Ohio
Dr. Baginski has served as CEO of Leadership Lake County since January 2012. She has over 35 years of experience in communications, marketing and management in public, private and nonprofit organizations. She is a certified Behavior Styles trainer through the Effectiveness Institute. Dr. Baginski is a frequent speaker on leadership in life and in the workplace, and building cultures of leadership.
Dr. Baginski was Laketran’s first Director of Public Relations and Marketing from 2000 through 2010, earning numerous national awards for communications during her tenure. She has also served as an adjunct professor at Cleveland State University in the College of Education. She is a long-standing and active member in the Mentor Chamber of Commerce and the Ohio Governor’s Council on People with Disabilities Youth Leadership Forum. She is a graduate of Leadership Ashtabula 1996, Leadership Lake County 2004, and the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program in 2016. She currently serves as Chair of the national board of the Association of Leadership Programs. She is a member of Lakeland Community College’s Hall of Fame. She received the Maureen Fitzgerald Leadership Award from Governor’s Council on People with Disabilities in 2008 for positively impacting the lives of students with disabilities. In 2014, she was a recipient of Lakeland Community
College’s Woman of Achievement Award.
Dr. Baginski is a Mayfield Heights resident with her husband, Thom and sweet pup, Lucy.
Contact Jessie at jbaginski AT leadershiplc DOT org.
Rachel is Executive Vice President. In her role, she provides oversight for all evaluation and community impact work of CLC, development of custom programs and strategic opportunities, and the design and implementation of all CLC programs. She is a certified Tetra Map Facilitator and has presented nationally on evaluation, impact, and engagement.
Rachel graduated from Ohio University in 2002 with a BA in Psychology and continued her education at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University, graduating in 2005 with a Masters of Science in Social Administration (MSSA). Rachel has worked as a social worker at MetroHealth Medical Center and as a Program Coordinator at Care Alliance Health Center. Through her work at Care Alliance, she designed, implemented and measured a federally funded evaluation program and collaborated with nine other programs across the country. She has a special interest in social work issues with the HIV/AIDS community and healthcare.
Rachel is a graduate of the Cleveland Bridge Builders Class of 2010 and is a member of the Cleveland Leadership Center Alumni Association. She is a member of the Board of Directors for the MetroHealth Foundation and served on the associate board of the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission, most recently as Chair. She was named a Top 25 under 35 Mover and Shaker in 2013 by the Cleveland Professional 20/30 Club. She and her husband Matt, along with their son Carson, love Cleveland and enjoy all the community has to offer!
CONTACT
rciomcia@cleveleads.org | (216) 592-2280
Beth Frey, Project Manager at The Ohio State University, currently managing the second round of
Alliance for the American Dream challenge in Central Ohio. Working with University leadership and
community partners to bring three teams, in each round, to the challenge. The Alliance for the
American Dream, funded by Schmidt Futures, is a grand challenge that looks to increase shared
prosperity through innovative technology.
With a B.A. from Miami University and a M.A. in Public Affairs from The Ohio State University, Beth has
over 15 years of event and project management experience including managing large undergraduate
admissions events at Ohio State and a statewide marketing effort for Ohio 4-H that received first place,
twice, in a national contest to engage alumni.
Shannon Hollis is a Grants and Contracts Specialist, Senior. Prior to joining the GDSU, she was the Interim Director for Ohio Bioproducts Innovation Center (OBIC) and the Project Manager of the Consortium for Advanced Bioeconomy Leadership Education (CABLE) program. Shannon has a B.A. in Chemistry from Miami University and an M.B.A. from Capital University. She has experience in grant writing, budget preparation, project management, and execution.
Her role will include: working with Principal Investigators and other key personnel to revise drafts of grant proposals to ensure the text clearly conveys the meaning; drafting the structure of the proposal according to RFPs; drafting various sections of proposals in a clear and precise manner that targets funding agency requirements; identifying gaps in the content of the proposal; revising, editing, and proofreading the proposal drafts for format, style and grammar according to funding agency guidelines to ensure proposal accuracy and completeness; assisting with incorporation of comments and edits; and finalizing proposal sections to increase extramural funding and awards.
Some recent projects of hers include the management of microwave assisted thermal technology, management of the natural fiber and fillers program, and a market study of homeowners and architects on sustainable building practices. Earlier in her career, Shannon held several positions of increasing responsibility in Research and Development at The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company. She has extensive process and formulations experience in the development of commercially viable consumer lawn and garden products. Her work there led to three patents as a co-inventor on improved pesticide formulations. In addition, Shannon has served on the Board of Directors of Advanced Biofuels USA and is a member of the American Chemical Society.
Shannon is also a member of the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA), National Organization of Research and Development Professionals (NORDP), and the Society of Research Administrators International (SRAI).
Kolenich, Brian
Executive Director, Ohio Living
Ohio, SD Certified Workshop Leader and Fellow Candidate
Brian Kolenich is an experienced Executive Director with Ohio Living, with a demonstrated history of working in the retirement community industry. A skilled agile strategy practitioner, Brian is also accomplished in nonprofit leadership, performance excellence and innovation methodologies. Brian has a demonstrated history of building an integrated and innovative culture of active aging throughout a continuum of care.
A strong business development professional, Brian displays solid skills in community board and leadership involvement, serving on the boards for the United Way of Youngstown and Mahoning Valley and Wick Neighbors, Inc. He has led initiatives to start an advocacy network for high risk older adults (MAPN), chaired the United Way’s Impact Committee, created the Mahoning Valley Lifelong Learning Institute, and co-created Tedx Youngstown. In addition, he is involved in quality and performance excellence on a national level through the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, as a Master Examiner. Appointed by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Brian has served on the Baldrige’s Board of Examiners since 2003, evaluating organizations for the award, which is the highest level of national recognition for performance excellence that a U.S. organization can receive.
Brian has a B.A. from Youngstown State University and a Master of Arts focused in Management and Organizational Development from McGregor School at Antioch University. Additionally, he is a Licensed Nursing Home Administrator in the State of Ohio and a Fellow-Candidate and Certified Workshop Leader with the Strategic Doing Institute.
Meris Mandernach Longmeier is an Associate Professor and Head of Research Services for University Libraries at The Ohio State University. In this role she develops services for OSU Libraries to support the research endeavors of all faculty, staff, and students at Ohio State. Longmeier sets the vision and oversees the services provided through the Libraries’ Research Commons, a digital scholarship hub on campus.
Outside of library responsibilities, she is the co-founder and co-faculty director of OHI/O program (hack.osu.edu). The OHI/O Program fosters a tech culture at Ohio State and its surrounding communities, ultimately providing students the opportunity to learn and build with real technologies outside of the classroom. Through the platform, OHI/O better connects students to real world problems and opportunities by engaging with the community and industry partners.
Meris has a MS in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Bachelor’s in Arts in Chemistry from the College of Wooster. She regularly presents nationally on her research that focuses on evolving library services, hackathons and informal learning, understanding library user behaviors, and creating partnerships for interdisciplinary research.
Emily Oilar is currently the Operations Manager of Urban Arts Space at The Ohio State University. In this role, she leads the development and implementation of collaborative arts projects that deepen the learning of students, faculty and the greater community. Recent projects include Hybrid Arts Lab, a multi-venue arts learning lab that experiments with how art is imagined, made, viewed and understood within physical and digital spaces.
Emily has a Master of Arts in public policy and management from Ohio State’s John Glenn College of Public Affairs and a Bachelor of Music in vocal performance from DePauw University.
Connect with Emily on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-oilar/
