Appalachian Ohio State of the Region Conference

Brock Brewster is a 1992 graduate of Western High School in Latham, Ohio. After graduating from Ohio University, he returned to Western High School to teach high school science. After 5 years he moved into the principalship at Peebles High School. He then returned to Western Local in 2006 as the director of curriculum and instruction.  In 2007 he became the Western High School principal. In 2014 he transitioned to the superintendent role and has been in that position ever since. Brewster’s primary focus as district superintendent, especially over the past 5 years, has been to create a system in which students are truly prepared for life after high school. Through the creation of the Western BUILT program and the West LA Ecosystem, Western Local Schools truly has a student-centered, future-focused vision and a structure to support students in high school and as they transition into a post-high school world.  

John Carey was appointed Director of the Governor’s Office of Appalachia by Governor Mike DeWine in February 2019. The Governor’s Office of Appalachia works to coordinate economic and community development initiatives to improve the lives of those living in the 32-county region. The Office also works with the Appalachian Regional Commission in Washington, D.C. and with various local entities to promote the region's assets and support initiatives that increase the economic activity of the region.

John Carey served as the Chancellor of the Ohio Department of Higher Education from 2013 – 2018. Prior to joining the Ohio Department of Higher Education, Carey was Assistant to the President for Strategic Initiatives at Shawnee State University. He began his career serving as the Mayor of Wellston for seven years and then went on to be elected to the Ohio House of Representatives and the Ohio Senate.

A graduate of Ohio University, he lives in Wellston with his wife, Lynley, and two sons.

Dan Leffingwell is an accomplished educational leader currently serving as Vice President for Advocacy at Future Plans, Client Relationship Director at SHP, and Director of the Appalachian STEM Collaborative. He is dedicated to empowering school districts and communities to develop personalized pathways that align student strengths and aptitudes with industry demands.

Dan has a diverse background, having previously held roles as a teacher, coach, high school principal, and school superintendent. In 2022, he was honored as the BASA Superintendent of the Year. Under his leadership, the Noble Local School District became Ohio's first K-12 STEM designated school district, achieving a continuous “4-star BAC award” that emphasizes the importance of connecting students to future workforce opportunities.

Dan and his wife Debbie(36 years) have two adult children (Darci and Dylan) and one awesome granddaughter (Norah).

LaReta J. Lowther is the Executive Vice President & Senior Director – Community Development / CRA for WesBanco Bank, the banking subsidiary of WesBanco Inc., a $28 billion regional bank holding company with locations in nine states. A 46-year veteran of the banking industry, Mrs. Lowther’s area of expertise is bank regulatory compliance, with the last 25 years exclusively focused on community development and compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). She leads a team of award-winning community development professionals providing financial solutions throughout the WesBanco footprint to address affordable housing, revitalization of economically distressed communities, community development services for lower income persons, and assistance for small businesses. She also serves as the President of the WesBanco Bank Community Development Corporation, a certified rural Community Development Entity which deploys allocations of New Markets Tax Credits. Under her leadership, WesBanco has received eight consecutive “Outstanding” ratings on its federal CRA examinations spanning a period of more than 20 years, as well as an ABA Community Commitment Award in the Economic and Community Development category and the FDIC Chairman’s Award for Serving Low- and Moderate-Income Persons. A graduate of Wheeling Jesuit University, Mrs. Lowther has been a featured speaker at national conferences including the National Interagency Community Reinvestment Conference, the FDIC CRA Forum for Large Bank Examiners, the FDIC Committee on Economic Inclusion and the American Bankers Association Risk & Compliance Conference. She has served as an adjudicator for several business plan and grant competitions and as a technical advisor for communities. Mrs. Lowther has been included in the “50 in 52 Journey”, a national initiative featuring America’s community problem solvers and received the “Volunteer of the Year” award from West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin for her revitalization work with her hometown, the City of Shinnston. She resides with her family in Stonewood, West Virginia.

Laurie McKnight is a Senior Research Manager at Ohio University’s Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service, where she works on workforce development initiatives throughout the Southeast Ohio region.

With over 10 years of experience in workforce development, Laurie has worked on overseeing grants to assist in recruitment and training for in-demand occupations throughout the Southeast Ohio region including those related to broadband and 5G. Prior to her current role, she held positions as the Executive Director for the Area 14 Workforce Development Board covering Athens, Meigs and Perry counties and was a Workforce case manager at the Athens Ohio Means Jobs center where she would help individuals with career awareness and training.

Currently, her role includes overseeing the workforce development section of the GVS team including Broadband/5G, Advanced Air Mobility, and Skillshed Analysis.

