Collaboration brings city and school together, work left to complete
[rpavideo caption=”With the downtown area booming with new business, it seems that there is a new restaurant or shop to explore around every corner — unless you find yourself on the eastern end of Erie Street. Since its August ribbon cutting, PARTA’s new transit center and parking garage known as Kent Central Gateway has yet to lease out its nine storefront retail spaces. TV2-KSU’s Sean Barie explains why businesses are being driven away, even from a booming college town.”]RPA_Barie_Shook_RetailSpaces[/rpavideo]
Behind the board: Kent State’s decision-makers and their newest, shining achievement
By Nick Shook
Gold, engraved name tags hang from the lapels of well-dressed individuals seated around rectangular tables adorned with glasses placed upside down, circling pitchers of water in adjacent rooms.
The names etched in each tag represent the 11 members of the Kent State Board of Trustees, gathered in conference rooms inside the new Kent State University Hotel, the crown jewel of recent development in a revitalized downtown.
The trustees, seated among to university officials, discuss current issues of university business, preparing for a single meeting to come in the afternoon.
University President Lester Lefton presides over individual meetings, gatherings of executive committees, eyeing the results of their past collaboration inside one of their greatest achievements.
The trustees — a group of company presidents and CEOs, influential members of businesses and communities in both Northeast Ohio and across the nation — lead a grand voyage into a bright future for the university, discussing minor matters among a greater purpose: to continue the growth of Kent State University.
This is no average run of success. After all, The New York Times sent a reporter to chronicle the stunning turnaround that has taken place within the city limits of Kent, a transformation that could not have taken place without the involvement and support of the university. It’s a change of course that has likely stunned the locals in a town that once trudged through nearly 40 years of strained relations between the community and Portage County’s largest employer.
The 1970 shootings that resulted in the death of four Kent State students sent the area into a downward spiral of angst and resentment that has only recently turned into a collaboration of resources, manpower and communal efforts that resulted in the closest physical connection ever between the city and university. The two entities’ joint effort is symbolized in one beautiful, recently completed brick pathway, adorned with a stone arch that literally brings the campus and downtown area together as one vibrant, prosperous community.
During the afternoon board meeting, Lefton, dressed in a navy blue suit that accents his surprising height, rises from his seat at the table to begin his presentation, titled “We Built It, They Came and Who Are We Now?” It’s an appropriate name for a time of great pride and yet, uncertainty. With Lefton’s retirement less than a year away, the board is tasked with another hurdle: finding the next president to join them in their efforts for sustained growth and development.
As his presentation begins, Lefton proudly recounts all the time and effort that went into expanding campus into downtown and the resulting rejuvenation of the area. The achievements include the hotel, completion of the esplanade extension, the Portage Area Regional Transportation Authority transit center and plans for new campus buildings, including an architecture building slated to be built on land currently occupied by a vacant fraternity house.
But as Lefton’s presentation continues, a tinge of nostalgia and reflection enters his tone. It’s clear that he is nearing the end of his time at the helm of Kent State, which has not come without resistance and negativity via student protest concerning multiple issues. In 2012, students were unhappy with a new tuition credit overage fee, and they were more than happy to let Lefton know about it. But what they didn’t take into consideration is that decisions such as this did not come by his decision alone, but instead a group’s consent.
Who comprised that group? Those members would be the Board of Trustees, seated around the table, smiling in satisfaction of their accomplishments as leaders of the second-largest university in Ohio.
[pullquote]“The Board has been terrific,” Lefton says after the meeting. “We’ve had the privilege of terrific board members, both Democrats and Republicans appointed by three different governors. They have been my partners in helping make this happen. I didn’t do this myself, they didn’t do it alone, the city didn’t do it alone. It’s been a joint effort.”[/pullquote]
“The Board has been terrific,” Lefton says after the meeting. “We’ve had the privilege of terrific board members, both Democrats and Republicans appointed by three different governors. They have been my partners in helping make this happen. I didn’t do this myself, they didn’t do it alone, the city didn’t do it alone. It’s been a joint effort.”
Joel Nielsen, Kent State director of athletics is seated outside of the table, in a row of chairs facing the group. Among the issues passed in rather efficient fashion — especially considering the amount of money and time that will go into such changes — is a pay raise for the university’s leading athletics official. Not once is the word “raise” ever uttered by anyone in the room, and news of the pay increase comes only after the meeting.
