Dean's Advisory Council Bios

Fredric Bertley (headshot)

Frederic Bertley, PhD
President and Chief Executive Officer
Center of Science and Industry (COSI)
Columbus, Ohio

Dr. Bertley is a scientist, scholar, and evangelist for innovative thinking. As President and CEO of COSI, he is shepherding the science center to its next iteration in a legacy of success. Prior to COSI, Dr. Bertley was the SVP for Science and Education at the Franklin Institute.

After graduating from McGill University where he studied Physiology, Mathematics and the History of Science, and earned a PhD in Immunology, Bertley worked internationally in preventative medicine and basic vaccines in Haiti, The Sudan, and the Canadian Arctic. He continued this focus by joining a vaccine research group at Harvard Medical School focusing on the development of DNA vaccines for HIV/ AIDS. Dr. Bertley’s background also includes collaboration on educational and science projects in Egypt, Paraguay, Senegal and the Caribbean.

As part of his continued interest in communicating science to a wide audience, Dr. Bertley is the host of the prime time television show QED with Dr. B, in partnership with WOSU Public Media. He is also featured in the animated online series, Dr. B in 3.

Dr. Bertley sits on the boards of the Columbus Regional Airport Authority, Park National Bank, the National Veterans Memorial and Museum, Experience Columbus, the Association of Science and Technology Centers, the American Alliance of Museums and numerous other organizations.

Dr. Bertley has spoken at distinguished institutions including The United Nations, The White House, and the National Academy of Sciences. He has received numerous honors including: an Honorary Doctorate (Otterbein University), the George Washington Carver Award, blooloop 50 Museum Influencer (UK) and two Mid-Atlantic, National Academy of Television and Science EMMYS™.


Nancy Dawes (headshot)

Nancy Dawes
Dawes Innovation Consulting
Serial Innovator, The Procter & Gamble Company
Cincinnati, Ohio

Nancy C. Dawes is a Serial Innovator with roots in the CPG Industry. Through her holistic innovation programs, she led major breakthrough changes in the food (Pringles®) and Beauty (Olay®) industries. Nancy was instrumental in creating the anti-wrinkle, masstige skin care movement via her pioneering work which turned a declining Olay brand into a $2.5 billion-dollar powerhouse.  She led global teams that demonstrated improvement in skin health and appearance, ensured bioavailability of active ingredients, strategized proprietary materials, innovated packaging and product characteristics with uniquely strong consumer appeal and enabled pricing that led to holistic business wins for P&G.  Her string of successful new products in multiple business categories caused Procter and Gamble to elevate her to the level of its most elite scientists and engineers, the Victor Mills Society.  In 2021, the Ohio State University College of Engineering recognized her body of work with the prestigious Benjamin Lamme Meritorious Achievement Medal.  After retiring from P&G in 2019, Nancy partnered with Bruce Vojak (co-author of Serial Innovators: How Individuals Create Breakthrough Innovations in Mature Firms, Stanford University Press, 2012) to create a series of webinars for The Conference Board to help companies improve their innovation capability.  She consults with early stage startups associated with Queen City Angels.

Since graduating from The Ohio State University with a BS in Chemical Engineering, Nancy has been an active alumna, speaking at classes/events, serving on the Dean’s Advisory Council since 2012 and the Chemical Engineering Advisory Board (1995-2012).  She is founding member of BEWEL (Buckeye Engineering Women in Executive Leadership) where she co-chairs the fundraising committee for the Leadership in Innovation faculty award.  Nancy is a passionate lifelong Girl Scout who currently co-chairs the GS of Western Ohio (GSWO) Camp Program Improvement Project and is a National Delegate.  She previously served multiple terms as Board Chair of GSWO and Great Rivers Girl Scout Councils and has been recognized with Thanks Badge I and II and is a 2018 Cincinnati Woman of Distinction.


