Below are the bios for candidates running for CTM Trustee at the upcoming elections on Monday, December 2 from 6-7pm. Elections will be held at the Clifton Recreation Center on the 2nd floor in the large meeting room. The Rec Center is universally accessible to all. Take the elevator or the stairs to the 2nd floor.
There are 5 three-year term, 1 two-year term, and 1 one-year term positions to be filled by the seven candidates receiving the most votes.
Voting by proxy is prohibited in the CTM bylaws. You must be present to vote. It takes only a few minutes. You can pay your membership current prior to voting in advance or at the night of elections.
Gérald Checco
Gérald Checco and his family moved to Clifton 18 years ago on September 11, 2001. He retired from the City of Cincinnati where he was the Director of – consecutively – three departments, Parks, Public Services and MSD, each time assigned to these departments to solve problems, increase productivity and reestablish trust in these agencies. Despite being asked to continue to solve problems he decided to retire early, explore the world and work as a volunteer. He is now on several Boards dedicated to good government and environmental issues (Charter, Urban Forestry, Millcreek Conservancy, Green Umbrella and Board of Visitors.) He has deep knowledge of, and personal contacts with most governmental agencies of the region, making him uniquely qualified to be on the CTM Board. He is known to be able to work with a wide variety of opposing agendas to reach win-win outcomes. He would be particularly interested and knowledgeable in the following committees: Beautification, Housing and Zoning, Transportation, Parks and Walking Routes.
Jan Brown Checco
Since moving to our long-time favorite Cincinnati neighborhood in 2001, I have enjoyed participating in many creative community-building projects. From 2008 to 2009, I served as the CTM community co-chair for design and construction oversight of the new Clifton Plaza. As a founding committee member of the reborn CliftonFest, I worked as Artistic/Programming Director from 2012 to 2014, and introduced the matching of artists to business sponsors for creation of the annual sidewalk chalkworks. I was Project Manager for the mural painted at Clifton Plaza in 2014, an enduring CliftonFest legacy project. Now I am serving on CTM’s Arts and Culture Committee, working with the crew on design and fulfillment of the Ludlow Garage 50th Anniversary Mural, and also on the opening and operation of the Off Ludlow Gallery.
Following the Ludlow 21 Report delivered to CTM in 2013, I worked within the Ludlow 21 Committee to produce programming for Clifton Plaza from 2014 to 2017, including music, special projects for our Gaslight businesses, and movies on the Plaza. I’ve served on the Clifton Area Neighborhood School Advisory Group from 2017 – 2019 for branding and communications, and continue to serve CANS for campus beautification projects and development of the Creative Corridor Media Center on the school’s 3rd floor.
I frequently convene communities for commissioned art projects, and have repeatedly witnessed “the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.” I’ve wished for a chance to develop strong, positive relationships throughout our “hilltop campus” neighborhood, including Fairview Clifton German Language School, Clifton Area Neighborhood School, Clifton Recreation Center and all nearby organizations that wish to share their assets, and to learn and work together. Clifton Town Meeting seems like a good “nest” for this kind of community building, and if I am invited to join the Board, I would like to develop such a network.
Robert Hamberg
Serving as a Clifton Town Meeting Trustee over the last year has been an interesting and rewarding experience. Being involved and trying to make a difference in this community is important to me because of how special this area is to me and my loved ones. My relationship with Clifton goes back to my birth at Good Samaritan, and my family has been in residence here since the early 1950s. If I am selected to continue serving as a trustee, I hope I am able to support the efforts to keep Clifton a welcoming, wonderful place to live and work. I think this community draws its strength from our unique, diverse population and I’m so happy to call Clifton home.
I work in change management for a large bank and am primarily focused on process improvement, risk mitigation, and compliance. This experience helps me identify what works, what needs improvement, and how to make changes as efficiently as possible. I try to bring this perspective to the table when working on behalf of my neighbors, representing them as a trustee with the Clifton Town Meeting. My wife works at Children’s Hospital as a psychologist, and we have a dog and a very opinionated 3-year-old daughter who loves the swings in Mt. Storm. We couldn’t be happier being part of this community and look forward to being here for years to come.
Catherine Hamilton-Hicks
My husband, two children and I moved to Clifton in July of 2017. My father was a University of Cincinnati French Professor for 40 years. While in college I worked at both Skyline Chili and The Busy Bee. We are a community-minded family, and I would love the opportunity to help serve in areas where my experience and ideas could possibly be of use.
- Served three years on The City of Dayton, Kentucky’s Planning and Zoning Board
- Created the Northern Kentucky Kite Festival
- Remodeled 10+ historic properties and currently remodeling a 100+ year-old bakery in Newport, KY
As a trustee I have been working on improvements that both enhance and calm Ludlow Avenue, making it safer and more enjoyable. These include: the creation of a temporary parklet, the lifting of parking restrictions that I helped push for, and the installation of the international flag display at Ormond and Ludlow.
