Our Board

Jerry Schneiberg is a Partner at Nager, Romaine & Schneiberg Co. Nager, Romaine & Schneiberg is Ohio’s largest workers’ compensation law firm representing thousands of injured workers throughout the State of Ohio. Jerry is the managing partner of Nager, Romaine and Schneiberg’ s Workers’ Compensation Administrative and Litigation departments.  A leader in the workers’ compensation community, Jerry has served on the Executive Committee for the Ohio Association for Justice (OAJ) and is a past chair and vice chair of OAJ’s Workers’ Compensation Section. He is past chair and vice chair of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Associations Workers’ Compensation Section. He remains actively involved with OAJ’s leadership. He is also a member of the Ohio Association for Justice, Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, American Association for Justice and the Workers’ Injury Law and Advocacy Group. 

Lisa M. Vidacs is Senior Vice President, communications at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.  She oversees Fed Communities, a Federal Reserve system (system) initiative focused on increasing awareness and impact of the system’s work in community development.  Lisa joined the Bank in 1987, and has held management positions in operations, economic education, event management, and communications.  She previously chaired the Subcommittee on Public Information on behalf of the Federal Reserve System and continues to actively serve the system on various initiatives. 

Dr. Charles Martin III (Chuck) is a Vascular and Interventional Radiologist at The Cleveland Clinic, where he currently serves as the Director of the Interventional Oncology subgroup, and the IR liaison to the Clinic’s HHT section. He is an Assistant Professor at The Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, and is involved in multiple additional educational activities with the residents, the medical students of the CCF Lerner College of Medicine, as well as his clinical colleagues. He completed his undergraduate studies at The Johns Hopkins University, and medical school at Case Western Reserve University. After completing his Diagnostic Radiology residency at University Hospitals Case Medical Center, he obtained subspecialty fellowship training in Vascular and Interventional Radiology at Yale University/Yale New Haven Hospital.

Sam Feller joined the Board of Open Doors Academy in June, 2020 and has served as the Finance Committee Chair and Treasurer since January, 2021. Mr. Feller is a Director and the Assistant Corporate Controller at Avient Corporation where he is responsible for overseeing the consolidated SEC financial statement preparation process, internal financial reporting processes, global accounting policies and reporting procedures. In this role, he also provides support to the organization related to acquisition and divesture activity as well as related financing transactions. Prior to joining Avient in 2022, Mr. Feller was a Senior Manager at Ernst & Young LLP responsible for directing annual external audits completed for a number of companies within Northeast Ohio. His experience included serving multi-national SEC registrants and non-public clients primarily within the chemicals; diversified industrial products; provider care; consumer products; retail and entertainment industry sectors.

For nearly two decades, Heather Holmes Dillard has led various experiential marketing and community engagement programs to promote brand integration and business development for a diverse group of non-profit organizations. Currently serving as the Executive Vice President at Downtown Cleveland Alliance (DCA) - an urban place management non-profit organization, she has brought a wealth of knowledge and innovative approaches to help expand the momentum of Cleveland’s largest Special Improvement District in the state of Ohio to be in the national spotlight. Her efforts yielded a 30% growth in DCA’s social media audiences and earned a total of 5 regional Emmy awards in the last 7 years for campaign videos in the Public Service Announcement (Single Spot or Campaign) category. As the catalyst, her passion for a thriving city has convened the interests from individuals and organizations to rally around the success of projects like the renovation of Public Square, the 2016 RNC; 2021 NFL Draft; Cleveland’s first Juneteenth Freedom Festival; and the 2022 NBA All Star Game weekend to name a few.

Beth Sweeney is an Equity Partner and President of Ratliff & Taylor, Ohio’s largest full-service talent management consultancy. She has fully integrated P&L responsibility including strategic and growth initiatives, sales and marketing, new product development, operations, and client solutions for all three lines of business: Executive Search, Leadership Development, and Career Transition. She brings more than 20 years of experience in the talent management arena and has a successful record as a senior leader, coach, and consultant. She is known for leading strategic initiatives and designing impactful customer solutions. In her previous role as Market President for Ratliff & Taylor, she was responsible for all aspects of the client experience, from sales & marketing to branding, new product development, and client satisfaction.

