Retired Summit County Common Pleas Court Judge Jane Bond has been appointed by Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland to The University of Akron's Board of Trustees.
As a member of UA's Board, Bond serves on the Educational/Student Affairs; External; Rules; and Strategic Issues, Governance and Compliance committees. Her term will expire in 2017.
An Akron native and current resident, Bond is a 1976 UA School of Law alumna. She has deep roots at the university, as her parents, husband and daughters are UA alumni.
"Judge Bond's ties to Akron and the university are unparalleled," says Philip Kaufmann, chairman of the UA Board of Trustees. "Her professional tenure in Akron's legal community and her personal commitment to the area will serve the university's students, faculty and staff well, and the community at large."
Bond's appointment to the UA Board follows a career primarily in public service. She entered the private practice of law upon graduation and subsequently became an assistant county prosecutor for Summit County. She then became the first general counsel to the county executive when Summit County established the first charter government in the State of Ohio in 1981. She left county government in 1986 to become general counsel to the Voinovich Companies, and she worked also as a criminal justice planner in jails and prisons throughout the United States. In 1989 she was appointed as judge of the Akron Municipal Court and served two years before her appointment to the Summit County Common Pleas Court in 1991. She was elected to the court and served in the General Division, presiding over both felony criminal cases and civil litigation. She retired in 2007.
Judge Bond has been an active participant in her community and has served in leadership positions on numerous boards and commissions including:
- the Governor's Task Force on Jail and Prison Crowding,
- the Leadership Akron Alumni Board,
- Women's Network Board,
- Friends of Hower House Board,
- Coach House Theater Board,
- Renaissance of the Civic Theatre Board,
- Police Community Dialogue Board,
- Grand Teton Judicial College Board,
- Akron Area Association of Ohio University Women Board, and
- Unitarian Universalist Church of Akron Board of Trustees.
She is a member of the:
- Akron Art Museum,
- Progress Through Preservation,
- the Summit County Historical Society,
- the Federated Democratic Women of Summit County,
- Akron Woman's City Club, and
- the American Constitutional Law Society.
Judge Bond has been recognized frequently for her professional and community service. She was named Woman of the Year in 1993 by the Women's History Project, and is a recipient of the Stubbs Community Service award, the 2003 Jane Quine award from the Summit County Democratic Party, and the Golden Gavel award from the Ohio Common Pleas Judges Association.