Sifting through the packet of information handed out by Emily Vincent, Kent State media relations director, the board approved raising Nielsen’s annual salary to $308,000 (including a contract extension to June 2017). The board also renamed the main hall at the university’s East Liverpool satellite campus, approved the swap of property with Delta Upsilon fraternity in exchange for a parcel on Fraternity Circle, merged multiple departments with the College of Public Health to create the Department of Biostatistics, Environmental Health Sciences and Epidemiology, and granted emeritus status to 16 former employees of ranging titles. All of this was done with a simple tap of a hammer, a quick survey of objections and even quicker approval on behalf of all members.
Sixteen days later, rain has just moved out of the downtown Kent area, leaving a humid, misty air as Lefton is again flanked by the 11 members of the board, this time on the university’s recently completed esplanade extension. It’s all smiles for the group, proud of their accomplishment, adorned with a stone arch engraved with the university’s name. The group dedicates the new addition to campus, and board chair Jane Murphy Timken surprises Lefton by announcing plans to name the extension after the president. A sentimental hug between Lefton and Timken symbolizes the collaborative efforts of the two, and is another memorable moment on the president’s farewell tour.
Student workers busily hang foam leaves, scribbled with various pro-Kent State messages, on a replica tree standing on a parade float alongside a miniature version of the new esplanade arch. Free bags of popcorn and Insomnia cookies are spread across a table, awaiting attendees to take them home. Vincent walks around, handing out the gift of the day, a marble paperweight with a card commemorating the event fastened to the top of the rectangle.
Celebration is in the air, as 1950s-era swing music plays softly over portable speakers standing on the esplanade, competing with nearby mid-1990s rap music blaring through speakers inside fraternity houses on Main Street. Trustees and others in attendance can’t help but laugh as expletive-laced tracks from Snoop Dogg’s “Doggystyle” album filter from an area of which Kent State isn’t entirely proud to the air over the university’s most-recent marketing gem.
The trustees gather for a group photo, smiling from ear to ear as they commemorate the final piece of their greatest developmental achievement as a group. Lefton stands to the left of the group photo, the lone face instantly recognizable to a considerable portion of the student body. But the 11 members of the board, a gathering of some of the most powerful people in the region — and in the case of national trustee Michael Solomon, a business figure notable across the country — are the unfamiliar, nearly indistinguishable folks in business attire who wield the most power at Kent State. These 11 individuals gather periodically throughout the year to discuss and decide on major university issues, go without major acknowledgement, and do so on a volunteer basis while also working daily at major corporations and local offices. Learning more about these trustees can be difficult; they’re incredibly busy and at times, evasive.
These are the figures who fill the seats on the Kent State University Board of Trustees.
Jane Murphy Timken – Chair of the Board of Trustees
Board member since: 2005
Term ends: 2014
Education: Harvard College, A.B. degree; The American University, Juris Doctor
Residence: Canton, Ohio
*The Chair is not included among the 11 members of the board.
Timken, the woman seated at the head of the table at board meetings, hammer in hand, serves as chair of the board. Timken has extensive experience serving on various boards in the greater area of Summit and Stark counties. She currently serves as the Vice-Chair of the Stark County Republican Party, as a member of the Board of Community Services of Stark County, the Advisory Board of the About Magazine for The Repository and the Archangel Committee for St. Michael Parish.
Timken speaks for the board and oversees all meetings, and has been heavily involved in the downtown revitalization projects. With her term end still a year away, Timken will also have a major role in selection of the university’s next president.
Timken speaks for the board to all media outlets, according to Eric Mansfield, Kent State University’s executive director of media relations. But despite several attempts to make arrangements, Timken did not make herself available to be interviewed for this story.
The university also did not make any other trustees — excluding student trustees Alex Evans and Monique Menefee — available, referring all inquiries to Timken via Mansfield.
Alex Evans – Undergraduate Student Trustee
Board member since: 2012
Term ends: 2014
Education: currently studying at Kent State University
Residence: Hubbard, Ohio
Alex Evans fits the fashion profile of an undergraduate student trustee: traditional business suit, button-down shirt and tie, conservative leather-band wristwatch, equally conservative close-crop haircut.
His educational profile, however, is rather unique.
Evans took the standard slogan “get involved” to heart as soon as he arrived at Kent State from the Youngstown suburb of Hubbard, Ohio, in the fall of 2010. A member of Kent State’s Honors College, Evans is pursuing a triple major in biology, public health and business management, but his time isn’t limited to just his studies. Evans also serves as the president of Kent State’s Habitat for Humanity chapter, and the Treasurer of the Kent State University Student Ambassadors.
