Gary Benjamin | Gary Benjamin is a practicing 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 now while he seeks asylum. Gary is active in the Greater Cleveland Congregations organization as core team leader at Trinity Cathedral and serves on the vestry at the cathedral. He also teaches law at Wayne State University Law School in downtown Detroit.
Barb Clint, Secretary | Barb Clint is a city planner by training who has worked at the nexus of planning and public health for the past two decades focused on active transportation as a population level physical activity intervention. As a consultant to Bike Cleveland, Barb is specifically working to advance the proposed 60-mile Midway Protected Bike Network in Cleveland. A resident of the North Collinwood neighborhood in Cleveland, Barb is married to Tom Denbow with whom she has raised three adult children: a married daughter in Goa, India, a niece living in Cleveland Heights, and a son in Seattle, WA. Barb is an active member of the Church of the Covenant, serving as a trustee and as moderator for the Ministry of Service through which she is learning about refugee resettlement issues. Her passion project continues to be managing the restoration of her 116-year-old arts and crafts bungalow near Lake Erie.
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, Vice President | Anne has been a resident of Cleveland Hts. for 23 years and has two grown children, Claire and David Ryder. She served as the Director of Local Government & 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. She co-chairs the volunteer organization, Heights Friends of Immigrants and serves as President of the AMIS Board.
Bobbi Reichtell | Bobbi Reichtell is an active volunteer with US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) helping manage the USCRI Resource Center and serving as a community sponsor for three Afghan families living in her neighborhood. She has also conducted neighborhood crib and dresser donation drives for US Together’s refugee families who are moving out of short-term housing at the Nehemiah Mission in her neighborhood. Bobbi lives in the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood on the west side of Cleveland with her husband Mark McDermott and is active in neighborhood projects such as creating a reading garden for Joseph Gallagher Elementary School, developing a community orchard, and starting the annual city-wide GardenWalk Cleveland in which her neighborhood participates. She is also active in local and national politics. After a 40+ career in non-profit community development in Cleveland, she formally retired in 2018 but clearly is not resting!
Samantha Ryder | Sam Ryder is joining the AMIS board with a background in advocacy, operations & management, and a passion to help immigrant and refugee communities. Presently she serves as a regional Network Engagement Manager for Candid, where she helps nonprofits learn how to best utilize Candid’s resources to build capacity. Previously she served as the Vice-Chair of a Global Ambassadors Language Academy (GALA) a Spanish and Mandarin language immersion school. For years, she was an engaged member of the Refugee Services Collaborative and volunteered for several immigrant-serving organizations across Northeast Ohio. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Akron in Spanish Language and Literature (2010) and a Master’s in Humanities, International Relations from John Carroll University (2015).
Pam Turos, President | After 15 years as a social worker, Pam transitioned to a career in nonprofit communications, providing support and coaching to clients such as Cleveland Transformation Alliance, Cleveland Schools Book Fund, National Initiative on Mixed Income Communities, and East Akron Neighborhood Development Corporation. Pam is also a member of the Euclid Board of Education and a leadership coach for the Cleveland Neighborhood Leadership Development Program. Born in Youngstown, Ohio, she has called Cleveland home since college graduation and lives with her husband and three children in Euclid.