2022 Cincinnati Compass Board of Directors

Mayor Aftab Pureval - City of Cincinnati

Aftab Pureval is the 70th Mayor of Cincinnati. He was raised in Southwest, Ohio, the son of first-generation Americans. He is making history as Cincinnati’s first Asian American Mayor. As Mayor, he is committed to serving Cincinnati's 52 neighborhoods. He has made equitable economic growth a top priority of his administration, as well as a comprehensive reform and improvement of public safety, affordable housing, and environmental action. Read Full Bio

Tom Fernandez, Board Chair – Elevar Design Group

As CEO of Elevar Design Group, Mr. Fernandez is the driving force behind the company’s innovative and creative design solutions. He is responsible for directing projects and facilitating the work of teams at all levels of the design process. Mr. Fernandez is member of the Society of American Registered Architects. In recent years, Mr. Fernandez has served as a member of former Mayor Cranley’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Council and co-chair of the Task Force on Immigration. He is a Board Member of the Dayton Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and is actively involved with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Greater Cincinnati. He also serves as a Board Member for the Cincinnati Museum Center as well as Area 7 - a Workforce Development Board in Ohio that aims to achieve and sustain economic prosperity. Tom is a member of the Business Advisory Committee for the City of Cincinnati and is a PIA steering committee member for The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.

Shakila Ahmad – Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati

Shakila T Ahmad is an enthusiastic community leader who has dedicated herself to numerous civic and community causes, building peace and understanding for 25 years. She most recently served 5 years as Chair and President of the Board at the Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati (ICGC), being the first woman to serve in this capacity at such an institution across the country. She simultaneously has had a professional career and serves as the director of management at the Allergy & Asthma Specialty Center. 

An active member of ICGC’s board of trustees since 1995, Ahmad was the first female and the youngest to serve at that time. She established ICGC’s Tours and Talks program to educate neighbors, law enforcement personnel, businesses, nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, the community and its leaders about Islam and Muslims. This education and outreach initiative has reached over 100,000 people in all its forms. She spearheaded the ‘A Visit to a Mosque in America’ educational DVD produced to increase understanding of Islam and the Muslim community in the United States. This award winning short film has aired internationally and continues to be used in academia, business, faith communities and law enforcement today as an educational resource. Read Full Bio

Christopher Che – Che International Group, LLC

Christopher Che is President and CEO of the Che International Group, LLC (CIG), which he founded in 2005. CIG is a multi-national holding company that identifies, acquires, supports, and grows scalable subsidiary companies in diverse industries through startups, strategic acquisitions, joint ventures, and alliances, to help customers maximize supply chain diversity while promoting supply chain excellence. Christopher is an accountant by profession and a veteran Senior Financial Executive with over 35 years of vast and dynamic business management experience. 

Consistent with his vision to influence global supply chain excellence, Christopher founded Transworld Supply Network (TSN) in 2018 and Transworld Delivery Corporation (TDC) in 2020. Originating primarily as a medical supplies, products, and equipment company, TSN has evolved into an innovative central marketplace, a multi- product, multi-division, multi-industry business-to-business, and global supply sourcing enterprise.  Read Full Bio 

Michelle Morales Denisoff – Liona Enterprises

Liona Enterprises, Inc. is a certified 8a, minority woman owned (WOSB/EDWOSB), HUBZone small business providing full-service information technology solutions.  She started the company in January of 2015 and is responsible for providing strategic leadership and oversight of all operations and business activities to ensure they produce the desired results and are consistent with the overall strategy and mission of the company. Michelle actively works with the board and other management within Liona to establish long-range goals, strategies, plans and policies.

In 2001, Michelle graduated from Loyola Marymount University with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration. She received her Masters in Business Administration in Global Management from Pepperdine University. Through the University of Oxford, she is received a certificate in Global Management and through Dartmouth College, she received a certificate in Building a High Performance Minority Business. 

