Board of Directors
Wood County Port Authority has a Board of seven (7) directors, two (2) of which are appointed by the City of Rossford and Perrysburg Township, with the balance of the five (5) directors being appointed by the Wood County Commissioners. The County, City of Rossford and Perrysburg Township leadership has created a powerful Board of civically committed directors capable of identifying, understanding and addressing the challenges and opportunities that face Wood County and Northwest Ohio.
Cher Johnson
Chairperson (2009 to Present)
Cheryl Johnson brings to the Port Authority extensive administrative skills in facility and property management, as well as non-profit liaison work. Her strong detail oriented communication skills provide a steady hand at the helm of the NW Ohio Port Authority. Her communication and leadership skills are top level, as she has committed countless hours to important community organizations such as: Toledo Area Humane Society Board of Directors, as President of the Building Owners and Managers Association, and as Director of the Jamie Farr Owns Corning Classic, and as a recipient of the Distinguished Service Award presented by Owens Illinois to the one employee that epitomizes community leadership and volunteerism. Her dedication and focus has helped the Port Authority to play a lead role in the successful initiation and completion of the Chessie Circle Trail. As the current Chairperson, she brings focus and attention to achieving results.
Tom Uhler
Vice Chairperson (2009 to Present)
Thomas R. Uhler is the Vice Chairman of the Port Authority and is the Founder and CEO of TTL Associates, Inc.- a 100 person engineering and construction firm headquartered in downtown Toledo. Mr Uhler brings organizational and strategic skills along with a commitment to results to the Wood County Port Authority coming from 52 years of experience in engineering and management, including 28 years of service in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers where he retired as a Lieutenant Colonel from the Army,
Mr. Uhler earned his B.S. in Engineering Technology from the University of Toledo while his military education includes the Engineers Officers Basic/Advanced Course, Command and General Staff Course, and the Air Force War College. His professional engineering registration includes the states of Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, and Louisiana.
As with other members of the Board, he brings to the Port Authority a broad public service commitment that includes being a past Trustee of Owens Community College, a Commissioner of the Wood County Veterans Service Commission, a Board member of the Zoning and Planning Commission of the City of Rossford, the President of the Rossford Public Library Board of Trustees, an Adjunct Engineering Professor at the University of Toledo & Bowling Green State University, and finally an Outreach Coordinator at the Ohio Employers Support of the Guard and Reserve.
His leadership skills over two decades has earned him numerous awards and honors some of which include: the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Entrepreneur of the Year Award Winner in 2012, the Rossford School District Award of Distinction in 2010, and the 1995 American Society of Civil Engineers, Engineer of the Year award for NW Ohio.
Martha Woelke
Secretary/Treasurer (2010 to Present)
Martha Woelke is the Port Authority’s Secretary – Treasurer. Her 26 years of experience in the financial lending service industry, where she currently serves as a Retail Lending Product Manager for First Federal Bank of the Midwest, helps manage and maintain the books of the Port Authority. Prior to overseeing all of the bank’s mortgage and consumer lenders, she served the eastern market area for First Federal Bank as a Retail Administrator and Retail Lending Manager. She is a graduate of Wittenberg University and Bowling Green High School. As a leading member of the Wood County Community, her role and commitment to the Wood County Port Authority is a continuation of her other community dedication where she serves on the Wood County Board of Developmental Disabilities, and on their finance and ethics committees, and is a member of the Bowling Green Kiwanis Club. Martha Woelke’s experience helps the Port Authority to complete projects on time and at a cost that is sensitive to the needs of the Port Authority’s clients.
Milton F. Knight (Tony)
Organizing Chairperson (1999 – Present)
Milton F. Knight brings a diverse entrepreneurial background and business and real estate skill sets to the Port Authority Board. Mr. Knight has been in the waste industry for over 25 years, studied finance in the Masters program at Bowling Green State University where he received his undergraduate degree, and holds a law degree from the University of Toledo College of Law. As a partner of both Cooper Straub, Walinski and Cramer, and later Nathan and Roberts, Mr. Knight’s focus was on secured transactions, business law, real estate and business contracts. Through New Waste Concepts, Mr. Knight has been the developer of a number of patented technologies in the waste and environmental industry. Alternative Daily Cover materials known as ConCover, ProGuard, HydraGuard 21, as well as sprayable polyurea coatings for the Nuclear industry call ‘Instacote’. His most recent technological development is the leachate evaporation technology called the ’Typhoon Two Stage Evaporation Atomization Heads’ and the Rapid Deployment Typhoon Evaporation Chamber. Mr. Knight has been an active speaker at SWANA, WASTEC and recently was a speaker at the EREF seminar on Leachate Management. Mr. Knight is also a Director of Fifth Third Bank of NW Ohio, and has served as a member of the University of Toledo Foundation Board and as a member of its real estate advisory board. Mr. Knight also brings a unique understanding of global business issues and opportunities driven by over 25 years of international business development. He was the Port’s original Chairperson and has a unique sense of its History.
