs

Paula Crawford-Gamble

Veterans Care Excellence Liaison, Penn Medicine

Hank Gillen

Director of Veterans Services, St. Joseph’s University

For more than a decade, Ryan has worked to provide services to military and Veteran communities in the tri-state area. While with the Red Cross Service to the Armed Forces, she helped create DVVC. In 2014, she joined the Veterans Multi-Service Center – a key DVVC member organization providing direct service to Veterans in the region.

Over his years of active duty and Reserve service in the U.S. Army, Ted developed a passion to assist service members and Veterans in navigating the challenging bureaucracy of the VA and DOD. He brings this passion to his job in Camden County and to his volunteer work with DVVC, as well as to his role as an Ex Officio Member on the Board of Directors for the Battleship New Jersey.

Paula has been a DVVC member organization representative for three years and active on the Program Committee. Through DVVC, she believes we can integrate our resources to successfully collaborate with community and government organizations to meet the needs of our community.

As a representative of one of DVVC’s educational member institutions, where our veterans benefit from DVVC members’ support, Hank is keenly aware of the value provided by DVVC as a clearinghouse of info on what is available in greater Philadelphia, one of the best places to be a veteran.