Blog Post

Kevin is currently Vice President, Employee Benefits at Conner Strong & Buckelew. He has over 35 years experience in the employee benefits and group insurance industry. Kevin was a founder and co-owner of Ironview Employee Benefits that was acquired in April, 2019 by Digital Insurance Group(OneDigital). Kevin held leadership positions in sales and relationship management with both national and regional firms throughout his career. Kevin was also a partner and owner of Ironview Capital Management, a leading Registered Investment Advisor (RIA). Kevin is a graduate of St Joseph’s University with a B.S. In Accounting.

Luke Gorman grew up in Philadelphia and has been in recovery since 2014. In his recovery journey, Luke completed his undergraduate degree at St. Joseph’s University. While at St. Joe’s, Luke co-founded The Flock a collegiate recovery program on campus committed to providing a welcoming and stigma-free culture for students in recovery. Professionally, he has excelled in roles in medical device and biotech sales. Currently, Luke serves as the Head of Business Development for Manifesto Health and is a Co-Founder of the company. In this role, he plays a pivotal part in shaping the company’s strategic direction and fostering growth opportunities. Luke’s commitment to improving mental health services is deeply rooted in his personal recovery journey from substance use disorder. Luke has a passion for helping people in recovery and understands the sustaining role that purpose and meaningful work play in long-term recovery. Luke lives in Chester County with his wife and daughter.

Albert “Al” Perry was born and raised in Southwest Philadelphia. He began his professional journey at a brokerage firm in Philadelphia in 1971, clerking on a trading desk making $65 per week. After struggling with addiction for a number of years, Al began his recovery journey on March 21, 1982. Al has received many gifts as a result of his recovery process, but to him his number one gift is his 41+ years (and counting) of continual recovery. Al was a member of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange from 1975-2007. During that time, he served as Managing Partner of McNamara Trading Co. and a member of the floor procedure committee.

Al has served on a number of distinguished boards and committees including “Wall Street’s Gift to the Children”, benefiting St. Jude’s Children Research Hospital. Currently, Al serves as President of the Board of Directors for both the Harwood House and the Bobby Bonds Memorial Foundation and is a member of the Mercy Outreach Program.
Al has been an active member of the inner city Philadelphia recovery community for over 40 years. Al is part of a group of many that has brought and will continue to spread unity through diversity in our recovery programs. When not in service to others, he enjoys spending time with his wife, 5 children, and 7 grandchildren.

Paula led an exciting 34-year career at Resources for Human Development (RHD, Inc) where she oversaw diverse, complex service sectors developing, changing, and managing community-based programs in creative, innovative, and person-centered settings. These services, along with dynamic staff, transformed many lives of people with intellectual and developmental abilities, those experiencing homelessness, addiction to recovery, medical fragility, mental health wellness as well as empowering their circles of support.

Since 2018, Paula has served as Secretary and active member of the Pardon Project Steering Committee, https://pardonmepa.org/ at Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity, https://www.plsephilly.org/, advocating for Second Chance reform, collaborating and engaging with like-minded people in outreach, public-speaking, writing and being of service where organizational skills are needed.

Her additional Board service includes her role as Loan Officer at Trouvaille Federal Credit Union, for RHD staff and families who are typically denied loans in traditional credit unions www.trouvaillefcu.com, Board Member & President of Harwood House: https://www.harwoodhouse.us/, Mentor at Bread Upon The Waters Scholarship Fund of the University of Pennsylvania, https://socialfundraising.apps.upenn.edu/, and Advisory Board member of CHIMES International (PA) www.chimes.org.

Paula is a proud alumna of Community College of Philadelphia and University of Pennsylvania through The Bread Upon The Waters Scholarship Fund at Penn.

She has been successful in her own recovery process for 38+ years and enjoys spending time with family, reading, travel, hiking and quiet moments of peaceful meditation (not necessarily in that order).

Dr. Mullen specializes in the study and treatment of addiction and co-occurring mental health conditions. His research has focused on areas such as cognitive behavioral therapy for opioid use disorder and medication-assisted treatment. He treats individuals through a holistic lens infused with the evidence-based practices of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and motivational interviewing (MI).

Dr. Mullen conceptualizes addiction as a complex disorder with neurobiological, psychological, social, developmental, and spiritual factors that demands a trauma-informed, whole-person, and individualized approach to treatment and prevention. He completed most of his doctoral training hours in medical and primary care settings where he practiced integrated health psychology. He emphasizes that an important, and often neglected, factor in sustainable recovery is engaging in meaningful work and developing purpose in alignment with personal values.

As Chief Clinical Officer, Dr. Mullen oversees all the Manifesto programming and provides supervision to the staff of certified peer workers. He lives with his wife, daughter and french bulldog in the Roxborough area of Philadelphia.

Watch Dr. Mullen’s story

Daniel J. Hilferty is the Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Comcast Spectacor and serves as Governor of the Philadelphia Flyers for the National Hockey League. Widely respected as a passionate, dedicated leader in Philadelphia and beyond, Dan directly oversees the company’s full portfolio, including the Philadelphia Flyers, the Wells Fargo Center, Spectacor Gaming, and more.

Hilferty joined Comcast Spectacor after leading Philadelphia’s successful bid to be a host city for the FIFA World Cup 2026™ and continues to serve as Chair of the Board of Directors of Philadelphia Soccer 2026. The 501c3 non-profit organization will serve as the governing body for the city’s Host Committee.

A highly distinguished CEO with deep roots in Philadelphia, Hilferty was previously at the helm of Independence Blue Cross – one of the nation’s leading health insurers – as its President and Chief Executive Officer for 10 years. During his tenure as CEO, the company experienced unprecedented growth, becoming one of the five largest Blues in the country.

