General Manager/Chief Environmental Officer
Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America, Inc.
Kevin is the General Manager/Chief Environmental Officer of Environmental/Safety Engineering. He is responsible for the development of Environmental/Safety Programs and Regulatory/Legislative development for all of Toyota’s North American operations.
Prior to Environmental/Safety Engineering Mr. Butt was the Assistant General Manager of Body Production Engineering for Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America, Inc., (TMMNA). He is responsible for Body Engineering for all Toyota’s North American manufacturing operations. Body Engineering consists of Welding, Stamping, and Painting Operations.
Mr. Butt started working for Toyota in 1992. Prior to his career with Toyota, Mr. Butt worked for AK Steel Company where he was Manager of Environmental Affairs.
Mr. Butt worked ten years in the Environmental Department for Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America prior to his recent assignment to Production Engineering.
Mr. Butt serves as Chairman of the Association of International Automobile Manufacturing’s Stationary Source Committee. He has also served in the same capacity for the Alliance for Automobile Manufacturers. Mr. Butt was appointed by Ms. Carol Browner, EPA Administrator to serve on EPA’s Common Sense Initiative.
Mr. Butt serves on several boards including the Newport Aquarium WAVE Foundation, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and several community boards including serving as President of the Georgetown College Men’s Soccer Boosters Club. He has been a coach of various sports for 13 years. His wife, Claudia and two sons’, Seth and Alexander, live in Georgetown.
Mr. Butt has a Bachelors of Science degree in Environmental Chemistry from Georgetown College.
Chris Lorentz brings seventeen years of experience in education and environmental practices to the WAVE Foundation. He began teaching at Thomas More in 1994 and has taught a variety of classes including Aquatic Biology, Genetics and Evolution. He has taken students to Australia for study-abroad experiences in the natural history of the rainforests and coral reefs.
Alongside his teaching, he serves as the Director of the Center for Ohio River Research and Education at the College's Biology Field Station. Through the Center, he has been awarded over a dozen research grants and is presently involved in four projects including two stream surveys and a collaborative effort with the University of Louisville to study the primary productivity of the Ohio River and the effects on fish growth rates.
In addition, he has been working with the Husbandry Department at the Newport Aquarium in the collection and care of the local freshwater specimens and volunteering as adjunct curator of fishes at the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History. For the past two years, he has been a Board member for the Kentucky Academy of Science and this year became Chair of the Science Education Committees. He has served as president of the local chapter of Sigma Xi, a national scientific research society, and is an active member of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetology, the American Fisheries Society and the Kentucky Academy of Sciences.
In the community, Lorentz has served on Executive Board of the Ohio River Way, served as a mentor with the Cincinnati Youth Collaborative, is active with Big Brother/Big Sisters of Greater Cincinnati and is a member of the Young Professional of the American Cancer Society and a member of Legacy, a leadership group stemming from Forward Quest, dedicated to the smart growth and development of Northern Kentucky. Recently he served as Co-Chair of the Educational Excellence Action Team for VISION 2015 Regional Planning Initiative in N. Kentucky.
Lorentz is from a family of six children and grew up in Louisville, Ohio. He attended Columbia University in New York, majored in Biology, and upon graduation, he received a fellowship to attend Kent State University and earned a doctorate in Systematic and Evolutionary Ecology. Lorentz resides in Hyde Park.
Sean is a multi-disciplined senior manager for Mills/James Productions with more than a decade’s experience in strategic media planning, technical consulting, branding, and business consulting.
Mills/James Productions produces video and film, Web sites and interactive media, corporate meetings and special events, music, audio and satellite videoconferences. The company's wide range of clients includes Fortune 500 corporations, non-profit organizations, regional and national advertising and public relations firms, independent producers, broadcasters and meeting planners.
Sean joined Mills/James in 1999 as a Project Manager in the company’s Web & Interactive division. He was promoted to Director of the group in 2001. In 2002, Sean was named the youngest Vice President in the company’s history.
As Vice President, Sean supervises the department’s daily operations, establishes departmental budgets and account development activities. Proctor & Gamble, Caterpillar, Inc., Victoria’s Secret, Cardinal Health and Huntington Bank are among the many clients for whom Sean regularly consults. Under Sean’s leadership, Mills/James’ Web & Interactive department has won numerous awards, including local and regional ADDY’s, Columbus Ad Federation Certificate’s of Excellence and the prestigious international Axiem Award.
