About Sloan D. Cargill

Sloan D. Cargill is the Assistant Director of Annual Giving at in University Heights, Ohio. Sloan has worked in University Advancement since 2015, and has risen through the ranks from Call Center Coordinator to her current position. She is committed to providing all students with affordable, accessible, and inclusive Liberal Arts educations.

Sloan’s commitment to this goal has evolved beyond her role as a fundraiser through her involvement with the University’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee; Mission Integration Committee; and as a founding leader of the University’s Employee Resource Groups. In acknowledgement of her contributions to the University, she was awarded the “2017 New Staff Member of the Year” award as well as formal acknowledgement of her work on the Strategic Plan for Inclusive Excellence.

Originally from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, Sloan earned her B.A. in Sociology with a minor in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from Colby College in Waterville, Maine. She is committed to the task of empowering those most in need through economic equity, advocacy, and community development.

About Carrie Carpenter

Carrie Carpenter is the President and Executive Director of the Gordon Square Arts District, a Cleveland neighborhood that leverages arts and culture for economic development and revitalization. She is co-founder and chair of the Women’s Networking Group-Cleveland.

She has more than 25 years of experience engaging leaders in community initiatives, building public relations campaigns, launching charitable programs and designing initiatives to address the needs of cities.

Carpenter served for 11 years as Senior Vice President, Regional Director of Public Affairs for Citizens Bank (formerly Charter One, a division of the Royal Bank of Scotland). Carpenter directed the Citizens Bank Foundation for the 7-state Mid-States region. She was responsible for charitable giving, marketing sponsorships, government affairs, executive positioning, communications, media, public relations and national projects.

Prior to joining Citizens, Carpenter served as the national communications director for Children’s Rights in New York, as government affairs director for the Center for Families and Children, public affairs director for Planned Parenthood, and worked for U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown and several political campaigns.

She was named to Crain’s Cleveland Business Forty under 40 in 2007, and was honored with the YWCA Woman of Professional Excellence award. She is a graduate of the Leadership Cleveland class of 2009. She currently serves on the board of the Cleveland Foundation and as Vice Chair of the Greater Cleveland Food Bank board.

Carpenter earned her B.A. magna cum laude from Kent State University in political science and women’s studies, and her Masters in Strategic Public Relations from George Washington University.

About Noelle Celeste

Noelle joined the City Club team as Director of Advancement in 2016. Previously she was principal of her own consulting firm working with non-profits that included The Cleveland Foundation, the Cleveland International Film Festival, Civic Commons, and the City Club, to name a few. She also served as Corporate Relations Director at ideastream; Director of Marketing & Community Relations at MOCA; and campaign manager for two successful countywide campaigns. In 2011, she launched Edible Cleveland, an award-winning quarterly magazine covering the people and stories of Northeast Ohio’s local food scene, for which she continues to serve as publisher. Noelle has a B.A in American Studies with a concentration in Media and the Arts from Yale University. She lives in Cleveland Heights with her husband and two kids.

About Anne-Marie E. Connors

Ms. Connors joined the Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging as the Vice President of Development in 2013. Prior to joining BRIA, Ms. Connors was Director of Advancement at Hawken School in Gates Mills, OH. She has more than 25 years of institutional advancement experience that includes work in development, alumni relations and admissions. She has served as the Executive Director for Development at Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management and as Director of Operations, Donor & Alumni Relations at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law. She also served as Director of College Development and Alumni Relations at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University.

Ms. Connors earned a bachelor of science degree in psychology from John Carroll University and a master’s degree in higher education administration from Saint Louis University. Ms. Connors completed the American Society on Aging's Leadership Institute in 2014 and Cleveland Leadership Center's Cleveland Leadership Institute in 2017.

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 Steven M. Lake

For more than 15 years, Dr. Steven M. Lake has made it his mission to advance and enrich the lives of underrepresented children and adults through education and workforce development programs. As an organizational development professional and agent of change, Dr. Lake believes in creating inclusive cultures where every person has the opportunity to attend and benefit from a high-quality learning institution.

Serving as Vice President of Development and Community Affairs for the NewBridge Cleveland Center for Arts & Technology, Dr. Lake cultivates relationships with philanthropic organizations, individual donors, and a vast array of constituency groups. Dr. Lake applies his passion with his real-world experiences to ensure NewBridge maintains its position as the go-to resource within the City of Cleveland for youth arts education and adult workforce training.

During his career, Dr. Lake has successfully launched many community-responsive initiatives that have been able to empower community and unify community voice, all in the spirit of advocacy and change. Dr. Lake has organized community advocacy campaigns that have brought attention to the inequities that exist within the special education sector, particularly as it relates to communities of color and low-income families. Dr. Lake has also supported many communities in repairing and strengthening the bonds that exist between their schools and their families. Dr. Lake’s effective approach of helping underserved populations realize their full potential has received attention from local radio and television outlets, as well as recognition from his peer and community leaders. Dr. Lake was most recently recognized in 2018 by Crain’s Cleveland Business for their prestigious “Forty Under 40” award.

Dr. Lake began his professional career at Notre Dame College (Ohio) as an Admissions Officer connecting high school students with pathways to higher education. Dr. Lake later joined Cuyahoga Community College where he managed federal grant programs, developed and instituted policies and procedures, and engaged with faculty, staff, students, and the community at large. Dr. Lake was the project lead for several college programs and initiatives aimed at growing the pipeline of low-income and potential first-generation college students in the Cleveland area through the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Technology) disciplines. Through his leadership, hundreds of students earned a high school diploma and began their post-secondary educations. Dr. Lake most recently served as a founding team member of the Cleveland Transformation Alliance, a public-private partnership developed to ensure fidelity to the progressive reform efforts taking place within the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Dr. Lake oversaw external relations and organizational evaluation for the Alliance. Dr. Lake was very successful in applying his years of experience to spearhead initiatives that bridged the gap between policy development and policy implementation.

Dr. Lake is a thought leader, an advocate for social justice, and a dedicated practitioner who is passionate about progressive community development. Dr. Lake lends his knowledge and expertise to numerous boards and committees that further his philanthropic objectives. Dr. Lake is a Visiting Committee member for Cleveland State University’s College of Science & Health Professions where he chairs the Student Success & Pipeline Programs sub-committee. Dr. Lake also contributes his to time to various mentoring programs for Cleveland-area youth.

Dr. Lake earned a Doctor of Education degree in Organizational Leadership & Communication from Northeastern University. Dr. Lake’s doctoral research focused on urban education reform and the development of reform-driven school leaders. Dr. Lake also earned a Master of Education degree in Adult Learning & Development and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Organizational Communication, both from Cleveland State University.