2023-2024 Executive Board

Erin Davis, President

Erin R. Davis is honored and humbled to be the 2023-2024 President, serving the amazing women in the Junior League of Dayton. She looks forward to this League year as Councils roll up their sleeves and get to work making Dayton even better.

In 2021, Erin was surprised to receive the League’s Sally Riffle Award for Innovation and Leadership, recognizing her efforts to engage the League’s membership during an ongoing and uncertain pandemic.

Erin is an attorney at Taft Stettinius & Hollister, LLP, counselling businesses on government contracts law from cradle-to-grave, and will nerd out the on Federal Acquisition Regulation (the FAR) and federal acquisitions if you let her. Prior to joining the firm, Erin was a contract administrator at the U.S. Department of Defense: Defense Contract Management Agency and served in senior administration for the Cleveland Public Library Foundation and the Cuyahoga County (Ohio) Board of County Commissioners, all of which were instrumental in building a strong foundation for community service and now servant leadership.

Erin earned her J.D. from Case Western Reserve University School of Law, her Master of Public Administration from Cleveland State University and her B.A., summa cum laude, from Kent State University. Erin has the honor of teaching Contract Closeout and Technical Data Rights at the Nash and Cbinic Clinic Center for Excellence in Government Contracting, Public Contracting Institute.

Originally from Tuscarawas County, Ohio, and after spending many years in Cleveland, Erin and her husband, Neil Cook, relocated to Dayton in 2017, and have full immersed into making Dayton their forever home. Erin has the privilege of also serving on the Dayton Live Board of Trustees, as President of the Associate Board of the Dayton Society of Natural History (Boonshoft Museum and SunWatch), as the elected Class of 2020 Representative on Leadership Dayton Board of Governors and Chair of the Leadership Dayton Alumni Association. Erin previously served as Scholarship Director for Women in Defense and as the Legal Officer for Dayton Defense. Neil and Erin live in Bellbrook with their son and rescue pup Magnus.

Jocelin Dean, Immediate Past President

Jocelin Dean is a Worksite Developer in Sinclair Community College’s Work-based Learning Office. In this role she helps connect students and employers through internships, apprenticeships, and employment opportunities. As a first generation college graduate she has a personal passion for helping students understand where their postsecondary education can lead them. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication from Wittenberg University where she graduated in 2008. She immediately moved to Dayton for a job in radio sales, which she was not good at, and completely fell in love with the city and the folks who call it home!

Jocelin joined the Junior League in 2016 and, after a short stint on the Financial Development Council, found her home in membership. In this council she served as the Outreach Chair, Membership VP-Elect, and VP. In addition to Junior League she’s involved in Generation Dayton (where she served as the 2021 chair), Equitas Associate Board (where she served as the 2020 Chair), Wittenberg Dayton Alumni Committee, Ohio Cooperative Education Association Board Member, Everybody Plays Board Member, and Dayton Area Logistics Association committee member. She’s also a 2022 graduate of Leadership Dayton (best class ever!) and a 2019 recipient of the Dayton Business Journal’s ’40 Under 40’.

Jocelin and her husband Nick (a Dayton native) have been married for 9 years and have a 10 year old daughter Sophia and 2 year old son Miles. Sophia keeps her busy with soccer, basketball, and girl scouts but in Jocelin’s free time she enjoys cooking & baking, reading, live music & theatre, and any opportunity to explore the greater Dayton community.

Sarah Brandell, Membership VP

Sarah Brandell holds a Masters of Physician Assistant Studies from Kettering College. Currently she splits her time between as an Assistant Professor for the Kettering College PA Program and as a one on one Lifecoach for women navigating Infertility. She has experience working in Emergency Medicine, Primary Care, and Functional Medicine. She I currently also helping to get an integrative metabolic management clinic off the ground. She resides in Centerville Ohio with her Husband Jason, Daughter Harper, and Labradoodle Murphy. In 2018 she joined the Junior League of Dayton to continue her passion for serving in the community. She held one active year on Community Council before moving to Membership Council where she has spend the most of her time. Her favorite experiences as a league member have been the opportunities to serve the community with her daughter at her side and getting a taste of networking with other women, something not very common in medicine.

