The JumpStart Board of Directors is experienced in entrepreneurship, investing, technology transfer, regional economic development, and education.
Board Leadership
Doug Weintraub, CPA
Board Chairperson, JumpStart
Serial Entrepreneur
Doug Weintraub is an active angel investor and serial entrepreneur. Doug is involved with many ventures in the software and professional services space, as well as residential and commercial real estate developments that date back to his return to the Akron/Cleveland area in 1984. Most recently, Doug was Managing Director of Socius, the company he founded in 1986. Prior to his time at Socius, Doug was President and CEO of Centerprise Information Advisors, formerly Brunswick Integrated Computer Solution. He started his professional career as a computer consultant and accountant at Coopers & Lybrand. In 1999, 2000 and 2001, Doug was recognized as one of Accounting Today’s Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting and Socius was recognized as a Technology Pacesetter by the magazine from 1998 through 2005. Doug is a founding member of the North Coast Angel Fund and Akron-based MW Development. Doug served on the board of MAGNET (formerly CAMP) from 2002 to 2005, currently serves on The President's Club Advisory Board of The Ohio State University, and is a member and on the board of directors for North Coast Community Homes, Innovative Process Administration, LLC, Vox Mobile, LLC, and JumpStart. At JumpStart, Doug has served since inception, first as Treasurer (2004 to 2006), then Vice Chair and Treasurer (2006 to 2009) and now as Chairman. Doug received a bachelor's in business administration focused on accounting and computer science from The Ohio State University.
Mark J. Williams
Vice Chairperson, JumpStart
Executive Vice President, Global Banking
Mark Williams is an Executive Vice President in PNC’s Corporate and Institutional Bank where he leads the International business and the Shareholder Services business. Prior to joining National City/PNC, Mark held various executive positions at Capital One Financial Corp., McKinsey & Company, and GE Aircraft Engines. Mark was nominated to Kaleidoscope's 40 under 40 (Class of 1997). He is on the Board of Directors for JumpStart Inc. and DANCECleveland, and is a Trustee for the Presidents’ Council Foundation. Mark holds an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business where he was nominated a Baker Scholar.
Directors
Jacqueline Acho, Ph.D.
President, The Acho Group
Jackie Acho is President of The Acho Group, a strategy and leadership consulting firm. Prior to founding The Acho Group in 2005, she was a Partner in the Midwest Complex of McKinsey & Company and part of the Growth Strategy and Sales and Marketing leadership groups. Jackie has worked for industrial, scientific, academic, nonprofit, and economic development clients on a variety of issues, with particular focus on growth, strategy, and commercial transformation for nearly 15 years. She received her master's degree and Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. While at MIT, she was awarded the Goodwin Medal for "conspicuously effective teaching by a graduate student." She also attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where she earned a bachelor's degree with distinction and highest honors in chemistry. Jackie was named one of the “Top 40 under 40” by Crain’s Cleveland Business magazine, “one of the 500 most influential women in Northeast Ohio” by Northern Ohio Live magazine, and is a founding member of In Counsel with Women. She currently serves on the boards of JumpStart, the National Inventors’ Hall of Fame/Invent Now Kids, and the Wright Center for Sensor Systems Engineering. She has served on the board of the Urban League of Greater Cleveland and the advisory boards for Industrial Transport, Inc., the Northeast Ohio Technology Council, and the Generation Foundation of Cleveland.
Barbara Brown
Principal and Co-Founder, BrownFlynn
Barbara Brown is co-founder and principal of BrownFlynn. Prior to founding BrownFlynn in 1996, Barb spent six years with National City Corporation where she served as Co-Vice President and Manager of the financial service company’s corporate communications department with Margie Flynn. Prior to that, she was a Marketing Manager for a multi-million dollar real estate developer and an Account Executive for an advertising firm outside Chicago. Born and raised in Chicago, IL, Barb came to Cleveland by way of her college education at John Carroll University and meeting her husband. An internship with the Greater Cleveland Growth Association (Cleveland’s Chamber of Commerce and, a.k.a. the Greater Cleveland Partnership) led to her passion for Northeast Ohio and belief in “doing well by doing good” as Principal and Co-owner of BrownFlynn. Barb has been honored as a Rainmaker by Northeast Ohio Live magazine, received a Medical Mutual Pillar Award for Community Service, and has been honored as National Association of Women Business Owners “Top Ten Women Business Owners of Northeast Ohio,” to name just a few honors. Barb is a member of Leadership Cleveland (class of 2009), is a trustee of ParkWorks, on the board of the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland Foundation, and participates in the Global Reporting Initiative.
