Betsey Merkel - Story Brief

August 25, 2017

Hi, Im an entrepreneur passionate about the power of technology, social

networks and innovation to change lives. Back in high school I ranked in
the upper 10% nationally, boys & girls, in process engineering, and in 2014,
my Catalyst personality archetype developed by NY Times bestselling
author Sally Hogshead, How The World Sees You A dvantage score ranked in
the upper 10% globally in Passion and Innovation.

My paternal great-grandmother Elizabeth Ball fled Wales during the potato
famine crossing the Atlantic as steerage with one, five pound cast flat iron
for clothes pressing. My maternal great-grandfather escaped Palermo, Italy
mafia to work the steel mills in Buffalo, New York bringing each of his eleven children and wife to
America one by one. Early maternal relatives were homesteaders in the Civil War, and another,
educated and once largest landowner in the State of Connecticut.

My father Robert Mason OHagan served first as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Coast Guard for
19 years under auspices of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute of Massachusetts and later,
USCG Research and Development Center in Groton, CT where he specialized in the coordination of
navigational applications. He was lead inventor on the first anti-tracking patent (used to land
airplanes, navigate shipping lanes and now, park your car) and a serial entrepreneur generating
patents in areas such as ocean wave action, solar energy and fuel cell storage.

Mother Jeannette LoBuglio OHagan was an administrative and therapeutic dietitian and advocate
for quality hospital food and healthy diets for diabetic, dialysis and AIDS patients. Mom was also an
amazing quilter, camper and canoeist, cook, and gardener!

I earned a Master of Music degree in Harp performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music. There, I
established a bustling Preparatory Harp Department for youth and adults. Under the leadership of
President David Cerone, I helped lead CIMs first efforts to establish program partnerships with
Cleveland's Chinese community. In the 1980s I was invited to perform and teach as a guest of the
Peoples Republic of China accompanying mentor and Cleveland Orchestra harpist, Alice Chalifoux. I
brought Shanghai Conservatory colleagues their first student model Troubadour Harp, produced by
the American harp manufacturer, Lyon-Healy based in Chicago, Illinois. Professionally, I have
collaborated with chamber music artists and composers from around the world.

Over the years as a Co-Founder & Director at the Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open), Ive
developed a worldview based on principles and practices in Open Source Economic Development
(OSED), an appreciative approach to technology driven strategies in emerging economies. Ive
published about OSED under the auspices of MITs Center for Collective Intelligence, Savannah
College of Art & Design, and Wayne State University College of Engineering at ScienceDirect.

I apply what I practice in music - technical excellence, reverence for process protocols, and a
capacity to work with ease in high performance teams - as my formula for success.

Betsey Merkel 7305 W. Clinton Ave., #2 Cleveland, Ohio 44102

Email: betseymerkel@gmail.com Phone: 216-246-2447 Web: http://www.betseymerkel.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/betseymerkel Twitter: https://twitter.com/betseymerkel