2011 Ohio Right to Life Board of Trustees
Marshal Pitchford,
Chairman of the Board
Marshal Pitchford is Chairman of the Ohio Right to Life Board of Trustees. He also serves as Chairman of the Ohio Right to Life Political Action Committee and has been involved in the Right to Life movement for some time. Mr. Pitchford is a past member of Summit County Right to Life's Advisory Board and Co-chairman of the Right to Life of Summit County PAC.
Mr. Pitchford is an attorney with the national law firm of Roetzel & Andress. His practice primarily focuses on transportation litigation, retail representation, government and commercial litigation. He has a wide range of experience working for clients in the trucking, transit authority, and busing industries, regularly representing both large and small transportation companies. As a member of the firm's emergency response team, he has coordinated and managed numerous catastrophic incidents, helping implement successful emergency response protocols. He is also counsel for numerous large and small retailers, manufacturers, and businesses.
Marshal resides in Akron with his wife Allison and their four children.
Dr. Dennis Sullivan, Vice Chairman
Dr. Dennis Sullivan is a Professor of Biology at Cedarville University, Cedarville, Ohio, where he teaches human biology and bioethics. After undergraduate training in chemistry, Dr. Sullivan received his M.D. from Case Western Reserve School of Medicine. He then completed five years of training in general surgery, after which he served in the U.S. Army as a staff surgeon at the Blanchfield Army Community Hospital, Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
Dr. Sullivan and his family served for twelve years as missionaries with Baptist Mid-Missions, first in the country of Haiti, West Indies, then in the Central African Republic. A major civil conflict in C.A.R. in 1996 forced a return to the United States. Dr. Sullivan then joined the biology faculty at Cedarville University, where he developed courses in
human anatomy and physiology, pathophysiology, developmental biology, and bioethics. He has been a full professor at Cedarville since 2003. In 2004, Dr. Sullivan completed his M.A. in bioethics from Trinity Graduate School. He is now Director of the Center for Bioethics at Cedarville University.
Dr. Sullivan is a Diplomate of the American Board of Surgery and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He is a member of the American Medical Association, the Christian Medical Association, the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity, and the American Scientific Affiliation. He has authored numerous articles in Ethics and
Medicine and other journals, especially in the area of human personhood.
He continues to travel, and has conducted two short-term medical mission trips to Africa, as well as two teaching tours of medical schools in the Republic of Vietnam. Dr. Sullivan volunteers at a local women's center and is a frequent speaker on bioethics issues in churches, bioethics forums, universities, and medical schools.
Dr. Sullivan enjoys racquetball, hiking, and woodworking. He and his wife Barbara live in Beavercreek, Ohio. They have three daughters.
Patrick Kunklier, Secretary
;)
Patrick (Pat) Kunklier is secretary of Ohio Right to Life (ORTL) and chairperson of its public policy committee. Pat is a relatively new pro-life activist, joining the movement Dec. 31, 2004.
Pat was elected to the ORTL board in March 2007 as chair of the former ORTL region eight, which encompassed Cuyahoga (Cleveland), Erie, Lorain, Lake, Ashtabula and Geauga counties. He has been a public relations volunteer with Right to Life of Summit County.
He initiated and was director of the International Culture-of-Life Conference (ICC), held in 2007 in Akron, Ohio. Featured ICC speakers were Rev. Tad Pacholczyk, Ph.D., director of education, the National Catholic Bioethics Center; Dr. Alveda King, founder of King for America and niece of Martin Luther King, Jr.; and Dr. Ray Guarendi, clinical psychologist, author and national radio host.
Pat is a Eucharistic minister and lector at his Catholic church. He is a board member of Catholic Social Services of Summit County and active in community organizations, including those benefiting disadvantaged families and the environment. He graduated from John Carroll University and has worked in the marketing field for more than 25 years.
Kevin Kelly, Treasurer
Kevin Kelly is an at large member of the Ohio Right to Life Board of Trustees offering support especially in the area of fund-raising and financial development. From the Toledo area, he currently sits on the boards of Toledo Right to Life and Foundation for Life (of Toledo.) He was previously on staff with Right to Life of Michigan with responsibilities including annual development, special-event support, office administration, and planned giving. Kevin and his wife and children live in Sylvania, Ohio. He is the president of an investment advisory firm, also located Sylvania.
Nancy Petro, Member Trustee
Nancy Petro has always believed in the right to life for all innocents. As a new trustee (as of 2011), she is particularly interested in educational and support efforts for women.
Nancy has had a diverse career in communications. She taught graphic design at the Cleveland Institute of Art; was principal of her own firm in Cleveland for more than twenty years; was founding editor of a national high school sports magazine; and served as CEO of a sports statistics software company. More recently, she has focused on business consulting, writing, and community service.
