Four inducted into Euclid Alumni Achievement Hall of Fame

IN THE SPOTLIGHT at the Euclid Schools’ Distinguished Achievement Hall of Fame ceremony were, from left: publishing executive Mark Ford, retired teacher Charles Reno, musician Lyle Steelman, and—accepting on behalf of his daughter Holly, a high-tech entrepreneur—Carl Stump. (Photo by John Sheridan)
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A prominent publishing company president, a world-class musician, a nationally known science teacher and a multi-talented high-tech executive. That’s a quick way to describe the careers of the four latest inductees into the Euclid Schools’ Distinguished Achievement Hall of Fame—but it only begins to scratch the surface of their stories.

Honored at the 24th annual induction ceremony, sponsored by the Euclid Public Schools’ Alumni Association May 5 at Tizzano’s Party Center, were:

Mark P. Ford, a 1975 Euclid High graduate who rose through the advertising and marketing ranks to become executive vice president of Time Inc. and president of the company’s newly established Sports Group, which includes Sports Illustrated magazine, as well as the SI Golf Group.

In his current post, Ford is exploring opportunities across all Time Warner sports operations (including Warner Brothers, Turner Sports, and HBO) to leverage the organization’s assets and build a “multiplatform sports business” while developing new sports revenue streams. Previously, he served as president of Time Inc.’s News and Sports Group, comprised of Sports Illustrated, Time, Fortune, Money, Golf, and Life.com. In 2008, Business Week magazine named him one of the “most influential people” in the sports business.

A graduate of Kent State University’s School of Journalism with a major in advertising, Ford worked for the Hearst Corp.’s Cosmopolitan magazine before joining the Time organization in 1985.

Charles Reno, who began his teaching career at Euclid Senior High in 1960—at the very young age of 19—and taught various advanced placement (AP) courses there for the next 36 years. After earning a degree from Edinboro (Pa.) State Teachers College in just three years, he taught physics and second-year algebra for two years, then took a leave of absence to earn a master’s degree at Harvard University. He returned to Euclid to teach honors physics, honors algebra, and trigonometry. Perhaps even more impressively, he pioneered the study of computer science at Euclid at a time when it was just a dream at other schools.

Invited by the College Board to read advanced placement physics exams, Reno later served on the AP physics development committee that wrote the national AP physics exam. Known as “Mr. AP” at Euclid, he spent two summers at Harvard as a teaching fellow, helping AP teachers from across America to develop courses in AP computer science.

After nearly four decades in the classroom, he retired from the Euclid school system and accepted a position at Hawken School, where he taught yet another AP course—in statistics. His son Brian, a colonel in the U.S. Air Force, is also a member of the Euclid Schools’ Achievement Hall of Fame, making the Renos the first father-son combination to achieve that honor.

Holly Stump, a 1972 Euclid High graduate, who blazed a trail for women executives in the once male-dominated high-tech world. She was one of the first females to lead efforts in design and layout of integrated circuits (ICs) at Hewlett Packard Corp. and subsequently co-founded several companies in the electronic design automation field.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in comparative literature from Ohio State, she grew disenchanted with advancement opportunities for women in the publishing world and launched herself on an entirely different track. She began taking night school courses leading to a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology. (While at Ohio State, Stump notes, she was “the only comp. lit. major who also seriously studied calculus, thermodynamics and organic chemistry.” She graduated from OSU with Phi Beta Kappa honors in less than three years.)

Holly, who was represented at the Hall of Fame ceremony by her father, Carl Stump, established herself in the world of integrated circuits during the height of the technology boom in Silicon Valley. One of the pioneers of standard-cell-based IC design methodology—which allowed faster and more reliable design of new semiconductor chips—Stump in 1987 co-founded a company called Logic Modeling, for which she set up a sales and distribution subsidiary in Japan. She was one of the first female directors that many Japanese executives had ever had to deal with.

Now residing in San Jose, Calif., she is currently vice president for marketing at Jasper Design Automation, with responsibility for sales in Japan. She is active in feminist causes, including the Society for Women Engineers. She proudly notes that she was “the first woman to take a shop class at Euclid Senior High.”

Lyle Steelman, a member of the EHS Class of 1997 whose musical talent eventually landed him a seat with the internationally acclaimed Cleveland Orchestra. At a very young age for a concert musician, he now holds the position of assistant principal trumpet with the orchestra.

While a student at Euclid, he was such a standout trumpet player that his music teachers—Joel Sarich and Diane Tizzano--envisioned that he might one day become a virtuoso performer. And they were right. While in high school, Steelman performed in the band, orchestra, and jazz band. He also appeared as a soloist with the Cleveland Youth Symphony and played for the Cleveland Orchestra’s Youth Orchestra.

After earning a bachelor of arts degree at Baldwin-Wallace College and a master’s degree in music at Southern Methodist University, Steelman began his professional career in 2004 as a member of the Richmond, Va., Symphony. He also played for the Charlotte Symphony for three years before being recruited by the Cleveland Orchestra. Still a resident of Euclid, Lyle has performed in major concert halls throughout the U.S., including New York’s Carnegie Hall, and in 15 countries around the world.