Bea Wolper
President, Board of Trustees
Women in Family Business Peer Group Co-Facilitator
Succession Planning Peer Group Co-Facilitator
Bea is a co-founder of the Conway Center for Family Business and serves as President of the Board of Trustees as well as an Advisory Board member. She is partner and CEO of the law firm of Emens Wolper Jacobs & Jasin, in Columbus, Ohio. Her practice focuses on succession planning, estate planning, general corporate law, contracts and the buying and selling of businesses, with an emphasis on family-owned businesses.
Bea serves as the Ohio President for the International Women’s Forum and serves as a director of TB Investment Properties and Insight Bank. She is on the Legal Advisory Board of the Columbus Foundation and Central Ohio Planned Giving. She has served on the executive committees of COSI, Greater Columbus Arts Council, Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce, Mt. Carmel College of Nursing, Greater Columbus News Bureau, and Small Business Council.
Jill Hofmans
Executive Director
Jill first joined the Conway Center in 2013. As Executive Director, she works closely with our members including facilitating the C-Level peer groups, developing educational program content and delivery, and engaging with business and community leaders throughout Central Ohio.
Jill has worked, volunteered, and held internships in non-profit organizations most of her adult life. It is no surprise, then, that she has a passion for connecting with and serving others. She currently serves on the board of Small Biz Cares.
Jill earned a Bachelor’s degree, with honors, from Pitzer College (Claremont, CA) and a Master’s degree (Phi Kappa Phi) in Women’s Studies from San Diego State University.
In her free time, she creates irreverent cross stitch samplers and enjoys happy hour with clients and friends, especially if the venue makes a well-crafted, dirty vodka martini.
Amy Dotts
COO & Events Manager
Amy joined the Conway Center in 2016. She is responsible for managing day-to-day operations and for all details and logistics needed to execute smooth, successful events. Amy works closely with staff and facilitators, while connecting with and soliciting feedback from Conway Center members to offer engaging and informative groups, programs, and events.
Amy has extensive experience in association management having served as the Executive Director of a non-profit state healthcare association for over 20 years. She has a passion for working with and engaging members, and supporting businesses to ensure that their goals and expectations are met.
Amy earned her Bachelor’s degree in Health Information Management from The Ohio State University. Amy loves the outdoors - especially early morning runs, bike rides, and afternoon patio drinks with friends and family!
Sarah McKimmy
Special Events & Marketing Coordinator
Sarah has an extensive background in hospitality and customer service management. She manages our social media platform and works with our members to provide excellent customer service. Sarah has worked in mostly larger corporations, but found a desire to work with family businesses after many years of working in a family-owned property management company in Lake Tahoe, Nevada while managing several homeowner associations in the Lake Tahoe Basin.
Sarah earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Hospitality Management at Ferris State University and was a member of the National Association of Minorities in Hospitality. Sarah was hand selected from Hyatt Hotels Corporation to enter into the Management Trainee Program before graduating from Ferris.
Sarah enjoys biking with her husband, son, and dog Carl and finding new trails in our local area. When she’s not working hard at the gym, you can find her trying new local restaurants.
Peer Group & Roundtable Facilitators
M.J. Clark
Next Gen Leaders Peer Group Facilitator
As a leadership consultant and executive coach for Integrated Leadership Systems since 2006, M.J. Clark helps company leaders plan for ownership and management succession and foster more authentic communication in the workplace. She helps executives better manage stress, become more assertive, develop emotional intelligence and fine-tune leadership and management skills.
M.J. has extensive experience providing leadership consulting and training for several family-run businesses in Ohio including Matesich Distributing, Equity, Moody Nolan, Thompson Concrete, Claypool Electric, and Heiberger Paving, among others.
M.J. has a master's degree in organizational communication from The Ohio State University and a bachelor’s degree in public relations from Ohio University. She is the author of two books Shut Up and Lead: A Communicator’s Guide to Quiet Leadership and Shut Up and Manage: A Quiet Leader’s Guide to Engaging Others.
Jeff Cope
Manufacturing/Logistics C-Level Peer Group Facilitator
Jeff has over 25 years of strategic planning, business development, and business transformation leadership experience. Having worked with mid-market, closely held and family-owned businesses his entire career, Jeff has a unique understanding of how these enterprises operate and the challenges they face.
As the president of JACO Advisory Group, he is passionate about working with business leaders to build strong cultures while developing and executing strategies that deliver exceptional results that benefit all the company’s stakeholders. Jeff’s hands-on approach to working with companies begins with a commonsense approach to strategy development.
With extensive experience in organizational turnaround and growth, Jeff follows a defined process (disciplined, focused, intentional) to guide clients from strategy to execution. His experience covers a multitude of industries with an in-depth understanding of automotive manufacturing.
Jeff holds a master’s in business administration from the Capital University School of Management and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration and Management from Ohio Dominican University.
