Cosmas Onwudiwe Onuora, M.D., FACOG. FICS
President and Chief Executive Officer
Canton, OH
Parents: Dr. & Mrs. Lawrence O. J. Onuora of Nenwe in Aninri LGA, Nigeria.
Secondary School Attended: Awgu County Secondary School, Nenwe. Attended Southern University and Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana from 1975 – 1978, obtaining his B.S. in Chemistry. Attended Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tennessee where he obtained his M.D. degree in May 1985. He obtained his internship and residency education in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Louisiana State University School of Medicine, Shreveport, Louisiana from 1985 – 1989.
Upon completion of his residency, he was appointed to a full academic faculty position as an Instructor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at L.S.U. He was appointed the Chief of Obstetrics & Gynecology at E. A. Conway Memorial Hospital, Monroe, Louisiana (one of L.S.U.’s Teaching Hospitals) in August 1989. Dr. Onuora subsequently re-located to Canton, Ohio in September 1990 to help rebuild the Ambulatory OB/GYN Clinic at Mercy Medical Center.
Dr. Onuora holds membership in many medical professional societies, and currently serves as the President of Stark County OB/GYN Society. He was the Chairman, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Mercy Medical Center, Canton, Ohio from January 2008 to December 2013. He also holds academic appointment of Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, at Northeast Ohio Medical University, Rootstown, Ohio. He is a Senior Attending Physician at Aultman Hospital, Canton, Ohio and serves on many committees at both Aultman Hospital and Mercy Medical Center.
He has been named in America’s Top Obstetricians & Gynecologists consistently since 2003, by the Consumer’s Research Council of America. He has received Patients’ Choice award annually since 2008. His philanthropic activities include University Scholarship Foundation for undergraduate students in Nigeria. He was awarded the certificate of the Pillar of Education by the National Executive Council of Nigerian Postgraduate Students Union on January 12, 2010. He has been engaged in self-funded annual medical mission to Nigeria since 1997.
Dr. Onuora is active in many civic organizations. He is the founder of Nenwe Progressive Association, USA and served as the founding President. He is a founding member of Nigerians in Metropolitan Akron and Surroundings. He is the immediate past President of Nzuko Ndi Igbo of Northeast Ohio. He is blessed with six children and is an active member of St. Paul Catholic Church, North Canton, Ohio.
Edward J. Roth III
President and CEO Aultman Health Foundation
Canton, OH
For more than 30 years, Edward J. Roth III has been part of a team dedicated to providing the Stark County area with excellence and affordability in health care. Mr. Roth began his career with Aultman in 1981 and held a variety of management and leadership positions before being named president and chief executive officer in 2001. Since that time, he has led Aultman with a spirit of compassion and a true belief in the power of each individual to make a difference. Mr. Roth is responsible for more than 5,000 employees and all corporate entities within Aultman Health Foundation.
A graduate of the University of Akron, Mr. Roth is an active member of the community and a board member for the following agencies and organizations: Central Catholic High School Advisory Board, Junior Achievement Executive Leadership Council, Akron Regional Hospital Association (ARHA), Northeastern Ohio Council on Higher Education (NOCHE), Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges (OFIC), Ohio Hospital Association (OHA); Pro Football Hall of Fame, Stark Development Board, and Walsh University.
Mr. Roth has also taken a leadership role in the community and has chaired many organizations and events over the years including: United Way Campaign, Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce, Stark Development Board, Akron Canton Regional Harvest for Hunger Campaign, The Wilderness Center Earthly Delights Auction, American Cancer Society Golf Classic and Junior Achievement Golf Classic.
Mr. Roth is married with four children and resides in Jackson Township.
Judith E. Barnes Lancaster
Vice Chairperson
Canton, OH
Judith Lancaster received a Bachelor of Science Degree from Kent State University and a Juris Doctor Degree from the University of Akron, School of Law. She attended Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Virginia, where she received certification in Bargaining and Negotiating.
Law is a second career for Judith Lancaster. Prior to becoming an attorney, Judith had an extensive and diverse career in health care in both the private, nonprofit hospital setting and the for-profit corporate setting. She has owned her own clinical laboratory, and she established a tissue bank for the transplantation of human bone.
