October 25 Host Committee and Presenters

David S. C. Chu, United States Under Secretary of Defense

David S. C. Chu is the United States Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness) responsible as the senior policy advisor on recruitment, career development, pay and benefits, and overseeing the state of military readiness. Dr. Chu also oversees the Department of Defense language transformation plan.  Dr. Chu was appointed to the position on June 1, 2001.

Dr. Chu received a Bachelor of Arts Degree, magna cum laude, in Economics and Mathematics from Yale University in 1964 and a PhD in Economics, also from Yale, in 1972. In 1968 he was commissioned in the U.S Army and became an instructor at the U.S. Army Logistics Management Center, Fort Lee, Virginia. He later served a tour of duty in the Republic of Vietnam, working in the Office of the Comptroller, Headquarters, 1st Logistical Command. He obtained the rank of captain and completed his service with the Army in 1970.

From 1978 to 1981, Dr. Chu served as the Assistant Director for National Security and International Affairs, Congressional Budget Office, providing advice to the Congress on the full range of national security and international economic issues. He served the Director and then Assistant Secretary of Defense (Program Analysis and Evaluation) from May 1981 to January 1993. In that capacity, he advised the Secretary of Defense on the future size and structure of the armed forces, their equipment, and their preparation for crisis or conflict.

Prior to rejoining the Department of Defense, Dr. Chu served in several senior executive positions with the Rand Corporation, including Vice President and Director of the Arroyo Center, the Army's federally funded research and development center for studies and analysis, and Director of RAND's Washington Office.

He is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and a recipient of its National Public Senior Award. He holds the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public service with silver palm.

Lee Fisher, Lieutenant Governor State of Ohio; Director, Ohio Department of Development

Lt. Governor Lee Fisher's career has spanned the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. In addition to serving as Governor Ted Strickland’s Lieutenant Governor, Fisher is the Director of the Ohio Department of Development, and leads the state’s efforts to retain, attract, and create jobs and grow Ohio’s economy.

Prior to becoming Lieutenant Governor and State Development Director, Lt. Governor Fisher served as the President and CEO of the Center for Families and Children in Cleveland for seven years. In that position, he received the “Nonprofit Executive of the Year Award,” and the “Visionary Innovation in Business Award” from Smart Business Magazine for his entrepreneurial leadership of the Center for Families and Children.

He is a public servant with more than 14 years of service, serving as Ohio Attorney
General, State Senator and State Representative. Lt. Governor Fisher also has worked as a private attorney, public company board director, and as a federal appellate law clerk.

As a freshman legislator 27 years ago, he was voted by his legislative colleagues and the Statehouse Press Corps as Ohio’s “Outstanding Freshman Legislator,” in a survey by Columbus Monthly Magazine. As a state legislator, Lee authored more than 10 Ohio laws, including the Missing Children Law; the Hate Crime Law; the Crime Victims Assistance Law; the Hospice Licensure Law; and the Child Safety Seat Law.

As Attorney General, he created the award-winning Operation Crackdown program, shutting down hundreds of dangerous drug houses throughout Ohio. Lee also established the first-ever statewide law enforcement conference, which is now an annual tradition in Ohio’s law enforcement community. He was well known in the business community for his “Early Warning System,” a program that allowed businesses the opportunity to resolve issues without the threat of litigation.

Lt. Governor Fisher was Chase Public Leadership Fellow at Harvard University’s Program for Senior Executives in state and local government, and is a graduate of Case Weatherhead School of Management’s Professional Fellows Program. He was also a Case Presidential Fellow and taught undergraduate seminars in leadership and collaboration.

Raised in the Cleveland area, Lt. Governor Fisher graduated from Oberlin College, and earned both his law degree and his master’s degree of nonprofit organization from Case Western Reserve University. Lee Fisher is married to Peggy Zone Fisher, the President and CEO of the Diversity Center of Northeast Ohio. They have a son, Jason, who is a recent graduate of Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications, and a daughter, Jessica, who is in high school.

Deborah Gavlik, Associate  Vice Chancellor for Finance Ohio Board of Regents

Bio to come.

Joseph A. Alutto, Interim President/Provost The Ohio State University

Joseph A. Alutto was named Interim President and Provost of The Ohio State University on July 1, 2007.  Prior to that appointment he had served as Dean of the Max M. Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University, since March 1, 1991.  He had been named the John W. Berry, Sr. Chair in Business, on September 1, 1999.  Immediately prior to his appointment as Dean, Dr. Alutto was the Clarence S. Marsh Professor of Management at the State University of New York at Buffalo, focusing his research on Sino-U.S. joint ventures and the relationships between improvement processes and corporate performance.  He also served as Dean of the SUNY-Buffalo School of Management from 1976 to 1990.  Dr. Alutto received his bachelor's degree in business administration from Manhattan College, a master's degree in industrial relations from the University of Illinois, and a Ph.D. in organizational behavior from Cornell University.