One may question why a 21-year-old student has taken on so many responsibilities, not even including his role on the board. But for Evans, it’s all part of his original plan to prepare himself for the best possible opportunities after graduation.
“I’ve tried to set myself up so whichever way I figure out, I’ll go, and I’ll be all right,” Evans said. “With the job market today you have to diversify yourself a little bit.”
Evans doesn’t fit the traditional mold of what one may envision a student trustee to be — while he does dress in business attire, he doesn’t walk around campus with a soapbox, shouting and passing out flyers for the latest political movement. Instead, he’s more focused on approaching a health care climate that lacks many versatile stars — a five-tool player of the medicine world.
The other quality about Evans that stands out and is rather impressive, coming from a 21-year-old who does not blend in among his peers, is his focus on giving back.
“It’s not ‘oh, this is an opportunity that I can add to my resume,’” Evans said. “It’s I have an opportunity to give back to Kent and it’ll be kind of a reciprocal relationship, where I can give back but also get to meet a lot of people that are very successful and kind of grow myself.”
Monique C. Menefee – Graduate Student Trustee
Board member since: 2013
Term ends: 2015
Education: currently studying at Kent State University
Residence: Cleveland, Ohio
Monique Menefee’s tale is one of courage, perseverance and redemption.
Born in Cleveland, Menefee was determined to make it out of her urban upbringing — and she did. After graduating from the Cleveland School of Arts, Menefee joined the Air Force, where she served as a radio communications specialist for 4 1/2 years at McClellan Air Force Base in Sacramento, Calif. She embraced the discipline, camaraderie, cohesiveness and self-discipline required in the military. After her service, she experienced the ups and downs of adulthood, and at one point, she was homeless as a single mother, living out of her vehicle while taking care of her daughter.
But even the toughest of times couldn’t keep Menefee’s inner persistence and tenacity down. Having been raised in a home where learning and education were always emphasized, Menefee attended Kent State from 2007 to 2013, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Spanish translation with a minor in sociology in May. While attending school and raising her daughter, who is now in her early teens, Menefee earned a 3.46 GPA and was named to the Dean’s List. She also studied abroad in Argentia, served as an advocate for TRIO — Federal outreach and student services programs designed to identify and provide services for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds — served as a Spanish tutor for homeless children with Project R.I.S.E. in Akron and also as a student trustee and board student scholar at Cuyahoga Community College.
Menefee is pursuing a Master of Education in higher education administration and student personnel, and says she wants to give back to those who helped her achieve what she has, despite disadvantageous circumstances.
Virginia Albanese – Trustee
Board member since: 2013
Term ends: 2022
Education: Kent State University, B.S. degree (1985), M.B.A. (1995)
Residence: Akron, Ohio
President and CEO of FedEx Custom Critical, Albanese joins Menefee as the newest members of the board. But she is no stranger to Kent State.
Albanese graduated from Kent State in 1985 with a Bachelor of Science and returned for an Executive Master’s Degree in Business Administration, which she obtained in 1995. Although this is her first year of her term on the Kent State board, she has plenty of previous board experience, recently finishing her term as chairwoman of the Greater Akron Chamber of Commerce. She also currently serves as chairwoman of the Boys and Girls Club of the Western Reserve and is a member of the Akron Children’s Hospital board.
Albanese joined FedEx Custom Critical in 1986 and served in many different roles, working her way up from titles such as director of Safety, Recruiting and Contractor Relations to her current position atop North America’s largest critical-shipment carrier.
Albanese resides in Akron, Ohio, and her term runs through 2022.
Margot James Copeland – Trustee
Board member since: 2010
Term ends: 2019
Education: Hampton University, B.S. in Physics; The Ohio State University, M.A. in Educational Research
Residence: Cleveland, Ohio
The Savoy Network named Margot James Copeland one of the 100 Most Influential Blacks in Corporate America, and for good reason.
Copeland is the Executive Vice President — Director, Corporate Diversity & Philanthropy and an Executive Council member at KeyCorp, one of the nation’s largest bank-based multiline financial services companies. She also serves as Chair of the KeyBank Foundation, acting as the pilot for the company’s strategic philanthropic investment, financial education and workforce development programs.
