Our Leadership

John C. Rafferty, Jr., Esquire

Board Chair

Senator Rafferty re-joined the firm Hamburg, Rubin, Mullin, Maxwell & Lupin, PC in an Of Counsel capacity after serving 4 terms as the Pennsylvania State Senator for the 44th District. He is a two-term member of the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and in April 2023 will assume the role of vice-chairman of the Board. John served as the Chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, Vice Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and member of the Appropriations, Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure and Law and Justice Committees. He currently serves on the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency as Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward’s designee to the Judicial Computer System Financial Audit Committee. In 2013 he was appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate to serve on the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing. Additionally, he was the prime sponsor of Act 89 – The Comprehensive State Transportation Legislation and also the prime sponsor of the Comprehensive Updates to Pennsylvania DUI Legislation. John Rafferty was a member of the Methacton School Board from 1980 to 1984. He also represented Methacton in the operation of the Vo-Tech School as a member of the North Montco Vo-Tech Joint School Authority from 1981 to 1984. After serving on the Methacton School Board, he was elected to serve as a member of the Lower Providence Township Board of Supervisors. Additionally, John served an eight-year term as a member of the Montgomery County Board of Assessment Appeals. A Lower Providence resident, John is Vice President of the Foundation at Shannondell Board of Directors. He also serves as a Director of the Foundation Board of the State Fraternal Order of Police. John earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown in 1975, a master’s degree from Beaver College in 1984 and a law degree from Temple University (J.D. 1988). He is a member of the Montgomery Bar Association. Senator Rafferty was appointed to the Disciplinary Board in January 2019 and reappointed in 2021. He was appointed to serve as the Disciplinary Board’s Chair on April 1, 2024, and previously as Vice-Chair on April 1, 2023. His term will expire in April 2025.

Gretchen A. Mundorff, Esquire

Vice-Chair

Over the course of her legal career, Ms. Mundorff has been an engaged member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) having served as the organization’s president in 2010-2011 and in numerous other roles including PBA Secretary, PBA Zone 6 Governor, Chair of the PBA Young Lawyers Division and Bar Leadership Institute, Vice Chair of the PBA Commission on Women in the Profession, and member of the PBA House of Delegates. Additionally, she has served on many of the organization’s task forces and committees including the PBA Legal Services to Middle-Income Persons Committee, PBA Leadership Diversity Task Force, PBA Task Force on the Pennsylvania Judiciary, and the PBA Legal Access Task Force. Recognized for her notable contributions to the organization, she was honored with both the Anne X. Alpern Award from the PBA Commission on Women in the Profession and the Chief Justice Flaherty Award from the PBA Conference of County Bar Leaders. A life fellow of both the American and Pennsylvania Bar Foundations, Ms. Mundorff served as a Director of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute and as a member of the American Bar Association House of Delegates. She is also a past Disciplinary Board Hearing Committee Member and served as Chair of the Pennsylvania Continuing Legal Education Board. Ms. Mundorff is an active member in the volunteer community. She is a past director of the United Way of Connellsville, the United Way of Westmoreland County, the American Heart Association of Fayette County, the Uniontown-Harmarville Rehabilitation Advisory Board, Artworks Regional School for the Arts and the Family Health Council in Pittsburgh. Formerly the president of the Greater Connellsville Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club of Connellsville, she currently serves on the boards of directors for both organizations. Ms. Mundorff has served as President of the United Methodist Women of the Albright United Methodist Church in South Connellsville where she has been active on the church council and has served as a youth Sunday School teacher and as a member of the Chancel Choir. Throughout her distinguished career, Ms. Mundorff has received many recognitions for her dedication to the legal profession and volunteer service. In addition to being named a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer for many consecutive years, she was named a Distinguished Citizen by the U. S. House of Representatives. She was also recognized by the American Red Cross with the Coldren Award for volunteer service and received the Athena Award from the Greater Connellsville Chamber of Commerce and was named a Paul Harris fellow by the Rotary Club of Connellsville. She graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Chatham College in Pittsburgh where she was a member of both Phi Beta Kappa and Mortar Board honor fraternities. She earned her Juris Doctorate from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at The College of William and Mary in Virginia. Ms. Mundorff was appointed to the Disciplinary Board in April 2019 and was reappointed in 2022. She was appointed to serve as the Disciplinary Board’s Vice-Chair on April 1, 2024. Her term will expire in April 2025.

