A small cadre of outstanding physicians, nurse educators, clergy and business leaders have developed a clear sense of call to commit themselves to the CHT mission and vision. This solid and credible core is growing rapidly both in their depth of commitment and the breadth of expanding influence among other like-minded individuals.
Anne Ruch, M.D. Executive Director Anne is an Obstetrician/Gynecologist in Toledo since 1992. She has also been working with the poorest of Guatemala for the last 20 years with the organization SewHope. On a return flight from Guatemala in 2014, she started asking herself why she was not serving those most in need in her own community of Toledo as much as she was working for the poorest in a far-away country. This led her to start talking to amazing people in Toledo and Detroit who encouraged her to pursue a faith-based clinic that would address these needs. Through the grace of God, she was connected with an incredible group of people who joined her in starting Compassion Health Toledo. Anne and her husband Randy have four much loved children who share their passion for righting the great inequalities of this world. Lori Johnston Chair of Board of Directors Lori Johnston is the Chief Information Officer at ProMedica Health System in Toledo. She is responsible for all aspects of information technology throughout the health system. Prior to her current role, Lori served as president and chief administrative officer for ProMedica Physicians and oversaw the recruitment and employment of more than 800 physicians and advanced practice providers, operations of approximately 150 medical practice facilities and provider strategic planning. She has worked at ProMedica since 1996 in various capacities, including chief financial officer/chief operating officer of ProMedica St. Luke’s Hospital, senior vice president of ProMedica Continuum Services and senior vice president of finance. Lori earned a Bachelor of Arts in business administration at the University of Toledo and a Master of Business Administration at The Ohio State University. She is active in the community serving on the boards of Compassion Health Toledo, Toledo Mud Hens and Walleye sports teams, St. Ursula Academy, and the Advisory Council for the Area Office on Aging of Northwest Ohio. Lori also participates in medical missions in conjunction with the University of Toledo Medical School. She lives in the Toledo area with her husband and three children. Dina Villa Vice Chair of Board of Directors Dina graduated from the University of Toledo with a Bachelors degree in Fine Arts. She is the owner and operator of El Tipico Restaurant, the longest running Mexican restaurant in Toledo, Ohio. Kenetta Jones Secretary Kenetta retired from Rudolph Libbe in 2021 after operating as strategic business partner to leadership on matters related to culture, workplace environment, diversity, equity and inclusion, in addition to overseeing core HR strategies to achieve the Rudolph Libbe Group's Road Map To Success Goals of building One Healthy Team and developing People to Succeed. Prior to that, she was their Human Resource Manager responsible for delivering services through execution of all human resources processes, including talent management/recruitment, termination, affirmative action, benefits administration, compensation, and employee relations for all Rudolph Libbe Group Companies Bill Rudolph Treasurer Bill Rudolph is chairman of The Rudolph/Libbe Group, parent company of Rudolph/Libbe Inc., GEM Inc., GEM Energy and Rudolph/Libbe Properties. The Rudolph/Libbe Group is a nationally ranked, full-service construction firm serving the facility, process and energy needs of many of the nation’s leading industrial, commercial and institutional owners. Bill earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and an M.B.A. from The Ohio State University. He is a Registered Professional Engineer and a member of the Construction Users Roundtable (CURT). Laura Rudolph Laura is a 1985 graduate of The Ohio State University with a degree in Occupational Therapy. She has served in many volunteer roles while staying home with her six children. Laura served as the Toledo Area Coordinator for Healing The Children, an organization dedicated to providing medical services to children in developing countries. She is currently dividing her time between volunteering with Compassion Health Toledo, Mercy Cancer Center, Christ Child Society and the Toledo Museum of Art. Janet Robinson, Janet Hoey Robinson is a nursing leader in Northwest Ohio and is a founding member of Compassion Health Toledo. She brings 20+ years’ experience as an administrator in higher education in Toledo. She earned a BSN from Mercy College (now University of Detroit Mercy) and an MSN and PhD from Wayne State University. She taught nursing in Michigan, Oklahoma and Ohio. She was a tenured professor in nursing at both Lourdes College (now Lourdes University) and Medical College of Ohio (now University of Toledo Medical College). In addition to teaching at the School of Nursing at MCO, she was an assistant professor in the School of Medicine. Positions she held include: Interim President of Lourdes University, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Lourdes. She was also the Dean of Graduate Programs at MCO School of Nursing and Department Chair of Primary Care. Janet has a passion for serving others and has been active in a variety of church and community organizations. She brings interpersonal communication and networking skills to CHT and enjoys sharing the mission and vision with the community. She and her husband Gene have three sons and seven grandchildren. Dr. Keith Schlender For 36 years, Dr. Schlender was a Professor in the College of Medicine in what is now part of the University of Toledo teaching pharmacology to medical and nursing students. He also functioned as the Dean of the College of Graduate Studies. As Dean, he had academic responsibilities for graduate students in Nursing, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Physician Assistant Studies, Dentistry, Public Health, Human Donation Sciences, and Biomedical Sciences. He also directed over thirty years of National Institutes of Health supported biomedical research which involved extensive grant writing and publishing articles, collaborating with fellow faculty investigators, directing post-doctoral fellows, and graduate students. He served 17 years on State of Ohio Board of Regents Advisory Committee for Graduate Studies including two years as Chair. This Board had the responsibility of approving all new graduate programs in all of the state institutions in Ohio plus Case Western Reserve University and Dayton University. After retiring