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Jan Loeffler Bergen, David R. Brigham, Ph.D., Francis Obai Kabia, and Conrad Murray Siegel to Receive Honorary Degrees from Lebanon Valley College

Annville, PA (04/11/2018) — Lebanon Valley College will award honorary degrees to four distinguished national and international leaders during its 149th Commencement May 12, 2018. The honorees represent fields ranging from international politics and healthcare to actuarial science and financial planning and art education.

Jan Loeffler Bergen, president and chief executive officer of Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health and Lancaster General Hospital; David R. Brigham, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; and Francis Obai Kabia '73, former member of the United Nations Secretariat, will receive Doctor of Humane Letters (L.H.D.). Conrad Murray Siegel, founder and president of Conrad Siegel Actuaries, now Conrad Siegel, will receive a Doctor of Science (Sc.D.).

Jan Loeffler Bergen Doctor of Humane Letters (L.H.D.)

As president and chief executive officer of Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health (LG Health) and Lancaster General Hospital, Jan Loeffler Bergen provides executive leadership for the LG Health system. She oversees the system's hospitals, ambulatory services, physician network- the Pennsylvania College of Health Sciences-and major service lines. She is also responsible for assuring LG Health services are consistent with the organization's mission and accessible to all people in the communities they serve.

Before joining Lancaster General Hospital in 2000, Bergen served as senior vice president for Jefferson Health System's Bryn Mawr Hospital, a 400-bed acute care facility in Bryn Mawr, Pa. She also served as president and chief executive officer of Main Line Health System's Bryn Mawr Rehabilitation Hospital, a 200-bed freestanding rehabilitation facility in Paoli, Pa.

Bergen has more than 30 years of healthcare experience, including management of hospitals, ambulatory centers, and rehabilitation centers. She holds a bachelor's degree in social work from Lafayette College and has completed graduate course work in business administration and social work through the executive programs of Temple University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Harvard University.

David R. Brigham, Ph.D. Doctor of Humane Letters (L.H.D.)

David R. Brigham, Ph.D., is president and chief executive officer of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), the nation's first museum and first school of fine arts. Having joined PAFA in 2007 as the Edna S. Tuttleman Director of the Museum, he was promoted by the board of trustees in 2010 to his current role.

Under Brigham's leadership, PAFA has increased its operating budget, doubled annual attendance and contributions, tripled scholarship support for PAFA students, added academic programs, and increased the art collection by more than 4,000 works. Facilities improvements under his leadership include the addition of Lenfest Plaza and the Center for the Study of the American Artist; new classrooms and technology; the new Alumni Gallery and the Richard C. von Hess Foundation Works on Paper Gallery; the Community Education Center; and a new café. Construction is underway for a multidisciplinary Arts Center, student gallery, and art storage vault.

Brigham guided PAFA to earn accreditation from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. He has reinforced the academy's commitment to gender and ethnic diversity.

Prior to joining PAFA, Brigham was the inaugural director of Lebanon Valley College's Suzanne H. Arnold Art Gallery. He holds bachelor's degrees in English and accounting, summa cum laude, from the University of Connecticut; a master's in museum studies/American civilization; and a doctorate in American civilization from the University of Pennsylvania. He has published, organized exhibitions, and lectured on American art from the 17th to late 20th centuries.

Francis Obai Kabia '73 Doctor of Humane Letters (L.H.D.)

A graduate of LVC's business administration and economics programs, Francis Obai Kabia has achieved a distinguished international career, having served as a representative to the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Sierra Leone, his home country. Kabia was also Third and First Secretary to the United Nations (UN) and worked with the UN Secretariat through the Office of the UN Commissioner for Namibia, the Office of the UN Secretary General (UNSG), and the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations.

His career took him to Namibia, Zambia, Angola, Australia, Switzerland, Austria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the UN headquarters in New York City. Since retiring, he has remained active as a volunteer and political candidate in Sierra Leone.

Now an honorary member of Lebanon Valley College's Board of Trustees, Kabia first became a member of the board in 1995. His other LVC connections include receiving an Alumni Citation in 1993 and having three daughters who are alumnae: Fatoumata N'jie Jalloh '99, Amie Kabia '00, and Nadeen Kabia Shapson '02. Members of his extended family have also attended LVC.

Kabia holds a master of public administration degree from the Pennsylvania State University. He received a United Nations Fellowship on Disarmament and earned a certificate in conflict resolution from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Conrad Murray Siegel Doctor of Science (Sc.D.) An up-and-coming actuary in his hometown Toronto, Canada, Conrad "Connie" Siegel, was recruited to Harrisburg, Pa., in 1959. He was the city's only fully qualified actuary at the time. He soon partnered with Dr. Barney Bissinger, late chair of LVC's Mathematics Department, who was interested in becoming an actuary and teaching actuarial science at the College. Siegel was instrumental in starting the College's Actuarial Science Program and proctored professional actuary examinations for students until Dr. Bissinger became qualified.

In 1963, Siegel founded his own actuarial firm, Conrad M. Siegel Inc. He built his fledgling firm on the principle of integrity, providing solid, objective advice with complete customer transparency. Siegel's firm grew and became so respected that his former employers, the City of Harrisburg and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, both became clients. The firm has since grown to include healthcare benefit consulting and individual investment planning. Conrad Siegel recently opened an office in Lancaster, Pa.

Today, the company employs more than 100 professionals at one of the state's largest employee benefits firms. Many are LVC graduates, and five are partners. Siegel has several other LVC connections, including serving on the Board of Trustees as a member of the Endowment and Investment Committee, providing cash prizes to LVC actuarial students who perform the best on industry exams, and being a decades-long supporter of the College's Lebanon Valley Education Partnership with the Lebanon School District.

Siegel earned his bachelor of science in commerce from the University of Toronto and a master's in actuarial science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a member of the Fellow of Actuaries and has lectured in the Department of Mathematics and the business school at the University of Wisconsin.

Lebanon Valley College is a private, coeducational college founded in 1866 and dedicated to the liberal arts. The College offers 41 undergraduate majors plus self-designed majors and a range of minors, concentrations, and pre-professional options, as well as graduate degree programs in athletic training, business administration, music education, physical therapy, science in STEM education, and speech-language pathology.

The College has 1,624 full-time undergraduate students and 118 full-time faculty. Students can choose from more than 95 clubs and organizations, and 19 study abroad programs. LVC awards generous academic scholarships to those whose high school records demonstrate a commitment to challenge and achievement. Learn more at www.lvc.edu.

Annville is 15 minutes east of Hershey and 35 minutes east of Harrisburg; Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore are within two hours.

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