Juilfs Reappointed Chairman; Slone, Weissenrieder and Whitehead Named Directors of the Cincinnati Office of the FRBC

George C. Juilfs, president and chief executive officer of SENCORP, Newport, Kentucky, has been reappointed chairman of the board of directors of the Cincinnati Office of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. In addition, Mary Ellen Slone, chairman and chief executive officer of Meridian Communications in Lexington, Kentucky; Benedict Weissenrieder, chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Hocking Valley Bank in Athens, Ohio; and Charles Whitehead, president of the Ashland Inc. Foundation in Covington, Kentucky, have been appointed directors of the Cincinnati Office of the Cleveland Reserve Bank. The appointments were effective January 1, 2001.

George C. Juilfs is president and chief executive officer of SENCORP, a Cincinnati-area holding company with subsidiaries that manufacture and market fastening systems, and commercialize health-care technologies.

Mr. Juilfs also serves on the board of directors of Cinergy (a public utility holding company) and the Cinergy Foundation, and is a member of the Cincinnati Business Committee, The Presidents' Club of Cincinnati, the Commercial Club, and the Queen City Club. As trustee of The Juilfs Foundation, and through his personal efforts, Mr. Juilfs actively supports a number of civic and charitable endeavors.

Mr. Juilfs attended the University of Cincinnati, where he majored in business administration.

Mary Ellen (nee McEwan) Slone is the chairman and chief executive officer of Meridian Communications, a full-service marketing, advertising, and public relations firm headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky. Mrs. Slone founded the company in 1975 as MER Advertising.

Mrs. Slone was named Lexington's Outstanding Woman in Business in 1989, 1995, and 1999. She was also inducted into the University of Kentucky College of Communications Hall of Fame in 1994.

Mrs. Slone serves as president of the board of the Lexington Humane Society. She also serves on the boards of the Downtown Lexington Corporation, the YMCA, Moveable Feast (an initiative to feed homebound AIDs patients), and the Kentucky Independent College Foundation. She is a past chair of the Greater Lexington Chamber of Commerce and the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra.

A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Mrs. Slone graduated in 1960 from Cleveland Heights High School in Cleveland, Ohio. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Kentucky in 1968 and completed the MIT-Harvard Public Disputes Program at Harvard Law School in 1995.

Benedict "Bick" Weissenrieder is chairman, president and chief executive officer of Hocking Valley Bank in Athens, Ohio, and Hocking Valley BancShares. Mr. Weissenrieder joined the bank in 1973. He was named executive vice president in 1981 and chairman, president, and CEO in 1998. Mr. Weissenrieder is active in a number of civic and professional organizations. He is a member of the American Bankers Association Community Bank Council and the Ohio Bankers Association Group 5 Executive Committee. He is also treasurer of the Athens Community Improvement Corporation and a member of the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine Advisory Board and the University's Innovation Center Advisory Board. Mr. Weissenrieder is a past president of the Ohio Bankers Association and a former member of the Small Bank Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. A native of York, Pennsylvania, Mr. Weissenreider earned a B.S. degree in business management from The Pennsylvania State University in State College, Pennsylvania. He is also a graduate of the Bank Administration Institute School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin. Charles Whitehead is president of the Ashland Inc. Foundation in Covington, Kentucky. Mr. Whitehead joined Ashland Inc. in 1963. He was named director of equal opportunity affairs in 1973, and director of selection and placement in 1980. He assumed his current position in 1998. Mr. Whitehead is active in a number of local and national organizations. He is a national board member of the NAACP and serves on the Executive Committee of the National Council on Aging. He is also on the board of the United Way and Community Chest of the Greater Cincinnati. --more-- Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Cincinnati Office Directors, page 3. Born in Clarksdale, Mississippi, Mr. Whitehead spent his youth in Lincoln Heights, Ohio. He received a B.S. degree from Central State University and served as a captain in the U.S. Army. Mr. Whitehead received the 1999 Marshall University John Deaver Drinko Distinguished Service Award, and the 2000 Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce A. D. Albright Award for Outstanding Business Individual.

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland is one of 12 regional Reserve Banks that along with the Board of Governors in Washington DC comprise the Federal Reserve System. Part of the US central bank, the Cleveland Fed participates in the formulation of our nation’s monetary policy, supervises banking organizations, provides payment and other services to financial institutions and to the US Treasury, and performs many activities that support Federal Reserve operations System-wide. In addition, the Bank supports the well-being of communities across the Fourth Federal Reserve District through a wide array of research, outreach, and educational activities.

The Cleveland Fed, with branches in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, serves an area that comprises Ohio, western Pennsylvania, eastern Kentucky, and the northern panhandle of West Virginia.

Media contact

Doug Campbell, doug.campbell@clev.frb.org, 513.218.1892