Vindell Washington, M.D., M.S., Chief Executive Officer, Onduo

Chief Executive Officer, Onduo

Vindell Washington, M.D., M.S., is the Chief Clinical Officer of the Verily Health Platforms group and the CEO of Onduo. He focuses on strategies that will enable advanced technology solutions for healthcare transformation, engaging partners in developing tools and platforms for improving health outcomes and reducing costs of care. Vindell previously served as chief medical officer and EVP at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana, where he oversaw network operations and contracting, medical policy and quality, disease management, and pharmacy benefits. Prior to that, he was National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), where he provided high-level executive direction and leadership for ONC programs, operations and policies. Vindell received his medical degree from the University of Virginia and his M.S. degree in healthcare management from the Harvard University School of Public Health.
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Gwendolyn Buchanan, M.S.

President, Carillon Civic Council

Gwendolyn (Gwen) is an Associate Certified Coach (ACC) with the International Coach Federation (ICF), a Board Certified Coach, and a Certified Wellness Inventory Coach. She is a seasoned professional with more than 25-years combined experience in coaching, training and development, social services, and non-profit management.

In her current position as a Life Coach at The Glen at St. Joseph, where she has served since 2007, Gwen works with single mothers who are pursuing higher education to develop pathways to upward mobility. As a motivational speaker, Gwen has presented and facilitated workshops for teens, women, single parents, and others at local universities, high schools, and churches. She is also a poet and published author.

For the past five years, Gwen has served as President of the Carillon Civic Council, where she leads the team to revitalize and transform her community into a Neighborhood of Choice. She has served as a grassroots community organizer and volunteered in the Dayton community for over 20 years with numerous community organizations including: Neighborhood Leadership Institute, Community Reinvestment Institute, City of Dayton Housing Appeals Board, Residence in Praise Fine Arts Center, Mercy Manor, and others.

Gwen’s previous leadership roles in the non-profit community include: Interim Director and Program Director for the Omega Community Development Corporation, Community Outreach Program Manager at Wright State University Center for Urban & Public Affairs, and Manager for Development, Franciscan Foundation of Dayton.

Gwen obtained her Master of Science in Community Counseling from Wright State University and a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Management from Wilberforce University.

Lainie Dean, M.H.A.

Chief Strategy Officer, Premier Health

Lainie Dean is the Systems Vice President for Strategic Business Development at Premier Health. She rejoined Premier Health in 2019 following 11 years of operating her own strategic consulting firm. Lainie’s responsibilities include system strategy, new business opportunities, partnerships and collaborations, provider recruitment and alignment, as well as real estate and strategic market development.

Lainie has over 25 years of healthcare experience in hospital and medical group strategy, operations, financial management, strategic planning, physician recruitment, and physician practice development. Lainie began her career at Good Samaritan Hospital as an administrative resident.

Lainie currently serves on the Chaminade Julienne High School Board. She is also an advisory board member to PQ Systems and Aquabiliti. Lainie holds a Master’s degree in Hospital and Health Administration from Xavier University and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management and Marketing from the University of Cincinnati.

Michael Mewhirter, M.B.A., F.A.B.

Interim Chief Executive Officer, Kettering Health

Presently serving as Interim Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Mewhirter was invited to join the Network in April 2015.  He has served in many roles within the Network including KH Executive Vice President of Finance, Operations and Chief Financial Officer for Fort Hamilton Hospital, President for Fort Hamilton Hospital and as Vice President of Finance, Operations and Chief Financial Officer for Grandview Medical Center.  Prior to that, he served as hospital Chief Financial Officer in the West Florida Region for Advent Health.  Mr. Mewhirter holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Accounting and Finance from Union College, and a M.B.A. from Webster University.  