Judith Cone
Special Assistant to the Chancellor for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Judith Cone is Special Assistant to the Chancellor for Innovation & Entrepreneurship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her role is to assist the Chancellor, a serial entrepreneur and respected scientist, in formulating a strategic vision and plan for how UNC can create a culture of innovation that brings practical solutions to some of the biggest challenges facing the world today. Prior to joining the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she was with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation for 15 years serving in a number of roles. As Vice President of Emerging Strategies for the Kauffman Foundation, she led efforts to explore new program opportunities to advance entrepreneurship and innovation. Before that she was Vice President of Entrepreneurship and developed a number of the Foundation’s signature entrepreneurship initiatives for youth and adults, including one of its largest programs – the Kauffman Campuses Initiative, designed to transform the way entrepreneurship is taught on university campuses by making entrepreneurship education accessible to students and faculty across all fields of study. Judith joined the Foundation in 1993 and was responsible for the development of innovative entrepreneurial learning programs, including FastTrac and an award-winning Web portal for entrepreneurs. She also developed Kauffman’s knowledge management practice and played an instrumental role during a restructuring of the Foundation’s strategic focus. She continues to be affiliated with the Kauffman Foundation as a Senior Fellow. Judith co-founded and led for 14 years two management consulting firms serving Fortune 500 clients. Her first career was as a learning disabilities teacher working with disadvantaged children, where she experienced first-hand the pervasive and devastating effects of poverty on children and families. Judith writes and lectures nationally and internationally on entrepreneurship and innovation topics. She has a bachelor’s degree from William Jewell College with areas of concentration in education and psychology, and a master’s degree with honors from the University of Kansas.
Mark E. Coticchia
Vice President for Research & Technology Management, Case Western Reserve University
Mark E. Coticchia is Vice President for Research and Technology Management at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) where he directs CWRU's research agenda and technology commercialization priorities, including research administration, technology transfer, Case Technology Ventures, and the Science and Technology Applications Center. He also serves as the Senior Economic Development Advisor to the University System of Ohio, and is an international expert for the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a specialized agency of the United Nations. Prior to joining CWRU, Mark was Senior Director of Redleaf Group, Inc., an early stage venture capital firm. His responsibilities included the development and management of a global University Technology Innovation/Incubator Operation that included seed-level investment activities. From 1997 to 2000, Mark served as Director of Technology Transfer at Carnegie Mellon University and served as an adjunct professor of entrepreneurship. He received his MS and BS degrees in Industrial Engineering and Management, and Civil Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh; and has subsequently been honored by his alma mater for outstanding achievement and exceptional leadership ability. Mark serves on the board of directors and advisory boards of several high technology companies and non-profit organizations and is a co-founder of Lycos, Inc. He’s the author of several books on technology management and is a frequent speaker to international audiences from industry, government, and academia.
Larry Goddard
President, The Parkland Group, Inc.
Larry Goddard is President of The Parkland Group, Inc., a leading turnaround, performance improvement and interim management organization, based in Cleveland, OH. Larry founded The Parkland Group in 1989 and is the inventor of Parkland’s “SOAR to Strategic Excellence™”, a revolutionary one-day diagnostic and benchmarking process that measures the health of businesses and helps them achieve significant improvements in profitability. He has over 30 years management and advisory experience, helping hundreds of organizations throughout North America to dramatically improve their performance. From 1982 to 1990, he was President and CEO of WACO International, a national manufacturer and distributor of construction equipment and supplies, where he led the acquisition of eight companies. Larry was also Deputy Chairman and a director of Waco’s publicly traded parent company, Waco Kwikform Ltd. Prior to joining Waco, Larry was a supervisor at Price Waterhouse in Canada, and later founded Goddard Franklin Management Consultants, Inc. Larry is the author of Corporate Intensive care: Why Businesses Fail And How To Make Them Succeed, and co-author of The Turbocharged Company: Igniting Your Business To Soar Ahead Of The Competition, and Top Down Vision and Bottom Up Management, which focuses on improving business value and success via collaborative management. In addition to serving on the JumpStart board, Larry is a board member of NASDAQ traded Energy Focus, Inc., formerly on the board of Oglebay Norton Inc. until its sale in early 2008, and currently serves on numerous advisory and other boards. Larry is a member of the World President’s Organization and the Turnaround Management Association. As a recognized industry expert, he is frequently quoted in the media, including The Wall Street Journal.
