ERA Staff Directory
Jennifer M. Graft, SPHR
President & CEO
Jennifer joined ERA as President and CEO in January 2007. Her responsibilities include the day-to day operations and management of the Association, ensuring high quality delivery of services and expert advice to members, and the sales and marketing of our services. She believes the 3 core areas of her responsibility are strategy, sales, and culture. Jennifer leads a team of over 20 staff members, in 2 offices, who provide a breadth of Human Resources services and programs to our diverse membership of over 1,400 organizations in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. Jennifer has over sixteen years working in human resources and business management, in the healthcare, retail and service industries. Prior to joining the Association, Jennifer was the Managing Director for the Cincinnati office of a global career transition and organizational consulting firm.
Jennifer is active in the business community, and has served on the board of directors for the Greater Cincinnati Human Resources Association, Junior Achievement, and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. She is an active board member of the Southwest Ohio Workforce Investment Board. She is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources, and has her Bachelor's Degree in Marketing.
Dolores Cease
Vice President, Membership Development
Dolores came to the Association in 1992 bringing with her a rich and varied 21-year business career. For 10 years she owned and operated a human resources consulting firm that specialized in career management and career transition issues. Those experiences serve her well in her role as ambassador to the business community, spreading the word about our human resource services. She developed and directs the sales and marketing functions of the Association.
Ralph Neal, SPHR
Vice President, Educational Services
Ralph is responsible for the development and quality of all educational programs produced or provided by the association and its various instructors. Additionally, he is in great demand as an instructor, coach, and consultant. His primary training areas are employment law for managers, legal liability issues, sexual harassment prevention, and a host of leadership and management development topics, communication skills, and team building.
Before joining the Association, Ralph was Vice President and partner for a consulting firm that delivered training/consulting in career transition areas such as vocational assessment, networking, resume development, interview skills and negotiation of compensation. Before starting his own successful operation he was on staff as a Management Consultant for one of the country's largest seminar companies. There he delivered public and private seminars and training sessions throughout the country on many different topics including management effectiveness, leadership, communication skills, coaching and counseling, and other employee and operational effectiveness topics. Prior to those experiences, he was a General Manager and Training Manager for several years with a nationally recognized food and beverage company and brings from there an extensive background in developing corporate training tools, needs analysis, business operations, supervision, management development and grand openings.
Ralph has been published many times in local and regional publications on a wide variety of training and career related topics and is frequently interviewed by regional media. He is an active member in the national chapter of the American Society of Training and Development. Ralph earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Public Policy and Management from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.
Dan Chaney, SPHR
Director HR, Advisory Services
As the primary Association contact on our HR Hotline, Dan is responsible for researching and responding to member requests, providing HR guidance and counsel, managing our HR Solutions Center, facilitating roundtables and overseeing the expansion of information services. Dan joined us after spending 11 years as human resource manager for a construction products company. Prior to that he was an Industrial and Manufacturing Engineer. He brings a varied background that is directly applicable to his role at the Association. Dan earned his Bachelor's degree in Management from Xavier University.
Terry Henley, CCP, SPHR
Director of Compensation Services
Terry came to ERA with over 30 years of Human Resources management, consulting, and executive experience, as an HR generalist, in manufacturing, printing, banking, and insurance. This experience has been in small, medium and large organizations, and in both profit and non-profit settings. Terry has a B.A. and M.A. from the University of Illinois and is certified as a CCP (Certified Compensation Professional) and as a SPHR (Senior Professional in Human Resources). His primary focus at Employers Resource Association is on pay and performance management systems.
Carol Reubel, SPHR
Director, Human Resource Services
Carol is responsible for providing a variety of HR services to member companies, including employee opinion surveys, affirmative action plans, on-site HR assistance, customer satisfaction surveys and HR training. Carol joined the Association with a solid HR background with over 20 years in corporate retail, manufacturing and service environments and as a self-employed consultant. Carol received her bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Missouri, Columbia.
Tom Eberwein, J.D., SPHR
HR Compliance and Association Counsel
Tom has over 30 years experience in advising on labor and employment law matters. He has worked as a human resources executive for several industrial, government and education employers. He also has taught courses in personnel law and human resources management as a member of the evening faculty at Miami University.
Tom holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Cincinnati and a bachelor's from Miami University. He has been listed in Marquis, Who's Who in American Law. He is admitted to both the Ohio and Federal Southern District of Ohio bars.
Jim Carter
Manager, Membership Development
Jim joined our staff as Manager, Membership Development in 2003. A University of Cincinnati graduate in business administration, Jim brings over 25 years of business sales and sales management experience to the Association. He has served as both a District Sales Manager and a Major Account Manager. Jim's knowledge of area firms and his familiarity with the local tri-state market make him a great membership representative.
Douglas Matthews, PHR
Survey Manager
Douglas Matthews serves as the association's Survey Manager. In this role he is responsible for conducting, analyzing and compiling over 20 annual wage, salary, policy, practices and employee benefit surveys for members. This gives him access to the latest trends and compensation levels for over 400 job titles. Douglas also conducts custom wage and benefit surveys. Douglas attended Indiana University where he earned Bachelor of Arts and an Associate of Science Degree, and a Master's Degree from Xavier University.
April Risen
Manager Administration
April works closely with the President, serves as office manager, handles all of the accounting functions and supervises the support staff. She has served in a number of capacities at ERA. April started her career with the Association as the receptionist quickly moving to the position of training assistant. She was then promoted to Administrative Assistant and served as Training Coordinator prior to her current role. These various positions have given April a complete knowledge of the various departments at ERA and thoroughly prepared her for her current position of Manager Administration.