Preston Simons, MBA

Chief Information Officer, Verily

Preston Simons is the Chief Information Officer at Verily, where he is responsible for building out the company’s IT strategies, systems and processes. Previously, Preston was President and Managing Partner of Simons & Associates, LLC, where he consulted companies on driving business value through transformation of organizational and business practices and processes, and technology alignment and implementation. He also specialized in merger and acquisition planning, coordination, and integration. Preston has served in C-level positions for several decades across companies such as Aurora Healthcare (now Advocate Aurora Healthcare), Abbott Laboratories (a Fortune 100 life sciences and medical device company), and Smithkline Beecham (GSK). He is a member of the Board of Governors for the Opus College of Business at the University of St. Thomas, Minnesota, and is an Advisory Board member for Infinity Systems, Inc. He is a certified Board Leadership Fellow of the National Association of Corporate Directors. Preston earned his MBA from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago and a BS degree in Management and Computer Science from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Eric Spina, Ph.D.

President, University of Dayton

Dr. Eric Spina serves as the board treasurer for OneFifteen Health.

Eric Spina is the 19th President of the University of Dayton, a role he has served in since 2016. Dr. Spina has made critical investments in initiatives targeted toward increasing diversity and accessibility at the university. The fall 2018 class was the most diverse and academically talented class in school history. During the first year of his presidency, Dr. Spina engaged faculty, staff, students, community partners, and alumni from around the world in a visioning process that culminated in his inaugural address.

An aerospace engineer by training, Dr. Spina brings 27 years of distinguished leadership and service, as he previously worked at Syracuse University as the Vice Chancellor and Provost. He earned a Ph.D. and Master’s degrees in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University and a Bachelor’s degree with university honors in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.

Lynn Zydowski, Ph.D.

President & Co-Founder, Alexandria Summit; Chief Science Officer,
Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc./Alexandria Venture Investments (observer)

Lynne Zydowsky, PhD, President and Co-Founder of the Alexandria Summit and Chief Science Officer of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc./Alexandria Venture Investments, and President of Zydowsky Consultants, is an experienced executive in the life science industry who has been involved in the launching and building of several successful companies. With over 20 years of experience, she has played key roles in corporate development, operations, and finance. She is a long-standing advocate for biomedical research and the advancement of global health.

In 2003, Dr. Zydowsky founded Zydowsky Consultants, a consulting practice offering services to life science companies. Prior to that, Dr. Zydowsky was Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Renovis, Inc. (now Evotec) and served as Vice President of Pharmaceutical Business Development at Exelixis, Inc. As part of their executive management teams, she contributed to the growth and development of both companies, which led to their initial public offerings.

The Alexandria Summit, a neutral, interactive platform, co-founded in 2011 by Mr. Joel Marcus, Dr. Zydowsky, and Ms. Deeda Blair, convenes a diverse group of visionary stakeholders for transformative discussions and collaborations that help drive the discovery and development of novel, cost-effective therapies; shape policy to advance innovation that saves lives and cures disease; and inspire new ways of addressing the urgent need to transform our healthcare system.

Dr. Zydowsky currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the FDA (since October 2018) and Yumanity Therapeutics (since 2019), the Board of Trustees for Butler University (since September 2016), and the Discovery Council for Harvard Medical School (since August 2018). She serves as a Board Observer for OneFifteen, a non-profit healthcare ecosystem dedicated to the full and sustained recovery of people living with opioid addiction, on behalf of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc./Alexandria Venture Investments.

Dr. Zydowsky is also personally engaged in critical philanthropic efforts as a member of the West Coast
Board for the international non-profit buildOn, an organization focused on breaking the cycle of poverty, illiteracy, and low expectations through its after-school programs for urban teens based on changing lives and communities through service locally and globally.

Dr. Zydowsky earned her PhD in Chemistry from The Ohio State University and was a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Pharmacy from Butler University.

Marti Taylor, M.S.N.

President & Chief Executive Officer, OneFifteen (ex-officio)

Marti Taylor is the President and CEO of OneFifteen.

