Carolyn Pione Micheli is senior vice president of corporate communications and investor relations for The E.W. Scripps Company.

Carolyn handles long-term communications planning and directs the execution of those plans. She is responsible for the company's image both externally and internally. She works closely with the CEO and directs executive communications, board communications, media relations and employee communications. She also oversees The Scripps National Spelling Bee.

In the investor relations portion of her role with Scripps, she provides counsel to outside analysts and shareholders, executive leadership and the Board of Directors on all investor relations and communications-related issues.

Prior to coming to Scripps, she was communications director for CincyTech, a public-private seed-stage investor focused on startup technology companies in Southwest Ohio. From 1996-2008, she worked as a journalist in a variety of roles, including business editor for The Cincinnati Enquirer. She began her career at The Associated Press in 1991.

She is a member of the leadership team at Saturday Hoops, a program focused on helping underprivileged youth build their self-esteem and set goals, and runs its Huddle program every Saturday from January – May. She serves on the board of the YWCA of Greater Cincinnati and is a member of its Racial Justice Committee, and she is lead trustee of the Scripps Howard Fund.

She is a 1991 graduate of Miami University of Ohio and received a master’s degree in mass communication from Louisiana State University in 1996.

James Conklin is managing director, Group Head of Private Credit for Western & Southern Financial Group. He joined the company in 2022 to help launch a lower middle-market focused unitranche lending strategy. 

Conklin has 20 years of experience in financial services. Before joining Western & Southern, he was a managing director at First Financial Bank where he was responsible for sourcing, structuring and monitoring leveraged credit transactions. Prior, he held a number of roles of increasing responsibility at Fifth Third Bank, concluding his career there as a managing director. 

He has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in Finance from Xavier University and a Master of Business Administration cum laude from the University of Notre Dame. He and his wife, Amanda, reside in Cincinnati with their two children.

Andrew Simon is President, Corporate Services at Health Carousel LLC.

Health Carousel is a leading workforce solutions company that provides medical facilities across the U.S. with travel nursing, contract physician, and international temp-to-perm services. Founded in 2004, the company has grown to become one of the largest and fastest growing healthcare staffing companies in the United States. In 2023, the company was named a Fast 55 finalist as one of the 55 fastest growing companies in Cincinnati for the eighth consecutive year.

The company has also grown via acquisition with the purchase of Next Medical Staffing in October 2015, Medical Staffing Options in January 2017, Locum Medical Group in September 2018, Onyx M.D. in February 2019, Lucidity in April 2019, Vitruvian in December 2020, and Medpath in January 2021. Health Carousel was recognized as the ACG Cincinnati Dealmaker of the Year in 2019.

At Health Carousel, Andrew leads Corporate Development and Health Carousel Shared Services. He was twice selected for the Staffing Industry Analysts 40 under 40 list in 2017 and 2021 for his contributions and impact.

Before joining Health Carousel, Andrew was a Manager in Deloitte Consulting’s Strategy practice working across numerous industries. Previously, he founded and operated a marketing and political advisory company. Andrew also has experience working in venture capital and spent his early career on the campaign trail.

Andrew earned an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and a bachelor’s degree from Bates College.

Adrienne joined River Cities in February of 2008. She oversees the accounting, finance, treasury and human resource functions for the River Cities family of venture capital funds, as well as for the management company, River Cities Management, Inc. In addition, she participates in the investment committee.

Prior to joining River Cities, Adrienne was a Senior Auditor for Ernst & Young. During her time at Ernst & Young, she audited clients of various industries, including healthcare, manufacturing, airline services, coal supply, property management and transportation.

Adrienne was named as part of Cincinnati Business Courier's 40 Under 40 in 2017 and the Cincinnati Chamber's WE Lead Class 11. She serves on the Boards of Directors of I Have Wings and Children's Home of Northern Kentucky. Adrienne is also a member of NVCA's CFO Task Force and the NKY Chamber of Commerce Women's Initiative Group.

Adrienne holds a Bachelors of Science with concentration in Accountancy and a Masters of Accountancy, from Northern Kentucky University.

Charlie Wood is Vice President of Strategy, Business Development, and Investor Relations at Meridian Bioscience.  Meridian is a fully integrated life science company that develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes a broad range of innovative diagnostic products and reagents for use in diagnostic products.  Charlie is responsible for corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions, business partnerships, investor relations, and corporate communications.  Since joining Meridian, the company has completed four acquisitions and is pending completion of its sale to a Korean consortium for $1.53B.  Meridian was a Deal Maker Honoree in 2021.

Prior to joining Meridian in January 2020, Charlie supported start-ups in the Cincinnati area in a variety of capacities including 80 Acres Farms and Everything But the House.  Prior to moving to Cincinnati in 2017, Charlie spent seven years with Electronics Arts in Corporate Development and Strategic Finance roles, four years with AT&T in Corporate Development, and three years in M&A advisory with C. E. Peterson & Company working on more than a dozen transactions with enterprise values ranging from $5 million to $39 billion.

Charlie earned an undergraduate degree in Anthropology from Princeton University and an MBA from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin.