Scott has had a rich career as an award-winning writer, novelist, a produced playwright, an essayist, columnist and features writer, educator, and a film and television writer. Before he became a full-time writer and educator, Scott was a salesman, as well as a professional drummer who drummed with Bo Diddley, among many other musicians. Scott has authored two novels, “The Year That Trembled” and “Vengeance Follows,.” both of which take place in a fictional version of Chagrin Falls. The former was named Vermont Book of the Year, Runner-Up & one of 1998’s “Milestones in Fiction” by the Denver Post. He would later be a source-writer and producer of a feature film based on “The Year That Trembled.” Scott would go on to earn four first-place international film festival awards for his role in the film, including the 2002 Midwest Filmmaker of the Year from the Cleveland International Film Festival.. His adaptation of his novel was produced as a stage play twice at Cleveland’s University School, in 2003 and 2013. His college alma mater, Hiram College, where he delivered the commencement address in 2001, named him along with thirteen others as their “Most Illustrious Alumni.” He has also been recognized as the 1992 Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference Bernard J. O’Keefe Scholar in Nonfiction and the 1998 Sewanee Writers Conference Walter E. Dakin Fellow in Fiction. “Vengeance Follows” was called “a minor masterpiece of suspense and human nature by The Midwest Book Review, who also called Scott, “A master wordsmith of the first order.” Scott has also earned awards from the Ohio Professional Writers Communication Contest and the Ohio Excellence in Journalism. Currently, he is on the liberal arts faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Art, where he teaches screenwriting. Scott recently wrote a feature for ESPN on the Cavaliers 2016 NBA Championship, which ran on SportsCenter the day after the final victory.
William “Skip” Church
Skip has had a prolific career both in front of and behind the television camera. While still attending Western Kentucky University, he became the youngest sports director of a commercial television station in the country at age 20. (WBKO-TV) He would go on to be a sports anchor, producer, and feature reporter. Skip has been honored with two Emmy Awards, five Emmy nominations, and the Associated Press Sports Feature of the Year. For the past two decades he has overseen his video production company, Skip Church Enterprises. He produces a wide range of programs from national documentaries to corporate videos, with many of his video productions winning a Telly award, an honor for the very best film & video productions. A significant part of Skip’s life has been with giving back. He has served on the Board of Directors in Connecticut for both the Special Olympics & United Way. Skip even hosted the first-ever live televised Special Olympics Event. His civic duty is most notably recognized in regards to drinking and driving due in part to his youngest son Dustin bing killed by a drunk driver in 2004. Skip drafted and promoted the passage of legislation that strengthens drunk driving laws by requiring convicted drunk drivers to use an ignition interlock device that prohibits engine starts for those that are impaired. In the first two and a half years of the program, those devices have prohibited engine starts more than 105,000 times, which averages to 115 less impaired drivers on a daily basis. Skip and his wife Colleen, who is the National President for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, also created a summer day camp for children in honor of their son, called Dustin’s Place.
Jonathan Engel
Jonathan has been fortunate to pursue two careers unified by a single passion — to promote informed decision-making in a complex world. He began as a journalist for several respected news organizations, working in the 1970s and 1980s for the Des Moines Register in Iowa, Reuters and Dow Jones in London and the International Herald Tribune in Paris. At Reuters in the 1990s, he served in several senior editorial posts, including Global Editor at Reuters Television, the first worldwide TV network dedicated to market-moving financial news. He also helped integrate traditionally separate news units in the new position of Manager of Multimedia News Production. As news organizations and other information providers embraced digital production, media consumers struggled to cope with floods of easily published but poorly defined content. Information overload became a common complaint. Jonathan helped pioneer new techniques for organizing, classifying and linking information for more effective Web-based search, navigation and delivery. Eventually, he set up his own information architecture consultancy in 2003, InfoArk Ltd., to assist a variety of organizations, including global companies, UK government agencies and influential charities. He has worked for Unilever, Cambridge University, Times Newspapers, the National Health Service, Oxfam International and children’s charity Barnardo’s. Additionally, he has been a member of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers & Commerce (RSA).
Tim Swan
Tim has been a leader in commercial real estate in Denver, Colorado for over 30 years with over $7.5 billion in transactions covering more than 34 million square feet. Early in his career he held the roles of President of The Denver Solar Energy Association & Partner at East-West Energy Co. (Denver, Colorado). Before recently retiring, Tim was Managing Director, CBRE Capital Markets Group, Colorado Region. Tim closed more than $1.37 billion in sales volume in 2007, including the Blackstone Denver CBD Office Portfolio for $770 million. This portfolio sale surpassed the highest recorded commercial transaction in Denver’s history by a factor of three. His success was noted with being honored with Commercial Real Estate Association Denver Chapter’s “Investment Broker of the Year Award” on three separate occasions. Tim also received the “Heavy Hitter” Award from the Denver Commercial Real Estate Association multiple times. Outside of real estate, he has been an avid volunteer for such groups as National Association of Office & Industrial Parks, Project Healing Waters, Colorado Association for Viticulture & Enology, the Denver International School, & The Cultural Food Guild. What has given Tim the most pleasure is mentoring young people, whether they are just starting in their careers or are high school students in maximizing their potential.
