1990s
Jan Jumet, BBA ’91, Darlington, PA, founder and chief executive officer of Jumet Financial, announced the opening of his national headquarters in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, in August 2021. The firm, which is registered through LBL Financial, also has offices in Canton, Ohio, and Scottsdale, Arizona. He and his team serve more than 562 clients in 33 states.
The Sabatose family: (left to right) Lori, Gabby, Adam, Chuck
Lori Sabatose, MA ’93, Brockport, PA, and her family were named the 2019/2020 Allegheny Mountain District Family of the Year by the United States Tennis Association. The designation honors the family’s contribution to tennis, representing the development and promotion of tennis on and off the court on a local and/or section basis. The Allegheny Mountain District includes 24 counties from Erie, Pennsylvania, to West Virginia. The Sabatose family was honored at the USTA Middle States AMD Awards Ceremony on Oct. 16, 2021, at Mount Lebanon Tennis Center in Pittsburgh.
Sabatose, who taught tennis at Kent State as a graduate student from 1992 to 1993, has taught tennis at Penn State DuBois, and has coached high school, college and international teams. She is certified by the Professional Tennis Registry and serves on the leadership council for the United States Tennis Association. In 2020 she started a nonprofit, DuBois Regional Tennis Association, which offers free clinics for the community. To help support tennis, contact duboiscta@gmail.com.
Danielle Dixon, BA ’95, Cleveland, OH, was named a 2022 Artist-in-Residence in poetry and visual art by Akron Soul Train Gallery. Part of the residency includes an artist-led community engagement program. Learn more at www.akronsoultrain.org.
Bard Fulton, BS ’95, MBA ’98, Cleveland, OH, has been promoted to vice president of Fortney & Weygandt Inc., as of Feb. 1, 2022. He will be responsible for continuing to drive the growth of the company’s general contracting service nationwide. In his new role, Fulton will focus on project development, operational efficiencies and streamlining internal business processes. He will continue with his active role in multi-site project management and project estimating.
Fulton began his career at Fortney & Weygandt in 2001 as a project manager overseeing various multi-site rollout programs and soon began leading the department. He has worked with retail, restaurant and commercial clients on national projects with varied scopes, and he looks forward to getting involved with more projects and managing from a corporate level.
Thrity Umrigar, PhD ’97, Cleveland Heights, OH, a Distinguished University Professor of English at Case Western University, recently published her latest novel, Honor (Algonquin Books, January 2022), which was an Indie Next List pick and Reese’s Book Club pick for January 2022.
“A few years ago, I read a series of articles about the misogyny endured by women in rural India,” says Umrigar. “I lived in India until I was 21, but as an urban kid, some of the ‘traditions’ and rituals I read about—most of which are rooted in iron-clad beliefs about caste and religion and patriarchy—shocked me. I began to conceive of a novel where a woman exercises basic human rights—the right to employment, to love and marry whoever she chooses—and is brutally punished for her courage. I wanted to explore her inner life, the source of such bravery. And then I thought of a second character, one who has had the advantages of wealth and education, but who has also been wounded by the divisions in Indian society. I wanted to see these two women in conversation, to see whether they could inspire the other.”
Umrigar is the bestselling author of eight novels, including The Space Between Us, a finalist for the PEN/Beyond Margins Award, as well as a memoir and three children’s picture books. Her books have been translated into several languages and published in more than 15 countries. She is the winner of the Cleveland Arts Prize, a Lambda Literary award and the Seth Rosenberg Prize. A former prize-winning journalist and recipient of a Niemen Fellowship to Harvard in 1999, she has contributed to the Boston Globe, the Washington Post, The New York Times and Huffington Post.
Jamy Bechler, MA ’98, Barberton, OH, recently published his fourth book, The Captain: Inspiring others is about more than just a title (MH Book Services, November 2021). In the month after its release, it became Amazon’s No. 1 new release in children’s football books and in the College Student Life section, among others. The Captain is a fictional story about a star quarterback turned hot shot fighter pilot. Despite always being talented and having positions of leadership, the main character never really understood what it meant to be a real leader. He plays his best game—the blame game—when he has a training accident. This failed mission eventually brings him face to face with the realization that leadership is about more than just individual talent, power or status.
Bechler spent more than 20 years as a college basketball coach and high school athletics director before starting his own leadership company. He now works with high-level organizations and sports teams helping them maximize their potential in leadership, culture and teamwork.
He began his coaching career working with the men’s basketball team at Kent State as a graduate student from 1996-1998. He was also a teaching assistant in the Physical Education and Sports Performance program.
“I loved my time at Kent State and have many lifelong friendships as a result of going there,” wrote Bechler. “That includes meeting my wife, which is a really good thing. I am indebted to all of my professors, mentors and coaches during my time there. I would not ever have been the coach and leader I was without the experiences I had at Kent State. There is no doubt they had a profound effect on my life and made me want to give back and try to make a difference in someone’s life like they did for me. I try to write books and provide positive insights to help today’s athletes better understand how they can make a difference on their teams and in their communities.”
Learn more about Bechler’s other books, as well as his insights on leadership, culture or teamwork on his website, or visit Twitter @CoachBechler.
Marti Bledsoe Post, BA ’99, Hilliard, OH, was named the executive director of On Our Sleeves, a movement for children’s mental health created by Nationwide Children’s Hospital. In this newly established role, effective September 2021, Post leads strategy and operations for the organization. Its goal is to ensure that every community in America has access to free, evidence-informed mental health resources to break stigmas and start conversations about building mental well-being for children. She oversees a team dedicated to advance programming, fundraising and national visibility for this vital cause.