Board Biographies

Harriet Applegate, Executive Secretary, North Shore ALF-CIO Federation of Labor
Harriet Applegate is the first woman to serve as Executive Secretary of the North Shore Federation of Labor, which represents the needs of workers in Northeast Ohio. Harriet brings to her job a passion for educating rank-and-file members on common sense economics and for involving working people in politics and policy. She is committed to advocating for fairer trade, a renewable jobs economy, and high standards for Ohio's workers. She is working on strengthening the labor movement's political infrastructure, involving union members in the policy process, and continuing to build a vibrant, diverse labor movement.

Harriet, a graduate of the University of Rochester, has a master's degree from the University of Cincinnati. She lives in Cleveland Heights, has two grown sons, and is the proud grandmother of Ian Sequoia Thompson Applegate.

David Bergholz
David Bergholz served as Executive Director of the Cleveland-based George Gund Foundation from 1989 to 2003. During his tenure, the foundation supported many efforts aimed at improvement of the Cleveland Public Schools and the public schools of the inner ring suburbs. He served on the Boards of the Independent Sector and the Council on Foundations. He has also been actively involved in the local community, serving on the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio, Charity Lobbying in the Public Interest, the Greater Cleveland Roundtable, the Cleveland Initiative for Education and the Governing Committee of the Cleveland Teachers Academy. He is a past president of the Public Education Fund, now based in Washington DC, a national Ford Foundation-supported effort to build community partnerships with urban public school districts.

David is now pursuing a career as a fine arts photographer and has had exhibits of his work at Spaces Gallery, the Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh and the Cleveland Botanical Garden. His work is represented by Bonfoey Gallery. He is married to writer Eleanor Mallet and they have two grown sons.

Michael Charney, Director, Youth Voices for Economic Justice
Michael Charney recently retired from the Cleveland public schools after 32 years of teaching. He was named the American Federation of Teachers’ “teacher of the year” in 1996. During his years as a teacher, Michael was also a union activist and second-vice president of the Cleveland Teachers Union, as well as an advocate for urban schools and their students. He edited Critique, the newspaper of the Cleveland Teacher’s Union and the Ohio Teacher, the newspaper of the Ohio Federation of Teachers. With Bob Peterson, he edited the book Transforming Teacher Unions: Fighting for Better Schools and Social Justice. Michael is now the Director of Youth Voices for Economic Justice, a group that is organizing young people to have a greater voice in the policy process. He is a founding board member of Policy Matters Ohio and is married to former state Senator C.J. Prentiss.

Joyce Goldstein, Attorney, Goldstein Gragel LLC
Joyce Goldstein has been a labor and employee benefits lawyer representing unions and employee benefit funds in Cleveland for twenty-five years. With an undergraduate degree from Vassar College, a law degree from West Virginia University, and a judicial clerkship for the West Virginia Supreme Court, she was recruited by a law firm to come to Cleveland. In 1986, Joyce started her own law firm to represent unions and employee benefit funds. Representing a wide range of unions and funds, her firm counts among its clients the United Auto Workers, the International Association of Machinists, the Utility Workers Union of America, the Service Employees International Union, the Cleveland Building Trades Council, as well as many individual construction unions, including the electricians, the plumbers, the bricklayers and the roofers.
 

Within the legal community, Joyce is President of the William K. Thomas Inn of Court, Vice President of the Labor and Employment Relations Association, a life member of the Sixth Circuit Judicial Conference, a member of the Advisory Board of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, and a former board member of the Ohio State Bar Association Labor and Employment Law Section and the American Arbitration Association's Labor Advisory Board. In addition, she has been awarded the highest rating by Martindale Hubbell and has been listed in the Best Lawyers in America, the Ohio Super Lawyers and Northern Ohio Live Top Lawyers for over ten years.

Joyce, a 2006 graduate of Leadership Cleveland, is a board member of Hard Hatted Women, a member of the Anti-Defamation League's Civil Rights Committee and a member of both the Community and Government Relations Committees of the Cleveland Jewish Federation. She is Chair of the Cleveland Jewish Labor Committee, a national board member of the Jewish Labor Committee, and a member of the Israel Bonds National Labor Advisory Board. With her family, she coordinated the Interfaith Hospitality Program for her synagogue, arranging for or providing meals and services for homeless mothers and their children. Joyce is married to psychologist David Pincus, has two children, and lives in Shaker Heights.

Blaine A. Griffin, Executive Director, Community Relations Board, City of Cleveland
Blaine Griffin, joined the Jackson Administration in March 2006. He leads a staff and an appointed board in improving cross-cultural relationships. He heads efforts to improve inter-group relations, correct actions that violate the civil rights of individuals, oversee police/community relations and oversee youth initiatives in Cleveland.
Prior to working for the City, Blaine worked with the Cuyahoga Department of Justice Affairs, managing community re-entry efforts and initiatives to help transition violent offenders from correctional facilities back into the community and provide necessary support services. Blaine also served as a Program Director for the Hunger Network of Greater Cleveland where he was responsible for the fiscal and operational oversight of the largest network of emergency food distribution sites in Cuyahoga County.
Blaine has also worked with the Harvard Community Services Center and East End Neighborhood House. He serves as President of the Buckeye/Shaker & Woodland Hills Neighborhood assembly and as a board member for Policy Matters Ohio, Neighborhood Leadership Institute, and the U.S. Marshall’s Posse in Northern District of Ohio. He is a member of the Visionary Committee for Blacks United In Local Democracy (BUILD), and he is also active in his church and in the parents’ association for his children’s elementary school. Griffin has a bachelor’s degree in communications from Malone College in Canton, Ohio.
 

