Ohio
Jeff Agnoli (BA/MA) is currently responsible for education, funding, and research development in the Office of Research | Proposal Development Office at The Ohio State University. Jeff has more than 30 years of experience in higher education and consulting with both non-profit and for-profit organizations. His primary areas of responsibility include facilitating interdisciplinary existing and emerging proposal teams; managing the education and outreach efforts for the Office of the Vice President for Research; managing the internal nomination programs for faculty; assisting faculty and staff with the identification of research funding opportunities; and managing the nomination and annual curation process for external scholarly awards and prizes. In 2017, The Ohio State University awarded his the Distinguished Staff Award in recognition of his outstanding service. Members of the National Organization of Research Development Directors (NORDP) elected Jeff to the Board of Directors in 2015. He has been a regular presenter at NORDP National and Regional conferences and served as NORDP’s Treasurer. He received NORDP’s Service Award in 2018 for his commitment to the organization and service to his peers.
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.
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.
