Board of Directors

Denique “Neeky” Dennis provides strategy and capacity-building support to private, public, and social sector entities to develop healthy, thriving, equitable communities. She has spent the past 8 years in the nonprofit and community development field across the United States, Central America, and the Caribbean. Her most notable accomplishments exist at the intersection of socioeconomic and gender justice.

Among her previous roles includes serving as a Human Trafficking Survivor Advocate at Day One of Crime Victim Services in Lima, Ohio and a member of the student advisory council of the It’s On Us national campaign to mitigate the prevalence of sexual violence in college campuses.

Denique is currently the Founder and Chief Strategist of Tallawah Innovations, a social impact consultancy serving the Caribbean and Latin America. She is also a Licensed Social Worker in the state of Ohio, USA. She holds a B.Sc. in Social Work and Religious Studies from Defiance College and a M.Sc in Social Administration from the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University. She has earned certificates in areas of trauma-informed care, adult mental health first aid, and social impact strategy.

Jennifer Karpus-Romain serves as the Executive Director at the Transportation Marketing & Sales Association (TMSA) and as an adjunct professor at Cuyahoga Community College teaching social media. Previously, she was Director of Marketing for Faye and has also held roles in the publishing and marketing industries, and managed her own content and publishing firm. She has been a volunteer at the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence (OAESV) since 2019.

Isaac Baez is the Director of the Summa Health Equity Center since January 2023 and has been working at Summa Health since May of 2021. His responsibility is to catalyze institutional change across Summa Health and the Community. His goal is to further health equity by leading the development and management of strategic initiatives in collaboration with internal departments, community partners, and external constituents to address the complex social, economic, and structural social determinants of health. He also supports and collaborates with Summa’s Diversity Advisory Council and Employee Resources Groups, such as A+PLUs and Excel. He received his Master’s in Public Health from NEOMED and his Certified Diversity Executive (CDE) certificate through the Institute of Diversity Certification. In addition, he has conducted training throughout Stark and Summit Counties, including Cultural and Linguistic Competency, Cultural Humility, Language Access, and LGBTQ+ 101. His passion for working with those in need has been why he pursued a career in Public Health. It has also allowed him to work with different groups, such as Chair of the March for Akron Pride Festival’s Steering Committee, Akron-Canton Latino Committee, Refugee Task Force, board member of the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence (OAESV), and Chair of Outreach & Education Committee for the Board of Plexus LGBT + Allied Chamber of Commerce.

Jennifer Seifert (she/her/hers) is the Executive Director of the Survivor Advocacy Outreach Program (SAOP) – a dual rape crisis center and domestic violence program that serves eight rural Appalachian counties in Southeast Ohio. She was born and raised in Fairfield County, Ohio and obtained her undergraduate degree in Communication Studies from Ohio University-Lancaster. She went on to earn a Master of Arts in Communication Studies and Graduate Certificate in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from West Virginia University and a Ph.D. in Communication Studies from Ohio University specializing in persuasion and sexuality studies. In addition to her administrative and direct service duties at SAOP, she conducts and oversees the violence prevention programming in regional schools, organizations, and businesses. When she’s not working to prevent and respond to gender-based violence, she enjoys spending time with her partner and four children, reading, and playing volleyball.

Lee Ann Schwope, partner at Amphora Consulting, holds a BS in Materials Science & Engineering from The Ohio State University and has spent nearly 20 years in corporate workplaces across the aerospace, defense, start-up and non-profit industries. She offers expertise in areas including research, business development, sales, and marketing to educate employers on becoming more diverse and profitable by empowering employees to bring their whole authentic selves to work.

Embodying her core values of authenticity and purpose-driven living, Lee Ann promotes women and girls’ access to education and works to advance the cultures of diversity, equity and inclusion in STEM. Using her unique background in engineering and sales, Lee Ann also leads non-profit fundraising efforts.

As an agent for change, Lee Ann serves on the boards of the Ohio Aerospace Institute (OAI), the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence (OAESV) and is Past President of the Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN) Board.  Lee Ann has been a Soroptimist for 10 years and has served in a variety of roles including:  SIA Fundraising Chair, SIA Fundraising Council Member, SIA Donor Relations Task Force, SI UNESCO Representative (Saudi Arabia), Region Fundraising Chair, and numerous club roles including President.  She is a prior Board member of the Innovation Research Interchange (IRI), Battelle Japan and Leadership Columbus.

Lee Ann’s advocacy earned her Battelle’s recognition as a 2014 Women’s History Month honoree for championing ideas to drive change and shape the future, Outstanding Soroptimist Award in 2016 and 2013 Rookie of the year with Soroptimist of Columbus and Franklin County. She has also been honored for her excellence in leadership, strategy and sales by organizations including Women for Economic Leadership Development (Women You Should Know, 2014), Smart Business (Progressive Woman in Cleveland, 2017), and WEPAN (President’s Award, 2018).

A TEDx speaker and author of Perspectives: Authenticity in the Workplace, Lee Ann travels globally to deliver keynote presentations, workshops delivering the Amphora Grassroots Strategy program and supporting employers who value diversity, equity and inclusion while creating a positive work environment.

Lysette M. Roman represents and counsels employers on labor and employment law matters. Her experience includes employment litigation, defending both public and private entities against discrimination and harassment claims under Title VII, ADA, and ADEA. Lysette has a special interest in Inclusion, Equity, & Diversity in the workplace, with experience in training employers in issues relating to Respect in the Workplace and Equal Employment Opportunity laws.

