Current Trustees

Drew Forhan of Hudson, Ohio, is the Founder and Chairman of ForTec Medical, Inc. Founded in 1988, ForTec Medical is dedicated to improving patient health and healthcare by delivering innovative surgical technologies, including the broadest array of lasers, to hospitals, surgery centers and physician offices on an as-needed basis. ForTec takes pride in delivering distinctive service excellence each and every day and helping to improve the lives of patients.

Forhan is also a former executive with American Hospital Supply/V Mueller and with Richard Allen Medical.

A past student representative to the Bowling Green State University Board of Trustees, he earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration/selling and sales management from the University in 1981. He is a former board member and chairman of the Hudson Community Foundation and sits on the board of the Adirondack Experience – The Museum on Blue Lake. In 2015, he was inducted into BGSU’s Paul J. Hooker Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership Hall of Fame.

Amy Shore is Executive Vice President, Chief Transformation Officer at Nationwide Insurance. Amy has over 30 years of experience in insurance and financial services, including over 25 years in varying leadership positions across Nationwide. She has led in a variety of business functions including customer experience, sales, underwriting, product/pricing, customer service and general management. She has served as executive sponsor for the Women Empowered Associate Resource Group. Amy holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Bowling Green State University. She also is a Chartered Property/Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU), and a member of National Association of Corporate Directors. Amy is actively involved in her local community. Currently, serving as secretary of the board of the Columbus Symphony. She has served as national chair of the Nationwide’s United Way campaign, treasurer of the United Way of Delaware County, and on the BGSU Changing Lives for the World campaign committee.

Judy Budi serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Graceworks Lutheran Services, a non-profit organization that provides residential and healthcare services to older adults and persons with disabilities in the tri-state area. She has worked in various leadership positions over her 30 year career at Graceworks.  A native of Sidney, Ohio, Judy earned her undergraduate degree in dietetics from Bowling Green State University and master’s degree in nutrition from Case Western Reserve University. She has completed executive education in strategic management of nonprofit organizations at Harvard Business School and the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. She lives in Washington Township.

Judy currently serves on the Leadership team of the Dayton Chamber of Commerce and the Ohio Aging Services Network, is a member of the Dayton Rotary and serves on the Personnel Appeals Board for the Centerville Schools. She is a 2008 graduate of the Dayton Chamber Leadership Dayton program. She has previously served as the Board Chair of Leading Age Ohio, Centerville Rotary, the Washington Township Rec Advisory Board, and the Centerville-Washington Township Foundation Board.

Willa Ebersole is CEO of Ebersole Advocates, a government affairs consulting firm representing clients in a variety of issue areas including healthcare, technology, education and environmental protection. She has over 30 years of experience advocating with the Ohio Legislature, governors and their staff, and various state agencies and departments on behalf of her clients, including the Ohio Society of Anesthesiologists, Microsoft, Abbott Labs and the Ohio Children’s Hospitals Association and others.

She is a proven policy advocate, solutions-oriented strategist and consensus builder. Her well-respected reputation is based on knowledge of issues, integrity and hard work. Ebersole has been honored as one of the “Most Effective Independent Lobbyists” in a survey conducted by Opinion Strategies.

Ebersole previously served as president of Pappas & Associates, where she led a thriving advocacy practice, and as vice president of Thomas C. Green & Associates. She joined that firm after serving in the Ohio Senate, assisting and advising senators on the state budget, environmental and healthcare issues. Ebersole has also served as government affairs manager for Columbia Gas of Ohio. In addition to her Statehouse lobbying responsibilities, she helped Columbia Gas energize its political action and grassroots programs.

Currently, Ebersole serves on the Ohio Chamber of Commerce’s Public Affairs Committees and is also a member of the Ohio Lobbying Association, where she serves on the Ethics Committee. She has previously served as Ppresident of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) in central Ohio.

Ebersole earned a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism and political science from Bowling Green State University in 1990.

With a career working in and with state government, Ebersole brings a unique appreciation for how public entities function, including a thorough understanding of state budget operations. During her career, she has represented companies both large and small, and public and private entities. She believes that the development and sustainability of public/private partnerships are critical to the success of the University and  Ohio's workforce.