Bill Pavilonis is the Managing Director of M-Force, a Marketing Consulting group with expertise in New Product Innovation, Brand Mastery and Marketing Excellence. Previously, he was Director of Marketing at Sherwin Williams. He is a top producing Marketing Executive with over 30 years leadership experience with a solid record of breakthrough product development, driving solutions for national and global brand initiatives, and leading teams of Marketing, Sales, Engineering and Supply Chain Professionals. He holds several US patents in tools. Bill’s passion today is on giving back to the community. He recently started a Donor Advised Fund: The Bill Pavilonis Family Giving Fund with a mission to reduce racial & gender inequity in communities, enhance health and save the environment. In addition to serving on the board for ODA and chairing the Marketing Committee, Bill also serves as a Mentor for College Now in Greater Cleveland, volunteers as a Certified Income Tax Preparer (CTP) at Cuyahoga EITC Coalition, and a volunteer at Northeast Ohio Voter Advocates. Bill does financial and retirement planning for close friends and family for free.

The Rev. Brandon Ashcraft is an Episcopal priest, serving at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights where he has oversight for worship and the parish’s outreach ministries. Before entering ordained ministry, the Rev. Ashcraft worked as a corporate communications executive in the investment banking industry in New York City. After discerning a call to ordained ministry, he attended Yale Divinity School. In addition to working in parish ministry, he has also served as a hospital chaplain. Prior to joining St. Paul’s, he served a parish in Austin, Texas.

Dan Connor serves as the Principal of Freshwater Capital, an investment firm in NEOH focused on business acquisition, where he leverages his experience to drive strategic investments and business growth. Additionally, he holds the position of Co-President at Cleveland Wire Cloth Manufacturing Co. where he oversees operations and driving the company’s success. Dan is an accomplished business executive with diverse experience in managing teams across industries. He has held key roles in operations, corporate strategy, business development, and marketing management at Fortune 500 companies including 3M, Ford Motor Company, and the J.M. Smucker Co. Dan is a proud father of three young boys and is actively involved in various other ways in the community including as a board member for the Great Lakes Science Center, the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park, and the Connor Foundation.

David Arenberg is Vice President and Benefits Consultant at Segal Company with over 20 years of providing innovate benefit consulting services to multiemployer clients primarily in Ohio and Western Pennsylvania.  He consults to multiple Taft Hartley industries including Iron Workers, Plumbers and Pipefitters, Sheet Metal Workers and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.  He advises health and welfare clients on issues involving self-funded risk, asset and reserve targets, expense and trend management, budget projections, plan design, vendor management and population health management. Mr. Arenberg advises defined benefit retirement plan clients on funding projections, plan design, risk analysis and various compliance issues. 

Giuseppe Pappalardo is an Associate at the law firm of Tucker Ellis LLP, where he counsels clients on a variety of different legal matters. He grew up on Cleveland’s east side and attended Benedictine High School. He considers his time at Benedictine to be the most important and formative experience of his life, especially since he was part of two State Championship Football teams during his time there. He continues to be an active member of the Benedictine Community and returns to campus to speak to students as often as he can. A graduate of Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Giuseppe earned his Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Political Science. Although he doesn’t miss the Milwaukee winters, he greatly misses Milwaukee’s strong ethnic roots, which, among other things, introduced him to all sorts of different and delicious cuisine. After graduation, he served with AmeriCorps in a leadership program called “Public Allies” before entering The Ohio State Moritz College of Law, where he earned his law degree magna cum laude.

Howard Lewis began his professional career in the financial services industry with Central Trust Company, a dominant banking concern headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio and the second largest trust company in Ohio. In 1978, he joined Picker International Corporation, a worldwide leader in diagnostic imaging, computed technology, and magnetic resonance imaging. At Picker, Mr. Lewis directed and managed the Cincinnati District’s growing business operations. The improved results gained him recognition at the World Headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio, and in 1978 he was promoted to become the company’s National Business Manager.  

Janet Reed-James is the Chief Human Resource Officer of CHN Housing Partners (2019-present). Janet is responsible for overseeing all aspects of Human Resources at CHN Housing Partners, deploying her industry-leading expertise and kind, compassionate nature to serve the organization’s diverse and ever-evolving needs. In this role, Janet supports over 250 employees who in turn serve the affordable housing and community development needs of low-income communities in northeast Ohio, Detroit, Michigan and parts of New York and Pennsylvania.