Bonnie W. Gwin
Managing Partner, Heidrick & Struggles
Bonnie W. Gwin is Managing Partner, North America, for the Board of Directors practice. She focuses on searches both at the Director and CEO level across a wide range of industries. Previously, Bonnie served as President, Americas and Corporate Officer responsible for all of Heidrick & Struggles’ operations in North and Latin America. She has served in many other leadership roles for the firm including Global Managing Partner, Technology Practice and Managing Partner, North America Quality Council. Prior to joining Heidrick & Struggles, Bonnie spent almost 13 years with the IBM Corporation. She most recently served as Business Unit Executive, Travel & Transportation Industry and Senior Location Executive. Throughout her career, Bonnie held a variety of sales, marketing and management roles of increasing responsibility. In conjunction with her career accomplishments, Bonnie has been active in a number of organizations including serving on the National First Ladies Library Site Committee. In addition to being on the JumpStart board, she is currently a national board member and Chair-Elect for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America. Bonnie holds a combined bachelor’s and master’s degree from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. She was a National Merit Scholar and also a Fellow, Diplomatic and Consular Officers, Retired (DACOR).
Peter D. Hancock
Executive Vice President, Finance, Risk, and Investments, AIG, Inc.
Peter Hancock is Executive Vice President, Finance Risk and Investments for AIG, Inc. He began working with AIG in February of 2010. Prior to that, his role with Key National Banking included Key Corporate and Investment Banking, Key National Finance and Victory Capital Management. Key Corporate and Investment Banking provides corporate finance, leasing, cash management, investment banking, capital markets and financial risk-management advice and solutions to Key’s corporate, real estate and institutional clients worldwide. Key National Finance includes Key Equipment Finance, Key Education Resources and Key Recreation Lending. Victory Capital Management is Key’s asset and mutual fund management business. Peter joined Key in December 2008. He began his career in 1980 at JP Morgan. During his 20 years with JPM, Peter was responsible for founding its Global Derivatives Group in 1991, managing its Fixed Income and Credit businesses in1995 and 1997 respectively and finally serving as its Chief Financial Officer and Chief Risk Officer between January 1999 and September 2000. Most recently, Peter was a Managing Director of Trinsum, a firm formed by the merger of Marakon Associates and Integrated Finance Limited, (IFL). IFL was founded by Peter in 2002 and provided asset management, strategic advice, and pension solutions to large companies and institutions. He has been acknowledged for his contributions to risk management and the derivatives markets by a number of publications. Peter graduated in 1980 from Oxford University with an MA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics.
John W. Harley
Co-Founder and Co-President, FirstPower Group LLC
Jack Harley is Co-Founder and Co-President of FirstPower Group LLC. Prior, he was Founder and President of J.W. Harley Inc., Founder and President of Tecsonics Inc, and before that he was with Ingersoll-Rand Company. Jack received his undergraduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania and an EMBA from Case Western Reserve University. Jack serves on the boards of MAGNET and JumpStart, is on the annual fund committee of The Cleveland Orchestra, and is involved with numerous other community organizations and technical committees.
Jim Hickey
President and Founder, Arras Group
Jim Hickey is Founder and President of Arras Group, a full-service marketing/communications agency. Arras has been recognized in the Weatherhead 100 eight times, in the Northcoast 99 seven times, and as Agency of the Year by the Northeast Ohio Business Marketing Association. Jim is a Northeast Ohio transplant who has set his roots here deeply. He is recognized as an exceptional team builder, a business catalyst, and a strong strategist. Prior to founding Arras Group, Jim spent several years at Marketing Directions, a small agency in Cleveland that he helped to build. He was at Hesselbart & Mitten, an Akron advertising agency before that. Jim is a member of the Rainbow Babies and Children’s Leadership Board. He was a longtime board member and seven-year Board Chairman of Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity. He also sits on a number of for-profit boards, including Bonne Bell and Refrigeration Sales Corp. In addition, Jim has been selected as an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Jim has a BA in marketing from Miami University.
Jagdish D. Kulkarni, M.D.