Emilee Ambrose, Community VP 

Emilee M. Ambrose holds a Bachelor of Arts in both the History of Art & Architecture and Anthropology from Miami University and a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from the University of Baltimore, with concentrations in Leadership, Organizational Development and Change. Currently working as the Logistics Chief for the United States Air Force in the Air Force Security Assistance and Cooperation (AFSAC) Directorate, Emilee oversees the management of $21B in Foreign Military Sales and Building Partnership Capability cases for the entire Indo-Pacific region. She is responsible for fostering the Department of Defense’s Security Assistance and Cooperation partnership with a critically strategic USINDOPACOM allies, further promoting specific U.S. security interests, advancing national security, strengthening regional stability, and developing military interoperability. Previous experience includes policy analysis and project management for the United States Military Health System at the Defense Health Agency. Emilee has had a diverse career supporting military healthcare research, the United States Military Health System, and the United States Air Force, specializing in logistics and program management. She has prided herself on utilizing her complex planning and program management skills in both her professional and public service roles.

In 2018, Emilee joined the Junior League of Dayton and has served in the role as “Read Between the Wines” Chair-Elect and Chair, Community VP-Elect, and most recently assumed the position of Community Vice President. Sponsored by the Junior League of Dayton, Emilee graduated from the prestigious Leadership Dayton program in the Class of 2023 and was nominated Class Representative. She will serve on the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce’s Board of Governors for the Leadership Dayton program. As of June 2023, she was appointed to the Dayton Art Institute’s (DAI) Board of Trustees, focusing on important community education and outreach, along with advancing the DAI’s “IDEA” initiatives: Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility. She currently facilitates base-wide Sexual Assault Prevention & Response courses, and also serves on AFSAC’s Diversity Council as the Federal Women’s Employment Program Manager and on the Installation Barrier Analysis Working Group (IBAWG) on the Women’s Initiatives Team (WIT) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

In her free time, Emilee loves traveling, reading, cooking, and spending time with her husband, two children (10 & 13) and two pups.

Carlina Figueroa, Financial Development VP

Carlina Figueroa is the Director of Recruitment for Northwestern Mutual -Dayton, Ohio. A native of Virginia, Carolina has called Dayton home for the last 6 years. Her background in Human Resources allows her the opportunity to work on developing recruitment strategies, implementing leadership programs, as well as identifying new ways to engage employees. Carlina received her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Christopher Newport University, her Master’s Degree in Human Resource Development from The George Washington University and also holds a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) certification.

Carlina is very active and committed to serving the Dayton community and was named to the Dayton Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 class of 2022 as well as the Dayton Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Dayton class of 2022. She is actively involved in a number of community organization and serves in numerous leadership roles including serving on the board for the Artemis Center for domestic violence; Vice President Financial Development for the Junior League of Dayton; past Chair for Generation Dayton; and served as Conference chair for the Ohio Cooperative Education Association (OCEA) bringing their annual conference to the Dayton area in 2022.

When not busy around town, you can find Carlina spending her spare time with husband William and their 19-month old son, Parker.

Jess Sosebee, Communications VP

Emily Wilkins, Treasurer

Emily B. Wilkins Ph.D. is serving as Treasurer for the Junior League of Dayton for the 2023-24 league year. Emily joined JLD as a new member in 2020-21. She has since served as Professional Development Coordinator and Treasurer-elect, before moving into the Treasurer role.

Emily holds a doctorate in Administration of Higher Education from Auburn University, with earned graduate certificates in College & University Teaching and Program Evaluation. While enrolled in her doctoral program at Auburn from 2014 – 2019, Emily worked primarily for the Office of Assessment and Strategic Planning in the Division of Student Affairs, while gaining additional experience as a First Year Experience instructor, rater for the Quality of Academic Assessment process, and executive board member for the Higher Education Student Association.