Early in her career, she served in the Ohio Senate under then-Senator Betty Montgomery, another BGSU alumnus and previous member and Chair of the BGSU Board of Trustees.

Ebersole lives in Blacklick, near Columbus, with her husband of more than 30 years, who also attended BGSU. Their daughter,Brooke, graduated from BGSU in 2017.

Paul J. Hooker is the retired owner and CEO of SFERRA Fine Linens, a luxury bedding, bath and home decor importer based in Edison, New Jersey.

In 1977, Hooker purchased the New York City-based luxury household linen importer from Albert Sferra, the soul surviving member of the family who started the firm in 1891. He recognized the need to maintain the company's identity and encourage growth within the luxury market. With that in mind, Hooker took SFERRA from a one-room office on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan to a 35,000-square-foot distribution facility in Edison, New Jersey, plus a beautiful showroom just off Madison Square Park in New York City. In the process, Hooker grew annual sales from $250,000 when he bought the business in 1977 to over $30 million in 2013 when he sold a majority stake of the company. Today SFERRA presents the most comprehensive range of luxury home textiles for the bed, bath, and table worldwide.

Hooker was the head varsity baseball coach at Red Bank Catholic High School in Red Bank, New Jersey, from 1994-2000, winning the only New Jersey State Baseball Championship in the school’s history in 1997.  In 1990 Paul, along with his wife Margo, founded a not-for-profit sports program for children with disabilities that he named Challenged Youth Sports (CYS). CYS assisted over 150 families with programs in basketball, soccer, Little League softball, golf, flag football and tennis. The program has since been renamed  RallyCap Sports, and has added colleges and universities to its growth plan, with the Bowling Green State University chapter being the first and currently largest chapter. In additional to BGSU, RallyCap Sports has chapters at Ohio State, Michigan and others 

Hooker graduated from Bowling Green State University in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. In 2010, he was named a top 100 graduate in the first 100 years of Bowling Green State University and was inducted into the Entrepreneurial Leadership Hall of Fame in 2012. He is currently a board member of the Paul J. Hooker Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership and Is actively involved in creating the “mindset of an entrepreneur” in each Bowling Green State University student. 

Retired Sheriff Russell Martin graduated from Bowling Green State University in 1980 with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice. Upon graduation, he embarked on a 43-year career in public safety and law enforcement. In 2004, he was appointed the chief of police for the City of Delaware, Ohio, the culmination of a fulfilling career that included establishing one of Ohio's first Sexual Assault Response Teams. He worked with  the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police and the International Association of Chiefs of Police in establishing protocols for responding to victims of both sexual assault and domestic violence. Martin also was voted by his peers to serve as the president of the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police.

After a nearly 32-year career with the City of Delaware Police Department, Martin was appointed Sheriff of Delaware County, Ohio. Martin was subsequently elected to three consecutive terms before retiring in 2023. While serving as sheriff, Martin and his team helped establish a law enforcement agency recognized across the state and nationally for their professionalism and service. Martin is a frequent lecturer at the Police Executive Leadership College and the John Glenn School of Public Affairs Public Safety Leadership Academy on the topic of ethics, the social contract and principle-based leadership. He has presented on the topic of leadership in Bulgaria, at the FBI National Academy and at multiple agencies across the country. He has been invited to the White House to address the value of early, quality education in preventing crime. He remains associated with and serves as the board chair for the Pointman Leadership Institute (PLI), which has provided leadership training to law enforcement and government leaders in over 80 countries. Martin remains active in assisting the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police perform promotional assessments and personnel evaluations for law enforcement agencies around Ohio.

Martin has helped raise money for Delaware County's first domestic violence shelter and has served on numerous nonprofit boards including the Grace Clinics of Ohio, the YMCA and the Forensic Nurse Network. He is active in the capital campaign for Stockhands Horses for Healing, which provides equine therapy for children with special needs and trauma-informed care for military veterans and first responders.