Gaetan J. Alfano, Esquire

Gaetan J. Alfano is a partner at Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP where he is a member of the Employment and Labor Practice Group. Throughout his over thirty-five-year career, Mr. Alfano has tried hundreds of cases to verdict and has substantial trial and appellate experience. He has represented clients in commercial and employment disputes, insurance insolvency, and receivership matters. Mr. Alfano has also litigated numerous cases involving business disputes among law firms and attorneys, including dissolutions, separations, client retention and transition, and fee disputes. He has defended attorneys in professional liability and disciplinary matters. In 2017, Mr. Alfano was inducted in as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He is a past Chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association, member of the Board of Law Examiners, Hearing Committee Member of the Disciplinary Board, and Vice Chair of the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission. In 2016, 2018, and 2019, Governor Tom Wolf appointed Mr. Alfano to serve on the statewide Judicial Selection Commission to fill vacant positions in the state appellate and trial courts. He recently served on the Board of Directors of the Global Philadelphia Association, Philadelphia Volunteers for the Indigent, The Philadelphia Bar Foundation, and the Public Interest Law Center in Philadelphia. Mr. Alfano also has held several offices with the Justinian Society and Foundation. Prior to entering private practice, Mr. Alfano served as a Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney. He also has served as counsel to special litigation committees investigating shareholder claims under Pennsylvania’s Business Corporations Act and frequently has been appointed by the City of Philadelphia to investigate allegations of police misconduct. Mr. Alfano speaks frequently on federal and state court practice, commercial litigation, and employment law issues. He is a co-author of Pennsylvania Causes of Action (12th ed.). Mr. Alfano graduated from Villanova School of Law and graduated magna cum laude with a BA from Villanova University. He was appointed to the Disciplinary Board in April 2024. His term will expire in April 2029.

Joshua M. Bloom, Esquire

Joshua M. Bloom has been practicing law in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for over twenty-five years in the fields of labor, employment, and personal injury law. He served two terms as a member of the Pennsylvania Appellate Court Procedural Rules Committee from 2013-2019. He has been engaged as faculty of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, Union Lawyers Alliance, and several other national and local organizations to speak on matters of labor and employment law. He has been certified by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of PA as a federal mediator. He is licensed to practice law in the U.S. Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of PA, as well as the Pennsylvania Courts. He graduated from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Arts in History/Minor Pre-Law in 1993 and from Capital University Law School in 1996. Mr. Bloom was appointed to the Disciplinary Board in April 2022. His term will expire in April 2028.

Celeste L. Dee

Celeste L. Dee is the owner and principal of Advantage Political Strategies, a full-service campaign management firm based in the Lehigh Valley. Ms. Dee had previously spent 12 years working in politics as an operations manager, regional director, political director, and campaign manager for campaigns at nearly every level. Prior to that, she spent a decade working in New York City in positions ranging from senior sales director, director of corporate sales, director of business development, and EVP of business development. In those roles, Ms. Dee developed and oversaw programs focusing on employee productivity and retention for a client list that included many Fortune 50 companies and government entities. Ms. Dee was appointed to the Disciplinary Board in April 2020. Her term will expire in April 2026.

Laura E. Ellsworth, Esquire

Laura E. Ellsworth is a partner at Jones Day where she serves as the law firm’s first Partner-in-Charge of Global Community Service Initiatives. In her litigation practice, she has handled landmark public nuisance cases, multijurisdictional product liability matters, the largest health care bankruptcy of its time, and nationwide qui tam cases. Ms. Ellsworth has been active in civic and community affairs, serving in leadership roles on the United Way Women's Leadership Council, Allegheny Conference on Community Development, the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce, etc. Through her pro bono work and nonprofit involvement, she has proven a passion and commitment to improving access to justice in disadvantaged communities, having taught law classes in inner-city schools and conducted recurring Lawyers Without Borders programs in Nairobi, Kenya. In addition to her prior appointments by governors to Pennsylvania’s State System for Higher Education, Council on Privatization and Innovation, and Council on the Arts, Ms. Ellsworth has served on the boards for many civic/charitable organizations and public companies – some of which include Magee-Women’s Research Institute & Foundation, Waynesburg University, McCune Foundation, and University of Pittsburgh Institute of Politics. She has also previously served on committees for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania including the Local Rules Advisory Committee and as co-chair of the Federal Judicial Selection Committee. Ms. Ellsworth’s civic contributions have been recognized in numerous awards including the 2013 ATHENA Award, 2014 Pennsylvania Diversity Council's Most Powerful & Influential Women Award, the 2016 Legal Intelligencer's Lifetime Achievement Award, and a 2017 Lawyer of the Year by Best Lawyers in America. Ms. Ellsworth was appointed to the Disciplinary Board in May 2022. Her term will expire in April 2027.

