In his Aug. 7 essay “Pull together for veterans,” distributed by Hearst Wires, U.S. Army Col. David Sutherland said veterans do not receive the services they need.

U.S. Army Col. David Sutherland

Sutherland, a Toledo native and Bowling Green State University graduate, said there is an “overabundance of veterans groups” with “redundant efforts.”

“Each [veteran] has unique capabilities and may have unique needs,” Sutherland said. “Yet in many cases … you see cookie-cutter solutions as opposed to individual services.”

Sutherland said it’s common that veterans come home to families and communities looking for meaningful connections but are overwhelmed trying to find them.

“It’s confusing to the point where they may not ask for assistance, because they don’t know where to go,” Sutherland said.

Contrary to popular belief, Sutherland said veterans do not come home to big government organizations providing help; solutions are mainly found on the local level. Such efforts should be consolidated, he said.

Sutherland said veterans need “wrap-around services” such as education, access to health care and employment opportunities.

“Every need and opportunity for us can be looked at in a continuum, a continuum that includes our families,” Sutherland said.

In response to these needs, Sutherland and U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Kim Mitchell founded the Dixon Center for Military and Veterans Community Services in July 2012.

It serves as a partnership with Easter Seals, which has been providing services to the military and veteran communities since 1945. Together, the organizations establish a network of service providers and local leaders to better the military, veterans and the families of veterans. The center is working nationwide but the physical headquarters is located in Washington, D.C.

The center is named in honor of Staff Sgt. Donnie Dixon, who was in charge of Sutherland’s security in Iraq. He was killed Sept. 29, 2007, during a firefight in Balour, Iraq.

“Besides the fact that Dixon died while ensuring my security, he’s also representative of most of the service members that have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Sutherland said. “He was a noncommissioned officer, he was a husband, he was a father, he was on his second deployment and he was a volunteer.”

Sutherland joined the military Sept. 23, 1983. He commanded the U.S. combat brigade in Diyala Province, Iraq, from 2006-07 and served as the special assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2009-12.

Sutherland retired in 2012 and transitioned from one “life-calling career to another,” he said. He now serves as a vocal advocate and mentor for service members, veterans, military families and the families of the fallen.

“The bonds that exist on the battlefield are unlike any bonds that you can imagine, and when we come home those bonds are ripped apart,” he said.

Sutherland said he still talks to the men he served with and people contact him for advice every day. It is in their honor that he advocates.

“Veterans are committing suicide at a rate of 22 a day; one in five female veterans is homeless; the unemployment rate for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans right now is 10 percent and over 20 percent for 18- through 28-year-old veterans,” Sutherland said. “Unemployment, homelessness and suicide should never be used in the same sentence as veterans and military families.”

Sutherland said he came back from Iraq feeling like he didn’t fit in.

“I have a very strong family and a very strong support group and I was able to get the resources and support I needed because I was still serving in the military,” he said.

He said veterans face dark times after homecomings. To help them cope, Sutherland said he encourages veterans to talk and asks them where they see themselves in five years and how they plan to achieve that goal.

Sutherland has interacted with leaders such as former director of the CIA David Petraeus. He also attended a state dinner for Iraqi war veterans at the White House that President Obama attended.

In February, Sutherland was honored with the Daily Point of Light Award, an award established by former President George H.W. Bush from the Points of Light Foundation. It “honors individuals and groups creating meaningful change in communities across America,” according to a news release.

Sutherland was inducted into BGSU’s ROTC program’s hall of fame.

“That was a watershed moment,” he said. “If you go to Bowling Green, you’re inextricably linked to that institution for the rest of your life.”

At the end of his essay, Sutherland argues that time should not be wasted; the time to provide such services to veterans is now. The U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan officially ends in 16 months and the more than 2 million Americans who were deployed will be coming home.

“We forget about the war; American people cannot forget about the veterans and the military families,” he said.

The essay may be read in full at www.sutherlandpartnership.com.

Ottawa Hills High School graduate Cleveland O’Neal III is busy with several projects. Three weekly television shows will premiere their new seasons soon from Connection III Entertainment Corp., of which he is founder and CEO.

One of his shows, “Made In Hollywood,” is a behind-the scenes look at how new released movies were made. The show, which began in 2005, was created, written and executive produced by O’Neal and has featured stars like Angelina Jolie, Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Sandra Bullock and Johnny Depp.

