Ohio Gov. John Kasich filled a vacancy in Kent State’s Board of Trustees on April 18. The trustee replaced Emilio Ferrara, whose term as a Kent State trustee expired in May 2015.

The board had also lost a member, Richard Marsh, earlier this year after he died at 65.

The new trustee, Robin Kilbride, is appointed until May 2024.

“We welcome Robin to our board,” said Dennis Eckart, chair of the Kent State board, in a university email. “Her financial and business experience will be a real plus and we look forward to her longtime engagement with Kent State.”

Kilbride is the president and chairman of the board at Smithers-Oasis, a company based in Kent that manufactures floristry products. The company is known for its global distribution of floristry and water-absorbing foam first manufactured in 1954.

Kilbride joined Smithers-Oasis as a financial analyst in 1983 and, working through the ranks, was named chief financial officer in 2001. She later became CEO and president in 2011.

More information and meeting times for the board can be found on their website: http://www.kent.edu/bot.

Karl Schneider is an administration reporter for The Kent Stater. Contact him at [email protected].