Lori Hall, SPHR
Manager, HR Consulting Services
As Manager of HR Consulting Services with Employers Resource Association, Lori is responsible for coordinating and administering Employee Engagement Surveys, Affirmative Action Planning, HR Audits, Hotline Advisory Services, Roundtable Facilitation and HR On-site Services for approximately 300 member companies in the Central Ohio area.
Lori is a versatile human resources professional with over 15 years of combined experience in the manufacturing, service, and healthcare industries – including a home health care company and a cardiology practice. Lori is well-versed in training and development, employee relations, benefits administration, and policy development, with an understanding of both the employer and employee perspectives. Her educational background includes a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wright State University, and Senior Professional in Human Resources certification from the Society for Human Resources Management.
Carolyn Potter, J.D.
Human Resource Consultant
Carolyn joined ERA in October 2007 as a Human Resources Consultant in our Cincinnati office. She worked in-house as Senior Corporate Counsel and then as a legal consultant with a large corporation for nearly 10 years with experience in a broad range of HR issues including hiring, discipline, firing, discrimination, litigation management, harassment and wage and hour. Carolyn's primary focus with ERA includes affirmative action plans, employee opinion surveys, back-up hotline assistance, handbook review and HR training. Carolyn has a B.A. and J.D. from University of Toledo and is licensed to practice law in Ohio and Kentucky.
Susan J. Sterritt, SPHR
Learning and Development Consultant
Susan is pleased to return to the Association in the Educational Services Department. Susan served as Director of Educational Services from 1993-1999 and is well versed in the training needs and preferences of our members. Susan consults, analyzes, designs and delivers performance solutions in a highly interactive format for our members and has been a featured speaker at both national and local conferences.
Considered by many to be "the best facilitator they've ever experienced," Susan has "the rare ability to capture interest and stir emotion while engaging the brain to make continued learning a treat." Susan bolsters her exceptional instructional skills with decades of solid business, training and HR expertise gleaned from leadership posts in major corporations in manufacturing, broadcasting, and the service industries. With a Master's degree in Personnel Counseling and Human Development and baccalaureate degrees in psychology and social sciences, Susan combines her educational experiences with career experiences to bring her presentations to life with solid examples and inspiring messages. She brings a wealth of personal knowledge to her programs, giving them the depth of content not often available in other learning venues.
Prior to returning to the Association, Susan worked in enterprise learning management at a major teaching hospital, where she focused her talents on civility training, leadership development, anti-harassment and diversity initiatives. Susan was also principal of her own training firm for six years and enjoyed consulting on performance issues, delivering seminars, designing newsletters and other communications with educational content, and helping others hone their presentation skills. She has been published multiple times and is co-authoring a text on communications for the business community.
Jerry Yingling, B.S. Ed.
Learning and Development Consultant
Jerry is a dedicated business professional that has spent the past 28 years developing his management, HR, training and sales skills.
Upon graduating from the University of Nebraska, Jerry spent the first 4 years of his career in public education. Teaching junior high and high school math and science, Jerry also coached basketball, football and baseball at Princeton High School.
His business career spans 24 years in human resources and sales management and he has worked for small privately held companies as well as fortune 100 organizations. In his 7 years of human resources experience, he held positions such as Manager of Training & Development, Corporate Recruiting Manager, Employee Relations Manager and Director of Human Resources. His 17 years of sales management includes experience in manufacturing, service, retail and technology sectors. The success he has enjoyed in his sales career is due primarily to the commitment he made to the training and development of his employees.
Jerry has extensive experience in developing and presenting seminars on topics that include: business-to-business sales, retail sales, and a host of management and supervision topics. He has also earned certifications in several commercial training programs. Jerry holds a B.S. Ed. from the University of Nebraska where he attended on a baseball scholarship.
Brandi Helton
Training Coordinator
As the Association's Training Coordinator, Brandi is responsible for the daily operations of the Association's training department, serving as the liaison for all training arrangements between member companies and our training instructors. Brandi also handles questions about program content, as well as registration. Additionally, she is highly involved in the preparation and editing of all marketing and training materials for the department. Members may also contact Brandi for room rental information.
Lora Blanken
Training Assistant
As the Training Assistant, Lora is responsible for the daily support of the Association's training department. Daily support entails training room set-up and breakdown, including all physical arrangements (i.e., materials, signage, lunch, refreshments); inventory of all training supplies; registration (including reminders); proofreading and overall general support for the department.
Susan Kuertz
Administrative Assistant
Susan Kuertz - Administrative Assistant in the Columbus ERA office, provides support and customer service for the HR Consultants, Membership Development and member companies. Susan also administers training registration and scheduling as well as general office management.
Jeff Lucas
HR Services Administrator
Jeff provides supports on various projects including Employee Opinion Surveys, Performance Review, Customer Service Satisfaction Surveys and Exit Interviews. Jeff is also in charge of web design and maintenance as well as internal IT support.
Patti Grogan
Patti Grogan brings her considerable customer service experience to ERA’s front desk position. In addition to professionally handling busy phone traffic, Patti makes sure everyone visiting the association and attending classes is cheerfully welcomed and directed to the correct location. Patti is responsible for maintenance of the membership database, and assists the President and Manager, Administration with administrative tasks. She also assists professional staff members with projects and compiles the information for the monthly Insight newsletter.