O’Neal said the inspiration for the show was the entertainment media’s focus on controversy. Last week, outlets were discussing Miley Cyrus more than anything else, O’Neal said.

“Whatever it is, it generally has nothing to do with this week’s movie releases,” he said. “Gossip and tabloid have sort of overcome [the entertainment industry].”

O’Neal responded by making a series showing how movies are made. “Made In Hollywood” will begin its ninth season this week. It is available in more than 25 countries around the world.

“That’s been very exciting for us because of course American movies are global, and you really recognize that as you go around the world and watch international channels,” O’Neal said. “It’s just thrilling to us to see the brand grow globally and it’s thrilling to us to get out in the world and recognize how much the world appreciates American cinema.”

“Made In Hollywood” airs at 2 p.m. Saturdays on Toledo’s WT05 -TV (The CW) (12:30 p.m. Sundays on WKBD (The CW) Detroit).

A spin-off show, “Made In Hollywood: Teen Edition,” will begin its eighth nationally syndicated TV season on WUPW-TV (FOX) airing at 9:30 a.m. Saturdays (1 p.m. Saturdays on WKBD (the CW) Detroit), O’Neal said.

Another show, “Live Life and Win!”, will launch its third season on WT05 (the CW) airing at 1:30 p.m. Saturdays on WT05 (the CW) in Toledo (10:30 a.m. Saturdays on WJBK (FOX) in Detroit), according to a news release.

Together, the three shows are available in 107 million homes with a gross average audience of 5.5 million viewers, according to a news release.

“Live Life and Win!” is an informational weekly TV series with a goal to inspire young viewers with teen success stories. It includes segments focusing on the arts, school, sports, exercise, nutrition, health and wellness. O’Neal said he wanted to create after-school specials.

“Ironically, there are no after-school specials anymore. Once the Oprahs of the world and the Ellens of the world came, there was no more room for after-school specials,”he said.

O’Neal began Connection III Entertainment 15 years ago, writing a business plan while attending Boston University.

“As they say, ‘put it in writing, it happens,’” O’Neal said. Albeit, not overnight. He said he had plenty of day jobs along the way.

“We’ve come a long way but it wasn’t easy in the beginning.”

O’Neal’s company is an award-winning, Emmy-nominated multifaceted media company with licensees and sponsors including broadcast and cable networks (HBO, Lifetime, CBS, Starz, ABC Family), major studios (Lionsgate, NBC Universal) and local U.S. broadcast affiliates (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, CW).

His local roots are still strong. O’Neal was the first African-American to graduate from Ottawa Hills High School. He was inducted into the Ottawa Hills Hall of Fame as part of the first group of honorees.

“It was indicative to the time period, I think,” O’Neal said. “At the time, we were one of the first families to attend the elementary school and the high school. We’re talking mid-’70s, so things were racially in the early stages of progression.”

Toledo native Sam Mallette III describes his work as similar to “Date Doctor” Alex Hitchens, the character portrayed by Will Smith in “Hitch.”

Sam Mallette III will host a relationship workshop at 7 p.m. Oct. 4 at Maumee Indoor Theatre. Toledo Free Press photo by Joseph Herr

“I’m like him times 100 — mixed with a little Iyanla Vanzant, Oprah and Bishop T.D. Jakes or Dr. Phil,” Mallette said, laughing. “What I do really stems from what Will was doing in the movie. I’ve just really enhanced it.”

The self-taught relationship expert will offer a new workshop, “Secrets Every Man Should Know to Make His Woman Happy,” at 7 p.m. Oct. 4 at Maumee Indoor Theatre, 601 Conant St.

“I’m going to tell men in man language what women are trying to tell them in women language and it’s not working,” Mallette said.

Cost is $15 for one ticket or $25 for two tickets. Tickets are available at the offices of The Toledo Journal, 3021 Douglas Road; Promises Hair & Nail Salon, 3205 W. Central Ave.; or Powell’s Beauty Supply, 901 Nebraska Ave. Part of the proceeds will go to Project Genesis, a program of Family Service of Northwest Ohio, to fight domestic violence.

The workshop is open to all.

“The title of this one insinuates it’s just for men, but it’s for men and women,” Mallette said. “And it’s not just for couples either. A lot of this stuff will work in basic relationships with family or friends.”

Mallette regularly advises men to be students of their significant other.

