About

Meet the Staff

Timothy L. Tramble, Sr

Timothy L. Tramble, Sr

President and CEO

Tim became the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Saint Luke’s Foundation on June 1, 2020. In this role, he is responsible for overseeing and guiding the work of the foundation to advance the pursuit of health equity in the Saint Luke’s neighborhoods and throughout Cuyahoga County. Tim leads, directs, and coordinates the activities of the foundation in accordance with the policies, goals, and objectives established by the Board of Trustees and articulated through the foundation’s strategic plan, which can be found on the Strategies & Goals tab of this website.

Before joining the foundation, Tim served as a highly regarded leader in the field of community development. While forging the growth of Burten, Bell, Carr Development, Inc. (BBC), Tim oversaw multimillion-dollar real estate development projects in Cleveland’s poorest neighborhoods, founded WOVU 95.9FM Community Radio Station, and led the creation of BoxSpot micro-enterprise development in addition to many other innovative community revitalization programs and projects.

Before joining BBC, Tim spent five years in various roles at the Cleveland Department of Public Health. Tim started his career as an environmental planner for CT Consultants where he facilitated comprehensive assessments of water management systems.

Tim earned a Master of Public Administration degree from Cleveland State University where he also earned his graduate certificate in Non-profit Management. His Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science was obtained from Central State University and he is certified as an Economic Development Finance Professional by the National Development Council. Tim is a proud graduate of East High, a closed school of the Cleveland Municipal School District (CMSD).

Tim was born and raised in the Hough neighborhood of Cleveland and resides in the Fairfax neighborhood of Cleveland with his wife Latrice and daughter Tierra.

Indigo Bishop

Indigo Bishop

Program Officer

Indigo Bishop is a lifelong Clevelander, facilitator, and strategist specializing in sustainable development. She has worked for non-governmental organizations, in higher education, in grassroots philanthropy, and in affordable housing. Guided by her passion for cross-cultural dialogue and creative community building, Indigo is dedicated to designing for and with the next generation, building wealth in black and brown communities, and leveraging existing assets to strengthen our neighborhoods.

Indigo is a certified social justice mediator and a double graduate of Case Western Reserve University where she studied sociology and anthropology and earned a Master of Social Work at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences. She serves on the Boards of the Asset-Based Community Development Institute at DePaul University and Cleveland Owns.

Indigo is well known locally for her ability to facilitate dialogue that generates trust and builds collective action. She has trained hundreds of practitioners across the country, equipping them with integral community-building techniques for lasting positive change. In her spare time, if she’s not playing volleyball in one of several leagues, you can find her reading on her porch, dancing at festivals with friends, or hiking with her dogs, Gia and Ziggy.

Devontá Dickey

Devontá Dickey

Communications & Marketing Officer

Devontá Dickey served as the Strategic Communications and Engagement Manager for Cleveland VOTES, a nonpartisan democracy-building and mobilization organization that aims to strengthen civic muscle and power to ensure we have a more informed, participatory, and cohesive community. Through his efforts with Cleveland VOTES, he helped to build Cleveland VOTES’ Equitable Civic Engagement framework aimed to encourage us to reimagine democratic power and civic engaged, and awarded more than $600,000 to organizations. Additionally, he led in the management and development Cleveland VOTES’ internal and external communications, digital organizing campaigns, and more. Prior to Cleveland VOTES, he served as the Advocacy and Engagement Coordinator at Cleveland Neighborhood Progress where he managed the city’s Undesign the Redline interactive exhibitions analyzing redlining and historical discriminatory housing practices that resulted in the collateral challenges we see today in addition to supporting policy and advocacy efforts for community development corporations.

Devonta supports a number of organizations including the Cleveland Alumni of Kappa Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated, The Alliance for the Great Lakes, the NAACP - Cleveland Branch, Summer on the Cuyahoga, Hack Cleveland, The Communications Network. Devontá holds a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies from Denison University and studied Environmental Studies and Policy at the University of Cape Town, and actively studies IDEO’s design thinking and business innovation, digitlal organizing, digital marketing, and graphic design.

