Joseph M. Hanna, Chair of Goldberg Segalla’s Diversity Task Force and Chair of the firm’s Sports and Entertainment Practice Group, was recently appointed to the Buffalo and Erie County Workforce Investment Board (WIB).

Established under the provisions of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, the WIB is a private sector-driven board that was created to establish a variety of local workforce investment activities to increase the employment, retention, and earnings of participants, increase occupational skill attainment, reduce welfare dependency, and enhance the productivity and competitiveness of Erie County. He will assist the board in developing, coordinating, and overseeing publicly funded workforce development and training initiatives.

This is one of Joe’s numerous community-focused efforts. In March, he was elected President of the Minority Bar Association of Western New York Foundation. In addition, he serves on the Board of Directors of the National Federation for Just Communities of Western New York and the Board of Directors of the State University of New York at Buffalo Law School Alumni Association. He holds positions of prominence with a number of legal industry organizations, including the Defense Research Institute and the American Bar Association, and was recently selected for the 2014 Fellows program by the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity.

Joe is the founder and President of Bunkers in Baghdad, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to supplying new and used golf equipment to active-duty U.S. soldiers and wounded warriors across the world to aid in recreation and rehabilitation from injuries. Since its founding in October 2008, Bunkers in Baghdad has collected and distributed nearly 5 million golf balls, as well as more than 150,000 golf clubs.

For more information on the WIB, visit www.becwib.org.