Susan Helper, Professor, Case Western Reserve University
Susan Helper is SBC Professor of Regional Economic Development at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. She is also a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and the MIT International Motor Vehicle Program (IMVP). Her research focuses on the impacts of collaborative relationships, between suppliers and customers and management and labor. Currently she is studying how globalization of supply chains affects development and innovation in the US, Mexico, and India. She has published in journals such as American Economic Review, Sloan Management Review, and Journal of Economics and Management Strategy. She has a Ph.D. from Harvard University and a BA from Oberlin College. In 2005-06 she was a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Oxford.

Chris Howell, Professor, Oberlin College
Chris Howell is a Professor of Politics at Oberlin College. His research and teaching interests include the comparative politics and political economy of advanced capitalist societies, labor unions and industrial relations, Left parties, and British and French politics. He is currently Chair of the Politics Department at Oberlin. Chris received his B.A. in History from Cambridge University (Trinity College) in 1983, and an M.A. in International Relations in 1985, and a Ph.D in Political Science in 1989, both from Yale University. His most recent book won the 2006 prize for best book in labor history.

Bakari Kitwana, Author
Bakari Kitwana is co-founder of the first ever National Hip-Hop Political Convention and the author of The Hip-Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in African American Culture (Basic Books, 2002). The former executive editor of The Source, Kitwana’s writings have appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Savoy, The Nation, the Village Voice, Black Book and other publications. Kitwana also writes a column on hip-hop and youth culture called "Do the Knowledge" for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and is a consultant on hip-hop for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The author of The Rap on Gangsta Rap (Third World Press, 1994), he's been a visiting scholar in the political science department at Kent State University and has lectured on hip-hop at colleges and universities across the country for the last decade, including Harvard University, New York University, Columbia University and Stanford University. His new book Why White Kids Love Hip-Hop: Wankstas, Wiggers, Wannabes and the New Reality of Race in America (Basic Books, June 2005) is about race and hip-hop culture. Kitwana holds Masters degrees in English and Education from the University of Rochester.

David Megenhardt, Executive Director, United Labor Agency
David Megenhardt is the Executive Director of the United Labor Agency, a Cleveland-area non-profit created by the labor movement. The ULA specializes in workforce development, voting rights and union member training. David holds a Master’s Degree in English from Case Western Reserve University and a Bachelor’s Degree from Kent State University. He has been the Executive Director of the ULA for nine years.

In addition to his Policy Matters Ohio board membership, David is a member of the Cleveland/ Cuyahoga County Workforce Investment board and the State of Ohio Governor’s Workforce Policy board where he confronts issues and policies that affect workers. He is a board member of Digital Vision Cleveland, an advocacy group that looks for innovative ways to close the digital divide, and Independent Pictures, an Ohio film organization striving to promote independent media. David is also chairman of the NOAH Benefit Fund, a Taft-Hartley health insurance fund that covers the lives of over 600 working families and a member of Cuyahoga County United Way Campaign Committee.

Susannah Muskovitz , Attorney, Faulkner, Muskovitz and Phillips
Susannah Muskovitz is a principal with the law firm of Faulkner, Muskovitz & Phillips, LLP. She has been a Certified Specialist in labor and employment law since 2002. In 2005 and 2006, she was honored as a “Super Lawyer” by Cincinnati Magazine. In 2007, she was honored as one of the “Top 50 Women Lawyers” by Northern Ohio Live magazine. She has also received an AV ® Peer Review Rating from Martindale-Hubbell for Very High Ethical Standards and Very High to Preeminent Legal Ability.

Susannah has been practicing labor and employment law in Ohio since 1984. She has extensive experience representing labor unions, primarily in the public sector. Susannah also works as a neutral arbitrator for employment disputes involving individuals, and is a member of both the Commercial Arbitration Panel and the National Panel of Employment Arbitrators of the American Arbitration Association. Susannah was an Instructor at Cleveland State University and taught Public Sector Labor Law through the Labor-Management Relations Center for ten years, beginning in 1987. She is the past chair of the Labor and Employment Law Section of the Cleveland Bar Association, the Labor Advisory Council of the American Arbitration Association and the Public Sector Labor Relations Association. Susannah is currently serving on the Executive Board of Policy Matters Ohio. Susannah received an AB with honors in 1981 from McGill University and a JD in 1984 from Case Western Reserve University.
 

