Linda Bluso, J.D.

Linda Bluso’s expertise is in the areas of strategic management, strategic collaborations and corporate governance. In her cultural and behavioral team leader role at Bright Side, Inc., Ms. Bluso integrates this expertise to support client transformational change initiatives.

From 2011-­‐2014 she served as the Chair (Dean) of the Business Administration Division at Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio where she oversaw the undergraduate, MBA and Professional Development programs and all administrative aspects of the Business Division (now known as the School of Business). She created a vision for the Business School which focused on four pillars of excellence that directly resulted from her outreach to business leaders in the region to identify relevant skill sets for business students: teaching critical thinking skills and effective communication skills, instilling a mindset of innovation and a mindset of leadership. She was responsible for visioning, spearheading, fundraising and securing funding necessary for the Business School’s collaborative workspaces and innovative classroom project. Under her leadership the faculty began reviewing and revamping curricula for its MBA programs. In addition to leading the Business Division, Linda taught leadership classes and served on the University’s Strategic Planning Committee. In collaboration with the School of Public Health and School of Education, she assisted in creating a Masters in Public Health with a business and education component unmatched by similar public health masters’ programs.

After beginning her career as an attorney in a large Cleveland law firm, she subsequently founded a law firm then known as Buckley, King & Bluso which grew to become one of the largest law firms in Ohio. Noted to be the first woman attorney in Ohio to be a named and founding partner of a large law firm in Ohio, she served in various leadership roles of the firm for over 19 years, including serving as an Executive Committee member and as the firm’s Administrative Partner.

In 2002, she became a partner at Brouse McDowell, Co., an, Akron, Ohio headquartered law firm, and in 2005 became the firm’s first woman to be the partner ‐in‐charge of its Cleveland office. Her legal practice areas included corporate counseling, joint ventures, venture capital, real estate and construction, mergers and acquisitions and dispute resolution for both private and public companies and entrepreneurs. She remains Of Counsel with the firm.

Active in the broader community, she was appointed by then Governor George Voinovich to serve on the Ohio Department of Development’s Financing Advisory Council from 1998-­‐2007 and also served on one of Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson’s Operations Efficiency Task Force teams. She is a past chair and board member of In Counsel With Women, an organization of Northeast Ohio women achieving the highest levels in their professional and community lives, and the 2010-­‐11 Cleveland Metro Lead for the American Heart Association’s Nationwide Executive Leadership Team for Workplace Giving.

In board leadership and volunteer roles, Ms. Bluso has served the Greater Cleveland Partnership, the Council of Smaller Enterprises, the American Red Cross Cleveland and Northeast Ohio Regional Chapter, the Union Club, MetroHealth Foundation, YWCA Greater Cleveland and others. Her current board committee work involves corporate governance, risk management and strategic planning. Currently she serves as a mentor to start-­‐up companies through JumpStart.

She is a 2003 alumna of Leadership Cleveland. In 2012, she served on the panel of judges for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year, northeast Ohio region.

In 2011 she was named a YWCA Greater Cleveland Woman of Achievement and is featured in the Corporate Law section of Best Lawyers 2011. She also was recognized as a Leading Lawyer by Inside Business, an honor for the top one percent of Northeast Ohio attorneys, named a 2011 Woman of Influence by the Girl Scouts of Northeast Ohio, and as COSE’s 2007 Volunteer of the Year.

Ms. Bluso received her J.D. from Cleveland Marshall College of Law and her B.A. in Psychology, magna cum laude, from Cleveland State University.