New members appointed to the Board of Trustees

Andrew Platt

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has appointed three new members to the 11-member Wright State University Board of Trustees.

Andrew Platt, a 2009 Wright State graduate, was appointed for a term beginning July 1, 2019, and ending June 30, 2028. Platt replaces Anuj Goyal, whose term expired on June 30, 2019.

Marty Grunder replaces C.D. Moore II for a term that ends June 30, 2024. Moore moved out of state for a new job that has demanding travel requirements. Unable to maintain his availability for board meetings, Moore stepped down from his trustee position effective June 16.

Wright State medical student Olivia Sneary was appointed to the Board of Trustees for a term beginning July 1, 2019, and ending June 30, 2021. She replaces Wright State student Austin Rains.

Platt is managing director and financial advisor at Northwestern Mutual Dayton. As a financial advisor, he works with families to establish financial plans that support their current goals while also planning for the future. As a managing director, he also coaches and mentors young professionals and careers changers interested in growing in the field of financial planning. Platt regular supports Wright State students with internships at Northwestern Mutual.

Platt graduated cum laude from Wright State in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in finance. A Division I athlete, he played on the university’s golf team for four years and was team captain for his final two years of college.

He served on the Wright State Alumni Association Board from 2013 to 2016. Platt and his wife, Britt, are members of the Wright State Robert S. Oelman Society and lifetime members of the Alumni Association.

In 2017, Platt was named to the Dayton Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 list. He is a former member of the Dayton Art Institute Associate Board and chair of the Art Ball. He has also volunteered with Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, Shoes for the Shoeless, the Andy and JJ Dalton Foundation, Gala of Hope and the Dayton Early College Academy.

Marty Grunder

Grunder is president and CEO of Grunder Landscaping Company, based in Miamisburg. He established the company in 1984 as a way to earn money as a student at the University of Dayton. By the time he had earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration, the landscaping company had taken off.

The company won the Better Business Bureau’s prestigious Eclipse Integrity Award in 2003 and 2008. Marty Grunder has received the Ohio Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award twice and the Young Entrepreneur of the Year for the Midwest, as selected by the Small Business Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce. He was also named by Ernst and Young as the Dayton/Miami Valley Entrepreneur of the Year in 2001.

He is also an acclaimed public speaker and author of the book “The Nine Simple Steps to Entrepreneurial Success,” named Book of the Year at the 2003 Independent Publisher Book Awards. In addition to his role at Grunder Landscaping, he operates a public speaking and consulting business, The Grow Group.

A volunteer for numerous community causes, Grunder sits on the boards of the Park National Bank and the Dayton Development Coalition and is a member of the University of Dayton Business Advisory Council.

Olivia Sneary

Sneary graduated from Wright State in May 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in biology with a concentration in applied physiology. She is now pursuing a medical degree at the Wright State Boonshoft School of Medicine. As a member of the class of 2023, she begins her medical education in July.

As an undergraduate student, she served as a president’s ambassador for two years, officially representing the university at presidential ceremonies and events. Most recently, she served as the chief operating officer for the President’s Ambassador program.

She has been an active member of many organizations at Wright State, serving as the president of Love Your Melon, an organization that raises awareness for pediatric cancer; traveling to Nicaragua with Global Public Health Brigades to improve public health for families in poverty and build sustainable sanitary units and other infrastructure to inhibit disease; serving as the content chair of Omicron Kappa Delta; and volunteering as a trainer and socializer for 4 Paws for Ability, fostering two puppies training to become service dogs.

Sneary worked with Dan Krane, professor of biology, as the lead instructor of Forensic Science Camp. She worked with high school students to analyze techniques used by forensic scientists, such as blood splatter, decay, odontology tests and DNA profiling. She was also an instructor at Exploring STEMM Camp, teaching students in seventh through ninth grades about the DNA world and career options available in the STEMM field.

Sneary, who is from Bluffton, is a volunteer emergency medical technician for the village’s EMS service and works as a painting contractor.