from the Medical School, he served 7 years at Lourdes University holding various administrative positions including Dean of the Graduate School, Associate Provost, and finally Provost and Chief Academic Officer. In our community, he has served as member and Chair of the Board of Directors for Asbury Daycare Center and Nursery, the Board of Directors for the Monroe Street Neighborhood Center and he is currently Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for Life Connection of Ohio, the Organ Procurement Organization for the Dayton-Toledo corridor. After spending his career in health-related teaching, research and administration, he is now excited to be on the Board of Directors for Compassion Health Toledo where he can contribute to the delivery of high-quality health care to some of the neediest of my community. Pastor Calvin Sweeney Dr. Calvin Sweeney is the Lead Pastor of The Tabernacle, as well as the President and founder of the Art Tatum Zone. He is committed to efforts that bring individual and collective transformation. Dr. Sweeney earned his doctorate in Education and Leadership from the University of Toledo in 2012, and has extensive experience in initiatives and programming that foster community and family engagement. Additionally, he is an expert in helping leaders with vision formation, communication, and execution. Dr. Sweeney is passionate about City Transformation and is respected as a leader’s leader by many local influencers. Dr. Sweeney was a professor at the University of Toledo, as well as a teachers with Toledo Public schools for nearly 20 years, before he took the position as the Lead Pastor at The Tabernacle. Dr. Sweeney has been married to his wife Christine for 24 years. They are the proud parents of six children and reside in Toledo, Ohio. Pastor Renee Harris Pastor Renee serves as senior Associate Pastor at Vision Ministries, an urban Christian church in South Toledo that serves the South end population in numerous valuable ways. Renee understands the issues of the underserved in this community and has been an invaluable asset to Compassion Health Toledo. She tells us that "Having lived and ministered within a block of the clinic I am overjoyed with the addition of Compassion Health to our community. Personally having a clinic within walking distance in an area where a very high percentage of the population walk to where they need to go is extremely beneficial. I have a unique perspective in that I not only live and work in the community but I am also a patient of the clinic. I am really moved by Compassion's efforts to bring the community together in an effort to meet as many needs as possible to those they serve." Celeste Felix Tayor After immigrating to the United States from the Dominican Republic, Celeste worked as an auditor for Head Start, the federally funded Early Child Education Program. In recent years, Celeste was the Manager of the South Branch Library and now is managing the new Mott Library on Dorr Street. Celeste has a great passion for the underserved and has worked in numerous ways to connect Compassion Health Toledo with other organizations who can benefit our patients. John Graham John received his MBA from the Darden School at the University of Virginia. He has extensive experience in leadership and in health care having been the Vice President of a division of HCR-Manorcare and Group Vice President of Heartland Home Health and Hospice prior to that. He is a fellow of the "Inspired Leadership Initiative from the University of Notre Dame. He is a former president of the Board of Directors of Mobile Meals of Northwest Ohio and is an Advisory Board member of the Virginia Tech Division of Student Affairs. Sally Binard Sally Binard is co-founder of Heart & Soul: Caring for Our Community. For over 16 years she and a dedicated team have organized two annual events, the Celebrity Wait Night and Halloween at Hensville with proceeds from these events benefiting vital community resources for mental health. In addition to fundraising, the organization and the events themselves have a parallel goal to raise awareness for mental health and help erase the stigma of mental illness. Prior to her work with Heart & Soul, Sally volunteered for and served on the boards of Toledo's David's House of Compassion, Planned Parenthood, and Prevent Blindness. At David’s House of Compassion she served with a dynamic team assisting people living with HIV and AIDS and their loved ones to navigate obtaining health care, information, food, shelter, and end-of-life care when the stigma of HIV and AIDS was at its height. Her dedication to providing access to health care continued with her involvement with Planned Parenthood and Prevent Blindness. She currently is a member of the Re-tie the Red Ribbon Planning Committee in support of the Ryan White Program at UTMC. This event funds the Ann Watson Locher Memorial Fund for HIV Care to provide basic services to the HIV/AIDS community that cannot be covered by other agencies or programs. Detroit born and raised, Sally has been a resident of Toledo since the 1980's. After moving to the warehouse district in 2002, Sally became an interest member of the Toledo Warehouse District Association. She enjoys the vibrant community that the warehouse district offers and loves the easy access to the Erie Street farmers’ market. Above all, Sally is a mother, grandmother, and an avid international traveler Avery Cooper After high school, Avery began a career in Radio Broadcasting working in Toledo, Cleveland and Detroit. He worked at Cherry Street Mission as the Evening Chaplin then Administrative Assistant for the Men’s Ministries department and became the Minister of Redemption offering hope and healing to homeless men. While at Cherry Street, he enrolled at Owens Community College to obtain a degree in Sociology. April 2003 inducted into the Theta Chapter of Sigma Kappa Delta, a National English Honor Society; finally graduating December 2017! He spent many years working as a Social Worker at Mercy assisting uninsured and underinsured patients. He also served as Director of Toledo Urban Impact's After-School Klub (ASK), an inner-city outreach for grade students. He became generation neXt Pastor at First Church of God reaching Children, Youth and Young Adults. He was also the Social Programs Director at the Padua Center, developing the After School*Stars program, boys mentoring program Grooming Great Gentlemen and OnLine School. He and wife of 28 years TinaMarie, are the parents of four children and ten grandchildren. An avid Toledo Roadrunner, he enjoys recreation (5k races) and uses the Gift of Exhortation to encourage God’s people especially youth and believes . . The Best, is Yet to Come! |