As the Director of Economic Development at Bricker Graydon Wyatt, Mike provides economic development consulting services to public and private sector clients.  He is one of 6 non-attorney professionals on the team of over 30 economic development and public finance attorneys at Bricker Graydon Wyatt LLP.  His work includes: strategies, plans, reports, grant/loan application drafting, contracted part-time economic development staffing, incentive advising, site investigation, and more.  Mike Jacoby is a seasoned economic development professional with over 31 years of experience in the field. He has worked at the state, local, and regional levels. His understanding of both private business and government provides a strong foundation to help multiple clients.

At Mike's previous role he led the Ohio Southeast Economic Development (OhioSE) team in supporting companies in a 25-county region of over 1 million in population. Under Mike's leadership, the team successfully supported expansion and attraction projects that created over 5,800 jobs. Additionally, he worked closely with JobsOhio, the state's private economic development corporation, as the JobsOhio Network Partner for southern and eastern Ohio. He actively engaged with business, government, and economic development leaders across the region and the state, representing southeastern Ohio and leading site development, workforce, and planning initiatives.

Mike earned a bachelor’s degree in newspaper journalism from Kent State University and a master’s degree in public administration from Ohio University.  Is a Certified Economic Development Professional as designated by the International Economic Development Council, a Certified Economic Development Finance Professional as designated by the National Development Council, and a graduate of the Economic Development Institute at the University of Oklahoma.  

Senator Michele Reynolds is currently serving her first term in the Ohio Senate, representing Ohio Senate District 3. She previously served as a Madison Township Trustee for 3 years, and Governor Mike DeWine’s Faith Based Director for the State of Ohio. She currently serves as the Chair of the Senate Housing Committee and Vice Chair of the Judiciary Committee. In addition to her public service, Senator Reynolds is a third-generation business owner and non-profit CEO. She and her husband also pastor a church in Franklin County called The Destiny Center. She holds a bachelor’s degree, 2 master’s degrees, 2 honorary doctorate degrees, and is a JD candidate at the University of Dayton.

Dr. Vicki King-Maple is the Executive Director of OMEGA – the Ohio Mid-Eastern Governments Association. Over the years, she has led extensive economic resiliency plans, workforce priorities, educational skills gap analyses, and occupational forecast assessment projects throughout the Appalachian region and across the nation. Vicki is also an experienced facilitator, presenter, keynote speaker, and nationally published researcher. She is prepared at the doctorate level with her dissertation research steeped in the role of the community college in bridging the engineering technology-based workforce gap. She brings future-thinking, consensus-building skills to the OMEGA footprint with priorities in expanding the pursuit of prosperity for the Appalachian region she is proud to call home.

As Dean, Tracy Plouck oversees two academic programs (public administration and environmental studies) and more than $16 million in funding focused on addressing the unmet needs of Ohio and its 32 Appalachian counties. Prior to this, Plouck served as Assistant Clinical Professor with OHIO’s College of Health Sciences and Professions. In this role, she worked to support the Ohio Alliance for Population Health, a network of more than fifty organizations that partner to address various population health challenges across the state. As a part of this effort, Plouck assisted local communities to build capacity through grant writing, training, workforce development planning, and project management.

From 2011 to 2018, Tracy Plouck was Director of the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.  During that time, she also served as President of the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors and as Vice Chair of the Council of State Governments’ Justice Center.  For more than 20 years, Plouck held a variety of leadership roles for the State of Ohio, having served twice as the state’s Medicaid Director and as deputy director of both the Ohio Office of Budget and Management and the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities. Plouck has served as a member of the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) National Board of Directors. She earned a BA from Kent State University and an MPA from Ohio State. 

President Gonzalez joined Ohio University from the University of Louisville where she served as Executive Vice President and Provost. She has served as an academic leader in both urban and rural environments, always in public higher education.

Dr. Gonzalez received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Kentucky in speech pathology and audiology and a Master of Arts degree in communication disorders from Eastern Kentucky University. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of Florida and is an accomplished researcher and faculty member in her field having taught at the University of Southern Illinois and the University of Kentucky, the latter for more than a decade.

She began her academic career at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 1988. In 1991, she returned to UK as an assistant professor in the Communication Sciences and Disorders program. She then spent 20 years in roles as a professor and associate dean of Academic Affairs. In 2005, she was appointed dean of the College of Health Sciences, a position she held for seven years. In 2011, Dr. Gonzalez moved to Appalachian State University, where she served as provost and executive vice chancellor for three years, followed by a year as special advisor to the senior vice president for Academic Affairs at the University of North Carolina System. From 2015 until the spring of 2021, she served as the vice chancellor for Academic, Faculty and Student Affairs at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. In April of 2021, Dr. Gonzalez was appointed executive vice president and university provost at the University of Louisville, followed by one year of service as interim university president.