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A financial industry leader in the state who serves on the advisory board for ������Ƶ’s credits his experience as an OHIO graduate student for helping to launch his career.

Mike Adelman, president and CEO of the , got his start in public service while completing his master’s degree in public administration at OHIO, where he also earned his undergraduate degree.

“I certainly give (founding dean) Mark Weinberg and others so much credit for getting me where I am today,” he said.

Adelman also credited the guidance he received from Richard Vedder, Distinguished Professor of Economics Emeritus at OHIO, for setting him on the path to success.

At his mentors’ urging, Adelman took internships in Washington, D.C. and then in the Ohio House of Representatives budget office with one quarter to go in the master’s program.

“That put me on my career path there,” he said.

His subsequent work in state government led him to a post with the Bankers League in 2003 as vice president of State Government Relations. He was named OBL president in January of 2014.

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His goal as a Advisory Board member, he said, “really goes to economic development” and “ensuring that Ohioans have maximum opportunities to really enjoy the American dream.”

“Economic development is really stoked by the Voinovich School,” he said, citing the various initiatives including the led by Executive Director Amista Lipot. Those and other efforts at the University are aimed at “capacity building and sustainability throughout Appalachia.”

Adelman brings to the board 35 years of experience “with how the governmental process works, how banks are engrained in their communities, are the backbone of the local economy,” he said. When local banks are struggling, that means local businesses are too.

“There’s a direct correlation between the banks and their communities, so how is it I can make sure all the different levers are being tugged in a bank and help them out throughout the region,” he added. “I love getting back down to Athens and asking the question: ‘What do you need?’”

Along with his degrees from OHIO, Adelman is a graduate of the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin. His community involvements include work with his church’s mission in Guatemala supporting a pre-K through high school learning center as well as a new college-level program. He lives in Dublin with his wife and has three adult daughters.