Board of Directors

  • President of the Board

    President and CEO of Clark Reliance Corporation, President of The Figgie Foundation

    Rick Solon has more than 40 years of experience in manufacturing and operations. Hired and trained by Harry E. Figgie Jr., Rick was chosen to be in the first management development program at Figgie International.

    Rick held senior management positions at divisions of Figgie International (American LaFrance, Rawlings Sporting Goods, Scott Aviation) before becoming President of Consolidated Packaging and then Snorkel International (both Figgie International companies).

    He joined the Clark Reliance Corporation (a Figgie Family company) Board of Directors in 2003 and became President and CEO in 2006. Rick also currently serves as President of The Figgie Foundation. He is a graduate of Miami University of Ohio. When Rick’s not working, you’ll find him rooting on Cleveland’s sports teams.

  • Angel Investor/Business Advisor

    Melanie is a huge Fairmount supporter as a similar organization in her upstate NY hometown played a central role in her life.

    She grew up on construction sites (her father was a builder) and she has spent her life helping to build and grow companies. Her corporate experience includes stints at senior executive levels at Eaton Corporation in Cleveland and GlaxoSmithKline in Philadelphia and London.

    When not taking classes at Fairmount, Melanie helps startups and small businesses in northeast Ohio be more efficient and effective.

    Melanie is a graduate of SUNY Oswego and has a graduate degree from Fairleigh Dickinson. She lives in Russell with her husband Toby and their beloved Airedale, Casey.

  • Pat’s love of the Arts started young….. at the age of 5 years old….. when she walked on stage for her first tap dance recital……and Pat’s love of the Arts has never stopped!

    As a child Pat enjoyed 4+years of tap and ballet; 10+ years of classical and jazz piano; and, years of theatrical performances in school. The joy of the Arts continue to thread thru Pat’s life until today….where she continues to enjoy tap dancing; feels fortunate to live in Cleveland and attends world-class performances at Playhouse Square and Severance Hall; and now being on the Board of Fairmount Center for the Arts.

    Pat’s professional career also incorporated the Arts in several ways. After graduating from Kent State University in 1970 with a BS in Education; then an EMBA from Case Western Reserve University 1976, Pat climbed the corporate ladder in both public and private companies. She was Vice President, Sales and Marketing for Telarc International, the grammy-award winning Classical and Jazz Recording company. Pat spent nearly 20 years with American Greetings Corporation where she held numerous positions; including Vice President of the renowned Creative Division of 300+ artists, writers and graphic designers; also President of the Retail Division and Senior Vice President, Human Resources where she was the highest-ranking female in the organization. After leaving the corporate world, Pat formed a Coaching/Consulting business, GFY, Inc., where she enjoyed working with small, early-stage businesses and entrepreneurs, many in the arts-related field.

  • Retired Controller, Chief Financial Officer and President of Privately-Held Companies

    There’s no truth to the rumor that being named “Rick” helps get you on the Board at Fairmount, but playing the accordion and discovering a love of music as a child doesn’t hurt.

    In addition to his considerable accordion skills, Rick has over forty years of experience in financial and operating roles, including executive responsibilities as controller, chief financial officer and president of privately-held companies as well as subsidiaries of publicly-traded companies.

    Much of his work has been in turnaround situations. Rick also has several years of non-compensated experience in non-profit organizations. His career began with Eaton Corporation, culminating as controller of Eaton’s Advanced Products Division, located in Milwaukee.

    He subsequently became the Group Controller of Figgie International’s Technical Group and President of Figgie International’s Figgie Financial Services subsidiary, a company whose main business was financing sales of partnered equipment manufacturers, nationally.

    Since leaving Figgie Financial Services, Rick has been Chief Financial Officer of family and investor-owned privately-held companies, and most recently Chief Financial Officer of EZEnergy, a company traded in international markets. Rick also serves as Secretary of the Figgie Foundation.