After retiring from Independence in 2020, Hilferty launched Dune View Strategies – a strategic advisory firm for small and mid-sized healthcare companies. Dune View Strategies advises and invests in small and mid-size healthcare companies and start-ups as they bring their transformational services, technologies and products to market. Built around a team of healthcare leaders, Dune View advises clients on the best strategies for navigating the market and accelerating growth.

He has also held many other leadership positions throughout his career, including serving as President and CEO of AmeriHealth Caritas Family of Companies and as Senior Vice President of Government Affairs at Mercy Health Corporation, all Philadelphia headquartered companies.

Highly effective in the Philadelphia community, Hilferty serves as lead Independent Director of Essential Utilities, Chair of Healthpilot and Philadelphia Soccer 2026, and is on the Board of FS Investments Credit Income Fund. In 2015, he served as Co-Chair on the executive leadership cabinet of the World Meeting of Families which brought Pope Francis to Philadelphia.

Hilferty earned his undergraduate degree from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia and a master’s degree in public administration from American University. He lives in the Philadelphia area with his wife, Joan. The couple has five children and four grandchildren.

Sean is currently the Managing Partner of SHP, LLC Advising Innovative clients in healthcare, health-tech and provider companies on matters of strategic importance at the board and c-suite levels. He is a seasoned operational executive in both public and private environment. That operational experience has been coupled with a deep transactional track record of accomplishment across verticals.

Among those experiences are founding companies and / or advising companies in Heath-data, Health-tech, Behavioral Health, PMR, Oncology, Specialty group practice and Revenue Cycle. Of note is Firstlight Intelligence a company Sean built through innovative technology and resourcing to construct the first intricate real time landscape of the entire US healthcare provider market which later became the “data backbone” of several health data companies.
Prior to SHP Sean served as VP Corporate Development for Foster Management a PE fund investing throughout the healthcare industry and in allied support services. Sean built through acquisition some of the more successful companies that “went public” during his tenure. This experience was buttressed by several years as a med-surg and behavioral hospital administrator focusing on building alternate care delivery systems.

Dr. Cori McMahon is a digital health clinical leader and clinical health psychologist with over 20 years’ experience across academic, clinical, and behavioral health tech industries. She was most recently a key member of the senior team taking a SaaS-based behavioral health organization to acquisition at 12x its valuation. Dr. McMahon is the former Director of the Division of Behavioral Medicine at Cooper University Hospital and maintains part-time work in integrated primary care as a Ryan White-funded psychologist serving persons living with HIV. She has presented 40+ peer-reviewed projects nationally and chaired multiple panel discussions as SME on measurement-based care, integrated behavioral health, and patient-reported outcomes in digital health.

Dr. McMahon is an Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University and serves as lead for the Trauma-Informed Care project in the Department of Infectious Disease in collaboration with the state of NJ.

The Honorable James W. “Jim” Carroll was sworn in as the Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) in January of 2019 following a unanimous confirmation by the United States Senate. Mr. Carroll previously served as the Acting Director and Deputy Director of ONDCP from February 2018 to January 2019. His strategic vision for the organization was best summarized in two words: “Be Relentless.”

Under the leadership of Director Carroll, the United States saw its first annual decrease in overdose deaths for the first time in 30 years; the amount of drugs seized by law enforcement at our Nation’s borders stands at all-time highs; and record Federal grants have been awarded in support of drug interdiction and public health programs.
In his role as “Drug Czar,” Director Carroll served as the principal advisor to the President of the United States on drug policy and oversaw a passionate staff of approximately 100 professionals. He oversaw a budget of more than $35 billion and coordinated the activities and related funding of sixteen Federal government agencies and departments to reduce the supply of and demand for illicit substances.

Prior to joining the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Director Carroll served as Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff at the White House. Previously in the Administration, Mr. Carroll served as General Counsel of the Office of Management and Budget and as Deputy Assistant and Senior Counsel to the President. Previously, Mr. Carroll served as Washington Counsel at the Ford Motor Company and as General Counsel of the Ford Motor Company Fund, the company’s philanthropic arm that supports non-profit organizations and initiatives.
Mr. Carroll has twice served the American people in support of the President of the United States. During the George W. Bush Administration, Mr. Carroll held several positions including Special Assistant and Associate Counsel to the President at the White House, Deputy General Counsel and Acting General Counsel at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and as an attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice. Mr. Carroll began his career as a state prosecutor in Virginia after earning his bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and his J.D. from the George Mason University School of Law.

Patrick Flynn was born and raised in Scranton, Pennsylvania and was educated in the Scranton public school system. In 2017, through Project Manifesto, Patrick was given an opportunity to intern in the Public Affairs department at Independence Blue Cross. Months later he was offered a full-time position in the Government Affairs area.

During his time with IBX, Patrick was part of a team that communicated the company’s public policy positions to elected officials and regulators at the federal, state and local levels. This included Independence’s key priority to address the ongoing opioid crisis.

A person in long-term recovery since 2014, Patrick founded the Someone You Know Group at IBX which strives to break the stigma of addiction in the workplace. In 2020, Patrick was invited by US Rep Madeleine Dean to attend the State of the Union address for his efforts around addiction and recovery advocacy. Patrick was also given the Unsung Hero award by Caron Treatment Centers. Patrick served on the Board of Directors for the Council of Southeast Pennsylvania from 2019 until 2022.

Dan Hilferty Jr was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA and is a member of long term recovery. Dan graduated from The Episcopal Academy in 2008, and earned his BA from the University of Scranton’s Kania School of Management.

Before founding Project Manifesto, Dan served as Project Director for Not Impossible Labs, a tech-for-good incubator based in Venice, CA. Dan currently resides in Costa Mesa, CA with his wife Kristen and daughter Milli.