Alumni Association Board of Directors

Officers

PRESIDENT

James Brazytis ‘94 BA
Senior Marketing Communications Manager
Avery Dennison Corporation

PRESIDENT ELECT

Rick Wilson-Negron ‘04 MLRHR
Chief People Officer
Destination Cleveland

IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT

Lauren Rudman ‘08 MLRHR
Senior Director of HR and Training
GNCO, Inc.

SECRETARY

Jeri Chaikin ‘77 MPA, ‘73 BA
Chief Administrative Officer
City of Shaker Heights 

TREASURER

CO-CHAIR, FINANCE COMMITTEE
John Kane ‘12 MBA
Director, Family Wealth Advisor
Ancora Holdings Group

Associate Vice President, Alumni Relations & Corporate Engagement
Executive Director, CSU Alumni Association

Anne-Marie E. Connors

DIRECTORS AND CHAPTER REPRESENTATIVES

Bilal Akram, ‘14 BA, ‘16 MA
CEO, Code Media Group LLC
and Retired Firefighter, City of Cleveland

George Allen ‘92 M.Ed
Area Executive Director-MI; Territories Midwest
St. Jude's Childeren's Hospital

CO-CHAIR, EVENTS COMMITTEE
Nolan Andersky ‘12 BBA
DE&I Marketing Leader, North America
Avery Dennison

Zakaria Benmerzouga, ‘14 BChE, ‘15, MS CHE, '22 MBA
Business Director, Food and Supplement Ingredients
AIDP, Inc

CO-CHAIR, FINANCE COMMITTEE
Dave Blate
 ‘18 BBA
Vice President of Finance and Administration
Downtown Cleveland, Inc.

Sharrona Burns ‘97 BBA
Vice President of Convention Sales and Services Operations
Destination Cleveland

Sara Continenza, ‘14 MPA, ‘14 Graduate Certificate in Non-Profit Management
Founder/Executive Director, Food Strong
and Ward 3 Councilwoman, City of South Eucild

Alysha Ellis, ‘16 BA, ‘19 MBA 
Co-Founder
FutureLAND

CO-CHAIR, GOVERNANCE AND NOMINATING
Charlotte Gouveia Neto
 ‘13 BBA
Manager Finance Transformation
PwC

Alexandra Granakis, ‘16 BSHS 
Chief Operations Officer
Solidarity Health Network

Kiersten Green ‘15 BA
Manager, Group Sales
Cleveland Cavaliers 

Manju Gupta ‘03 JD, ‘03 MBA
Counsel
Tucker Ellis LLP

Larry Heller ‘18 M.Ed, ‘16 BA, ‘15 BA & BSW
Outreach Coordinator
Northern Ohio Recovery Association 

Dave Huiett ‘66 BS
Fenn College of Engineering
Chapter Representative, Greek Alumni 

CO-CHAIR, GOVERNANCE & NOMINATING COMMITTEE
Tia Kline ’89 BBA
Learning and Development Coordinator
Medical Mutual of Ohio

CO-CHAIR, EVENTS COMMITTEE
Antoinette Kramer ‘11 MSN, ‘09 BS
Assistant Teaching Professor
Bowling Green State University  

CHAIR, PHILANTHROPY AND CORPORATE ENGAGEMENT COMMITTEE
Joseph Nicklos ‘91 M.Ed, ‘81 BA

Educational Consultant
Joe Nicklos Consulting 

Sarah Olenik, ‘15 Chemical Dependency Counseling Certificate, ‘16 MSW 
Executive Director/Owner
A New Day Lodi

Neil Patel, ‘01 MBA
Product Strategy, Pricing and Analytics Manager, First Vice President,
Flagstar Bank

Veranda Rodgers, ‘10 BBA
Executive Director
Pregnant with Possibilities Resource Center

Joseph Wickens, ‘14 MA
Collections and Exhibits Manager
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Ron Willner ‘12 M.Ed, ‘98 M.Ed, ‘90 BA
Vice President, Venue Operations
The Cleveland Orchestra
Executive Director, The Summer Institute &
Adjunct Professor, Sport & Entertainment Management
Cleveland State University

Ali Wilson, ‘06 BS
Recruiter
Nexus Engineering Group, LLC