Faculty
Marilee Chinnici-Zuercher
CEO/President
Ms. Chinnici-Zuercher has directed the operations and policy management for this $2.5 million nonprofit agency since 1991. Prior to FIRSTLINK, she served as Deputy Director of the Ohio Department of Youth Services, Correctional Services Division, where she managed 1,500 employees and a $100 million budget.
Ms. Chinnici-Zuercher has had a lifelong dedication to community service at all levels, including national commitments for the Points of Light Foundation. She has also been active around the globe through the International Association for Volunteer Efforts; in the past 15 years, she has conducted volunteer and nonprofit organizational trainings in a dozen countries, including South Africa, Romania, Japan, Cyprus, Slovenia, Spain, Ukraine, China, Chile, Canada, Korea and the United States.
Involved in a leadership capacity on numerous community boards and initiatives, she currently serves as Mayor of Dublin, Chair of the Volunteer Center National Network Council. She serves on the boards of the Mid Ohio Regional Planning Commission; the Joint Columbus and Franklin County Housing Advisory Board; the Central Ohio Transit Authority Legacy Council; the Central Ohio Municipal Council, the Community Research Partners; the Juvenile Justice Coalition of Ohio; the Ohio Citizen Corps Council, and the Ohio Volunteer Center Association. Commitments to United Way of Central Ohio include Vice-Chair of the Basic Needs Committee, member of the Public Policy committee and Community Impact Leadership Council.
Awards include: 2005 Woman of Achievement YWCA, Dublin Chamber of Commerce Spotlight Award; 2006 first Woman in Municipal Government Leadership Award of the year by the National League of Cities.
Marilee holds a B.S. in Political science from Miami University and pursued graduate studies at Xavier University.
Bridget M. Wolf
Chief Operating Officer
Ms. Wolf serves as the chief financial officer and oversees the daily operations of the agency. She possesses an extensive background in financial management, forecasting, and fundraising. Employing her additional knowledge of political issues, she has previously directed financials for the successful election campaigns of several state politicians.
Ms. Wolf assists with implementation of 2-1-1 for Franklin County and is Vice President of OHAIRS. Ms. Wolf is also the Chair of the 2-1-1 Ohio Collaborative responsible for assisting 2-1-1 implementation throughout Ohio. Ms. Wolf's leadership assisted FIRSTLINK with the ability to implement 2-1-1 in November, 2003 and expanding services to cellular service in March, 2006.
She has been a member of the Board of Trustees for the Columbus Landmarks Foundation and a former member of the Junior League of Columbus.
A. Elizabeth (Beth) Eck, Esq.
Vice President of Training and Volunteer Services
Ms. Eck directs a division that builds the capacity of individuals and nonprofit organizations. Volunteers are mobilized through targeted volunteer recruitment efforts and the extensive Volunteer Opportunities data base available by phone or on line. The capacity of the nonprofit professionals and volunteers is developed through training and consultation services including board development, volunteer administration, grant writing and nonprofit management.
Since arriving at FIRSTLINK in 1996, she has played a prominent role in educating professionals and volunteers locally, statewide, nationally and internationally. Her expertise includes board development, volunteer management, grant writing and volunteers in disaster response. Internationally, she has worked with nonprofit professionals and non-governmental organizations in developing the culture of volunteer engagement in Japan, Slovenia, Moldovia, and Chile.
After receiving her Juris Doctor from Capital University Law School and gaining admittance to the Ohio Bar in 1977, Ms. Eck worked as the Legal Services Developer for the Ohio Department on Aging and was active in the private practice of law for a number of years. Ms. Eck was admitted to the Federal Bar in 1988. From 1980-1982 she chaired the Ohio Bar Association's Elder Services Committee and co-authored Legal Issues for Older Adults. Her current community commitments include board service with the Columbus Landmarks Foundation and the Mentoring Center of Central Ohio.
Jan Leibovitz Alloy
Vice President of Resource Management
Ms. Alloy oversees FIRSTLINK's research and special projects department and produces the agency's annual human services directory. She is a Certified Resource Specialist through the Alliance of Information & Referral Systems (AIRS).
As principal of JLA Communications she has produced business communication pieces in the nonprofit, education and corporate arenas and has won both writing and publishing awards. Her books include Human Services Management that Works.
