Rob W. Briggs

FirstMerit Corp. operates as a bank holding company for FirstMerit Bank, NA. The company provides a wide range of banking, fiduciary, financial, insurance and investment services to corporate, institutional and individual customers throughout Ohio, Chicago, Illinois and Western Pennsylvania. It operates through four business lines: Commercial, Retail, Wealth & Other. The Commercial line of business provides a full range of lending, depository, and related financial services to middle-market corporate, industrial, financial, business banking, public entities, and leasing clients. It also includes personal business from commercial loan clients in coordination with the Wealth Management segment. Its products include commercial term loans, revolving credit arrangements, asset-based lending, leasing, commercial mortgages, real estate construction lending, letters of credit, cash management services and other depository products. The Retail line of business includes consumer lending and deposit gathering, residential mortgage loan origination and servicing, and branch-based small business banking. Retail offers a variety of retail financial products and services including consumer direct and indirect installment loans, debit and credit cards, debit gift cards, residential mortgage loans, home equity loans and lines of credit, deposit products, fixed and variable annuities and ATM network services also offers other deposit products includes checking, savings, money market accounts and certificates of deposit. The wealth line of business offers an array of asset management, private banking, financial planning, estate settlement and administration, credit and deposit products and services. Its trust and investment services include personal trust and planning, investment management, estate settlement and administration services. The Retirement plan services focus on investment management and fiduciary activities. The Brokerage and insurance delivers retail mutual funds, other securities, variable and fixed annuities, personal disability and life insurance products and brokerage services. The Private banking provides credit, deposit and asset management solutions for affluent clients. The Other line of business includes activities that are not directly attributable to one of the three principal lines of business which includes other category the parent company, eliminations companies, community development operations, the treasury group, which includes the securities portfolio, wholesale funding and asset liability management activities, and the economic impact of certain assets, capital and support function not specifically identifiable with the three primary lines of business. The company was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Akron, OH.

John S. & James L. Knight Foundation (Knight Foundation) is a private non-profit foundation headquartered in Miami, Florida. Knight Foundation was founded in 1950 to promote excellence in journalism and the success of the communities in which they worked. The Foundation is independent of the Knight brothers' newspaper enterprises.

FirstMerit Bank, NA operates as a commercial bank. The company is based in Akron, OH.

Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs LLP is a law firm that provides legal services. The private company is based in Akron, OH and has subsidiaries in the United States.

Northeast Ohio Council on Higher Education serves institutions of higher education including a cross section of public, private, two-year, and four-year schools. It helps in economic development through education, work-based learning, research, and commercialization. The company was founded in 1951 and is headquartered in Independence, OH.

GAR Foundation is a non-profit organization. It focuses on funding systemic solutions such as early child education, K-16 education, and economic and workforce development, and also community programs in the areas of basic needs, art and culture, and nonprofit sector leadership. The company was founded by Galen Roush and Ruth Roush in 1967 and is headquartered in Akron, OH.

Independent Sector provides social advocacy services. The company was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Washington, DC.

Youngstown Edison Incubator Corp. develops business to business applications. Its services include learning labs, internal and external business networks, and YBI-DRS partnership. The company is headquartered in Youngstown, OH.

Intervale Center, Inc. provides farm land leasing and agricultural development services. The company was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Burlington, VT.