Black Professional Association selects Thompson Hine partner-in-charge as 2018 Black Professional of the Year

Robyn Minter Smyers was announced tonight as 2018 Black Professional of the Year.

The announcement came at the close of the Black Professional Association Charitable Foundation's annual meeting [BPACF] at Karamu House.

Smyers is Partner-in-Charge of the Thompson Hine law firm, as well as former chair of its firm-wide Diversity and Inclusion Initiative. She is a partner in the firm's Real Estate, Construction and Corporate Transactions and Securities practice groups.

Smyers is a 1991 cum laude graduate of Harvard University and earned her law degree from Yale Law School in 1997. She currently serves as a trustee of the Codrington Foundation and the City Club of Cleveland. The former Gund Foundation trustee is also a member of the Cleveland Foundation's African-American Philanthropy Committee. Her father, Steven Minter, former president of the Cleveland Foundation, was honored as BPA's 1985 Black Professional of the Year.

BPACF's mission is to create opportunities for young scholars and other promising youth in the Greater Cleveland area. Its signature event each year is a black tie gala that celebrates the accomplishments of its honoree.

Previous BPOYs have included former US Congress members Lou Stokes and Stephanie Tubbs Jones, pastors Otis Moss Jr. and Marvin C. McMickle, and three presidents of Cuyahoga Community College: Nolen Ellison, Jerry Sue Thornton, and Alex Johnson. A list of past honorees can be found here.

Ronald V. Johnson Jr. of KeyBank is BPACF's current president.

This year's scholarship gala will be held November 3 at Landerhaven.