Sharon Edmond

Sharon Edmond

Administrative Officer

Born to a big family with military parents in North Carolina, Sharon likes to consider herself a well-traveled southern belle. It's those roots that exposed her to all types of people, cultures, arts, music and dance. Coupled with her gifts of organization, attention to detail, creative imagination, concept design and contagious enthusiasm, her love of entertainment planning bloomed. She pursued her B.A. in Psychology at Hampton University. In her professional career, Sharon has extensive experience in the event industry and has expanded that involvement to non-profit organizations.

Prior to joining the Saint Luke’s Foundation, Sharon has worked in partnership with the American Heart Association, The Diabetes Partnership, CDF Freedom Schools, and Dancing Classrooms . These experiences gave her a deep appreciation for how nonprofits seek to improve the quality of life for our region one program at a time, and aspires to one day create her own.

Currently, she provides administrative and support and assists with the day to day operations of the Foundation.

Melanie Gavin

Melanie Gavin

Accountant

Melanie joined Saint Luke’s Foundation as Accountant in June 2014. A Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and a native of Northeast Ohio, she brings 23 years of professional experience to her work at the Foundation. In her role as Accountant, Melanie is responsible for the Foundation’s monthly financial reporting, payroll processing, tax preparation, and budgeting.

Previously, Melanie served as an auditor for Ernst & Young for more than six years. In addition to her work at the Foundation, Melanie also serves as a Financial Officer for the Mt. Sinai Health Care Foundation, where she has worked since 1998.

Melanie received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. Outside of work, she is actively involved with her church and her children’s school.

Dionne Huffman

Dionne Huffman

Program Coordinator

Born and raised in Cleveland, OH Dionne began her career at the age of 14 as a volunteer Candy Striper at a local hospital in Warrensville Hts, OH.

Her service-oriented career includes tenure in the banking industry where she worked in the Public Relations Sector and helped to organize a “Banking for Living” program for elementary school students in Cleveland Public Schools teaching them the value of money, and how to open and maintain a savings account. She also spent time in the private jet industry booking and scheduling flights on luxury jets for Corporate Executives and Famous Celebrities, as well as 10 years in the Lottery Industry traveling statewide helping to facilitate training seminars and hosting special events.

She continued her volunteering pursuits by volunteering for Race for The Cure and City Mission’s Trunk or Treat festivities.

Jane Addams Business Careers Centers is her alma mater and in line with that curriculum she is an ongoing student pursuing certificates and technologies that will enhance her career path. She enjoys reading or listening to a good book and spending time with her family watching a good movie or playing Family Feud.

Christie Manning

Christie Manning

Senior Program Director

Christie Manning is Senior Program Director with the Saint Luke’s Foundation of Cleveland, where she provides leadership for the Program Team in activities of grantmaking and grantee support, facilitating collaboration and the active exchange of ideas, and identification of other means to advance health equity.

Christie first joined the Foundation as Senior Program Officer for Resilient Families in early 2013, providing leadership and oversight for the grant portfolio designed to catalyze and sustain efforts ensuring that community resources meet families’ needs and empower parents to implement their vision for the health and well-being of their families. In this role, she founded the Greater Cleveland Family Strengthening Network, a collaborative of organizations dedicated to increasing recognition of Family Strengthening and Support as a field of practice, and to building the capacity of local providers in the field.

Previous professional leadership experience also includes serving as Program Director for Family Connections of Northeast Ohio, Director of the Greater Cleveland Family Support Consortium, and Program Manager for the MetroHealth Center for Community Health’s Child and Family Health Services Program.

Christie earned a Master’s degree in Social Work from the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Michigan.

Ena McDowell

Ena McDowell

Office Manager/Executive Assistant to the President & CEO

Ena joined Saint Luke’s Foundation as the Office Manager in May of 2019. In her role, she provides administrative support to the CEO and President, manages the day to day office operations of the Foundation, and provides cross coverage where necessary.

