New Year, New Leadership for COSI Board
(Columbus) January 28, 2009- Mark R. Thresher, President and Chief Operating Officer of Nationwide Financial Services, Inc., was named as Chair-Elect of the COSI Board of Trustees. Carl F. Kohrt remains Chair of the Board until his current term expires at the end of 2009.
Mr. Thresher previously served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Nationwide Financial. He joined Nationwide as vice president and treasurer in 1996. Prior to joining Nationwide, Thresher spent 18 years with KPMG LLP.
COSI also named two new board members. Jeff Wadsworth, the new President & CEO of Battelle, has replaced Fred Pfening who as a long term supporter of COSI served 27 years on the board. Previously, Wadsworth led Battelle's Global Laboratory Operations business, where he oversaw the management or co-management of eight laboratories; six are national laboratories for the U.S. Department of Energy representing over $3B of annual business.
Bram van der Ploeg, Executive Vice President of Scheduling and Logistics for NetJets Inc., has replaced Peter Stephens who served on the board for 15 years. Bram Van der Ploeg joined NetJets in 2000 as Chief Technology Officer. He was responsible for strategic alignment of information technology and business strategies and led the implementation, design and development of the IntelliJet 2 system, which rolled out February of 2003. IntelliJet 2 is a proprietary aircraft management system unlike any other in aviation today.
Leah Pappas, Partner, Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP was also reappointed to a new full term.
The volunteer Board of Trustees provides dedicated leadership and support, enabling COSI to serve nearly a million visitors every year.
Other current Board of Trustees include:
- M. Valeriana Moeller, President, Columbus State Community College
- Bernie Ostrowski, Partner, Plante & Moran
- Holly Koeppel, Executive Vice President & CFO, American Electric Power
- Robert J. Weiler, Chairman of the Board, The Robert Weiler Company
- Michelle Adams, President, Prism Marketing Communications
