1990s
Ceyhun Ozgur, PhD ’90, Valparaiso, IN, wrote: “I have been employed by Valparaiso University and retired as a research professor of information and decision sciences in the College of Business. I have been serving as an associate editor of Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education (DSJIE). Briefly, I have co-authored a textbook, Introduction to Management Science with Spreadsheets, published by MGraw-Hill, and I have published over 45 peer-reviewed publications.”
Jan F. Jumet, BBA ’91, Darlington, PA, founder and CEO of Jumet Financial, recently obtained a CPFA certification. Jumet Financial, with offices in Darlington, Pennsylvania, and Scottsdale, Arizona, announces the opening of an office in Canton, Ohio. Jumet and his team of six serve more than 450 clients in 30 different states. Securities offered through LPL Financial, member FINRA/SIPC.
John Paxton, MBA ’91, Charlotte, NC, was appointed chief executive officer of MHI, an international trade association that has represented the material handling, logistics and supply chain industry since 1945. MHI members include material handling and logistics equipment and systems manufacturers, integrators, consultants, publishers and third-party logistics providers.
Prior to joining the MHI team, Paxton served for over 20 years in executive leadership roles at Demag Cranes and Components. He has been recognized for his volunteer leadership at MHI, including service as president of the Crane Manufacturers Association, president of the Hoist Manufacturers Institute and chairman of the board of MHI.
Dorn Wenninger, BA ’91, Bentonville, AR, has been named senior vice president of produce at United Natural Foods Inc., North America’s premier food wholesaler. He will oversee growth and execute the strategy and expansion of UNFI’s capabilities in produce.
Wenninger has more than 25 years of experience in the procurement, sales, marketing and operations of several prominent packaged foods and retail companies. Most recently, he served as vice president perishables for Walmart Mexico, where he was responsible for sourcing and buying, and product development for the fresh departments for 2,400 stores in the region as well as Walmart’s meat processing plants.
Timothy D. Eippert, BBA ’92, Painesville, OH, chief executive officer of MC Group I Icon, one of the leading brand implementation companies in the United States, has announced that the company changed its name to Stratus in September 2020. The rebranding comes one year after MC Group and Icon joined forces to expand their services and become one of the largest players in the facility services industry.
Stratus builds better brands nationwide by offering signage, site refresh and remodel, repair and maintenance, and energy solutions such as lighting and electrical. A private-equity-owned company, Stratus employs more than 700 people. The company has headquarters in Mentor, Ohio, and Rolling Meadows, Illinois; operations centers in Ohio, Florida and New Jersey; and manufacturing facilities in Illinois, South Carolina and Virginia.
Eippert is also on the Kent State University Foundation Board.
Jodi Andes, BS ’93, Columbus, OH, published her first book, Master of Deceit: How a Veteran Con Man Scammed His Way into the White House (Micro Pub Media, 2020), a true crime narrative about the criminal chameleon who pulled off the greatest breach in White House history. The book quickly shot up to No. 5 among true crime biographies on Kindle Unlimited.
Andes, a former reporter for The Columbus Dispatch, also worked as a senior investigator for the Ohio Attorney General’s office, where she was assigned to the case of “Bobby Thompson” (one of his multiple aliases), who ran a fake charity for US Navy veterans and gained access to the Oval Office before President George W. Bush left office in 2008. After Andes left the Attorney General’s office, she worked as a licensed private investigator and continued to research the case. She is now a public information officer for the Franklin County Commissioners.
Robert Hunt, BSE ’96, PhD ’20, Chagrin Falls, OH, superintendent at Chagrin Falls Exempted Village Schools, has accepted a position as the next superintendent of the Barrington 220 Community Unit School District in Chicago. Hunt, who has one year left on his contract with Chagrin Falls Schools, will remain with the district through the end of this school year and support the transition to the next superintendent.
Hunt received the 2021 Ohio Superintendent of the Year award from the Buckeye Association of School Administrators at the Chagrin Falls Board of Education meeting on Oct. 21, 2020. He was hired as superintendent in June 2012 after serving one year as superintendent of Streetsboro City Schools. Previously, he had served Chagrin Falls Schools in a variety of roles, including assistant superintendent (2007-2011) and high school principal (2002-2007).
In 2007, he received the Ohio Principal of the Year award from the National Association of Secondary School Principals and the Ohio Educational Library and Media Association Administrator of the Year award. In May, he earned the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation Ohio Superintendent Outstanding Performance Award.
Hunt began his career as a middle school English teacher with Kenston Schools, where he went on to serve as assistant principal and athletic director. He earned a master’s degree in education administration from Ursuline College in Pepper Pike before completing a doctorate in K-12 educational leadership from Kent State.
Shana (Rozier) Smith, BA ’97, Canton, OH, became chief executive officer of YWCA Canton effective Dec. 8, 2020. She has been involved with several social service projects in the area, including Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health, Meyers Lake YMCA and Leadership Stark County. She has been teaching at Malone University and is pursuing a doctorate degree from Ashland University, where she earned an MBA in 2006.
Amy Pawlowski, BM ’97, MLIS ’03, Plain City, OH, has been named executive director of OhioLINK, Ohio’s academic library consortium. She joined OhioLINK in 2013 as deputy director for operations and e-licensing. In addition to her new role as executive director, she will continue to lead negotiations with publishers and information vendors to acquire shared electronic resources for OhioLINK’s 117 member libraries and more than 800,000 students across the state.
Pawlowski has nearly 20 years of experience in special, public and academic libraries and library-related private industry, with expertise in technology and the e-books/e-journals publishing ecosystem. Prior to joining OhioLINK, she worked with the Cleveland Public Library, CLEVNET and Overdrive Inc. She also served as archivist for the world-renowned Cleveland Orchestra. She holds a master’s degree in music from the University of Hartford.
In 2019, Pawlowski was named a Change Agent by Library Journal’s Movers & Shakers for her role in negotiating a groundbreaking, inclusive-access textbook agreement with six major publishers, saving Ohio students approximately $39.7 million annually. She is a frequent presenter at library conferences and active in professional organizations. She currently serves on advisory boards for EBSCO Books, Springer Nature and the Cambridge University Press (North America).