The Collective Genius Team

Melinda T. Swan
CEO & Founder
CEO & Founder
Melinda Swan has more than 40 years’ experience as a strategist, marketer, innovator and entrepreneur. She launched The Collective Genius in 2011 to marry an expertise in strategy and communications to a lifelong commitment to the greater good.
Her previous roles include serving as associate vice president for communications and marketing at The Ohio State University, leading a comprehensive market research effort, driving a new advancement model and gaining regional and national recognition for university research initiatives, including in clean energy.
As chief operating officer of the YWCA Columbus, she helped the agency grow revenues in excess of 125% and turned a low-performing facility into a highly rated family shelter. As chief of staff for Columbus City Council, she directed numerous public/private partnerships, overseeing a life-saving cardiac arrest public education and training effort, winning two campaigns to enact and protect they city’s clean indoor air law, gaining seed funding for a technology corridor and initiating an alliance to protect parklands and waterways.
She began her career in private sector public relations, first entering the public policy arena as an aide to a state senator and then heading media relations for Ohio’s attorney general. She garnered national coverage for significant environmental cases such as Ohio forcing clean-up orders over a federal facility. Her later public affairs consulting on behalf of the Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio led to an unprecedented investment in Ohio’s Head Start network.
After serving as press secretary to a gubernatorial candidate and as the first woman to run a U.S. Senate primary campaign in Ohio, she started her first company in 1994. She also began a nearly 25-year association with the leadership of engineering and technology company, Flowtronex PSI, assisting them in achieving market dominance the golf and landscape markets and eventual acquisition. She continued representing them as they launched, grew and eventually sold a niche technology firm, Intelliquip.
A student of Ideo and Stanford D School brainstorming techniques and an assets-based strategic planner, Melinda has designed and led numerous strategic planning sessions and focus groups for a wide range of public and nonprofit organizations, including the City of Columbus, Franklin County, the University of Nebraska System, Syracuse University and Ohio University. This work yielded ideas and innovations to address a wide range of issues from poverty and racial profiling to women’s leadership development and catalytic change strategies.
Her work has earned numerous recognitions and awards, including from the Columbus Marketing Association and The Ohio State University Board of Trustees. In addition to serving as CEO of The Collective Genius, she founded and leads Anchored to Hope, a company dedicated to using technology and virtual reality to promote recovery from addiction and mental illness.
Melinda was one of the first advisors to the Ohio Domestic Violence Network as they closed a major loophole in Ohio’s family violence laws. She subsequently joined their board for nearly 20 years. She was honored with the Corcoran Award for Social Justice Advocacy in 2011. Her board service includes Jobs for Columbus Graduates, the Mid-Ohio Board for an Independent Living Environment, Equality Ohio, Star House and now the Humane Society of Delaware County.

Colin Baumgarter
Creative Services Director
Creative Services Director
Colin Baumgartner offers extensive expertise in public relations, writing and community engagement, overseeing everything from website construction to earned media and its social media amplification. He earned an MBA at the University of Louisville, while working for the university’s marketing team, before returning to Columbus with The Collective Genius in 2015. With a background in both data analysis and message development, he focuses on how technology can be a true asset in the planning and execution stages to ensure that all communication strategies lead to an increase in authentic engagement.
Colin began his career working for community newspapers, before transitioning to public relations and digital work for larger non-profits in Detroit and Columbus. He previously served as Marketing and Communications Director for Mid-Ohio Foodbank, where he oversaw media relations and digital/social media presence—utilizing those tools in helping the organization complete its $10 million capital campaign in 2010, which included their move to a new LEED-Gold Certified facility in Grove City.
He currently oversees and maintains the web presence for several active TCG clients, helping them gain key insights via web, social media and digital advertising channels, in addition to handling regular media relations.

Beth Smothers
Senior Account Manager
Senior Account Manager
Beth Smothers brings more than 14 years experience in experiential marketing, graphic design, and leadership development to The Collective Genius team as senior account manager and chief developer of leadership experiences in higher education.
She most recently served as Deputy Chief Marketing Officer for a start-up within the clean energy sector, directing social media, sales support, events, and creative teams that helped generate more than 2,000 qualified sales leads. She also worked with the CMO to develop branding strategy and ensure its appropriate execution across the company’s trade show presence and throughout web and collateral visual designs, including art directing photography and videography.
Beth previously worked for 12 years in higher education, specializing in experiential marketing for incoming and prospective students and families. She facilitated improved orientation programs for over 13,000 students annually- in collaboration with more than 50 university offices. These orientation efforts and the department’s work contributed to a 4-6% increase in enrollment growth year over year.
With a degree in graphic design, Beth has also partnered with dozens of small businesses over the past 14 years, creating brand identity and logos, graphics for social media, websites, and promotional items. She redesigned 8 lookbooks for a uniform design company’s sales team, leading to its highest sales at that time.
Regardless of the project, Beth aims to unite beauty and strategy to carry your message.

