Page 9 - May2019_BarJournal
P. 9

Dave mechenbier


            Company: CMBA                                                          the Honorable
            Title: Director of Finance and Operations
            Start Date: September 2018                                             Anita Laster mays
            College: John Carroll University
                                                                                   Firm/Company: ohio Court of Appeals, 8th district
            if yoU Were not in yoUr cUrrent                                         Title: Judge
            Profession, WHAt WoULD yoU Be?                                          CMBA Join Date: 1999
            I’d be doing something outdoors, maybe for                              undergrad: The Ohio State University
            the Forest Service at a National Park. I love the                      Law School: Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
            outdoors and beauty of these parks.
                                                                                   if yoU Were not PrActicing LAW,
            yoUr most emBArrAssing                                                 WHAt WoULD yoUr Profession Be?
            ProfessionAL moment?                                                   If I was not practicing law, I would be the owner of
            I met my new boss at a global leadership meeting                       an accounting firm. My undergraduate degree was
            in Las Vegas. The plan was for the two of us to fly                    in accounting and management information systems.
            back to Cleveland early one morning so he could                        I would have gotten my certified public accounting
            meet the rest of the department. Guess who slept                       certification and also completed courses in cyber
            through the wake up alarm? I awoke to his ‘where   justin Withrow      security. My goal would have been to protect my clients’
            are you phone call’. We did make it to the airport on                  electronic financial information as well as to ensure that
            time only to be delayed 4+ hours due to mechanical   Firm/Company: flannery | Georgalis  their financial practices are sound.
            problems.                          Title: Senior Associate Attorney
                                               CMBA Join Date: 2015                WHAt WAs yoUr first Pet? its nAme?
            eAst siDe or West siDe?            undergrad: Michigan State University  My first pet was a dog, a Rat Terrier. Her name was “You
            Both. I lived on the east side for about ten years,   Law School: University of Detroit Mercy School   Know.” We got her in 1969 and wanted people to ask
            work took me all over the east, west and south for   of Law            us her name so that we could say “You Know?”
            three years and have been on the west side for 30
            years. East side or west side, I don’t get it.  teLL Us ABoUt yoUr fAmiLy.  most memorABLe cmBA moment
                                               My wife and I have two little girls, Peyton, soon to be   My most memorable CMBA moment was the creation
            WHAt’s on yoUr BUcket List?        4, and Harper, soon to be 2. We are also expecting   of the 3Rs program. I have been working as a board
            It would start with a trip to the far north to   our third child, a boy, later this summer. The girls   member since its inception. When it launched, I was so
            experience the Aurora Borealis. I guess I’d have to   have affectionately named him “Tarzan.”   excited and seeing the reactions of the students was
            work in a couple day layover in Paris to warm up                       so fulfilling. The way the teachers embraced us and the
            and keep the peace at home.        teLL Us ABoUt yoUr Pets.            students’ eagerness to learn was amazing. What was
                                               We have two Border Collies named Cooper and   more memorable then that was hearing students talk
            one fUn fAct ABoUt yoU?            Chloe. They love anybody who is willing to throw their   about becoming lawyers once they were positively
            After college I took a three week or so motorcycle   tennis balls. They also love chasing around the kids!  exposed to the justice system. Then several years later
            trip from western Pennsylvania to Yellowstone to                       being at the law school graduation of one of the 3Rs
            Albuquerque. If I had only known how cold the   HoW DiD yoU meet yoUr sPoUse?  participants brought the program full circle.
            mountains could be in June!        She was my sister’s best friend at the university of
                                               Miami-Ohio. We eventually started dating while I   WHAt’s on yoUr BUcket List?
                                               was in law school.                  In 1999, my mother was diagnosed with pulmonary
                                                                                   fibrosis from secondhand smoke. So, we made a bucket
                                               WHere DiD yoU go on yoUr            list with her. At least one of my siblings completed an
                                               Honeymoon?                          item with her: Alaska – completed; Hawaii – completed;
                                               We went to Florida and then rented a nice   visited the 48 contiguous states – completed; see the
                                               convertible to drive up to Savannah, Georgia for   Sequoias (redwood trees) – completed; Visit Africa,
                                               a few days. unfortunately, it was a downpour the   Australia and stand in hurricane force winds – not
                                               entire four-hour drive.             completed, therefore, those are left for me to do. My
                                                                                   mom and I were weather enthusiasts and contacted the
                                               WHAt ADvice WoULD yoU give to A     Weather Channel to fulfill the last request. However, the
                                               LAW stUDent?                        closest we got was standing in Hurricane Sandy’s winds
                                               Never stop networking.              because my mom was getting sick. She passed in 2013.

                                                                                       CLEvELAND METROPOLITAN BAR JOURNAL | 9
   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14