Current Trustees

Drew Forhan of Hudson, Ohio, is the Founder and Chairman of ForTec Medical, Inc. Founded in 1988, ForTec Medical is dedicated to improving patient health and healthcare by delivering innovative surgical technologies, including the broadest array of lasers, to hospitals, surgery centers and physician offices on an as-needed basis. ForTec takes pride in delivering distinctive service excellence each and every day and helping to improve the lives of patients.

Forhan is also a former executive with American Hospital Supply/V Mueller and with Richard Allen Medical.

A past student representative to the Bowling Green State University Board of Trustees, he earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration/selling and sales management from the University in 1981. He is a former board member and chairman of the Hudson Community Foundation and sits on the board of the Adirondack Experience – The Museum on Blue Lake. In 2015, he was inducted into BGSU’s Paul J. Hooker Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership Hall of Fame.

Amy Shore is Executive Vice President, Chief Transformation Officer at Nationwide Insurance. Amy has over 30 years of experience in insurance and financial services, including over 25 years in varying leadership positions across Nationwide. She has led in a variety of business functions including customer experience, sales, underwriting, product/pricing, customer service and general management. She has served as executive sponsor for the Women Empowered Associate Resource Group. Amy holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Bowling Green State University. She also is a Chartered Property/Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU), and a member of National Association of Corporate Directors. Amy is actively involved in her local community. Currently, serving as secretary of the board of the Columbus Symphony. She has served as national chair of the Nationwide’s United Way campaign, treasurer of the United Way of Delaware County, and on the BGSU Changing Lives for the World campaign committee.

Paul J. Hooker is the retired owner and CEO of SFERRA Fine Linens, a luxury bedding, bath and home decor importer based in Edison, New Jersey.

In 1977, Hooker purchased the New York City-based luxury household linen importer from Albert Sferra, the soul surviving member of the family who started the firm in 1891. He recognized the need to maintain the company's identity and encourage growth within the luxury market. With that in mind, Hooker took SFERRA from a one-room office on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan to a 35,000-square-foot distribution facility in Edison, New Jersey, plus a beautiful showroom just off Madison Square Park in New York City. In the process, Hooker grew annual sales from $250,000 when he bought the business in 1977 to over $30 million in 2013 when he sold a majority stake of the company. Today SFERRA presents the most comprehensive range of luxury home textiles for the bed, bath, and table worldwide.

Hooker was the head varsity baseball coach at Red Bank Catholic High School in Red Bank, New Jersey, from 1994-2000, winning the only New Jersey State Baseball Championship in the school’s history in 1997.  In 1990 Paul, along with his wife Margo, founded a not-for-profit sports program for children with disabilities that he named Challenged Youth Sports (CYS). CYS assisted over 150 families with programs in basketball, soccer, Little League softball, golf, flag football and tennis. The program has since been renamed  RallyCap Sports, and has added colleges and universities to its growth plan, with the Bowling Green State University chapter being the first and currently largest chapter. In additional to BGSU, RallyCap Sports has chapters at Ohio State, Michigan and others 

Hooker graduated from Bowling Green State University in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. In 2010, he was named a top 100 graduate in the first 100 years of Bowling Green State University and was inducted into the Entrepreneurial Leadership Hall of Fame in 2012. He is currently a board member of the Paul J. Hooker Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership and Is actively involved in creating the “mindset of an entrepreneur” in each Bowling Green State University student. 

Paula O’Reilly serves as Senior Managing Director and Midwest Technology Lead for Accenture, a global professional services company with leading capabilities in information technology and consulting. O’Reilly was recently appointed to lead Accenture’s Columbus office and brings extensive consulting and strategy experience since 1993.  

Throughout her career, she had several leadership roles with Accenture, focusing on managing capital markets, banking, insurance and risk and operations. In 2005, she became Partner, and today, her expanded portfolio focuses on technology, digital, cloud and security.

In addition, O’Reilly is very active in the Columbus community, serving as a member of the Ohio Business Roundtable and the Ohio Chamber of Commerce. She has also had the honor of being included in Columbus CEO Magazine's Future 50 Class of 2022.

O’Reilly is an alumna of Bowling Green State University, earning her bachelor’s degree in finance and international business.

Dr. Richard Ross of Columbus has been involved in public schools for more than 40 years and most recently served as the superintendent of Ohio's Department of Education. Before becoming state superintendent, he was the superintendent of several public school districts and worked closely with Governor John Kasich on an overhaul of Cleveland City Schools in 2012. Ross is credited with school reforms in Cleveland and Youngstown and the implementation of an adult high school diploma program and improving literacy in the state through the third grade reading guarantee. He earned a doctorate in education administration from BGSU in 1981.

Howard Traul II is a partner in the firm of Thompson, Dunlap and Heydinger, Ltd. In Bellefontaine, Ohio. He practices in the areas of real estate, municipal law, and estate planning, trusts and probate.   He also was elected as the part-time law director for the City of Bellefontaine for 35 years, retiring in 2015. Mr. Traul has long been active in civic and community life. He was elected to two terms as Bellefontaine city councilman-at-large and as president of the Ohio Municipal Attorneys, in 2004-05. He was appointed commissioner of the Ohio Supreme Court Lawyers’ Fund for Client Protection from 2010-16.   He served as President and Board member for many years for the Green Hills Retirement Community in West Liberty, Ohio. He currently serves as Vice-President of the Logan County Industrial Growth Corporation. He earned his undergraduate BGSU degree cum laude in history and political science in 1973 and received his juris doctor from the Pettit College of Law at Ohio Northern University in 1976. He was admitted to the Ohio Bar in 1976 and to the Bar of the Southern District of Ohio, U.S. Federal Court, in 1979. He is married to Sharon Lucas Traul ’75 and they have three sons, a daughter and seven grandchildren.

Kathryn Ware is a third-year doctoral candidate in Biological Sciences at Bowling Green State University. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in ecology and conservation biology following successful completion of her master's degree in the lab of Dr. Karen Root. Her dissertation research is focused on how bird communities respond to different kinds of disturbance, including forest management, hurricanes, and window collisions. Kathryn enjoys being involved on campus and has served as the Graduate Student Senate Environmental Affairs Representative for two years. She is also active in her department as a Teaching Assistant for Anatomy and Physiology labs, an officer of the Biology Graduate Student Association, founding member of the Biology Research Forum Committee, and a Biology Graduate Student Orientation leader. She completed her bachelor’s degree at The University of Findlay and currently lives in Findlay, Ohio with her husband Sam. Outside of academia, Kathryn loves to read and go birding and is an active volunteer with Black Swamp Bird Observatory as a bird bander, bird-watching guide, and advisor to the Ohio Young Birders Club. Kathryn’s academic accomplishments and dedication to service and advocacy for graduate students make her an outstanding candidate for graduate student trustee.