Rev. Dr. Stephen Rowan named Chairman of the Cleveland Foundation Board of Directors

Daniel Walsh appointed as new board member

 

RELEASE DATE 4.1.16

CLEVELAND – The Cleveland Foundation today announced the appointment of a new chairman and a new member to its Board of Directors. Current board member Rev. Dr. Stephen Rowan has been named chairman of the board, replacing retiring board member and current board chair James Ratner. Rev. Dr. Rowan is the first former foundation employee to serve as a board member and now board chair in the foundation’s history.

Daniel P. Walsh Jr. has been appointed as a new member to the foundation’s board, filling the seat vacated by Ratner’s retirement. Walsh is the founder and CEO of Citymark Capital, a real estate private equity fund management company.

“I am thrilled by the new board leadership roles we are announcing today,” said Ronn Richard, President and CEO of the Cleveland Foundation. “I have had the honor of working with Rev. Rowan, both as a member of our staff and as a member of our board. His unparalleled breadth and depth of knowledge of the community will be an invaluable asset as he assumes his chairmanship of the board.”

Rev. Dr. Rowan has been senior pastor of Bethany Baptist Church in Cleveland’s Glenville neighborhood since 1999 and a Cleveland Foundation board member since 2009. He served in a variety of roles at the foundation from 1996 to 2004, including assistant director of development and program officer for economic development and faith-based initiatives. Prior to that, he was a partner at the law firm of Ulmer & Berne, a deputy administrator for Cuyahoga County and assistant director of the Western Reserve Area Agency on Aging.

Before founding Citymark Capital, Walsh was President, Northeast Ohio, for Huntington National Bank and previously held leadership roles at KeyBank. He serves on several area nonprofit boards including the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Orchestra, Playhouse Square, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, and United Way. He also serves as Chairman of the Board of Destination Cleveland and was Mayor Frank Jackson’s appointee to the Group Plan Commission.

“Dan Walsh is one of Cleveland’s most respected and admired civic leaders, and there is no question our board and staff will benefit greatly from his wisdom, judgment and enthusiasm for Greater Cleveland’s future,” Richard said.

In addition to continued service as Vice-Chair of the Board, Paul Dolan has been named the new Chairman of the Grantmaking and Community Engagement Committee of the board. In addition to Rev. Rowan and Dolan, Walsh joins current Cleveland Foundation board members Teresa Metcalf Beasley, Carrie Carpenter, Inajo Chappell, Jenniffer Deckard, Hiroyuki Fujita, Robert Glick, Sally Gries, Bernie Moreno, Michael Petras Jr., Larry Pollock, Beth Rankin, and Ernest Wilkerson Jr.

“On behalf of the entire board and staff of the foundation, I want to express our most profound gratitude to James Ratner for his incredible decade of leadership on our board,” Richard said. “His integrity, compassion and willingness to support non-traditional, higher risk projects helped the foundation to achieve great impact over the past ten years and will be a lasting legacy of his tenure.”

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Cleveland Foundation

Established in 1914, the Cleveland Foundation is the world’s first community foundation and one of the largest today, with assets of $2.1 billion and 2015 grants of $95 million. Through the generosity of donors, the foundation improves the lives of residents of Cuyahoga, Lake and Geauga counties by building community endowment, addressing needs through grantmaking, and providing leadership on vital issues. The foundation tackles the community’s priority areas – education and youth development, neighborhoods, health and human services, arts and culture, economic development and purposeful aging – and responds to the community’s needs.

For more information on the Cleveland Foundation, visit www.clevelandfoundation.org and follow us on  Facebook.com/ClevelandFoundation, Twitter @CleveFoundation and Instagram @CleveFoundation.