Kandise Bobo | Executive Director
Kandise Bobo, an accomplished leader in business education and community engagement, serves as the Executive Director of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program at Sinclair Community College. With a steadfast commitment to empowering entrepreneurs and fostering economic growth, Kandise brings a unique blend of expertise and passion to her role.
Armed with an MBA and years of experience in both academia and the business world, Kandise provides small business owners with the resources and support they need to succeed. Her strategic vision and innovative approach to program development have propelled the 10,000 Small Businesses Program to new heights, making a lasting impact on countless entrepreneurs and their ventures.
In addition to her role at Sinclair Community College, Kandise is actively involved in various community initiatives, including her position as a board member of the Dayton Foodbank. Through her leadership and advocacy, she strives to address food insecurity and promote equitable access to nutritious food for all members of the community.
Kandise's unwavering dedication to education, entrepreneurship, and community service serves as an inspiration to those around her, driving positive change and creating opportunities for success in the Dayton area and beyond.
Val Beerbower | Program Manager
Val Beerbower is the Program Manager for the 10,000 Small Businesses program at Sinclair Community College. She graduated from Ohio University with a degree in journalism, but her career took her into new directions, including marketing, public relations, economic development, and entrepreneurial systems. She joined the delivery team at Sinclair in 2023 but retains her roots in small business development. She lives in Dayton with her husband, Mike.
April Carpenter | Lead Faculty
April Carpenter brings a wealth of expertise and passion to her role as Lead Faculty at the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program. With a diverse background in supply chain management, business administration, and education, April is committed to empowering entrepreneurs to thrive in today's dynamic business landscape.
With over a decade of experience in various leadership roles, April has honed her skills in strategic planning, process optimization, and team development. Her academic achievements include a CPIM certification and an MBA, providing her with a solid foundation to support small business owners in achieving their goals.
April's approach to education is characterized by innovation and collaboration. She is dedicated to fostering an inclusive learning environment where participants can leverage their strengths and learn from each other's experiences. Through her dynamic teaching style and real-world insights, April equips entrepreneurs with the knowledge and tools they need to overcome challenges and seize opportunities.
Beyond her professional endeavors, April is deeply engaged in her community, volunteering her time to support initiatives that promote economic empowerment and education. Her commitment to making a positive impact extends beyond the classroom, reflecting her genuine dedication to the success of small businesses and the communities they serve.
Nicole D'Amico | Alumni Manager
Nicole brings nearly three decades of diverse professional experience, excelling in public speaking, event coordination, and relationship management. Her background spans B2B and B2C sales, customer service, marketing, recruitment, and teaching. She is passionate about fostering connections and empowering others and anticipates that her background as an entrepreneur will quickly cement connections with Goldman Sachs 10KSB alumni. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Social and Behavioral Sciences from The Ohio State University and pursued additional coursework in Teaching, Physical Therapy, and Chemical Dependency Counseling from Ottawa University and Sinclair Community College.
Outside of her professional life she is a dedicated community volunteer with contributions as a fundraiser, finance educator, youth sports coach, PTA President, and church youth group leader. She resides in Miamisburg and enjoys life with her husband of 21 years, two sons, one daughter, and their Golden Retriever and Pit-Lab rescue. Nicole finds joy in adventurous travel, hiking, birding, gardening, and hot yoga.
Roger Ball | Columbus State Community College
Roger Ball has more than 20 years of Executive Business Management experience in the corporate sector, and as an entrepreneur. He has vast experience in the technology industry, conducting business with major corporations, as well as state and local government agencies. He started the Midwest state and local government vertical market for one of the largest software manufacturing companies in the world. In three years, he and his team had statewide contracts, as state agencies standardized on their solutions, in four of the six states he was responsible for developing. As an entrepreneur, he started three companies and sold two. As the president and CEO of a manufacturing company, he led the company to international expansion with three locations and over 125 employees, garnering the distinction of being the largest non-construction MBE in the state of Arkansas.