She is also the national president of The Links, Inc., an international, not-for-profit corporation established in 1946 with the goal of creating a volunteer service organization of “extraordinary women who are committed to enriching, sustaining and ensuring the culture and economic survival of African Americans and other persons of African ancestry,” according to its website. The Links’ membership consists of 12,000 professional women of color in 276 chapters spread among 41 states, the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of the Bahamas.
Copeland has held positions of increasing responsibility at Xerox Corporation, Polaroid and Phillips Medical Systems (then known as Picker International).
Copeland served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Greater Cleveland Roundtable and Executive Director of Leadership Cleveland prior to joining Key.
Stephen Colecchi – Trustee, Secretary
Board member since: 2008
Term ends: 2017
Education: Kent State University, Bachelor of Business Administration (1976); University of Akron School of Law, Juris Doctor
Residence: Kent, Ohio
Colecchi holds one of the most important titles in Portage County: President and CEO of Robinson Memorial Hospital, a community hospital with 117 staffed beds located in Ravenna, Ohio, and part of a organization with 1,500 total employees that provides a full range of health care services throughout Portage County. Colecchi is also a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.
But before he entered the business administration side of medicine, Colecchi engaged in the private practice of law from 1979 to 1985. He served as the Prosecutor and Assistant Law Director for the City of Kent from 1980 to 1985 and Assistant Prosecutor for Portage County from 1989 to 1994.
Colecchi currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Akron Regional Hospital Association and as Immediate Past Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Area Agency on Aging. He’s also the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the Portage Development Board, and a member of the Board of Directors of Team NEO and the New Health Collaborative.
Colecchi also served as a member of the Ravenna City Planning Commission and Ravenna City School District Board of Education. He and his wife, Andrea, reside in Kent.
Ralph Della Ratta – Trustee
Board member since: 2012
Term ends: 2021
Education: Duke University, B.A.; Thunderbird School of Global Management, M.B.A.; Stonier Graduate School at Rutgers University, graduate degree in banking
Residence: Gates Mills, Ohio
Ralph Della Ratta is the founder, managing partner of Western Reserve Partners LLC, a group that proves capital raising and other financial advisory services to middle market companies.
Della Ratta currently serves on board of directors of numerous companies both public and private, including Olympic Steel Inc., MAI Wealth Advisors LLC and NDA Medical. He’s also a board member at the University Hospitals Health System — where he is chairman of the investment committee — and University Hospitals Case Medical Center, as well as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
He was a past board member of McDonald & Company Securities, Inc. and Hyland Software.
Della Ratta replaced Patrick S. Mullin, a CA who recently retired as managing partner for the Northern Ohio practice of Deloitte.
Michael Solomon – National Trustee
Board member since: 2011
Term ends: 2014
Education: Kent State University, business degree (1974)
Residence: Ross, California
Michael Solomon has spent much of his entrepreneurial career involved in early stage technology companies, helping many of them off the ground and toward future success. From 1980 to 1984, Solomon served as the youngest independent representative firm for Apple Computer, when the technology company grew into the giant it is today, from $100 million to $1.4 billion in annual sales. He continued to innovate as a senior manager in 1985, when he became the first vice president of sales and marketing with Aldus Corporation in Seattle, the company responsible for creating PageMaker, one of the first desktop publishing programs and a precursor to Adobe’s InDesign program. He continued to find success in multiple ventures, and started his latest company, XYZ Color Science, Inc., which seeks to revolutionize the way color is displayed on all types of display devices, in 2010.
In an effort to give back to Kent State, Solomon endowed the Michael D. Solomon Entrepreneurship Speaker Series at the College of Business Administration in 2001, which brings entrepreneurs with plenty of experience to campus each semester to speak to students about their time in the business world and provide insight about the future.
Solomon, one of Kent State’s most successful business graduates, became the university’s first-ever national trustee in September 2010. The university decided to establish the position “in recognition of the fact that Kent State executes its teaching, research and service missions at the state, national and international levels.”
Dennis E. Eckart – Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees
Board member since: 2007
Term ends: 2016
Education: Xavier University, B.A. (1971); LL.B., Cleveland State University Cleveland-Marshall College of Law (1974).
Residence: Concord, Ohio
Dennis Eckart has a long public service history in Ohio. The 1971 graduate of Xavier University served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1980 to 1992, and from 2000 to 2003, he was president and CEO of the Greater Cleveland Growth Association. He also was a chairman of the Small Business Subcommittee on Antitrust, Deregulation and Ecology, and a member of the House Energy and Commerce and the Education and Labor committees while serving as a U.S. representative.