Martin is a two-time graduate of the FBI National Academy, including their Executive Development program, which was taught in cooperation with the University of Virginia. Martin and his wife, Jill, married shortly after graduation in 1980 and have two children. Together, they remain active in their local community and local church helping mentor young families.

Cole Nemeth is a fourth-year Nursing student from Bowling Green. Cole has been active in science, leadership, and the arts throughout his collegiate career. He was involved with the Chapman Learning Community, where he served as a student leader; and the Resident Student Association, where he served as president of three residence halls and vice president for administration and marketing. With these leadership roles, he is also involved in the National Residence Hall Honorary. Cole is an active member of Omicron Delta Kappa and the Bowling Green State University Men’s Chorus, and co-founded the Bowling Green Role Playing Gamers, one of BGSU’s many student organizations.

Paula O’Reilly serves as Senior Managing Director and Midwest Technology Lead for Accenture, a global professional services company with leading capabilities in information technology and consulting. O’Reilly was recently appointed to lead Accenture’s Columbus office and brings extensive consulting and strategy experience since 1993.  

Throughout her career, she had several leadership roles with Accenture, focusing on managing capital markets, banking, insurance and risk and operations. In 2005, she became Partner, and today, her expanded portfolio focuses on technology, digital, cloud and security.

In addition, O’Reilly is very active in the Columbus community, serving as a member of the Ohio Business Roundtable and the Ohio Chamber of Commerce. She has also had the honor of being included in Columbus CEO Magazine's Future 50 Class of 2022.

O’Reilly is an alumna of Bowling Green State University, earning her bachelor’s degree in finance and international business.

Dr. Richard Ross of Columbus has been involved in public schools for more than 40 years and most recently served as the superintendent of Ohio's Department of Education. Before becoming state superintendent, he was the superintendent of several public school districts and worked closely with Governor John Kasich on an overhaul of Cleveland City Schools in 2012. Ross is credited with school reforms in Cleveland and Youngstown and the implementation of an adult high school diploma program and improving literacy in the state through the third grade reading guarantee. He earned a doctorate in education administration from BGSU in 1981.

Dr. Tom Shehab has spent 35 years in various healthcare leadership roles. Currently, he is a managing partner at Arboretum Ventures, a healthcare-focused venture capital firm in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Shehab draws upon his extensive experience as a physician and healthcare executive to identify medical device and health IT companies that improve patient outcomes and decrease costs. He also serves as a board director for Avation Medical, Boomerang Medical, Fifth Eye, Motif Neurotech, SonarMD and Virtual Incision and led Arboretum’s investment in nVision Medical, which was acquired by Boston Scientific in 2018. At ArborMetrix, an Arboretum portfolio company, he led the development of the clinical strategy as chief medical officer.

Prior to joining Arboretum in 2014, Shehab practiced medicine for 15 years as a gastroenterologist, serving as chair of medicine at Integrated Health Associates (IHA), a multi-specialty group consisting of 300+ providers, and as chief of staff at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital for more than 1,000 physicians. Shehabalso holds board member roles for numerous healthcare innovation initiatives, such as the National Venture Capital Association and Cleveland Clinic Medical Device Advisory.

Shehab graduated summa cum laude from Bowling Green State University in 1990 and was a member of the football team. He earned an M.D. from Wayne State University, completed his post-graduate medical training at the University of Michigan and earned a Master of Medical Management degree from Carnegie Mellon University. He lives with his family in Dexter, Michigan.

In more than three decades as a journalist, Mizell Stewart III has been an award-winning reporter, top newsroom editor in three states, radio and television broadcaster and corporate news executive. He is passionate about developing the next generation of newsroom leaders, community service and advancing the critical role journalists play in a democratic society.

Today, Stewart is President and CEO of Emerging Leaders, LLC, a leadership development consulting firm focused on mid-career and senior professionals. The firm’s clients include national media organizations and start-ups in the United States and Canada. He is also a Professional-in-Residence at the School of Journalism and Media at Kent State University.

Previously, he was the Vice President of News Performance, Talent & Partnerships for Gannett and the USA TODAY Network, the largest local-to-national news network in the United States.

