MVCAP Appoints 2 New Members to Board of Trustees

The Mahoning Valley College Access Program is pleased to announce the addition of Magistrate Jack Pico and Dr. James Ritter to its board of trustees.  Their service began with unanimous board approval on June 12, 2020 and both will serve a three-year term. 

John J. “Jack” Pico has been a practicing attorney for more than 30 years.  He earned his Juris Doctorate from the University of Akron School of Law after several years of working in the banking industry.  He currently serves as Magistrate of the Trumbull County Family Court, in which he adjudicates divorce, dissolution, custody, support, juvenile criminal, civil contempt and visitation cases.   Prior to his present position, his law practice included a partnership at Betras, Maruca, Kopp & Harshman, where he headed the firm’s Domestic Relations division.  His earlier work for Roth, Stephens & Blair, focused on domestic relations, business and employment law.  He has also taught business law courses at Youngstown State University.

He is certified as a divorce mediator, serving as a moderator and presenter on juvenile and domestic relations topics, and he participates on committees for both the Mahoning and Trumbull County Bar Associations. Jack’s community service includes serving as director on numerous non-profit boards and coaching varsity softball for John F. Kennedy High School.  He has also appeared on WKBN’s Legally Speaking radio program and the WFMJ 21 Morning Show as a legal commentator. 

James M. Ritter, Ph.D. has spent nearly 30 years in education, with 25 of those years being in higher education, serving students at Kent State University’s Trumbull Campus. He started as an admissions counselor and advanced to Director of Enrollment Management, Student Services and Advising. He also served as Director of Undergraduate Student Services at YoungstownState University’s Williamson College of Business Administration. He earned his Ph.D. in educational administration at Kent State University, where he also earned an educational specialist degree in organizational development. He also has an MBA from Youngstown State University. Jim served five years as an educational consultant at the Ohio Department of Education.

A well-known scholar, presenter and teacher, he traveled to Oxford, England in July 2019, where he presented “A College Completion Program That Works!” to the International Roundtable.  Earlier that year, he co-presented “The Grit Academy” to the Northeastern Ohio Academic Advising Conference. He has taught first-year experience courses and co-taught a graduate course on financial management in education. His community service includes serving on advisory boards with Trumbull Career & Technical Center in both Career Development and Business & Information Technology. Additionally, Jim has served as the first vice president and member of the board of directors for the Warren Kiwanis Club and as a member of the board for Northeast Ohio Adoption Services.

“We’re so glad to welcome these two outstanding individuals to our board,” said Gerri Jenkins, MVCAP executive director. “They bring such great knowledge and experience – from a professional, personal and community standpoint – and we know they’ll both be wonderful assets to help further our mission.”

For more information about MVCAP or to see a full list of board members, click here.

The Mahoning Valley College Access Program provides services to students and families through the presence of college guides and advisors who receive support from AmeriCorps and CollegeNow as part of Serve Ohio. MVCAP college guides currently serve Warren G Harding, Youngtown East and Chaney High Schools and the Youngstown Rayen Early College, as well as Campbell High School, and help students with financial advising, deciding on career paths and more.