She is a longtime volunteer with the Columbus AIDS Task Force. Her other volunteer commitments include To Life Columbus! and Hadassah's Check It Out, which she also served as acting executive director.
She has a master's degree in journalism from Ohio University.
Mark Sutton
Vice President of 2-1-1
Mr. Sutton is the Vice President of 2-1-1 for FIRSTLINK, Inc., serving as the chief operations manager of the call center division. He is a Licensed Social Worker with the State of Ohio, and has Bachelor of Arts and Associate degrees from Ohio University in Athens. He is also a Certified Information and Referral Specialist (CIRS) through the national Alliance of Information and Referral Systems and a certified Crisis Worker through the American Association of Suicidology. Prior to coming to FIRSTLINK, he was the Executive Director of the Meigs County Council on Aging, Inc., in Pomeroy, Ohio, and served over nineteen years as Director of Hotline Services, CareLine, for Tri-County Mental Health and Counseling Services, Inc. of Athens, Hocking and Vinton counties. Mark was a recent member, past Treasurer and President of the Ohio Council of Information and Referral Providers Board of Trustees, being actively involved for over ten years. Mark is a member of the 2-1-1 Ohio Collaborative, was a founding member and Chair of Neighbors Helping Neighbors of Athens County, Inc., and has served on numerous other committees and boards. Mark's efforts as a social worker range from direct service and advocacy, to developing collaborative initiatives designed to stretch scarce resources, close service delivery gaps and increase access to services. Mark's years of involvement in the mental health, victim assistance, aging, volunteer and social welfare arenas reinforce his strong commitment to the field of Information & Referral, and the importance of maintaining professional standards of service in the development of the 2-1-1 dialing code locally, statewide and nationally.
Stephanie Sparrow Hughes
Mentoring Center of Central Ohio
Stephanie Sparrow Hughes has been with the Mentoring Center of Central Ohio for over seven years. She oversees day-to-day operations of the Mentoring Center including conducting background checks, recruiting volunteers, training mentors and making connections to partner agencies to improve mentor programming. She also manages a second office at the Ohio State University working with OSU faculty and staff in recruiting students and developing mentoring programs. Through the OSU Buckeye Mentoring Hub, over 400 OSU students serve as mentor/tutors to children and youth primarily near OSU.
Stephanie holds an associate degree in social services from Columbus State Community College and a bachelor's degree from Franklin University in Business Administration. She has been actively involved as a volunteer with mentoring programs including tutoring with the Columbus Literacy Council and with the City of Columbus Capital Kids program.
Tessie N.M. Belue, JD, M Div.
Educational Specialist for the Mentoring Center of Central Ohio
Tessie N.M. Belue is a part-time Educational Specialist for the Mentoring Center of Central Ohio where she helps create training curricula and conducts training for mentors and mentees in both the profit and non-profit sector. Ms. Belue is also a Mediator/Facilitator/Trainer Consultant. As a consultant, Ms. Belue specializes in cultural competence, including religious, age, learning styles, gender and ethnic diversity and workplace conflict. She previously served as a legal services and municipal attorney in which her specialties were employment, civil rights, landlord/tenant, consumer, family and labor/personnel law.
Ms. Belue obtained her undergraduate degree in Spanish, French and German from New Mexico Highlands University. She also holds a JD from the University of California, Davis School of Law and a Masters of Divinity in Pastoral Theology from the American Baptist Seminary of the West, Berkeley, California. She is the holder of several certificates in mediation: Basic, Cultural Competence, Transformative, Juvenile, Domestic Violence Issues, Child Custody and Divorce.
Roderick Aldridge
Special Projects coordinator for the Franklin County Kinship Navigator Program
Roderick Aldridge is a native of Columbus, Ohio, who graduated from Otterbein College, in 2002, with a degree in Speech Communication. In 2003, Mr. Aldridge joined FIRSTLINK, Inc. as an Information/ Referral and Community Resource Specialist. Additionally, Roderick has coordinated several specialized grant funded projects, including FRHN, where he was responsible for overseeing child abuse prevention projects for 19 counties in Central and Southeast Ohio. Currently, Mr. Aldridge is the Special Projects coordinator for the Franklin County Kinship Navigator Program, which provides resources, support, and education for grandparents raising grandchildren and other relative caregivers in Franklin County.
