The Toledo metropolitan area ranked No. 7 in Forbes Magazine list of metropolitan areas with the most optimistic forecast for hiring this summer.

Toledo tied with Lancaster, Penn. as being ranked in seventh place by Forbes according to a survey done by the employment services firm ManpowerGroup.

The group surveyed more than 18,000 employers in 100 metropolitan areas to find out who’s hiring, who’s firing and who plans to maintain their current staff levels in the third quarter of 2011, Of the surveyed employers, 20 percent anticipate an increase in staffing levels in their second quarter hiring plans, while 8 percent expect a decrease in payrolls. The difference between those numbers gives you what ManpowerGroup calls a net employment outlook of 12 percent–or 8 percent when seasonally adjusted, which is still up from 6 percent for the same period last year, according to a press release from Destination Toledo.

Toledo has a net employment outlook of 20 percent according to ManpowerGroup.

The metropolitan area with the most optimistic forecast of all for hiring this summer is Grand Rapids-Wyoming, Michigan with a net employment outlook of 24 percent. The Grand Rapids-Wyoming Metropolitan area consists of four counties in western Michigan which includes the cities of Grand Rapids and Wyoming. As of the 2010 census, area had a population of 774,160 that is made up of Barry, Ionia, Kent, and Newaygo counties.

Forbes ranked Toledo as the No. 12 of 20 U.S. cities on its “America’s Most Miserable Cities” Feb.2 list.

The Best And Worst Cities For Jobs This Summer by Forbes writer Jacquelyn Smith.

Previous coverage: Forbes names Toledo a ‘most miserable city’

Toledo Newspaper Guild Administrative Officer Lillian Covarrubias told Toledo Free Press in a June 24 email that contract negotiations remain stalled between The Blade and its unions.

“No new meetings have been scheduled. The Council of Newspaper Unions met last week with the top leaders of the Newspaper Guild and the Teamsters to help develop strategies for future meetings. To date, no WARN notice has been posted,” Covarrubias said.

WARN is designed to protect workers by requiring employers to provide 60-day notices of either closings or “mass layoffs.”

Blade President and General Manager Joseph Zerbey did not respond to a request for comment on June 24.

The five guys in k.d. lang’s new band aren’t afraid to bare it all. Each shares his most embarrassing musical moment on kdlang.com.
Joe Pisapia, a multi-instrumentalist and former member of Guster, may be the winner: “When I used to have hair, one time in a moment of pure spirited rocking, a tendril of hair went into my mouth and stuck to my gum,” he wrote on the site. “I had sweaty hair and gum hitting me in the face for the rest of that song.”

k.d. lang

Seems fair to ask lang, right?
During a phone interview from Los Angeles, the four-time Grammy winner confessed.
“I’ve had a couple, but my biggest mistake I think I ever made was on live television in London on the Jools Holland show. I just completely spaced on the entire first verse of ‘Constant Craving,’ like the entire first verse,” she said and laughed. “And I had no way of coming out of it except to just wait until the second verse.
“The other one was, I was also in London, I was on the ‘Drag’ promotion tour,” she recalled. “I was playing for all the media and critics, and I was singing ‘My Old Addiction.’ I was sitting on a stool and I closed my eyes and I just completely lost my orientation and just felt like I had been catapulted out of the chair to the edge of the stage and slipped off the edge of the stage.
“Fortunately, the stage was maybe only 6 to 8 inches tall, but that was pretty embarrassing, too.”
So much for the consequences of falling.
lang was calling to talk about her new disc, “Sing It Loud,” which was released in April.
“This is kind of a rock record,” the singer-songwriter said. “I definitely worked with kind of a joyful abandon approach to this record, just following my instincts, willing to step out of my comfort zone, and just seeing what was out there in the world.”
What she found was a creative kindred spirit: Pisapia.
They decided to put together a band. lang invited guitarist Joshua Grange and keyboardist Daniel Clarke, who both played on her tour for 2008’s “Watershed,” and Pisapia brought in bassist Lex Price. Clarke suggested drummer Fred Eltringham of The Wallflowers.
At Pisapia’s home in Nashville, the six lit up the studio, recording eight explosive songs live in three days last summer.
“It was really spontaneous and really rewarding, and at the end of a day’s work — we didn’t even stop to eat — we would have a beer and listen back and we were all so happy and dancing,” lang said.
“Sing It Loud” features 10 tracks, including eight co-written by lang and band members, one song by Pisapia, and a cover of the Talking Heads’ “Heaven.”
The disc opens with the soaring single, “I Confess.”
“Josh and Daniel came over to write, and we were sitting around and I said, you know, I really want to write like a Roy Orbison tune,” said the native of Alberta, Canada, who won a Grammy for her duet with Orbison for “Crying.” “I think I was the only one who had the full picture in my head when we went into the sessions later on, and the band brought it alive precisely, better than my dreams, and it was the first song we tackled as a band, so it was all pretty indicative of what was to come.”
After the recording session, lang shared the songs with her girlfriend.
“I called her up ready for my critique and she said, ‘Well, it starts off like a k.d. lang record. You’re sitting there and it’s really beautiful, and then the band kicks in, and siss boom bang.’ And I started laughing because I had spent days lying awake in bed coming up with names and looking on the Internet — every band name ever is taken,” lang said. “And I started laughing and went, ‘That’s the band name.’
“It just seemed to fit because we recorded it on July 1, 2, 3 and 4th, which is Canada Day and Independence Day, lots of fireworks going on, and it certainly felt very much like that.”
k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang will play the Ann Arbor Summer Festival at 8 p.m. July 1 at the University of Michigan’s Hill Auditorium. Tickets range from $35 to $75. The Belle Brigade will open. See the complete schedule at annarborsummerfestival.org.