He received his BS/BA from The Ohio State University, MBA from Ohio University and Executive Management certifications from Northwestern and Cornell universities. Roger has a unique set of tools and techniques which have proven essential in his professional career. He has certifications in Lean Six-Sigma - Green Belt, Minitab, Microsoft Office, and Statistics, to name a few.
Roger is currently a faculty member in the Business Programs Department at Columbus State Community College. In addition to providing valuable consulting services for progressive small businesses, he enjoys preparing the next generation of business leaders. He teaches several business courses, including Principles of Business, Management and Organizational Behavior, Business Ethics, Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship, and Strategic Management.
In addition to his business and professional experience, he shares his knowledge to benefit his community. His volunteerism has included board appointments to The Ohio State University Presidents Club, The Ohio State University Alumni Association, The Ohio State University Alumni Council, The Ohio State University Athletic Department, as well as the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce, Arkansas Civil Service Commission, Financial Oversight Committee for the Little Rock School District - all of Little Rock, Arkansas, a drug and rehabilitation organization, and the Columbus State Community College mentoring program.
Rocky Belcher | Sinclair Community College
Rocky earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance/Accounting from Wright State University and a Master of Science degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Mergers and Acquisitions from Columbus University. Professor Belcher has earned several Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management certifications from Hewlett Packard, the Small Business Administration, and Certiport. In addition to these, he has earned several Microsoft Office Specialist certifications. Rocky is currently the Lead Subject Matter Expert for the State of Ohio in the area of Entrepreneurship Education.
Rocky has several years of experience in the banking industry where he worked as a Financial Analyst and Computer System Manager. He has also worked several years in the healthcare industry as an Information Systems Director. Most notably, Professor Belcher has created, operated, and sold three very successful small businesses in the Dayton area and was named an Entrepreneur of the Year finalist by Ernst and Young in the year 2000.
Rocky has taught at Sinclair Community College since 2000 and holds the rank of tenured professor. Over the years, he has taught classes in the disciplines of Computer Information Systems, Business Information Systems, Accounting, Management, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship. His performance as an instructor in the classroom has been recognized by being awarded the Ohio Magazine’s Excellence in Teaching and the John & Suanne Roueche Excellence awards.
Rocky stays active in the Miami Valley small business community by volunteering to serve on several Boards of Directors and Advisory Boards.
John Eldridge | Columbus State Community College
John Eldridge is currently the Financial Management Program Coordinator at Columbus State Community College where he has been an Associate Professor of Accounting since 2011. He works as the Distance Learning Lead for the college and is the lead instructor in Managerial Accounting, Governmental Accounting, and Corporate Finance.
John Eldridge holds a Bachelor’s in Accounting and a Master’s in Business from Ohio Dominican University. He is currently pursuing his Doctorate at North Central University.
David J. Hensley, II | Cincinnati State Community and Technical College
David is the program chair and professor of the Business Management program at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College. He received his B.S. and MBA degrees from Franklin University. Technology has always played a key role in his life. Throughout David’s career, he has taught and developed courses on Business Management, Microsoft Windows (Desktop and Server OS), Macintosh, Linux, Information Systems for Managers, Networking and Microsoft Office suite applications. He also presents annually at conferences on the latest technology trends in business. On a personal note, he has owned races horses that have competed across the United States.
Stani Kantcheva, EdD, CPA, CMA. | Cinclnnati State Community and Technical College
A native of Sofia, Bulgaria, Stani holds a master's degree in Engineering and doctorate degree of Educational Leadership. After relocating to the U.S., Stani earned an Accounting Certificate at Cincinnati State and subsequently became a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Management Accountant. Her doctorate research was focused on improving student success at Cincinnati State.
After working at KPMG and Copemus Inc, Stanijoined the Cincinnati State faculty in 2005. She teaches numerous accounting courses in traditional classrooms and through online instruction. Her current teaching includes Managerial Accounting, Cost Accounting, Financial Statement Analysis, and Auditing.