Effective July 1, 1998, Dr. Alutto was named Executive Dean for the Professional Colleges at The Ohio State University.  While continuing to serve as Dean of the Fisher College, as Executive Dean, Dr. Alutto coordinated the activities of the Colleges of Engineering, Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Education and Human Ecology, Law and Social Work and represented the interests of those colleges in university-wide decision-making bodies.

In addition to Dr. Alutto's administrative experience, he is a leading authority on managerial behavior, having coauthored a book on research methods in organizational research and more than 65 articles in academic journals such as Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, and Industrial and Labor Relations Review.  He has lectured widely in China on management issues and was part of the U.S. Department of Commerce and People’s Republic of China State Economic Commission’s National Center for Science and Technology Management Development.  He pioneered the first Sino-U.S. jointly funded MBA program offered in the People's Republic of China in 1984.  Dr. Alutto was appointed as Advisor to the First Session of Council for the Dalian Behavioral Sciences Association, has been the first International Dean for the Dalian University School of Business, served as a Visiting Professor at the College of Management, Zheijang University, and lectured at universities throughout China.  He has been a visible and active advocate for advanced management education and research in China.

Dr. Alutto has served as a consultant to banks, manufacturing firms, aerospace companies, health care agencies and educational institutions.  He serves on a number of corporate boards including Nationwide Financial Services, Inc., United Retail Group, Inc., M/I Homes, Experience Columbus (formerly the Greater Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau) and the Columbus-Franklin County Finance Port Authority, serves on the national arbitrator lists of American Arbitration Association and Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services and has served in leadership capacities for a wide variety of voluntary organizations. He is a member of the Academy of Management, American Psychological Association, Labor and Employment Relations Association and American Association for the Advancement of Science.  He served as President of the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business-The International Association for Management Education from October 1996 - June 1998.

Susan Tave Zelman, Superintendent of Public Instruction for Ohio

Susan Tave Zelman, superintendent of public instruction for Ohio since 1999, believes that all children can learn and achieve in an educational system with high expectations and
multiple pathways to succeed. Under Dr. Zelman’s leadership, the Ohio Department of Education created a mission for the state’s educational system that has brought sweeping change through standards-based reform.

Dr. Zelman is working to raise expectations for all students by setting clear and high academic standards, strengthening schools and school districts with fiscal and human resources, and improving student performance through accountability. Ohio now has academic content standards in English language arts, mathematics, social studies, science, technology, foreign language and the arts. These standards are aligned to curriculum models for teachers, achievement tests for students, and an accountability system that measures improvement. Ohio received an “A-” grade for its standards and accountability system in Education Week’s Quality Counts 2006 report.

Ohio students are improving every year. Over the past seven years, the average of students’ scores on state tests increased by more than 19 points. Ohio outperforms the national SAT and ACT averages, and fourth- and eighth-graders outperform national averages on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in reading and mathematics.

Dr. Zelman is committed to closing achievement gaps between Ohio’s lowest- and
highest-performing students, especially low-income and minority students. She inspired the creation of the State Board of Education’s Closing Achievement Gaps Task Force. Schools that are high-poverty and high-performing are sharing their best practices through her Schools of Promise program. A task force to redesign Ohio’s high schools has made recommendations to ensure all students graduate and are prepared for college and the workforce. Dr. Zelman also served on the Governor’s Commission on Higher Education and the Economy and was a member of the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on Financing Student Success.

Before coming to Ohio, Dr. Zelman was Deputy Commissioner of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education from 1994 to 1999. She served for six years in the Massachusetts Department of Education as Associate Commissioner of the Department of Education Personnel. She was an Associate Professor of Education and Chair of the Department of Education at Emmanuel College in Boston while simultaneously holding a five-year appointment with the Education Technology Center of the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Dr. Zelman received the National Science Research Opportunity Award for Women through Columbia Teachers College.

She holds a doctorate in education from the University of Michigan. She also received
an honorary doctoral degree in public service from the University of Rio Grande, an
honorary doctoral degree in education from Baldwin-Wallace College and an honorary
doctoral degree in humanities from Youngstown State University. Gannett Newspapers named her one of the 10 most powerful and influential women in Ohio state government in March 2003.

Galal Walker, PhD (Cornell) Director of the Chinese Flagship Program at The Ohio State University

Professor of Chinese at The Ohio State University. Director of the National East Asian Languages Resource Center (US Department of Education) and the Chinese Flagship Program (US Department of Defense). Recipient of Language and Culture Friendship Award from the Ministry of Education of China. 

Jane Ensign, Curriculum Specialist for the Educational Council of Franklin County

Jane led the development of a foreign language curriculum for the new Metro High School, sponsored by the Educational Council, The Ohio State University and Battelle. Jane has served as a high school principal and as an administrator for the Ohio Department of Education. Following the June 28th Ohio Language Summit, Jane will facilitate the Domestic and International Language Road Map Teams to develop potential solutions to the State’s foreign language issues.