Marti started her career in 1986 after graduating from Capital University in Columbus, Ohio with a Bachelor of Science in nursing. She began as a staff nurse in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at Duke University Hospital and during that time went on to graduate from Duke University with a Master of Science in nursing in 1993. It was during Marti’s 25-plus years at Duke that she fell in love with academics, research, teaching, clinical care and mentorship to others.

While at Duke, Marti supervised all aspects of the Health Systems Heart Center at three hospitals and multiple affiliate hospitals. From 2003 to 2007, Marti served as President of the Saint Joseph’s Cardiovascular Program and Research Institute in Atlanta. Most recently, Marti served as Chief Executive Officer of University Hospital and the Ross Heart Hospital at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. In that role, she was responsible for leading more than 5,000 employees and a budget totaling more than 1.8 billion dollars. Marti has served on a number of boards during her time in North Carolina, Georgia and Ohio. Today Marti serves as Executive Director of Behavioral Health at Verily and the President and CEO of OneFifteen–an addiction treatment program offering services in Dayton, Ohio. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees for Capital University and the Dayton Development Coalition Board. Marti and her husband Rodney have two teenage boys, Zachary and Andrew.

Chair
Elisabeth Okrant, Ph.D., M.P.H.

Clinical Quality Lead, Verily

Elisabeth leads Evidence Generation and Quality Improvement at Verily on the Substance Use Disorder team.  She is responsible for developing analytic and evaluation strategies that enable the learning health system to cultivate insights about treatment efficacy and health system delivery, and generating Quality Improvement frameworks that complement organizational performance goals.

Before joining Verily, Elisabeth served as the Senior Vice President of Quality Improvement, Corporate Quality for Beacon Health Options, a managed behavioral healthcare organization, where she led the strategic vision for quality management and improvement across the enterprise, overseeing clinical quality, accreditation, performance measurement and improvement, and advanced analytics.

Elisabeth worked at the Yale-New Haven Hospital designing automated critical test results systems for patient safety. She also worked at the Clinton Foundation as a Country Analyst in Papua New Guinea on developing surveillance systems and analyzing the effectiveness of HIV and OI programs on reducing parent to child transmission.

Elisabeth has extensive knowledge of the behavioral treatment system and the measures designed to assess effectiveness.  She has participated on several State and National measurement committees as an expert on behavioral health measurement design.  Elisabeth is a consultant on two NIAAA research grants to test a patient-reported outcome measure of substance use recovery in a clinical setting.  She also is a visiting scholar at Brandeis University.

Elisabeth holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Social Policy with a concentration in Behavioral Health from Brandeis University, a Master of Public Health from the Yale School of Public Health with a concentration in Health Management, and Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from Trinity College.

Scott Kanagy, D.O., M.B.A.

Chief Medical Officer, Premier Health

Dr. Scott Kanagy has been a part of the Premier Health leadership team as

Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Upper Valley Medical Center since August 2017. Prior to joining Premier Health, he served as the Regional Medical Director of EmCare in Indianapolis, where he also practiced as an emergency room physician.

Dr. Kanagy received his Doctorate of Osteopathic Medicine from Midwestern University in Chicago and completed his residency training in Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine at Midwestern. He earned a Master of Business Administration at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business in Indianapolis.

Beverly Knapp, R.N., M.S.

Vice President, Kettering Health Network

Beverly Knapp is the Vice President of Clinical Integration and Innovation at Kettering Health Network and has served in this role since 2016, focusing her efforts on building the clinically integrated network to over 1,600 providers. Her responsibilities include partnering with corporations to find solutions that will improve the health of their employees, and working with the network’s diabetes service line and community outreach teams to improve overall access and population health outcomes.

Previously, she served as the Chief Human Resources Officer, supporting programs that create a positive work culture for network providers to practice medicine, Kettering Health employees to provide and receive care, and most of all, for patients to receive high-quality, compassionate care.

Beverly joined Kettering Health Network in 2002. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Pacific Union College as well as a Master of Science in Healthcare Administration from California State University of Los Angeles.

Eric Bailly LPC, LADC

Business Solutions Director, Anthem, Inc.

