1320 Cambridge Blvd.
Columbus, Ohio 43212
(614) 488-0681
Ext. 287
Columbus, Ohio 43212
Ext. 287
ABOUT US
Seth Stearns is Executive Director of Operations and Director of First Community Foundation.
Most of my professional career has been spent in banking, investment banking, and mortgage finance. Over the years I have worked for Huntington Bank in their real estate lending and community development divisions. At Bank One/Chase I was in their real estate and commercial lending divisions, as well as leading their Community Development Corporation. I also spent over ten years at Red Capital/Lument in their multifamily mortgage division, as well as their tax credit equity group. My last ten years were spent with Wallick Communities as their business development and advocacy head. Wallick is one of the largest developers, owners and managers of affordable rental housing in Ohio. A majority of my advocacy work at Wallick was building relationships with Ohio’s members of Congressional and staff both in D.C. and Ohio.
Since June 2020, I (along with my brother John) am co-owner and caretaker of a gift shop in German Village called Helen Winnemore’s, which focuses on the work of American Artisans. From 2013 to 2020, I owned and ran a similar gift shop on Arlington Ave called Fresh Crafts Gallery. For about 20 years before returning to Columbus, I was a lawyer with the investment management firm, Wellington Management, in Boston. At Wellington, I worked with foundation and endowment clients in their onboarding process. In addition, I worked with investment professionals when they invested in private placement securities. Prior to Wellington, I worked for three years as a corporate lawyer at Goodwin Procter, a law firm in Boston, after receiving a LLM in Banking Law from Boston University School of Law. I taught Legal Writing at the Vermont Law School for two years, after graduating with a JD from Capital University Law School in Columbus. And, I am a proud Buckeye from The Ohio State University, and Golden Bear from Upper Arlington High School!
I was baptized at FCC in 1957, and my family was active until the late ‘60’s when we moved to another local church. I was a camper at Camp Akita two or three years. After returning to Columbus after nearly 30 years living in New England, I joined the church in 2019, and have served as a greeter at both South and North.
Scott Toop is a retired attorney. He most recently served as Wendy’s General Counsel, and before that as General Counsel for Tim Hortons in Toronto, and KFC in Louisville. Regarding his prior Board experience, he was Secretary to the Wendy’s and Tim Hortons Boards, a member of the Wendy’s Purchasing Cooperative Board, and Secretary to the Audit Committee of the Yum! Brands Board. He is currently the Secretary of his community’s HOA Board. Scott and his wife, Laura Rosene, joined First Community in December, 2017. Scott has been active with the Older Adult Ministry Team, Thursdays at 10, the Gun Violence Prevention Team and the Elder Wisdom Book Group. He also volunteers at Camp Akita and First Community’s Pride events. Scott welcomes the opportunity to serve on the Foundation Board. He is excited about working with the Foundation to support First Community’s programs and ministries and growing the Foundation. He attended and enjoyed the recent seminar given by Johnson Investment Counsel and is interested in identifying and encouraging additional ways to generate support for the Foundation. Outside of church, Scott volunteers at Columbus Academy and has coached youth sports for over 15 years.
Dave Nickel and his wife, Jennie, have been members of First Community church for over 25 years. Dave recently served as Chair of the Adult Learning Council for three consecutive years. He earned his Ph.D. from Indiana University with a double major in higher education administration and chemistry. He has both taught and served in leadership roles for over 20 years in several universities, including The Ohio State University, other central Ohio universities, and Wuhan and Huazhong Agricultural Universities in Wuhan, China. He also worked for 20 years with Goodyear and Lockheed Martin Corporations as head of and senior trainer of the leadership and management development program. Additionally, Dave also worked as an internal organizational development consultant there. Dave is a graduate and former practitioner of the Wellstreams ecumenically oriented spiritual direction program.
Tim and his wife, Hayley have been members of FCC for nearly 30 years. He previously served on Akita Council and the Board of Deacons. Currently he serves as the Director of Capital Markets at the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, which promotes and provides affordable housing to the residents of Ohio. Prior to that, he spent 27 years in the Public Finance field for regional financial institutions. Tim and Hayley have three adult children and two grandchildren. He is a graduate of Kenyon College and received a master’s degree from the University of Texas.
Leslie’s family joined First Community Church in 1969. Her father served on the Governing Board for several years. Leslie participated in the youth program and Camp Akita. She was married to her husband Bill at the south campus and became a member in 1991. Her church service includes a Mexico Mission trip, feeding the homeless, Sunday School teacher and Couple Circle member. Both of her children attended Camp Akita, Mexico Mission trips and LaVida.
