Board of Visitors

The Society of Alumni and Friends (Board of Visitors) of the Honors Tutorial College of Ohio University Alumni Association was established for the following purposes:

1. To inform alumni of the current status of the Honors Tutorial College.
2. To enhance the recognition of the Honors Tutorial College outside Ohio University.
3. To raise funds in support of HTC, its programs and its students.
4. To assist the Honors Tutorial College in the recruitment of well-qualified students.
5. To enrich and expand the Honors Tutorial College experience for current students.
6. To advise and consult with the Dean of the College regarding the further development of Honors Tutorial College.

The Board of Visitors manages the business of the Society in cooperation with the Dean of the Honors Tutorial College, meeting annually in Athens.

Downloads:
Society of Alumni and Friends Constitution
Society of Alumni and Friends Bylaws

Board of Visitors Member Roster

David P. Williamson (President)

David P. Williamson is a partner in the law firm of Bieser, Greer & Landis in Dayton, Ohio. Admitted to the practice of law in 1978, he has been trial counsel on numerous high profile civil and criminal trials throughout his career. He has been listed in Best Lawyers in America, and Ohio Super Lawyers since 2004, was named one of the Top 100 attorneys in the state of Ohio and Top 50 in the Cincinnati region by Cincinnati Magazine, and as "Best of the Bar" by the Dayton Business Journal. He is a past president of the Dayton Bar Association. He was among the first graduates of the Ohio University Honors Tutorial College in 1975, and received his law degree from Ohio State University in 1978. He and his wife Terry were married on campus in Galbreath Chapel and have four adult children, the youngest of whom is a sophomore at Ohio University.

David Besanko (Vice President)

Professor David Besanko is the Alvin J. Huss Distinguished Professor of Management and Strategy at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Besanko is a Northwestern graduate, having received his Ph.D. in Managerial Economics and Decision Sciences in 1982. He received his AB in Political Science from Ohio University in 1977. Before joining the Kellogg faculty in 1991, Professor Besanko was a member of the faculty of the School of Business at Indiana University from 1982 to 1991. In addition, in 1985, he held a post-doctorate position on the Economics Staff at Bell Communications Research.

Professor Besanko teaches courses in Public Policy, Competitive Strategy, and Managerial Economics. Besanko has received the two most prestigious teaching awards at the Kellogg School: the L.G. Lavengood Professor of the Year Award in 1995, and the Alumni Choice Teaching Award in 2006. At the Kellogg School, he has also received the Sidney J. Levy Teaching Award (1998, 2000, and 2009) and the Chair’s Core Teaching Award (1999, 2001, 2003, and 2005).

Professor Besanko’s research covers topics relating to competitive strategy, industrial organization, the theory of the firm, and economics of regulation and public policy. He has published over 40 articles in leading professional journals in economics and business. Among other places, his work has appeared in the American Economic Review, Econometrica, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the RAND Journal of Economics, the Review of Economic Studies, the Journal of Law and Economics, Journal of Economic Theory, and Management Science. Along with David Dranove and Mark Shanley, Professor Besanko is a co-author of Economics of Strategy (with David Dranove, Scott Schaefer, and Mark Shanley) and Microeconomics (with Ronald Braeutigam).

Professor Besanko served as Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs: Strategy and Planning at the Kellogg School from 2007 to 2009 and Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs: Curriculum and Teaching at Kellogg from 2001 to 2003.

Heather McGinnis (Secretary)

A 1998 graduate of the Honors Tutorial College, Heather McGinnis left Ohio University to pursue a master’s degree in Higher Education Administration from The Ohio State University. After completing her master’s degree in 2000, Heather has worked for the Office of Student Life at Ohio State in various capacities.

Her roles at Ohio State have included oversight for the fraternity and sorority community, advising student organizations, planning special events, and working with alumni programs and fundraising. In her current role, she is the Director of Development for the Ohio Union and Office of Student Life and is responsible for raising private support for the university’s new student union and its various co-curricular programs.

