Wright State administrators, alumnae named to Bizwomen Power 50 list

Wright State University President Sue Edwards

The Dayton Business Journal named Wright State University President Sue Edwards, Ph.D., Kimberly Rex, chief administrative officer of the Boonshoft School of Medicine and CEO of Wright State Physicians, and Wright State Trustee Dawn Conway to its 2023 Bizwomen Power 50 list.

Thirteen Wright State alumnae were also named to the 2023 list.

Compiled by the Dayton Business Journal’s Editorial Board, the list features women from a variety of industries, including education, finance, health care, manufacturing, defense, law and government.

The 2023 Bizwomen Power 50 honorees were recognized at an event hosted by the Dayton Business Journal and in a special section of the Dayton Business Journal’s June 16 issue.

Edwards, who took office as Wright State’s eighth president on Jan. 1, 2020, joined the university in 2018 as executive vice president for academic affairs and provost.

She was drawn to Wright State because of the university’s core values and dedication to students and how Wright State serves its students and the region.

Prior to joining Wright State, Edwards served as vice provost for faculty affairs and professor of biology at Appalachian State University. She was responsible for overseeing all areas of faculty evaluation and development and served as the academic affairs liaison on all personnel matters.

In 2007, Edwards left her native Australia to join the Department of Biology at Appalachian State. She then took on a leadership role as assistant chair for three years before being appointed chair of the department in 2012.

Previously, she was the Australian equivalent of an associate professor in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology in the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Molecular Sciences at James Cook University in Australia. She also served as a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Biology at Georgia Southern University.

Edwards received a Ph.D. in comparative physiology from Deakin University in Victoria, Australia, a Master of Science in Neuroscience from The University of Melbourne and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Deakin.

Kimberly Rex is chief administrative officer of the Wright State Boonshoft School of Medicine and CEO of Wright State Physicians.

Rex has served as chief administrative officer for Boonshoft School of Medicine since 2018 and chief executive officer of Wright State Physicians since 2017.

Throughout the pandemic, Rex has helped guide Wright State Physicians through the ever-changing situation, focused on serving patients, employee safety and the community. Telehealth was quickly implemented to maintain patient access to care, and Wright State Physicians became a COVID-19 testing site for Boonshoft School of Medicine students so they could continue their education and for Wright State athletics, allowing athletes to resume competition. Wright State Physicians also held multiple public vaccine clinics.

In 2021 Rex received the President’s Award for Excellence in Leadership from Wright State.

Rex serves the community as a member of the Go Red for Women executive leadership team and chair of the Board of Directors of the American Heart Association, Dayton Metro Chapter.

Conway, the president and CEO of Boost Engagement in Dayton, was appointed to the Wright State Board of Trustees in 2021. She is the chair of the university’s Academic and Student Affairs Committee and is a member of the Special Committee on Medicine and Health and the Special Committee on Aerospace and Defense.

Dawn Conway joined the Wright State Board of Trustees in 2021.

At Boost Engagement, she is responsible for corporate leadership and execution of the brands in the company’s portfolio, which includes Shumsky, Boost Engagement and Outta the Box Dispensers.

She is the former chief operating officer of Cision, where she led sales, marketing, finance, analysis, research and content acquisition. Prior to joining Cision in 2012, she held key leadership positions at LexisNexis over a 20-year career in the areas of corporate responsibility, global licensing, business development, sales and marketing.

An attorney, Conway is a member of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals and a former member of the American Bar Association Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force. She is a frequent speaker on the role businesses can play to combat human trafficking. She is the co-author of “Doing Well by Doing Good ‘CSR for Bars,’” published in the Bar Leader Magazine.

She also channels her passion for the arts by serving on the Board of Trustees of the Dayton Art Institute and the Board of Directors of Culture Works. She also served on the Content Board of the Software and Information Industry Association and the board of the International Association for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communication and chaired its Copyright and Content Committee.

Conway received a Bachelor of Arts from Regis College and her J.D. from California Western School of Law. She also completed the Strategic Alliances – Creating Growth Opportunities Program at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and the Reed Elsevier Business Leadership Program.

Wright State alumnae who were named to the Bizwomen Power 50 list:

• Elizabeth Breitenstein, Fischer Homes, B.S.B., 2005
• Carly Cox, JJR Solutions, B.S., 2007
• Shannon Cox, MCESC, B.A., 2015
• Beth Ferrin, McGohan Brabender, B.S.B., 1999
• Angela Fronista, B.T.A.S., B.S.B, 1987
• Jacqueline Gamblin, JYG Innovations, B.S., 1990
• Sandy Gudorf, Downtown Dayton Partnership, B.A., 1985
• Sarah Hackenbracht, Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association, B.A., 2003
• Tiffany Kellner, UBS Financial Services, B.S., 1999
• Andrea Kunk, Peerless Technologies, B.S., 2004, MBA, 2007
• Teresa MacAlolooy, Macalogic, B.S.Ed., 2001
• Lesley Ott, James Investment Research, B.S.B., 2004, MBA, 2011
• Marya Rutherford-Long, Fifth Third Bank, M.U.A., 2000