Kent State was located in Eckart’s congressional district during his term, and when he left politics for private law practice, he donated his remaining campaign contributions to the university to establish the Dennis Eckart Scholarship Fund, which support undergraduates who wish to engage in activities to develop leadership skills.
Eckart also served on the Ohio General Assembly from 1974 to 1980. He is a Cleveland area attorney and was appointed to the Board of Trustees in 2007 by former Governor Ted Strickland. Eckart formed North Shore Associates, LLC in 2006, along with his son, Eddy. He can also be seen most Sundays as a political/community commentator on the Cleveland NBC affiliate, WKYC-TV.
Eckart’s ties to both state and national government helped the city of Kent secure a federal grant, which allowed them additional capital to proceed with the downtown revitalization project, according to city manager Dave Ruller.
Emilio D. Ferrara – Trustee
Board member since: 2006
Term ends: 2015
Education: Kent State University, B.A., Masters Studies; Case Western Reserve University, Doctor of Dental Surgery.
Residence: Kent, Ohio
A native of Kent, Emilio Ferrara is an influential member in the city and the greater Portage County area, in both medicine and education. A graduate of Kent State and later, Case Western Reserve, Ferrara is an oral-maxillofacial surgeon who practices in Kent. Ferrara is also a member of the Board of the Portage Community Bank and the Robinson Memorial Hospital Foundation Board. He formerly served on the Kent City Schools board for 32 years.
Ferrara graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School in Kent, earned his dental degree from Case Western Reserve and completed his residency at the Cincinnati General Medical Center. He is an avid fan of the Roosevelt Rough Riders, and was inducted into the high school’s Hall of Fame in 2000.
Ferrara’s involvement with Kent State goes beyond the Board of Trustees. He is also the athletic department’s oral and maxillofacial surgeon, serves on the Blue and Gold committee, the Varsity K Club and makes donations to the men’s and women’s golf teams. Ferrara donated a large amount of money to the university to help build the Ferrara and Page Golf Training and Learning Center, one of the finest on-campus golf facilities in the NCAA.
Richard H. Marsh – Trustee
Board member since: 2011
Term ends: 2020
Education: Kent State University, B.A., University of Akron, Master of Arts in Psychology, M.B.A.
Residence: Akron, Ohio
Richard Marsh spent nearly 30 years at the fifth-largest electric system in the country, FirstEnergy Corp., which maintains assets of $44 billion, gathers annual revenues of $13 billion and serves 4.3 million customers. He was elected treasurer in 1991, vice president of finance in 1997 and VP and CFO in 1998. “Senior” was attached to his vice president title in 2001.
Marsh served as chair of the Summa Health System, also located in Akron, currently chairs the Finance Council of the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland and is a member of the Catholic Community Foundation. He is also the chair of the Distribution Committee of the Sisler-McFawn Foundation and serves on the Advisory Board for National Machine Group.
The father of two retired from FirstEnergy in July 2009, and with Gov. John Kasich’s appointment of him in 2011, replaced Andrew Banks, chairman and CEO of Mid-American Consulting Group.
Lawrence Pollock – Trustee
Board member since: 2009
Term ends: 2018
Education: The Ohio State University, B.S. in Business Administration (1969)
Residence: Shaker Heights, Ohio
Lawrence Pollock took his bachelor’s degree from The Ohio State University with him to accept a position at J.B. Robinson Jewelers, Inc. He rose to leadership positions in Cole National Corporation, Zale Corporation and J.B. Robinson Jewelers, and has also taken part in ownership of broadcast properties such as WDOK 102.1-FM, WWWE 1100-AM (now WTAM 1100-AM), WMJI 105.7-FM, WRMR 850-AM (now WKNR 850-AM) and WBBG 1260-AM.
Pollock joined Cleveland-based HomePlace Stores in 1997, and as President and CEO, he led a successful reorganization of the company that resulted in a merger with Waccamaw Corporation in 1999.
Pollock serves as trustee for the Cleveland Clinic, Musical Arts Association (operators of the Cleveland Orchestra) and IdeaStream (operators of WVIZ/PBS and 90.3 WCPN).
In August, he and his wife Julia donated $1 million to the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Focus Gallery expansion and renovation plan.
