Goodwill Industries of Akron, Ohio

Nancy Ellis McClenaghan (Nan) is the President and CEO of The Goodwill Industries of Akron, Ohio, Inc. For over 98 years, Goodwill has been a leader in workforce development serving Summit, Portage, Medina, Ashland and Richland Counties. Its mission is to help individuals prepare for, find and retain employment. It serves more than 15,000 individuals annually through the direct and indirect efforts of over 450 employees in its workforce development, retail (donated goods) operations, business services and administrative areas. With a focus on strengthening the region’s work force, Goodwill prepares citizens for work and empowers people to live independent, productive lives. Services are available for anyone unemployed, underemployed, downsized, dislocated or new to the workforce as well as those with physical, mental, emotional or background barriers to employment. In late 2020, Goodwill was honored to receive its largest grant ever, a $5 million unrestricted gift from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott which is being utilized to help reduce transportation barriers in its region!

Nan assumed Goodwill’s leadership role in July 2003 after eighteen months of very early retirement from Dominion Resources. Just before leaving Dominion, she had served as its Vice President, Mass Market and just after Dominion’s January 2000 merger with Consolidated Natural Gas (CNG), Nan had also been the Vice President, Billing & Credit. Her nineteen years of utility experience began with CNG and its subsidiary, The East Ohio Gas Company (EOG), and included Customer Services, Operations, Rates and Treasury roles which, at times, included operations in up to four states. Her utility experience includes customer services and operations, product and market development, cost accounting and pricing activities (rate making), gas supply and operations planning, gas measurement strategy, complaint mediation, and rate case, labor and gas supply negotiations.

Prior to joining EOG, Nan spent two years with Touche Ross & Company (now Deloitte Touche) in Akron. She acquired her Ohio public accounting license while in that capacity and she maintains her registration as an inactive CPA. She holds a Masters of Taxation from the University of Akron (UA) and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Ohio University. During high school, she achieved the First Class Award in Girl Scouting (equivalent of the Eagle Award). She has achieved numerous awards over her career, and most recently, a 2014 Frank L. Simonetti Distinguished Business Alumni Award from UA’s College of Business Administration and the 2013 Women’s Network Founders’ Award for Community Progress for Women. She serves on ACRT’s Board as its Governance Committee Chair. Nan is the Treasurer/Trustee of the American Cancer Society’s Joseph S. & Jeannette M. Silber Foundation and a Reworks’ Trustee (Summit Akron Solid Waste Management Authority). As a member of the Summit County Social Services Advisory Board, she chairs its Income, Education & Workforce Development Committee. She resides in Akron with her husband and several rescued golden retrievers. Her childhood home was in Struthers, Ohio.