Five UA Business Graduates to Receive Simonetti Awards

Akron, Ohio, April 1, 2008 — Five distinguished alumni from The University of Akron will receive the Dr. Frank L. Simonetti Distinguished Business Alumni Award for their outstanding achievements in business and significant contributions to their communities.

Honored this year will be Thomas A. Clark ('76 and '82), vice president of customer service and development, FirstEnergy; Mark A. Goldfarb ('74), managing director of SS&G Financial Services Inc.; Philip Rice ('80), president and CEO of National City Bank; Lawrence J. Rybka ('84), president and CEO of ValMark Securities Inc.; and Mary Taylor ('89 and '98), Ohio auditor.

UA ‘s College of Business Administration Alumni Board is recognizing them with the alumni awards named for the late Dr. Frank L. Simonetti, alumnus, professor and dedicated friend of UA's College of Business Administration.

The awards breakfast is at 7 a.m. on Friday, April 18 in UA's Student Union Ballroom. The cost is $25 per person and $275 for a table of eight.

Thomas A. Clark, a Hudson resident, is a native of New Bedford, Mass. He earned a bachelor's degree in civil engineering and a master of business administration degree from The University of Akron in 1976 and 1982, respectively. He also completed the Harvard Business School's Program for Management Development and is a registered professional engineer in Ohio.

Clark began his career with Ohio Edison in 1973 and was in a variety of engineering positions at the company's general office in Akron before being promoted to senior generating plant engineer in 1983. In 1987, he was promoted to manager of purchasing and materials management.

In 1991, Clark became manager of Ohio Edison's Springfield Division, and in 1996 he was promoted to regional manager. In 1997, he was named president of the Southern Region, which included Mansfield, Marion and Springfield, after Ohio Edison merged with Centerior Energy to form FirstEnergy.

After the merger of FirstEnergy and GPU Inc. in 2001, Clark was named president of the Eastern Region – Ohio, which included Youngstown and Warren. In 2003, he was promoted to regional president of Ohio Edison and its Pennsylvania Power Co. subsidiary. He was named vice president of customer service and service area development for FirstEnergy Service Co. in 2005.

Clark is a member of Youngstown State University's Williamson College of Business Administration Business Advisory Council, and is on the boards of the Summa Hospitals Foundation and Downtown Akron Partnership. In 1994, he was a member of the Charter Class of Leadership Ohio and is a 2005 graduate of Leadership Akron Class XXI.

Mark A. Goldfarb, a resident of Richfield, earned his bachelor of science degree in accounting in 1974. As managing director of SS&G Financial Services Inc., one of the nations' largest and fastest-growing accounting and consulting firms, Goldfarb is responsible for the firm's Akron operations. He is also on the executive committee.

He has been instrumental in transforming SS&G from a traditional tax and accounting practice to a multidisciplinary firm, adding several core competencies. He has 30 years of experience managing clients in several industries, with strong expertise in the health care, manufacturing, distribution and service industries.

Goldfarb has provided compliance services to hundreds of businesses, including tax planning, tax research, participation in IRS audits, preparation and review of federal, state and local income taxes, audits, reviews and compilations and monthly financial statement preparation.

He is chairman of the Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Foundation, a Summa Foundation board member, an executive committee member and past president of the Cascade Capital Corp. and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Ohio Society of Certified Public Accountants.

Philip Rice is president and chief executive officer of National City Bank and an executive vice president of National City Corp. He is responsible for commercial banking in the corporation's nine regional markets.

He also oversees National City Business Capital, Treasury Management, International Banking, Shareholder Services, Sales and Support Services.

Rice joined National City in 1980 as a management trainee. He most recently was president of National City's Corporate Banking business unit for the state of Ohio, and managed the regional and national commercial real estate businesses, which included acquired companies such as Capstone and RED Capital.

He has held a variety of positions throughout his tenure in the strategic planning and investment banking operations and has provided merger and acquisition, valuation and financial advisory services, and was managing director of National City Venture.

Rice is chairman of the President's Council Foundation and Cleveland Development Advisors. He was the 2007 co-chair for the United Way, Cleveland general campaign, is a committee member of the Bank Trustees for Cleveland Foundation, and is chair of the St. Vincent Hospital Capital Campaign. Rice is a 2001 graduate of Leadership Cleveland.

Lawrence J. Rybka, a resident of Peninsula, graduated UA as a University Scholar with a bachelor of science degree in finance in 1984. He received a law degree from the Wake Forest University School of Law in 1987 and is a certified financial planner.

Rybka is president and CEO of ValMark Securities Inc., a national independent broker dealer that services 100 of the nation's top independently owned wealth transfer firms in 34 states. Of a staff of 94, one-fifth of ValMark's employees have been hired through the company's internship program with UA.

Rybka has published numerous articles on topics such as CPAs in the financial services industry, stranger-owned life insurance and life insurance product design. Three have been named Technical Article of the Year by the CFP Board of Standards and the Journal of Financial Service Professionals.

He has been an active contributor to the financial services community through his involvement with the Association for Advanced Life Underwriting, Million Dollar Round Table and Financial Planning Association. He is Investment Committee chairman for the Endowment of The Chapel in Akron and president of the Chapel Hill Christian School Endowment Board.

Rybka and his firm helped UA create the College of Business Administration's student CFP program and the ValMark Securities Scholarship for accounting and finance majors. He is a 10-year member of UA's Finance Advisory Board and was the recipient of the Financial Executive of the Year Award in 2006 and Beta Gamma Sigma Honoree Award in 2005.

Mary Taylor, a Green resident, was sworn in on Jan. 8, 2007 as the first certified public accountant to be Ohio's Auditor of State. She has a bachelor's degree in accounting and a master's degree in taxation from The University of Akron.

She began her career in 1990 with Deloitte and Touche. She joined Bober Markey Fedorovich & Co. in 1994, where she was director of the firm's tax department and senior manager of the employee benefits practice.

Taylor served two terms in the Ohio House of Representatives, where she sat on several committees, including House Finance, Ways and Means and Education. She began her career in public service as a city councilwoman in Green.

During Taylor's service in the legislature, she received the Watchdog of the Treasury Award and the 2006 National Federation of Independent Business Guardian of Small Business Award.

Taylor is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and is member-at-large for the AICPA Council. She is also a member of the Ohio Society of CPAs and was director of the Akron/Canton chapter.

She is a 2003 graduate of the Bowhay Institute for Legislative Leadership Development and was an adjunct professor of accounting at Walsh University.

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