Emily is currently employed by the University of Dayton (UD), where she serves full-time as the Director for Assessment and Planning for the Division of Student Development. Additionally, Emily works part- time for the College of Arts and Sciences at UD as a First Year Seminar Instructor and Advisor for Discovering Students. Emily was a member of the 2022-23 Leadership UD Cohort. She serves on several university committees including the Student Development Assessment Committee (chair), Student Development Strategic Plan Writing Group (chair), University Assessment Committee, Student Development Diversity Action Team, and Women’s Leadership Immersion Planning Committee.

In addition to Junior League, Emily volunteers her time locally, as a member of South Dayton Young Professionals and nationally, as a board member for the NASPA (Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education) Center for Women. Emily has been married to her husband, Chris, for 10 years; they enjoy spending free time with their amazing neighbors and close friends, and of course, with their feisty 10- year-old Chihuahua, Penny.

Kristin Kwasny, Diversity & Inclusion VP

Kristin Kwasny is an Associate Professor in the Psychology Department at Sinclair Community College. She started part time at Sinclair as an adjunct instructor in January 2009 not long after moving to Dayton and quickly felt at home. Kristin was born in the Bronx, New York where she attended kindergarten at P.S. 106. Her father died when she was five and her mother moved the family to San Diego, California to be close to her parents. They soon settled in San Ysidro, a district in south San Diego just north of the Mexican border. Her mother never remarried and raised Kristin, her younger brother, and sister on her own. Kristin attended school in this extremely diverse, economically challenged district where the seeds of her passion for equity were sown. After obtaining her A.A. in Liberal Arts and Sciences at Palomar Community College, she received her B.A. in Psychology from California State University, San Marcos. Kristin moved
to Kansas to attend graduate school and obtained her M.A. degree in Psychology from the University of Kansas.

Kristin has been all over the U.S. but is fond of saying that Dayton is the home she chose! After separating from her ex-husband during graduate school she moved to Dayton where he had moved with his family. He ended up moving back to California, but Kristin had found her forever home! She raised her son here and after he turned 18, she concentrated on moving up to full time employment at Sinclair. When that happened in 2018, Kristin bought her first home in Old North Dayton and started thinking a lot more about establishing roots and giving back to the community she had grown to love. Joining the Junior League seemed like a great way to do both!

Kristin completed her New Member year and for her first active year was thrilled to be able to serve the JLD in an area that she has been passionate about for many years as the Diversity &
Inclusion VP Elect. She is very excited to move into the VP role this year! What little free time Kristin has she loves to spend with her family including her son, mom, two grandchildren, two
rescue dogs, two cats, a snake, and her significant other, Randy.

Audrey Starr, Sustainer Rep

Audrey Starr is a hashtag-loving communications professional, high-energy events manager, obsessive organizer, nonstop volunteer, loyal Chicago Cubs fan, and passionate advocate for the nonprofit sector.

Currently Executive Director of the Dayton office of the American Heart Association, she oversees a team responsible for driving community impact, marketing and communications, and philanthropic support for heart and brain health across the Miami Valley.

Prior to joining the American Heart Association, Audrey served as Vice President of Mission, Brand and Programs at YWCA Dayton and spent several years in communications and publications for University of Dayton and Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania. A recovering journalist, she began her postgraduate career as a reporter for rural community newspapers in western Tennessee and northwestern Pennsylvania. She holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communication from Middle Tennessee State University, a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Memphis, and earned her Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) in 2022.

Audrey is a longtime member of the Junior League of Dayton, holding a variety of leadership positions including Communications Vice President, President, Centennial Committee Chair, and Sustainer Representative to the Executive Board. She has served on the TEDxDayton Salon | Women Committee and as treasurer of the Women’s Leadership Collaborative of Greater Dayton, is immediate past president of the Associate Board of the Dayton Art Institute, and is currently secretary of the American Business Women’s Association Gem City Chapter.

A 2016 graduate of Leadership Dayton, she was named to the Women in Business Networking’s 2017 Top 25 Women to Watch and was a 2019 Woman of the Year candidate for the Tri-State Southern Ohio Chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Audrey is a member of the Public Relations Society of America Gem City Chapter, the Association of Fundraising Professionals Greater Dayton Region, 100 Women Who Care Dayton, and Women in Business Networking.

