Board of Directors

Susan Stagner, Chair

Susan serves as a regional vice president of K12 Inc., a Virginia-based curriculum and school management company with associated charter schools located across the nation. Before that, Susan had served as Head of School for the Ohio Virtual Academy. Under her leadership, the Ohio Virtual Academy consistently ranked as one of the top 25 charter schools and the highest-performing public e-school in the state. In the 2005-2006 school year, the Ohio Virtual Academy became the first and only statewide e-school to achieve the "effective" school report card ranking. Susan has more than 19 years of diverse business and education experience. She has served as the director of the Toledo Technology Academy, a pre-engineering, public magnet school. Her business experience includes various positions in engineering, program management, consulting and Internet strategy, including stints with the Ford Motor Company and, most recently, Libbey Inc. A graduate of the University of Detroit, where she received a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering, Susan also earned a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Michigan.

Daniel Peters, Treasurer

Daniel S. Peters is president of the Ruth and Lovett Peters Foundation in Cincinnati, Ohio. The foundation’s emphasis is on improving the quality of K-12 education nationwide. Dan previously spent 17 years at Procter & Gamble, where he held a variety of executive positions in advertising, purchasing and research and development. Dan is chairman of the Philanthropy Roundtable, a national association of grantmakers with headquarters in Washington, D. C., and co-founder of the Alliance for Charitable Reform, a Washington, D. C.-based organization advocating common sense reform of the non-profit sector. He has spoken before a number of philanthropic organizations, including the Council of Federations, the Gathering, and the Association of Small Foundations, and has consulted with a number of non-profit organizations around the world. Dan is a graduate of Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has a master’s degree in business administration from Xavier University.

Greg Brown

Greg is Dean of Academics at The Graham School, a public charter high school located in Columbus. He also teaches English at the school, which has a special focus on experiential education. Prior to working at The Graham School, he served as executive assistant to the superintendent of Columbus Public Schools, overseeing daily operations of the office. He helped create the "Columbus Reads" program, bringing reading tutors from businesses into elementary school classrooms. This program served as a model for "Ohio Reads." He worked for 16 years at The Ohio State University, where he served as a senior staff member in the College of Education and as editor of the faculty and staff newspaper. Greg earned his bachelor’s degree in English and teaching licensure from Miami University and a master’s degree in journalism from The Ohio State University. He has also completed extensive graduate coursework in education at Ohio State. A graduate of North High School in Columbus, Greg has traveled extensively. For four years, he lived in Australia, where he taught English at the high school level.

CHAD READLER

Chad Readler is a partner at the global law firm Jones Day, primarily focused on civil, criminal, and constitutional matters, with an emphasis on appellate litigation. Chad received his J.D. cum laude from the University of Michigan and his B.A in Political Science and Economics. 

Before the U.S. Supreme Court, Chad has assisted successfully in representing clients in matters involving preemption, the First Amendment, the death penalty, and Congress’ power under the Fourteenth Amendment. Chad recently prevailed in the Ohio Supreme Court on behalf of the Cleveland Clinic, as well as in a separate matter where he defended the constitutionality of Ohio’s public charter school system.

Chad was named a 2009 recipient of the American Marshall Memorial Fellowship awarded by the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF). 

John "Jack" Sherwin Jr.

Jack is currently interim president and CEO of The Holden Arboretum in Kirtland, Ohio, as well as the president of Cleveland-based Mid-Continent Ventures, Inc. Prior to founding Mid-Continent in 1985, he held various positions with Diamond Shamrock Corporation, both domestically and overseas. Active in the community, Jack is a director of Brush Engineered Materials, Inc., Impulse Technology Ltd., and ShoreBank, Cleveland Corporation. Additionally, he serves on the boards of The Holden Arboretum, John Carroll University, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation and Westminster School. He is a life trustee of the Hawken School and a trustee emeritus of the Great Lakes Museum of Science, Environment and Technology. As recently past chairperson, he has had a long involvement with The Cleveland Foundation, including helping to establish the Lake Geauga Fund in 1987 and serving as president of The Sherwick Fund (a supporting organization of The Cleveland Foundation), which his father created in 1969. An avid outdoorsman, he holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from John Carroll University.