“I’m a huge advocate of men studying who their woman is. You should be doing that all the time,” Mallette said. “You can’t be lazy to be in a relationship. You’ve got to want to master her. It’s fun. It’s just work.”

A woman needs to be seduced emotionally, intellectually, sexually, spiritually and physically, he said.

“If you can tap into all five of those areas at the same time, where you are feeding her mind, her emotions, all that, you become the greatest super-being that she’s ever met and vice versa,” he said, laughing. “It’s not as hard as people think.”

At the workshop, Mallette will address what he calls the Triple A’s.

“The most basic things you have to do for a woman on a daily basis — and it takes maybe one to four minutes per day — is you have to give her in some way affection, attention or appreciation,” Mallette said. “You don’t have to be doing all three, but you have to be doing at least one of those per day.”

The tendency of women to talk more than men will also be addressed.

“Most men, when women be blah blah blah, think, ‘Why is she just talking? Will you please shut up?’” Mallette said. “I’m going to explain to men how when a woman is talking to you she’s trying to connect with you and what that connection and that intimacy means.”

Samology

Mallette’s path to relationship expert was forged in an unlikely place — divorce. He and his wife of seven years split in 2003.

“Divorce is pretty rare in my family. There’s very few of us that ever got divorced. My parents just celebrated their 46th anniversary,” Mallette said. “Normally when people go through dramatic things like that they either say, ‘Well, I hate all women,’ or ‘Let me find out what really happened.’”

Mallette chose the second route.

“At first I had to do my own introspection. I examined me, I examined what she did, what I did and then what we did together, bad, good and ugly,” he said. “That’s what started me on this journey.”

Mallette followed with observation of and research on human behavior, both of which led to the development of the set of philosophies he now refers to as Samology. He calls his workshops the Sambition series.

The Oct. 4 presentation will be the third talk in the series. The first addressed why men cheat and the second was “Secrets Every Woman Should Know About Men.” During the second seminar, Mallette highlighted respect, ego and the visual.

“I don’t think women really understand how far that goes in a man,” Mallette said. “No. 4 would be sex.”

He said all his presentations are humorous and interactive.

“I like for my audience to talk back. Sometimes I might point you out. We have a lot of fun,” Mallette said. “I love to give people theory and then give them practical application. When you get up from the seat, you can immediately put this into practice.”

Mallette said he hopes attendees leave more hopeful than they arrive.

“Divorce rates are so high and women don’t believe there are good men out there and men don’t believe there are good women,” he said. “I want them to realize there is hope and then once you get it, you can really make it work and have fun doing it.”

Mallette, a graduate of Macomber-Whitney Vocational Technical High School, will soon debut a column for Toledo Free Press. He has a bachelor’s degree international business and business management from Lourdes College, a master’s in higher education administration from the University of Toledo and a doctorate of divinity from the School of Bible Theology Seminary and University in California.

TARTA debuted its new computerized bus-locating system on Sept. 24, allowing riders to pinpoint the real-time location of their bus and its estimated time of arrival at their stop.

TARTA General Manager James Gee introduces TARTA Tracker during at a press conference Sept. 24. Toledo Free Press Photo by Sarah Ottney

TARTA Tracker uses satellites and predictive computer software to generate the position of buses and predict arrival times, said Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority (TARTA) general manager James Gee during a news conference at Downtown Toledo’s Park Station.

“When you walk to a bus stop the first thing you think is, ‘When is my bus going to be here?’ and this answers that question,” Gee said. “It takes the uncertainly out of your bus ride.”

The tracker can be accessed from a computer, smartphone or mobile device by visiting

TARTATracker.com. Riders can view routes, locate nearby stops or search by street name or route number to view a list of stops and bus arrival times.

Those without Internet access can call TARTA at (419) 243-RIDE (7433) to speak with a representative using TARTA Tracker in the office. Riders can also sign up for alerts via text message, email or browser, letting them know, for example, when their bus is 15 minutes away from their stop, Gee said.

“The alerts were available before, but only with printed schedule information,” Gee said. “Now we’re providing real-time information, which is new.”

Tracking is currently available for a few hundred stops on TARTA’s busiest bus routes, but the goal is to eventually provide TARTA Tracker information for all 2,400 bus stops, Gee said.

“We’ve been tracking the buses with GPS technology for several years. What we’ve done now is taken our GPS information and overlaid on top of that real-time schedule information and predictive schedule information,” Gee said.