Kirk Noden, Executive Director, Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative
Kirk Noden has worked as a professional organizer for twelve years. Kirk began his organizing career in Chicago first working for a neighborhood based community organization on the west side tackling issues such as abandoned buildings, school overcrowding, crime and safety, and quality of public parks.

Kirk then moved on to start and direct one of Chicago's strongest broad-based community organizations, the Albany Park Neighborhood Council, an alliance of 27 dues paying member institutions including churches, mosques, schools, and ethnic associations on the northwest side of Chicago. The organization, located in one of the most diverse immigrant areas in the country, was recognized as the "Emerging Organization of the Year" in 2002 by six area foundations including the MacArthur Foundation, The Chicago Community Trust, the Woods Found, the Wieboldt Foundation, and Kaplan Family Foundation.

From Chicago, Kirk moved to England to work with the Citizen Organising Foundation to build an organization in Birmingham, England's second largest city. In just under three years, Kirk help found Birmingham Citizens, a coalition of 33 institutions ranging from churches to mosques to gurdwaras to schools and unions. The organization was well known for work around issues such as a Living Wage, Youth Resources, and Affordable Housing.

Upon returning to Ohio in late 2006, Kirk worked with faith based organizing efforts in Youngstown, Cleveland, and Cincinnati and consulted with the Raymond John Wean Foundation on the development of its Capacity Building Initiative. Kirk currently directs the Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative.

Kirk graduated from Kent State University in 1997 with a degree in Philosophy and completed an Honor's Thesis examining black liberation theology and the growing radicalization of Martin Luther King Jr.'s politics in the latter stages of his life. Kirk is married to Rosa and has two sons named Roberto and Emiliano.

Seth Rosen, Vice President, Communication Workers of America District Four
Seth Rosen was unanimously elected as Vice President of the Communications Workers of America, District 4, on August 30, 2005. As Vice President, Rosen’s duties include coordination of all bargaining activities within the five states, which make up District 4 of the Communications Workers of America – Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin, consisting of 100,000 members. As Administrative Assistant at CWA between 1994 and 2005, Rosen had the responsibility of coordinating the union's organizing, mobilization, and Jobs with Justice program in the District. Over 14,000 workers in new units had been organized during the fifteen years that Rosen coordinated the District organizing program.

Prior to joining the International Staff in 1989, Rosen had been an officer, chief steward, and steward in CWA Local 4309, while employed by the Ohio Bell Telephone Company. Rosen has been involved with a variety of innovative organizing, bargaining, and action projects including: a national coordinated campaign at NCR, development of a regional network of local union organizers, and creative bargaining strategies at many companies. Rosen helped form the Cleveland Jobs with Justice Workers’ Rights Board in 1993, and the National Jobs with Justice Workers’ Rights Board in 2004. He has been married to Kathleen T. Rosen since 1979, and they have two grown children.

Baldemar Velásquez, Founder and President, Farm Labor Organizing Committee
The Farm Labor Organizing Committee, AFL-CIO (FLOC), is a union of migrant farmworkers in the eastern United States founded by Baldemar Velásquez. Baldemar is a highly respected national and international leader, not only in the farm labor movement, but also in the Latino and immigrant rights movements.

Baldemar has seen how international structures and policies directly affect the lives of migrant workers not only in the U.S. but other regions of the world where the same crops are grown for the same corporations in a global economy. Thus, FLOC has initiated cooperative dialogues with labor unions in Mexico and other countries in response to multinational corporations moving some operations across borders. One such effort has led to the establishment a U.S.-Mexico Commission of labor groups to oversee joint organizing and negotiation efforts among farmworkers producing for the same corporations.

FLOC is continuing these efforts with agricultural workers in other regions. Baldemar's vision and convictions continue to drive the efforts of FLOC in winning justice for migrant workers. He has become a recognized grass-roots leader and diplomat in the farm labor movement, immigrant rights movement, and social justice movements in the U.S. and around the world. His creativity and commitment to justice and human dignity have led to recognition by many labor, government, academic, and progressive organizations, including a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship, a Development of People Award by the Campaign for Human Development of the, U.S. Catholic Conference, an Aguila Azteca Award by the Government of México, and an Honorary Doctor of Social Science by Bowling Green State University and an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by University of Toledo.

George Zeller, Economic Research Analyst
George Zeller is an independent economic research analyst based in Cleveland. He analyzes trends in employment, earnings, income, and poverty in Ohio communities and monitors the business cycle in Ohio. George, a Sociologist, did his graduate work at Ohio State University. He was a professor of Sociology at Wittenberg University and Ashland College (now Ashland University) before coming to Cleveland. He is active on several anti-poverty committees and task forces, and is President of the Citizens Advisory Board of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority. He is among the founding board members of Policy Matters Ohio. In addition to his professional work, he writes a monthly column on unlicensed shortwave radio broadcasting in the nationally circulated Monitoring Times magazine. George was named one of the “87 Most Interesting People in Cleveland,” by Cleveland Magazine in 1987.

 

Founding Board Members

Anne Hill
The Honorable C.J. Prentiss

John W. Ryan

Alvin Schorr

Mark Cassell, Ph.D.
 

6/06/2007