The recently elected a new chair and added a new member to its Board of Directors. Robert W. McDonald began a two-year term as board chair on January 1, 2025.
McDonald is a partner at where he chairs the firm’s Cincinnati business practice group and has garnered a reputation as a leading advisor in venture capital, mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings and sports law. In addition to the Freedom Center, he serves on the boards of , the , , the (Immediate Past Chair) and . He joined the Freedom Center Board of Directors in November 2023 and immediately assumed the role of chair of the governance committee.
Dawn Gilmore, a member of the Freedom Center’s Board of Directors and its philanthropy committee since 2022, was elected vice chair. Gilmore, HR Leader of Merchandising, Our Brands and eCommerce at the , will continue to lend her 25 years of organizational and talent development experience to the board. In her 16 years with Kroger, she has held various roles in talent acquisition and performance development.
Michael L. Cioffi, partner at and chair of its Cincinnati office, joins the Freedom Center’s board. Cioffi is experienced in the overall management and practice of complex commercial tort and environmental litigation, including tort contract and trade disputes and representing clients against lawsuits brought by the government related to a variety of state and federal environmental programs. He has served as Assistant Attorney General for the State of Ohio. In addition to the Freedom Center, he has served as a member of various local boards, including the , Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the . He’s a supporter of several civic and charitable organizations, including Career Women of Achievement, , , , the , and .
Kenneth B. Robinson, the Freedom Center’s outgoing chair, served two terms as board chair between 2021 and 2024. Under Robinson’s board leadership, the Freedom Center navigated the COVID pandemic and the organization’s transition to a post-COVID model. A major focus of his board leadership was the upcoming comprehensive exhibit remake strategy and campaign planning while also strengthening organizational capacity to launch new DEIB training initiatives, new programming models, collections expansion and more. Robinson was a founding member of the Board of Directors in 2000. He will remain on the board as immediate past chair.
The Freedom Center’s full Board of Directors roster can be found at .