Eric Bailly is currently a Business Solutions Director at Anthem, Inc. In his 14th year at Anthem, Eric’s role is focused on the enterprise substance use disorder strategy, with recent emphasis on the enterprise opioid strategy. This work comes with an opportunity to shape Anthem’s organizational response when it comes to provider partnerships, vender relationships and the provision of subject matter expertise tied to product development, government relations and corporate public policy.

Eric earned a Bachelors Degree in Psychology from Concordia College in Moorhead, MN in 1993, and a Masters Degree in Counseling Psychology from the University of Colorado at Denver in 1996. Eric is a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of ND and CO and is a Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor in the state of MN. Eric has worked as a behavioral health clinician in several settings including Outpatient Substance Use Disorder treatment services at both Kaiser Permanente and the Jefferson County Department of Health and Environment, both in Denver, CO metro area.

Eric is also an adjunct professor at the Concordia College, School of Healthcare Professions where he teaches Health Information Systems to undergraduate students pursuing degrees in healthcare and healthcare administration. Additionally, Eric serves in a variety of boards and committees tied to organizations who are committed to improving the health and wellbeing of those who live with mental health and substance use issues.

Pat Barr

Community Advocate

Pat earned a Bachelor of Science from the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University. He worked as Vice President of Teradata’s Manufacturing Industry Team, Eastern United States. Pat now is an advocate and volunteer for the Dayton community. His hobbies include exercise, sports, travel, and reading. Children include Emily Nutt, married to David Nutt, and Christopher Barr.

Jennifer Barr

Community Advocate

Jennifer earned a Bachelor of Arts, Speech & Hearing degree from Valparaiso University and a Master of Arts, Speech & Hearing from Kent State University. She worked as a Speech Pathologist at Robinson Memorial Hospital & Easter Seals of Dayton. Jennifer now is an advocate and volunteer for the Dayton community. Her hobbies include gardening, cooking, exercise, travel, and reading. Children include Emily Nutt, married to David Nutt, and Christopher Barr.

KeAnna Daniels

Carillon Civic Council

KeAnna M. Daniels, also known as Ke, is an Empowerment Coach, Entrepreneur, Change Agent, Super Connector, Ecosystem Builder and a Servant Leader in her communities; both Dayton and St. Louis. KeAnna is best known for empowering individuals to live their best lives by taking risks based on faith, and to live on purpose and with intentionality in order to execute with excellence. She incorporates an entrepreneurial mindset into her practices, where failure is embraced and not shunned—because she believes the best lessons in life, and in business are learned through failing. She has adopted the practice of learning the lessons in every situation; good or bad, and as a result she has made Faith Over Fear a lifestyle from the way she thinks to the risks she takes, both personally and professionally, and she empowers her clients, friends, family, colleagues, and the community at large, to do the same.

According to KeAnna, it was only in the last four years that she came to realize her true purpose and contribution to the world. After moving away to a novel city where she had no family or friends, on a quest to continue her academic and professional development at Washington University in St. Louis, she began building her vast network, and expertise in the innovation and entrepreneurship field. Upon graduating from the Brown School of Social Work (#1 Social Work School in the World), KeAnna became the Recruiter for The Biome School, a STEAM charter school for elementary students’ grades k-1. From there, KeAnna’s next job was with a small nonprofit, Gateway Venture Mentoring Services, a nonprofit made up of seasoned professionals and entrepreneurs who helped entrepreneurs in the St. Louis region, launch and grow their businesses through customized, team-based mentoring and business education programming and assistance. After serving only 8 months as the Mentor Program Administrator, KeAnna became the Interim Executive Director. She is currently the Project Manager for Wright State Research Institute’s Launch Dayton (formerly Dayton Tech Guide), where she creates and builds entrepreneurial programs to advance aspiring and existing entrepreneurs, leads their Diversity, Inclusion and Equity efforts, and builds strategic partnerships within and around the Dayton community. She also still runs her consulting firm, KMD Empowerment Consulting, LLC on the side, where she helps her clients with strategic planning and execution. She was an Adjunct Professor at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, teaching Social Welfare Policy in 2019.