Recently retired from Nationwide, she spent 25 years training agents on technology tools and associates on secure cyber security practices. Her training methods encompassed classroom instruction, website content and digital training course design. Prior experience includes software sales, sales management and sales training at Goal Systems and AT&T.
She is the treasurer of Childhood League Board XI and a graduate of Miami University. Leslie and her husband Bill have two adult children and two twin grandchildren.
Cathy and her husband John have been members of FCC since 2004. She previously served on the High School council and is currently a participant of Open Door Ministry. She graduated from The Ohio State University in Allied Health and received her Masters degree from the University of Alabama. She was employed at Nationwide Children’s Hospital as a clinical Dietitian for 10 years.
Cathy then changed career paths and began working at IGS Energy in 1989 in an administrative role when it was a start-up company with only three employees. She has held various positions as the company went through many changes and grew in size to over 1000 employees. She is a member of the Board of Directors and continues to work there on a part time basis in the area of finance and treasury.
Ron has been a member of FCC for over 50 years. Joining the Block of Wood class, he has been part of: The Board of Deacons, twice – chairing once, the High School Council, Chancel Choir, Couples Circle 47, Facilitator with FCC High School Membership Program, Traveling Freshman leader, Care Ministry member and usher for over 20 years.
Community activities have included: Past UA Alumni Association President, Past UA 4th of July Chairman and Member of the UA Education – UA Athletic Board.
Professionally, Ron was a director, supervisor and consultant in telecom service design and architecture for over 30 years and is still consulting. A UA and The Ohio State University grad, he has three adult children, who were involved in FCC programs through high school and across the country since college.
After college (OSU, BA, History), I began working with collection, estimating, and publishing statistical program data with Bureau of Labor Statistics programs for the State of Ohio, including eight years as the manager of the Occupational Employment Statistics program. During that time, I also earned an additional degree from Franklin University in Accounting. Since I retired from the State, I worked at various part-time jobs, including with the Columbus Sympathy Orchestra (6 years with 2 years working with the Development Department) and the Columbus State Community College mostly in the Registrar’s Office and the Office of Advising (15 years). I also worked several months for the Mount Carmel Foundation during a transition period. Prior to attending First Community, I was active in the membership of the Presbyterian Church, both serving as an elder and as Chair of the Worship Committee. In 2000, I began singing at First Community Church and joined thirteen years ago. Since then I have been active with Missions program (currently a member of the Missions Grant Team and write a monthly article in the On a Mission! newsletter) and the Community Justice teams. I also participated on ad hoc search committees for the Music Director and the Minister of Mission and Justice. I have been working and volunteering for nonprofits much of my life and want to offer the Foundation the best of what I have at this point in my life. Besides my background and expertise, I also have the needed attitude to contribute to the Foundation mission.
I was born in Rochester, Minnesota and, at age one, moved to Upper Arlington where I have lived ever since. I’ve been married to my husband Mark for over 40 years and we have 3 adult children who we are blessed to have all living near us. We have 4 grandchildren-3 granddaughters(2 in the Cherub choir at FCC) and 1 grandson. I became a member of FCC in the 1990s when we found FCC to be a good fit for us and our young children. My career was very fulfilling as a gifted and regular language arts teacher at Jones Middle School; I also had the privilege to be the Service-learning Leader allowing me to receive grants, bring in speakers, and complete service-learning projects with my students, staff and the entire school. In 2000, we started a program called ‘Packing for the Streets’ for which we received yearly grants and in-kind donations to pack non-perishable meals for our friends on the streets. In the beginning years, the FCC high school students delivered our packed meals along with a hot meal on Thursday evenings. Packing for the Streets is now an ongoing program that takes place in many schools throughout Central Ohio. Throughout my career, I planned projects, food drives and field trips to benefit Heart to Heart and the Mid-Ohio Food Collective. Our service learning projects on hunger gained national attention from Youth Service America. During my career, I was honored to receive the Jones Teacher of the Year, the Golden Apple, and the Nancy Loosecamp Service-learning awards.
Now, I enjoy teaching the K-2 church school class at North campus.
I’m honored to join the FCC Foundation board because my family and I have benefited greatly from our involvement at FCC and I feel strongly about service to others and giving back. I am hoping to be of help however I can.
Ingrid White has served as the Deputy Superintendent for Banks with the Ohio Department of Commerce, Division of Financial institutions (ODFI) since November 2017. She is responsible for the supervision and regulation of money transmitters, state-chartered banks, and trust companies.