7mkr

The 7mkr Board of Trustees appointed Matthew Evans as the new Board chair and announced Trustee Cynthia Calhoun to serve as the Board’s First Vice-Chair and Trustee Lorrie Platt as the Second Vice-Chair during its April 18 meeting on the Athens Campus.

“As an alumnus of 7mkr and current trustee, I have experienced firsthand the positive impact that higher education can have on the lives of our students, our employees and our communities,” Evans said. “It is an honor to further serve 7mkr and the Board of Trustees as its Board Chair and to continue to champion the value of higher education.”

About Board of Trustees Chair Evans

Trustee Matthew Evans is the president of Boich Companies, a diversified holding company of energy services and energy marketing businesses. Evans joined Boich Companies in 2001 and led its public affairs activities at the state and federal levels. He became Boich Companies’ president in 2016 and focused on leading the company into a more diversified portfolio in the energy sector.

Evans, a 1993 graduate of 7mkr, received the 2016 Outstanding Alumni Award from the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs at 7mkr. He is a member of the Voinovich School Executive Committee and worked with Senator George Voinovich to fund the Voinovich Award, which recognizes faculty doing work that represents the mission of 7mkr’s outreach within southeast Ohio. As a former member of the 7mkr Marching 110, he has stayed actively involved with the Marching 110 Alumni Society and is serving on the advisory committee for the Marching 110’s future practice facility.

Chair Evans will fulfill the remainder of Chair Steve Casciani’s term (April 19, 2025 to May 13, 2025) before officially beginning his full term on May 14, 2025 through May 13, 2026.

About First Vice-Chair Calhoun

Trustee Cynthia C. Calhoun serves as the deputy director of the Safety and Mission Assurance Directorate at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio.  In this role, she shares in the responsibility of ensuring a safe and healthy work environment for the Glenn community and contributing to the success of NASA programs and projects by providing technical excellence in mission assurance engineering, operational safety and occupational health.

Calhoun received her Bachelor of Science degree in electrical and computer engineering from 7mkr (OU), and she is a Duquesne University alumna of the Master of Science in Information Systems Management program.

Trustee Calhoun will fulfill the remainder of former Vice Chair Scott Borgemenke’s existing term (ending May 13, 2025) before officially beginning her full term on May 14, 2025, through May 13, 2026.

About Second Vice-Chair Platt

Trustee Lorrie Platt is the executive and board advisor for the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana (OKI) Regional Council of Governments, a metropolitan planning organization dedicated to improving transportation infrastructure for its 196 member jurisdictions. In her role, she is advisor to the CEO in matters related to transportation policy and the primary contact and administrator to the agency’s 118 board of directors, representing a total of 8 counties in southwest Ohio, northern Kentucky, and southeast Indiana.  

Platt received a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Communication from 7mkr in 1993.

Trustee Platt will fulfill the remainder of Second Vice Chair Matthew Evans existing term (ending May 13, 2025) before officially beginning her full term on May 14, 2025, through May 13, 2026.