Sharon DeLay
Human Resources Roundtable Facilitator
Sharon DeLay is a highly credentialed HR expert, a dynamic business owner and community leader, and a popular author and presenter. She is the founder, visionary, and President of GO-HR, an HR consultancy that spans the key areas of HR strategy, compliance, recruiting, training, non-traditional benefits design, and outplacement. GO-HR specializes in small and micro business human resources nationwide, but their successes range up to include a client with $1billion+ in revenue with over 1,500 employees.
Sharon is the treasurer of HRACO, Central Ohio’s HR trade membership organization, and is a board member of Camp Wyandot, a 90-year-old non-profit organization that provides camping experiences for kids.
Sharon is the 2020 recipient of the Conway Center's Supporter of Family Businesses Award and is a regular contributor providing timely important information to Conway members. Sharon also received the 2021Business Person of the Year awarded by the Westerville Chamber of Commerce. GO-HR is a 2019, 2020 and 2021 winner of Columbus CEO Best of Business Awards for HR Services. Sharon was also honored as 2019 HR Excellence Lifetime Achievement Award by Columbus CEO magazine.
Donna Musilli
Women in Family Business Peer Group Co-Facilitator
Donna is the founder and president of DM360 and is a certified coach and strengths communicator. While her coaching and workshops have taken her across the globe, Donna is a proud Ohioan (currently residing in Powell). Donna regularly works with leaders in healthcare firms, family-owned businesses, school districts, and women’s leadership organizations.
After earning a certification from The John Maxwell Team as a Certified Speaker, Trainer and Coach, Donna went on to gain a Leadership Vision Consulting certification as a Strengths Communicator. Donna has extensive training, certifications and continuing education from Coaches Rising in Developmental Coaching, Embodied Transformation and Presence-Based Coaching.
Donna’s passion for coaching & facilitating can be traced back from her early career in the pharmaceutical industry to her most recent 16-year tenure in the apparel industry where she has built an extensive following of private clients and coached a team of over 80 members in 15 states.
Donna has been honored for her contributions to NAWBO (National Association of Women Business Owners), as well as recognized nationally for driving 10% growth per year and generating revenues in excess of $6.8 M annually for cabi, LLC. These collaborations have resulted in impressive process improvements for her clients.
Jackie Schetter
Leadership Development Peer Group Facilitator
Jackie is the founder of Lead for Culture, where she specializes in employee development, engagement and well-being. She enjoys a holistic approach to culture, working with leaders to ensure the founder’s story, vision, values, processes and systems are working in harmony to drive ideal organizational behaviors.
Prior to starting Lead for Culture, Jackie spent several years working in the sports and entertainment industry as a strategy, brand and revenue generation consultant. Sport is an interesting microcosm of leadership and teamwork at its best (and worst), which led Jackie to pursue a career where she can positively impact workplace satisfaction.
Her credentials include a Bachelor’s in Education from The Ohio State University, an M.B.A. from the University of Central Florida, and post-graduate certificates in Change Management and Positive Psychology. She is also a board-certified Health and Well-being Coach, executive coach and Edward Lowe Foundation facilitator, among other trainings and tools.
In addition to working with Conway family businesses, Jackie has provided training and coaching in the financial services, tech, healthcare, education, logistics, construction and NFP spaces.
Meredith Sugar
Succession Planning Peer Group Co-Facilitator
Meredith’s practice at Taft/ is focused in the area of sophisticated wealth transfer, estate planning and administration, tax planning for individuals, corporations and partnerships, business succession planning and general corporate representation. She frequently advises high wealth individuals on how best to structure and implement wealth transfer and estate planning vehicles such as GRATs, dynasty trusts, family limited partnership and limited liability companies. She also represents estates, businesses and individuals in IRS audits. She regularly forms and advises nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations.
In addition to her estate planning and tax practice, Meredith also advises business owners regarding structuring complex transactions, entity formation, succession planning, mergers and acquisitions and other corporate needs. She has developed a special focus on representing business owners who are involved in the development, installation and construction of energy facilities, as well as oil and gas leasing and development transactions. She frequently collaborates with members of the firm’s Environmental practice.
Kim Troy
EOS Integrator Peer Group Facilitator
Kim is the Founder and CEO of Civilis Consulting. Civilis works with CEOs, board members, entrepreneurs and leadership teams to strategize and implement organization-wide transformations. As an embedded member of her clients’ leadership teams, Kim serves as a fractional COO or EOS® Integrator to help companies – and their visionaries – with:
- Translating strategic vision and directives into elegant and executable plans of action
- Leadership development and training, including DEI&B programs and workshops
- Strategic talent acquisition and retention
- Culture-building and differentiation
- Organizational change and transformation
- Exit and succession planning
- M&A pre- and post-integration
Kim has a BA in Psychology and Business Administration from the University of Puget Sound and a Diversity & Inclusion certification from Cornell. She is a Prosci® certified Change Management Practitioner, DDI® Targeted Selection trainer, certified Tilt™ coach, and EOS® Integrator Masterclass graduate.