Entrepreneurially speaking, she has founded and hosted several conferences, events, initiatives, and a consulting firm, that empowers individuals to take action in their personal and professional lives, both in her hometown, Dayton, OH and in her second home, St. Louis, MO, such as: Rock Your Brand Dayton (branding and entrepreneur conference), Rock Your Brand STL, Dayton Gem City Entrepreneur Resource Fair, and Sisters Supporting Sisters (women’s workshops), to name a few. Her most successful event to date was the Dayton Gem City Entrepreneurship Resource Fair 2017, serving 162 people, in which 85% of attendees were minorities and young professionals. 19 entrepreneurship resource providers were present, and 5 small business vendors. The event was fully sponsored and free to the public.

KeAnna was named Dayton Business Journal’s 2019 40 Under 40, as well as one of Ambition Magazine’s Most Ambitious People of 2019. She has also served on several boards both in Dayton and St. Louis. Currently serving as the Secretary of Co-op Dayton’s Board, Advisory Board member for Greater West Dayton Incubator, Steering Committee member of University of Dayton and Greater West Dayton Conversation, Advisory Board member for OneFifteen, and Advisory Board member for Dayton Young Black Professionals. KeAnna has also worked and served for a plethora of other social service and business agencies that marries her academic and professional background in Social Work and Entrepreneurship. Her work and service history are speckled with diversity, and spans across multiple industries and interests. She holds a BSW with a minor in Entrepreneurship from Miami University of Ohio; and an MSW from the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, with a concentration in Social and Economic Development and Management.

In all the work KeAnna does throughout her community, her ultimate life goal is to become an Empowerment Guru, empowering one individual and/or community at a time, to Think, Do, and Be their best.

Heidi Hennessey

Hartzell Propeller

Heidi Hennessy is the Director of Human Resources at Hartzell Propeller in Piqua, Ohio. Heidi graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio with a BS in Business, majoring in Marketing and Human Resource Management. Heidi serves on the Dayton Children’s Hospital Foundation Board and is the alumni liaison to the Women’s Board of Dayton Children’s. In 2011, Heidi served as the Chair of chacha, the signature fundraiser of Dayton Children’s Hospital. 

Jessica Hulsey

Addiction Policy Forum

Jessica Hulsey Nickel is the founder of the Addiction Policy Forum, a national nonprofit organization that brings together each sector of the field, elevates awareness around addiction and seeks to implement a comprehensive response that includes prevention, treatment, recovery, and criminal justice reform.

Jessica’s 25 year career focusing on addiction comes from personal experience. Both her parents struggled with heroin addiction, which led to homelessness, foster care and eventually her mother’s incarceration, after which she was raised by her grandparents.

Jessica began working in the field at 15 years old through a community anti-drug coalition in southern California, then continued through national boards, speaking engagements and finding her way to Washington, DC to work on these issues after graduating Princeton in 1998. Since then she has worked for then Congressman Rob Portman, started her own consulting company, the Brimley Group, and become a renowned expert in the field of addiction.

Jessica is active in service to her community as the Community Service Chair for the Princeton Club of Washington DC, and works with Interfaith Works, a nonprofit dedicated to vulnerable and homeless families. She also serves on the board of directors for the DEA Educational Foundation. Additionally, Jessica was appointed to sit on Ohio Governor Mike DeWine’s RecoveryOhio Advisory Council.

She received her B.A. from Princeton University and is the mother of three beautiful boys – Conner, Jack and Tyler.