A Tennessee native, Audrey relocated to Dayton in 2012 and credits the Miami Valley’s abundance of Southern accents and sweet tea for making it instantly feel like home. She and her husband, Jeff, live in Kettering with their sons, Owen and Emmett. She blogs (occasionally) about them at The Sensible Home and complains (often) about neighborhood squirrels (follow her @sensibleaudrey).

Beth Rouch, Secretary

2023 – 2024 Strategic Planning Committee

Kailey Nolan, President-Elect

Kailey C. Nolan serves as President-Elect of the Junior League of Dayton. She is honored to serve JLD in this capacity, supporting the collective mission and vision of JLD, while working alongside President Erin Davis, the Junior League of Dayton’s Board of Directors, and members to be of service in the Dayton Community. In this role, she leads JLD’s vice presidents-elect (VPE) as they plan and work cross-collaboratively to ensure JLD remains a strategic, impactful organization while preparing for their service on the Board of Directors during the 2024-2025 League Year.

Joining Junior League of Dayton in 2018, she previously served as the Vice President of Financial Development, VP-Elect of Financial Development, and Read Between the Wines fundraising chair, chair-elect, and fundraising committee member. She is constantly inspired by the women who make up the Junior League in their commitment to the betterment of the Dayton community and women’s leadership development. 

In her professional life, Kailey oversees special projects for Premier Health’s Clinical Oncology Research Program. Continuing to honor Dayton’s rich history of invention and innovation, she works with physicians and public health experts to grow their ideas into evidence-based practice-changing research and programs. Previously, she managed the Brethren Center for Surgical Advancement, including its expansion and reopening. Her oversight includes a cutting-edge robotic and surgical simulation program allowing physicians to reach sufficient levels of motor skills, optimize surgical resources, and maximize their training experience by collaborating with the largest non-profit hospital in Dayton, Boonshoft School of Medicine, and other clinical academic partners. She is a certified SOCRA research professional and CHRC healthcare research compliance earning an MS in Biochemistry from Wright State University and a BS in Biology from the University of Dayton.

Kailey is a Dayton native with a passion for addressing the unique needs and inequality found in our city through her work and free time. She enjoys volunteering and has served in leadership roles among some local organizations such as the Boonshoft School of Medicine, Regional Neighborhood Network, Girls on the Run, American Association of Neurosurgeons, UpDayton, Medical Simulation Consortium of Dayton, Premier Employee Wellness, GenLEAD ERG, and the American Cancer Society. In her leisure, you’ll find Kailey working in her garden or backpacking through the Blue Ridge mountains with her finance Brandon and Astro, their 2-year-old Australian Shepherd.

Chelsea Frye, Membership VP-Elect

Brittany House Conrad, Community VP-Elect

Brittany House Conrad, Ph.D. is serving as the Vice President-Elect for Community Council for the Junior League of Dayton. Brittany has been an active member of JLD since 2022. She began her JLD tenure leveraging her strategic planning skills to serve on the AJLI Collective Impact Process. In her role as Vice President-Elect for Community Council, she utilizes the knowledge she gained from the Collective Impact Process to continuously improve JLD’s robust community initiatives. 

Brittany’s professional background is in higher education, diversity and social justice, and non-profit work. She currently serves as a Career Coach and Program Success Manager for Merit America, providing career and professional development coaching and training to adults in the United States workforce who do not earn a living wage. Brittany also runs her own coaching and consulting business.

Brittany obtained her undergraduate degree in International Studies and Spanish from Baldwin-Wallace College and her masters degree in Higher Education Administration from Kent State University. In 2022, she completed her doctorate in Higher Education Administration with a focus in social justice from Bowling Green State University. 

In addition to the Junior League of Dayton, Brittany volunteers her time with the American College Personnel Association, the Ohio College Personnel Association, and Delta Zeta Sorority. She was honored to be a 2022 recipient of the 35 Under 35 award for Delta Zeta. 