Jessica Forbes Brown M.Ed. is Manager of Educational Programs at Reach Success. Jessica has dedicated the past 10 years of her career to helping families bridge the gaps of poverty through education; serving the most at-risk youth and young adults. As a result of Jessica’s commitment, countless children, adults, and families have been able to reach their educational goals. Upon graduation from college, Jessica accepted a position with the Akron Public Schools RISE program. The RISE program provided additional support for families facing or experiencing homelessness. Her passion for her work led her to CEOGC (now known as Step Forward) as a family advocate for the Early Head Start program.

Karmen Harrison is a Relationship Manager in the Commercial Middle Market Group at KeyBank. In this role she works with mostly privately held and family-owned mid-sized businesses in Northeast Ohio. As a Cleveland native she takes great pride in being a trusted advisor to her clients and helping facilitate economic development in the region. She is devoted to community engagement through Open Doors Academy and various other civic and industry related groups around town. Free time is spent with her family exploring all of what Cleveland has to offer.

Kelly Moody is a Senior Consultant and has been a consultant with Silverlode Consulting since 2012. She manages client relationships and projects for a wide variety of public sector and corporate clients. Kelly is also involved with new business development efforts across service lines. Before joining Silverlode, Kelly was a Manager of Consulting at Allegro Realty Advisors, Ltd., a corporate real estate services firm. Kelly spent five years providing real estate advisory services to corporations, municipalities, and not-for-profit clients. Prior to joining Allegro, Kelly served as a Manager at Team Northeast Ohio (Team NEO), a regional economic development organization in Northeast Ohio.

Magistrate Kira Sandra Krivosh has devoted her life to public service and non-profit work. Prior to being appointed as a Magistrate at the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas- Juvenile Division, she has previously worked for the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, where she managed the Federal Bankruptcy cases in the Northern District of Ohio and other Federal Bankruptcy Courts across the United States. The effort of her teams’ innovative work amounted to over $17.6 million dollars from 2016-2020 going to families of Cuyahoga County through the Office of Child Support Services. She has worked at the City of Garfield Heights Law Department, Stark County Family Court, the City of Canton Law Department and a law firm, with experience handling both criminal and civil matters. She has participated in nineteen Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Presentations on multiple topics including, family law, animal rights, government law, federal domestic support obligations and ethics for new lawyers. She is also a published author, with eleven publications in sources such as the Ohio State Bar Association, Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association (CMBA) and Crain’s Cleveland. She recently rolled off her term on CMBA Board, and currently a serves on the Board for The Giving Tree Project, the Board for the Rocky River Soccer Organization and the Board for Rocky River Bucs Baseball. She has previously served on the Board of the Directors for the Junior League of Cleveland (JLC) and has served on the Board of Directors for the Citizens Committee for the Lakewood Animal Shelter (CCLAS). She is a 2019 graduate from the Cleveland Leadership Center’s Bridge Builders Program, a 2020 graduate of The Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association’s Leadership Academy and coaches a U10 travel soccer team. She is an alumna of the Cleveland State University’s College of Law. Her and her husband are dedicated to serving communities, coaching their children’s sports teams and bringing them to non-profit events.

Ladi Williams, a partner at Merriman Legal, has a hard-earned reputation for aggressive advocacy. Mr. Williams is a passionate and highly effective advocate for people who have suffered severe personal injury or who have been victimized by consumer fraud. Having obtained numerous successful jury verdicts and appellate decisions for his clients, Mr. Williams prides himself on utilizing unique litigation skills to obtain the best outcome for his clients. Several of his cases have attracted national print, television, and online media coverage, and Mr. Williams has been sought out as a trusted legal contributor/commentator on a range of news stories. Mr. Williams applies this same approach in managing the firm’s Immigration Law practice, which represents individuals, families, and companies in the area of family-based immigration, deportation defense, and employment-based immigration.Mr. Williams has been honored with the distinction of being named an Ohio Super Lawyer® since 2014 and enjoys a 10 out of 10 (Superb) AVVO Attorney Rating, the highest rating possible. In furtherance of his client advocacy role, he is a long-standing member of the Ohio Association for Justice (OAJ) and is the immediate Past President of the Cleveland Academy of Trial Attorneys (CATA).

Lori Niederst was named President, Customer Relationship in December of 2021 after serving as Progressive’s Chief Human Resource Officer for five years. In her new role she is responsible for the strategic direction and operations of the Customer Relationship Management organization, overseeing the company’s direct sales, customer service, customer experience design, and in-house agency. Lori joined Progressive in 1997 as an analyst in Corporate Finance and held various process and operations positions before joining Human Resources in 2005. She has led Progressive’s Compensation and Benefits group and spent six years as the Senior Human Resource Business Leader in Claims. Before joining Progressive, Lori was a practicing Certified Public Accountant. She earned her bachelor’s degree in accounting from Kent State University and an MBA from Case Western Reserve University.

