People on the Move: New leaders at Vertiv, UH Ventures, and the City of Columbus
Nine leadership moves across Ohio's venture, technology and public sectors, including a new chief executive at Rev1 Ventures, a permanent talent chief at JobsOhio, an executive in residence at CincyTech and a retirement after 30 years at Alloy Development Co.
Ohio organizations named new leaders across venture capital, enterprise technology, economic development and city government this cycle. Here are nine moves worth knowing.
Venture and investment
Jennifer Hankins started as president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Rev1 Ventures on Sept. 14, succeeding Tom Walker, who is now executive chairman of the Rev1 board and remains CEO of R1 Capital. The Columbus venture development nonprofit has supported more than 1,700 startups since 2013. Hankins comes from Tulsa Innovation Labs in Oklahoma, which won federal Build Back Better and Tech Hubs awards.
Melissa Cohen has been named vice president of venture development and investment at UH Ventures, the innovation and commercialization arm of Cleveland-based University Hospitals. In the newly created role, she will oversee the design, operation and deployment of UH Ventures' investment vehicles. Cohen was most recently chief innovation and transformation officer at Centralus Health System and earlier built and led the venture fund at Endeavor Health.
Bryan McCleary has joined CincyTech as an executive in residence, a fractional role covering strategy, pre-investment support, portfolio company support, and marketing and communications. The Cincinnati venture capital firm closed a $34.5 million fund in July, its largest to date, to back life sciences startups. McCleary spent 20 years as a communications leader at Procter & Gamble and is a former press secretary to U.S. Sen. John Glenn.
Technology
Michael Resha joined Vertiv on Oct. 5 as executive vice president of manufacturing, logistics and operational excellence, reporting to CEO Giordano Albertazzi. The Westerville company makes power, cooling and information technology (IT) infrastructure for data centers and communication networks and does business in more than 130 countries. Resha comes from Stellantis, where he was senior vice president and global head of injection and stamping, and succeeds Anders Karlborg, who becomes special operations projects leader.
Michael Haugen has been appointed senior vice president, sales, Content Innovation Cloud at Hyland, reporting to Chief Revenue Officer Steve Baird. The Northeast Ohio company makes content intelligence and automation software used by thousands of organizations, including many of the Fortune 100. Haugen brings more than 30 years of enterprise software experience and was most recently general manager of the enterprise performance management suite at insightsoftware, a $125 million business.
Frank Kohstall has joined Northwoods, the Dublin company that makes software for state and county human services agencies. Founded in 2003, Northwoods sells Traverse, a cloud-based document and forms management system for caseworkers, and was acquired by Banyan Software in December 2025. Kohstall's background is in Ohio state government technology, including work as chief data advocate at InnovateOhio.
Joe Staton has joined AT&T as director of external and legislative affairs for Southwest and West Ohio, a region that includes the Dayton and Cincinnati metro areas. He will manage government affairs, regulatory engagement and economic development for the telecommunications company and support permitting for its communications infrastructure projects. Staton was most recently senior legislative aide to state Sen. George Lang, the Ohio Senate majority whip, and clerked the Senate Small Business and Economic Opportunity Committee.
Public sector and economic development
Molly Moses has been named permanent managing director of talent at JobsOhio after leading the division on an interim basis since April. JobsOhio is the state's private nonprofit economic development corporation, and Moses will oversee its $300 million, 10-year Experiential Learning Initiative. She was previously JobsOhio's director of talent attraction and engagement.
Kim Roy Wilson has started as chief transformation officer at the City of Columbus. The position sits in the city's Department of Technology and is responsible for modernizing technology operations and raising IT service maturity across city government. Wilson previously led information technology and services for the City of Cleveland, where she steered the response to a June 2024 ransomware attack that the city resolved without paying a ransom.
Patrick Longo will retire Dec. 31 as president and CEO of Alloy Development Co., ending a 30-year career with the organization that included eight years as its leader. The Cincinnati organization provides Small Business Administration (SBA) 504 loans and economic development services in Hamilton County and runs the Alloy Growth Lab for startups. The board has not yet named a successor.
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