During law school at CWRU, Lysette was co-president of the Hispanic Law Student Association and senior tech editor to War Crime Prosecution Watch online publication. Lysette played soccer at Colgate University and participated in various creative arts projects with her classmates. In her free time, Lysette mentors students through Esperanza, Inc.; sits on the Board for LatinUs Theater; reads books at Lakewood Park; watches too much TikTok; and spends quality time with her friends and family.

Jamahal C. Boyd, Sr. joined The Crossroads Center as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in July of 2019. The Crossroads Center is a behavioral and mental health, substance use and addiction treatment Agency providing service to the Cincinnati, Ohio region. The Agency he leads has been around for 69 years, initially established as a drug and alcohol treatment service. He is the former Director of Diversity, Inclusion, and Language Services for TriHealth (Cincinnati). In this capacity, Jamahal led a team of direct reports in the development and implementation of TriHealth’s Diversity and Inclusion strategy. His key responsibilities included operationalizing the Health System’s strategic direction and providing vision and leadership to TriHealth’s diversity and inclusion function. As a key member of TriHealth’s leadership team, he advanced TriHealth’s work on establishing the business case for diversity through a focus on healthcare disparities and workforce development. Additionally, he played a vital role in TriHealth’s efforts to strengthen its supplier diversity strategy in collaboration with the executive team and supply chain leadership.

Jamahal brings a wealth of diverse experience after almost 25 years as a progressive professional in the healthcare industry. He joined TriHealth in 2016 from the Mercy Health System, where he last served in the role of Director of Operations for the Clinically Integrated Network (Cincinnati). During his tenure with Mercy Health, he also served in the role of Director, Multicultural Equity. Prior to his tenure with Mercy Health, he was the Director, Office of Health Equity for the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

He is a (Former) National Board Member, serving as the Co-Chair of the Public Policy Committee and Past President of the National Association of Health Services Executives (NAHSE) – Delaware Valley Chapter. (Former) Chairman of the Trustee Board for the Lincoln Heights Missionary Baptist Church, (Former) Board Member for the National Underground Freedom Railroad Center; (Former) Board Member for the Family Nurturing Center (FNC); and (Former) Board Member for The HealthCare Connection (a Federally Qualified Health Center serving the Cincinnati Region). In 2006, he received the Young Executive of the Year Award from NAHSE. Jamahal holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Delaware State University and is an unapologetic Philadelphia native.

His proven, award – winning ability to collaborate with community leaders, physicians, executives, and team members at all levels of the organization, has proven invaluable to the organizations he has served. His Agency was recently acknowledged by HELP.org as the #1 Drug and Alcohol and Rehabilitation facility in the Cincinnati Region and by Newsweek.com and Statista as one of the Top 200 and ranked by them as #4 in Ohio. Yet, the most important position, status and ranking of greatest value to him is being the proud husband (for 19 years and counting) to his lovely wife (Eboni) and father of 3 amazing children (Jamahal Jr 17, Jayla 12 and Jace 9).

Ashley Kline is the Chief Program Officer at Hope and Healing Survivor Resource Center, which is home to the Rape Crisis Center and Battered Women’s Shelter in Summit and Medina Counties in Ohio. In her role, Ashley oversees program operations and evaluation across the agency’s comprehensive program offerings to ensure high quality service delivery to survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence, and human trafficking. Ashley is also a licensed professional clinical counselor with supervision designation (LPCC-S) specializing in the treatment of trauma, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and co-occurring mental health conditions due to experiences of intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and human trafficking.

Throughout her career, Ashley has provided trauma-informed crisis intervention, advocacy, and therapeutic services to survivors. She has held leadership roles in numerous community coalitions, task forces, and advisory boards working towards systemic collaboration to enhance responses to survivors in the community. She received her master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling from Kent State University and a bachelor’s degree in Applied Conflict Resolution. Ashley has completed advanced training in trauma treatment modalities, including certification in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. She also has an extensive presenter history at national, state, and local trainings providing education to professionals on best practices in working with survivors of trauma and strategies for professional resiliency.

Ashley is passionate about providing accessible trauma-informed services to survivors, as well as working to end relationship violence and sexual violence in our communities.

Small is an assistant professor at the university of Dayton. She earned her PhD in Sociology and Women’s Studies from the University of Michigan. In her research, she studies the intersection of law and sexual violence. She has published on diverse topics such as sex offenders, sexual trafficking, child sexual abuse, and statutory rape. The North Central Sociological Association recognizes her research with their Scholarly Achievement Award in 2020. Currently, she is writing a book manuscript about how prosecutors and defense attorneys make sense of men who experience sexual assault.  She will serve as a Science and Technology Policy Fellow for the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2020-2021. In this role, she will work on gender-based violence initiatives at the US Agency for International Development. In her Leisure time, Jamie enjoys reading novels with her daughter and taking photographs of little things. She is eager to work with OAESV and make Ohio a better place.

Sharetta is an attorney and currently serves as the Mayor of the City of Lima. She first became an advocate for sexual assault victims while working as a student intern at the University of Toledo’s Catherine S. Eberly Center for Women, and has carried that passion for connecting survivors, their families, and communities with resources, support and education for prevention and survival. “I am honored to join the OAESV Board and committed to working with OAESV to end sexual violence.”