Robert J. Mongeluzzi, Esquire

Robert J. Mongeluzzi, president and a founding partner of Saltz Mongeluzzi & Bendesky, focuses his practice on catastrophic personal and wrongful death matters. With extensive experience in construction accidents, product liability cases, and transportation disasters, his firm is considered by many to be top in construction accident litigation. Mr. Mongeluzzi was inducted into the National Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame in 2018, was awarded the Legal Intelligencer Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017, and was the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers 2019 Michael A. Musmanno Award honoree. He has regularly placed second out of Pennsylvania’s 65,000 attorneys in the annual peer-reviewed SuperLawyers poll, and he served as President of the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association. He is also a member of the highly-selective International Academy of Trial Lawyers. Mr. Mongeluzzi has numerous records for the largest verdicts or settlements in Pennsylvania history – with more than 400 verdicts and settlements in excess of a million dollars and six cases with verdicts or settlements of $100 million or more. He was lead counsel in the Pier 34 collapse at Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia, the Tropicana Casino collapse in Atlantic City, the Duck Boat disaster on the Delaware River, and the Salvation Army collapse in Center City Philadelphia. He was co-liaison counsel and served on the Plaintiffs’ Management Committee for the litigation arising from the 2015 Amtrak 188 derailment in North Philadelphia. Mr. Mongeluzzi founded and has chaired the American Trial Lawyers of America Crane and Aerial Lift Litigation group. He has multimillion-dollar results in crane accidents such as powerline contact, tipover, two-blocking, and cases arising from improper crane operation and faulty design. He also established and chairs the Association of Trial Lawyers of America’s Electrical Accident Group, as he and his firm have handled scores of electrical accident cases that involve accidental contact with overhead powerlines, dig-in contacts, transformer explosions, and wiring defects. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, he attended the Fordham University School of Law where he was a Commentary Editor of the Law Review. He returned to law school in 1994 as part of the first class in Temple University School of Law’s LL.M in Trial Advocacy program. He is a frequent author and lecturer on trial advocacy, construction, and workplace accidents. Mr. Mongeluzzi was appointed to the Disciplinary Board in April 2021. His term will expire in April 2028.

Bryan S. Neft, Esquire

Bryan Scott Neft is a member at Spilman Thomas & Battle, PLLC where his primary areas of practice are commercial litigation, health care, and product liability. He also has experience in antitrust, banking and lender regulatory matters, business torts, competition and trade secrets, consumer protection, contractual disputes, environmental law, ERISA, fair debt collection, false advertising, health care, insurance coverage, medical malpractice, shareholder and corporate control disputes, accountants’ liability, and insurance bad faith and unfair insurance practices. Serving as its current president, Mr. Neft has long been active with the Allegheny Bar Association and is the president-elect of the Allegheny County Bar Foundation. He is also a member of the House of Delegates of both the American Bar Association and the Pennsylvania Bar Association. He is active within the United Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh, Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, and Beth El Congregation of the South Hills as well as the Rivers Club. Mr. Neft graduated with his JD from Boston University School of Law and earned his BA from the University of Pennsylvania. He was appointed to the Disciplinary Board in April 2024. His term will expire in April 2029.

Catherine R. O'Donnell, Esquire

Catherine R. O’Donnell is a longtime practicing lawyer in Pennsylvania, member of the District of Columbia Bar, and a former District Justice. At O'Donnell Law Offices, she specializes in estate planning, estate administration, orphans court, and elder law and acts as the firm’s business manager. Ms. O’Donnell has served on several boards throughout her career, including current positions as the Chair of the Luzerne County Community College Board and the Luzerne County Bar Charitable Foundation Board. She is the Assistant Secretary of the Friedman Jewish Community Center Board as well as a board member of the North Branch Land Trust, Junior Leadership Northeast, and Luzerne County Dress for Success. In 2023, Leadership Northeast honored Ms. O’Donnell’s dedication to the community with the Distinguished Alumni Award. In the same year, the Pennsylvania Association for Justice presented her with the Community Service Award, and the Friedman JCC honored her with the President’s Award. Ms. O’Donnell earned her JD, MBA, and bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh, graduating cum laude with each degree. She was appointed to the Disciplinary Board in April 2024. Her term will expire in April 2030.