Dr. Ted Sun
A chief dream maker is a master at developing people and organizations. As early as high school, Dr. Sun coached other runners on the track team and achieved great success. In college, he refined his leadership skills to coach a dance team toward their first-ever, national finals qualification. As an executive development expert, he's taught many leaders the basic principles that reshaped life as they knew it. Today, Dr. Sun is the owner of multiple businesses as well as a well-respected educator and researcher around the world. His work/expertise has been featured and/or recognized by ABC, NBC, Entrepreneur Magazine, Inc Magazine, Harvard Management Update, Columbus CEO, Diversity Inc, HR.com, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Business First and many more. Dr. Sun was featured on ABC commenting on the President Debate of 2004 and on NBC for the 2005 New Year's show. Furthermore, his latest research has repeatedly received the attention of a world audience such as when the International Journal on Business and Economics invited Dr. Sun to present his studies and expertise at the Global Conference on Business and Economics in 2007 for a 3rd appearance in Rome, Italy. Furthermore, Dr. Sun was selected as The Faculty of the Year and received the honor of presenting to a UN Global Forum in 2006. In July of 2007, a major publishing company (Praeger/Greenwood) honored Dr. Sun by publishing his research in a new book titled: Survival Tactics (look for it on Amazon). Currently, Dr. Sun has appointments at 5 different universities that stretch across the U.S. from Southern New Hampshire University in the east to Argosy University in the west and of course right here in Columbus with The Ohio State University and the University of Phoenix. In these appointments, he educates world leaders on leadership and organizational learning systems. He also leads the leadership develop with many executives and organizations such as Leadership Worthington. As you get to know Dr. Sun, you'll personally experience the passion that he has for helping people live their dreams.
Background:
Dr. Sun was born in Shanghai, China and moved to the US when he was 10 years old. At a very young age, Ted had to learn to survive and mastered the art of street smarts while living in the city of New York as an immigrant with nothing. After three years of tough city-life, he moved to Columbus, Ohio at the age 13 and has been here ever since.
Ted's desire to help people succeed hit him like a ton of bricks in High School. As a district track champion, he trained a group of younger runners. An indescribable excitement hit him as these runners won their first race. It was a life changing moment to go from being successful himself to playing a critical role in helping others to succeed.
Ted has carved a path of success in each and every role he has played. He coached many organizations to national success such as Ohio State University's first-ever national finals appearance in Dance Team competition. Ted was also one of three Outstanding Senior of the Year for Mechanical Engineer at Ohio State. While studying for his MBA, he led the class as the class representative. He was awarded the Service Legend award after only one year of service in a national telecommunications company. Today, Dr. Sun's book (Survival Tactics) is shaking up the business world, helping leaders make incredible impacts.
Education:
Not fully understanding the feeling that came from helping others achieve success, Ted's initial interests were in engineering. At The Ohio State University (OSU), he successfully pursued a BS in Mechanical Engineering with honors. Shortly after, he began to consciously realize the incredible feeling of helping people succeed. Thus, Dr. Sun completed an MBA from OSU in hopes to create a bigger impact by reaching more people in management. He also holds a Doctorate degree in Management on Organizational Leadership. Currently, he is pursuing a second doctorate in Organizational Psychology.
In addition to his education, Dr. Sun is also part of the faculty at The Ohio State University, the University of Phoenix, Argosy University and Southern New Hampshire University. Using his expertise in working with various organizations at all levels, he teaches graduate-level classes (online and on-grounds) such as Organizational Behavior, Management Ethics, Leadership and Computer Information Science to students across the world and in Columbus, Ohio. Even in an online environment, Dr. Sun has changed many lives in the US as well as other countries such as Saudi Arabia, the Bahamas, Greece and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Coaching & Development:
While at OSU, Dr. Sun began his career at coaching. As the trainer for the Ohio State dance team, Dr. Sun played a key role in their first ever National Finals appearance. He also had a successful track club that won every track meet as a team at OSU. With each position, he coached people to regional and national successes. He learned to love the feeling of the team's success.
Dr. Sun started ballroom dancing in 1995 and has achieved a number of championship titles on a national and inter-continental level. His passion is to dance and allowing music to carry him away into the magic of a new language is only second to his love of helping people succeed at their dreams. This is the source of much of his incredible creativity.