The inaugural Glass City Auto Swap Meet could be the hit of the summer for car buffs when it comes to Toledo Speedway on June 26.
“You don’t want to miss the first one. We need all the support we can get as the first one is always the hardest,” said Nick Avina, organizer of the event.
As owner of Avina Specialties Inc. in Napoleon, Avina has operated the annual Toledo Swap Meet at the Lucas County Recreation Center in Maumee for several years. Now, he’s sponsoring the first auto swap meet in the area.
“People can bring their show cars at no charge, drive right in and park inside on the track,” Avina said during a recent phone interview.
The auto swap meet will feature an all makes, racers, circle track, high-performance and class auto parts event with new and used parts available for sale or swapping, he said. Vendors can purchase 10-foot-by-30-foot spots for $30.
Dreamer’s Car Club and Super Chevy magazine are participating in the event, Avina said.
Admission for the swap meet, which will run from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., is $5 for adults and free for children younger than 12. Parking is free.
Avina is offering a special rebate on the admission charge for anyone purchasing $20 or more in merchandise from the Avina Specialties tent on site. The company will feature the latest trends in promotional products at the swap meet, Avina said.
Toledo Speedway is located at 5639 Benore Road in North Toledo with access off the Alexis Road exit of I-75.
“We’re just leasing the grounds to him for the event, but we hope it’s successful,” said Scott Schultz, general manager of Toledo Speedway.
Schultz said the Speedway concession stands will be open with full menus for the swap meet. However, the Speedway Bar & Grill will not be open during the event, he said.
Stock car races will take place at Toledo Speedway on June 24 as they are every Friday night during the racing season, Schultz said.
Avina said he hopes car enthusiasts and race fans will come out and have a good time.
For more information, visit www.glasscityswapmeet.com.

One of the greatest benefits of working with Toledo Free Press during the past three years is the freedom it gives Mark and me to write it like we see it. TFP could just put in national news feeds, but instead it has people like us and Dock David Treece who are local licensed financial professionals in the trenches bringing you advice and our firsthand reports. When it comes to investing, the normal disclosure is past performance doesn’t guarantee future results. But, we have to ask, will history repeat itself, or is it going to be different this time?
Almost all investors, economists and analysts would agree that stocks and bonds will once again go down. The debate is not on if, but when. To figure out when, how much and how fast, an investor should consider looking at investments technically and fundamentally. It’s kind of a math and a science and a little luck. We recommend an investor relies more on the math and science by crunching the numbers to be better prepared so less guessing and luck is needed. Even so, a little luck never hurts.

