Mary K. Whitmer, an attorney with law firm Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease, was elected president of the Commercial Law League of America. She is the first female president in the organization’s 110-year history.
“I am honored to be named to this position,” says Whitmer. “My election to president of the CLLA shows the organization’s strong commitment to women who practice law in this arena. During my term as president, I hope to encourage the younger members of our profession to take an active role in the future of our industry, as well as the CLLA. CLLA offer professional options for those in need of collection services and great educational opportunities for our members. I’m proud to be a part of this organization.”
An active member since 1986, Whitmer has held numerous positions in the CLLA, including member of the board of governors; member and co-chair of the legislative committee; member of marketing committee; member and vice-chair of the diversity task force committee; and an executive council member of the bankruptcy and insolvency section. She is also an active committee member for the Cleveland Bar Association and the Cleveland Bar Foundation.
She received her J.D. from Case Western Reserve University School of Law and a bachelor of arts degree from Case Western Reserve University.
LHP Inc.
Continuing with the restructuring started more than a year ago, LHP Inc. appointed Cliff Reynolds as president of Litehouse, the 25-store retail arm of LHP.
Prior to joining Litehouse, Reynolds’ 30-year career in retail culminated in the co-founding of Cleveland-based D.I.Y. Home Warehouse, a home improvement warehouse company. Under Reynolds’ leadership as CEO and president, D.I.Y. Home Warehouse went from a start-up company to 16 stores.
Skoda, Minotti & Co.
Skoda, Minotti & Co. hired Karen R. Kleinhenz as a partner and president of Skoda, Minotti Financial Services. Kleinhenz was formerly executive vice president and head of KeyCorp’s Retirement Services business. While at KeyCorp, she was responsible for the strategic direction and delivery of the full spectrum of retirement products and services, including sales, marketing, product development, channel distribution and education.
A graduate of the School of Business at John Carroll University, Kleinhenz earned her MBA at Baldwin-Wallace College and is a 1992 graduate of the PMD Program at Harvard Business School. She also holds a NASD Series 7 license. Recognized as a John Carroll Distinguished Alumni, Kleinhenz is one of the school’s “Top 50 School of Business Graduates” and a member of the Nazareth Academy Hall of Fame.
LaSalle Bank Cleveland
LaSalle Bank Cleveland named John D. Barrett senior vice president and division head in the Cleveland Commercial Banking division. His primary responsibilities include portfolio management and new business development.
Barrett began his banking career with PNC Bank, where he served as vice president and manager for the Cleveland loan production office.
For the past twelve years, he worked for US Bank, also in Cleveland, where he established the Large Corporate Banking Group, and most recently served as senior vice president and manager of commercial banking for Northeast Ohio. Barrett holds a bachelor’s degree in international finance from Georgetown University.
PolyOne Corp.
PolyOne Corp. appointed Dan Kickel vice president of key account management. Kickel will have full global responsibility for identifying the best key account growth opportunities within PolyOne across all business units, ultimately driving sales beyond normal market growth.
In 1971, Kickel began his career in sales and marketing with Geon, the vinyl compound producer that merged with M.A. Hanna Co. in 2000 to form PolyOne. Since the merger, he has also been vice president of sourcing and vice president of strategic cost improvement at PolyOne.
Xteric
Xteric hired Bob Mau, former associate partner at Accenture, as vice president of services. Mau will spearhead business development and project delivery, as well as aid in helping the company scale.
He spent the last 15 years at Accenture, selling and delivering eBusiness, CRM, infrastructure and business integration solutions. More recently, he focused on project work in the financial services and health care services, but has served clients in a variety of industries. He started out as an analyst with Accenture and progressed to associate partner, with day-to-day responsibility for the delivery and business development of complex projects and programs.
OM Group Inc.
OM Group Inc. promoted Michael T. Mangan to treasurer. He is responsible for all aspects of corporate treasury function and risk management.
Mangan joined OM Group in 2001 as an assistant corporate controller and later became manager of corporate taxation. Prior to joining OM Group, Mangan was an auditor/senior manager for Ernst & Young LLP.
He is a certified public accountant and a holds a degree in accounting from Baldwin-Wallace College, as well as a degree in communications from John Carroll University. He is also a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Ohio Society of Certified Public Accountants.
ka Architecture
ka Architecture hired J. Thomas Pfliegel as a senior design architect.
Pfliegel comes to ka from an architecture and engineering firm in Detroit, where he was senior design architect. With more than 25 years of experience with firms in Ohio and Michigan, his background includes work on municipal and residential projects in Dayton and institutional, retail and public buildings in Columbus. He also led his own firm for 10 years.
Pfliegel is a member of the American Institute of Architects and the Friends of Modern Art at the Detroit Institute of Art. He has a bachelor’s of architecture degree from the University of Notre Dame and a master’s of architecture from Clemson University. He also taught architectural design at Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, Mich.