Heather lives in Westerville, Ohio with her husband, Tom, and two children, Brandon and Tyler.

Casey Cassioli

Casey Cassioli is a 2000 Ohio University Honors Tutorial College graduate, with a BBA focused in Marketing and Finance. Since graduating from OU, Casey has worked for American Eagle Outfitters, headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA. As the Director of Customer Relationship Marketing for AEO, Inc., Casey manages the multi-tender loyalty, credit card, and gift card marketing strategies and operations for AE, aerie, 77kids and Martin + Osa. Among the most notable achievements with AE, Casey developed the program design and implemented the AE All-Access Pass customer loyalty program, which now has over 15 Million members in the US and Canada.

Outside of her career, Casey is an active volunteer and community member in Pittsburgh. She is a member of the Executive Advisory Board for the Pittsburgh Three Rivers Arts Festival and an active volunteer and advisor of HEARTH, a non-profit that provides housing and educational assistance to women and their children. Casey is also an avid traveler, an arts enthusiast for local and independent musicians and artists, and enjoys hiking, biking and gardening.

Douglas Charnas

Mr. Charnas advises businesses on a broad range of individual, corporate and partnership matters, including business formations, operations, acquisitions, reorganizations, taxes, and controversies with the IRS (where he has served as a senior attorney and special assistant to the chief counsel) and the Justice Department. His clients are in numerous industries, including health care, retail, motor fuels and professional services. His representation of businesses includes advising business owners on succession and complex estate planning issues. A significant portion of his practice involves representing nonprofit organizations.

In addition to training associate lawyers in the firm, he is an adjunct professor at Georgetown Law Center, where he teaches a course on S corporations and limited liability companies in the LLM program in tax. He is a frequent contributor to publications of the national trade associations he represents. He co-authored and edited a comprehensive handbook for tax-exempt organizations regarding public disclosure requirements, as well as a handbook for independent insurance agents regarding business structures and taxation.

He is a member of the ABA Section of Taxation and Section of Business Law; the D.C. Bar Section of Taxation and the Estates, Trusts, and Probate Law Section; the Inter-American Bar Association; and the J. Edgar Murdock Inn of Court. He serves as secretary, general counsel, and a director of the S&R Foundation; secretary and general counsel to the James J. Norris Foundation for Migrants and Refugees and the Divino Amore Foundation; as general counsel to the National Catholic Community Foundation and the Bill Raskob Foundation; and as a member of the Board of Visitors of the Ohio University Honors Tutorial College.

Allie Dyer

Allie Dyer is a sophomore Political Science major in the Honors Tutorial College. During the 2010-2011 acadeic year, Allie was a finalist for the student trustee position on the Ohio University Board of Trustees. She was also a Student Senate Women’s Affairs Intenr and a Campus Involvement Center’s Community Service Intern.

Mich Hein

Mich Hein is a Founder and Managing Partner of Nidus Investment Partners LLC, in St Louis, MO and an Executive in Residence at the University of Chicago’s Office of Technology & Intellectual Property. Mich is a serial entrepreneur in the biotechnology field. Beginning his professional career at Monsanto in 1982 as a Research Chemist, Dr. Hein moved to PPG Industries in 1986 to manage PPG’s Plant Biotechnology Laboratory at La Jolla, CA. In 1989 he joined the faculty of The Scripps Research Institute where he served as a member of the Departments of Molecular Biology and Cell Biology and as professor in the Graduate Programs in Cellular and Molecular Chemistry and Biology. Dr. Hein’s research activities focused on plant biotechnology, mucosal immunology and the use of plant-derived and recombinant proteins to modulate the immune system. An inventor of the Plantibodies technology, he was a Founder, and President of Epicyte Pharmaceutical, Inc., in La Jolla, CA from 1996 to 2002 and a Director from 1996 to 2004. He served as CEO of Chromatin Inc. (Chicago) from 2003 through 2005, as Chief of Staff for the Illinois Medical District from 2005 through 2007 where he also managed the Chicago Technology Park. Mich founded Heliose, Inc in 2007. Mich has raised more than $30MM in venture capital and $12MM in non-diluting funding to support the development of biotechnology businesses. He has 28 years of experience in forging commercial and Research and Development partnerships in the fields of agricultural and medical biotechnology. Dr. Hein was educated at the Honors Tutorial College of Ohio University with graduate degrees in Plant Physiology from University of Minnesota. He is a Limited Partner and advisor to Convergent Ventures in Los Angeles, CA and serves on the Board of Directors of the Hyde Park School of Dance, in Chicago.

