Board Bios
Richard D. Aginian
Donna Gambrell
Ruth Gramlich
Norma Hagenow
David K. Livingston
Norma Noble
Philip H. Power
Nancy Weatherford
John Wise
Richard D. Aginian
is a Certified Public Accountant in the state of Michigan. Mr. Aginian was employed by Arthur Andersen & Company in the Detroit office, achieving the title of Manager after 11 years. After a short tenure in the automotive sales business, Mr. Aginian joined Suburban Communications Corporation, later renamed HomeTown Communications Corporation. He was appointed to the position of President and CEO, and stayed for over 30 years until the sale of the company in 2005. Mr. Aginian is vice Chairman of the Board at Walsh College, chair of the finance committee and has taught finance courses. He is also a trustee at Beaumont Hospital, serving on the finance and investment committees, and a trustee at the YMCA Metropolitan Detroit. Mr. Aginian has received several civic and industry awards.
Mr. Aginian graduated with a Ph.B. from Wayne State University and an MBA from Rutgers University.
Donna Gambrell
is the director of the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI). She provides leadership shaping innovative programs that provide low income lending and tax credits to aid community redevelopment initiatives. The CDFI Fund’s mission is to expand the capacity of financial institutions to provide credit, capital, and financial services to underserved populations and communities. Ms. Gambrell was recently appointed to serve as interim Chief of Homeownership Preservation by the U.S. Treasury Department Interim Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability, Neel Kashkari. Ms. Gambrell has served as Deputy Director of Consumer Protection and Community Affairs at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), where she oversaw the national community affairs, consumer affairs, and deposit insurance outreach program. She also served 18 months in the Gulf Coast region working on community rebuilding initiatives in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. She has received a National Public Service award for formulating public-private partnerships.
Ruth Gramlich
was employed by Ford Motor Company as a human resources and training manager where she was responsible for two joint UAW-Ford training programs and the company’s primary training center. She also represented Ford on the Michigan Job Training Coordinating Council where she was vice-chair and worked with the group who founded CSW. Since her retirement from Ford and her move to Washington, D.C., Ms. Gramlich has served in volunteer positions, including the DC Bar Board on Professional Responsibility, the Federal Reserve Board’s Fine Arts Advisory Panel, and Kalorama Village.
Ms. Gramlich is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and earned an MBA degree from the University of Michigan.
Norma Hagenow
has spent a career in increasingly strong leadership roles in health care administration, most notably serving as Chief Executive Officer of Genesys Health System in Grand Blanc, Michigan, where she led the transformation of four Flint-area hospitals into a new, merged enterprise that has become the region’s foremost healthcare provider. Since retiring from that role, Ms. Hagenow has undertaken a mix of consulting and public policy work in healthcare. She serves as a member of the Michigan Council for Labor & Economic Growth, as a member of the Mid Michigan Innovation Team Board, and as the founding leader of a highly regarded model initiative that helps low income and dislocated Flint area residents enter healthcare careers.
David Livingston
has 20 years of experience orchestrating revenue and profitability improvements for a variety of heatlh care organizations. In his current position, he serves as President of the Great lakes Health Plan, located in Southfield, MI. Previous positions include serving as Vice President, Payer Strategies & Contracting for Trinity Health (Novi, MI) and Vice President of Network Management for the Michigan, Ohio, and Kentucky region with Great West Healthcare.
David has a Master's degree in Business Administration, Accounting and Finance, from Regis University (CO), and a BA in Sciene from Ball State University (IN).
has spent much of her career working in Oklahoma government, with particular emphasis on human services and workforce development. She is presently the Deputy Secretary of Commerce for Workforce Development in the Oklahoma Department of Commerce. She has held positions with Oklahoma County, the City of Oklahoma City, and the Oklahoma County Workforce Investment Board.
Norma holds a Master's degree in Education from Northeastern University (OK), and a second Master's degree in Human Relations from the University of Oklahoma. Her undergraduate BA degree is in French and English from Northeastern State University (OK).
Philip H.Power
helped found the Corporation for a Skilled Workforce in 1991, and served as the Chairman of the Board 1991-2005. For nearly 40 years, Mr. Power was founder, owner, and chairman of the board of HomeTown Communications Network, a group of 62 community newspapers and 24 telephone directories. Best known among this group was the Observer & Eccentric Newspapers, serving suburban communities in the Metropolitan Detroit area.
In early 2006, Mr. Power founded The Center for Michigan, a non-profit “think and do tank.” Mr. Power serves as President of the Center, which focuses on engaging Michigan residents in bipartisan efforts to create a common dialogue and vision that lead to action to build a better Michigan.
Mr. Power graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Michigan. He subsequently received a Marshall Scholarship to study at Oxford University in England, where he received a MA degree in philosophy, politics, and economics.
Nancy Weatherford
serves as Operations Director for Altarum’s Medical Care Systems (MCS) Group. In this capacity, she oversees MCS financial, contracting and staffing activities and provides internal business development consulting assistance to MCS practice areas. Previous to her work within the MCS division, she served as practice area lead for Altarum’s CyberMichigan division where she led the development of a portfolio of IT-based statewide entrepreneurship and economic development programs.
Prior to joining Altarum, Ms. Weatherford managed international business consulting projects and technical assistance engagements for the William Davidson Institute, a non-profit business and policy think-tank at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. She holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Michigan.
John Wise
has been the general legal counsel to CSW since its founding in 1991. He began his legal career at Dykema, Gossett in Detroit; served as the Assistant to the President of the International Economic Policy Association in Washington, D.C. 1964-67; was a member of the law firm of Parsons, Tennent, Hammond, Hardig & Ziegelman in Detroit 1967-70; president of Wise & Marsac 9formerly Ziegler, Dykhouse & Wise) in Detroit 1970-2001 and a Senior Partner in Williams Mullen, P.C. in Detroit 2001-04. He is currently “of counsel” to Howard & Howard, P.C. in Bloomfield Hills
Mr. Wise has been a director or trustee on a number of corporate and non-profit boards.
Mr. Wise attended Holy Cross College and graduated with an AB Honors Cum Laude degree. He received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Michigan Law School.