BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Eugene Desyatnik lives on the 700 block of S 8th Street with his wife and three children. At BVNA, Eugene’s focus includes public safety, transportation, external communications, insurance, and general constituent services. He also serves on the Friends of South Street Mini Station, Friends of Palumbo Park, and the Meredith School Advisory Council.

Professionally, Eugene is a data and solutions architect focused on the e-commerce and financial services vertical. Currently, he works at Radial helping design back-end for microservices that handle cart and checkout, order management, payment processing, and fraud detection systems.

Mark lives off S 8th St with his wife, his son and his terrier. As Vice President, Mark helps plan the general meetings, and attends to neighborhood concerns. Mark has co-led the efforts to update our bylaws, administers the accounting of our annual activities reports to the city, and takes point on coordinating sponsorships for the print and electronic newsletters as a value proposition to neighborhood and regional businesses.

Professionally, Mark represents corporations and individuals in government investigations, regulatory enforcement matters and white-collar litigation. As part of his pro bono practice, Mark has represented indigent criminal defendants in federal prosecutions and undocumented immigrants seeking asylum in the United States.

Claudia has lived on the 900 block of League Street since 1991. A professional caterer, she was first attracted to Bella Vista by the vibrant 9th Street market, local bakeries, specialty groceries, and diverse restaurants, but stayed because of the wonderful community.

Claudia has been involved with the Philadelphia public schools, the Bel Arbor Tree Farm and Community Garden. She is a PMBC block captain, Friend of Bardascino Park, bocce player, and former president of the Palumbo Soccer Club. Claudia hopes that every Bella Vistan who wants to be involved finds BVNA the best way to connect.

Ali Perelman is the Executive Director of Philadelphia 3.0, a nonprofit focused on reforming local politics and City Council in Philadelphia. She is on the Board of Directors of Liberty City LGBT Democratic Club, Greensgrow Farms, and The Rendell Center for Civics and Civic Education. Additionally, she is a member of the Forum for Executive Women and a Democratic Committee Person in the 2nd Ward, 23rd Division. Ali is the co-Chair of the BVNA Beautification Committee, where she directs her fanaticism about litter, garbage, and recycling systems. Ali lives on the 600 block of S. 9th Street with her wife and son.

Jason is a father, husband, educator, and climate entrepreneur. He has resided in Bella Vista since 2018, previously living in Graduate Hospital where he sat on the local Registered Community Organization’s zoning committee. He is actively involved both as a PMBC block captain, and a PHS tree tender in Bella Vista, and can often be found in and around the market with his son Felix who prefers a tasty Gleaners blueberry muffin. 

Jason has a masters degree from Philadelphia University in Sustainable Architectural Design. He is the Co Founder of Climate Dads, a national community of male caregivers who lead by example. He is a 2020 Waldzell Leadership Institute Architect of the Future, a 2016 HIVE Global Leader Fellow, and a 2014 StartingBloc Fellow.  Originally from Buffalo, NY, Jason begrudgingly still routes for his Bills and Sabres, is always on the lookout for a proper Buffalo Chicken Finger Sub, and enjoys playing soccer when he can.

Chris has been involved in a variety of local neighborhood organizations since as far back as 2017 (I moved to South Philly in 2015). This first took the form of volunteering in communications, events, and programming capacities with Passyunk Square Civic Association. This included volunteering at tabling events and at PSCA’s Home Tour, assisting with social media, and organizing a candidates’ forum.

In May of 2018 Chris pivoted to ward politics when he was elected as a committee person, though he remained involved with PSCA to some extent.  Chris resigned in late 2021 as a result of taking a job with the City. He immediately thought about filling the resultant “civic engagement void” by pivoting back towards neighborhood association involvement. In the long run, he thought a logical goal would be to run for the PSCA board. But then my partner and I found a nice spot on the 1000 block of Montrose, which foreclosed the possibility of further involvement with PSCA.

As a descendant of immigrants to Bella Vista (my great grandparents settled at 6 th & Catharine), the City of Philadelphia has had a direct impact on the ability of my family to climb the socioeconomic ladder and I feel it is a responsibility of mine to give back to the same neighborhood and city.

I love seeing the Italian Market flourish and want to help to promote that identity to newcomers and people throughout the area. Our commercial corridors are what make our neighborhood and city unique, without them we would not be so differentiated than “Anywhere, USA”.

Ric has been a resident of Bella Vista for over 20 years. As a founding member, Ric has been a very active volunteer in Bella Vista Town Watch and its recent re-branding as Bella Vista Neighbors Association.  As Treasurer, Ric also handles financial and IT support for Bella Vista Neighbors Association, Friends of the South Street Police Mini-Station, and Friends of the Charles Santore Library.

Ric is the managing partner of Provident Technology, providing outsourced information technology services to small businesses in the Philadelphia area. Ric volunteers IT support for these community organizations as he continues to enjoy his ongoing relationship with the police, the library and the Bella Vista community.