About Us: Board Members

Board Officers

Joseph M. Cicero
Mayor of Lyndhurst, Ohio
Chair

Lois K. Goodman
Work and Family Consulting Group
Co-Chair

Mitchell Balk
President of the Mt. Sinai Health Care Foundation
Treasurer

Susan Schwarzwald
Secretary

Board of Directors

Eileen Adornetti : :Susan E. Axelrod : : Mitchell Balk : : Joseph A. Calabrese : : Joseph M. Cicero : : Maureen Crider-Wallace : : Jane E. Fumich : : Lois K. Goodman : : Mareyjoyce Green : :Earl M. Leiken : : Howard R. Maier : :Julie Rittenhouse : : Susan Schwarzwald

Eileen Adornetti
Appointing Authority: Cuyahoga County Mayors and Managers Association
Eileen Adornetti is the Director of Human Services for the City of Mayfield Heights.  Ms. Adornetti was appointed to this position in 1989 after a lengthy career in business working for Dow Corning Corporation and TRW. In her current position, she is responsible for developing and promoting senior services and activities, as well as the coordination and delivery of needed services. She is a strong advocate of senior transportation and has served on the Operations Committee of the Transportation Consortium Coordinating Committee (TC3) from 2001—2009.  Ms. Adornetti has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business from Ursuline College, a Master of Arts degree in Counseling and Human Services from John Carroll University, and is a licensed social worker with a certificate in gerontology.

Susan E. Axelrod
Appointing Authority: Cuyahoga County Board of Commissioners
Ms. Axelrod is the Director of the Cuyahoga County Department of Senior and Adult Services (DSAS). Ms. Axelrod oversees a budget of more than $25 million and provides overall coordination and oversight of DSAS. DSAS, in partnership with the community, provides a continuum of services to improve the quality of life for the senior and disabled adult population of Cuyahoga County, focusing on vulnerable elderly and at-risk adults. Prior to joining the County, Ms. Axelrod worked for the City of Cleveland in a number of capacities. She served as the Commissioner of Public Health and Executive Assistant to the Mayor for Health and Human Services. Ms. Axelrod has received a Bachelor degree and a Master degree in Education from Cleveland State University.

Mitchell Balk
Appointing Authority: The Mt. Sinai Health Care Foundation
Mr. Balk is the founding President of The Mt. Sinai Health Care Foundation, a grantmaking organization resulting from the 1996 sale of the Mt. Sinai Medical Center and related Cleveland hospitals. As of December 2004, the Foundation has distributed more than $40 million in its initial seven years of grantmaking. In 2003, Mr. Balk was elected founding board chair of the Health Policy Institute of Ohio. This Columbus-based Institute is a source of nonpartisan information for making health policy decisions. Mr. Balk holds a Bachelor degree in Near Eastern Studies from the University of Minnesota and a Master Degree from the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration.

Joseph A. Calabrese
Appointing Authority: Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority
Joe Calabrese is the CEO/General Manager of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA), overseeing a $300 million annual budget and 2,700 employees.  RTA serves 200,000 daily customers on its 650 buses and 108 rail cars that operate throughout Northeast Ohio.  With a motto of “back to the basics”, Joe has led an aggressive campaign that improved the quality of RTA’s services, leading to six consecutive years of ridership growth.  In 2007, RTA was awarded the Smart Business/Lexus “World Class Customer Service Award”, and named “The Best Public Transit System in North America”.  In 2008, Joe was named the “Best Public Transit Manager in North America”.  Joe received his undergraduate degree from Syracuse University, his MBA from the University of Buffalo, and completed post-graduate fellowships at Northeastern, the University of Chicago and the Wharton School.  Past president of the NY State Public Transit Association and Ohio Public Transit Association, Joe currently serves on many local non-profit boards.

Honorable Joseph M. Cicero
Appointing Authority: Cuyahoga County Mayors and Managers Association
Mayor Cicero, serving his first term as Mayor, has been a life-long resident of the City of Lyndhurst. Prior to being elected mayor, he was on the City Council for fourteen years. Mayor Cicero is the president of the Council of Governments for the Tri-City Consortium on Aging and is active with the Cleveland Foodbank and is a strong supporter of the educational process in public and private schools. Mayor Cicero is a graduate of Charles F. Brush High School and has attended Lakeland Community College and Ursuline College.