About 65 percent of TARTA’s passengers use smartphones, according to data collected during the past year of research and development leading up to the launch of TARTA Tracker. The bus line reports 12,000 passenger boardings per day.

“We are changing how customers interact with TARTA. All in all, we’re not the same old TARTA,” Gee said. “We’ll be able to provide better information to you and, as a result, you the customer will be able to make better decisions on how to use our service.”

Leading wave

The TARTA Tracker technology and website was developed by Clever Devices, a Woodbury, N.Y.-based company. The mobile website was developed by Maumee-based Hart.

“We’re not the first city to do this, but we’re on the leading part of the wave,” Gee said. “Around Ohio, Cleveland has a similar product, but I’m not sure if anyone else does yet.”

The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority debuted a real-time tracker system called NextConnect last year.

About 300 transit systems in 41 states use one of Clever Devices’ transportation technology products, although not all use the bus-tracking technology, said director of marketing Amy Miller, who said the company is the largest of its type in North America.

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About 25 transit systems utilize real-time passenger information products similar to Toledo’s, including Chicago Transit Authority and the Ohio State University bus system, Miller said.

TARTA Tracker heralds a “new era” for TARTA, said Steve Atkinson, director of marketing, at the news conference.

“The TARTA Tracker is a totally new way of answering passenger questions, such as ‘Where is the nearest TARTA bus stop?’ ‘What bus should I take?’ ‘Is my bus on time?’ To answer these and many other questions is now as close as your computer, your mobile device or your phone.”

QR codes are being installed on TARTA buses, shelters and stations. The codes will automatically access the TARTA Tracker when scanned by a mobile device.

Rider reponse

Shaheed Rashad of Toledo said he normally doesn’t stress about bus schedules because he is self-employed and has a flexible schedule, but said TARTA Tracker will be handy when it gets cold.

“Especially in the winter season, you might not want to be out waiting for a long period of time,” Rashad said. “I can look on my computer before I leave and … I might wait for five minutes, but at least I know it’s coming and it’s not delayed or I missed it.”

Rashad’s fiancée, Shelly Taylor of Toledo, said she likes the idea of being able to track her son’s bus to and from school.

“It’s convenient for someone with kids. I wait for my son Downtown and we go home together so for me it’d be convenient to know about what time he’s going to come,” Taylor said. “It’s peace of mind. To me, it’s really beneficial.”

Owens Community College student Bryanna Simpson of Toledo said she would use TARTA Tracker to time catching her bus to and from school.

“Sometimes you don’t know if it’s going to be late, or like this morning, it was a couple minutes early, so if you don’t know that, you might miss it,” Simpson said. “If you knew that, it would be more helpful.”

TARTA Tracker is not available for Call-A-Ride or Toledo Area Regional Paratransit Service (TARPS), which provide at-home pickup of riders. For more information, visit TARTA Tracker.com.

Riders who access TARTA Tracker via a computer will see this screen.

One-hundred-fifty years to the day Lucas County gained its first two Medal of Honor recipients, three more men were granted their rightful place on a courthouse plaque honoring the achievement.

Added to the plaque were Civil War veteran Christian Albert, Spanish-American War veteran Peter Johnson and World War II veteran Hulon Whittington.

Lucas County Commissioner Carol Contrada, left, with Linda Swartz, great-great-granddaughter of Civil War veteran Wilson Brown, and Roxanne Whittington Jones, daughter of World War II veteran Hulon Whittington with the Lucas County Medal of Honor plaque. Toledo Free Press photo by Sarah Ottney

The modified plaque was rededicated in a Sept. 17 ceremony attended by elected officials, leaders of local veterans organizations and two direct descendents of Lucas County Medal of Honor recipients. The original plaque was dedicated in 2003 during Ohio’s bicentennial.

The plaque, located on the second floor of the Lucas County Courthouse in Downtown Toledo, now lists 19 names of recipients who were born in, lived in, entered service in, died in or were buried in Lucas County.

The Medal of Honor is awarded by the military for “gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty,” said Lucas County Commissioner Carol Contrada.

The three missing names were brought to the attention of the commissioners by Marine Corps veteran Nick Haupricht, the chairman of Remembrance Inc., a local group dedicated to building and refurbishing war memorials in Northwest Ohio.

Albert, who died and is buried in Toledo, earned the Medal of Honor for his actions on May 22, 1863, during the siege of Vicksburg, Miss. Confederate surrenders at Vicksburg and Gettysburg, Pa., soon after are considered the turning point of the Civil War, Contrada said.

