HAMBURG, N.Y. – Hilbert College has elected six new members to the College’s Board of Trustees. Ericka Bennett, Anthony J. Billittier IV, MD, William Brinson ‘96, Terrance Heard ‘94, Lisa Ressman ‘99, and Elizabeth Woike-Ganga, LCSW-R, each will serve a three-year term.  Additionally, Lamont Williams, who has served on the Hilbert Board of Trustees since 2017, was elected the Vice Chair.  Williams joins the existing officers – Laurie Boreanaz Carra ’81 (Chair) and Jill Meyer (Secretary).

Bennett is Assistant Vice President and Deputy General Counsel for Research at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. She has been an active member of the New York State Bar Association, the Bar Association of Erie County, and the Minority Bar Association of Western New York. Bennett was also a member of the Buffalo Business First “40 under 40” class of 2014.

Dr. Billittier is Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Independent Health in Buffalo. He is also Clinical Associate Professor at University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and School of Public Health and Health Professions, and for nearly 30 years has been an emergency physician with the University at Buffalo emergency medicine residency at Erie County Medical Center. Previously, Dr. Billittier was founding dean of the D’Youville College School of Health Professions and also served for 11 years as Erie County health commissioner.

Brinson, who earned his Bachelor of Science in Business from Hilbert College in 1996, is Academic Coach and Multicultural Student Support Services Coordinator at Niagara County Community College. He is known for mentoring students and for developing partnerships between several schools and NCCC to create connections with graduating seniors. He serves on the College’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee and is Advisor to the Black Student Union. Brinson is a member of the Hilbert College Athletic Hall of Fame and served on the Hilbert 2025 Advisory Council.

Heard, who earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from Hilbert in 1994, proudly serves as the first African American male to be elected At-Large on the Buffalo Public School Board.  He is the founder and CEO of the Friends For A Better Buffalo Organization which works with various non-profit groups for community development and empowerment.  Heard has served at many administrative positions in his career stemming from the General Motors Corporation in Buffalo and Atlanta, and his prior career as an educator for the Buffalo Public Schools where he worked at Seneca Vocational High School and managed the conflict resolution program.  He also showed his passion to give back to our youth by coaching in the basketball and football programs.  Outside of education, Heard has served as a correctional officer, probation/parole officer, interstate compact officer and a court liaison for the State of Georgia in-which he argued pleas in over 40,000 felony cases in Fulton County Court.  As a Hilbert student, he was a member of the basketball team, served as President of the Black Student Union, and was the first African-American graduate of Hilbert's bachelor's degree program. He also served as a member of the Hilbert 2025 Advisory Council.

Ressman, who earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Hilbert College in 1999, is a CPA and currently serves as Vice President of Finance, Revenue and Budget, at Persons Centered Services, LLC.  She has 20 years of corporate accounting and financial analysis experience and previously served as Vice President of Finance, Revenue and Budget at Independent Health in Buffalo. At Hilbert, Ressman was a dual major in accounting and business administration.

Woike-Ganga, a Fulbright Scholar and former Peace Corps volunteer, is President and CEO of BestSelf Behavioral Health in Buffalo. She was previously Chief Operating Officer for the not-for-profit agency and had been instrumental in realizing the 2017 merger between Child and Adolescent Treatment Services and Lake Shore Behavioral Health that formed BestSelf. In 2018, Woike-Ganga was named a Woman of Influence by Buffalo Business First, and in 2020 was a winner of the newspaper’s C-Level Executives Award.

 Hilbert College, located in suburban Hamburg, N.Y., south of Buffalo, is a private four-year college founded in 1957 in the Catholic Franciscan tradition. With nearly 800 students, Hilbert is a dynamic Western New York college that offers career-focused majors, including one of the top criminal justice programs in the region, and more than 50 minors and concentrations. The college’s engaging, student-centered campus community offers numerous leadership, internship, and service learning opportunities from which students launch successful careers while making positive changes in their communities. The Hilbert Blueprint promotes a well-rounded student experience over four years – starting with the Foundations Seminar in the freshman year, followed by Sophomore Service, Junior Symposium, and culminating with the Senior Capstone. Hilbert has expanded its academic offerings with the college’s first graduate programs in criminal justice administration and public administration, including a track in health administration.