Yvette Hunsicker, vice president of Corporate Social Responsibility and Inclusion & Diversity at American Honda Motor Co., Inc. (Headshot)

Yvette Hunsicker
Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility and Inclusion & Diversity
American Honda Motor Co., In
Marysville, OH

Yvette Hunsicker is vice president of Corporate Social Responsibility and Inclusion & Diversity at American Honda Motor Co., Inc., where she leads Honda’s philanthropic and inclusion and diversity initiatives across the U.S. She oversees the Honda USA Foundation and community relations programs and works to advance inclusion and equity within both the company and society.

Hunsicker’s career at Honda has spanned more than 30 years, including a broad range of roles and leadership positions. She joined Honda at age 19 as a welding associate in a manufacturing plant and steadily advanced through the company’s manufacturing operations while earning her bachelor’s degree in business management. These experiences have given Hunsicker a unique perspective on Honda’s diversity, equity, and inclusion.

A major focus for Hunsicker is Honda’s workforce diversity. Her leadership has resulted in several changes to HR’s hiring practices to create diverse interview panels, mentorship and sponsorship programs, Business Resource Groups (BRGs), and inclusive leadership & anti-racism training programs, and ensure equitable promotions. Hunsicker developed a metric to guide the company’s commitment to reflecting society at every level of the organization, particularly in leadership by 2030.

As part of Honda's efforts to promote equality in its workforce and society, Hunsicker also led the company’s release of its first inclusion & Diversity Report in 2022. The report outlines Honda's commitments to advancing inclusion and diversity and shares recent actions the company has taken, including key initiatives within its workforce and the communities where Honda associates live and work. Honda was also recognized by DiversityInc as one of the Top 50 Companies for Diversity based on the efforts outlined in the report.

Honda has had a 30-plus year relationship with historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Under Hunsicker’s leadership, Honda has enhanced these relationships and expanded the company’s connection with institutions supporting HBCUs. In 2019, Hunsicker formed a partnership with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) to create affordable paths for students pursuing an education in engineering, supply chain management and manufacturing-related fields. In 2022, Hunsicker was appointed TMCF’s board of directors.  Hunsicker also has been instrumental in fostering Honda’s holistic approach with HBCU students and graduates, including providing co-op and employment opportunities and highlighting student achievement through programs such as the Honda Campus All-Star Challenge and the Honda Battle of the Bands.

Hunsicker serves on the Columbus, Ohio YWCA Board of Directors, Eagle Rock School and Professional Development Center Board of Directors, National Diversity Council Board of Directors, Ohio Diversity Council Board of Directors, TMCF Board of Directors, The Ohio Foundation of Independent College Board of Directors, and is a member of The Conference Board Global Diversity & Inclusion Executive Council.


Eric Lagerberg (headshot)

Eric Stephen Lagerberg , M.Arch.
Chief Development Officer
Wunderground Coffee
Seattle, WA

After a 30-year career within traditional Architecture practices, living around the world leading projects and directing teams, five years ago Eric Stephen Lagerberg changed courses. Drawn to the fast pace and opportunity for more diverse leadership exposure, he joined several consumer product start-up companies. Most recently as the Chief Development Officer for Wunderground Coffee (Seattle), he is a founding partner responsible for all customer in-real-life experiences. 

With deep experience as an architect, designer, practice leader and educator, Eric’s combination of business acumen and design talent make him an ideal creative business leader.

In 2021, Eric was elevated to Fellow status in the American Institute of Architects (AIA). 

Prior to these recent experiences, Eric was Executive Vice President, Board Member and Global Retail Practice Group Leader with CallisonRTKL Architects P.C. He also worked as Design Director (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and Director of Architectural Design for Starbucks Coffee Company in Seattle.

In 1988, Eric earned a Masters of Architecture degree from the Knowlton School of Architecture, where he also served for five years as Adjunct Associate Professor of Design. 