Patrick Kennedy

Former Congressman (D-RI); Founder, The Kennedy Forum; Co-Founder, One Mind; Former Commissioner, President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis

During his 16 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, serving Rhode Island’s First Congressional District, Patrick J. Kennedy fought to end discrimination against those with mental illness, addiction, and other brain diseases. He is best known as the lead sponsor of the groundbreaking Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (Federal Parity Law), which was passed with bi-partisan support and signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 3, 2008. The Federal Parity Law provides millions of Americans, previously denied care, with access to mental health and addiction treatment by requiring insurance companies to cover treatment for mental health and substance use disorders no more restrictively than treatment for illnesses of the body, such as diabetes and cancer.

In addition to the Federal Parity Law, Kennedy authored and co-sponsored dozens of bills during his time in Congress to increase the understanding and treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders, including the Positive Aging Act; Foundations for Learning Act; National Neurotechnology Initiative Act; Genomics and Personalized Medicine Act; COMBAT PTSD Act; Nurse-Family Partnership Act; Alzheimer’s Treatment and Caregiver Support Act; and Ready, Willing, and Able Act, which called on the Department of Homeland Security to deploy a civilian response system to blunt the psychological impact of terrorism. He served on various committees and subcommittees, including the House Appropriations Committee; the Subcommittee on Health, Education and Welfare; the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education; and the Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs.

In 2013, he founded The Kennedy Forum, a non-profit organization whose mission is to lead a national dialogue on transforming mental health and addiction care delivery by uniting mental health advocates, business leaders, and government agencies around a common set of principles, including full implementation of the Federal Parity Law. The Forum aims to achieve health equity by advancing evidence-based practices, policies, political will, and programming in mental health and addiction treatment.

Kennedy co-authored the New York Times bestseller “A Common Struggle” in which he shares both his personal narrative and his experience shepherding the Federal Parity Law. The book ends with Kennedy’s detailed roadmap to achieve health equity in the United States.

As co-founder of the non-profit One Mind (formerly One Mind for Research), Kennedy helped spark a global revolution in how scientists collaborate to study, diagnose, and treat brain diseases. The organization pushes for greater global investment in brain research and is pioneering a worldwide approach that ensures scientific research, results, and data are available to researchers everywhere.

Kennedy served on the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis. His personal contributions to the final report focused on the declaration of a federal emergency and strong parity-based recommendations.

Amid countless recognitions, meaningful partnerships, and political affiliations, Patrick J. Kennedy’s most important achievement continues to be leveraging his family legacy in the arenas of civil rights, mental health, and intellectual disabilities to advance the cause of social justice and health equity for all people. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, Amy, and their children.

Scott McGohan

McGohan Brabender

Scott McGohan is the CEO of McGohan Brabender. He works on vision casting, strategy alignment and leadership deployment. He has been with MB since 1988. As a business leader, it is always about people for Scott — always has been and always will be.

Scott believes that understanding your core is the essence of transformation. That includes being vulnerable about both your strengths and weaknesses. He believes people need to see leaders make mistakes, own them when they do and teach people through success and failure. Scott believes you cannot threaten, coerce or reward people to care. You can only awaken the desire inside of them and give them the permission and encouragement to do so. Products are delivered by people, and when people believe in themselves they will believe in you.

Jonas Thom

Chief Operating Officer, Ohio Institute for SUD Excellence

Jonas Thom leads the CareSource’s behavioral health approach as Vice President of Behavioral Health.  Jonas has over 30 years of community behavioral health experience as a clinician, policy consultant and  senior executive for public health and managed care organizations. He is a respected advocate and  collaborative leader committed to improving access to behavioral health treatment for all individuals. 

Since joining CareSource in 2010, Jonas has led initiatives to address the opioid epidemic through  strategies that include decreasing opiate prescribing, increasing both the quality and quantity of  substance use disorder providers within the CareSource network, improving the member experience and  targeting individuals in the criminal justice system. As a direct result of his initiatives, opiate  prescriptions for CareSource members have decreased by over 50% and the network of providers has nearly tripled in size. Jonas has also been instrumental in the implementation of programs to address the  needs of individuals leaving the criminal justice system with the goal of reducing recidivism and  improving access to recovery support. These programs and partnerships have supported thousands of CareSource members as they have successfully transitioned from incarceration into the community.  