Prior to joining Mills/James, Sean worked for Global Center in Toledo, OH as a Senior Account Executive representing Internet services and offering technical consulting and management.
An outdoorsman and travel enthusiast, Sean is an active member of Duck’s Unlimited and is an accomplished PADI scuba diver who has been diving regularly for the past six years, including wreck and shark dives in Mexico and the Bahamas.
A Lima native and Delaware resident, Sean earned a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Wittenberg University in Springfield, OH and recently received his Project Management Certification from Villanova University in Philadelphia, PA. He currently serves as a member of the Wittenberg University Career Advisory Board, and is a member of the Board of Directors for the Alpha Group in Delaware OH.
Heidi B. Jark, JD, a Vice President at Fifth Third Bank, is responsible for The Foundation Office, overseeing the administration of corporate and family foundations throughout the Bancorp. She has been with Fifth Third for 7 years and served previously as its Planned Giving Manager.
Prior to joining Fifth Third Bank, Ms. Jark served as the Planned Giving Director for Valparaiso University, assisting donors in estate and charitable gift planning. Ms. Jark also practiced law in Valparaiso, Indiana with the firm of Hoeppner, Wagner & Evans concentrating her work in the areas of litigation and appellate brief writing.
Heidi Jark has a B.A. in Political Science from Valparaiso University and a J.D. from its School of Law. She is
licensed to practice law in the State of Indiana.
Ms. Jark is very active in the community having served in the past as President of the Greater Cincinnati Planned Giving Council, the American Cancer Society Board of Directors for Hamilton County and the WAVE Foundation. Currently, she serves on planned giving committees for the American Cancer Society and the Cincinnati Fine Arts Fund. In addition, Ms. Jark serves as President for the Valparaiso University Alumni Association and is on the University’s Board of Directors and capital campaign cabinet. Ms. Jark most recently joined the Greater Cincinnati YWCA Board of Directors and the Board of the National Committee on Planned Giving. She is also a member of the Ohio Grantmakers Forum Board of Directors where she chairs the Public Policy Committee.
Ms. Jark grew up on a farm near Stratford, South Dakota and currently resides in North Avondale with her husband, Steve Kenat, a partner at GBBN Architects. She is a frequent speaker to not-for-profit organizations on the topics of philanthropy, ethics, grantmaking, and planned giving.
As National Submarine Science Discovery Center (NSSDC) Education Director, Cyndi Etsler has worked with the Newport Aquarium on the Aquatic Adventures program, which teaches students about the dependence of all living things on water, in addition to several other WAVE Foundation educational projects. On board with NSSDC since 2004, Etsler also leads NavOps Deep Submergence™, which focuses on the physical science concepts related to the operation of a research submarine.
Etsler helped the school system in Gary, Ind., create a highly successful submarine simulator program while she was a clinical assistant professor for Purdue University Calumet from 2000 – 2004. Prior to that work, she taught middle and elementary school in various subjects. With more than 30 years of teaching experience, she has provided science curriculum, professional development and training in Indiana, Missouri, Minnesota, Michigan and Illinois.
Etsler received her M.A. in Teaching of Reading at Eastern Michigan University in 1975. She received her B.S. in Elementary Education in 1971 and her A.A. in Elementary Education from Jackson Community College in 1969. In the community, Etsler is active in the National Science Teachers Association, International Reading Association and Kentucky Science Teachers Association. She resides in Pierce Township.
Pam is the Fisheries Project Director for the National Coalition for Marine Conservation (NCMC). Pam joined the NCMC staff in the summer of 2005, bringing 14 years of experience directing conservation and animal programs for public aquariums. After seven rewarding years with the Newport Aquarium, Pam is happy to have returned to the East Coast and to be working so close to her hometown of Baltimore, Maryland where she and her husband are looking forward to raising their family. Though her work is based in the Greater Washington, DC area, Pam is thrilled to remain active with Newport Aquarium’s conservation programs by serving as a member of the WAVE Foundation Board.
Pam’s current job responsibilities with the NCMC are centered on the organization’s Conserving Marine Ecosystems Program, which works to promote an ecosystem-based approach to fishery management. To this end, Pam regularly attends regional fishery management council meetings and drafts recommendations and reports for council action. Pam especially enjoys spreading the word about marine conservation to the general public, frequently guest lecturing at fishing club meetings, educational forums and marine science centers. When asked about what she likes most about her position with the NCMC, Pam says, “I am delighted to be working for the NCMC at a time when ocean governance reform is at the forefront of our nation’s political agenda. It’s exciting to be part of an organization that will help lead the direction for positive change.”
