OPEN M, the nearly 50-year-old ministry that operates Summit County’s largest free medical clinic, received more than 200 resumes from people looking to fill its top job.
In the end, a search committee didn’t have to go far to find a new CEO, choosing Bob Titus, OPEN M’s chief operating officer.
Titus, 56, will lead a staff of 20 at the ecumenical Christian ministry established in Akron’s inner city in 1968.
He succeeds Dottie Achmoody, who late last year said she plans to retire after 20 years at OPEN M. She has been CEO for the last 12 years.
“I’m humbled at the opportunity, and the task I believe is daunting because I have huge shoes to fill,” Titus said. “Dottie is such a big figure in our community and has done such amazing things in our community.”
Titus will become CEO effective May 1. Achmoody will stay on as Director of Development, working with donors and community partners, part-time for the remainder of 2017.
With an annual budget of about $1 million, OPEN M’s efforts include the medical clinic, as well as one of the largest food pantries in the area, a hot lunch program and Community Works Connection, an initiative aimed at helping participants get into the workforce. Many of the participants have hurdles to employment, such criminal records.
The ministry is based at 941 Princeton St. near Akron’s Summit Lake, south of downtown.
Employment program
Titus, who is the Wadsworth Ward 2 councilman, joined OPEN M in 2014, and was charged with launching the Community Works Connection.
“I came in to implement that program,” Titus said. “We were using a model out of Cincinnati and I was handed a three-ring binder and told to make it happen in Akron.”
Over the past roughly two years — since Community Works Connection began — more than 100 of the program’s participants have gained full-time employment.
“We have more than 25 percent [of participants] that have been on the job for more than 12 months,” said Titus, who became chief operating officer of OPEN M in 2015.
Before joining OPEN M, Titus worked for a staffing company, recruiting engineers and IT workers. Previously, he operated his own businesses, including an Ace Hardware store.
Titus joined the U.S. Air Force soon after graduating from Akron’s Garfield High School in 1979.
Achmoody is leaving the ministry in “great shape … We are blessed to have had Dottie,” Titus said.
He said that throughout his career, he’s been able to “really surround myself with good people, and we have a really good staff at OPEN M right now, and our board is absolutely amazing.”
OPEN M (Opportunity for People Everywhere in Need Ministry) serves more than 9,000 clients annually and in its nearly 50 years has grown from four “covenant” churches to more than 70. Covenant churches have pledged to support the mission of OPEN M through financial assistance, volunteerism, event promotion and prayer support.
Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com. You can follow her @KatieByardABJ on Twitter or on Facebook at www.facebook.com and read the Akron Dish blog at www.ohio.com/food.