Generation OTR: Rebirth of a Community

Jamie Smith currently is the Publisher/Market President of the Cincinnati Business Courier and has held that position since February 2011.  He was previously Director of Advertising with the Courier since 2003.  Jamie has over 30 years of media experience.  After graduating from the University of Kentucky with a degree in marketing, he was an account executive for The Recorder Newspapers of Northern Kentucky and spent 11 years in sales management with The Cincinnati Enquirer.

Jamie serves on the Board of Directors for the Cincinnati’s Flying Pig Marathon serving on the executive board.  He also sits on the Board of Directors for DCI (Downtown Cincinnati Inc), the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, The Better Business Bureau and the YMCA and sits on the board of advisors for REDI Cincinnati and the Goering Center, as well as serving on the Goering Center’s management council.         

Jamie was a 2010 graduate of the Leadership Development program sponsored by the Courier’s parent company American City Business Journals, and is a 2013 graduate of Leadership Cincinnati Class 36 sponsored by the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber.

As Executive Director, Kelly Adamson leads the organization’s Business Attraction and Retention program, its efforts to increase visitation to Over-the-Rhine through marketing, communications, and OTR Chamber signature events, and its Safe and Clean initiatives. She assumed her role as Executive Director of Over-the-Rhine Chamber in December of 2016.

Adamson most recently served as the Director of Development for Strategies to End Homelessness. Prior to STEH, she worked in development at Society of St. Vincent de Paul and was steadily promoted at both organizations. She was a key part of the efforts to secure a $1 million grant toward family homelessness and has initiated creative partnerships, to utilize community engagement and build dialogue around social issues in Cincinnati. Through her passion for supporting local environments, Kelly joined the Board of Directors for the Corporation for Findlay Market in March of 2016. She is also a proud resident of Over-the-Rhine and is dedicated to building on the strength, vitality and diversity and inclusion of the neighborhood.

D. Lynn Meyers is the Producing Artistic Director of the Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati which just opened its restored and renovated facility occupying 40 percent of the Vine Street block. ETC has been a catalyst for change in the ever evolving Over-the-Rhine.

Meyers has directed over 90 world and regional premieres for ETC. She directed Off-Broadway and extensively throughout the US and Canada. She began her career at Cincinnati Playhouse.

In addition to her directing work, Meyers is a member of the Casting Society of America having cast for PBS, CBS, BBC, HBO, MTM, Paramount and MGM. Her favorite feature credit is serving as Location Casting Director for the Academy Award winning Shawshank Redemption.  She recently was Location Casting Director for Carol, Miles Ahead, A Kind of Murder, The Goat, The Public, The Old Man with the Gun and Extremely Wicked, Evil and Vile.

She was a named one of four finalists for the Zelda Fichandler national award, honoring directors whose work is making an impact on the art form and their community. And is a past recipient of the YWCA Career Woman of Achievement Award and a 2018 recipient of the Girl Scouts of Western Ohio Women of Distinction Award.

Native to Cincinnati, OH and an active member of the OTR community, through social, philanthropic and business activities over the past seven years. Andrew's involvement with the OTR Chamber of Commerce, The Central Vine Street Business District and The Cincinnati Regional Chamber of Commerce has allowed him to develop a network that can create change in communities. He also serves as the Vice President of the Pendleton neighborhood, as a board member at the Taft Art Museum and is an original member of "The 50" at the Contemporary Arts Center. 

A partner in the cultural activation agency AGAR, Andrew leverages human experiences, event production, digital platforms, music, art, and content design to grow a brand’s culture. Andrew is also a partner in the Hickory Wald hospitality group based in Cincinnati, OH. With a portfolio of bars and restaurants, their group focuses on planting flags in communities to foster both economic and social growth in that neighborhood.

Greg Olson is CEO of SilverPine LLC and Co-Manager of Hubert Family LLC–responsible for identifying, investing, and monitoring a variety of investment interests throughout the United States.

Olson is also the CEO of Urban Sites and its affiliated entities. Urban Sites has been revitalizing the historic Over-the-Rhine (OTR) neighborhood since the early 1990’s by transforming dilapidated historic buildings into modern loft style apartments, condominiums and commercial spaces.  Through his relationships and decades of professional experience, Olson cultivates development opportunities, construction, acquisition, sales, and management for Urban Sites.  Olson has partnered with The City of Cincinnati, The Cincinnati Development Fund, The Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC) and other developer partners throughout OTR and surrounding urban neighborhoods to create award-winning places where people live, work, and enjoy city life.

As a Director of the William S. Olson Memorial Foundation (WSO), since 2003, Olson has raised and contributed over $1,750,000 and fulfilled countless wishes for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Olson is currently Board Chair of the OTR Chamber of Commerce and Board member of the Cincinnati Preservation Association and Good Samaritan Hospital Foundation.