David S. Senoff, Esquire

David S. Senoff is a founding member of First Law Strategy Group, LLC. Mr. Senoff has focused his 30-year career on class-action lawsuits in important public policy fights, including his as one of the lead attorneys involved in seeking justice for the victims of the “Kids-for-Cash” cases and having been instrumental in the creation of the Pennsylvania law regarding the state’s Wage Law. As a Judge pro tem in the Philadelphia County Courts of Common Pleas, Mr. Senoff also mediates disputes in an effort to fairly resolve cases for all parties prior to trial. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Senoff served for 12 years as a Hearing Committee Member for the Disciplinary Board and for 3 years as a member on the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania’s Civil Rules Committee. He has been named as a Pennsylvania “Super Lawyer” every year for the last decade and as a “Best Lawyer in America” annually since 2013. Prior to the founding of his firm, Mr. Senoff was highly involved with the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers’ Association, having served on its Board of Directors as well as serving as the communications coordinator and education coordinator for the Association. He is also currently a member of the Board of Governors of the Pennsylvania Association where he currently serves on the Association’s Amicus Curiae Committee. He previously served as the Co-Chair of the Association’s Insurance Bad Faith Law Section. Mr. Senoff is also currently a member of the Insurance Bad Faith Trial Lawyers Association and the Class Action Trial Lawyers Association. Mr. Senoff was appointed to the Disciplinary Board in April 2020. His term will expire in April 2026.

Shohin H. Vance, Esquire

Shohin H. Vance is currently an associate at Kleinbard LLC based in Philadelphia where his practice primarily focuses on litigation involving state governmental entities and officials, state constitutional matters, appellate litigation, complex election issues, and grand jury investigations. His experience includes appellate matters in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court where he previously served as a clerk for Chief Justice Thomas G. Saylor. Mr. Vance also has experience representing clients in matters in the state’s Commonwealth Court, in both its original and appellate jurisdictions. Mr. Vance is well versed in a variety of legal matters and regularly contributes articles to the Legal Intelligencer and serves on its Young Lawyer Editorial Board. He is also a member of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Federalist Society and was recognized in the 2021 edition of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch for his work in the fields of white-collar criminal defense and government relations. Before attending Penn State Dickinson Law, he worked for one of the top government relations and political consulting firms in the state where he played a key role in a number of public policy victories and developed an extensive resume in campaign consulting, earned media, press relations, and grassroots organization. Mr. Vance was appointed to the Disciplinary Board in April 2021. His term will expire in April 2027.

Joshua F. Wilson

Joshua F. Wilson, a seasoned professional with extensive experience in government and legal affairs, has held key roles in various state organizations. As Deputy Treasurer for Intergovernmental Affairs at the Pennsylvania Treasury Department, he serves as a senior advisor to the State Treasurer, overseeing critical policy matters and legislative tracking. Mr. Wilson’s expertise extends to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts where he directed intergovernmental affairs, providing guidance on judicial policy matters. As Chief of Staff to Lieutenant Governor Jim Cawley, Wilson managed administrative, financial, and operational activities, representing the Lt. Governor in numerous proceedings and overseeing constitutional and statutory duties. Active in the community, Mr. Wilson previously served as president of the local Lions Club and as an elected township commissioner. He was appointed to the Disciplinary Board in April 2024. His term will expire in April 2030.

Thomas J. Farrell

Chief Disciplinary Counsel

Mr. Farrell was appointed Chief Disciplinary Counsel in 2020. In this role, he oversees disciplinary counsel and other staff throughout the four disciplinary districts in the Commonwealth. Before his appointment, Mr. Farrell was law clerk to the Honorable Gustave Diamond of the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Pennsylvania; a public defender in Brooklyn, NY; an Assistant United States Attorney in Pittsburgh; and an active civil and criminal practitioner, handling cases ranging from charges of capital murder to public corruption and complex white-collar crimes, the defense of lawyers and doctors, whistle-blower cases, and appearances before Congressional committees which were investigating the use of performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball. He is the author of Criminal Defense Tools and Techniques (James Publishing 7th ed. 2017) and co-author of the Third Circuit Criminal Handbook (Matthew Bender, Rev. Ed. 2018). Mr. Farrell received his B.A. degree from Yale University and his J.D. from the New York University School of Law.