Jason Dunn – Cincinnati Convention & Visitors Bureau, Vibe Cincinnati

Jason Dunn has been a change maker in Cincinnati and within the national hospitality industry for almost two decades, with a drive to redefine how the industry thinks about multicultural and diversity meetings and their impact on the destinations. Since joining the CVB in 2004, Jason has led efforts to deliver significant new convention business and forged inroads with the national multicultural & diverse meetings market. During his tenure, the number of multicultural /diverse meetings in Cincinnati has represented more than one-third of all CVB new business from 2008-18, with a direct visitor spend of $200 million. Jason brings deep perspective and a successful track record in connecting communities of all backgrounds to Cincinnati. Read Full Bio

Mahendra Vora – Vora Ventures

Mahendra Vora is a veteran entrepreneur with 30+ years of experience leading the growth of large, cutting-edge software initiatives. He has co-founded many hi-tech startups and orchestrated mergers with Fortune 500 IT companies. 
 
Mahendra has extensive experience working with and developing information technology solutions from small start-ups to billion-dollar organizations across the world. He has contributed significantly to the computer industry in developing and delivering strategies, architecture, and technologies that helped facilitate the transition to distributed and Internet-based computing.
 
Mahendra was the winner of the 2021 John F. Barrett Entrepreneur Vision Awards and named the 2020-2021 AsiaOne Global Indian of the year. He holds a master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronics and Communications from University in India.

Katie Eagan – Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber

Katie Eagan serves as the Vice President of Government Affairs at the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber.  Ms. Eagan comes to the Chamber from the Ohio Vision Professionals Board, where she served as executive director over the last two years. Additionally, her work history includes service as executive director of the Ohio Republican Party, state director of the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, policy advisor for the Ohio House of Representatives, and other positions with the Ohio Industrial Commission and the Ohio House Republican Caucus.

Ms. Eagan currently serves and volunteers in the community as a member of the Jo Ann Davidson Leadership Institute and a contributor to Politico Caucus. She is a Cincinnati native and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from The Ohio State University.

Chukwuma (Chuma) Ekwueme – SURE Mechanical

Chukwuma “Chuma” Ekwueme fulfilled his lifelong dream of becoming an entrepreneur when he founded SURE Mechanical. A certified minority-owned (MBE) mechanical firm located in Cincinnati, Ohio. SURE Mechanical provides HVAC/Mechanical design, fabrication and installation services for educational, government and private organizations. Chuma earned a Bachelor’s of Mechanical Engineering from his native country of Nigeria and a Masters of Engineering from University of Cincinnati. He began his career with a mechanical service company, where he was part of a team that provided maintenance and trouble-shooting for chillers and condensing units. He continued his career in the construction industry at Megen Construction of Cincinnati, Ohio. During this time, Chuma managed a variety of construction projects in the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Areas. Chuma also helped to champion the construction of Ohio’s first LEED Platinum project, the Fernald Preserve Visitors Center in 2008. Read Full Bio

Gerardo Calvo Logroño – Yuxi Global

Gerardo was born and raised in Spain, where he studied Telecommunications Engineering. He has a background in innovation and special projects at worldwide leading IoT providers. Gerardo earned an Erasmus scholarship and finished his masters in Sweden, where he lived for a year. He always loved the mix of business and engineering and a family friend suggested he should do an MBA at Xavier University, so he packed his bags and, after looking at a map to see where Cincinnati was, he came here. Halfway through, he got a job at a local company, met his now wife, and started developing roots in this community. 

Most recently, Gerado has been pushing the global expansion and business segmentation of Yuxi Global as its General Manager and now Chief Growth Officer. Yuxi Global is an international software development firm with offices in the US and Latin America. The company specializes in helping customers navigate their digital transformation journey by providing new and tailored customer experiences through engaging UX/UI designs, the latest hybrid and native technologies, and an end-to-end delivery model. 

Felicity Tao – Greater Cincinnati Foundation

Felicity Tao is the Sr. Director, Marketing at Greater Cincinnati Foundation. As the leader of the Marketing team, she is responsible for driving strategic marketing, integrated communications and brand strategies for GCF.

Prior to join Greater Cincinnati Foundation, Felicity Tao was a Sr. Brand Strategist at Cincinnati Bell where she leads the company’s branding, content, and social media marketing strategy and execution. She has worked in the biotech and IT/Communications technology industries for over 15 years in various marketing and communications capacities, leading branding, content, and digital strategies as well as supporting new business/product launch initiatives. Her expertise includes strategic planning, digital marketing, social media, data analytics, and multimedia content development. Read Full Bio