Prior to joining the Foundation, Ena provided many years of executive level administrative support as a Department Administrator and Assistant to the Director and Chairman of a research department at Case Western Reserve University. She also assisted with managing the breast cancer program at University Hospitals Case Medical Center. Last but not least, she served as the Office Manager to the Cleveland Browns Head Team Physician at University Hospitals Case Medical Center.

As of September 2019, Ena has obtained her Associate of Science degree in Business from Southern New Hampshire University and is also a member of the National Society of Leadership and Success (Sigma Alpha Pi). She plans to continue her educational pursuit and obtain her Bachelor of Science degree in Business with a concentration in management. Ena lives in Cleveland with her wonderful husband and 3 children, two of which are recent college graduates. In her leisure, she enjoys spending time with her family, focusing on her ministry, and traveling.

Jeffrey Sugalski

Jeffrey Sugalski

Grants Manager

Jeffrey Sugalski joined Saint Luke’s Foundation in May 2022 after working nearly two decades in the field of community development in Cleveland.

Jeffrey most recently served as Housing Development Project Manager at Cuyahoga Land Bank, where he supported the establishment of a program that is bringing new-construction single-family homes to emerging Cuyahoga County neighborhoods. There, Jeffrey was responsible for overseeing the development and construction of seven houses. He also designed and implemented a health and safety home repair program for a target area of East Cleveland. In one year, Jeffrey raised $255,000 for urban revitalization initiatives.

Prior to that, Jeffrey spent sixteen years practicing real estate development at Burten, Bell, Carr, Development, Inc. Over this time, Jeffrey was promoted three times, expanding his role from Property Research Intern to Real Estate Development Director. In his final year with BBC, he closed the financing of Colfax Family Homes, a $10 million Low Income Housing Tax Credit housing development that brought thirty-six new homes to the Kinsman neighborhood; served in a key role in securing $250,000 for agency operations and staff capacity with the leadership team; attained more than $150,000 for essential home repairs for low-income families and seniors; and wrote grants for over $100,000 in resources for planning and development feasibility analyses for future projects.

Jeffrey holds a Master of Urban Planning and Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies from Cleveland State University. He and his family reside in Cleveland’s Detroit Shoreway neighborhood.

Peter Whitt

Peter Whitt

Vice President of Strategic Initiatives

Peter enjoys life, laughter and purpose.

Peter’s career spans over the past 20 years. The most recent 10 years include working as the principal leader of Enlightenment Consulting Group,LLC. He has supported leaders and teams working in government to higher education. He has facilitated high tension large group conversations, deep dive learning experiences and led leadership development programs, evaluations to community assessments.

His community engagement skills have supported community leaders and neighborhoods on topics of leadership, policing to racism. Peter has presented at national conferences and internationally addressing Diversity Equity and Inclusion through a polarity lens. He has also worked as a trainer for
Corporate College and worked as a Community Therapist for Ohio Guidestone.
Additional past professional leadership experiences in Peter’s career include being a Program Manager at Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority where he managed a workforce development program, Director of Community Outreach at St. Vincent Charity Hospital where he established a community healthcare worker program and led a community health prevention initiative. He continued his leadership as the Associate Director for the Center for Health Equity at Cleveland State University, where he managed a million dollar research effort centered on academic and community partnerships within the Central neighborhood.

His work required a need to address social determinants of health, race and health inequities through a public lens. Over the years Peter has lectured at Cleveland State University for the Diversity Management Program, School of Social Work and Health Sciences.

Peter has advance training and certifications in organizational interventions and coaching through the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland. He holds a mastery certification in Polarity Thinking through Polarity Partnerships. Peter is a licensed social worker. Peter is an alumni of Cleveland State University (Bachelor of Social Work) and the University of Pittsburgh (Master Social Work) with concentration in community organizing.

He enjoy participating in martial arts and have earned the title Maha Guru (Senior Teacher) in the style of KunTao and Silat system lineage of W. Reeders and A. Sikes. He is a native of Cleveland, Ohio where he values his residential lived experiences have emerged from the urban core of our near east and westside communities.