Raymond S. Wierciszewski

Deputy Chief Disciplinary Counsel

Mr. Wierciszewski joined the Office of Disciplinary Counsel in 1996 as Disciplinary Counsel and, in 2003, was promoted to Counsel-in-Charge of the District II Office, located in Trooper, Pennsylvania. Mr. Wierciszewski was named Deputy Chief Disciplinary Counsel in January 2020, following his service as Acting Deputy Chief Disciplinary Counsel since 2019. Prior to joining the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, he was an associate in the litigation department of a Philadelphia law firm. Mr. Wierciszewski earned his B.A. with honors in political science from Haverford College in 1987 and his J.D. with high honors from Duke University School of Law in 1990.

Jesse G. Hereda

Executive Director

Mr. Hereda holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from the California University of Pennsylvania, an MBA in International Finance from the Keller Graduate School of Management, and a Certificate in Executive Leadership from Cornell University. After a successful stint in real estate and casino finance in Las Vegas, Nevada, Mr. Hereda moved home to his native Central Pennsylvania in 2009 to be closer to family. In his personal life, Mr. Hereda enjoys serving as a board member and advisor to numerous non-profit organizations and foundations. Upon his return to Pennsylvania in 2009, Mr. Hereda began his career with the Disciplinary Board in the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel. In 2013, he was named the Director of Finance for the Board. In 2018, he became the Executive Director, with oversight responsibility for the Attorney Registration Office, Communications, Finance, Human Resources, the Prothonotary’s Office, and Technology.

Dana C. Belella

Assistant Director

Dana Belella began her career with the Disciplinary Board in 2014 and became the Deputy Attorney Registrar in 2017. Promoted to Assistant Director in 2022, she manages all aspects of attorney registration, including the annual licensing requirement, licensing for newly admitted attorneys, staff training, and maintenance of the attorney rolls. Additionally, she assists the Executive Director with the oversight of all other Executive Office functions and leads the team who develops and distributes the Board’s monthly newsletter. Ms. Belella received her Bachelor of Science in Education from Slippery Rock University and worked in that field prior to accepting a position with the Disciplinary Board.

Marcee D. Sloan

Board Prothonotary

Marcee D. Sloan is the Prothonotary for the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. In this capacity, Ms. Sloan, among many other duties, accepts filings and maintains the record in disciplinary matters. This role provides the opportunity for Ms. Sloan to maintain effective working relationships with court officials, Board Members, Hearing Committee Members, and Pennsylvania attorneys, which is naturally her strong suit. She has more than 26 years of case management experience. Before joining the Disciplinary Board in 2006, she worked as a legal clerk for Magisterial District 12-02-01 in Dauphin County. She graduated from Harrisburg Area Community College with an Associate’s degree in Criminal Justice. Ms. Sloan volunteers in her community by serving the homeless at Downtown Daily Bread and assisting in recreational youth sports programs.

Suzanne E. Price

Attorney Registrar

Suzanne E. Price is the Attorney Registrar for the Disciplinary Board. Ms. Price is a graduate of Central Penn Business School. Prior to her employment with the Board, she was a Central Services Secretary for the Pennsylvania Bar Association where she was the sole support staff for the bar association membership department which handled attorney registration renewal and bar admission updates. Ms. Price was hired by the Disciplinary Board in 1985 as the Administrative Assistant to the Board Secretary. She was promoted to Attorney Registration Assistant in 1987 and again in 1995 to her current role as Attorney Registrar. The Attorney Registration Office handles the annual Attorney Registration and maintaining and updating the database of attorneys admitted in the Commonwealth.

Laura K. Mohney

Counsel to the Board

Ms. Mohney has served as Counsel to the Board since 1995, providing legal support in all aspects of the Board's oversight of the disciplinary system. She is a graduate of Albright College and The Dickinson School of Law.

Kimberly M. Henderson

Special Counsel

Ms. Henderson is a graduate of Eastern Mennonite University and Mississippi College School of Law. While in law school, Ms. Henderson interned for the Honorable John F. Cherry in the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas. She has previously worked at a large civil defense firm as well as has been an Assistant Public Defender. Ms. Henderson has represented individuals and businesses in a variety of cases in many different aspects of the legal process. In 2020, Ms. Henderson was hired as Special Counsel to provide guidance and support to the Board’s more than 170 volunteer hearing committee members.