Also, working with various management teams across the country, Dr. Sun played a vital part to the network management implementations for Verizon Wireless. He not only led a team of specialists to implement systems, Dr. Sun also coached many executives and their teams through the tough transitions of a merger. Within the first year of his employment, Dr. Sun was one of the youngest to receive the most prestigious awards in the company - A Service Legend. Today, he continues to enable leaders toward their dreams.
As the founder and principal partner, Dr. Sun is leading Executive Balance and Knowledge Builders toward a new horizon of success.
- He has helped Tom double his profits.
- Working with Dr. Sun, Steve has learned great financial stability and free time to go on his first true vacation in nine years.
- Bob and Andy found themselves on the front page of Business First's entrepreneurs' section sharing their success.
- Pam has found a new focus that has enabled her to achieve much more.
- Debbie and Kathy enjoy executive lives with balance.
- Holly found a new way to seeing life as a leader.
Even in the toughest of economies, Dr. Sun's clients are growing, hiring, and expanding to new and bigger locations. His path of success has enabled his clients to live in their field of dreams. Business First of Columbus even compared Dr. Sun as a coach with the great legend of Woody Hayes (a legendary coach in the history of college football).
Professionally:
Today, Dr. Sun owns Creative Innovations Enterprises - a holding company with 3 different entities. In addition, he is also the founder of Executive Balance and Knowledge Builders. Leadership Worthington has also recognized his expertise by engaging his services to lead the city's premier leadership Development Program. His role as the Chief Dream Maker is to help change the world and enable others to achieve their dreams. Dr. Sun's successes with his clients have been highlighted by a number of features in Business First and Columbus CEO. His expertise is well recognized by both ABC and NBC news as they have featured his commentary on various subjects such as the Blackout of 2003 and the Presidential Debates 2004. Multiple universities such as Ohio State University, Argosy University (Phoenix, Arizona), and Southern New Hampshire University frequently engage Dr. Sun's services to design and/or lead both undergraduate and graduate level courses. Dr. Sun is also nationally respected for his expertise from the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune to Entrepreneur and Inc, magazines, and even the Harvard Management Update. Recently, Dr. Sun was honored with a book contract by Greenwood/Praeger and the United Nations Global Forum as a virtual presenter for the Global Forum: Business as an Agent of World Benefit: Management Knowledge Leading Positive Change.
Vision:
Dr. Sun enjoys his life greatly due to the fact that he is living his dream of helping people. With each new piece of knowledge he gains from his research and teaching, he finds that most of it has tremendous power in creating learning organizations where people are happy with the improvements in their life. As he continues to live the reality of living a life of endless possibilities, his success is defined in the number of hearts he can touch in helping others reach their goals.
The personal vision of Dr. Sun and his organizations as of June, 2007:
Enabling systemic shifts in thought around the world and leading humanity toward evolution from Within (June, 2007).
Whether you're looking at Dr. Sun as a coach, a facilitator/presenter, you can expect the best from his innovative educational methods and in-depth content. Whatever your goals are, he'll help you get there. Guaranteed!
Jillian Ober, MA, CRC
Program Manager, The Ohio State University Nisonger Center
Jillian graduated from The Ohio State University in 1999 with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology. After working in Atlanta for three years, she returned to OSU to pursue her Master's degree in Rehabilitation Counseling, which she completed in 2004. She is a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor, member of the International Association of Rehabilitation Professionals, and serves on the Board of Directors of United Cerebral Palsy of Central Ohio.
At the Nisonger Center, Jillian manages programs that emphasize community inclusion, transition, and lifelong learning for adolescents and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. These programs include the Next Chapter Book Club www.nextchapterbookclub.org, the Ohio AmeriCorps Inclusion Project, and Young Adult Transition Corps www.YATCOhio.org, an AmeriCorps program serving young adults with disabilities as they transition from school to adult life. Jillian also instructs the Nisonger Center's online Orientation Program for new Ohio employees in the field of mental retardation and developmental disabilities.
Martha J. Sweterlitsch, Esq.
Of Counsel, Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff LLP
Ms. Sweterlitsch is of counsel with the firm's Health Care Practice Group.