Since most investors don’t understand the terms “fundamental” and “technical,” let’s define them.  According to Wikipedia, technical analysis is the study of past price changes in the hope of forecasting future price changes. Although the past doesn’t guarantee future results, it can be helpful to look and understand how it worked out in the past.
Fundamental analysis, on the other hand, according to investorwords.com involves examining the company’s financials and operations. It looks specifically at a company instead of the overall state of the market or technical analysis. Combining the two approaches could be helpful when doing a good overall analysis of investments.
Fundamentally, an investor needs to ask how good are things financially? According to the S&P, profits are 27 percent  higher for the companies in the S&P 500 in the second quarter of 2011 compared to the second quarter of 2010. That overall is good news. And the performance of the S&P 500 index during the past year shows those positive results. Fundamentals can be important in figuring out what an investor wants to own. The growth investor could focus on companies that are the leaders in the industry today and in great shape financially. The value investor could focus on companies that are being ignored by others and are financially doing well and present opportunity. However, even if a stock looks good fundamentally, that doesn’t mean it will go up. It isn’t that easy.
The Retirement Guys may not be smart enough to figure out the stock market on a daily basis; yet, what we do know is it is technically a good idea to have a clear exit strategy in place when it comes to owning stocks and bonds. Not having a clear exit plan could be a costly mistake. Technically, again as we pointed out earlier, the stock and bond market only go up for so long before it goes back down.
A few of our current concerns are our growing national debt, rising unemployment and our housing crisis. Looking deeper at our concerns, here are the facts. According to the Treasury Department, we have created as much debt in the past seven years as we did in the history of our country. We will have to pay for this debt. In our opinion, paying for this debt will be the burden of savers in the form of higher taxes in the future. Next, unemployment still remains high and according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics website, unemployment has been going back up since March.
Third, according to the joint center for housing studies for Harvard University, average home equity has dropped 39 percent. A home is usually the biggest or second biggest asset most families own, which is significantly down in value. These three currents concerns in our opinion are increasing the risk to investors.
The good news is you can do something to make a difference. Enroll this fall in an investment class offered by one of our local colleges or universities. Spend time meeting with a licensed financial professional and review your accounts. Fundamentally, it will be a good investment and technically, it is your life’s savings. Take control of your own future by getting educated on investment basics.

For more information about The Retirement Guys, tune in every Saturday at 1 p.m. on 1370 WSPD or visit www.retirementguysradio.com. Securities and Investment Advisory Services are offered through NEXT Financial Group Inc., Member FINRA / SIPC.  The S&P 500 index is an unmanaged index and you cannot invest directly into an index. The Retirement Guys are not an affiliate of NEXT Financial Group.

Government policy and financial markets have a rather strange relationship. Sometimes the markets are highly reactive to policy, while other times it seems as if no one on Wall Street reads a newspaper. The Ronald Reagan administration is one example from recent history where policy had little impact on the markets — mostly because the policies coming out of Washington were centered on the idea of not interfering with the private sector.
This is hardly the case at present, however. Instead, Wall Street reacts almost daily to any bill, executive order or rumor coming from D.C.
Unfortunately, it is policy that has caused the economy to slow back down in recent months, and the financial markets have entered a lull as a result. Since the end of April, markets have fallen roughly 7 percent, and despite a recent rally the correction looks poised to continue.
We expect the market’s troubles to continue until there is a definite shift in policies coming out of Washington.
Few realize that, though stocks have rallied more than 80 percent since their post-crash bottom in March of 2009 (with only one substantial pullback roughly twice the one we’re now facing), there are some serious fundamental problems with this economy and the markets, most of which can be traced back to poor policy.
Though stocks have rallied during the past 27 months as corporate earnings have recovered, investors have lost motivation to push money into the markets — or even keep it there — as little of those earnings have been transferred to equity stakeholders. In short, investors haven’t been compensated for the risks they’ve taken in the markets.
When investors buy bonds, they are lending money to a corporation in exchange for interest; when they buy stocks they’re purchasing shares of a company’s future earnings.
Over the past two years, though stocks have made substantial gains, Americans’ interest income has remained completely flat — mostly thanks to the Fed continuing to keep interest rates inexplicably low. As for stocks, dividend income paid to Americans has made very little recovery since March of 2009.
According to the St. Louis Fed, personal income receipts on assets have risen only about 8 percent since the market bottom in March of 2009, while stocks have risen more than 80 percent. It’s simply unreasonable to expect investors to continue supporting the markets without adequate compensation for the risk they assume in doing so.
That’s not to say that many of these fundamental flaws couldn’t be corrected with some sensible policy. Quite the contrary, the U.S. economy is currently positioned to experience growth not seen since the early 1980s. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration seems totally unmotivated to make the necessary changes, and will likely snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, as the saying goes.
(For more on these issues, see “Obama and the Anti-Investor Class,” published on BigGovernment.com.)
Another factor weighing on the markets as of late has been the financial turmoil in Europe, especially Greece. It should come as no surprise that a bailout is in the works; as we discussed on CNBC’s “The Kudlow Report,” bankers always bail each other out. While the potential bailout is no surprise, it’s also no solution.
The realization has been quickly spreading that a bailout of Greece will not make the country any more viable in the long term. At this point, the only way for Greece to get its house in order is to go through some sort of structured default.
While the situation in Greece continues to deteriorate, the U.S. and the dollar continue to look better and better. For the most part, the critics, who after the financial crisis had pushed for abandoning the dollar as the world’s reserve currency, seem to have been silenced.
In the long run we expect the turmoil in Europe to bode well for America and the U.S. dollar.
The problems facing Greece also remind us of an extremely important lesson for investors to always know what it is that they own and what risks they face, or at least employ a sensible adviser who is aware of these things. With Greece possibly in the midst of a default, many investors are just now  beginning to realize they have exposure to the country, and may be at risk in the event that a default actually occurs.
As headlines continue to come out on the economy, policy in Washington and the problems in Greece, it’s important to take market action during the next several weeks with a grain of salt. We are quickly approaching the end of the second quarter, and as such are likely in the midst of profit-taking and, more significantly as recent market action hints, portfolio “window dressing.”
(To recall, “window dressing” occurs when portfolio managers purchase investments that have performed well during the quarter in order to give their clients the idea that they know what they’re doing.)
In short, whatever stocks do between now and the end of the quarter means little or nothing for the long-term prospects for the market.

