AMIS Board Members
Lois Annich, President | Lois is an Executive Leadership Coach serving leaders in business, healthcare, education, faith communities and non-profits. A graduate of Yale Divinity School, Lois has done post-graduate work at The Gestalt Institute of Cleveland and The Cleveland Center for Cognitive Therapy. She is passionately committed to social justice and civic engagement and a teacher of resilience in the face of great challenges. Her career has been a rich blend of parish ministry, chaplaincy, pastoral counseling, consulting, and coaching. Lois takes unending delight in her husband, children, grandchildren, and sweet rescue dog!
Gary Benjammin | Gary is a retired attorney and former Magistrate for the City of Cleveland Heights. For over 30 years he practiced in downtown Detroit, Michigan doing civil rights cases including class actions against the City of Detroit and State of Michigan. Gary and his wife, Melody Hart, have 4 children three of whom live in Northeast Ohio and one in New York City. Gary and Melody sponsored a Haitian asylum seeker, Ansly Damus, who has lived with them for one year while he sought asylum. Gary is active in the Greater Cleveland Congregations organization as a member of the Management Team and the Core Team at Trinity Cathedral. He also teaches law at Wayne State University Law School in downtown Detroit.
Vimal Bhatnagar | Vimal is an executive, consultant, entrepreneur, and former immigration attorney. He is a graduate of Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. He is the founder of Dentsential, a healthcare consulting firm focused on operational improvement and compliance in dental practices, and co-founder of Eating & Psychological Science Solutions, which supports families, hospitals, schools, and treatment providers through evidence-based expert consultation and program development. Vimal is passionate about expanding access to care, strengthening community-based organizations, and promoting dignity and opportunity for immigrant families. He lives in the Cleveland area with his wife and three children and is active in youth sports and local service.
Jennifer Castellano | Jennifer is a driven and passionate Cleveland community leader with family roots in Puerto Rico. Since 2022, she has served as the Latinx/Hispanic Community Engagement Coordinator for Cleveland’s Neighborhood Family Practice. A graduate of the Cleveland Neighborhood Leadership Development program, Jennifer serves as an executive committee member at Northeast Ohio Association for Hispanic Health (NOAHH). In her former role as Families First Program Coordinator for the Spanish American Committee, Jennifer managed, directed, and led all employment and training services, social services, and educational service programs provided under the Spanish American Committee. Jennifer lives in the city of Brooklyn, Ohio where she is a new homeowner and proud “dog mom.”
Sue Dean Dyke | Sue is a community organizer/activist/volunteer. She’s also the founder of Mobilize the Vote NEO. She serves as Census Coordinator for the League of Women Voters Greater Cleveland and is an Immigration Court observer. In 2017/18, she helped organize a petition drive and campaign for Issue 1 to end gerrymandering on behalf of the LWV Greater Cleveland; and, organized and campaigned in Eastern Cuyahoga, Ashtabula, Lake, Mahoning, and Summit counties with Ohio Together and the Betsy Rader for Congress campaign. Sue is a former Field and Operations Human Resources professional in Retail, AgChem Manufacturing and food service. She is a former Board member for Shaker Youth Soccer Association and Board President for Eastside Kickers Soccer Club. Sue is married with two children in college and lives in Cleveland Heights.
Anne Hill, Secretary | Anne has been a resident of Cleveland Hts. for over 20 years and has two adult children, Claire and David Ryder. She served as the Director of Local Government and Community Relations at the MetroHealth system for 5 years prior to retiring at the end of 2015. Prior to working at MetroHealth, she served as Governor Strickland’s Northeast Ohio Regional Director for 4 years. From 1981 to 2006, she worked in the labor movement for 25 years with District 925/SEIU, as an organizer, contract negotiator, political director, and secretary/treasurer.
Isaac Imas | Isaac is a legal assistant to immigration attorney Brian Hoffman at the Ohio Center for Strategic Immigration Litigation & Outreach (OCSILiO), a nonprofit legal aid organization dedicated to securing immigrants’ release from ICE detention. Isaac graduated in 2025 from Oberlin College, where he studied Russian, Spanish, and education. As a Bonner Scholar at Oberlin, Isaac engaged in a breadth of community service on campus, in greater Cleveland, and in Mexico, Chile, and Georgia on his semesters abroad. Isaac served as a program leader for the student group El Centro Volunteer Initiative, designing and co-teaching ESL and citizenship prep classes held at Lorain’s El Centro de Servicios Sociales, and helping plan and execute ECVI’s annual charity auction funding Ohio residents’ citizenship applications. After graduating and moving to Cleveland, Isaac joined AMIS as a volunteer, accompanying immigrants to court and ICE check-ins. He is committed to deepening AMIS’ community connections and expanding its capacity to directly aid local immigrant families.
Megan Meister | Megan is the Community Engagement Coordinator at the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants Cleveland Field office. Megan joined the team in January 2023. In her role she supports USCRI’s engagement and outreach efforts to deepen community relationships and build support for newcomers through partnerships, collaboration and education. Megan is a very proud social worker. She moved to Cleveland to attend the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Resource University and is a licensed social worker in the State of Ohio. She has spent 20 years providing service to others through community development, engagement and organizing focused work, most recently serving nine years as Director of Community Engagement with Neighborhood Family Practice (NFP), a refugee healthcare provider and close partner of USCRI. Megan served on the Merrick House board for over 11 years, serving as the immediate past president and currently sits on the executive committee of the Refugee Services Collaborative of Cleveland. She is the proud mom of a wonderful and strong seven-year-old daughter and loves spending time with her family, fur babies and friends.
Jeff Smith, Treasurer | Jeff is a resident of Cleveland Heights, married to Anne for 55 years. He is the father of seven children and the grandfather of 10, all living in the Cleveland area. Before retiring, he served as the Chief Operating Officer at Mercy Medical Center in Canton. He has been on eight medical missions to the Dominican Republic and three service missions in Haiti. He is active in the community and has served on a number of Boards. In addition to the AMIS Board, he is currently a member of the Y-Haven Advisory Board, which provides housing and drug/alcohol treatment to adults. He is very active at his church, Forest Hill Church Presbyterian, and has held a number of positions as an Elder in different ministries, Clerk of Session, and in the church’s Sanctuary ministry. He is currently a member of the FHC Immigrant Task Force and works for the church’s pantry, providing weekly food to the homeless and economically marginalized.
John Tynan | John was a lifelong resident of Akron, Ohio until he moved to the Cleveland area in 2019. John has been self employed his entire life, 25 years in the auto repair business and 20 years in the home remodeling industry. During his time in the auto repair business he served on the board of local Chamber of Commerce and Rotary. John retired in 2020 when he started focusing on his passion project of providing job training, rehabbing houses in blighted neighborhoods and providing affordable housing for people of these neighborhoods. Over the past four years he has worked independently and as a volunteer with Burton Bell Carr and Christian and Missionary Alliance ( Envision Cleveland). Given the current political climate and his outrage at injustice he is excited to join the board of AMIS and help newcomers to Cleveland. He is the father of two grown children, a son in Cleveland Hts. and a daughter in New York City. He currently lives in University Hts. with Jo Levine ( she is a volunteer with AMIS) and their two cats.