March Dinner Meeting: "The Impact of a Community College on Workforce Development" & "Cybersecurity"

Pre-Tech Session - "The Impact of a Community College on Workforce Development"

Don Mullen
Stark State College Akron

Don Mullen is currently Executive Director of Stark State College Akron. He has been employed at Stark State College for almost 10 years and he accepted his current position about three years ago. Prior to this position, Don was Department Chair of Accounting and Finance. He is a Goodyear retiree, having worked there 31 years – his last position was Director of Finance of Global Products – Including Worldwide Racing, Off-the-Road Tires Aviation, Goodyear Chemicals, R&D and the Rubber Plantations. He was basically the CFO of a Strategic Business Unit which generated more than $1.5 billion / annually.

Don holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Akron and an MBA in finance from the University of Texas at Tyler. He is a CPA and hold memberships in the Ohio Society of Certified Public Accountants and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He also holds the designation of Certified Global Management Accountant. Don holds an active teaching license in the State of Ohio to teach Social Studies and Data Systems in grades 7-12.

Community Activities

•         Member of the Akron Urban League

•         Akron/Summit Head Start Self-Assessment Committee

•         Member of Elevate Akron Committee

•         Appointed by The Mayor of the City of Akron and County Executive to serve on the 2020 Census Committee

•         Member of the County Executive’s Diversity Committee

•         Member of the United Way / City of Akron Financial Empowerment Service Committee

•         And several others

Don and his wife of almost 49 years, Karen, who is a retired health care executive, live in Bath and have three grown children and five grandchildren.

Finally, believe it or not he was a competitive handball and racquetball player – winning the University of Akron intramural Racquetball championship when he was in his mid-50s.

Technical Session - "Cybersecurity"

Jayne Cole, Director, Global IT Risk and Security, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company

Pam Gerber, Cyber Ops Section Lead, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
Dirk Zabel, Manager, Global IT Operations, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company

Jayne Cole graduated from Cleveland State with a BA in Communication. She worked for 17 years at a private label credit card bank in Operations and then as a leader in IT. Jayne earned her Project Management certification in 2003 from the Project Management Institute.

Jayne joined Goodyear in 2008 and helped create the North American Tire IT Project Management Office. Since 2008, she has held a variety of positions in both North America & Corporate IT as well as Operations in both Corporate and EMEA including:
- Manager of corporate ERP team – mainframe, Ariba, SAP
- Enterprise Competency Manager – taught project management all over the world
- Director EMEA Project Management Office
- Director, IT Risk & Security including accountability for Data Privacy

Pam Gerber has spent a total of 13 years in the security realm. Most of her time has been in IT Risk & Security, while about four years of that she spent in physical security conducting investigations, with half that time focused on Insider Threat.

Pam joined Goodyear in 2002. She is currently the Cyber Operations Section Lead reporting to Jayne.

Pam holds a Masters of Art in Organizational Leadership, a Bachelors of Art in Organizational Management from Malone College, and an Associates of Art from the University of Akron. Pam holds the Insider Threat Program Manager (ITPM) certification.

Pam has worked for Cleveland Museum of Art, JP Morgan Chase, IBM and now Goodyear.

Dirk Zabel is originally from Germany, graduating from Fachhochschule Fulda with a Diplom Informatiker FH (BS in Applied Mathematics, Computer Sciences, and Telecommunications).

Dirk started at Goodyear in 1995 as Netzwerk und System Administrator at Deutsche Goodyear Holdings GmbH in Germany. He came to Goodyear Akron in 2000, and has held several positions, including, Network Services Architect, IT Team Lead, Manager Retail IT COE (Center of Excellence), Manager of IT Enterprise Operational Services, and currently Manager of Global IT Operations. His operations department serves Goodyear’s global needs 24x7.

Dirk is fluent in both English and German and holds the ITIL Foundation in IT Service Management Certification.

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