Prior to his role at CareSource, Jonas was the Director at InterAct for Change where he led the development of Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) and Intensive Home based Services  certification rules and associated Medicaid policies, worked with more than 100 community behavioral  health agencies to implement best practices in care coordination, population health management and  integrating on practice fidelity and improvement.  

He is a prominent community advocate, holding seats on multiple boards and task forces throughout the  Ohio. Notable appointments include: Attorney General Opioid Taskforce with Mike DeWine, Chair of Ohio Association of Health Plans, Behavioral Health Committee, Chair of Ohio Coverage and Quality  Council’s Behavioral Health Workgroup and Co-Chair of ACT Quality Improvement and Oversight  Group. He has been published in the areas of clinical issues and best practices and has presented on a  variety of topics related to behavioral health practices, program development and execution of programs  within complex populations at local and national conferences. 

Jonas continues to hold licenses in Ohio and Kentucky as a Professional Clinical Counselor. He has a  Bachelor of Arts in Socio-Psychology from the College of Mount St. Joseph and a Master of Arts in  Community Counseling from the University of Cincinnati. 

Reverend Vanessa Oliver Ward

President, Omega Community Development Corporation

Reverend Vanessa Oliver Ward is the President of the Omega Community Development Corporation (Omega CDC) and Co-Pastor of the Omega Baptist Church. As President of the Omega CDC she oversees the organization’s mission of providing services that help to develop and improve the lives of the youth, the families and the community of Northwest Dayton. Since 2016 she has been leading the redevelopment of the church’s 30-acre Harvard Campus (formerly United Theological Seminary). Under her leadership the Omega CDC has partnered with MVAH as co-developer for the construction of a $13 million, 81-unit senior housing complex, the Omega Senior Lofts, which broke ground in March 2019. This senior housing development complements ongoing plans to build the $10 million Hope Center for Families, an evidence-based, two-generational model for the reduction of poverty.

Rev. Ward has served on numerous boards, including the Alliance for Community Schools Governing Board; the ReadySetSoar Advisory Cabinet; the Mayor’s City of Learners (Dayton, Ohio) Advisory Team; After-School and Summer Learning sub-Committee; the Good Samaritan Hospital Board and Diversity Committee of the Premier Hospital Boards.

Rev. Ward currently is a member of the Learn to Earn Advisory Committee and the Learn to Earn Dayton Board of Directors; the Infant Mortality Steering Committee; the Dayton Early College Academy (DECA); the Forum for 2 Generation Programs; and Vice-President of Programming for the Dayton Chapter of the Links, Inc.

In 2000, Rev. Ward founded the Omega School of Excellence and served as Chairman of the Board of Directors. The Omega School was a chartered K-8 public school. Although a difficult decision was made to close the Omega School of Excellence in June 2008, both the Omega Church and community celebrated the eight years in which this school provided a quality education to hundreds of Dayton children. Many of its graduates were admitted to competitive high schools and boarding schools both locally and nationally.

Rev. Vanessa Oliver Ward has been a recipient of various local awards, including the Dayton YWCA Women of Influence Award; the 2018 Brother Raymond L. Fitz, S.M., Ph.D. Award.

She is a graduate of The College of Wooster, United Theological Seminary, and in 2012 she received the Master of Philosophy in Hebraic and Cognate Studies (M.Phil.) at the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio, focusing on II Temple History, Language and Culture. As part of her studies, she was awarded a fellowship that gave her the opportunity to spend the summer of 2010 excavating at an 8th century BC Philistine settlement in Israel. Rev. Ward is currently writing her dissertation and serves as Lecturer in Hebrew Bible at United Theological Seminary.

Rev. Ward was ordained as a Minister of the Gospel on November 12, 1998 by The Omega Baptist Church. She is sought locally and nationally to speak at churches and conferences. She is the wife of the Reverend Dr. Daryl Ward; proud mother of three adult children and four grandchildren.