Her practice focuses on not-for-profit, administrative, health, state tax, and federal and state tax exemption law and lobbying. Significant areas of practice include creation, reorganization, mergers and consolidations and ongoing advice to not-for-profit corporations, state and federal tax and tax exemption for not for profit organizations, and legal issues related to charitable solicitation and fundraising. Her administrative law practice has included administrative appeal work before the Department of Taxation,
the Board of Tax Appeals, the Ohio Department of Health, the Ohio Department of Human Services and the Ohio Department of MR/DD on matters ranging from tax exemption to child care licensing and Medicaid eligibility. She also has experience as borrower's counsel for not-for-profit entities doing tax exempt financing. She has been involved over many years with legislative initiatives affecting the regulation, operation and taxation of not-for-profit entities, including changes to the charitable solicitation laws. She recently represented the interests of Ohio Association of Nonprofit Organizations
and its member organizations in negotiations over the public funds contracting and accountability legislation.
She serves as general counsel for the Ohio Water Development Authority and numerous not-for-profit tax exempt organizations including several trade associations.
Service Area Focuses include Health Care, Representative Matters, Administrative and Regulatory, Long Term Care , Not-For-Profit and Tax Exemption.
Court & Bar Associations
Member/Former Chair - Ohio State Bar Association, Elder Law Committee
Member/Former Chair - Columbus Bar Association, Admissions Committee
Memberships
Member - American Association of Homes and Housing for the Aging, National Legal Committee
Attorney General's appointee - Government Contracting Advisory Council
Member - Central Branch Consulting Board, Central Ohio YMCA
Board Chairperson - Ohio United Way
Board Member - Ohio Association of Nonprofit Organizations; Chair, Public Policy Working Group
Member - Public Policy Committee, Ohio Association of Homes and Housing for the Aged
Recent Articles & Presentations
HB 690 Implements Minimum Wage Amendment, January 17, 2007
Medicaid Eligibility Update - Coping with the New Federal Enactments , American Association of Homes
and Services for the Aging, November 5,2006
Called to Service: Elevating Health, Enriching Lives, 7th Annual Ohio Free CLinics Conference,
October 23, 2006
Medicaid Eligibility - How the Rules of the Game have Changed, The Association of Ohio Philanthropic
Homes, Housing and Services for the Aging, September 20, 2006
Form 990, Lorman Education Services, August 25, 2006
Board Member Role and Responsibility in a Non-Profit Organization, We Make a Difference: Improving
Care for Older Adults, August 4, 2006
Proposed Rules for Governance of Charities Significantly Altered, August 1, 2006
Proposed State Rules for Regulations of Charitable Organizations, July 18, 2006
Public Policy Update, Ohio Senior Living CFO Update, June 7, 2006
Politics and Charities: Know the Rules, Ohio Society of CPAs Not-for-Profit Conference, May 16, 2006
Political Process Literacy: Engaging Residents, Staff and Boards in Public Policy Advocacy, AOPHA
Legislative Event at the State Capitol , May 10, 2006
Medicaid Changes and the Effect on Long Term Care Eligibility, Columbus Bar Association, Health Law
Section, April 13, 2006
Education
School: The Ohio State University
Year: 1967
Degree: B.A.
School: The Ohio State University, Moritz College of Law
Year: 1983
Degree: J.D.
L. Scott Lissner
ADA Coordinator Office Of The Provost, Associate, The John Glenn School of Public Policy, Adjunct, Moritz College of Law, The Ohio State University
L. Scott Lissner has served as the American's With Disabilities Act Coordinator for The Ohio State University since January of 2000. Reporting to the Provost, Lissner works to ensure the University's compliance with State and Federal mandates requiring access for individuals with disabilities by providing seamless access to the full range of the university's programs, employment opportunities, facilities and services; serving as the university's compliance officer, a catalyst for disability related initiatives; and liaison to the disability community.
Lissner is committed to public service and currently sits on the Central Ohio Transit Authority's Mobility Advisory Board, the Board of Trustees for ADA-OHIO), and has been appointed to the City of Columbus' Advisory Committee on Disability, and the Columbus Bar Association's Professional Ethics Committee.
While at Longwood University, Lissner worked with Virginia legislator's and agencies to increase access to assistive technologies and to pass legislation on the collection data on students with disabilities within the annual college census. Throughout his career Lissner has enjoyed being in the classroom. Teaching courses in statistics, psychology, education, regional planning and disability law informs and energizes his work on disability policy and compliance.
