(North Canton, OH – Sept. 8, 2021) – The Stark County Educational Service Center today appointed Marlé Fernandes as a new member of the Stark State College Board of Trustees and reappointed trustees Patricia Wackerly and Karen Lefton. Their terms run through Aug. 1, 2024.

Fernandes is the manager of strategic growth – wind for The Timken Company in its industrial bearings division. She provides global, long-range strategy definition for how Timken is positioned in the wind market, including the bearing business as well as power transmission products. She was previously the aerospace product manager, providing global leadership for the aerospace bearing product lines, and prior to that the chief engineer for the company’s mobile/off-highway application engineering team. Since her hire as a student in 2004 at the company’s manufacturing facility in Benoni, South Africa, she has held several roles of increasing technical and managerial responsibility.

Fernandes holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. She is passionate about helping women reach their full potential in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Medical)-related fields and serves on The Akron University’s Women in Engineering advisory council.

Wackerly, who was first appointed to the Stark State Board of Trustees in 2020, is senior vice president and senior underwriter, The PNC Financial Services Group. Lefton is an attorney and owner of The Lefton Group, LLC, a law firm that focuses on helping for-profit and nonprofit businesses and organizations grow. She was appointed to Stark State’s board in 2019.

The board elected Lefton as chair, replacing Alice Stephens, who serves as immediate past chair on the Board’s Executive Committee, and Harun Rashid as vice chair; he is vice president of information services and CIO, Akron Children’s Hospital.

Also serving on the Stark State College Board of Trustees are Tracy Carter, Jeffery Walters, Fonda Williams and Elaine Russell Reolfi.