Angela Caliver
Administrator
Administrator
Angela Caliver is the founder of Angie Assists, a virtual assistant agency dedicated to helping businesses operate at their best. With over two decades of experience supporting executives, Angela thrives in managing complex schedules, driving organizational efficiency, and delivering exceptional client experiences. She believes that the foundation of successful businesses lies in seamless operations and genuine relationships, a philosophy she carries into every collaboration.
Outside of work, Angela enjoys nurturing her growing collection of house plants, spending quality time with her family, and attending jazz concerts and baseball games with her husband. Her passion for empowering others to succeed is at the heart of everything she does.

Rylei Nami
Account Coordinator
Account Coordinator
Rylei Nami focuses on helping brands grow in the digital realm while maintaining and executing their vision. She assists several clients with ongoing digital content creation and social media needs, in addition to other duties, including research, web content/posting and brand evaluation.
Rylei has a bachelor’s degree in new media and technology communications from The Ohio State University and has a background in copywriting, social media marketing & public speaking.
She also has a passion for social justice and animal rescue work. In her free time, Rylei loves spending time with her husband and “fur kids.”

Karla Rothan
Senior Collaborator
Senior Collaborator
Karla Rothan joined The Collective Genius team in May 2020 after serving for twelve years as the Executive Director of Stonewall Columbus, a nonprofit organization that provides programs and services to the LGBTQ community in Central Ohio.
Karla has over 30 years of nonprofit experience, leading successful efforts in fundraising including a $3.8M capital campaign. She has designed and managed events for over 20 years and is highly skilled at creating social enterprise structures for businesses. She began her career in house management and guest services at the Wexner Center for the Arts and then moved to become a public information officer for the Central Ohio Area Agency on Aging.
Karla is one of the co-founders of the Columbus Recreation and Parks Foundation. She currently serves as the president of the board and is one of the longest serving Columbus Recreation and Parks commissioners appointed for her third term by Mayor Andrew Ginther. Karla also serves on the board of the Greater Columbus Arts Council and the Short North Alliance.

Virginia Barney
Senior Collaborator
Senior Collaborator
Virginia Barney joined The Collective Genius as a senior collaborator early in 2012. A skilled administrator, public servant, coach, innovator and facilitator, Ginny brings with her over 30 years of leadership experience in both the private and public sectors. She works with city councils, regional commissions, school boards, non-profits, business and community leaders helping them build personal and organizational sustainability to enable them to achieve their goals.
Prior to joining the Collective Genius, Ginny served as City Manager for the City of Upper Arlington for eleven years. During her tenure, the City achieved and maintained a Triple A bond rating, strengthened its financial sustainability, developed and implemented economic incentive programs and worked with private businesses to reinvest in the City.
In early 2006, Ginny became trained as a facilitator in The Art of Hosting. Using techniques such as Circle, World Café, Appreciative Inquiry, and Open Space Technology, she created an environment that was civil, effective, fun, and efficient. Whether in weekly staff meetings or annual staff and council retreats, Ginny understands the importance of hearing diverse opinions, believes in civil conversations, and helps achieve collaborative outcomes.
A community leader for decades, Ginny has chaired the Solid Waste Authority, the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission, the Franklin County Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency, the Upper Arlington Rotary Club and the Governing Board of her church to name a few. In all her community positions, she has been called upon to plan strategically and facilitated many discussions among diverse constituencies.
Currently, Ginny serves on the Boards of the ALIA Institute, an international leadership institute, National Church Residences, First Community Village, the OSU Star House, a drop-in center for homeless youth, and the Upper Arlington Community Foundation.

Jill Frost
Senior Collaborator
Senior Collaborator
Jill Frost is a communications and public affairs professional with more than 15 years of experience leading outreach, community engagement and internal communications efforts for non-profit and government agencies.
She has local, statewide and regional project experience including work that consistently demonstrates an ability to create and drive successful grassroots, faith-based and media driven outreach campaigns, which yield high response rates. As an experienced trainer and facilitator, she leads focus groups and other discussions aimed organizations and key community issues forward.
Jill has facilitated dialogue sessions to foster community engagement (Everyday Democracy); Board Retreats to help small nonprofits through growth stages (Maroon Arts Group); Staff Retreats to help established organizations reset to align programming and mission (Equality Ohio); and focus groups to measure the quality of life for Black girls in Ohio (Columbus Commission on Black Girls).
She has provided community engagement, education and outreach support on a variety of projects ranging from issue campaigns to mental health projects (Franklin County Children Services, ADAMH of Franklin County and Columbus State Community College, Rise Sister Rise and UMADAOP Federation of Ohio).
Jill currently serves as Board President for the Central Ohio African American Chamber of Commerce, in addition to volunteer work with The Spirituality Network, Columbus Metropolitan Club and the Drexel Theater Board.

Laura Oldham
Website Developer
Website Developer
Laura Oldham has been supporting clients and their digital marketing needs for more than 15 years via her business, Starburst Media. Her background is in creative writing and journalism, and her ability to problem solve with creative solutions has attracted clients with a wide range of backgrounds from around the world.
In 2022, Laura launched a second business, Return to Sender, to share sustainability lessons via eco art. She’s loved working with curious students of all ages to answer questions about climate resilience in accessible terms without shame.
Laura lives in Upper Arlington, Ohio, where she volunteers for a range of causes to make her community welcoming and inclusive to everyone.