His other prior roles include Chief Content Officer of Journal Media Group, Vice President / Content of the newspaper division of the E.W. Scripps Company and senior leadership posts at the Akron Beacon Journal, Evansville Courier & Press and Tallahassee Democrat. He also worked as a reporter and editor at the Dayton Daily News and Springfield News-Sun. A true multi platform journalist, Stewart also was an on-air personality at WNIN-TV in Evansville, Ind. and WIOT-FM in Toledo, Ohio.

A four-time Pulitzer Prize juror, Stewart helped lead the team at The Sun Herald in Biloxi, Miss. that won the 2006 Pulitzer Gold Medal in Public Service for its coverage of Hurricane Katrina. He is a past president of the American Society of News Editors, now the News Leaders Association, and the News Leaders Association Foundation. 

He is a frequent speaker and teacher on local journalism, leadership, newsroom diversity and community service at national journalism conferences and at colleges and universities throughout the U.S. In 2018, the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication recognized Stewart with the Gerald R. Sass Award for Distinguished Service to Journalism and Mass Communication Education.

Stewart is a journalism graduate of Bowling Green State University and completed the Advanced Executive Program, a joint program of the Kellogg School of Business and the Medill School of Journalism, at Northwestern University. He also earned a master’s degree in Executive Leadership and Organizational Change from Northern Kentucky University, where he received the Distinguished Student Award. 

His service to BGSU continues today as a member of the university’s Board of Trustees. He has also been a member of the Board of Directors of the BGSU Alumni Association, the Board of Student Publications and the Journalism Alumni Advisory Board. He was inducted into BGSU’s Journalism Alumni Hall of Fame in 2007.

In addition to his volunteer work in higher education, he is a board member of the National Trust for Local News, Public Agenda, the National Press Club Journalism Institute and Journalism Funding Partners. He also serves on advisory boards for PBS Frontline and Report for America. He was part of the Knight Commission on Trust, Media and Democracy, an initiative of the Knight Foundation and the Aspen Institute. He resides in Aurora, Ohio.

Howard Traul II is a partner in the firm of Thompson, Dunlap and Heydinger, Ltd. In Bellefontaine, Ohio. He practices in the areas of real estate, municipal law, and estate planning, trusts and probate.   He also was elected as the part-time law director for the City of Bellefontaine for 35 years, retiring in 2015. Mr. Traul has long been active in civic and community life. He was elected to two terms as Bellefontaine city councilman-at-large and as president of the Ohio Municipal Attorneys, in 2004-05. He was appointed commissioner of the Ohio Supreme Court Lawyers’ Fund for Client Protection from 2010-16.   He served as President and Board member for many years for the Green Hills Retirement Community in West Liberty, Ohio. He currently serves as Vice-President of the Logan County Industrial Growth Corporation. He earned his undergraduate BGSU degree cum laude in history and political science in 1973 and received his juris doctor from the Pettit College of Law at Ohio Northern University in 1976. He was admitted to the Ohio Bar in 1976 and to the Bar of the Southern District of Ohio, U.S. Federal Court, in 1979. He is married to Sharon Lucas Traul ’75 and they have three sons, a daughter and seven grandchildren.

Kathryn Ware is a third-year doctoral candidate in Biological Sciences at Bowling Green State University. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in ecology and conservation biology following successful completion of her master's degree in the lab of Dr. Karen Root. Her dissertation research is focused on how bird communities respond to different kinds of disturbance, including forest management, hurricanes, and window collisions. Kathryn enjoys being involved on campus and has served as the Graduate Student Senate Environmental Affairs Representative for two years. She is also active in her department as a Teaching Assistant for Anatomy and Physiology labs, an officer of the Biology Graduate Student Association, founding member of the Biology Research Forum Committee, and a Biology Graduate Student Orientation leader. She completed her bachelor’s degree at The University of Findlay and currently lives in Findlay, Ohio with her husband Sam. Outside of academia, Kathryn loves to read and go birding and is an active volunteer with Black Swamp Bird Observatory as a bird bander, bird-watching guide, and advisor to the Ohio Young Birders Club.