John Rust
(2010 to present)
John Rust, born in Trilby, Ohio, came to the Wood County area in 1965 with an electrical engineering degree. He has been involved in the retail appliance and home manufacturing industry for nearly twenty years. John’s background also includes thirty years of managing voice and data communication with Toledo Trust, a local leading bank, and LOF Glass, later becoming Pilkington and finally Nippon Glass. Leaving the data world, John, as part of a family entrepreneurial business, dedicated his skills towards refurbishing and revitalizing the community within which he lives, Rossford, Ohio. A recognized civic leader within the Rossford Community, John understands the importance of economically and efficiently guiding the Port Authority in its endeavors in Wood County and Northwest Ohio.
Edwin J. Nagle III
New Appointee (2019 to Present)
Ed Nagle brings significant business experience and organizational skills to the Port Authority honed from years of experience as the owner of a successful trucking company that includes specialized hauling, employee leasing, and real estate investment. Ed has been dedicated to helping businesses, and many public and private organizations in Northwest Ohio. Recently, he served as Chairman of the Owens Community College Board of Trustees, as well as the past Chairman of the finance committee. He not only brings those same leadership skills to the Wood County Port Authority but he has committed many hours of time towards helping other organizations in leadership positions such as the Truckload Carriers Associaton, The American Trucking Association, the Wood County Economic Development Commission, the Mercy Foundation, The Sisters of Notre Dame, and many other Northwest Ohio Community organizations. Ed understands Northwest Ohio having graduated from St Francis DeSales High School in 1980, and then with a Bachelors’s in finance from the University of Toledo in 1986.
Jamie Rossler
New Appointee (2018 to Present)
Jamie Rossler brings a wealth of economic, financial, and accounting management to the Port Authority Board. He is an educational product of Rossford High School, University of Toledo Business Management, University of Findlay Masters in Business Administration, and the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania in Executive Management Education. Mr. Rossler has been a leader and a strong treasury, business and financial manager for the Toledo Schools, the Eastwood Schools, and for the Rossford Schools for over twenty years. Mr Rossler has committed his education and business experience to leading the NW Ohio Association of School Business Officials as President and Vice President since 1988. He has further served on two committee’s that help write the requirements for State of Ohio ‘Certification for School Treasurers, and School Business Managers’. He has been recognized as well for his innovative work that he and others did to get the Enterprise-TIF-CRA reimbursements to Schools that ushered the birth of a new program for all Ohio schools dealing with revenue losses from those programs. Jamie Rossler’s executive experience, including his service on community organizations, provides valuable financial and management experience that is critical to his ability to identify, understand and address the challenges and opportunities that face a public organization such as the Wood County Port Authority.
Rex Huffman
Executive Director and General Counsel
Rex Huffman’s thirty-five years of Law Practice experience and community and political involvement, form the basis for the skills he brings to the Port Authority that have helped place the Port Authority in the leadership position in Wood County that it holds today.
Adding to those skills is his substantial real estate acquisition and development experience. His clients, the Northwestern Water and Sewer District, the Henry County Regional Water and Sewer District, the Allen Water District, the Ayersville Water and Sewer District, and the Wood County Economic Development Commission, have benefited from his legal skills and vision. Each of these political subdivisions has been the beneficiary of federal and state grants and there is no negative history in the management of those funds.
Rex brings that vision to his position of Executive Director and General Counsel.
Rich Martinko
Project Director
Richard S. Martinko, P.E., brings over 40 years of private and public-sector transportation and engineering experience to his role as Project Director for the Port Authority where he specializes in strategic project planning and execution. Rich has extensive experience working with a variety of private and public-sector clients and integrates technical, managerial, and policy expertise in planning, engineering, program, and construction management, and operations with the strategic thinking needed to deliver infrastructure projects and programs successfully. He has been a key part of the execution team at the Port Authority.
Rich previously served as Director of the University of Toledo’s Intermodal Transportation Institute and University Transportation Center. The University Transportation Center was one of only 60 designated by the U.S. Department of Transportation nationwide, and under his leadership, The University of Toledo was identified as a Center of Excellence in Logistics and Transportation by the Ohio Board of Regents. As Director, Rich authored the location study and economic impact study that convinced Norfolk Southern Railroad to invest $12.4M in an Intermodal Yard project in Toledo, OH. Cary Booth, NS associate vice president for intermodal services noted… “The University of Toledo Intermodal Transportation Institute came to us with a forward-thinking vision that linked the importance of expanded intermodal capacity to improving northwestern Ohio’s economic vitality. UTITI correctly pointed out that enhancements of Airline Yard would be a worthy project, and their proactive vision to create a public-private partnership led to the successful completion of the project and the subsequent economic benefits.” Dr. Lloyd Jacobs, President Emeritus, The University of Toledo said… “Rich is, to my mind, the perfect blend of great skill and expertise along with incredible vision for the communities with which he works… His perspective always included not only what was best for The University of Toledo but also considered the impact on the community as a whole.”