Leadership group will honor four

The evening includes dinner and a performance by the Struthers Show Choir.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Four Valley leaders will be honored as Leadership Mahoning Valley presents its 2006 annual awards dinner Feb. 28 at The DeBartolo Stadium Club, Youngstown State University.
The cost is $40 per person. The evening begins with a social hour at 6 p.m., a performance by Struthers Show Choir at 6:30 p.m., dinner at 6:45 p.m. and the program at 7:45 p.m. Tickets are available at the Leadership Mahoning Valley office.
Who they are
Honorees are:
Donald W. Emerson Jr., recipient of the 2006 Community Leadership Association's Distinguished Leadership Award, is executive director of the Trumbull Metropolitan Housing Authority. Under his leadership, the authority has earned perfect scores three consecutive years from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for administration of its voucher program and has received its highest scores under HUD's public housing grading system. Emerson earned a juris doctorate from the University of Akron School of Law in 1992, and a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Miami, Oxford, Ohio. He is a graduate of Warren G. Harding High School.
Steven R. Lewis, recipient of the 2006 Ohio Association for Community Leadership Distinguished Program Award, is chief executive officer of First Place Financial Corp. and First Place Bank. He began his career as a certified public accountant with Coopers & amp; Lybrand in 1980. His banking career began with First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Warren in 1983. He served as executive vice president from 1995-97 and as vice president and treasurer from 1985-95.
Dr. Jane M. Reid, professor of marketing and campus director, Center for Nonprofit Leadership at Youngstown State University, is the recipient of the 2006 Ohio Association for Community Leadership Outstanding Community Leadership Award. Reid began her professional career as an instructor in advertising and public relations in January 1976 at YSU and became a full professor in marketing in 1991. She served as director of admissions from September 1995 to February 2001. Reid earned a bachelor's degree in business administration in advertising and public relations from Youngstown State University in 1973, a master of arts in advertising from Michigan State University in 1974, and a doctor of philosophy in rhetoric and communication from the University of Pittsburgh in 1984.
Dr. Richard J. Billak is the recipient of the 2006 Leadership Mahoning Valley Civic Leadership Award. Billak is CEO of the Community Corrections Association Inc. in Youngstown. The agency was one of the first four programs of its kind in the country to be re-accredited in 1978. Billak received his doctorate from Kent State University in 1976. His dissertation involved the study of the effects of long-term incarceration. He is a licensed psychologist in Ohio and has been an adjunct professor at both Youngstown State and Kent State universities.