Joel W. Swanson, MD
President

Joel moved to Sewickley in 1991 and believes he found the best community in which to raise his family of two sons and two daughters.  He has supported the community through sports, as coach, referee, secretary, VP and (two terms) as president for Sewickley Area Soccer, and is on the Board of Quaker Valley Recreation Association.  Joel continues to serve as referee assignor and mentors newly certified referees, and also plays soccer in an adult men’s league.  He has long been a frequent patron of the library and was elected to Friends of the Library in 2007; he joined the Board of Directors of the SPL in 2015.  Joel is a founding member of the Sewickley Men’s Garden Club.   He graduated from Allegheny College and Mt. Sinai School of Medicine.  After completing his anesthesia residency at Allegheny General and obstetric anesthesia fellowship at Magee Women’s Hospital, Joel joined the anesthesia group at Allegheny General in 1991.  He moved to UPMC in 2002 and in 2006, joined Butler Anesthesia Associates, serving Butler Memorial Hospital and Benbrook Ambulatory Surgical Center.   Joel is an avid skier, oenophile, traveler, and reader and especially enjoys sharing these activities with his family.

Bernard C. John, Esq.
Vice President

Before beginning his term on the library’s board of directors in 2018, B.J. served as president of the Friends of the Library board.  He has a long history with the Sewickley Public Library going to back to his years of law school study in the historic reference room.  A graduate of Denison University with a degree in Political Science and Theatre, and Duquesne University School of Law, he is in-house counsel at PNC Bank, N.A.  B.J. resides in Sewickley with his wife and two children.

Leslie Riker
Treasurer

Leslie and her husband discovered Sewickley and moved their family here in 2004, a little more than a decade after she came to Pittsburgh to work in nonprofits and get her Master of Public Policy and Management from the University of Pittsburgh. Here in Sewickley, Leslie’s volunteering included 6 years on the Board of the Friends of the Sewickley Public Library, serving on multiple committees and chairing events, before she joined the Library Board. She created Leslie Riker Consulting services in 2017 to assist small businesses and nonprofits with financial management, development, and compliance and certification efforts, and in that capacity is currently helping several Pittsburgh-area organizations, including senior centers and another library. She is a lifelong avid reader and has a real passion for literacy and libraries.

Joyce D. Cortese
Secretary to Sewickley Public Library Board of Trustees, Ex-officio

Joyce, with her husband Joseph and five children, moved from upstate New York to Sewickley in 1974.  She had started a secretarial career after high school as a civilian working for the US Air Force Research and Development Center at Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome.  After moving to Sewickley, she served the Quaker Valley School District as a parent-volunteer. When her oldest was ready for college, she went back to work full-time as an executive secretary for Mellon Bank Corporation in Pittsburgh, where she retired after 20 years of service.  Joyce is a long-time advocate of all the arts and sports in Pittsburgh.  She is proud to be a long-time holder of season tickets to both the Pittsburgh Symphony and Steelers organizations.  During those years, she continued to volunteer at QVSD and served sixteen years as a School Director, became a Trustee of the Sewickley Public Library Board in 1981, was appointed as their secretary shortly thereafter and has continued to serve for the past 30+ years.  Joyce immediately got involved with Friends of the SPL, where she served in many areas and has supported the Friends’ board projects and events ever since. For relaxation she loves reading, good movies, knitting Christmas stockings, and is a member of the St. James English Hand Bell Choir.

Eric Carlson
Board Member

Eric & his family moved to Sewickley from Milwaukee in 2012, attracted by the resources & the lifestyle the borough has to offer.  One of those resources has been, of course, the Library.  Eric runs a local, independent wealth management firm.  Prior to that he advised mutual funds & hedge funds on their equity investments.  He graduated from Iowa State University majoring in Physics.  After working several years in biotech & pharmaceuticals he earned his MBA from The University of Chicago with emphases in Finance & Statistics.  Eric enjoys coaching youth sports, reading, traveling, and spending time with his family.

Debra DeMeis
Board Member

Debra DeMeis moved with her husband Joe from Boston to Bell Acres after she retired from an over thirty year in career in higher education. That career included being a Professor of Psychology at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and Dean of William Smith College and Dean of Students at Wellesley College. She currently works as a part-time consultant with Cambridge Hill Partners, and focuses on diversity and inclusion and strategic planning in higher education, and volunteers in the Executive Service Corps at the Covestro Center for Community Engagement. She has served as a board member and president of Friends of Sewickley Public Library.

Kati Doebler
Quaker Valley School District Representative

Kati Doebler lives in Aleppo after growing up in New Jersey.  She and her husband Matt have two children, Heidi and Libby.  Kati has a degree in English from Miami University and a master’s of science in new media and information systems from London School of Economics.  She works full-time as a software engineering product manager.

Jonathan Kuzma
Quaker Valley School District Representative

Jonathan grew up in Leet Township and is a proud member of Quaker Valley’s class of 2001. He has a bachelor of arts degree in economics and history from the College of William and Mary. Since graduating, Jonathan moved to Leetsdale, where he currently resides. He is a commercial real estate appraiser for Newmark Knight Frank. In addition to serving on the Quaker Valley School Board, he represents the district on the Sewickley Public Library of the Quaker Valley School District board and is the chairman of the municipal authority of the Borough of Leetsdale. Jonathan is the chairperson of the policy committee and on the finance and facilities committees.

Julian Neiser
Board Member

Julian discovered the joys of Sewickley when his wife became the CEO of the Sewickley Valley YMCA in 2011, and they have become entrenched in the community ever since. He is a construction and commercial trial attorney with Spilman, Thomas & Battle and is trying to use his experience to help the library with its capital improvement and maintenance projects. When not working, Julian serves as an adjunct professor in the Trial Advocacy department at Duquesne Law School and a pro bono mediator for prisoner civil rights cases. Julian also is a Marine Corps veteran and served as a drill instructor at MCRD Parris Island, S.C.

Andrew L. Surloff, Ed.D.
Quaker Valley School District Representative

Andrew has worked in the Quaker Valley School District since 1998 and currently serves as the Quaker Valley School District’s Assistant Superintendent. Andrew has several significant leadership responsibilities district-wide including personnel administration, principal supervision, new teacher induction, and School Board liaison duties to the Education Services and Personnel committees. He holds a degree in Political Science, a Master of Arts degree in Teaching, and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership, along with a Superintendent’s Letter of Eligibility from the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Surloff’s Dissertation was titled, “Interviewing for Great Teachers: A Study of the Preparation and Practices of K-12 School Principals Responsible for Interviewing and Hiring Teachers.” Dr. Surloff started at Quaker Valley Middle School as an intern, then worked as a middle school social studies teacher, assistant high school principal, high school principal, and now assistant superintendent. Andrew resides in Gibsonia, PA, part of the Pine-Richland School District, with his wife Tara, and two children.