Mayor John F. Street announced recently his appointment of four new members to the Free library of Philadelphia's Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees sets policy and oversees the Free Library's services and programming.

Dr. Noel Mayo, a Philadelphia based production and graphic designer, designed all of the custom light fixtures for the Philadelphia Convention Center, the street lights for Pennsylvania Avenue between the Capitol and the White House, and all of the lighting controls for Lutron Electronics Company, Inc. His work has been cited in The Wall Street Journal, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Minority Business Journal. Mayo also founded Noel Mayo Associates, the first African American industrial design firm in the country.

A native of Philadelphia, Mayo was the first African American graduate to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Design from the Philadelphia College of Art (now the University of the Arts). Mayo later served for 11 years as chair of the Industrial Design Department at the University of the Arts and received an honorary doctorate from the Massachusetts College of Art in 1981. In 1989, he was named an Eminent Scholar in art and design technology at Ohio State University and joined the College of Arts there, teaching in the Department of Industrial, Interior, and Visual Communication Design.

Abbe Fletman is a partner in the Business Litigation Practice and Intellectual Property and Information Technology Groups in the law firm of Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen LLP. She is also vice chair of the Federal Courts Committee of the Philadelphia Bar Association and a fellow at the Academy of Advocacy of Temple University Beasley School of Law.

Fletman served on Governor Rendell's transition team and was a co-chair of the Women's Issues Committee. She also served as general counsel for Mayor Street's reelection campaign. Fletman co-chaired the review of the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare. She is the chair of the Mayor's Advisory Board of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Concerns, and is a member of the Board of Overseers of the Albert Einstein Healthcare Network. She is also chair of the Board of Directors of the Women's Law Project.

Fletman graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1988. She received her B.A. in American History from the College of the University of Chicago in 1980 and an L.L.M. in Trial Advocacy from Temple University Beasley School of Law in 1998.

Sherry Swirsky chairs the Antitrust and Trade Regulation practice group of the law firm of Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP, where she has been a partner since 1987. She was named one of the 50 most influential women in the legal profession in Pennsylvania and a 2004 "Pennsylvania Super Lawyer" for antitrust litigation. In her pro bono work, Swirsky has represented plaintiffs in domestic and child abuse cases. Regarded as a national expert in election law, Swirsky was appointed by then-Mayor Ed Rendell as co-chair of the City of Philadelphia Election Reform Task Force in 1994. She has advised candidates for federal, state, and local office. She was Pennsylvania General Counsel for Democratic Presidential Campaigns in 2004, 2000, 1996, 1992, and 1988, and served as Recount Counsel in New Mexico in 2004. President Bill Clinton appointed her to the National Skills Standards Board.

Robert Heim is chair of the Litigation Department and a member of the Policy Committee for the law firm of Dechert LLP. He was chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association in 1991 and president of the National Conference of Bar Presidents in 1997-98. He was the recipient of the Philadelphia Bar Association First Union Fidelity Award in 2001 and the Judge Learned Hand Award for Distinguished Service to the Community in 2002. Heim is an elected Fellow of the American College of Trail Lawyers and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers. He has lectured on both trial and appellate advocacy and was recently appointed by Chief Justice Rehnquist to the Judicial Conference of the United States Civil Rules Advisory Committee. He was also vice-chair of the City of Philadelphia’s Charter Revision Committee.

Heim is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (B.S., 1964); the College of William and Mary (M.B.A., 1968); and the University of Pennsylvania Law School (J.D. 1972), where he was editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review.

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