Johnson, who died in Toledo, was a fireman on board the USS Vixen in Cuba on May 28, 1898.

He responded to a boiler room explosion, saving the lives of those on board the ship, including future president Theodore Roosevelt, Contrada said.

Whittington, who married a Toledo native and died in Toledo, was serving in Grimesnil, France, on July 29, 1944, when his platoon came under enemy attack. According to his Medal of Honor citation, Whittington assumed command when his platoon leader and platoon sergeant went missing in action. He reorganized the defense and, while under fire, crawled between gun positions to check the actions of his men.

As a line of German tanks attempted to penetrate a roadblock, “Sgt. Whittington, completely disregarding intense enemy action, mounted a tank and by shouting through the turret, directed it into position to fire pointblank at the leading Mark V German tank. The destruction of this vehicle blocked all movement of the remaining enemy column consisting of more than 100 vehicles of a Panzer unit. The blocked vehicles were then destroyed by hand grenades, bazooka, tank, and artillery fire and large numbers of enemy personnel were wiped out by a bold and resolute bayonet charge inspired by Sgt. Whittington. When the medical aid man had become a casualty, Sgt. Whittington personally administered first aid to his wounded men.”

Whittington’s daughter Roxanne Whittington Jones of Bowling Green, and Linda Swartz of Perrysburg, the great-great-granddaughter of Civil War veteran Wilson Brown, spoke briefly at the ceremony.

Jones said her father regularly gave speeches about military service, but rarely spoke about the particulars of his own service.

“We are very proud. He would have been truly humbled by the recognition,” Jones said.

Swartz said the ceremony was “very moving.”

“It means a lot to us,” Swartz said. “It’s an honor. It’s great.”

Brown and fellow Lucas County Medal of Honor recipient Mark Wood met President Abraham Lincoln and became Lucas County’s first Medal of Honor recipients on Sept. 17, 1863. Both men took part in Andrews’ Raid, which commandeered a train in April 1862 and destroyed bridges, rails and Confederate supply lines between Atlanta and Chattanooga, Tenn.

The plaque was modified by Columbus-based Columbus Art Memorial, the same company that cast the original plaque. The cost was $1,500, paid for by the Lucas County Commissioners’ miscellaneous fund. The commissioners declared Sept. 17 Lucas County Medal of Honor Day.

One name on the plaque, Civil War veteran Charles Thompson, is disputed by Haupricht, who believes Thompson was born in Perrysburg and has no connection to Lucas County. Haupricht has lobbied to remove Thompson’s name from the Lucas County plaque since he appears on the Medal of Honor plaque in Wood County, which was installed in 2012, but Contrada said records aren’t clear as to which county Thompson belongs and that it doesn’t hurt to honor him twice.

The first thing to know about TEDxToledo: It’s not named after a guy named Ted.

Will Lucas curated the inaugural TEDx event in Toledo last year. Toledo Free Press photo and cover photo by Joseph Herr

“A lot of people ask, ‘Who is Ted?’” said Will Lucas, curator of the Sept. 19 event, which will feature 23 speakers on topics ranging from art, music, science, business, politics and more.

TEDx events are local talks based on the global conference series TED, which stands for technology, entertainment and design. Its slogan is “Ideas worth spreading.”

“We were looking for people who not only have good ideas or a perspective on how to reimagine Toledo, but are actually doing something,” Lucas said.

Lucas, who also curated Toledo’s inaugural TEDx event last year, said the idea is to “bolster our level of thinking” by bringing together people who don’t typically get to interact.

“It’s an opportunity to show people something outside of their box,” Lucas said. “There will be people who would never have had the opportunity to sit next to each other. That’s what I’m most excited about.”

Last year’s TEDxToledo sold out and Lucas expects this year’s event to as well. It’s set for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 19 at One SeaGate (the Fifth Third Bank building). Tickets are $75.

“We still hear ripples of positive feedback from last year’s event from people who said it changed their whole perspective on Toledo, even people who have been here for a long time,” Lucas said.

The title of this year’s event is reIMAGINE. Each speaker will have the stage for eight to 18 minutes.

“We want to reimagine what Toledo is,” Lucas said. “Historically we’ve been a manufacturing hub, which has kind of left over the past 10 years. We’re in the middle ground between what we were and what we could be. There’s a large group that wants to be what we were and a large group that wants to be what we could be. What is our history and how can we build on that for the future of Toledo?”