In her spare time, you can typically find Brittany in a local coffee shop reading a good book or camping on summer weekends.

Kiara Connelly, Financial Development VP-Elect

Kiara Connelly joined the Junior League in 2021 to pursue her passion for community service, civic engagement and empowerment of women. Throughout the past two years she has served on various fundraising committees within the league. In addition to her Junior League service, Kiara has volunteered and worked with numerous local community organizations; currently she supports programming at El Puente Educational Center that seeks to improve accessibility of mental health services for Latino and Spanish-speaking Daytonians. She also serves on the board of
Anthony’s Villa, a non-profit that serves children experiencing out of home placement. Though traveling is a passion, her free time here at home in Dayton is spent kickboxing, cycling, hanging out with her partner and four pets, and spending time with friends and family in the area.

Kiara double majored in Spanish & International Studies with a focus in economic development at the University of Dayton, and earned her Master of Science in Business Informatics from Northern Kentucky University in 2022. She has worked in the healthcare operations management industry for over 7 years, a space which allows her to combine her love of helping others with problem-solving and transformational leadership. She currently works as a Senior Business Intelligence Analyst for the medical consulting group, Medisync, where she provides end-to-end data modeling, statistical analysis and data visualization expertise to enhance clinical, financial and operational strategies and decision-making.

Andee Everman, Communications VP-Elect

Heather Osbourne, Interim Treasurer Elect 

Heather Osborne is a Senior Manager in Brixey & Meyer’s CFO Services group. In this role she leads client engagements in which Brixey & Meyer provides interim financial staffing and outsourced accounting services. After trying on majors from Creative Writing to Psychology to International Studies: Research/Intelligence Analysis, Heather found Accountancy fit well. She has Bachelor’s Degrees in Accountancy and Finance and a Master’s Degree in Accountancy, all from Wright State University (Go Raiders!). Heather commuted from Darke County Ohio for much of her time at Wright State but was living locally by the end of her undergraduate studies and never left the wonderful Dayton community.

Heather joined the Junior League in 2020 and immediately jumped into a leadership role in her first active year. She served as VP – Financial Development, moved to a Communications Coordinator role on the Communications Council, and is happy to be back in a role that feels like home – Treasurer-Elect. In addition to Junior League, she sits on the Brixey & Meyer Foundation Committee and Brigid’s Path Board (where she serves as Treasurer). She is a 2021 graduate of Leadership Dayton (best class ever!) and serves on the Alumni Committee for Leadership Dayton.

Heather and her husband Matthew have been married for 10 years and have an 8-year-old son Vaughn, 4-year-old daughter Zella, and 2-year-old son, Fitz. Vaughn and Zella enjoy keeping their parents gas tanks empty running them to Taekwondo (V), gymnastics (Z), soccer (both), summer camps and birthday parties for their friends. Fitz is itching to try out ANY sport that involves throwing, hitting, or kicking a ball, and can’t wait to join in on the fun. In Heather’s free time she enjoys reading, exploring new hobbies, planning cul de sac parties with the neighbors, cooking & baking.

Leslie Messmore, Diversity & Inclusion VP-Elect

Leslie Messmore currently works as an adjunct instructor in the Teacher Education Department at Wright State University and enjoys being a full-time mama to 1-year-old Emerson. The past
10 years have been a wonderful journey for Leslie, as she graduated from WSU’s Master of Education ILA AYA (Integrated Language Arts / Adolescent and Young Adult) program in 2013,
served in Ukraine for the Peace Corps from 2013-14, and taught at Stivers School for the Arts for 8 years. Between finding the airplane on every page of The Little Engine that Could and
building block towers for immediate destruction, Leslie and her husband try their hands at backyard suburban farming, attracting pollinators with a wildflower garden, and stewarding their
own Little Free Library.

Serving as the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion VP-elect of the Junior League of Dayton is an honor for Leslie as she continues to learn from her amazing cohorts and strives to establish and maintain an increasingly inclusive environment within the League and the Dayton community.