Our children both attend CANS (Clifton Area Neighborhood School) and we are committed to doing our part to support the school, including serving on the LSDMC (Local School Decision Making Committees) board. Clifton is a place we are proud to call home.
Mark Jeffreys
Preserve and advance. Clifton is a neighborhood with incredible history and community with unique architecture, people and traditions all of which need to be preserved. At the
same time, there are opportunities to enhance our community such as working with the
Cincinnati Parks to restore Burnet Woods to be even more of a gem and partnering with the community and the city on ensuring that traffic coming up Ludlow to the central business district is not a raceway that endangers pedestrians.
My name is Mark Jeffreys. I have lived in Clifton for 11 years first on Bryant then on Cornell Place and now on Evanswood Place. My wife and I have 4 children – one in college, two at Walnut Hills and one at Clark Montessori. Professionally, I’ve been an entrepreneur for the past two years after spending 16 years at P&G as an executive. I’m an avid runner (typically through Clifton & the Northside) with a passion for the arts, travel and the outdoors. Ten years ago, I started the non-profit go Vibrant, which is about making activity irresistible – bringing the P&G goVibrantscape to Smale Riverfront Park with the foot piano and flying pig, walking routes to communities, and most recently Bounce, an initiative that raised funds to bring athletics to 10 public elementary schools. I am currently the Chairman of the Board of go Vibrant. I also serve on the Cincinnati Parks Foundation Board of Trustees and run the Marketing/PR committee.
Over the past few years, through those engagements, I have worked to benefit Clifton through larger engagement including by bringing the go Vibrant walking routes to Clifton with signs going up in the next few months, and by making Burnett Woods & Mt Storm two of five priority parks for fundraising for the Cincinnati Parks Foundation. Throughout these endeavors, I pride myself on the ability to engage different stakeholders to bring solutions to challenges and/or create new opportunities that we did not think possible before.
I would welcome the opportunity to use my skills to continue to preserve what is great about Clifton while advancing our community where opportunities exist. I ask for your vote as a CTM Trustee. Thank you for your consideration.
Jennifer H. Krivickas
I joined the University of Cincinnati (UC) Office of the Vice President for Research July 1, 2016. Before this position, I served UC College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning (DAAP) as the unit head for the DAAP Library. I am a tenured member of the UC faculty, an active researcher, the primary steward for the UC Bonnie Cashin Collection, and I teach a popular elective at UC’s top-ranked DAAP School of Design. I came to UC from the Yale Center for British Art, Yale University, where I served as the assistant director of the Yale Center for British Art Library and Photo Archive. Prior to that, I established and managed the Phillips Reading Room at Harvard University’s Widener Library where Harvard faculty, visiting scholars and students in advanced studies conduct bibliographic research, using Widener’s non-circulating rare, fragile and otherwise precious materials from Widener’s stacks and beyond.
Currently, I serve as Assistant Vice President for Integrated Research and the Urban Futures Pathway. In this role, I work to develop and direct Strategic Research Initiatives and Signature Programs on the enterprise-level. Some of my primary areas of responsibility include:
- Research Development to increase the capacity and competitiveness of all UC researchers, scholars and creatives and to continuously improve UC’s research infrastructure
- External Outreach, Engagement and Communication to articulate the real-world impacts of UC Research and to foster the development of foundational and strategic research partnerships and alignments
- Internal Signature Program Strategy, Development and Operationalization to foster and grow the impactful, inclusive, and innovative research, scholarship and creative activities of UC faculty and students
- Strategic Development of Research Collaboratives to advance research programs at UC that have significant growth potential
- Research Strengths and Priorities Identification to inform UC’s research “brand” and growth strategy on the enterprise-level
Since moving to Cincinnati in 2009, I’ve lived in Clifton with my daughter, Kenyon, who is now in the 5th grade at Clifton-Fairview German Language School. We love our neighborhood, our neighbors, Fairview and UC, and I’d be honored to be given the opportunity to serve Clifton as a member of the CTM Board.
Ioanna Paraskevopoulos
Ioanna was born and raised in the Clifton Gaslight District and, in 2019, she returned to the neighborhood with her three year-old, Hugo, after a lengthy detour through Annapolis, New York, Washington D.C., Brussels, and Northside.
She has served as Chief of Staff in Council Member David Mann’s office since October 2016, and in 2019 co-founded Action Tank, a think tank committed to partnering with artists to research, educate, and advocate for equitable policy in the Cincinnati area. She is passionate about helping community groups navigate City Hall to effect policy changes that lift up their neighborhoods and she loves getting to know her neighbors as they work together to discuss, plan, argue, build, work, and celebrate their community.
She is a devoted yoga student, an enthusiastic amateur chef, and an avid moviegoer. Prior to returning to Cincinnati, she worked at the U.S. Department of State, where she managed the Human Rights and Congressional Affairs portfolio for the Middle East Bureau. She has a B.A. in Philosophy from Columbia University and a J.D. from Northern Kentucky University.
