"A leader is best when people barely know she exists, when her work is done, her aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.” ~Lao Tzu (paraphrased)

When Penny came across Herb Allison’s 2011 commencement address to graduates from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, she knew she had stumbled upon the perfect representation of her management style.  Transformational leadership is a player-coach model of leadership that “is not about the skills and authority you as a leader bring to the table. It’s about tapping the innate aspirations of the people you lead – the same aspirations we all have – to make a difference, to grow, to have a voice, and to be recognized.”  And she has found Ashtabula County District Library (ACDL) employees eager to respond.

Penny began her library experience as a volunteer in the Children’s Department at Rodman Public Library in Alliance, Ohio.  She quickly found herself employed by that same library serving as a Reference Assistant, a Technical Services/Acquisitions Assistant, and then, with the awarding of her Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS), Head of the Reference/Genealogy & Local History Department.  She holds a BA in Psychology with a minor in Sociology from the University of Mount Union (Mount Union College).

In 2014 she joined the ACDL Team as Assistant Director.  When Bill Tokarczyk retired as Director in the fall of 2016, the ACDL Board of Trustees named her Interim Director.  She assumed the role of Director in February of 2017.

Penny is a native of Homeworth, Ohio, a little village southeast of Alliance, but spent her adult years living with her husband and children just outside of Limaville, Ohio, a tinier village located northwest of Alliance.  Penny and her husband, David, now reside in North Kingsville.  They have four adult children and five grandsons.