The Fairmount Center is proud to present our Board of Directors.
Susan Beck, Owner, Clearly Legal – Distinctive Legal Writing
Susan Beck was part of the first group of students to take classes at Fairmount when it opened in 1970 and she continued dancing for three more decades. Today, she is an avid runner and enjoys daily runs along the roads and trails in the area.
Early in her career, Susan practiced as a lawyer in New York before becoming a journalist covering the law and the legal profession. She wrote for The American Lawyer for nearly 30 years and now works as a business writer.
Susan is a graduate of Smith College and Harvard Law School.
Sam Brenner, Chief Operating Officer, BoxCast
Although he’s just in his early 30s, Sam brings a jam-packed resume to Fairmount. After several years in outside sales, he put his business dreams on hold to pursue a full-time career in music. Thousands of miles, hundreds of shows, dozens of broken guitar strings, and two studio albums later, Sam decided music will always be a part of his life, but it didn’t need to be his full-time gig.
After transitioning his music from a full-time career to a beloved hobby, he joined a Cleveland-based digital marketing agency in 2013 before moving to BoxCast. He is now the Chief Operating Officer for BoxCast, a streaming company that helps thousands of organizations all over the world engage and grow their communities through the powerful communication tool that is live video. For more than five years, Sam has been building teams, strategies, and systems that drive functional excellence and growth at BoxCast.
Sam is a native of Buffalo, NY, and a graduate of John Carroll University. He resides in Chagrin Falls with his wife Alex, daughter Riley, and trusty pup Charlie.
Melanie Maloney, Angel Investor/Business Advisor
Melanie grew up on construction sites (her father was a builder), and she has spent her life helping to build and grow companies. Her corporate experience includes stints at senior executive levels at Eaton Corporation in Cleveland and GlaxoSmithKline in Philadelphia and London.
Melanie is a graduate of SUNY Oswego and has a graduate degree from Fairleigh Dickinson. She lives in Russell with her husband Toby. She and Toby are hoping to complete their goal of biking in all 50 states and to soon find their next Airedale.
Toby Maloney, Angel Investor/Business Advisor
Toby is a lifelong media junkie, corporate executive, entrepreneur and investor who loves building brands.
He worked at SmithKline Beecham (now GlaxoSmithKline) in Philadelphia and London and at KeyCorp in Cleveland before jumping into the start-up world.
As angel investors, he and his wife Melanie helped grow mental_floss into a national brand. Since its sale in 2011, he has been an investor in several startups and an advisor for early stage companies and small businesses, most recently with Sweet Designs Chocolatier in Lakewood.
Toby graduated from John Carroll and has graduate degrees from Case Western Reserve and Miami (Ohio). An avid bike rider, newspaper and magazine reader and Airedale lover, Toby spends much of his free time indulging those passions.
Rick Solon, President and CEO of Clark Reliance Corporation, President of The Figgie Foundation, President of the Board of Fairmount Center for the Arts
Rick Solon, President and CEO of Clark Reliance Corporation, has more than 40 years of experience in manufacturing and operations. Hired and trained by Harry E. Figgie Jr., Rick was chosen to be in the first management development program at Figgie International.
Rick held senior management positions at divisions of Figgie International (American LaFrance, Rawlings Sporting Goods, Scott Aviation) before becoming President of Consolidated Packaging and then Snorkel International (both Figgie International companies).
He joined the Clark Reliance Corporation (a Figgie Family company) Board of Directors in 2003 and became President and CEO in 2006. Rick also currently serves as President of The Figgie Foundation. He is a graduate of Miami University of Ohio. When Rick’s not working, you’ll find him rooting on Cleveland’s sports teams.
Rick Subel, Retired Controller, Chief Financial Officer and President of Privately-Held Companies
There’s no truth to the rumor that being named “Rick” helps get you on the Board at Fairmount, but playing the accordion and discovering a love of music as a child doesn’t hurt.
In addition to his considerable accordion skills, Rick has over forty years of experience in financial and operating roles, including executive responsibilities as controller, chief financial officer and president of privately-held companies as well as subsidiaries of publicly-traded companies.
Much of his work has been in turnaround situations. Rick also has several years of non-compensated experience in non-profit organizations. His career began with Eaton Corporation, culminating as controller of Eaton’s Advanced Products Division, located in Milwaukee.
He subsequently became the Group Controller of Figgie International’s Technical Group and President of Figgie International’s Figgie Financial Services subsidiary, a company whose main business was financing sales of partnered equipment manufacturers, nationally.
Since leaving Figgie Financial Services, Rick has been Chief Financial Officer of family and investor-owned privately-held companies, and most recently Chief Financial Officer of EZEnergy, a company traded in international markets.
Rick is a 1969 graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and received an MBA from Kent State University in 1972. He is active in his Alma Mater’s alumni groups.
Lorraine Szabo, Retired Sohio/BP chemist and research and engineering manager, owner of Organizational Concepts and arts supporter
Lorraine “Lorry” Szabo, is a retired Sohio/BP chemist and research and engineering manager, Lorry’s life has been filled with professional achievements and a distinguished record of helping arts organizations.
After retiring in 1989, Lorry decided to use the skills acquired in her graduate education in organizational development at CWRU and in her 38-year corporate career as a consultant to small, not-for-profit organizations, mostly arts and cultural organizations. She formed her own company, Organizational Concepts, in 1990.
Lorry’s long-term relationship with Fairmount includes serving as a board member, president, secretary and chairperson of the Center’s Annual Juried Art Exhibition.
In 2011, Lorry was invited to join the board of The Musical Theater Project (founded in 2000 by Bill Rudman) whose mission is to foster a greater understanding of the American musical and the culture surrounding it by creating programs that both educate and entertain people of all ages. She and Bill have been working together to promote on-site programming in senior centers and retirement communities and are working on collaborating with Fairmount. She currently serves as secretary.
Lorry’s other noteworthy accomplishments include being the first president of the Cleveland BoyChoir when it was founded in 1991. She also serves as a trustee of the Cleveland Association of Phi Beta Kappa. The signature event of PBK is their annual Scholastic Awards Banquet at which the outstanding seniors from 120 Northeast Ohio high schools are recognized.
Lorry has also been a member of the Cleveland East Chi Omega Alumnae Association since she came to Cleveland in 1949 and served as its president for 6 years. In 2006, the Cleveland Association of Panhellenic Organizations named her “The Woman of the Year”. Another award followed in 2007 when she received the award for the Outstanding Chi Omega in the State of Ohio .
Lorry is currently serving as president of the Northeast Ohio Blossom Friends of the Cleveland Orchestra whose mission is to promote and financially support the Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom. She is also a member of the Blossom State Board.
Please see our Faculty and Administration pages to read more about the team at the Fairmount Center.