Michelle Brown is a Senior Vice President of Operational Excellence and Strategy for KeyBank’s Consumer Credit Risk organization. As a Process Excellence leader, her primary focus has been on developing and implementing an Operational Excellence program that aligns with both Key Bank’s corporate strategy and culture. Michelle has over 15 years of experience in business process improvement and has been a Six Sigma and Lean practitioner for over 8 years. Michelle has held Master Black Belt and Lean Master positions within both the Retail and Financial Services sector. Her primary expertise is within Business Operations, Risk Operations, Human Resources and Information Technology.

Michelle is relatively new to the Cleveland area and has worked with several organizations to find opportunities to become more engaged in community development. Michelle looks forward to the potential opportunities that Plexus can bring and would like to help drive progress for the GLBT/business community within the NE Ohio area.

Michelle is an active member of Trinity Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Lakewood and is involved in their GLBT Outreach and an alumni member of Home Depot’s Gay and Lesbian Affinity Group and an active member of Key Bank’s GLBT group and Executive Women’s Network.

Ambiance, the Store for Lovers, was created in 1981. The company’s aim is to help couples "enhance the romance" in their intimate relationships. Ambiance provides a comfortable, upscale retail shopping environment featuring an extensive selection of personal, romantic and erotic products. Under Downey's leadership, Ambiance has grown to eight stores and an e-commerce web site.

Jennifer is a fixture on local radio and television and in the print media as Ambiance's spokesperson, and has received numerous business awards over the years, including the Woman Business Owner of the Year. Downey was also named an Athena Award finalist in 2004, for her tireless volunteer efforts in the Northeast Ohio community.

Jennifer joined the Plexus Board because she believes that we all need to work together to make this region a better place to live.

Eric is the principal consultant and founder of Forward Thought, a leadership development firm in Cleveland.. Eric is also the President of SoTre Properties, a real-estate development firm specializing in redevelopment of properties and in community building in the Tremont neighborhood of Cleveland. Eric holds degrees from Kent State and Case Western Reserve and additional certifications from the Gestalt Institute.

As a believer in Northeast Ohio’s potential, Eric sought out the talent and resources to launch Plexus. Eric believes that business is a driver of innovative change. Because of his belief, he saw an opportunity, through Plexus, to drive economic growth and workplace equality for the LGBTA community in northeastern Ohio.

Dave is a life-long Clevelander having lived on the west, east, and south sides of Cuyahoga County. He has an M.S. in Computer Science from Case Western Reserve University. He founded Leverage Technologies in 1990 to provide computer consulting and programming for the publishing industry. Its client list is international and includes many major legal publishers.

For many years, Dave has served on many local and national boards of directors. These include boards for professional, arts and LGBTA organizations. He helped found Plexus. It was a no-brainer because northeast Ohio companies so needed a partner to help them foster diversity within the business community. In turn this partnership supports their ability to be competitive in a global economy.

John Seaman is the President of Future Light, a company that manufactures specialty equipment and software for the entertainment lighting industry and education. John previously worked in the areas of operations, project design and management, service and inside sales for a local lighting company and as an audio visual specialist for a local school system.

John has worked with local professional companies as an assistant lighting designer working with resident and guest lighting designers and as lighting designer for other local community theatres.

John is currently involved as a member and officer of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology/Ohio Valley Region. John served for six years on the board of the Insight/Cleveland a GLBT organization from the founding in 1994.

John has recently joined Plexus as a business member and is excited about the possibilities that an organization like Plexus can bring to the GLBT and business community in the Greater Cleveland area.

James Simon is a member of the Business, Real Estate, Nonprofit and Public Law practice groups of the law firm of Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs, LLP, resident in the Firm's Akron office. Jim started his legal career with Buckingham in 2000. From late 2003 - 2006, Jim was the Director of Administration for the Summit County Engineer, responsible for a $16 Million annual budget, labor relations, audit oversight, and IT management.

In 2007, Jim returned to Buckingham to resume the full-time practice of law. Jim's clients include individual entrepreneurs, small and medium businesses, real estate developers and shopping center owners, large nonprofit organizations and public and semi-public agencies. Jim is also a frequent presenter on campaign finance law topics and issues involving political activity by nonprofit organizations.