Chakka Manning (headshot)

Chakka Manning, MBA, MS
Sustainment Project Manager, Aeronautics
Lockheed Martin
Frisco, Texas

Chakka Manning is a member of the systems engineering senior staff for Aeronautics at Lockheed Martin in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas. As sustainment project lead, Manning oversees the U.S. and allies reprogramming labs operations for F-35 fighter jets. She received her B.S. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering and her MS degree in Electrical Engineering from The Ohio State University. She is a recipient of the 2016 National Women of Color Technology Rising Star Award. Manning is also the 2015 recipient of the Texnikoi Outstanding Alumni Award from Ohio State's College of Engineering. She received her Executive MBA and a MS degree in International Management Studies from the University of Texas at Dallas.


Kenny McDonald (headshot)

Kenny McDonald
President & Chief Executive Officer
Columbus Partnership
Columbus, Ohio

Kenny McDonald serves as the third president and CEO of the Columbus Partnership, a civic organization of Columbus’ top business leaders. The Partnership was founded in 2002 to improve the economic and cultural base of Central Ohio. McDonald is responsible for leading strategies focused on diversity and equity, growth and development, and business and civic innovation, in order for the Columbus Region to achieve its vision to become the most prosperous metropolitan area in the United States.

He brings more than 25 years of experience working with metropolitan economies in Savannah, Georgia, Albuquerque, New Mexico and Charlotte, North Carolina. He also spent seven years as a global site location advisor for Fluor Corporation. McDonald has been named one of the Top 50 economic developers by Economix and is a frequent speaker and national thought leader on regional economic development. He was also named Small Nonprofit CEO of the Year by Columbus CEO magazine.

McDonald was instrumental in creating and leading the Columbus Region’s growth strategy when he was selected to lead Columbus 2020, a regional economic development group that was launched in 2010. Now known as One Columbus and housed within the Columbus Partnership, the organization is continuously ranked as one of the top 10 economic development organizations in the U.S.

McDonald has served as chairman of the International Economic Development Council and is an active board member of the Champions of the Community/NCH Invitational, Columbus Regional Airport Authority, Experience Columbus, Ohio Business Roundtable, Ohio Excels, the Transportation Research Center, RTRX, and Ohio State University’s SciTech.

McDonald is a graduate of Dickinson State University, Georgia Southern University, the Economic Development Institute at the University of Oklahoma, and Harvard’s Young American Leaders program. He has been a Certified Economic Developer (CecD) for over 20 years. He is married with three children.


Samir Mittal (headshot)

Samir Mittal, PhD
Corporate Vice President, Silicon Systems AI & Central Engineering
Micron Technology
Palo Alto, California

Samir Mittal is a CTO and front-line engineering leader specializing in delivering market defining products with transformative new technologies in distinctly diverse domains. In his current role as Corporate Vice President at Micron Technology, Samir is responsible for infusing AI algorithms in Silicon to Systems product development processes to reshape innovation vectors, accelerate time to market, and develop new business models. Previously, Samir founded SCUTI AI, a startup focused on next generation data center infrastructure for deep learning applications. Samir and the SCUTI team transitioned to Micron designing and developing data center 3DXP products, where they launched the X100 program to the market as the world’s fastest SSD, taking the product from concept to deployment in less than 2 years.

Samir Mittal received his PhD specializing in control systems and signal processing from The Ohio State University in 1998. He began his career at Seagate Technology Advanced Concepts as an engineer and earned five promotions in 11 years. In the last position, he incubated and managed the Nearline Small Form Factor product family with industry-leading Enterprise market share. In 2009, he switched career paths to develop enterprise grade software for real-time video analytics and secure content distribution as Senior Vice President at Qumu Corporation. Samir orchestrated the technology and product strategy to transform the company business model to SaaS software licensing, earning the top spot in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for product vision and capability.

In 2013, Samir joined SanDisk as VP of Enterprise Engineering to enable the All-Flash Data Center with distributed data caching, NVMe filesystems, and flash storage products. Samir integrated the Smart Storage, Fusion-IO, Flashsoft and Schooner acquisitions into an enterprise product development organization that launched 7 programs in 2.5 years with AWS, HP, Dell and IBM as lead partners. Samir directed all aspects of the development from architecture development, ASIC design, media algorithms, firmware development, software stack development, system integration to data center validation.

