Staff & Board

Lisa Scales has been President and CEO of Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank since 2012, leading the organization in distributing food for nearly 45 million meals annually through a network of 850 community partners in 11 counties of southwestern Pennsylvania. She holds a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Boston University School of Law and Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Sciences from Seton Hill University, from which she received the 2019 Distinguished Alumna Leadership Award.

Scales serves on the Board of Directors of Adagio Health and is an advisory board member of the Center for Supply Chain Management at the University of Pittsburgh, the Centers for Community Engagement at Robert Morris University and the University of Pittsburgh Johnson Institute for Responsible Leadership. Additionally, Scales is a member of the University of Pittsburgh Institute of Politics Board of Fellows. She currently serves as Chair of Feeding Pennsylvania, a statewide association of Feeding America food banks. In 2018 Scales was the recipient of the Greater Pittsburgh ATHENA Award; in 2020 she received Duquesne University’sEileen Zungolo Spirit of Service Award; in January 2021 Pittsburgh Magazine named Scales as Pittsburgher of the Year; in December 2021 she received the Coleman Award for Excellence in Community Service from the University of Pittsburgh Institute of Politics; and in February 2022 was included in the Pittsburgh Business Times Power 100 list of most influential business leaders.

Brian Gulish serves as Vice President of Marketing and Communications, overseeing brand strategy, media relations, internal communications, digital media, creative services and production. In his role, Brian is responsible for leading the development and execution of the Food Bank’s overall marketing and communications portfolio, with a focus on maximizing brand awareness to enhance the reputation and mission of the organization across the three rivers region.

During his tenure with the Food Bank, Brian has brought together traditional marketing functions, while initiating and launching several new concepts to the organization including the Food Podcast, the Sports & Media Coalition, an in-house video production outlet and led the organization’s rebranding in 2021.

Prior to the Food Bank, Brian spent 8 years with the American Cancer Society and has also work at ESPN, CBS Television and Major League Baseball Advanced Media.

Charla Irwin-Buncher is the Chief External Affairs Officer for Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and oversees the fundraising and volunteer functions. Charla has more than 19 years of experience in non-profit fundraising, marketing, public relations and volunteer management. Charla has been in her current role at the Food Bank since October, 2019. She was previously the Director of Development and Donor Relations for the Food Bank and oversaw individual giving, major gifts, community fundraising and the Food Bank’s volunteer program.

Prior to joining the Food Bank, Charla was most recently the Manager of Individual Giving for Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. Before moving to Pittsburgh, she served as the Director of Development and Communications for Channel One Regional Food Bank in Rochester, MN, another Feeding America Food Bank.

Charlese McKinney is Chief Program Officer at Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. She oversees the program areas that connect our neighbors in need to food and other essential resources. Those connections are made through direct service and a network of over 1,000 partners in the Food Bank’s 11-county service area in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Examples of these partners include food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, colleges and universities, health systems, youth programs and a variety of community-based organizations. Charlese and her team work diligently to build and maintain an agile network of partners by educating them on best practices, encouraging and supporting innovation, providing technical, financial and administrative assistance as well as increasing outreach efforts.

Charlese previously worked at WQED Multimedia where she created, developed and implemented PBS education and literacy training throughout the metro Pittsburgh and regional area. She created innovative literacy programs that targeted underserved students in schools, after school and community outreach programs that provided valuable educational experiences to area children. Charlese is a graduate of Carlow University where she received her Bachelor’s of Science in Business and Master of Science in Management and Technology, as well as a Master of Business Administration.

David Carrico serves as Vice President of Information Technology, overseeing the Food Bank’s Information Technology Strategy and Roadmap, technology operations, cybersecurity, applications and infrastructure.  David and his team focus on a number of areas including support for day-to-day productivity, transforming the ways of working to allow Food Bank personnel and partners to be as productive as possible in pursuing the Food Bank’s mission, and in providing innovative technology solutions that enable the Food Bank to be more nimble in reacting to changes in the food insecurity landscape within our service area..

Prior to the Food Bank, David spent over 20 years in the Information Technology and digital consulting space working for firms such as IBM and Ernst & Young LLP and consulting clients in a variety of areas including technical architecture, user experience, workplace enablement and omnichannel retail.

Gary Doyle joined Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank in January of 2022. As Chief Financial Officer for the Food Bank, Gary oversees the accounting/finance, treasury and information technology functions. Gary brings over 30 years of experience in operational and financial stewardship to the organization.

Prior to joining the Food Bank, Gary served as a finance executive for K-12 education focused companies including MSI Information Services, Discovery Education and Think Through Learning. Earlier in his career he worked at Black Box Corporation, FreeMarkets and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Gary is a Certified Public Accountant, earned his MBA in Finance from Robert Morris University and his BS in Accounting from Mount Saint Mary’s University. He has served on the board of directors for a number of Pittsburgh area nonprofits including Central Catholic High School, The Neighborhood Academy, The Ireland Institute of Pittsburgh and Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse.

Godfrey Bethea, Jr. has over 15 years’ experience as a certified diversity leader and Human Resources with a focus on delivering culture enhancing initiatives and diversity/cultural awareness educational programming. Godfrey has experience in implementing human capital and workforce engagement strategies to strengthen attraction, retention, and optimization of organizational talent while bridging equity, diversity and inclusion as a core business focus.

Godfrey leads the strategic oversight and solutions to advance the Food Bank’s equity and social justice commitments through community partnerships, human resources and organizational culture. Holding a PHR certification and MBA degree, he is responsible for the long and short-term organizational structure and workforce management. An Eastern Pennsylvania native, Godfrey currently resides in Pittsburgh, Pa with his wife and his 3 children.

Justin Lee serves as the Chief Operating Officer for Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, overseeing its operations since 2016. He leads multiples teams that manage the sourcing, warehousing, inventory management, volunteer engagement center, transportation, maintenance, and safety functions of the Food Bank. In addition to enhancing the organization’s end-to-end supply chain, Justin is also leading the Food Bank’s extensive building construction and renovation project. During his tenure, the organization has seen significant growth in its strategic goals of produce distribution and operational efficiency.

Justin earned his MBA from the Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh and completed his undergraduate work in Supply Chain and Information Systems from The Pennsylvania State University. Throughout his career, he has held many positions on board and committees for organizations such as Hunger-Free Pennsylvania, Mid-Atlantic Regional Cooperative, and Lawrence County Community Organizations Active in Disaster.

Sarah Porter joined the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank in July 2025, where she serves as Executive Assistant to the President & CEO and provides strategic support to the Board of Directors and Executive Team. Sarah holds a BA in Sociology from the University of Pittsburgh and brings a decade of professional experience from her roles at Carnegie Mellon University and UPMC.