Dock David Treece is a discretionary money manager with Treece Investment Advisory Corp and is licensed with FINRA through Treece Financial Services Corp. He has appeared on CNBC and numerous radio programs, and also serves as editor of financial news site Green Faucet. The above information is the express opinion of Dock David Treece and should not be construed as investment advice or used without outside verification.

Some 300 walkers are expected to attend the 2nd annual “Romp to Stomp” one mile Parkinson’s awareness walk this weekend at Flower Hospital. On Sat., June 25 from 10 a.m. to noon folks of all ages will be walking to raise donations and awareness for Parkinson’s disease.

All walkers are welcome for this free event, said Mark Fischer, president of the Parkinson Foundation of Northwest Ohio (PFNWO). Fischer said he encourages people to bring the whole family to support the cause. PFNWO will be accepting cash and check contributions.
“(We want) to help aid in the fundraising for research, development of, and awareness for funding … for a cure,” he said.

The walk is a great family event, Fischer said, as they added a youth one mile run in addition to the main walk. The youth run will begin around 9:45 a.m., Fischer said, with the main walk to follow.

Fischer started the walk last year when he became president of PFNWO, a nonprofit group dedicated to raising awareness and education for sufferers of Parkinson’s disease. Group officials often talked about starting a race or walk for awareness at board meetings, Fischer said, and he wanted to make it happen.

“(We) would say, ‘They have a walk over here, they have a walk over there, we need to start a walk,’” he said. “Last year when I started I said, ‘Let’s take the bull by the horns.’”

And his hard work paid off. Fischer said he was pleased with last year’s turnout, and is confident this event will be an even bigger success.

“(I) have to say it was very successful,” Fischer said. “The best of our estimates were 150 (participants) and we’re hoping this year we’ll double that.”

There’s no specific fundraising goal, Fischer said, but pre-registration numbers have increased from last year and they expect a decent crowd.

“Of course funds are our goal because we’d like to help and assist with research and development for a cure … but it isn’t our main goal to push for money because we don’t want to develop an attitude of, ‘Money money money,’” he said.
Snacks and entertainment will be provided; attendees can enjoy raffles for prizes, clowns and live music by local musician Dave Browning. Walkers can form teams of at least four to gather donations. T-shirts will be sold at the event for $10; each child entered in the youth run will receive a free t-shirt.

Walk day registration begins at 9 a.m. at Flower Hospital, 5200 Harroun Rd., Sylvania, Ohio. Flower Hospital and the PFNWO are sponsoring the event.

For those who cannot attend but want to help the cause, contributions can be mailed to the PFNWO main office at 1930 N. St. Rt. 19, Oak Harbor, Ohio 43449.