STEPHEN WU
![](https://www.chagrinalumni.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/i1994-wu.png)
Steve is a pioneer in secure electronic commerce law and information security law and may be our country’s leading “legal futurist.” Steve serves as Chair of the American Bar Association Section of Science and Technology Law. He was the second in-house lawyer at Internet security giant VeriSign, Inc before he was a founding partner in the Silicon Valley law firm Cooke Kobrick & Wu LLP. Steve wrote or co-wrote five books on secure electronic commerce, data security, and the law. He has become one of the world’s leading practitioner in the area of the 3D Internet – virtual worlds and online video games. Additionally, he is the worldwide head of the legal team, CrisisCommons, which is an international effort to create online tools for assisting responders and victims of the earthquake in Haiti and other disaster relief. Steve also enjoys being a scoutmaster and Sunday school teacher.
LEE UNKRICH
Lee has been a longtime member of the core creative team at Pixar Animation Studios. Recently Lee was Director of Disney/Pixar’s critical and commercial hit film, Toy Story 3. Before this movie, he has been Co-director on Finding Nemo; Monsters, Inc.; and Toy Story 2. His work on Finding Nemo earned Lee and his co-director an Academy Award in 2003 for Best Animated Feature Film. He also received a Golden Globe in 1999 for Toy Story 2 in the Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy category. Lee was recently been honored with the Venice Film Festival Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement Award and co-Shared an Annie Award from the International Animated Film Society for Outstanding Directing in an Animated Feature Production.
STEPHEN THOMAS
2010 CFAA Chagrin Falls Community Service Award
Steve has been able to participate and preside over the formation of three civic organizations that help enrich the Chagrin Falls Schools and community – Chagrin Falls Education Foundation, Downtown Chagrin Falls and the Chagrin Foundation for Arts & Culture. He has held the position of President in all three of these organizations as well as serving as treasurer of the Federated Church and was a long-time trustee for Chagrin Falls Township. Steve’s professional career has been as a trial attorney and general legal practitioner, with an emphasis on professional negligence. He has argued over 60 cases before Ohio and federal appellate courts, including three appearances before the Ohio Supreme Court. At least ten of these cases have established new legal principles.
Pat Crain Hosmer
Community Service Award
Pat is the true epitome of community service, which has been exemplified over decades in Geauga County. She has been a volunteer for over 36 years to the Geauga County Historical Society and Century Village. On a weekly basis you can find her helping at University Hospital and at various locations in the Geauga Parks. She also finds time to write on local history and patriotism regularly for the Chagrin Valley Women’s Club and the Geauga County Historical Society. Additionally, Pat has spent over three decades writing letters for the release of prisoners of conscience to various Heads of State in other countries. In the past she has held various leadership roles such as Chairwoman of the CVWC Educational Gift Fund and President of Century Village. She has also lent her sewing talent by knitting over 5,000 pairs of mittens to the Maydugan Center for distribution.
Jack Buchanan
Jack has maintained a passion for preserving and sharing history in each of his careers. He started as a high school history teacher in Newark Valley, New York. He would move on to being an archivist and historical librarian that would take him from Cornell University to New York City. The bulk of his career was at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. During his twenty-seven years at the Met, Jack primarily held the role of Chief Registrar, where he oversaw worldwide art movements. Concurrently with his job as Chief Registrar, he was Special Assistant to the Director and later Special Assistant to the President. Jack’s retirement from the museum has led to a writing career. Currently he has authored three books on early American history, two on the Revolutionary War and one on Andrew Jackson. All of the books are required readings at select universities. One book, The Road to Valley Forge, won the Thomas Fleming Award for Best Book of 2004 from the American Revolution Round Table of Philadelphia. Jack has also published short stories, and in 2010 his first novel, The Rise of Stefan Gregorovic.
Dr. M. Linda Brown
Dr. Linda Brown has devoted much of her medical career to coordinating medical programs in the developing world focusing on women’s health problems and organizing medical care to people in need after a natural disaster or conflict. Linda has conducted medical relief in Haiti, Palestine, Kenya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Honduras, New Orleans, and Mississippi. For the past several years this medical relief work has been through an organization that she began, Samaritans Now. Dr. Brown has also done work as a medical coordinator and advisor on women’s programs in Iraq and Afghanistan. When not on medical relief projects, Linda is a primary care physician where she focuses on women’s health. Additionally, Linda and her husband are the National Chair of the Parents Council at the University of Miami.
