Sadlier recently retired from the organization’s board of directors. He is one of the quartet of founders who were present at the first discussions about creating what became Air Camp in a Sinclair Community College conference room in about 2006.
Air Camp was officially launched in 2010. It attracts some 500 students to Dayton every year, but counting the teachers who receive the camp’s training and the students they teach, Air Camp leaders say the organization’s reach is closer to 16,000 or more students.
“As the first treasurer, significant fundraiser, and major advocate, Dan’s contributions to Air Camp have been immeasurable,” the organization said in a release.
Sadlier said in an interview Thursday the time for his retirement was right.
“We have to pass the baton to the next generation,” he said.
Sadlier is perhaps best known in the Dayton area as being a former pro basketball player who turned banker. He is the retired president and chief executive of Fifth Third Bank’s Dayton area operation.
He played for the University of Dayton Flyers as a 6-6 forward.
Sadlier has remained active in the community, serving on several corporate boards including Vectren Corp., Fifth Third and Premier Health Care Services.
Russo himself is a retired member of the federal Senior Executive Service, having served as executive director of what was Aeronautical Systems Center and is Air Force Materiel Command at WrightPatterson Air Force Base.
In those roles, Russo said he saw a need to strengthen STEM education in the early 2000s.
“I had just retired from Wright-Patt as one of the senior executives out there,” Russo recalled. “And I really could see a decline in the pipeline of candidates with good, strong STEM backgrounds.”
When he discussed the problem with David Ponitz, former president of Sinclair Community College, Ponitz convened the group who would become Air Camp’s founders — Russo, Sadlier, Tom Lasley, Learn to Earn Dayton chief executive; and Dick Reynolds, today a retired Air Force three-star general.
“I just can’t say enough about the passion and the expertise and the insights that the mentors — Dick Reynolds and Tom Lasley and others — have committed to Air Camp,” Sadlier said. “The amazing support they have received from interested parties in the community really have gotten Air Camp to where it is today.”
Air Camp has about 20 general board members, with an executive board of about 9 members. Three of the organization’s four founders will remain on the executive board; Air Camp will not add to the executive board at this time, a board member said.
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