Leadership Promotions
PHILADELPHIA, Penn., March 4, 2021—Nationalities Service Center (NSC) is proud to announce the recent promotions of four staff members. These ascensions are part of a long-term succession plan for the agency and will enable NSC to meet the rising demand for our services expected during the Biden administration.
“We have been strategic in identifying and investing in these extraordinary leaders who have consistently demonstrated the ability to show up and serve beyond expectations,” said Executive Director Margaret O’Sullivan. “By promoting our rising leaders to the management level, we are not only honoring their hard work and commitment, but we are also ensuring that NSC’s leadership team is strong and resilient as we prepare to enter our 100th year of serving immigrants and refugees here in Philadelphia and beyond.”
“These promotions are a clear investment in NSC’s future,” said Nan Feyler, NSC’s Board chair. “We can feel confident that NSC will be ready to meet the emerging challenges facing immigrants and refugees in the coming decades with exceptional competence and professional integrity.”
Gretchen Shanfeld has been promoted from Director of Program Operations and Quality Assurance to Senior Director of Program Operations and Strategic Growth. Gretchen has been working with vulnerable adults in Philadelphia for fifteen years. Her work initially began with men and women transitioning from welfare into work. In recent years, she has returned to work with immigrant and refugee populations, including the last eleven years with NSC. Since joining NSC in 2009, Gretchen has served as a member of NSC’s health team and worked to expand health resources and develop processes to ensure that refugees have access to a full range of health services. She holds a Master's in Public Health from Temple University (2013) and a Bachelors in Political Science from the University of Delaware (2005).
Tiffany Thompson has been promoted to Director of Education and Economic Opportunity. In her former role as Senior Manager of Economic Empowerment, Tiffany led NSC’s workforce readiness and job development and placement initiatives to new heights, and served to establish NSC as a leader in the sector. In her new role as Director, Tiffany will oversee all Workforce Development and Education Programs. These programs will provide a wide range of support to immigrants and refugees seeking to obtain employment, increase their English language proficiency, and gain the skills needed to advance in the workplace. Prior to joining NSC in 2011, Tiffany worked in many roles for the Urban League of Hudson County and in Philadelphia. She received her Associates Degree from Rutgers University-Newark.
Jonah Eaton has been promoted from Supervising Attorneyâ¯to Director of Legal Services. Mr. Eaton represents immigrants in a wide range of legal issues before USCIS, Immigration Court, and U.S. District Court and Courts of Appeal. He is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association Amicus Committee, assisting in federal court litigation around the country. Mr. Eaton co-teaches the Refugee Law and Policy class at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and has taught Refugee Law and Crimes and Immigration courses at Rutgers Law School and Temple Law School. Prior to joining NSC, he was a Bates Fellow at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Bureau for Europe in Brussels, Belgium, where he worked on impact litigation before the European Court of Justice and litigation involving refugee rights in the European Union. Jonah is a graduate of Swarthmore College and the University of Michigan Law School.
Alison Hansen-Decelles joined NSC in 2019 as Associate Director of Development and is now Director of Development and Communications. She began her fundraising career in 2015 at the Wagner Free Institute of Science, a free natural history museum and educational institution in Philadelphia, where she worked for four years. She has a longstanding interest in ethics and in relieving suffering, which led her to study philosophy and to conduct sociological research on strains of violence against women. Prior to coming to fundraising, she worked as a TA at Georgetown University, taught ESL in public schools in France, and wrote public relations copy for Williams College. Alison holds a BA in Philosophy and Art History from Williams College (2010) and an MPhil in Philosophy from the University of Cambridge (2014).
