Ohio Chamber of Commerce CEO Forum

Every subject consists of three one-hour asynchronous classes per quarter, along with the choice of attending one-hour office hours if desired.

Strategic Agility

During this session participants will be presented with research-based strategic planning process frameworks that will enable documentation of strategic planning cycles, mission, vision and objectives, as well as the discovery of emerging strategies to support growth.

Scaling Business and Entering New Markets

During this session participants will be presented with research-based frameworks and middle market applications to enable identification of new growth opportunities, and the subsequent modifications to business models and processes in support of incremental business.

Change Management

During this session participants will be presented with middle market research-based frameworks for organizational development, succession planning and identifying potential exit strategies.

Access to Capital

During this session participants will be presented with a spectrum of financing alternatives, experience-based, real- world middle market applications, and access to resources presented by financial market advisors.

Kennia Papadakis is a senior lecturer in the department of finance. Prior to becoming a Fisher College faculty member, Kennia worked at Emerson Electric Corp. in a variety of business groups and roles, ranging from logistics management, product engineering, development and marketing, strategic planning, financial and capital budgeting. Kennia brings more than 20 years of combined engineering and business management experience to Fisher and specializes in managerial corporate finance.

Bruce W. Bellner BBA, MBA, DBA is a faculty member in the Department of Management and Human Resources with the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University.

Courses offered include Strategy Formulation and Implementation for the BRIGHT Initiative MBA Fellows program; the Global Environment of Business for the full-time MBA program; the undergraduate Honors Cohort and the Honors Contract Strategic Management capstone courses respectively; Intro to International Business core classes, and the International Labor and Human Resources elective. 

Dr. Bellner received many teaching awards including the Pace Setters Daniel Westerbeck Teaching Excellence Award (the highest teaching honor bestowed by the Fisher College of Business), the Fisher College Merit Award for contributions to enhancement of learning inside and outside of the classroom, and the BRIGHT Faculty Luminary Award for outstanding teaching and inspiring intellectual development in the BRIGHT Fellows MBA Program.

Dr. Bellner was instrumental in helping reestablish the Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) grant at The Ohio State University, and chaired the Advisory Council for it, and is a member of the Culture Council at Fisher currently part of a working committee with the purpose of enhancing the culture and developing sustainable initiatives that align with the College’s strategic plan and priorities.

Dr. Bellner previously taught in the Department of Economics, College of Arts and Sciences, and was recognized by the Mortar Board Senior Honor Society and the Sphinx Senior Class Honorary while there. In addition, he has been a recurring visiting professor in Business and Economics for the summer programs at Qingdao University and Minzu University in Beijing.

Prior to academia, Dr. Bellner enjoyed working in the field of  financial services including the commercial banking sector. During this time, he held executive management positions and served in community leadership capacities as well. This involved sitting on numerous boards, including as a Director for a non-profit organization and as Trustee for the local Area Chamber of Commerce.

Degrees earned include a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Toledo, a Master of Business Administration in Management from Ashland University, and a Master of Science in Strategic Planning and Doctor of Business Administration in Strategy from Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University, (with a research focus on resource-based theory and strategic management).
 

 Chad Zipfel is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Finance. He joined Fisher in 2018 with more than a decade of progressive finance leadership experience in the Corporate space. Prior to his appointment at Ohio State, Chad led the turnaround of The Oneida Group out of bankruptcy: rebuilding a new Finance organization, reducing inventory, enacting price increases, and refinancing the Company’s capital structure. Prior to that, Chad delivered top-rated results at L Brands and Procter & Gamble in diverse capacities and locations: ranging from FP&A, Corporate Finance, M&A, Innovation, Sales, and Supply Chain.

At OSU, Chad is a STEP Faculty Mentor and is actively engaged with Fisher’s Executive Education as an Academic Director. Chad also serves on various committees and is faculty sponsor for various Student Orgs.

Outside of OSU, Chad stays engaged in the business world through a variety of means. Since 2018, he is the active owner of F.A.S.T. Consulting LLC: specializing in Finance and Strategy transformations as a fractional CFO for small/mid-cap companies. He sits on the Board of a VC-backed start-up while continuing to be active in the non-profit space with numerous Board positions.

Chad received his BSBA in Finance with Honors, graduating summa cum laude from Fisher. He resides in Sunbury, OH with his wife and two boys.

Professor Isil Erel is the David A. Rismiller Chair in Finance and the academic director of the Risk Institute at the Fisher College of Business of the Ohio State University. She holds a PhD in financial economics from MIT Sloan School of Management. Her research spans a variety of areas within corporate finance, with particular emphasis on mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, and financial institutions. This research has been published in top finance journals such as the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, and Review of Financial Studies.

Professor Erel is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)’s Corporate Finance program and a research member at the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI). She also serves on the boards of the European Finance Association (EFA), Foundation for the Advancement of Research in Financial Economics (FARFE), and the Risk Institute.

Professor Erel is an Editor of the Review of Corporate Finance Studies and an Associate Editor of the Journal of Financial Intermediation. She is the 2010 recipient of the Pace Setters Faculty Research Award, the 2015 recipient of the Distinguished Faculty Award, and 2020 recipient of the Recognition Award for significant out-of-classroom contributions at the Fisher College of Business. She also received the Distinguished Referee Award from the Review of Financial Studies in 2012. Professor Erel teaches Financial Institutions courses in both graduate and undergraduate programs at the Fisher College of Business.

Larry Inks, PhD is Clinical Professor of Management and Human Resources in the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University.  He teaches both undergraduate and graduate level classes in the areas of talent management, organization change and project management, organizational behavior and human resource management, staffing, and statistics and research methods.  He is actively involved in executive education programs and initiatives offered through the Fisher College of Business as well as external consulting and speaking. 

Prior to joining the faculty at the Fisher College, Dr. Inks had a very successful career in talent management leadership roles at PepsiCo, AlliedSignal/ Honeywell, and Cardinal Health.  Most recently, Dr. Inks was Vice President of Talent Management for Cardinal Health in Dublin, Ohio from 2001-2005.  His areas of responsibility (among others) included culture management, employee engagement, human resource planning/talent review, leadership development, performance management systems and organization change.  Prior to Cardinal Health, Dr. Inks worked with AlliedSignal as head of Organization and Leadership Development for their Polymers business.  He also worked for a number of years with PepsiCo in both talent management and human resource generalist roles.  In addition, he served on the faculty of the Management Department of the Barton School of Business at Wichita State University, teaching in areas of organization development, organization behavior, human resource management and business decision making and analysis.

Dr. Inks has a PhD in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from The Ohio State University and a Bachelors degree in Psychology from Purdue University.  He has received a number of teaching and service awards while at The Ohio State University, including the Fisher Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award, the Daniel Westerbeck Pace Setters Award for Undergraduate Teaching Excellence, the Daniel Westerbeck Pace Setters Award for Graduate Teaching Excellence, the Bostic-Georges Pace Setter Award for Faculty Service, and Fisher’s awards for Graduate Teaching Excellence in Management and Human Resources.  He is a three-time recipient of recognition by members of the Sphinx/Mortar Board Senior Class honor society for the faculty/staff member having the greatest impact on the student’s educational experience while at OSU, and in 2015 received Ohio State University’s Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching (the University’s highest recognition for teaching excellence).