Equality Ohio Education Fund Board
Brian Malachowsky is a committed advocate for justice and equality, bringing deep legal expertise to his role on the Equality Ohio Education Fund Board. With a career dedicated to public service, he currently serves as Senior Assistant Attorney General for the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission, where he provides legal counsel on law enforcement regulation, policy development, and agency governance.
Previously, Brian led Ohio’s Safe at Home program, significantly expanding address confidentiality protections for survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking, and other serious crimes. His leadership in public policy spans election law, legislative counsel, and state governance, working to shape more equitable policies that impact Ohioans statewide.
An alumnus of the New Leaders Council, Brian holds a JD from Rutgers Law School and a BA from the University of Connecticut. He has also trained as a Chaplain and earned a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, reflecting his commitment to both individual well-being and systemic improvement.
Based in Columbus, Brian enjoys life in the Westgate neighborhood with his wife, two children, and their Bernedoodle.
Kathy retired from the practice of law in 2022. As a partner in the law firm of Bailey Cavalieri, she specialized in the liability of corporate directors and officers and co-authored one of the leading treatises on the topic. Kathy earned her BA from The Ohio State University before attending law school at the University of Michigan.
Kathy has previously been involved with the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), serving on the National Board of Governors. She has also been involved with The Women’s Fund of Central Ohio as a volunteer and board member.
Kathy has 2 grown children and lives in Upper Arlington with her partner of 26 years, to whom she was married in 2015.
As chief strategy officer and senior advisor to the president, Tayo Clyburn will serve as a guide and resource to staff in carrying out the foundation’s new strategic plan. He will work across the senior team and program leadership to identify strategic opportunities to innovate and create change through the foundation’s programs. Acting as a trusted advisor to the president, this role will provide guidance on internal priorities, challenges, culture, and decisions.
Clyburn has held leadership roles at Colby College as the dean of diversity, equity, and inclusion and St. Mary’s College of Maryland as the vice president for inclusive diversity and equity. Prior to these positions, he served as the executive director for mission and strategic partnerships in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) at The Ohio State University. Throughout Clyburn’s career, his work has been cross-functional, interfacing with senior leaders, staff, and local community members to strategically integrate inclusive and equitable practices.
Clyburn earned his MA and PhD from Ohio State’s Department of English, where his work focused on critical race theory, post racialism, and post-civil rights African American literature.
Levent Talgar is a Managing Director at JPMorgan Chase & Co, where he leads technology and operations initiatives to innovate and transform Chase’s ~5,000 retail branches. Prior to joining Chase in 2003, he was at McKinsey & Company serving financial services and high-tech clients with growth, service, and technology strategies.
Outside of his day job, Levent serves as Chase’s sponsor in Ohio for both Pelotonia and Next Gen, its internal business resource group focused on leadership development for early career professionals. He has previously served for multiple years on Chase’s Columbus Management Committee and Diversity/Equity/Inclusion Committee.
Levent holds B.S. and M.Eng. degrees in computer science and engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory focused on natural language processing and knowledge-based systems.
Levent resides in Dublin, OH with his wife and 3 children. They love to travel, visiting family spread across the globe including Turkey, Ireland, Portugal, UK, UAE, Thailand, Cambodia.
Lynn has had a long and varied career primarily as a litigation attorney in private practice, as a Section Chief in the Ohio Attorney General’s Office and as Deputy General Counsel at The Ohio State University. She also served as Executive Director of the Ohio School Facilities
Commission, and as Associate Vice President for Facilities Operations and Development at OSU. Following her retirement from OSU Lynn worked as a business development advisor for Engie North America, a global energy company focused on decarbonization.
In addition to working with Equality Ohio, Lynn serves as Chair of the Dublin, Ohio New Community Authority for the Bridge Park Development Project and is President of the Westbay Cove Condominium Association on Anna Maria Island, Florida. An Air Force veteran, Lynn has bachelor’s degrees from Southeast Missouri State University and University of Vermont and a JD from the University of Dayton School of Law, where she was Editor of the Law Review.
Lynn and her partner of over 30 years, Sandy Anderson, live with their dogs Scout and Harper in Dublin, Ohio. They will celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary this year, thanks to the work of Equality Ohio and other organizations and individuals committed to the belief that we can
change the world.
