Wendy Diamond is a Social Entrepreneur, Humanitarian, Endangered Animal and Rescue Advocate, World’s Premiere Pet Lifestyle expert, Best-Selling Author, and TV Personality. She is heralded and recognized as a pioneer in the animal world; dubbed “Martha Stewart of the Milk Bone Dish” by The New Yorker, and crowned the “Canine Queen” by Forbes. She founded Animal Fair Media with a specific mission to save disenfranchised animals in shelters, and endangered wildlife globally, by promoting animal welfare and rescue, healthy pet lifestyles, and responsible breeding. Since its beginning, the number of animals euthanized annually has dropped by 58 percent, from 12 million to 4 million. Wendy has authored several best-selling books including: Chicken Soup for the Soul: What I Learned from the Dog, What I Learned from the Cat, My Cat’s Life, My Dog’s Life, How to Understand Men Through Their Dogs, How to Understand Women Through Their Cats and It’s a Dog’s World: The Savvy Guide to Four-Legged Living; A Musical Feast and All Star Feast. With the help of Lucky, her first adopted dog, and Baby Hope the second one, Wendy holds 3 Guinness World Records. Lucky Diamond is The Animal Photographed with the Most Celebrities with 363 celebrities. Baby Hope had the most expensive pet wedding in history raising money for a wing at the Humane Society of New York. Wendy herself received a Guinness for the longest curtsey relay in 5 minutes of 314 curtsies. Recently she launched Women’s Entrepreneurship Day (WED) at the United Nations in 144 countries, which is a day to celebrate, support and empower women entrepreneurs and women owned businesses globally. Wendy has received countless honors and titles including the 2016 Ellis Island Medal of Honor, Grand Marshal of Barkus, & Chairwoman of the Katrina Pet Memorial. She also serves on the Board of Advisors for the United Nations Millennium Development Goal Achievers, Grey Muzzle Foundation, Social Innovation Forum/United Nations and World Entrepreneurship Day.
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 WU
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.
DR. SEAN KAY
Sean is a full professor in the Political Science Department at Ohio Wesleyan University and has been a leading expert on international affairs including the topics of NATO, the UN, the EU and Afghanistan. He has played a role as an informal foreign policy advisor to the presidential campaigns of Sen. Barack Obama in 2008 and Sen. John Edwards in 2004. Dr. Kay has spoken to numerous organizations, universities and been a visiting scholar at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. Sean has also written several books and been regularly published in political science journals and newspapers.
DR. JOHN BARES
John plays a dual role as a research professor in Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Institute and Director of the National Robotics Engineering Consortium (NREC). John’s efforts are to enable widespread adoption of roboticized mobile equipment in industry and the military. He also has used his skills to oversee the creation and funding of the K-12 Robotics Academy at the NREC in Pittsburgh.
TIM CLEGG
Tim has been an entrepreneur for over twenty years in the marketing industry. His Clegg Industries, based in California, has been a leader in electronic promotional products, while his recently started company Americhip Inc. has taken marketing to a new multisensory level. Outside of work, Tim has kept busy overseeing a mentoring program and lecturing at Loyola Marymount College. His leadership and work ethic were seen early on at CFHS for he was selected MVP of the CVC in basketball. After CFHS, Tim graduated from Albion College in Michigan. Although his business ventures have gone global, Tim has been able to keep close with his family for brothers John ‘78, Kevin ‘83 and Jim ’79 also work with him.
SUSAN ELIZABETH WISE
Soon after she was graduated from CFHS, Sue’s basketball jersey number “42” was permanently retired in honor of her many accomplishments. While her leadership and athletic abilities enhanced the play of Tiger teams in tennis and track, it was on the basketball court where her star shined most brightly. Sue was an All-Ohio basketball selection in 1978-79 and 1979-80 with the 1978-79 team reaching the state semi-finals. She was the Chagrin Valley Conference’s Most Valuable Player in 1978-79. In the 40 basketball games she played on the CFHS floor, 40 victories were recorded. Sue was captain of the basketball team at William & Mary College. In 1989-90, she coached Hope College to a National Division III Championship in women’s basketball. She was named National Division III Basketball Coach of the Year.