Great Oaks Career Campuses Board Chair Ron Friend and Great Oaks Vice President Jon Quatman were given statewide honors recently by the Ohio Association for Career and Technical Education (Ohio ACTE).
Friend, who also serves on the Fairfield Local Schools Board of Education, was named a 2015 Outstanding School Board Member.
As chair of the 35-member Great Oaks Board of Directors, Friend sets a high standard as a career-technical school board member. He developed his business acumen by owning and operating a small business (a 250-acre farm), supervising a sales force and setting up and managing retail sales operations. He earned respect in the community by establishing a non-profit organization that built 36 low-income housing units, leading a committee to encourage local conservation and agricultural exploration, and serving as treasurer for a 26-church and community organization.
Friend has proven himself a strong advocate for education as a member of the Fairfield Board of Education since 1992. On the Great Oaks Board he has chaired three of the five board committees and been a member of the treasurer and superintendent search committees. Of all the commendations Friend has earned, one of his proudest is his election as Ohio’s Future Farmers of America president in 1968.
Submitted by Jon Weidlich, Great Oaks Career Campuses.
