Creating and Supporting Management and Leadership Advancement Opportunities

Since 2018, Paula Brehm-Heeger has served as the Eva Jane Romaine Coombe Director of the Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library. She oversees, 40 public library branches, a Downtown Main Library, and a Distribution Center, and approximately 850 staff members serving a community of more than 800,000 people. She is responsible for the oversight of CHPL’s ambitious Facility Master Plan. Paula has worked in public libraries for nearly 35 years. Prior to returning to her hometown of Cincinnati, she worked for the Indianapolis Public Library, Anderson (IN) Public Library and the Kansas City (MO) Public Library. A graduate of the University of Cincinnati, she also holds an M.L.S. from Indiana University and an M.P.A. from Northern Kentucky University, where she was named the Distinguished MPA graduate for the 2016 program and the Outstanding student by the Association for Public Administrators - Greater Cincinnati Area Chapter. In 2023, Paula was named the Distinguished MPA Alumna by NKU. She is a past recipient of the Urban Library Council's Joey Rodger Leadership Award and in 2023, was named by Government Technology as one of their national Top 25 Doers, Dreamers & Drivers.

Jenna is responsible for assisting in the daily leadership and oversight of department operations and staff. This includes overseeing service to schools, older adults, and community partners, which consists of performing readers’ advisory, providing reference assistance and building monthly collections for delivery. Jenna began her career at CHPL in 2018 as a Library Services Assistant in the Circulation Department and also held the position of Library Customer Specialist at the West End Branch before being promoted to Outreach Services Supervisor in September 2023. Jenna is a graduate of CHPL’s Tomorrow’s Leader Program and is completing her second semester in the pilot cohort of the Community Leadership Certificate Program.

Kyla is responsible for the leadership and oversight of all Human Resources activities that support over 850 staff at 42 locations, and CHPL’s strategic HR initiatives and objectives, including: talent acquisition and retention, compensation and benefits, policy creation and management, leadership development, employee relations, performance management, staff training, and talent/succession planning. She is also responsible for the leadership and oversight of the Marketing and Communications departments including: public relations, internal communications, social media, marketing material and campaigns, visual merchandising, and branding. Kyla earned her bachelor’s in Business Administration (marketing) from the University of South Alabama where she was a 4-year division I soccer player and holds the HRCI certification of Professional in Human Resources (PHR).

Julie is responsible for assisting in the creation of the three FYE courses that are offered at Cincinnati State, and created all courses required in the Leadership Certificates. She is also responsible for overseeing the FYE curriculum and Instructor Development Program, with the assistance of full-time FYE faculty. And she is responsible for the curriculum of all leadership courses as well as overseeing instructors who teach the courses. McLaughlin is a ten-time House-Bruckmann Faculty Excellence Award nominee at Cincinnati State. In 2020, Julie was named an Outstanding First-Year Advocate by the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition. McLaughlin earned her bachelor’s in individualized studies (psychology, health, and sports/physical education) and has a master’s in college student personnel from Eastern Michigan University.

Geoffrey Woolf is a Professor of English and Literature and Dean of the Humanities and Sciences Division at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College. He has served at the college for 26 years. His roles at the college have included Chair of the Department of English and Literature, Chief Negotiator, and Contract Compliance Officer for for the Cincinnati State Chapter of The American Association of University Professors (AAUP). He is a graduate of the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop and The Werner Institute for Negotiation and Dispute Resolution at Creighton University. His work has appeared in publications, including Poet Lore, Cutbank, Smartish Pace, and The Cincinnati Poetry Review. He is the author of four collections: When You're Not Here, I Notice Things (Pudding House, 2002), Bogeyman (CreateSpace, 2012), Learn to Love Explosives (Dos Madres, 2016), and Fontaine’s Golden Wheel Fortune Teller and Dream Book (Dos Madres, 2020).