Lissner is an active member of professional community; serving on the editorial Thompson's 504 Compliance Handbook and the executive board of the Association of Higher Education and Disability. Lissner frequently presents and publishes on disability issues, most recently coauthoring "From Legal Principle to Informed Practice".
Karen C. Snyder, Ph.D.
The Strategy Team
Karen is the founder of The Strategy Team and its principal since 1994. She has been involved in the marketing and market research industry for over 25 years. Prior to founding The Strategy Team, she was the vice president of research for Central Ohio's largest integrated marketing agency. She understands how research must lead to successful programs, products and marketing plans. She specializes in the design of comprehensive research projects, beginning with the end result in mind. That is: What do you, our client, need to know to make critical decisions? How can we get this information cost effectively? Who must we get it from? What methods are recommended? She and her colleagues frequently create unique research approaches to obtain the answers you need.
Karen holds a doctorate in political science from The Ohio State University with concentrations in public opinion research, voting behavior, legislative behavior and methodologies. She also performed extensive graduate work at the Fisher College of Business in marketing and market research. She is a guest lecturer in both departments on applied research techniques and their strategic application. In the community she has served as President of the League of Women Voters of Metropolitan Columbus, a Trustee of Columbus State Community College, a volunteer for political campaigns, educational, child care and other issues.
For fun, she sails the coast of Maine for two weeks in the summer and navigates and anchors with...well...trepidation. Other athletic adventures include getting "road rash" while bike riding and "face planting" while cross-country skiing.
Orie V. Kristel, Ph.D.
The Strategy Team
Orie earned his B.S. from Ursinus College in Pennsylvania and his MA and Ph.D. from The Ohio State University in social psychology, a branch of psychology that specializes in research pertaining to social influence, attitudes and persuasion - a perfect combination for market research. When he earned his doctorate at 26, he already had six years of applied research experience. He is The Strategy Team's project director, liaison with clients, and overall nice person.
He specializes both the theory and application of "how to influence others", the measurement of attitudes, and the construction and application of research designs. When you want to understand and change attitudes and behavior, he's your man. Orie's community activities include service on steering committees for Directions for Youth and Families and United Way of Central Ohio.
When not working, Orie stays active in three major ways. First, he's father to an imaginative preschooler and a happy, playful baby. Second, he enjoys handyman work around the house and garage - wiring, plumbing, drop ceilings, oil changes, etc. Third, he's involved in both familiar and esoteric sports. In the spring, summer and fall months, he plays co-ed softball (1st base and outfielder) on a number of teams, most of them winners of their leagues. In this past winter, he curled. That's right. Curled. Also known as "shoving 43 pound stones down the ice without falling and giving oneself a concussion".
Barbara Bergmann, Ph.D.
Web Wise Seniors
Barbara Bergmann has taught since 1981 and is currently an adjunct professor at Columbus State Community College. Barbara has been a computer user for nearly 30 years, both in university mainframes and in personal computing. She has a PhD in linguistics from the University of Wisconsin. She enjoys teaching computers in the classroom, as well as holding in-home sessions with students.
David Newman, MSW
- Educational Background
- BA Liberal Arts 1956 University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
- MSW 1963 Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois
-
Professional Background
- 1963-1967 Family Project; Stuttgart, Germany
- 1965-1967 Private Practice; Los Angeles, California
- 1967-1969 Child Welfare Supervisor/District Staff Development Specialist; West Los Angeles, California
- 1969-1971 Group Therapist; St. Johns Hospital Community Mental Health Center, Santa Monica, California
- 1972-1979 Social Policy Analyst, Supervisor Nursing Home Review and Control, Division of Medical Assistance, Ohio Department of Human Services, Columbus, Ohio
- 1980 to present Private Practice; Management Consultant and Human Relations Trainer, Columbus, Ohio
Ruth Sternberg
Ruth Sternberg is development director of Religion Newswriters, a national journalism organization that trains journalists about the intersection between religion and public affairs. She is responsible for all grants, as well as the joint board/staff efforts to build the organization's donor base.
She sits on the community advisory board of the Mentoring Center of Central Ohio and will soon begin her fourth year as one of the organizers of the Good Neighbors picnic for the homeless, a two-time recipient of a national Make a Difference Day programming award.
Ruth is a graduate of Ohio State, where she earned a journalism degree in the 1980s, and holds an MA in history from Kent State University.
She lives on Columbus' far east side.