In 1990, Judith entered law school while working full-time as a hospital administrator. After graduating from law school and being admitted to the Ohio Bar in 1994, Judith remained in the corporate setting as General Manager for the northeast Ohio division of Corning Clinical Laboratories, now Quest Diagnostics Incorporated, one of the largest, international clinical laboratories in the United States. As General Manager, she was responsible for a division that generated $23 million dollars in annual gross revenue for her region. Judith later joined the business development team of the Pittsburgh division of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated, where she was one of a team of attorneys who structured business associations between Quest Diagnostics and large hospital systems, one of which was a joint venture with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Judith left corporate America in 2001 to concentrate her efforts on the solo practice of law and special counsel work for the Ohio Attorney General. She has served as Special Counsel to the Ohio Attorney General from 1995 to the present. In her private practice, Judith practices in the areas of Personal Injury and Probate.
Throughout her career, Judith has devoted a great deal of time to community service on many volunteer boards as a member and officer. Judith served as trustee of the Akron University Law Alumi Association from 1996 through 2011, and she now serves on the Dean’s Leadership Committee; a member of Walsh University Board of Trustees; she is immediate past Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of Northeast Ohio Medical University, formerly Northeast Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy (appointed by Governor Strickland); she is a current member of the Foundation Board of Northeast Ohio Medical University; she is the current Chair of Mercy Medical Center Board of Directors; she is a member of the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce; she is a member and past officer of the Canton Museum of Art and a current member of the Canton Museum of Art’s Foundation Board, a member of Prescription Assistance Network Board, a member of Athena Internal Board and a Volunteer Angel of the Canton Museum of Art. Judith is also a founding member and board member of Women’s Impact, Inc.
Judith is admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio and the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Ohio. Her professional memberships include the Ohio State Bar Association, the American Bar Association and the Stark County Bar Association. Judith performs pro bono services for the elderly in Stark County.
Judith is a proud Alumna member of the Links Incorporated and past president of the Kent Area Chapter of the Links, Inc. She is a member of the Stark County Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. Judith is the mother of three adult children and she has six wonderful grandchildren.Judith E. Lancaster
Melissa Warrington
Trustee
Canton, OH
Melissa Warrington is the corporate controller of Aultman Health Foundation. In this role, Melissa manages a team of twelve analysts and financial professionals who handle everything from payroll to budgeting to accounts receivable. She also directs the external reporting of corporate financial operations to the IRS.
Melissa joined Aultman in 2014. Previously she held an audit supervisor position at Bruner-Cox, LLP. She managed financial statement audit engagements there, including the Aultman Hospital audit, for 8.5 years.
Melissa holds a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from The University of Akron.
Melissa is active in the Stark County community, also serving as the board treasurer for Access Health Stark County. She is also a 2011 Stark County “Twenty Under 40!” award winner.
Melissa resides in Canton, Ohio with her daughter.
Danielle A. Higgins
Treasurer
Canton, OH
Danielle is an attorney at Day Ketterer Ltd., where she is a member of the Firm’s Business and Non-Profit Practice Groups. Danielle’s practice focuses on business transactions, securities compliance, and business counseling. She has counseled clients on various aspects of corporate and securities matters, including public and private debt and equity offerings, mergers and acquisitions, corporate organization, joint ventures, commercial financing, director and officer responsibilities, commercial transactions, and compliance with state and federal laws and regulations in the areas of taxation, health care and data security. She is a member of the American Bar Association and the Stark County Bar Association and is admitted to practice in the State of Ohio and Northern District of Ohio.
Prior to joining Day Ketterer, Ms. Higgins served as Project Director for a multi-million dollar NIH medical research study and was a Judicial Extern for the Honorable John R. Adams, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio. Danielle has also co-authored several articles that have appeared in medical and health journals and she has presented at international health care conferences. Danielle received her Juris Doctorate magna cum laude from Case Western Reserve University School of Law, where she served as Executive Contributing Editor of the Case Western Reserve Law Review and was awarded a highly competitive health law fellowship. Danielle completed her undergraduate studies at Cornell University with a Bachelor’s degree in psychology and neurobiology.
Danielle resides in Canton, Ohio with her husband Dan and three dogs.
James Miller
Trustee
Canton, OH
Vice President, Schroer Property Management
James received his Bachelors of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Akron in 1992. He worked at several companies including Volvo Heavy Trucks in Greensboro, North Carolina in the mid 1990’s. James moved back to Hartville in 1997 to work at Aultman Hospital. He worked in Aultman’s Engineering and Construction department from 1997-2017. In 2017 James secured a position with The Schroer Group as Vice President of Property Management. James received his Ohio Professional Engineer license in 1998.
