About Ben Kroeck

Benjamin Kroeck is the Senior Philanthropy Coordinator for Dominion Energy. He represents the Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation throughout Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and South Carolina while overseeing the charitable giving budget and several signature programs.

Originally a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania he moved to Cleveland at the end of 2013. He began his career at Dominion Energy in 2007 as an intern with the Media Relations Department before transitioning to the Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation from 2008-present.

Benjamin obtained a Master of Public and International Affairs with a concentration in Global Political Economy from the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs in 2010. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and History from Washington and Jefferson College in 2008.

Benjamin lives in Lakewood with his domestic partner, Alexis Kunsak, and their cat Lemon. He is an avid bicyclist, hiker, camper, canoeist who is proud to call Ohio home.

About Bob Cahen

Bob Cahen serves as the executive director of the Lakeland Foundation and director of development for Lakeland Community College located in Kirtland, Ohio. He has held that position since 2003. In addition, he has an active consulting practice which focuses on such issues as research, planning and resource development for nonprofit organizations. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Case Western Reserve University, an M.A. from Case Western Reserve University and a B.A. from Miami University.

Bob held a variety of senior positions in area nonprofit and pubic organizations: assistant executive director and acting executive director, Council for Economic Opportunities in Greater Cleveland (1979 – 1983); executive director, Jewish Vocational Service of Cleveland (1983 – 1987); director of strategic planning and marketing, assistant director, Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland (1987 – 1997); executive director, Jewish Community Center of Cleveland (1997 – 2003). In addition, he has taught courses in political science, social science, literature and writing at a number of Northeast Ohio colleges, including Cuyahoga Community College and Lake Erie College.

In recent years, Bob has served as a consultant for the Mandel Foundation, as consultant and founding executive director of the Ohio Association of Community Colleges Center for Development, and as a consultant for a major fundraising campaign for the Girl Scouts of Northeast Ohio.

Bob is a past secretary/treasurer of the Greater Cleveland Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. He volunteers in various capacities with several national professional associations, and serves in a range of volunteer roles with nonprofit organizations in Northeast Ohio. In May of 2013, Bob was named the 2013 Outstanding Fundraising Executive of the Year by the Greater Cleveland Chapter of the AFP.

He lives in Shaker Heights with his wife, Alice. He has three grown sons.

About David Holmes (he/him)

Dave Holmes is an Educational Programming Manager at Candid, coordinating national trainings and the training and educational programming for the Midwest region. He returned to the Foundation Center (now Candid) in 2015 from a position as Senior Consultant at Grants Plus, writing grants and doing research for a variety of large and small nonprofit clients. In his initial nine-year tenure with Foundation Center, Dave served in various roles including Regional Training Specialist, Interim Director of Foundation Center – Cleveland, and Director of Capacity and Leadership Development.

Earlier in his career, Dave served as a Program Officer for the Stocker Foundation in Lorain, Ohio, and as the Director of Grants and Prospect Research at Notre Dame College in South Euclid, Ohio. He has served on numerous local boards, including the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Greater Cleveland Chapter;  Joel's Place for Children; and Upcycle Parts Shop. He holds a Bachelor's degree from the University of Pittsburgh, an MA from Villanova University, and an MLIS from Kent State University.

About Jeanine Gergel

Jeanine Gergel is a consultant with Foundation Management Services (FMS), where she provides advisory support to five private foundations in Northeast Ohio – the Abington, Bruening, HealthComp, Thomas White and Woodruff foundations.  Grantmaking interests of the foundations supported by FMS include health equity, early childhood development, physical and behavioral health, K-12 education, adult learning and workforce development.  Jeanine is the lead FMS consultant for the HealthComp Foundation, which was established in 2016 utilizing funding from a prior business venture of The Center for Health Affairs’ for-profit affiliate, HealthComp, Inc. The HealthComp Foundation has a proactive grantmaking focus on supporting efforts to promote the community’s ability to understand and assess priority health needs and to convene resources to address them.  Ms. Gergel also leads the Bruening Foundation’s Strong Start grantmaking strategy, which aims to ameliorate the impact of poverty on families with young children and ensure that every child gets a strong start in life.

Ms. Gergel is co-chair of the Funders Collaborative on Covid Recovery (FCCR) Policy & Advocacy Committee and leads the FCCR’s NEO Philanthropy Policy Lab. Prior to the formation of the FCCR, she was a member of the grants review team for the Greater Cleveland COVID-19 Rapid Response Fund. She serves on Cuyahoga County’s 2Gen Steering Committee, the Safe Babies Court Team Leadership Team and the MetroHealth Nurse Family Partnership Community Advisory Board.

Prior to Ms. Gergel’s work in philanthropy, she had strong nonprofit program, management, communications and fund development experience.  She served as assistant executive director and development director for North Coast Health, a community health clinic now part of federally qualified health center Neighborhood Family Practice.  She was also director of fund development at Girl Scouts of Northeast Ohio.  Prior to these posts, Jeanine worked for management consulting firms in Chicago and as the director of Strategic Consulting Services for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.

Ms. Gergel is a founding board member and past board president of the Healthy Lakewood Foundation and previously served as a mayor-appointed member of the City of Lakewood’s Wellness Foundation Planning Task Force.  She is board chair of Lakewood Senior Citizens Inc., which encompasses the Barton Communities Activity Center, the Barton Memorial Foundation and the Westerly apartments, a Housing and Urban Development (HUD) affordable housing complex for older adults.  She also serves on the boards of LSC Corporation and GardenWalk Lakewood.

Jeanine received a BA from Miami University and an MBA from Case Western Reserve University.  She was also a Robert Wood John Foundation Ladder to Leadership Fellow.

About Karen Hooser

Karen Reinberger Hooser is a lifelong resident of Northeast Ohio. Her early years were spent in Independence as the youngest of 3 daughters of William and Mary Ann Reinberger.

Karen graduated cum laude in 1978 with her Equine Studies degree from Lake Erie College. For the 8 years following her time at Lake Erie she ran a therapeutic riding program, Centaur, in the Cleveland Metroparks.

In 1992 Karen joined her father, William C. Reinberger as a Trustee of The Reinberger Foundation. Karen became President of The Reinberger Foundation in 2009.

Karen has been actively involved in Philanthropy Ohio (formerly Ohio Gramtmakers Forum) and Exponent Philanthropy. Her current focus is cultivating a passion for philanthropy in the 8 family members of the 4th generation recently seated on the Board.

The Reinberger Foundation began in 1968 by Clarence T. Reinberger. Over the past 50 years over $110,000,000 has been given by The Foundation in support of non-profits in the Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio area.

About Kari Mirkin

Kari has ten years of experience in the nonprofit sector, most recently at the Foundation Center-Cleveland and through her local and national leadership roles with the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network (YNPN).

She’s also a contributing blogger for Idealist Careers. Kari received her MNO from Case Western Reserve University and holds a BA in History and German from Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa. She’s loved writing for as long as she can remember, and enjoys helping nonprofits share their stories with the community.

About Naomi Worthington

Naomi has more than ten years of program management, volunteer training, and fundraising experience for schools, cultural institutions, media projects, and social service agencies.

Before joining Grants Plus, she oversaw free tax preparation assistance for the Cuyahoga County Earned Income Tax Credit Coalition, resulting in more than half a million dollars in tax returns for low-income residents of Cleveland. Naomi volunteers as a tax preparer for the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program and is a certified yoga teacher.

Naomi holds a BA in International Relations from Kent State University and an MFA in Writing from the University of San Francisco.