Follow up Information: 2022 TMACOG General Assembly

The 2022 General Assembly is an annual meeting of TMACOG’s members that includes caucus sessions and voting on new leadership, as well as networking, lunch, and a panel presentation.
Bowling Green

Thank you to our members, partners, exhibitors, and sponsor, Poggemeyer Design Group, for making this year's General Assembly successful!

Our newly elected TMACOG leadership is Bowling Green Mayor Mike Aspacher (Chair) and Perrysburg Mayor Tom Mackin. Thank you to our outgoing Chair Ottawa County Commissioner Mark Stahl for his leadership.

We've posted follow-up information on this page, including links below to notes from each of the morning caucus sessions, and each set of slides from the panel presentation (below each speaker's photo).

Caucus Sessions

• For the City Caucus notes, click here
• For the County Caucus notes, click here
• For the Village Caucus notes, click here
• For the Township Caucus notes, click here
• For the Special Districts & Authorities Caucus notes, click here
• For the School Districts, Colleges & Universities Caucus notes, click here
• For the Non-Governmental Members Caucus notes, click here

Russell Mills is the senior director of the Center for Regional Development at Bowling Green State University (BGSU), where he leads a team of 17 professional staff, graduate students, and research assistants. Dr. Mills leads CRD’s Economic Development Administration University Center program that provides technical assistance, data, analytics, and applied research to local businesses and economic development professionals. He also leads BGSU’s Reimaging Rural Regions or R3 Initiative. He has significant expertise in demographic and economic data analysis, economic impact analysis, economic development planning processes, workforce development initiatives, economic resiliency initiatives, and grant writing. Dr. Mills is currently the president-elect of the Board of Directors of the University Economic Development Association. Dr. Mills has also been a tenured faculty member in both the Department of Political Science and BGSU’s Aviation program, where he taught courses on economic development, public administration, and aviation law and policy.

Prior to his appointment at BGSU, Dr. Mills worked as a policy analyst at the Federal Aviation Administration in Washington, D.C. His research has appeared in outlets including Legislative Studies Quarterly, The Journal of Public Policy, Public Administration Review, Administration & Society, Regulation and Governance, and the Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis, and his commentary has appeared in popular outlets including the Washington Post, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Columbus Dispatch, Toledo Blade, and Bloomberg News. Mills has a B.A. in political science from Westminster College in Pennsylvania, a MPA from the University of Vermont, and a Ph.D. in political science from Kent State University.

Mary DeWitt is the workforce administrator at the OhioMeansJobs Wood County Center. She has been in this role for the past 14 years. As the administrator, she partners with businesses and industry to assist in their hiring and training needs. She also works with job seekers to ensure they are fully trained and are job ready.

Before coming to this position, DeWitt served in the private sector for serval companies as operations manager, human resource manager and regional recruiter. She has a Bachelor of Science from Bowling Green State University.

Edward Ewers is the superintendent of Penta Career Center, a career-technical school for high school and adult students located in Perrysburg Township.He joined Penta in 2015 as the assistant superintendent, and became superintendent in January 2020. Ewers previously served as the superintendent of Edon Northwest Local Schools, and with Montpelier Exempted Village Schools as high school principal, social studies teacher and coach.

His present leadership roles include the Wood County Business Advisory Council, Greater Northwest Ohio Tech Prep Consortium Executive Committee, Northern Buckeye Education Council Governing Board, Regional Growth Partnership Board of Directors, Wood County Schools Insurance Consortium Governing Board, Agriculture Incubators Foundation Executive Board, and the Northwest Ohio CAPE Executive Board. Ewers is also an active member with the Ohio Association of Career and Technical Superintendents.

Originally, from Montpelier, Ohio, Ewers is a 1991 graduate of The University of Findlay (Bachelor of Arts in Education) and a 2000 graduate of Bowling Green State University (Master of Science in Education and Administrative Certification). Ewers resides in Holland, Ohio with his wife, Kristen, and has three adult children.

An economist by training, Dr. Kojo Quartey is president of Monroe County Community College in southeast Michigan, a position he has held since 2013. He holds a doctoral degree in applied economics from Mississippi State University, and a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a master’s degree in economics from Morgan State University. Dr. Quartey is a published author on topics of international and economic development. His previous positions were provost at the City Colleges of Chicago, dean of the College of Business at Davenport University, a dean at Talladega College, and several leadership positions at Lincoln University-Missouri. He is involved in numerous community and volunteer activities.

TMACOG hosted an additional TMACOG Tech event on May 2nd one week after the April 25th General Assembly. This was an open discussion for members on economic and workforce development issues that may not have been touched on during the 2022 General Assembly panel presentation.