Keith DeGreen
Keith has had an illustrious career in investment advising. He built up DeGreen Wealth Management, which he sold in 2006 with $640,000,000 of assets under management. After flunking retirement, he took a three year world-wide sabbatical. Keith then developed a portfolio management program and has pioneered world-wide market and sector investing through the growing universe of low-cost, U.S. traded, exchange traded funds (ETFs) with DeGreen Capital Management. He has authored The Emerging Markets Book, now in its second printing. Keith also hosts Arizona’s most popular personal finance show, which is now in its 21st year. After high school, Keith would receive the Purple Heart in Vietnam and attained the rank of Sergeant with the United States Marines. Additionally, he was Arizona’s Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in 1988 and was a candidate for Governor in 2005 but withdrew due to a family illness. Besides holding a Certified Financial Planner license, Keith earned a law degree when he returned from Vietnam.
John Miller
John Miller is an internationally renowned artist on three continents. John has been recognized with numerous awards including The Wolfgang Hahn Prize, Gesellschaft für Moderne Kunst, Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2011); Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant (2001); Third Place, Best Gallery Show, Association of International Art Critics, U.S. Chapter (1996); and the Louis Comfort Tiffany Award (1989). John started doing his mature work between graduate and undergraduate school, some of which were videos that were shown at the Anthology Film Archives in 1977. He then branched out into several mediums. John has also earned several fellowships and grants in the U.S., Berlin and Japan. As a Professor of Professional Practice at Barnard College, he teaches art and art criticism. John also serves on the board of Primary Information, a non-profit arts publisher and regularly donates artwork to benefit arts organization and for AIDS research.
Robert Belanger
Bob has had an honorable career serving our country and the state of Florida as an attorney and judge. He began his legal career when he was a Captain in the United States Marine Corps. He served as an Unrestricted Line Officer assigned to Judge Advocate billet representing servicemen in a variety of roles. Bob continued his legal career in Cleveland and then took his talents Martin County, Florida where he held the position of Assistant State Attorney. In 2004, Governor Jeb Bush appointed him Circuit Judge of the 19th Judicial Circuit. Bob handles such matters as, major criminal offenses, domestic relations, probate issues, civil cases involving amounts greater than $15,000, and appeals from county courts. Several of his decisions have been published and he has been awarded the Martindale-Hubbell AV rating. Bob has been President of the Justice Major B. Harding American Inn of Court
Charlie Hartsock
Charlie has had an outstanding career in film, television and commercials on both sides of the camera. His career started in Chicago where he was a member of The Second City. While there, Charlie also held the titles of Creative Director and Head Writer. He then went on to commercials and television. Three of his commercials have won top prizes at the Cannes International Advertising Festival, while he also had recurring roles on Spin City, Arrested Development, and According to Jim. Currently, Charlie develops and produces motion pictures for, and with, his partner at Carousel Production, Steve Carell. He has been Executive Producer of Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011) and The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013), and Showtime’s Inside Comedy series. Charlie was also the founding member of Burpee’s Seedy Theatrical Company, the nation’s longest active college improvisation group.
Dr. Bruce Campbell
Dr. Bruce Campbell has been a career diplomat for the United Nations with a focus on reducing poverty and addressing humanitarian suffering. His efforts began when he worked with Salvadoran refugees in Honduras. Bruce met his wife at Harvard when he was getting his second master’s degree, their union transcends past the typical marriage, as they frequently travel on humanitarian missions together. They would work together in Honduras, Lebanon, Pakistan, the Netherlands, Ghana, Nepal, Eritrea, Zimbabwe and Vietnam. During the time of Israeli occupation in southern Lebanon, Bruce was director of a 40 bed hospital for Palestinian refugees. He was most likely the last remaining U.S. male in Lebanon at the time and was briefly taken hostage by a militia group. His next post was directing a medical program for Afghan refugees, which provided clinical services to 1,100 patients a day. During that time, his wife Ellen directed a Health Education Resource Center for which provided services to three million Afghan refugees living in Pakistan. Bruce also worked for the Royal Tropical Institute of the Netherlands as a technical advisor and consultant. He would go on to be Chief Technical Advisor for the Ministry of Health in Ghana for 4 years and in Nepal for 7 years. During that time, both countries witnessed significant reductions in Maternal and Child Mortality. Between 1984 and 2014, he led or participated in over 120 technical missions to more than 25 developing countries. One of his proudest achievements oversaw a program during the time of the sharpest decline in HIV prevalence in the history of the epidemic in Zimbabwe. After 30 years abroad, living in nine countries, Bruce is now in New York City as Director of United Nations Population Fund – Technical Division, where he leads a team of 90+ professionals who provide policy and technical advice to 6 regional and 129 country offices.
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