Maureen Crider-Wallace
Appointing Authority: Cuyahoga County Board of Commissioners
Maureen Crider-Wallace currently serves as the Deputy Director of the Cuyahoga County Department of Senior and Adult Services.  Ms. Crider-Wallace oversees a budget of approximately $12.5 million and a staff of 170 in the program areas of Home Care Skilled and Support Services, PASSPORT Provider Services, Ryan White Title I HIV/AIDS Home Support, and the Cuyahoga Options for Elders Program.  Prior to joining the DSAS staff in October 2003, Ms. Crider-Wallace was the Rehabilitation Director at Goodwill Industries of Greater Cleveland, and was a Family Services Counselor and Case Manager at the Hitchcock Center for Women.  Ms. Crider-Wallace has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a Master of Management degree, both from Ursuline College and is currently pursuing a Ph.D.  Ms. Crider-Wallace is a Certified Global Career Development Facilitator Instructor (CDFI), and is a member of several Community and Educational Advisory Councils, and holds membership in many social organizations. 

Jane E. Fumich
Appointing Authority: Mayor, City of Cleveland
Ms. Fumich is the Director of Cleveland's Department on Aging. She was appointed to this position by Mayor Jane Campbell in 2002 after having served as the Director of the Cuyahoga County Department of Senior and Adult Services since 1999. The Cleveland Department of Aging mission is to enhance the quality of life for Cleveland's senior through advocacy, planning, service coordination and the delivery of needed services. Ms. Fumich oversees a budget of approximately $1 million and a staff of twenty. Ms. Fumich has a Bachelor of Science degree in Health, Physical Education and Recreation from Kent State University and a Master Degree in Gerontological Studies from Miami University's Scripps Gerontology Center.

Lois K. Goodman
Appointing Authority: United Way Services of Greater Cleveland
Ms. Goodman is the President of the Work and Family Consulting Group, Incorporated, a consulting service that helps employers manage the changing needs of a diverse work force. The Work and Family Group reviews personnel policies and benefits, does surveys and feasibility studies and provides management training. Prior to starting her consulting firm, Ms. Goodman was Director of Employee Development for Ameritrust Company. Ms. Goodman has a Bachelor degree from the University of Michigan in Liberal Arts and a Master of Art degree from Case Western Reserve University in Guidance and Counseling.

Dr. Mareyjoyce Green
Appointing Authority: Mayor, City of Cleveland
Dr. Green was an Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of the Women's Comprehensive Program at Cleveland State University. Dr. Green is also Project Director of Push to Achievement, a pre-Welfare Reform program designed to enable qualified students receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) to earn a baccalaureate degree. Dr. Green is a graduate of Wiley College, a historical black college, in Marshall, Texas and attended graduate school at the University of Wyoming and Case Western Reserve University.

Earl M. Leiken
Appointing Authority: Cuyahoga County Mayors and Managers Association
Elected Mayor of the City of Shaker Heights in 2007, Earl Leiken previously served two four-year terms as a City Council member, from 2000 through 2007.  He was a member of the Shaker Heights Board of Education and served as its president. Leiken was a partner of the law firm of Baker & Hostetler, and past president of Shaker Family Center. He also served on the Youth Center Board.  He has been a member of the Jewish Community Center board and served as its president. Mayor Leiken is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School.

Howard R. Maier
Appointing Authority: Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency
Mr. Maier has been the Executive Director of the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) since 1989. NOACA is the federally designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for five counties (Cuyahoga, Geagua, Lake, Lorain and Medina) which does transportation planning, transportation-related air quality planning, and area wide water quality management planning, as defined by federal and Ohio mandates. Mr. Maier is directed by a thirty-eight-member Governing Board of local and appointed officials. NOACA has forty full-time employees and a budget of approximately $6 million. Mr. Maier has a Bachelor Degree in Economics from Ohio State University, a Master of City Planning from Ohio State University and a Master of Science in Public Management from Case Western Reserve University.

Julie Rittenhouse
Appointing Authority: Cleveland City Council
Julie Rittenhouse is a Program Officer with the GAR Foundation.  She has an in-depth knowledge of the nonprofit sector and nine years of philanthropic experience with strategic initiatives, program management and evaluation.  Ms. Rittenhouse is an active volunteer with human services and educational organizations serving Greater Cleveland.  She holds a bachelor of arts degree in government and international studies from the University of Notre Dame and a master’s of science in social administration from Case Western Reserve University. 

Susan Schwarzwald
Appointing Authority: Western Reserve Area Agency on Aging
Ms. Schwarzwald was formerly the Director of Program Development and Planning for the Western Reserve Area Agency on Aging (WRAAA) and was responsible for strategic planning, implementation and allocation of funding for the Older Americans Act and State of Ohio Senior Community Service programs. In addition, she managed the funds dedicated to health promotion initiatives, Alzheimer Respite and directed the WRAAA's housing program for the five-County region. Ms. Schwarzwald is a founding member of the Senior Transportation Working Group, a planning collaborative working to establish a model of coordinated transportation for older persons in Cuyahoga County. Ms. Schwarzwald has a Bachelor degree from Oberlin College and a Master degree from the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University.