Leadership on Main
Conversations with Akron's Change-Makers
About Leadership on Main
Leadership on Main is our monthly conversation with Akron's prominent change-makers. This unique platform lets today's leaders share their successes and lessons, inspiring tomorrow's community leaders.
Join us each month, as our guest speakers reveal their leadership journeys, sharing the strategies and experiences that have shaped them. Discover what's worked, what hasn't, and how they have and continue to achieve success.
When and Where?
Every mid-month Wednesday, we convene at The Duck Club by Firestone at Canal Park (Home of our Akron RubberDucks) to promote and foster leadership in the heart of our community.
Who Should Attend?
Leadership on Main is an opportunity to gain insights from Akron’s changemakers while connecting with our broader Leadership Akron community. Attendance is highly recommended for:
Leadership Akron’s current program participants and alumni
Current and emerging community leaders
Community partners
Changemaker supporters
Torchbearers members
Anyone looking to gain more knowledge about Leadership Akron programming
What to Expect?
At Leadership on Main, we prioritize nourishing both mind and body. That's why, thanks to the generosity of Ken Babby, President of the Akron Rubber Ducks, both the program and food (breakfast or appetizers) are free. Each month, the speaker suggests a charity to which donations can be made by attendees.
Here's a glimpse of a typical event:
7:30 am: Doors open and networking begins
8:00 am: Welcome and introductory remarks from Leadership Akron President.
8:05 am: The conversation begins, offering insight into the leadership journey of our guest speaker.
8:45 am: Conversation concludes, followed by questions from our attendees.
9:00 am: Event wrap-up.
Join us at Leadership on Main – where we're not just talking about leadership, we're living it.
Upcoming Leadership on Main Events
August 13
7:30-9:00 am
Speaker: John Garofalo, President & CEO, Akron Community Foundation (Signature 30)
Moderator: Nicole Mullet, Executive Director, ArtsNow (Signature 34)
John F. Garofalo was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Akron Community Foundation in July 2025. In this role, he provides strategic leadership to a team of 22 staff members and works in close partnership with a 24-member board of directors to advance the foundation’s mission and deepen its impact across the Greater Akron region.
John previously served as the foundation’s Vice President of Community Investment for 14 years, where he directed the allocation of more than $125 million in grants to nonprofit organizations and community initiatives throughout Greater Akron and beyond. His leadership in grantmaking and philanthropic strategy helped strengthen the foundation’s role as a trusted resource and catalyst for community change.
John brings a distinguished career in philanthropy and nonprofit leadership, with past roles at University Hospitals, Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital, United Way of Greater Cleveland, United Way of Greater Stark County, and the American Red Cross. His extensive experience spans nonprofit management, fundraising and development, grantmaking, strategic planning, and organizational capacity building.
He has successfully led major fundraising campaigns, secured multi-million-dollar grants/gifts, and cultivated strong partnerships with donors, foundations, and community stakeholders. John is recognized for his deep expertise in organizational strategy, donor relations, program development, and innovative grantmaking approaches that drive sustainable impact.
John holds both a Bachelor of Science in Community Health Education and a Master of Education in Community Health Management and Administration from Kent State University. He has maintained the prestigious Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) credential since 2004. He currently serves on the boards of ArtsNow, Leadership Akron, Akron Roundtable, the Downtown Akron Development Corporation, and the Social Services Advisory Board (appointed by the county).
John resides in Northwest Akron with his husband, Matt.
September 17
7:30-9:00 am
Speaker: Lakisha Barclay, Executive Director & CEO, ACS Rubber Division, Diversity on Board Class 3
Moderator: TBD
The Rubber Division of the American Chemical Society is an international association of chemists, engineers, technicians, scientists, plant managers, sales and marketing professionals and others in the rubber, polymer or related fields. The organization’s mission is to educate, connect and grow the evolving elastomer industry. As Executive Director & CEO, Lakisha is responsible for providing daily operational leadership to the team, as well as serving as a spokesperson, developing partnerships with other organizations and maintaining good communications with the Board of Directors, regional Rubber Groups and the American Chemical Society. She places great importance on meeting with community leaders to create synergies to promote the Division’s mission, vision and core values to strengthen the industry. Her efforts also focus on diversity initiatives to celebrate and bring opportunities to minority groups in the industry, as well as increase awareness of the industry to these groups. To date, outreach has been directed towards women, young professionals, students and racial minority groups. Lakisha has been with Rubber Division, ACS since 2007 having served as Director of Finance & Administration and then Executive Director & CEO. Her background includes Summit County Children Services, the U.S. Air Force, and owning and operating her own tax and accounting service where she specialized in non-profits. She currently sits on the boards of the Greater Akron Chamber, Boys & Girls Club of Northeast Ohio, Akron National Pan-Hellenic Council, Fair Housing Contact Services and Friends of Main Library. Lakisha earned her B.S. in Accounting from The University of Akron. A forever learner, she graduated from Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management Executive MBA program in May 2023 and achieved Certified Association Executive (CAE) certification in June 2021. The Certified Association Executive (CAE) credential is the highest professional credential in the association industry.