President and CEO of J & J Enterprise
Dr. Jagdish Kulkarni is currently involved in several business ventures in Indiana, Ohio, and Florida. He is President and CEO of J & J Enterprise, a holding company of all his different ventures. A Diplomat of American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, native of Bombay, India, Jagdish came to the United States in 1973. He finished his M.D. degree at Bombay University, Bombay, India. He completed his post-graduate training at Yale University and affiliated hospitals. He also served on their faculty staff. After practicing medicine in Indiana through 1995, Jagdish went on to pursue a number of entrepreneurial endeavors. He singularly founded, owned, and operated four child/adolescent psychiatric hospitals with total capacity of 350 beds and 300 employees until 2003, when he successfully sold the company to G E Capital. In 2000, he co-founded an environmental remediation company, SESCO, and currently serves on the Board of Directors. Jagdish also owned and operated a temporary nursing agency that employed over 500 nurses, which he successfully sold in 2005. He went on to co-found Strand Analytical Laboratory (SAL), a DNA laboratory that tests for paternity and performs forensic DNA analysis on samples all across the USA. He currently serves on the board of directors. Also in 2005, Jagdish delved into the Commercial Real Estate Development arena and with joint ownership with his two sons, Emerald-K, Inc. was born. He is also involved in several other profitable business ventures. In addition to JumpStart, Jagdish has served on several boards including Indiana Children’s Trust Fund, Indianapolis Museum of Art, International School of Indianapolis, and various other healthcare related companies.
Ray T. Leach
CEO, JumpStart Inc.
Ray Leach brings his energy and leadership experiences from founding five high growth entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial endeavors in the last 20 years. Since 2003, Ray’s time has been focused on creating and leading JumpStart, one of the most active and innovative venture development organizations in the United States. Ray’s career began at IBM and has been principally focused on information technology companies previous to JumpStart. Ray is a Sloan Fellow and earned an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. He also earned a BA in Finance from the University of Akron. Ray also serves on the boards of the Council of Competitiveness in Washington DC, the Red Cross Blood Services of Northern Ohio, and is the Chairman of the Invent Now Kids board of the National Inventors Hall of Fame and Museum.
Richard Lunak
President and CEO, Innovation Works
Rich Lunak is President and CEO of Innovation Works, the nation’s third most active early-stage investor according to Entrepreneur magazine. Rich leads Innovation Works’ efforts to provide business expertise, seed capital and other resources to high-potential, technology start-up companies in Pittsburgh. Since 2000, Innovation Works has invested in more than 100 regional technology start-ups, which have gone on to raise more than $500 million in follow-on investment. In 2007, 65 percent of the Pittsburgh region’s venture capital investments went to Innovation Works’ portfolio companies. Prior to joining Innovation Works in 2005, Rich was a successful technology entrepreneur. He helped lead Automated Healthcare from a three-person start-up to a $65 million acquisition by McKesson Corporation, the nation’s 16th largest company. Rich became Group President of McKesson Automation, where he led five autonomous business units that served more than 13,000 customers, generated several hundred million in revenues, and managed more than 1,800 employees with operations in four states. He was responsible for acquiring new technologies and the design, development, and rollout of numerous robotic, automated, and software products that are installed in leading health care providers across the country and around the world. A technologist as well as an entrepreneur, Rich received a bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon, a master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Pittsburgh, and holds several U.S. patents. He is a guest lecturer at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon and is a member of numerous boards of directors in addition to JumpStart. Rich is the Vice Chairman of the Pittsburgh Venture Capital Association and is the winner of the 2008 Carnegie Science Center entrepreneur’s award.
Amy Millman
Co-founder and President, Springboard 2000 Enterprises, Inc.
Amy is the Co-founder, President and a Board Member for Springboard 2000 Enterprises, a venture-catalyst, national non-profit organization accelerating women's access to the equity markets. The organization produces programs that qualify, coach, showcase and support women entrepreneurs as they seek equity capital and grow their companies. The Springboard Venture Capital Forum program has featured 407 women-led companies with the involvement of thousands of investors, lawyers, accountants, bankers and sector experts throughout the US and Israel. Companies in the portfolio have raised over $5 billion in equity, grants and strategic investments. Amy is a career advocate who has represented the interests of various corporate and industry groups. As one of the founders and current president of Springboard Enterprises, she built an organization that facilitates connections to sources of financial and human capital for women-led emerging-growth enterprises. Prior to Springboard, she served as Executive Director of the National Women's Business Council, a federal commission providing advice and counsel to the President and Congress on issues of importance to women business owners. During her tenure, the Council launched several public and private sector initiatives that increased, measurably, access to capital and market opportunities for women. Millman began her career working on Capitol Hill and spent twenty years representing corporate, trade association and government interests, including the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Philip Morris Corporation (now Altria); the American Trucking Association and Congressional Quarterly, Inc. Amy serves of the boards and advisory councils of Enterprising Woman, Purdue University Discovery Park, Women’s Leadership Exchange. Amy received her BA from Carnegie Mellon University and MPAd from The George Washington University.
