1320 Cambridge Blvd.
Columbus, Ohio 43212
(614) 488-0681
Ext. 263
Columbus, Ohio 43212
Ext. 263
ABOUT US
Seth Stearns is Executive Director of Operations and Director of First Community Foundation.
Cindi joined FCC when she and her husband, Karl, a lifelong member, moved back to Ohio nearly 20 years ago. She has served on Akita Council, Youth Council, Nominating Committee, and taught Sunday school for several years. Cindi was also an active parent volunteer with both school and sports team activities. Cindi graduated from UNC at Chapel Hill and has worked for State Farm Insurance for 35 years. She and Karl have two adult sons.
Nancy joined the Foundation Board in 2020. During her career in association management she helped establish the Ohio Dental Association Foundation and the Ohio Society of Association Management Foundation. As a volunteer she has been active in development work for The Wesley Communities and The Columbus Rotary Club.
At FFC she is a member of Circle C and has served on the New Horizons Campaign, Capital Campaign Task Force, Adult Education Council, Mission Council, and feeding the homeless. She is a graduate of the University of Rhode Island.
Katie joined First Community in 2020 and now attends South campus where she also serves as an usher. Professionally, she works as Relationship Officer for Community Shelter Board, the system leader for the prevention of and response to homelessness in Central Ohio. Prior to that, she spent 13 years leading programs to help adults with disabilities find employment and achieve full community integration. Katie is a graduate of The Ohio State University and native of Westerville where she lives with her husband Edwin and daughter Ashley.
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.
For the last 12 years of her work life Deb has worked in the fiscal department of a non-profit organization that is involved in the field of early care and education in the state of Ohio (Ohio Child Care Resource and Referral Association). The last several years Deb held the position of Assistant Director of Fiscal Services reporting directly to the COO. Her duties included, but were not limited to supervision of AP/AR, payroll, balancing bank account, point person for the annual independent audit of financials, developing and implementing fiscal processes and monthly reporting.
She has been a member of Chancel Choir for over 25 years and more recently became involved with the Missions and Community Justice Teams. Deb served on the Governing Board, completing her term earlier this year and serving as Treasurer of FCC for the last two years of her Board term.
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.
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.
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.
Becky and I first started attending First Community Church in 1986 and we officially joined as members in 1988. Over this time, I have twice served on the Governing Board, being the chair during my last term. I also served on the North Campus Study Committee. I have been on the Board of Deacons, as well as in my early years on the membership committee, and missions committee. I am currently volunteering most weeks at our Heart-to-Heart food pantry, which is a very rewarding experience both working alongside our dedicated volunteers as well as serving our clients.
I am interested in the Foundation Board to continue serving our Church in a new and very important role. This is an exciting time for the Foundation as it continues to look to the future and opportunities to grow. I would like to learn more about its future plans and mission and contribute both from my business experience and service with FCC. I appreciate this opportunity to be a member of the Foundation Board of Directors.
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.
Prior to joining ODFI, Ingrid served as the Deputy Commissioner for the New Hampshire Banking Department, where she was responsible for the supervision and regulation of banks, credit unions and consumer finance products.
She is the current president of the Money Transmitter Regulators Association (MTRA) board of directors. She is also the vice-chair of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) Education Foundation board of trustees. Both the MTRA and the CSBS are national organizations that educate, support, and advocate for state financial regulators and the state regulatory system.
Ingrid is an attorney by background and prior to joining state service, she represented banks throughout New England in corporate and compliance matters. Her practice also included estate planning and Medicaid planning. Ingrid holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from The Ohio State University, a master’s degree in European Studies from Cambridge University and a juris doctor from Boston College Law School.
Ingrid lived near Concord, New Hampshire for 18 years and was an active member of South Congregational Church (UCC). During her time at South, she served on the Outreach Committee and the Pastor-Parish Relationship Committee (PPRC) as well as serving as a Deacon and Sunday school teacher. The Outreach Committee was the steward of the church’s donations.
Ingrid and her family returned to Columbus in 2018, to take care of elderly family members, and Ingrid quickly became a member of First Community Church. She has been a member of Guild group A since 2019 but has not yet gotten further involved in church activities, partly due to the Covid years. Ingrid is married with two grown sons. Her son Garrison played guitar with the First Church praise band for a short time.
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.
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.