Penta Medical Recycling names Anna Szczepanek New Executive Director

Penta Medical Recycling, a New York based nonprofit organization, announced that Anna Szczepanek has been named its newest Executive Director. Penta collects prosthetic limbs from the United States, where hundreds of thousands are discarded annually, and provides them to amputees in need around the world.

As Executive Director, Szczepanek will be responsible for leading strategy and future growth of the organization, while overseeing programs, governance, resource development, and strengthening Penta’s ever-expanding global partnerships.

Szczepanek joined Penta in 2021 as its first Deputy Director with an extensive background in nonprofit management and global health programming. At her most recent position as Program Director at Virtue Foundation, Anna oversaw all project operations and administration, implementing short-term impactful and long-term sustainable development solutions to underserved communities across the globe.

Penta’s outgoing Executive Director, Henry Iseman, who founded the organization and is remaining involved through his role on Penta’s Board while pursuing his MBA at Stanford University. expressed his enthusiasm for Szczepanek taking up the mantle. “Anna has been an essential part of our team since she came on-board, helping to turn Penta into the recognized, professional, and globally reaching organization that it is today. She has proven herself to be a more-than-capable leader and I am excited to watch Penta continue to surpass expectations with her at the helm.”

“I’ve been thrilled to be a part of the Penta team since I joined in 2021, and it’s an honor to step into the leadership role as the organization enters its next phase of growth,” said Anna Szczepanek, Executive Director, Penta Medical Recycling. “We’ve made a lot of progress in the last two years and I’m excited to continue working with our amazing staff, volunteers, and partners to further position Penta as a leader in the global prosthetics field.”

Szczepanek continued, “I am so excited about the opportunities the next few years hold for Penta, and how those will expand our ability to serve the global limb loss community.”

Anna has a proven track record working with and strengthening medical nonprofits. She has organized and executed medical missions in countries around the world, including Mongolia and Ghana, in her role as Program Director at the Virtue Foundation. During her tenure with the Virtue Foundation, from 2013-2021, Anna grew and led trips of 50+ volunteer medical professionals, doctors, and surgeons— programs that provided thousands of people with advanced and life-changing surgical interventions. She was also a key contributor and writer of the World Compendium of Healthcare Facilities and Nonprofit Organizations, a publication that came out of the Virtue Foundation Actionable Data Initiative to identify where global healthcare services are available and where additional resources are needed. Ms. Szczepanek is from Hauppauge, Long Island and holds a Master of Science in Global Affairs from the New York University Center for Global Affairs, where she concentrated in international development.

Looking forward, Iseman added, “the global mobility movement has changed for the better since Anna entered this field – I cannot wait to see what Penta will continue to achieve under her leadership.”