    Rick is a 1969 graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and received an MBA from Kent State University in 1972. He is active in his Alma Mater’s alumni groups.

  • Sam brings a dynamic blend of arts and business experience to Fairmount. His career began in outside sales, but his lifelong passion for music soon took center stage. Putting his business ambitions on pause, Sam pursued a full-time music career, sharing stages with Lifehouse, The Verve Pipe, Lee DeWyze (American Idol), Steve Moakler, Andrew Ripp, and many others. After thousands of miles on the road, hundreds of shows, countless broken guitar strings, and the release of two studio albums, Sam realized that while music would always be a core part of his life, it no longer needed to define his career path.

    Transitioning from the music world, Sam joined a Cleveland-based digital marketing agency in 2013, setting the stage for his move to BoxCast, a video platform company that helps thousands of organizations grow and connect with their communities. As Chief Operating Officer, Sam has led BoxCast through its most significant periods of growth, successfully secured Series A funding, aligned the company with an operating system, managed key functional areas, and reached sustained profitability. He is known for fostering an empowering, inclusive, high-performance culture through servant leadership.

    A native of Buffalo, NY, Sam graduated from John Carroll University and now calls Chagrin Falls home, where he lives with his wife Alex, their ballet-loving daughter Riley, their son Everett, and their corgi, Charlie.

  • Angel Investor/Business Advisor

    Toby is a lifelong media junkie, corporate executive, entrepreneur and investor who loves building brands.

    He worked at SmithKline Beecham (now GlaxoSmithKline) in Philadelphia and London and at KeyCorp in Cleveland before jumping into the start-up world.

    As angel investors, he and his wife Melanie helped grow mental_floss into a national brand.   Since its sale in 2011, he has been an investor in several startups and an advisor for early stage companies and small businesses,  most recently with Sweet Designs Chocolatier in Lakewood.

    Toby graduated from John Carroll and has graduate degrees from Case Western Reserve and Miami (Ohio). An avid bike rider, newspaper and magazine reader and Airedale lover, Toby spends much of his free time indulging those passions. 

  • Retired Sohio/BP chemist and research and engineering manager, owner of Organizational Concepts and arts supporter

    Lorraine “Lorry” Szabo, is a retired Sohio/BP chemist and research and engineering manager, Lorry’s life has been filled with professional achievements and a distinguished record of helping arts organizations.

    After retiring in 1989, Lorry decided to use the skills acquired in her graduate education in organizational development at CWRU and in her 38-year corporate career as a consultant to small, not-for-profit organizations, mostly arts and cultural organizations.  She formed her own company, Organizational Concepts, in 1990.

    Lorry’s long-term relationship with Fairmount includes serving as a board member, president, secretary and chairperson of the Center’s Annual Juried Art Exhibition.

    In 2011, Lorry was invited to join the board of The Musical Theater Project (founded in 2000 by Bill Rudman) whose mission is to foster a greater understanding of the American musical and the culture surrounding it by creating programs that both educate and entertain people of all ages. She and Bill have been working together to promote on-site programming in senior centers and retirement communities and are working on collaborating with Fairmount. She currently serves as secretary.

    Lorry’s other noteworthy accomplishments include being the first president of the Cleveland BoyChoir when it was founded in 1991. She also serves as a trustee of the Cleveland Association of Phi Beta Kappa. The signature event of PBK is their annual Scholastic Awards Banquet at which the outstanding seniors from 120 Northeast Ohio high schools are recognized. 

    Lorry has also been a member of the Cleveland East Chi Omega Alumnae Association since she came to Cleveland in 1949 and served as its president for 6 years. In 2006, the Cleveland Association of Panhellenic Organizations named her “The Woman of the Year”. Another award followed in 2007 when she received the award for the Outstanding Chi Omega in the State of Ohio .

    Lorry is currently serving as president of the Northeast Ohio Blossom Friends of the Cleveland Orchestra whose mission is to promote and financially support the Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom. She is also a member of the Blossom State Board.