Cleveland Foundation announces three new members of the Board of Directors

CLEVELAND (April 14, 2014) – The Cleveland Foundation today announced the appointment of three new members to its Board of Directors: Teresa Metcalf Beasley, partner at Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP; Jenniffer D. Deckard, President & CEO of Fairmount Minerals, Ltd.; and Bernie Moreno, President of The Collection Auto Group.

All three appointments, replacing departing board members Charles Bolton, Sandra Pianalto and Frank Sullivan, are for once-renewable five-year terms and were approved by the foundation’s Board of Directors. Bolton, Pianalto and Sullivan served two five-year terms and had reached the foundation’s 10-year board term limit.

“We are delighted to welcome these three highly accomplished community leaders, who bring a wide diversity of skill sets and an impressive track record of caring deeply about our community,” said Ronald B. Richard, President and CEO of the Cleveland Foundation. “That combination will be invaluable as they help guide the foundation going into our second century.

“At the same time, on behalf of the foundation, I want to thank our three outgoing board members for volunteering enormous amounts of time, talent and treasure to the foundation during the past decade. Their impact and legacies as foundation board members will be felt in our community for generations to come.”

Teresa Metcalf Beasley was named a partner at Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP this year. She joined the law firm in 2011 as a member of the Public Law and Finance, Real Estate Development and Finance, and Government Relations practice groups. She also serves as co-chair of the firm’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee.

Beasley also serves as the Director of Law for the city of Warrensville Heights. She was Director of Law for the city of Cleveland from 2003 to 2004 under former Mayor Jane Campbell’s administration.
 

Among her honors, Beasley received the YWCA Women of Professional Excellence Award in 2011. She serves as a board member for Laurel School for Girls, Cleveland Botanical Garden and Village Capital Corporation. From 2005 to 2011, she chaired the Cleveland Foundation’s African-American Philanthropy Committee. She earned her Juris Doctorate from Cleveland State University.

Beasley Teresa

Bernie Moreno

Jenniffer Deckard

Jenniffer D. Deckard joined Fairmount Minerals in 1994 and shortly after was named Chief Financial Officer. She served in that capacity until being named President in 2011. She was appointed Chief Executive Officer in 2013.

Deckard started her career at Arthur Andersen, after having interned with the firm in college. She earned her Master of Business Administration from Case Western Reserve University.

She was recognized by Crain’s Cleveland Business in 2008 as “CFO of the Year” for large, privately held businesses in Greater Cleveland, and as one of the publication’s 2013 Newsmakers. In addition, last year she and her husband, Daryl, received the Cleveland Foundation’s Frederick Harris Goff Philanthropic Service Award. The couple also has been named Geauga County Foster Parents of the Year.

Deckard serves on the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland’s Business Advisory Council and is a board member of Greater Cleveland Partnership, Chardon Healing Fund and First Tee of Cleveland.

Bernie Moreno bought his first car dealership, Mercedes Benz of North Olmsted, in 2005. Over the past nine years, he has built The Collection Auto Group, which includes 31 dealerships throughout Northeast Ohio, the Cincinnati market (Northern Kentucky) and, soon, in Coral Gables, Fla. and Boston.

Moreno launched his career in the automotive industry with the Saturn Corporation. He also served as Vice President for New England’s largest automotive dealer.

Among his honors, Moreno received the Midwest Region Entrepreneur of the Year Award from Ernst & Young in 2011. Also that year, he received the Time Magazine/Ally Financial Dealer of the Year Award for the Greater Northeast Ohio Region. Moreno was named the 2014 Distinguished Business Executive of the year by Sales and Marketing Executives of Cleveland.

He serves as Vice Chair of the Cleveland State University Board of Trustees and is a board member of Cuyahoga Community College Foundation, Greater Cleveland Partnership, Ohio Business Roundtable and Young Presidents Organization.

Beasley, Deckard and Moreno join current Cleveland Foundation board members Inajo Chappell, Hiroyuki Fujita, Sally Gries, Fred Nance, Michael Petras Jr., Larry Pollock, Beth Rankin, Rev. Dr. Stephen Rowan, Ratanjit Sondhe, Ernest Wilkerson Jr., Vice Chair Paul Dolan and Chair James Ratner.

~~~

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 2013 grants of $89 million. Through the generosity of donors, the foundation improves the lives of Greater Clevelanders by building community endowment, addressing needs through grantmaking and providing leadership on vital issues. The foundation tackles the community’s priority areas – economic transformation, public school improvement, youth development, neighborhood revitalization and arts advancement – and responds to the community’s needs.

For more information on the Cleveland Foundation, please visit www.ClevelandFoundation.org/Purpose  and follow us at www.Facebook.com/ClevelandFoundation or @CleveFoundation on Twitter. 

Copyright © 1989 to 2014 by [LaPrensa Publications Inc.]. All rights reserved.
Revised: 04/22/14 20:24:57 -0700.