Trustees

Stephen T. Kirchner, Chair
Stephen Kirchner is first vice president/investments with Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, Lancaster, Pa. He has been in the financial services industry for more than two decades. A graduate of Villanova University, Steve holds a Bachelor of Science degree in economics.

Prior to serving as a trustee for the Susquehanna Foundation for the Blind, Steve served for 10 years on the Board of Directors for Susquehanna Association for the Blind and Vision Impaired. He filled many roles on the Board, including chairman. Steve is involved with the Lancaster Chapter of the American Business Club, and has been active as a youth basketball coach since 1998.

Stephen Patterson, President
Stephen Patterson is the president of the Susquehanna Foundation for the Blind. From 1989 through 2008, Steve served as president and chief executive officer of Susquehanna Association for the Blind and Vision Impaired. In 1989, sales figures for the Association were $500,000; he successfully reversed this decline in fortunes, with annual sales in excess of $35 million in 2007. A member of Lancaster Rotary, he has served as a member of the Board of Directors of National Industries for the Blind, and is past president of the National Association for the Employment of People who are Blind (NAEPB). Currently, Steve is the Chairman on the Board of Directors for the Visionary Media Company.

Stephen completed a six-year tour as a Naval Aviator in 1971, having served in two deployments aboard aircraft carriers in the Tonkin Gulf. A native of the Pacific Northwest, he and his family moved to Lancaster County, PA in 1972. He is a graduate of the University of Washington in Seattle and holds a Master's Degree in Clinical Psychology from Millersville University. He lives in Lancaster with his wife, Kathy, and has four children and seven grandchildren.

Paul Trunk, Secretary & Treasurer
Paul Trunk is senior vice president of sales and marketing for Berk-Tek, a Nexans Company. A graduate of St. Mary’s University, Winona, Minn., with a Bachelor of Arts degree in marketing, Paul went on to earn his Master of Business Administration from DePaul University, Chicago, Ill. Paul’s career has been primarily focused in sales and marketing in the data communications field. He has held positions in sales, sales management and marketing analysis. Paul also serves on the Board of Directors for SABVI.

Paul moved to Lancaster in 1998. Paul and his wife have four children. A sports enthusiast, Paul enjoys playing golf and coaching baseball and basketball.

Linda Castagna
Linda Castagna is the vice president and project coordinator for her family business, Carlos Leffler, Inc.

Linda received her Bachelor of Science degree in elementary education from Elizabethtown College, and taught in elementary schools in Lancaster County as well as in Long Island, NY.

In the late 1990’s following a tour of Susquehanna Association for the Blind and Vision Impaired’s industrial division, Linda was deeply impressed at what she had seen and became active with the Association. Castagna also serves on the Boards for United Way, Elizabethtown College, YWCA, Fulton Opera House and the Lancaster Symphony.

Diana Lowell
Diana Lowell holds a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing conferred on her in 1960 by Hood College and Massachusetts General Hospital School of Nursing. Following the birth of her children, Diana has not worked actively in the field, instead electing to volunteer her time to various organizations.

Diagnosed with neovascular (wet) macular degeneration in the early 1990’s, Diana became a client of Susquehanna Association for the Blind and Vision Impaired (SABVI). In 2004, a massive hemorrhage caused legal blindness and she has since been active at SABVI, serving on their Committee for Rehabilitation and Education as well as volunteering weekly in SABVI’s preschool. In addition to volunteering at SABVI, Diana has given her time to the School District of Lancaster’s Burrowes Elementary School,  Shared Holiday and the YWCA.

Robert McClenathan, O.D.
Dr. Robert A. McClenathan operates the eye clinic at Susquehanna Association for the Blind and Vision Impaired. McClenathan graduated with honors from Gettysburg College and the Pennsylvania College of Optometry. He has worked at the prestigious Bascom-Palmer Eye Institute, Miami, Fla., and the world-renowned William Feinbloom Vision Rehabilitation Clinic, Philadelphia, Pa. In 1984, McClenathan settled in Lancaster, Pa., to practice optometry, contact lenses and low vision.