James is a Current member of GentleBrook Board of Directors and also active at Evermore Community Church. James enjoys serving others and has worked on several short term mission projects locally, in Alabama, Louisiana and Haiti. James enjoys the outdoors, hiking and distance running, which was capped with three Boston Marathons. James and his wife have five sons, two daughters, a foster child and reside in Hartville, Ohio.
Kristen DeDent
Trustee
Canton, OH
Kristen DeDent is the Chief Executive Officer at Aultman Specialty Hospital, a long-term acute care hospital located within Aultman Hospital.
Passionate about health care and its many possibilities, Kristen joined Aultman in 2000 as a registrar at Aultman North. After that, she served as manager of surgery information systems, director of the Independent Hospital Network, director of strategic planning and corporate operations, and executive director of operational excellence.
She earned her Bachelor of Arts in art therapy from Capital University and is currently pursuing her master’s degree in organizational leadership from Waldorf University. Kristen is trained as a blackbelt in six sigma, process improvement.
Kristen has grown twin sons and resides in Canton with her two dogs.
Victor A. Bazzoli, M.D.
Trustee
Canton, OH
St. Louis University School of Medicine, 1968
OB/GYN Residency St. Louis University Hospitals 1968-1972
Active staff Mercy Medical Center; retired 2013
Courtesy staff, Aultman Hospital, Affinity Medical Center
Past Chairman, Department OB/GYN
Past member Board of Trustees, Mercy Medical Center
Inducted into the Society of St. Luke
Sheri A. Peters
Secretary
Munroe Falls, OH
SHERI A. PETERS is a principal in the law firm of Sheri A. Peters Co., L.P.A. with law offices in Munroe Falls and Canton. She has been in practice since 1991 focusing her practice in estate planning, elder law and probate law and is certified by the Ohio State Bar Association in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law. She co-authored the National Business Institute’s Basic Drafting of Wills and Trusts, published in 1991, contributed to Designating Fiduciaries which was published in the WealthCounsel’s Estate Planning Strategies in 2009 and has also co-authored professional seminar materials on probate, estate planning, and long term care planning. Ms. Peters earned her undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, from Baldwin-Wallace College and received her J.D. Degree from the University of Akron. She is a member of the Ohio and Akron Bar Associations, the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, Elder Law Answers, WealthCounsel and ElderCounsel.
Stephen P. Griffin
Trustee
North Canton, OH
Godwin O. Chukwu, Ph.D.
Trustee
Nigeria
Dr. Godwin Chukwu is a soil pedologist, and a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Soil Science and Meteorology, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Nigeria He holds a Ph.D (Pedology) and M. SC (Soil Science) from the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State, and Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), Enugu, in 2007 and 1993, respectively. He was actively involved in agricultural research at the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI), Umudike, Umuahia, Abia State, where he rose to the rank of an Assistant Director in 2009. He joined the university system in 2014.
He was the principal scientist in the development of cocoyam-based technologies such as “gocken rapid multiplication technology”, “gocing barn” for sustainable cocoyam (taro and tannia) storage; “control of taro leaf blight disease” of taro and “root rot blight complex disease” of tannia. He added psychological value to cocoyam in Nigeria through the introduction of a cultural troupe called “Giant Crop (Cocoyam) Choir” which is novel in National Agricultural Research Institute System.
In recognition of his ingenuity and contributions in cocoyam research in Nigeria, the Igbo tribe of southeastern Nigeria, bestowed on him a prestigious Chieftaincy t,itle of “Okammuta Ede 1 of Igbo Land” (literally meaning, the first Igbo professor of cocoyam) in 2012. Other major honours include: Staff Productivity Merit Award in 1999, Third Best Scientist and the Coordinator of Third Best Programme (Cocoyam Research Programme) by the NRCRI Management in 2009.
He is happily married with five children (two girls and three boys).
Chief Gabriel U. Ejim
Trustee
Enugu, Nigeria
A Native of Amoji Nenwe in Aninri Local Government Area, Enugu State of Nigeria
A Charted Accountant
HND in Finance
Post graduate Diploma in Finance and Banking
Deputy/Acting Accountant General of Enugu State government of Nigeria from 2006-2007
Head/Director of finance and accounts of various ministries in Enugu State from 1996-2010 before retiring in 2010 after serving the mandatory 35years of service
Age 63 years