BETH ANDRIACCO, Community Engagement Coordinator
Beth comes to Price Hill Will from Northern Kentucky Community Action Commission, where she was the Energy and Education Programs Manager. Her experiences with NKCAC helped her develop a myriad of skills valuable to all non-profit work such as grant writing, program management, volunteer recruitment and outcome reporting. Beth continues to volunteer with NKCAC as a YouthBuild mentor.
As a life long resident of Price Hill, Beth is excited to work with neighbors around Price Hill to create an even better and more engaged neighborhood. She is a member of the Enright Ridge Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm, where you will find her on Saturday mornings during harvest seasons.
Beth has previously volunteered for PHW through the Arts CAT. She is eager to begin working with all of the Community Action Teams to continue the great programs and projects already in place and to assist residents with creating new and exciting work in the neighborhood.
JAMES BASS, Real Estate Development Director
Jamie received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Northern Kentucky University. He is also a very proud graduate of Elder High School. Prior to joining Price Hill Will in 2007, he was the general manager of a recreation center and golf course. In his current role, he oversees the Buy-Improve/Demolish–Sell program which has rehabbed 36 houses in the community. Jamie has strong west side roots including purchasing his first home in West Price Hill. These connections have given him the desire to see that this area and the organization are the best in Cincinnati. Jamie is married with two young children and still resides in the west side of Cincinnati where he is active in his parish. His hobbies include working out, biking, golfing and transporting his children to their numerous sporting events.
Laura Jekel, MYCincinnati Program Director
Cellist Laura Jekel was one of 10 people chosen to take part in the 2010-2011 Abreu Fellows Program, a training program through New England Conservatory that is helping to develop El Sistema-inspired programs in the United States. Originally from Boston, Laura has performed and taught throughout Latin America and the United States. After earning a bachelor of music degree at Indiana University in Bloomington, she traveled to Ecuador where she was a member of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Guayaquil and cello professor at the music school Fronteras Musicales Abiertas in Cuenca. During her stay she gave masterclasses and recitals around the country, including performances of the Dvorak, Schumann, Haydn C Major and Lalo cello concertos with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Cuenca, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Loja and the Cuen-K Ensamble. Aside from her solo and orchestral work, Laura is an avid teacher. During the summer, she has been the cello teacher at Encore/Coda, a music camp in Maine. Since returning from Ecuador in 2007, Laura has studied at Carnegie Mellon University, where she completed her master of music degree, and at the Peabody Institute.
KEN SMITH, Executive Director
Ken grew up in southeastern Kentucky, but moved to the Cincinnati area to attend Northern Kentucky University where he received his degree in Political Science. Prior to joining Price Hill Will in 2007, Ken had almost ten years experience with other organizations (for-profit and non-profit) developing and managing residential property (market rate and subsidized). Additionally, Ken spent a year as an AmeriCorps/VISTA volunteer working for the Children’s Law Center of NKY.
He has served on the boards of Homesteading and Urban Redevelopment Corporation and the Urban Appalachian Council. He is also a member of the Cincinnati Board of Housing Appeals and the Cincinnati Strategic Plan Steering Committee
He currently lives in Mainstrasse with his partner Chris Henry. He likes politics, old houses, exploring new cities and spending time with friends. He truly loves the energy of an ethnically, socially, and economically diverse community.
MATT STRAUSS, Director of Marketing & Neighborhood Promotion
Since 1990 Matt has followed a two-track path of community development and theology. In college he began his Religious Studies major at about the same time he started rehabbing houses for the Camp Washington Community Board. He continued community development work in Newark, New Jersey as a VISTA and while completing his master’s degree at the Union Theological Seminary in New York, where he specialized in 19th Century German religious criticism. He began teaching as an adjunct at the College of Mt. St. Joseph in 1998 where he now teaches World Religions. Matt came to Price Hill Will in 2005 when he got our Buy-Improve-Sell program off the ground. He now works to promote all of the great things going on at Price Hill Will and throughout the neighborhood. He lives with his wife and daughter on a small farm along the river, where they love to garden, feed the horses and travel when they get a chance.
KRISTIN SUESS, Price Hill Financial Opportunity Center
A transplant to Cincinnati, Kristin bought her first and current home in Price Hill after a laborious search with a Realtor who insisted that the home they were looking for “would be found on the West Side.” She has 10 years experience in not-for-profits, with 4 years experience in program management and partner relations. Suess holds a dual master’s degree—MBA/MA in Arts Administration from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music. She is an Alumni of C-Change, Class 2 (2007), and worked on the Mayor’s Young Professional Kitchen Cabinet. Suess is very involved in her church, serving in a leadership position for the last 4 years, and she moonlights at the Aronoff Center. Kristin and her high school sweetheart Jeff recently welcomed their first child, Dashiell. In her diminishing free time, Kristin engages in Literary Escapism, Home Improvement Efforts, and various Arts & Culture pursuits. Her goal for the Price Hill Financial Opportunity Center is to make it a hub of family prosperity and contribute to Price Hill’s status as a destination neighborhood.
DIANA VAKHARIA, Director of Operations
Before the age of 5, Diana had lived in 2 countries and 3 states. Her family settled in Fairborn, Ohio where her uncle was serving in the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. In 1998, she moved to Cincinnati, Ohio to attend the University of Cincinnati as a Communication major. She spent her junior year of college living with a family in the province of Madrid, Spain where she studied the Spanish language and culture. Through these and other life experiences, she has developed an appreciation for the thoughts and experiences of others, a community’s unique sense of place, and civic participation. Diana started at Price Hill Will in 2003 as an AmeriCorps VISTA/Sisters of Notre Dame AmeriCorps community organizer. She was hired as Director of Community Organizing in 2005 and is currently serving as Director of Operations. Her role includes working with the business community to revitalize the neighborhood’s business districts.