Carmen Ortiz-McGhee
President, The Marathon Club
Carmen Ortiz-McGhee is President of The Marathon Club (TMC), a membership organization established to accelerate relationships among the best and brightest business minds in the United States to create environments for enhanced wealth creation and deal flow for professionals of diverse ethnicities. As President, Carmen leads the development and implementation of the Focused Strategies necessary to achieve the mission and goals of the organization. Carmen has led TMC in developing an unprecedented network of affluent, deal-focused professionals by partnering among The Executive Leadership Council, the National Association of Investment Companies and New America Alliance. Carmen has been instrumental in establishing TMC’s initiatives and forums that have facilitated the expansion of a robust and efficient national deal flow network for these multicultural professionals. Prior to leading TMC, Carmen created value for a number of non-profit organizations including the New America Alliance, the World Airline Entertainment Association and the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC). Carmen regularly speaks at conferences focused on the U.S. Emerging Domestic Market including The U.S. Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency events, Hispanic IT Executive Council meetings, IT Senior Manager’s Forum meetings, the New America Alliance Wall Street Summit and the American Association of Blacks in Energy among others. She is a member of the Advisory Board of the Hispanic IT Executive Council and the University of Virginia Alumni Diversity Advisory Committee. Carmen received her BA in Psychology from the University of Virginia.
R. Louis Schneeberger
Chief Financial Officer, Panther Expedited Services, Inc.
Lou Schneeberger’s career has had an executive management focus throughout but also includes technical financial roles, numerous acquisitions and sales, public offerings, new business formations, strategy consulting and extensive board roles. Most recently Lou was involved with a private equity firm, Knowledge Investment Partners (KIP), as a Partner and Managing Director. His career began with an accounting degree from Kent State University, then 10 years with Arthur Andersen, acquiring and growing Olympic Steel and Royal Appliance for the next 15 years including public offerings of both. In the last eight plus years, Lou has done strategy consulting with several business startups, including assisting in forming JumpStart as its Founding Chairman, and leading the cleanup process of a Cleveland based public company, OM Group, resulting in a massive restatement, settlement of class action lawsuits, and getting it back in total compliance with the SEC and the NYSE. Lou was one of four owners and a director of Olympic Steel during its growth from a small company to a $600+ million public company. Lou was also Chairman of Royal Appliance during the last eight years until its sale in 2003. At the time of sale Royal was over $400 million in sales. Lou has spent the last three plus years assisting several private equity firms in an operating capacity, including acting as interim CFO at Austin Powder Company, and assisting Anderson-DuBose in a major acquisition.
William R. Seelbach
Operating Executive, The Riverside Company
Bill Seelbach is currently an Operating Executive with The Riverside Company. The Riverside Company is the country’s largest private equity firm focusing on the smaller end of middle market companies. As an Operating Executive, Bill’s role is to help various Riverside portfolio companies grow and further enhance their operating performance. From mid 2003 through 2006, he was the President and CEO of the Ohio Aerospace Institute (OAI), a non-profit organization whose mission is to build Ohio’s aerospace economy. Prior to OAI, Bill was the President of Brush Engineered Materials Inc. (BEM), a $750 million NYSE company focused on high performance engineered materials. Before joining Brush in 1998, Bill was Chairman and CEO of Inverness Partners, a limited liability company whose purpose was to acquire Midwestern manufacturing companies. During his tenure as Chairman of Inverness Partners and ICG, Bill was very active in acquisitions, strategic planning, and operations improvement. Before founding Inverness Partners, Bill served as the COO of a financial holding company. From 1975 to 1986, he was a member and then a partner with McKinsey & Company. While there, he led the reorganization efforts for several multi-billion dollar corporations, including a major rubber products company and a major steel products company. Bill was also a core member of McKinsey’s Organizational Effectiveness Practice and contributed to research that led to In Search of Excellence. Bill was the founding President of Cleveland Tomorrow, an economic development organization composed of the CEOs of Cleveland’s 50 largest for-profit organizations. He continues to be actively involved in the Cleveland community. In addition to JumpStart, he currently serves on the boards at Playhouse Square Foundation, the Great Lakes Science Center, University School, as well as two public companies: OMNOVA Solutions and Corrpro, and several private companies. In 1992, Bill received the regional Entrepreneur of the Year Award from Ernst & Young, Merrill Lynch and Inc. magazine. Bill holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BS degree in Electrical Engineering and Operations Research from Yale University.
