Shaker Heights Public Library is a school-district library serving the same geographic area as the schools. The Library Board of Trustees has complete authority and responsibility to make policy decisions regarding library programs and services, property, staff and budget. Members of the Library Board of Trustees are appointed to seven-year terms by the Shaker Heights Board of Education and serve without pay. The Board generally meets at 6:30 p.m. the third Monday of each month. All library board meetings are open to the public.
Trustee Profiles
Thomas A. Cicarella, President
Term: 2018 – 2025
Thomas Cicarella was formerly a partner in the law firm of Calfee, Halter, and Griswold, LLC where he specialized in leveraged buyouts and domestic and international financing. He is currently General Counsel of Fresh Mark, Inc. He is a graduate of Indiana University and the Indiana University School of Law. Cicarella served two terms as president of the Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity board and was on that board for over 20 years. He was on the board of the Cleveland Law Library for over ten years. Additionally, he has served on the board of a number of privately-held companies. He lives in the Malvern area with his wife, Ann. The couple has three grown sons. Contact Mr. Cicarella.
Laura Barnard, Vice President
Term: 2022 – 2027
Laura Barnard is the Executive Vice President and Provost at Lakeland Community College. She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Mount Holyoke College, and is a licensed attorney having earned a Juris Doctorate degree from The Ohio State University College of Law. She currently serves as a trustee of the Lake County Bar Association, is a past chair of the Ohio Association of Community College’s Chief Academic Officers’ Group, and served as a member of the Board of Trustees of Suburban Temple Kol-Ami. She has lived in the Mercer area with her husband, Tom, for more than 30 years and has two adult daughters. Contact Dr. Barnard.
Emily Cole-Kelly
Term: 2024-2026
Emily Cole-Kelly is a dedicated and passionate non-profit development and fundraising professional with over 20 years of experience. She is currently working with Birthing Beautiful Communities, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing holistic prenatal, birthing and postpartum services to expectant Black women. She has held leadership roles at numerous non-profit institutions including The Paris Review and The Battery Conservancy in New York City and Geography of Hope and The Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago. She returned to Shaker with her family in the summer of 2022. The first thing they did was get library cards. Emily loves to run and lives in the Onaway neighborhood. She and her two boys can regularly be spotted at the library checking out a laundry basket full of books. Contact Ms. Cole-Kelly
Bruce Rogen
Term: 2021-2028
Bruce Rogen, MD MPH FACP, is the Chief Medical Officer for the Cleveland Clinic Employee Health Plan and Chair of the Cleveland Clinic Quality Alliance. He grew up in Shaker Heights around the corner from the Bertram Woods Branch. He graduated from Brown University and received his MD and MPH degrees from Tulane University Medical School. After 20 years in Los Angeles in both clinical and administrative practice, he returned to Shaker Heights to raise his family in 2009. As Chief Medical Officer for the Cleveland Clinic Employee Health Plan and Chair of the Quality Alliance, he helps the Cleveland Clinic maintain high-quality care for its employees and dependents and assists community physicians with both practice support and quality enhancement. Dr. Rogen lives in the Mercer area with his family. Contact Dr. Rogen.
Rajani Tendulkar
Term: 2023-2030
Rajani Tendulkar is the Administrative Director of Translational Research at the Cleveland Clinic. She received her Masters of Healthcare Administration from The Ohio State University and has spent the past 20 years working in hospital systems in NE Ohio. She has been active in the Shaker Heights community, through the schools and assisting with other community initiatives. She currently lives in the Malvern area with her husband and two daughters. Contact Ms. Tendulkar
Milton Alan Turner
Term: 2024 – 2029
Milton Alan Turner has taught French and Spanish at Saint Ignatius High School since 1987. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in French and Linguistics from Georgetown University and two master’s degrees from Cleveland State University in Educational Technology and in Global Interactions. He currently serves on the Board of ACTFL as its President-Elect, on the AATF Commission on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, is a member of La Maison Française de Cleveland’s Board of Directors and is an NAACP Silver Life member. He was awarded a 2000 MBNA Excellence in Education Grant, named a 2011 Microsoft US Innovative Educator, chosen the 2014 Ohio World Language Teacher of the Year, listed in the 2017 Who’s Who in Black Cleveland, and won the Saint Ignatius High School Trailblazer Award in 2020. He lives in the Mercer area. Contact Mr. Turner.
Dylan Yépez
Term: 2024-2031
Dylan Yépez is an attorney for the Cleveland Clinic. He grew up in Shaker Heights, attending the Shaker public schools from kindergarten through high school. After graduating from Ohio State (B.A.) and Georgetown Law (J.D.), he began his career at the Cleveland office of Squire Patton Boggs and returned to Shaker, where he lives in the Lomond neighborhood with his husband, Ricardo. In his spare time, he performs pro bono legal work and enjoys reading, baking, and jogging around Shaker. Contact Mr. Yépez.