Outside the classroom, Stani serves as the Accounting Program chair, as a member of the College's Budget Advisory Team, Honors and Eickenhorst Scholarship Committees, and on the Business Division Social Committee.
Theresa Lechton | Columbus State Community College
Theresa Lechton has over 15 years of university teaching and academic administration experience. She teaches Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Strategy at both the undergraduate and graduate level at Columbus State Community College and University of Maryland Global Campus.
Her corporate experience spans several industries (education, utilities, healthcare, manufacturing, nonprofit and consulting). Most of her career was spent in introducing process and organizational improvements, change management, strategy development, intraprenuership, and leadership training. In her consulting positions, she has worked with a number of Fortune 500 companies.
She has a BS in Engineering, an MBA and a Doctorate in Management. Her dissertation topic was “Effect of Geographic Migration on the Ability to Leverage Social Capital during Entrepreneurial Startup in the Manufacturing Belt”. She has worked with students and entrepreneurs in the development of over 750 business plans. In her spare time, she enjoys travel and writing/speaking about adding adventure into your life.
Lesli Rice | Cincinnati State Community and Technical College
Lesli Rice has been a Brand Strategist for the last eight years at Rice Education Consulting out of Cincinnati, Ohio. Rice Education Consulting is a strategic consulting firm that focuses on the development of an organization's people and their culture.
Rice is also empowering future leaders as a Tenured Professor at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College. As the Founder of 4 Pack Adventures, Rice has offered the public comprehensive travel planning since 2014.
Rice Graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science from Xavier University in 2001, then went on to earn her MBA in Marketing at Northern Kentucky University by 2008.
Before being involved in her current achievements, Rice spent time as a Community Director at the March of Dimes. Rice successfully promoted their mission to volunteers, met heavy revenue goals for the company while implementing plans for training and fundraising events. Rice served at Procter & Gamble for nine years with her final role as a Marketing Specialist for Ethnic Marketing & Multibrand Commercial Innovation.
Christy Schaub | Sinclair Community College
Christy Schaub is the owner of Schaub Solutions, which provides leadership development training programs and assessments. She also works part-time at her husband’s small business in Dayton, providing HR and office administration support. Prior to this, she worked at Dayton Children’s Hospital as the Director of Leadership and Development and at Goodrich/UTC Aerospace Systems for 16 years in a variety of talent management roles. As a talent management leader, she has had responsibility for performance management and learning management systems, talent acquisition, onboarding and assimilation, succession planning, employee engagement and learning and development. In her last few roles, her focus has been leadership development and company culture training initiatives.
With over 30 years of facilitation experience, she has facilitated a variety of different topics to employees at all levels including emotional intelligence, communication skills, coaching and feedback, managing performance, accountability, creating and maintaining a respectful workplace, career development, diversity and inclusion, and general leadership skills.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Miami University and obtained her master’s degree in Applied Behavioral Sciences from Wright State University. In her free time, she volunteers with SICSA, a local animal shelter, teaching a “Cats 101” course. She is also actively involved with a racial justice committee at her church.
Terrie Stolte | Columbus State Community College
Terrie Stolte has been a full-time instructor in the Business Programs Department since January 2011 and as an adjunct since 2006. With over 30 years of domestic and international experience in the corporate world as Finance Director, Controller and CFO she brings many real-life situations to the classroom to enhance the teaching of any subject matter.
At Columbus State, Terrie participates in many of the college’s initiatives including Campus Cupboards, Service-Learning and Student Support Committees, Society of the Compass Award team as well as a CARES advocate. Terrie is a CPA, earning a BA in Accounting and Finance from Rider University in Lawrenceville NJ and an MA at Ohio Dominican University.
She regularly teaches Financial Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Federal, State and Local Taxes, Tax Practice, Intro to Non-Profit MGMT, Legal and Financial Issues in Non-Profit MGMT and various Business Management courses.
Questions about the 10,000 Small Businesses Program at Sinclair College? Contact Val Beerbower, Program Manager, at 937-512-2336 or 10ksb@sinclair.edu.