Nancy was active in the political career of her husband, Jim Petro, former Ohio Auditor of State and Ohio Attorney General. She and Jim have recently co-authored False Justice – Eight Myths that Convict the Innocent (Kaplan Publishing, Simon & Schuster Distributing, Jan. 4, 2011), Jim’s memoir focusing on the criminal justice system.
Nancy is active in her church, Trinity United Methodist; is Vice Chair of The Ohio State University Hospital Board; and is a trustee of Denison University. Jim and Nancy have two adult children, John and Corbin Marie.
Laurie Elsass, Member Trustee
Carrie Snyder, Member Trustee
Carrie Snyder and her family are relatively new to Ohio, having moved to Wooster (midway between Mansfield and Canton) in 2005. Prior to that, they lived in Dearborn, Michigan, where Carrie was employed by Right to Life of Michigan (RLM) after graduating from Calvin College with a B.A. in political science. After four years as a field representative in the Detroit area with RLM, Carrie instead became a volunteer, serving for another four years as a local affiliate president, regional PAC director, and state board member. She was also a citizen volunteer for the Foster Care Review Board for six years while in Michigan. Since moving to Ohio, she has led Wayne-Holmes Right to Life for three years as president, which is her current role.
Carrie is the mother of five children, one boy and four girls ranging from one to ten years of age. She's a stay-at-home mom who does freelance editing/proofreading in her “spare” time, and is also active in Junior Service Club and her children's PTO.
Melissa Jordan, President Trustee
Melissa Jordan believes the right unborn innocent’s have to their own life is clear and absolute. A lifelong supporter of pro-life causes, Melissa has volunteered in many capacities to advance this commonsense, all-important effort. Among these; Melissa worked at the grassroots level by collecting baby and maternity supplies for expectant mothers who ultimately chose life. She helped plan and organize various fundraisers for groups and centers forwarding the cause. Melissa contacts her state and federal legislators regularly with ideas for pro-life legislation, or, to tell them why they should vote the pro-life way on upcoming bills. She believes holding our elected officials accountable to the rights of the unborn is essential to raising public awareness on the topic.
Melissa attends Capital University Law School and is a 2013 J.D. Candidate. Melissa lives in Powell, Ohio with her husband, Kris Jordan. The Jordan’s attend LifePoint Church Columbus.
Pastor John Coats, President Trustee
Brian Arnold, Member Trustee
Scott Wiggam, Member Trustee
Bernie Schlueter, President Trustee
Bernie Schlueter received his B.A from Bishop Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa prior to receiving a M.A.in Hospital Administration from the University of Iowa. During his career, Bernie has been the C.E.O. of hospitals in both Wisconsin and Ohio and has been the Deputy Director for the Ohio Department of Health. A Fellow of the American College of Health Care Executives, he also serves as the Chairman of the Columbus Diocesan Catholic radio station, WUCO-1570AM. Schlueter is also a Pastoral minister to patients at the Ohio State University hospitals. He is a father of eight children and 36 grandchildren. Bernie is active with his wife and children in all areas of pro-life, government, politics, church, education and medicine.
Bernie’s wife is the founder and executive director of the Bethesda Post Abortion Healing Ministry in Columbus and is a licensed counselor specializing in Christian values.
Ashley K. Fernandes, MD, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Community Health and Pediatrics at Wright State University School of Medicine in Dayton, Ohio. He attended the University of Toledo, graduating in 1994 with university (magna cum laude), college, and departmental honors in two degrees—Philosophy and Biology. He received an MA in Philosophy from Johns Hopkins University (1999); an MD from The Ohio State University (2003); and a PhD in Bioethics from Georgetown University (2008). Dr. Fernandes also completed a residency in Pediatrics at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center (St. Louis University), and is board certified in General Pediatrics. He is the director of the bioethics course for Wright State University medical students, and, when not teaching, writing, or conducting medical education research, practices outpatient pediatrics at the Rockinghorse Center (a medical home for underserved children in Springfield, OH) and provides inpatient medical care for children at the Dayton Children’s Medical Center.
Dr. Fernandes is of Indian descent, his father (a physician) and mother (an educator), having emigrated from Mumbai, India before he was born. He has four brothers: two physicians, one magistrate (and deacon), and one a Roman Catholic priest (and dean of the seminary in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati). He became active in the prolife cause in high school, organizing local student-run rallies for life. He now lives with his wife Shruti (a family physician) and two little boys in Dayton, Ohio.
Shaun Petersen, Member Trustee
Vince Fisher, Member Trustee
Photography Provided In Part By
Janet Thomas of Photoscuro
email: janet@photoscuro.com
phone: 614.560.5404