Ohio
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.
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.
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).