“We have an exciting opportunity to be a regional partner and work with a new administration and new economic development officials in Lucas County and Toledo. This is a great opportunity to think and act with a regional purpose and we look forward to enhancing these relationships.”
— 2009 Wood County Economic Development Commission

The three Wood County Commissioners — Tim Brown, Jim Carter and Alvin Perkins — fulfilled their duties as elected officials on June 21 when they unanimously denied the Toledo Zoo’s request to put a levy on the Wood County ballot. The proposal had little public support and the commissioners were well within their rights to vote to “kill it in committee,” although it leaves a sour aftertaste whenever the broader public is denied an opportunity to vote on such a proposal.
There are a few details that should be noted for the record before the conversation is forgotten. As a former board member for the Toledo Zoo, I am well aware of the economic impact the institution represents and the tremendous amount of resources that go into that effort. The Regional Growth Partnership (RGP) reported in April that the attraction generates more than $38 million for the local economy each year. This includes 500 jobs and a hard-dollar benefit that extends beyond Lucas County and reaches into Ottawa, Fulton, and Wood counties in Ohio and Monroe County in Michigan.

“First and foremost, the Toledo Zoo provides jobs and discretionary spending dollars for this region, but in addition, it adds significantly to the quality of life assets we promote both nationally and globally,” said Dean Monske, president of the RGP. “It is not uncommon for the RGP to include the Zoo in showcasing our region to visiting site consultants, corporate executives, and potential international investors.”
In fact, plenty of Wood County interests promote the Toledo Zoo as part of their efforts to attract visitors. The Perrysburg Convention and Visitors Bureau repeatedly lists that city’s proximity to the Toledo Zoo as a benefit. Perrysburg is only one part of a very large county, but the point is that Wood County attractions do recognize that the Toledo Zoo is a regional contributor.
I understand the resistance the proposal met in Wood County. It wasn’t as much about details regarding one-day free admissions and free school visits as it was about preventing a neighboring county from getting its tax-collecting fingers under the tent. If the Zoo is entitled to Wood County money, why not Imagination Station, or any other faction in a long line of quality attractions?
Perhaps it would be worth discussing the idea of joining all the zoos in Ohio for statewide funding, much like libraries are allotted.
It is clear the Toledo Zoo, like nearly all cultural attractions, is going to have to be smart, conservative and creative as it navigates challenging economic times. And while we respect Wood County’s decision to limit its participation to individual memberships, its people should remember that the Toledo Zoo does add value to the entire region’s quality of life, and if its leaders are serious about regional cooperation, perhaps they will be open to nonlevy ideas to contribute to, as well as benefit from, its well-being.

Thomas F. Pounds is president and publisher of Toledo Free Press and Toledo Free Press Star. Contact him at tpounds@toledofreepress.com.

A bonfire of Hallmark greeting cards, bellowing sickeningly sweet drifts of smoke. Cleveland Indians mascot Chief Wahoo lying in drifts of snow, staring at the great wide sky for the last time. Silent stares of contempt and derision aimed at an unhoused man as he walks the Toledo streets.
These and scores of other images were part of a June 16 poetry reading that featured more poets than audience members.
Toledo Free Press sponsored a stop on the June 16 Art Walk, a signature event of the Arts Commission of Greater Toledo. We opened our warehouse on Huron Street, set up chairs and a makeshift podium and invited a group of local poets to read their works. Michael Grover led an outstanding line-up of poets — Arnold Koester, Jonie McIntire, Greg Peters and Bob Phillips.

