News Announcement
For further information please contact
Cheryl L. Kight - Vice President, Marketing

Columbus, October 12, 2007

OFIC Board of Trustees Announces 2007-2008 Campaign Goal
($4.1 Million)

Dan Anderson, Chair of The Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges (OFIC) Board of Trustees, announced a 2007-2008 campaign goal of $4.1 million at the fall OFIC Board of Trustees meeting held on September 27, 2007 on the campus of Walsh University in North Canton.  The Statewide Campaign Chair for 2007-2008 is Donald E. Washkewicz, Chairman & CEO of the Parker Hannifin Corporation in Cleveland.

Regional chairs that will direct their area campaigns are:

Akron - Gregory A. McDermott, President, FirstMerit Advisors
Cincinnati - Thomas R. Schuck, Partner, Taft, Stettinius & Hollister LLP
Cleveland - James M. Malz, President Northeast Ohio Region, CHASE
Columbus - David N. Sceva, President, Central Ohio – USBank
Dayton - Douglas E. Franklin, President & CEO, Cox Ohio Publishing
Mahoning Valley – Phillip B. Dennison, President, Packer Thomas
Stark/Tuscarawas - Edward J. Roth, President, Aultman Hospital
Toledo - Michael DiNardo, Partner, The Collaboration

Jeffrey S. Wolf, OFIC President, said, “With 7 out of 10 new jobs being created requiring a college degree, it is vital that scholarship and financial aid assistance be available for Ohio’s students.  We wish to extend sincere appreciation to our 2007-2008 campaign leadership and our teams of dedicated corporate volunteers for their willingness to give their time and talents to assist students achieve their academic aspirations.”

Anderson also announced and welcomed two new trustees to serve on OFIC’s board:

Christopher J. Maurer, Executive Vice President, FirstMerit Corporation, Akron
Maurer was named to his current position in 1993.   A recipient of OFIC’s Volunteer of the Year Award, he has served as an OFIC campaign volunteer for the past 15 years and as campaign coordinator for several of those years.  

Maurer is a very active volunteer in the Akron area and is a 1994 Leadership Akron graduate.  He is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Stark State College of Technology and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Akron area YMCA, where he is serving a second term as Chairman.  Maurer graduated from the University of Akron with a BS degree in Education and also completed the American Bankers Association Graduate School of Advance Human Resources Management.

Robert P. Powers, Executive Vice President-AEP Utilities-East, Columbus
Powers is responsible for AEP’s utility operating units in Appalachian Power, Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Columbus Southern Power and Ohio Power, which serve 3.2 million customers in the states of Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. 

He earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Tufts University in Boston and a master’s degree in radiological hygiene from the University of North Carolina.  He earned senior reactor operator certification in 1991. 

OFIC is the primary corporate and foundation solicitation organization for 35 independent Ohio colleges and universities and operates one of the largest, most comprehensive and diverse scholarship management services in the state.  OFIC member colleges collectively enroll nearly 97,000 students and award one-third of all bachelor’s degrees in the state. For 57 years OFIC has worked to highlight the leadership, value and excellence of independent higher education and has provided unrestricted operating funds and scholarship commitments through funds raised in annual solicitations of businesses and foundations, thereby assuring continuation of excellence in private higher education. OFIC is governed by a Board of Trustees comprised of Ohio’s corporate leaders, as well as presidents of the 35 member colleges.

The member colleges are: Antioch College, Ashland University, Baldwin-Wallace College, Bluffton University, Capital University, Cedarville University, University of Dayton, Defiance College, Denison University, The University of Findlay, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Franklin University, Heidelberg College, Hiram College, John Carroll University, Kenyon College, Lake Erie College, Lourdes College, Malone College, Marietta College, Mount Union College, Mount Vernon Nazarene University, Muskingum College, Notre Dame College, Oberlin College, Ohio Dominican University, Ohio Northern University, Ohio Wesleyan University, Otterbein College, Urbana University, Ursuline College, Walsh University, Wilmington College, Wittenberg University and The College of Wooster.