Jim is deeply involved in his community serving on the boards of his undergraduate college, Bennington College, United Disability Services, the Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Foundation, Inc. and the Autism Family Foundation of Northeast Ohio. Jim also chairs the Stewardship Committee of his parish, Church of Our Saviour, Episcopal and United Disability Services' Development Committee.

Jim is a 1997 graduate of Bennington College with a concentration in American Studies and a 2000 graduate of the University of Akron, School of Law, summa cum laude. In his free time, Jim enjoys hiking, biking, walking, working on his house, gardening, reading histories and biographies and feeble attempts at golf.

Drew Small is currently an Assistant Director of Service Management for the Americas IT business unit of Ernst & Young. Drew has been with the firm since 1994, starting out in the Health Care Software group in the Cleveland office. He has been on the national office staff his entire career with the firm until recently when he joined the Americas staff which has responsibilities for operations throughout the Americas from Canada through South America. Drew has done various jobs within the IT organization of Ernst & Young including training, help desk, development, analysis, financial services, and customer relationship management. Currently in Service Management, Drew is deployed to pin point any areas where there may be issues within IT and develop solutions to improve IT operations throughout the Americas.

Prior to joining Ernst & Young, Drew worked for the Pharmed Corporation in Westlake, Ohio as an Implementations Analyst, installing software into nursing homes which the corporation supplied as well as conducting software training. Drew began his career with Aultman Hospital in Canton, Ohio as a Cost Analyst for Aultcare, the hospitals insurance organization and was instrumental in maintaining low costs for employers who used the insurance plan.

Drew Small currently resides in Avon Lake, Ohio. He grew up in Canton, Ohio, graduating from Timken High School. He attended and graduated from Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio with a bachelors degree in Business Management and Finance and a minor in Information Systems.

Ann Swider is a small business owner and has independent contractor status with Remax Crossroads. Ann has been a realtor since the beginning of 2002. Before that she was a professional photographer with her own free-lance business for twenty years. She knows the needs of small business people and has been actively involved in the LBGT community for twelve years, ever since first coming out.

Ann attended the Cleveland Institute of Art for her post graduate work in photography and design. She was the rooky of the year 2002, Branch Transaction leader 2004, multi-million dollar producer, historic home specialist through the national trust for historic preservation. Ann contributes to the children miracle network, is and is on the board for Cleveland’s Women’s Network. Member HRC, Stonewall Dems, and Plexus business member.

Ann feels strongly that Plexus in Cleveland is a vital organization both locally and as part of the NGLCC nationally. It is very important in contributing to our community.

Jonah moved to Ohio from the San Francisco Bay Area in early 2008, where he had served as Director of Public Information for a public transit agency. Having spent most of his life in California, which has a far more friendly and tolerant climate for diversity issues, he looks forward to being part of the effort to expand that in this region as well. Jonah has more than 15 years of experience in strategic communication, with a focus on media relations and crisis communication. On the lighter side, he has been a member of several improvisational comedy troupes over the past decade, including the National Comedy Theatre in San Diego, ComedySportz in San Jose, and most recently with Something Da Da here in Cleveland. Jonah lives in Cleveland Heights.

Linda Abraham-Silver,Ed.D., is President and Executive Director of the Great Lakes Science Center, the premier science-education attraction at the North Coast Harbor in Cleveland, Ohio.

Only the second president of the Science Center since its founding in 1996, Dr. Abraham-Silver came to Cleveland in 2004 after more than a decade at California’s world-renowned Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, where she served as Vice President of Education and Guest Relations. Dr. Abraham-Silver’s leadership of the Great Lakes Science Center is focused on developing collaborative ventures among the region’s cultural institutions. These are targeted to expand and enhance educational opportunities offered by the Science Center and its partners.

Among Dr. Abraham-Silver’s many accomplishments during her tenure, she spearheaded a collaborative effort among the Science Center, The Cleveland Foundation and local corporate donors to install the first wind turbine on the American shore of Lake Erie – a 150-foot-high generating device that not only demonstrates the interrelationship of science, technology, the environment and daily life, but also supplies some seven percent of the Science Center’s energy needs.