October 8
7:30-9:00 am
Speaker: RJ Nemer, President, The University of Akron
Moderator: Christopher C. Keppler, General Manager, WZIP-FM & Professor of Practice, School of Communication, The University of Akron
R.J. Nemer is the 19th president of The University of Akron. He began his tenure on May 15, 2024.
Nemer is a double alumnus of The University of Akron, with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and a Juris Doctor degree from the School of Law.
An attorney by education and originally an entrepreneur by trade, Nemer excels through creating, collaborating, guiding, and ultimately, reinventing. In Northeast Ohio, he soley founded a professional sports agency, which eventually became the world’s largest independently held sports management firm of its kind.
After 17 years, Nemer sold his business to William Morris Endeavor and subsequently became its global head of IMG Golf.
Following a two-decade career spanning sports and marketing, in January of 2022, Nemer was selected from a large field of qualified candidates and named dean of The University of Akron College of Business, serving in that role for more than two years before being named UA's president.
President Nemer now leads the University with the same philosophy he employed in earlier phases of his career—guiding others while preserving his ever-present desire to continue learning, interacting with the community, sharing about UA's impact in various settings, and championing positivity and an energetic institutional culture.
Nemer has served on the boards of the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens, the Northern Ohio Section of the PGA of America, First Tee of Akron, and the Bounce Innovation Hub. Nemer routinely co-chairs and participates in numerous charitable and philanthropic endeavors locally and nationally.
November 12
7:30-9:00 am
Speaker: Bill Cosgrove, CEO, Union Home Mortgage Corp.
Moderator: Ken Babby, Owner, Akron RubberDucks, Signature 30
Bill Cosgrove is the chief executive officer of Union Home Mortgage, a high-growth, full-service retail, wholesale, and consumer-direct independent mortgage banking company. Mr. Cosgrove has accrued more than 35 years of mortgage banking industry experience since the beginning of his career in 1986 as a residential loan officer. He later joined Union Home Mortgage in 1994 and became its sole owner in 1999.
As a result of Mr. Cosgrove’s leadership, Union Home Mortgage has experienced incredible growth, expanding from two branches and 35 Partners in 1999 to 165 branches and more than 1,900 Partners nationwide. Mr. Cosgrove has developed a culture and operating philosophy that has grown the company from its humble roots in Cleveland to a nationally-acclaimed mortgage bank.
In addition to his responsibilities as chief executive officer of Union Home Mortgage, Mr. Cosgrove also served as the Ohio Mortgage Bankers Association (OMBA) president in 2007 and the national chairman of the Mortgage Banker Association (MBA) in 2015.
Mr. Cosgrove’s advocacy for mortgage banking is well evidenced by requests to testify before Congress as an expert in the mortgage lending industry. He has given testimony before the House Financial Services and Senate Banking Committees in Washington, D.C., as well as the Ohio House of Representatives.
Mr. Cosgrove is an engaged member of the Northeast Ohio community, serving on the board of directors for the Greater Cleveland Partnership, the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission, Playhouse Square Foundation, and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame & Museum
He is a proud father of three children and a loving husband.
December 10
4:00-5:30 pm
Speaker: Susan Kirkman Zake, Editor in Chief, Signal Akron
Moderator: Gary Estwick, Managing Editor, Signal Akron
Susan Kirkman Zake is the founding editor in chief of Signal Akron, a nonprofit, start-up newsroom launched in December 2024. Our mission is to ensure that all residents of Greater Akron have the local (free) news they need. Signal Akron is the second newsroom in the Signal Ohio network of independent, community-led newsrooms. We are one of the largest local nonprofit news startups in the country and are backed by a coalition of Ohio organizations, community leaders, and the American Journalism Project. Before her Signal life began, Zake was a professor in the School of Media and Journalism at Kent State and the embedded newsroom adviser to the school’s award-winning student media. She taught reporting classes that included public policy reporting, Solutions Journalis,m and data skills — she also founded and ran Kent State’s Collaborative NewsLab, which connects student reporters with professional media partners. Before joining the Kent State faculty in 2007, Zake was the managing editor for multimedia and special projects at the Akron Beacon Journal, where she began work as a staff photographer in 1986. She is the recipient of numerous awards for her photojournalist images; she also shares in three Pulitzer Prize team awards. Zake is the 2020 recipient of the Distinguished Adviser Award for Four-Year Multimedia from the College Media Association (CMA).