As Greater Ohio’s Associate Director, Alison develops and maintains relationships with local, state, and national officials and organizations. She conducts site-specific education and outreach projects around the state and manages new projects that advance Greater Ohio’s impact on place-based economic development issues. Utilizing the information and feedback she gathers “in the field,” she and the Research Director work closely together to holistically inform and develop Greater Ohio’s research and policy agendas. Before joining the Greater Ohio staff, Alison worked as a consultant on select Greater Ohio research projects and assisted with grant writing. As Assoicate Director, Alison will continue assisting with grant writing. Since 2005, Alison has periodically lived in Mansfield, Ohio conducting long term qualitative research on small city race and class relations. She has published popular and scholarly writing about contemporary small city social relationships and holds a PhD and M.A. in anthropology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She received her B.A. from Miami University (Oxford, Ohio). Prior to joining Greater Ohio, she worked in academic publishing and assisted with teaching and research at the University of Illinois.

Doug was recently appointed to serve as the Interim City Manager for the City of Painesville. He has served as the Assistant City Manager/Community Development Director for the last 4 1/2 years. As the Community Development Director, he oversees the Engineering, Building, Zoning and Housing functions for the City of Painesville. He has worked in local government for the past 15 years as an Assistant City Manager or City Manager since graduating from Ohio State University with his Master’s Degree in Public Administration. He obtained a B.A. in Political Science from Wittenberg University.

Matthew is a member/partner of Laurentum Group LLC, where he focuses his practice on real estate, small business andnon-profit law. He received his B.A. degree from Bowling Green State University and his J.D. degree from Cleveland Marshall College of Law. While in law school he served as a research and litigation assistant to Clinical Professor Kermit Lind and was awarded an Urban Development Law Clinic Fellowship to work with the Cleveland Municipal Housing Court. He continues to work extensively with various Cleveland area Community Development Corporations on the issues of strategic acquisition, nuisance abatement, commercial and residential property re-development. He is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Cleveland Marshall College of Law, where he teaches in the Transactional Law Clinic (f/n/a Urban Development Law Clinic). He is a member of the Cleveland-Metropolitan, Ohio State, and American Bar Associations. He is a frequent speaker on Nuisance Abatement and Receivership Actions under O.R.C. Section 3767.41.