Ballard Spahr M&A attorney elected board president of nonprofit Kids Smiles Inc.

An attorney with the Philadelphia-based law firm of Ballard Spahr has

been selected as chairman of the board of directors of Kids Smiles Inc., which serves children in poor urban neighborhoods in both Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

Craig Circosta, who serves as a partner in Ballard Spahr’s Business and Finance Department at the law firm’s Philadelphia office, and is also a leader of the firm’s Mergers and Acquisitions and Private Equity Group, had been elected to the organization’s board of directors in 2011 and was named vice chairman the following year.

“I am fortunate to be involved with the important work done by Kids Smiles. It has been inspiring to see the organization expand to serve more neighborhoods and provide quality oral health care to those in need,” Circosta said in a statement released by Ballard Spahr. “As Chairman, I hope to add to the positive energy Kids Smiles brings to the communities its serves, while enhancing the focus on quality dental services and education.”

Circosta focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions and general corporate matters for both public and private companies dealing in everything from medical devices and chemicals to aerospace, manufacturing and retail, according to a professional biography.

Circosta has worked on public and private mergers, stock acquisitions and divestitures, and asset purchases and sales, his bio states.

He represented the global medical device company Teleflex Inc. in its mergers and acquisitions activity since 2005, and he represented DuPont in the sale of Liqui-Box Corp., DuPont’s liquid packaging division, to investment affiliates of The Sterling Group.

Circosta has also represented Synthes Inc. in its worldwide collaboration agreement with Eli Lilly and Co., which allows for the joint development and licensing of early-stage compounds from Eli Lilly to Synthes for use in orthopedic reconstruction, according to the attorney’s biography.

Circosta, who obtained his law degree from Boston University School of Law, and got his undergraduate degree from Villanova University in suburban Philadelphia, is a member of the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Bar Associations and the Philadelphia Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth.

Circosta is admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.