Gregory Laurence

Gregory Laurence is an Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management at the University of Michigan, Flint. He holds a Ph.D. and an MBA from the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University, an MA in International Relations from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs (also Syracuse University), and is a 1992 HTC graduate (History). His current research concerns the design and ownership of work and the workspace, particularly the phenomena of identity, workaholism, territoriality, and job crafting. Prior to beginning his doctoral studies Laurence lived in Japan for 10 years and his professional experience includes serving as the membership manager for the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan and as international business development manager for the consulting firm PADECO Co., Ltd. He was also an English teacher at Meitoku Gijuku Jr. and Sr. High School in Kochi Prefecture, Japan, where his students included future top ranked sumo wrestlers Asashoryu and Asasekiryu and the professional golfer Yokomine Sakura. Greg likes to cook, take photographs, and his favorite living violinist is Akiko Suwanai.

Edward Molnar

Born and raised in Lorain, Ohio. Graduated from Ohio University in 1968 (B.S., Summa Cum Laude with Honors in Mathematics, member Ohio Fellows, Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Phi Epsilon). Ph.D. in Mathematics, Ohio State University, 1972. Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Virginia Tech, 1972-73. Served in the Army 1973-93 with four Pentagon tours, two teaching tours (computer programming in Indianapolis and mathematics at West Point), and detail to the Los Alamos National Laboratory to work on the Strategic Defense Initiative. Following Army retirement, Research Fellow at the Logistics Management Institute, a Federally Funded Research & Development Center. Returned to the Pentagon in 2005 and currently a senior analyst for the Army. Served on the Board of Directors, Pentagon Officers’ Athletic Center, as President of the Washington, D.C., Area Phi Beta Kappa Association, and in 2004 was elected to membership in the Washington, D.C., Cosmos Club. Author of a novel, Shadows On A Mirror. Resides in Fairfax, VA, and has two daughters (New York City and Lexington, KY).

Laura Myers

Laura Myers is the Executive Director of Institutional Equity at Ohio University.

Victor Roehm

Victor Roehm is a 1998 graduate of HTC, where he received his degree in Business Administration. He immediately went to law school at the University of Cincinnati upon graduating. He has been a practicing commercial and public finance attorney for the last eight years, first at Squire Sanders & Dempsey in Columbus, Ohio and for the past 4 years at Snell & Wilmer in Orange County, California. He presently resides in Costa Mesa, California.

Spencer Smith

Spencer Smith is a junior Philosophy and English major. He is also minoring in French and Psychology. Smith is the current president of the Honors College Advisory Council (HCAC), the HTC student group. He is also a regular attendee at Philosophy Circle, a place for undergraduates, graduates, and faculty members to talk about philosophy. During the school year, he works in the Ohio University Archives as a student assistant. Smith is studying metaphysics at the University of Milan during Fall Quarter 2010. After graduating from OU, Smith plans to pursue a graduate degree in Philosophy.

John Yurkon

John Yukon is a Staff Physicist at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at Michigan State University and has managed the Detector Laboratory since 1979. He received a B.S. in Physics though Ohio University’s HTC program in 1976. He received his M.S. from Michigan State University in 1979. He is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He has been vice chairman of the Park Lake Advisory Board for roughly 6 years. This is an official Township appointed board. He was president and vice president of “Happendance”, a regional modern dance group. He has performed as a guest dancer with the Children’s Ballet Theatre of Lansing for 15 years. His hobbies include bicycle touring, restoration of vintage electronics, sailboarding, and running.