Lower Merion Appoints 2 New Administrative Directors

ARDMORE, PA – Lower Merion officials appointed two new directors in the township recently, as employees Beth Lilick and Christopher Leswing have been named directors in two township departments.

According to the township, Lilick is serving as the Human Resources Department directors while Leswing is now the director of the Building and Planning Department.

In June, Lilick was nominated by Township Manager Ernie McNeely to lead the Human Resources Department as director, and on Sept. 19, Leswing was tapped to be the director of the township’s Building and Planning Department.

“As usual, the Township attracted many highly qualified individuals for these positions,” McNeely said. “But after careful consideration and many interviews, in both cases, we were pleased to find that the best people for each job, Beth and Chris, were right here in the building.”

Both of Lilick and Leswing were approved unanimously by the Lower Merion Board of Commissioners at subsequent public meetings of the Board’s Admin and HR Committee.

Lilick has been with Lower Merion Township since April 2012, most recently as Senior Human Resources Generalist, overseeing the day-to-day operations of the department, the township said.

Her duties included administering a $12 million employee benefits budget, recruitment, assisting with the Employee Development Program, and administering a $25 million compensation classification system. Prior to her time at the Township, Lilick had extensive experience in the corporate sphere, including stints at Prudential HealthCare and Aetna.

She is a Certified Professional in Human Resources (PHR) and a Society of Human Resources Management Certified Professional (SHRM-CP), and took over the duties of Roseann McGrath, who had been HR department head for 22 years before her departure in June.

Leswing has been the township’s Assistant Director for Building & Planning for 13 years. In that role he supervised a staff of six in the Planning Division and coordinated project management with the Building, Economic Development and Community Development divisions of the department.

He has coordinated land development applications and long-range planning, and was instrumental in the process of developing the Township’s Comprehensive Plan, adopted in early 2016, as well as the current comprehensive update to the Lower Merion Zoning Code.

Leswing is also well known as a leader who helped spearhead the development and multi-jurisdictional partnership of the Cynwyd Heritage Trail, and subsequently the redevelopment of the Manayunk Bridge into a pedestrian walking and biking path, connecting Lower Merion with Philadelphia, the township said. A resident of Ardmore, he also helped lead the effort of neighbors there to convert a parking lot into the award-winning and well-used Linwood Park and gardens.

Leswing holds a master’s degree in city and regional planning from Rutgers University, is accredited as a licensed professional planner (PP) and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP). He takes over for Bob Duncan, who was Director of Building & Planning since 2001 and is now the Assistant Township Manager.

Congratulations to Lilick and Leswing!

Depicted above are Lilick and Leswing, images courtesy of Lower Merion Township