Ken Semelsberger
Senior Vice President – Finance and Planning, Industrial Sector, Eaton Corporation
Ken Semelsberger is Senior Vice President – Finance and Planning for the Industrial Sector of Eaton Corporation, a $15.4 billion global diversified power management company. Prior to this, Ken was Senior Vice President – Corporate Development and Treasury and Vice President, Strategic Planning. He joined Eaton in 1988 as a senior financial analyst and subsequently held positions of increasing responsibility in business development and planning. Before joining Eaton, Ken was a consultant for Coopers and Lybrand. He holds a BS in marketing and international business from Bowling Green State University in Ohio, and a MBA from Harvard University. In addition to serving on JumpStart’s board, Ken currently serves as a board member of the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission.
Anthony Stallion, M.D., FACS, FAAP
Staff Surgeon, Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital
Associate Professor of Surgery, CWRU
Executive Director Professional Staff, Diversity
Chief Community Relations & Diversity Officer
Dr. Anthony Stallion is a Staff Surgeon in The Children’s Hospital at Cleveland Clinic. He is also Chief Community Relations and Diversity Officer. In addition, Anthony is Chairman of the Diversity Councils for Cleveland Clinic Hospitals and is Executive Director Professional Staff, Diversity. He also is a Pediatric Advanced Life Support Course, (PALS), Advanced Trauma Life Support ® (ATLS) and Advanced Burn Life Support© (ABLS) certified instructor, and has been instrumental in the development of several community outreach projects and is Director of Community Health Outreach, Affinity Baptist Church. Anthony is a member of many major professional societies, including National Medical Association, Society of Black Academic Surgeons, and American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, as well as the American College of Surgeons.
Steve Walling
Chairman and CEO, Plasticolors, Inc.
Steve Walling is Chairman of the Board and CEO of Plasticolors Inc. The Ashtabula, OH company is a manufacturer of colorants and additives for the Plastics and Specialty Coatings markets. Steve is responsible for the company’s strategic direction, as well as assuring that the needs and expectations of the company’s many customers are met. He joined Plasticolors in 1990 as Director of Sales & Marketing and in 1993 was promoted to Vice President, Sales & Marketing. Previously, he held various sales and marketing management positions with Owens-Corning. He also served as General Marketing Manager, Specialty Products Division, National Standard. A graduate of Denison University, Steve also completed the Graduate Management Program at Wharton, University of Pennsylvania, and the Owner President Management Program at Harvard University. He is also on the board at Production Services Ltd, JumpStart, The Entrepreneurs EDGE, Northeast Region of First Merit Bank, Ashtabula County Medical Center, American Composite Manufacturers Association, and past board member at Grand River Academy and the Growth Partnership Ashtabula County.
David Wilhelm
Founder and Partner, Adena Ventures
David Wilhelm is the Founder and a Partner at Adena Ventures, a venture capital fund based in Athens, OH, that invests in early-stage, growth companies located in low- and moderate-income places in central Appalachia. He is also the founder of Hopewell Ventures, a venture capital fund based in Chicago, IL, that invests in high-growth companies in the Great Lakes region of the country. Earlier in his career, David was involved in the management of enterprises that might be called the ultimate start-ups: political campaigns. He managed the campaigns of people such as Bill Clinton, Joe Biden, Richard Daley, and the late Paul Simon. He was named Chair of the Democratic National Committee by President Clinton right after the 1992 election, becoming the youngest person in American history to lead a major political party. Last year, he was one of the first superdelegates to back Barack Obama’s candidacy for President and was a frequent surrogate for Senator Obama on shows such as Larry King Live and Chris Matthews’ Hardball. David has degrees from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and Ohio University and honorary degrees from Ohio University and the University of Charleston. He has been a fellow at Harvard’s Institute of Politics and taught at the University of Chicago, DePaul University, and is currently a Visiting Professor at the Voinovich School for Leadership and Public Affairs at Ohio University. He was recently appointed by the Secretary of the Interior to serve on the National Parks Foundation and is one of Governor Strickland’s appointees to the Ohio Cultural Facilities Commission.
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