Speakers

An opportunity to think about the direction Northwest Ohio is headed is why City of Oregon Administrator Michael Beazley is most excited to speak at TEDxToledo.

“One of the things I want to really emphasize is there’s not one solution,” Beazley said. “We need to try a lot of things to move a community forward. The notion that we can just find that one thing and all our problems can be solved, I don’t think it’s realistic for most places.”

Mike Osswald, vice president of experience innovation at Hanson Inc., said his TEDx talk will focus on “making sense of marketing in the digital age.”

“All these rapid changes we’re seeing in technology, even just in the last three to four years of consumer electronics, websites and apps, the pace of it is like never before and it’s changing how people live and make decisions about what to buy and how they want to interact with companies,” Osswald said. “For marketers trying to keep up with all the new stuff, it’s like drinking out of a fire hose. It’s almost impossible. [But] as much as things have changed, a lot of it is the same. I want people who are in business to realize they know more than they think they do.”

Osswald spoke at a TEDx event hosted by Bowling Green State University in 2011.

“When you put all those different disciplines together in a room, synergy happens. It really creates new ideas and opportunities for all the different people involved,” Osswald said. “Creativity often comes when you’re not thinking directly at something but thinking around it, and that’s what TEDx does.”

Artist Jefferson Nelson said he plans to discuss the utopian ideal of choosing “autonomy over profit,” with the goal of getting his listeners to think about the value in doing the things they don’t get paid for.

“My biggest goal is to get people to do the things they are passionate about and not just think about making money,” said Nelson, who sculpts, draws, paints and works on art installations. “In an ideal world, I’d basically take making money out of the equation for everyone and have us function in a way that’s about the greater good.”

FREEPRETEDX

Nelson is partnering with a few other TEDxToledo presenters, including Toledo Museum of Art Director Brian Kennedy, Launch Pad Cooperative Co-director Crystal Phelps, musician Dean Tartaglia, architect Paul Sullivan and Instagrammer Ben Morales, to offer their talks for free at 5 p.m. Sept. 15 at the Ottawa Tavern, 1817 Adams St. For more information, check out FREEPRETEDX on Facebook.

“It’s a chance for us to practice and also a less formal chance for people who can’t afford the tickets to come out and hear a few of the talks,” Nelson said.

For the past two years, Morales has collected historical Toledo photographs and photographed them in front of the modern-day locations. He calls the series Toledo Rephotography.

“It was the juxtaposition of old and new that really grabbed me,” Morales said. “Hopefully learning and connecting to the past will enable people to take ownership of the community and be involved in it, therefore helping to control its future path.”

Adam Mahler, owner of Ampelography Fine Wine Sales and Marketing, said he hopes TEDxToledo inspires attendees to look at Toledo differently.

“The wine business isn’t something you think about being in Toledo,” Mahler said. “I hope [attendees] realize that Toledo’s unique limitations are no greater than any other city’s unique limitations and if you are smart and assertive about it you can figure out how to make any place work for you and turn what could be a perceived negative into something you can use to your advantage.”

Before Mahler founded Ampelography in 2009, he listened to a lot of TED talks.

“I really got inspired,” Mahler said. “It helped me recalibrate the way I thought about business and how to build an enthusiastic community for a product. Over the years, every time I had a question I’ve gone back to it.”

Morales and others said they are excited to hear the other speakers.

“I love to watch people talk about stuff they are passionate about,” Morales said. “Plus, I like that they are short and sweet. They get right to the meat of the talk, not a drawn-out lecture.”

Other speakers include Ballard Architectural Studio owner Andre Ballard; Great Lakes Institute founder Dave Beckwith; ex-atheist and University Church pastor Julian Davies; Blade crime reporter Taylor Dungjen; Toledo Public Schools Interim Superintendent Romules Durant; University of Toledo President Emeritus Dan Johnson; Toledo historian and North Shore Strategy Managing Principal Tedd Long; ProMedica President and CEO Randy Oostra; Root Learning co-founder Randy Root; Leadership Toledo Executive Director Dave Schlaudecker; political strategist Gabrielle Seay; Bowling Green State University biology professor Karen Sirum; foodie Molly R. Thompson; and Northwest Ohio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Director Robert Torres.

For more information, visit the website www.tedxtoledo.com.