With the cluster of activity on St. Clair and Adams streets, there was a dearth of passersby on Huron Street to look in and see the reading, but each of the poets gave it his or her best, reading original material that inspired laughter and reflection to the few people who joined us.
There is a thriving poetry scene in Toledo, but it seems like a backburner element compared to music and gallery arts. Most of my exposure to the scene comes from the published works of longtime Toledo Free Press arts writer John Dorsey, who is producing a body of work that is growing in size and national acclaim.
It’s a tougher challenge at home in Toledo.
Phillips told Toledo Free Press Staff Writer Patrick Timmis, “Poetry’s like the poor uncle of the arts.”
Grover is keenly aware of how some people view his art. He said many people stereotype poetry as bad and boring — epithets he thinks many poets deserve. He said he wants to make poetry fun again, although many of his pieces are dark and questioning.
Grover read a number of his “American Outlaw” poems, making each piece a compelling performance.
Peters read an epic poem about being unhoused in Toledo. After working nearly 30 years for Chrysler, he is waiting for news on his pension while he gets by the best he can. Peters told Timmis he has written 800 poems in the past three years. Reading live, the words tumble out of him in a cascade of alternating anger and amusement.
“Poetry is to make a point and make a difference for someone’s life,” he said.
Phillips, with his shock of Einstein-like white hair, read poetry about his backyard observations and baseball memories. His work is specific and intimate yet universal in its wise evocation of the larger gears at work in life.
Phillips told Timmis he started writing poetry as a child. He grew up in Toledo.
“Most everything I learned was at the public library — the poor people’s university,” Phillips said.
His first poems were humorous, but puberty made his poems angsty and depressing, he said with a smile. When he discovered the Beats at age 11, he felt liberated by their style.
“You always thought a poem had to rhyme and be about flowers or autumn or something like that,” he said.
Poetry has always resided just outside my grasp, not as impactful as music but just as mysterious in its creative process. Words are fluid, live building blocks, but the way a poet shapes them isn’t the way I push them around or the way a songwriter manipulates them. And while many people believe they can be writers (I work just a few blocks from some of the region’s most high-profile failures), truly inspiring works of poetry and songwriting (the two are not the same thing, although some lyrics read like poetry) are intimidating.
In an effort to promote this special art, Toledo Free Press is co-sponsoring the Aug. 6 “Zygote in My Fez Poetry Festival,” from 4 to 10 p.m. at the Collingwood Arts Center. Red Fez and Zygote in my Coffee are the primary forces behind the event, which will feature nearly two dozen poets reading their works. We are also looking to find a more high-profile location for our remaining ACGT Art Walk poetry readings, July 21, Aug. 18 and Sept. 15.
Let’s take the poor uncle and show him a few special nights on the town.

Michael S. Miller is editor in chief of Toledo Free Press and Toledo Free Press Star. Contact him at mmiller@toledofreepress.com.

Since you asked, my single published poem, “Newsstand Love,” was published in a modest college anthology alongside real poems from real poets:

“Newsstand Love”
She has a Playboy body,
Penthouse eyes,
And a Cosmo mouth.
Her man had a World News sex drive,
But a National Enquirer mind,
And People depth.
She left him for a man with a GQ wardrobe,
An Esquire lifestyle
And a Wall Street Journal career.
But in her bed: Reader’s Digest.
She left him for a man with Sports Illustrated energy,
Rolling Stone hipness
And Vanity Fair ambitions.
But in her bed: National Lampoon.
Now she’s renewed her subscription with her first man.
If looking at the pictures keeps you satisfied,
Skip the fine print.

Black Swamp Conservancy elected its new officers and board of trustees June 21.

The Perrysburg-based conservancy non-profit is a land trust that strives to protect agricultural areas, natural habitats, lakes and streams in Northwest Ohio.

Kevin Joyce, the organization’s executive director, said agriculture is Ohio’s No. 1 industry — an industry losing 40,000 acres of land to development every year. Preserving wetlands — 95 percent of which Ohio has lost — is also an economically profitable goal, he said.

“It’s the most cost effective way to keep your water clean, is maintain your wetlands.”

Since Black Swam Conservancy’s founding in 1993, the group has protected over 10,000 acres of agricultural land and natural areas across Northwest Ohio.

The new board will have to look at speeding up its conservation process.

Joyce said the Land Trust Alliance predicts that in 25-50 years, all available land will be preserved or developed.

Black Swam Conservancy Election Results:

President (also a trustee): Tom Reed, treasurer of Entelco Corporation of Perrysburg
Vice President (also a trustee): Eric Kraus, product manager of AquaBlok, Ltd.
Treasurer: Louise Jackson, partner with the law firm of Spengler Nathanson, PLL.
Secretary: Garrick White, partner with Anspach Meeks Ellenberger LLP

Board of Trustees:

Neil Munger, director of the Wood County Park District
Carol Gee, communications consultant in Perrysburg
Kelly Faris, chair of the Put-in-Bay Township Park District
Katie Swartz Rousseau, associate director of American Rivers in Toledo
Ford Weber, president and CEO of Lucas County Improvement Corporation