Feeding Pennsylvania appoints executive director

By Danielle Fox / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A former energy industry executive is taking over as the head of Feeding Pennsylvania, a statewide network of food banks that pool their resources.

Jane Clements-Smith previously was a corporate development manager for Chesapeake Energy, the second-largest U.S. producer of natural gas, before moving to the health industry as a fundraising specialist for The Guthrie House, a nonprofit health system in Pennsylvania and New York.

Feeding Pennsylvania is a nonprofit network of eight Feeding America-affiliated food banks that work together to combat food insecurity.

Kris Douglas, chief executive officer of the Westmoreland County Food Bank, which is a member of the network, said members of the Harrisburg-based organization hope Ms. Clements-Smith can use her previous industry contacts to hit an “untapped market” of donors.

“What made Jane most attractive is the fact that she does have this extensive public relations background and this extensive development background in two very attractive industries,” Mr. Douglas said.

Ms. Clements-Smith, 30, replaces Caryn Earl, who resigned to become executive assistant to the Pennsylvania secretary of agriculture, Russell Redding.

Mr. Douglas said the hiring committee — volunteers from the eight food banks — selected Ms. Clements-Smith from a group of 35 to 40 applicants from across the country.

Ms. Clements-Smith said she has worked on hunger relief in rural areas with organizations such as Harrisburg-based nonprofit Hunters Sharing the Harvest, which donates venison to food banks across Pennsylvania. That nonprofit’s director, John Plowman, alerted Ms. Clements-Smith about the Feeding Pennsylvania job opening, saying he thought her networking ability made her a perfect fit.Through Ms. Clements-Smith’s fundraising connections, Mr. Plowman said his organization raised enough money to eliminate a $15 processing fee that hunters had to pay to donate a deer.“What’s that worth? Zillions,” Mr. Plowman said. “She opened a lot of doors for our program.”

Ms. Clements-Smith grew up near Wilkes Barre and graduated from St. Joseph’s University in 2004 with a degree in English. She is married to Mark Smith, special assistant to Gov. Tom Wolf. She is focusing on meeting the organization’s member groups before trying to expand Feeding Pennsylvania’s fund-raising reach and raising awareness of statewide hunger relief.

“We want to get out there and let people know who we are, what we are doing and why it’s important to understand hunger in Pennsylvania,” Ms. Clements-Smith said.Mr. Douglas and Ms. Clements-Smith declined to comment on the position’s salary. According to Feeding Pennsylvania’s 990 reports, Ms. Earl received $32,596 in compensation in 2014.

Danielle Fox: dfox@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1240. Twitter: @foxddanielle