Dr. Abraham-Silver has lectured and published extensively on the subjects of science education and the role of museums in science education. A California native, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), a Masters of Business Administration degree from Pepperdine University, and an Ed.D. in science education from the University of Southern California. She has worked with the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the National Science Foundation.

Dr. Abraham-Silver has been honored with an “Innovation in Business” award from Smart Business magazine (2005), Crain’s 40 Under 40 award (2006), Kaleidoscope Magazine’s Women Who Give Back award (2005), and the YWCA’s Women of Excellence award (2007).

She is a member of Cleveland’s In Counsel with Women leadership organization. She serves as a Trustee on the boards of: Cleveland’s Community Partnership for Arts and Culture, Laurel School, Plexus, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. She is a member of the Visiting Committee of the College of Education and Human Services of Cleveland State University.

Dr. Abraham-Silver, her husband Brad and their children – daughter Caroline (age 7) and son BJ (age 4) – share their Shaker Heights home with the family’s Great Dane, Scout.

“Through Plexus, Cleveland can build a sustainable business infrastructure for the LGBT community and prove that inclusion makes not only social, but economic sense for this city. I want to be a part of that mission and message.”

Lynne Bowman is one of the many founders of Equality Ohio. Since its formal incorporation in 2005, she has served as the organization’s Executive Director. She came to the role with 17 years of organizational leadership experience in the non-profit, for-profit and government sectors as well as 8 years of volunteer involvement with LGBT issues. A graduate of Otterbein College with degrees in both Psychology and Music Theory and Composition, she later returned to study business and went on to receive a Master of Arts in Administration from Central Michigan University in 2001. Lynne is a graduate of the Leadership Columbus class of 2007, a member of the United Way of Central Ohio’s Diversity Committee, an ex-officio board member of Plexus in Northeast Ohio, and currently serves as the Board Chair of the Equality Federation, a national organization dedicated to strengthening statewide LGBT organizing. In her free time, she enjoys yoga, fitness, reading and hanging out at home with her wife of 14 years.

Thomas Hawn is a Senior Vice President at KeyBank. Thomas has responsibility for: the Client Experience at Key Bank, Mass Market, Emerging Cultural Markets, and, the Underbanked Consumer Segments . Prior to this he was product manager for Direct Consumer Credit Products. He also chairs Key Bank’s Gay and Lesbian Employee Business Networking Group.

Prior to joining Key Bank in 1999, Thomas served as the Chief Financial Officer of Slavic Village Development (SVD). SVD, a member organization of Greater Cleveland Community Shares, is a Cleveland based neighborhood development organization committed improving the quality of life in the Slavic Village neighborhood of Cleveland through housing, community organizing and commercial revitalization. Prior to this, Thomas served as Board President of Broadway Area Housing Coalition, a predecessor organization of Slavic Village Development. During that time, Thomas held a variety of roles and responsibilities at the Progressive Corporation from 1982 through 1994.

”I chose to become involved with Plexus to help transform the Northeast Ohio community into a vibrant diverse, welcoming, and, economically growing region.”

Steven has been a Financial Advisor and Portfolio Manager with Morgan Stanley for over ten years and has been in the financial services industry for more than 18 years. Aside from portfolio management, financial and investment advice Steven’s client relationships have spanned from routine home financing and life insurance services to assisting business owners with Investment Banking and highly complex Risk Management strategies.

Steven graduated from Baldwin Wallace College with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration with an emphasis in finance. He also served as Vice-president of the Baldwin Wallace College Chapter of Financial Management Association. Steven enjoys involvement in many philanthropic, charitable and volunteering activities and serves on the non-profit Boards of Trustees of the following: Wesco Housing Corporation, West Haven Foundation (as Treasurer and Chairman of the Investment Policy Committee), Welcome House Inc., Solutions at Work Inc. (as Treasurer), the Rocky River Adult Activities Center’s Parent Teacher Community United Board (as Treasurer and Delegate to the County) and University Hospitals Health System’s Diamond Advisory Group. He has also been nominated by The Center for Community Solutions as one of their Most Treasured Volunteers and profiled in WVIZ’s Make A Difference documentary.