Eric took on the role of executive director at the Newport Aquarium on February 24, 2005. He is leading the facility’s major initiatives, which started with the major expansion in 2004.
Mr. Rose has a strong background in aquariums and management. Mr. Rose began his professional career in public aquariums at Sea World, Orlando. As part of the husbandry (animal care) team in 1988, he was involved with many of the parks’ premier exhibits. Later transitioning to the Walt Disney Company, Mr. Rose became a member of the Epcot Sciences Management Team. Until 1997, Mr. Rose led husbandry, animal collection, and exhibit development activities for the Living Seas Aquarium at the Walt Disney World Resort.
In 1997, Mr. Rose left Disney for Sydney, Australia and had the opportunity to work with the Sydney Aquarium to support an ambitious expansion project that included new facilities, exhibits and a spectacular Great Barrier Reef Oceanarium. While there, he became an active Animal Husbandry board member for the Australasian Regional Association of Zoological Parks & Aquariua. Two years later, when the project was completed, he returned to the United States and was welcomed back to the Walt Disney Company. Once there, he began graduate studies for his master’s in Business Administration.
With the Walt Disney World Resort from 1999 to 2005, Mr. Rose held a variety of roles including consulting Fortune 1000 companies with the Disney Institute and leading marketing and sales efforts for the resorts’ group and convention businesses.
Mr. Rose received his bachelor’s degree in aquaculture and environmental sciences from Florida Institute of Technology and his MBA from the Crummer Graduate School of Business, Rollins College. Mr. Rose is a member of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA), the American Society for Training and Development and the Beta Gamma Sigma Business honor society.
Mr. Rose lives in Newport, Ky., with his wife, Martine.
Dudley Taft is President and Chief Executive Officer of Taft Broadcasting Company in Cincinnati, Ohio. Formerly he served as President and Vice Chairman of the predecessor company, Taft Broadcasting Company from 1976-1987, as well as other company positions from 1967-1976. Previously, he served as an attorney at Koteen and Burt in Washington, D.C. from 1966-67.
He graduated from Taft School in 1958; Graduated in 1962 from Yale University with B.A. Degree, and Graduated from University of Virginia Law School in 1966, LLB Degree.
Taft Serves on several Boards of Directors, including Duke Energy, UNIFI, Fifth Third Bancorp, Tribune Company and Newport Aquarium’s WAVE Foundation.
Besides serving on the WAVE Foundation Board, Taft serves the community in the following capacities: Chairman, Cincinnati Association for the Arts; Trustee, Cincinnati Institute of Fine Arts; Trustee, Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Cincinnati; Trustee, Cincinnati Convention & Visitors Bureau; President, Louise Taft Semple Foundation.
CABINET DEPUTY SECRETARY JOSEPH U. MEYER
In his role as deputy secretary of Kentucky’s Education and Workforce Development Cabinet, Joseph U. Meyer also serves as director of the Office of Educational Programs. His commitment to education goes back 26 years to his time as a state senator, local board member and attorney for local school districts.
Prior to his appointment as deputy secretary, Meyer served as senior policy advisor to Governor Steve Beshear. He previously worked in that role for state auditor Crit Luallen, where he played a substantive role in the preparation of “Kentucky Jails, A Financial Overview” and the auditor’s briefing report on the impact of rising college tuition.
Meyer has served as chief of staff for the chair of the House majority caucus and as general counsel and deputy director for the Kentucky Association of Counties. From 1979 to 2003, he practiced law, where he served as city attorney for the City of Bellevue and was general counsel for the Covington Board of Education and the Ludlow Board of Education.
As a state senator, Meyer represented Kentucky’s 23rd Senate District from 1989 to 1996. During that time he served as chair of the Senate Education Committee and Senate State and Local Government Committee. Meyer also represented the commonwealth’s 65th House District as a state representative from 1982 to 1988, where he chaired the House Cities Committee.
Currently a member of the Southern Regional Education Board, Meyer has served on many boards including the Education Commission of the States, the Kentucky Long Term Policy Research Center and the Covington Business Council.
A native of Covington, Meyer received his law degree from Northern Kentucky University, a master’s degree in urban affairs from St. Louis University and a bachelor’s degree from Bellarmine College. He has been married to his wife, Dale since 1974. They have four grown children.
In his “spare” time, Meyer acts as an international election monitor for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He has observed elections in Bosnia, Albania, Georgia and Tajikistan.
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