Equality Ohio Board
Shelly Riggs (she/her) is a retired educator with 34 years of public service, where she taught science and theatre to grades 8-12. During her tenure, she built a theatre program for the Logan Hocking School District from the ground up, creating and teaching courses in all areas of the theatre curriculum. She was the Director of Theatre and Technical Director for the district, building a program that has been recognized around the state. Shelly has also earned the Master Teacher designation, and was a fierce advocate for the LGBTQ community in her schools. She is currently an adjunct professor at Hocking College, where she teaches in the film department.
Shelly graduated from The Ohio State University in 1988 with a BS in Science Education, and again in 1995 with an MA in theatre education. She is the mother of two amazing young adults, and has been married to her spouse (also a public educator) since 1991. Shelly loves all things outdoors, including kayaking and backpacking, and has been adopted by a rescue pittie mix. When not writing letters and making phone calls to her legislators, you can find her with a good book, directing or acting in theatre productions, or hanging out with her chickens in SE Ohio.
Tim Johnson is currently a senior policy advocate with the Ohio Poverty Law Center, specializing in
education, childcare, and human services issues.
Tim Johnson joined the Ohio Poverty Law Center in July 2019, after having spent six years in state government. During his time working for the state, Tim was both a staffer to several members of the General Assembly and the senior policy advisor to the Senate Minority Caucus. As a senior policy advocate, Tim spends his time working on a variety of issues that affect poor Ohioans including education and childhood lead poisoning. He is serving his term as an Equality Ohio Board Member.
Tim graduated a proud Falcon from Bowling Green State University where he received BA in Political
Science. Tim was born and raised in Columbus Ohio where he currently resides with his partner and
their two cats.
Melissa McLaren (she/her) is the Administrative Director of Graduate Nursing Programs at the Leavitt School of Health, Western Governors University. She graduated from Ohio State with a Bachelor's degree in Nursing and her Doctorate in Nursing Practice from the University of Minnesota. She has a Master's degree in Management and a Master's also in Leadership and Business Administration. Before moving to higher education, she worked as a nurse and nurse practitioner in neurosurgery and critical care. She is a founding board member of the Rainbow Alliance of Fairfield County. She also serves on the board of the Recovery Center in Lancaster, Ohio and on the HRC Parents for Transgender Equality Council.
As the mother of a transgender teenager, Melissa has over 12 years of advocacy work educating professionals in healthcare, education, and policy-making related to supporting gender-diverse youth. She has partnered with the Human Rights Campaign, Welcoming Schools, PFLAG, ACLU, and healthcare organizations and has spoken to lawmakers and officials at the state and national levels. Melissa and her husband Mikael live in Lancaster, Ohio, with twins who are about to leave the nest for college, as well as several entitled cats and the two best dogs in the world.
Eileen Galvin (she/her) is Senior Director of Information Technology at Columbus College of Art & Design.
Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, Eileen graduated from The Ohio State University in 2011 with a B.A. and an M.A. in Linguistics. While at OSU she served as Chair for the LGBT First Year Cohort program, President of the LBGT Speakers Bureau and co-founded the first transgender and intersex student affinity group. She was awarded the 2011 Harold A. McIntosh Award for Leadership and Service by the OSU LGBTQ Alumni Society.
Eileen is also a performance artist of over 10 years. Her work envisions a world where liberation exists and is available to all bodies. She lives in Upper Arlington with her partner, Monte.
Ben Garcia (he/him) is Executive Director of the American LGBTQ+ Museum, slated to open in New York City in 2027. Ben has worked in various roles as an educator and administrator at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Skirball Cultural Center, Hearst Museum of Anthropology, Museum of Us, and the Ohio History Connection. Ben led initiatives to return Indigenous ancestral human remains and belongings in San Diego and Ohio.
Ben graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Boston with a B.A. in Art and from Bank Street College of Education with an M.S. Ed. In Museum Leadership. He has shared his life since 1999 with his husband, Scott Fabianek, a UX/UI Designer and comic book artist. Ben is the child of a journalist and a visual artist. He has six siblings, thirteen nieces and nephews, and one great-niece and nephew (as well as many beloved in-laws). He is a proud fantasy and science fiction nerd.
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