Samir Mittal holds more than 14 U.S. patents for memory and data storage related system design inventions. Samir was recently recognized by The Ohio State University with the EG Bailey Entrepreneurship Award. He remains closely connected to the U.S. university ecosystem in general, and his alma mater specifically as member of the External Advisory Board for Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.


David Moody (headshot)

David A. Moody, PhD
President and Chief Economic Officer
Moody Engineering
Columbus, Ohio

David A. Moody, PhD is the President and CEO of Moody Engineering, a professional civil engineering company that provides innovative engineering solutions to municipalities, architects, real estate developers, contractors, planners, educational institutions, health care facilities, and industries. A mechanical engineer by trade, David has hands-on expertise in identifying, analyzing, and solving multifaceted design challenges. His diverse engineering background includes positions at Intel, Eaton, Caterpillar, Harley-Davidson and Mettler Toledo. In addition to design, David has served as a consultant for large corporations such as Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Mount Carmel Hospital, University Hospitals, Cleveland Clinic, Blue Shield of California, Yahoo!, Honda, Autodesk, McKesson and Virgin America. In the consultant role, he led multiple design and engineering teams from various disciplines in problem solving resulting in innovative solutions to the clients’ most pressing issues.

A leader in cultural competency and diversity inclusion, David has served on The Ohio State University Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Student Committee (2003-2004), was president of the National Society of Black Engineers (2003-2005) and president of the Black Graduate Engineering & Science Students Association (2006-2008), served on the University of California, Berkeley Mechanical Engineering Committee for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (2009) and in 2020 began to serve on the Columbus Humanities Arts & Technology Academy and Cornerstone Academy School Board (2020-present). Today David continues to serve his community through various volunteer service projects and work in Columbus, Ohio.

David holds a PhD along with a Masters in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. He received his Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering in 2005 from The Ohio State University.


Bhavesh (“Bob”) Patel (headshot)

Bob Patel
Chief Executive Officer
W. R. Grace & Co.
Columbia, Maryland

Bhavesh (“Bob”) Patel is the Chief Executive Officer of W. R. Grace & Co. (A Standard Industries Company). Prior to joining Grace, he served as the Chief Executive Officer at LyondellBasell, one of the largest chemicals, plastics and refining companies in the world. Bob joined LyondellBasell in 2010, serving as senior vice president and then executive vice president of the Olefins and Polyolefins (O&P) Americas, Europe, Asia and International (EAI), and technology business segments. He was subsequently appointed CEO in January of 2015. During this tenure as CEO, LyondellBasell embarked on a period of growth. Under his leadership, the company built new world-scale production facilities, expanded its market presence in Asia and made a number of strategic acquisitions, including A. Schulman, Inc. which made LyondellBasell the largest manufacturer of compounded materials in the world.

Prior to LyondellBasell, Bob held positions of increasing responsibility at Chevron Corporation and Chevron Phillips Chemical Company for more than 20 years. Over the course of his career, he has held leadership positions based in the Netherlands, Singapore and the United States. Bob earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from The Ohio State University and Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Temple University. He serves on several boards, including the Houston Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Halliburton Company and is a member of the Business Council. He is also on the external advisory council of the College of Engineering at The Ohio State University and the Board of Visitors of the Fox School of Business at Temple University.


Christina Sistrunk

Christina Sistrunk
President and CEO (former)
Aera Energy LLC
Houston, Texas

Christina Sistrunk is the former President and CEO at Aera Energy LLC. Headquartered in Bakersfield, California, Aera Energy is a California limited liability company and one of California’s largest oil and natural gas producers, with revenues of over $2 billion annually.   Prior to taking the role at Aera, Sistrunk worked for Shell in oil production and development as well as health, safety and environmental performance improvement across 5 continents while based in places including the Netherlands, New Orleans, and Houston. 

Sistrunk earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering at The Ohio State University before joining Amoco Corp. in Louisiana to work in production, facilities and reservoir engineering. At Amoco she also worked as an operations foreman and was a manager in engineering, procurement and construction.

She is currently living in Houston with her husband John as they map out their next chapter.