Melissa Gallop is a Vice President in Meaden & Moore’s Personal Tax Advisory Group with fifteen years’ experience. Prior to joining Meaden & Moore, Melissa spent several years serving the needs of a multigenerational family as a key member of their sophisticated family office. One facet of that position Melissa loved most, was providing advice that helped the family members meet their income tax and estate planning objectives. Melissa’s unique background also includes several years serving as Treasurer of a private trust company in both Wyoming and Ohio. In this position, she not only served the needs of the family through her corporate officer role as treasurer, she was also responsible for the tax services for the 140+ trusts under management.

Rich Wesorick is Managing Partner at Tarolli, Sundheim, Covell & Tummino LLP, a 28-lawyer intellectual property boutique law firm in Cleveland, Ohio. Rich grew up in Cincinnati and attended St. Xavier High School. He later graduated from Purdue University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1988. Before attending law school at the University of Dayton School of Law, he worked as an engineer for four years with G.E. Aircraft Engines, during which time he was the inventor of U.S. Patent No. 5,178,003.

Rich has over 25 years of experience in the patent field, with the majority of that time being spent representing academic medical centers, universities and start-up companies in patent matters related to a wide variety of technologies. Rich is a frequent lecturer on intellectual property matters, licensing, and technology commercialization. Rich has also been an Adjunct Professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, where he taught in the Intellectual Property Venture Law Clinic.

Rich is active in several professional organizations such as the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the Cleveland Intellectual Property Law Association (CIPLA), the Licensing Executives Society, the Association of University Technology Managers, and the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property. For the past several years, Rich has served as the Pro Bono Chairman for CIPLA.

Outside of the practice of law, Rich is active with several local non-profit organizations including LifeAct and The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland. Rich has been on the Board of Open Doors Academy for the past eight years, and is currently serving his fifth year as the President of the Board.

Scott D. Flamm, MD, is Principal, ImageWorks LLC, and the former Head of Cardiovascular Imaging at the Cleveland Clinic. He is an internationally recognized leader in Cardiovascular Imaging with expertise in clinical practice, translational and multi-disciplinary research, new application development, operations management, quality improvement, market expansion, and an ability to balance scientific and commercial interests. He currently works as a manager, professor, consultant and student, and investor in health care start-ups and early-stage ventures.

Scott’s interest in community service in Cleveland began as a member of the Cleveland Waterfront Coalition in the late 1990s, and as a participant in public planning meetings for Civic Vision 2000, and more recently continued as a Cub Scouts Den Leader in Shaker Heights, on the Development Committee of the Cleveland Food Bank. Scott has spent the past seven years as part of Open Doors Academy, including positions on the Executive Committee, and as Chair of the Development Committee.

With more than 35 years of IT experience in Property & Casualty insurance, Tracey Petkovic serves as the Chief Information Officer for Westfield. In this role, she leads the IT organization and is accountable for the development and execution of the Strategic Plan for IT, the delivery of new capabilities and services, and the maintenance and support of Westfield’s current technology.

Tracey has expertise leading information technology enabled business transformation efforts through both her Westfield experience and previously as an executive at Nationwide. Through these experiences, Tracey has developed strong relationships across the insurance operations and with Westfield’s IT vendor partners.

Prior to joining Westfield, Tracey served in a variety of leadership positions at Nationwide Insurance in Columbus, Ohio, including Vice President of Distribution Technology and Output and Associate Vice President of Claims Systems.

Tracey has recently represented Westfield on the Workforce Connect IT Sector Partnership Employer Leadership team to develop a diverse IT pipeline in Northeast Ohio. In the past, she has served as a Sponsor for the Women’s Network at Westfield, an Employee Resource Group and served on the board for the employee political action committee, WeFEDPAC. While at Nationwide, she served as a Board member for the Central Ohio Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Tracey has a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from Otterbein College (now University). She has her Master of Business Administration degree from Franklin University. Most recently, Tracey was a member of the 2023 Leadership Cleveland class.

Tracey lives in Medina, Ohio with her husband, Dan, and their daughter, Hadley. When not at work, she enjoys watching movies, playing games with her family, and golfing on occasion.