Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction Parole Board Members

The Ohio Parole Board consists of nine Parole Board Members, including the chairperson, one Executive Assistant, two Chief Hearing Officers, two Quality Assurance Analysts, twelve Hearing Officers, twenty Parole Board Parole Officers, and one Administrative Assistant.

Current parole board members include:

Cynthia B. Mausser

Chair

Ms. Mausser was appointed as Chair of the Parole Board in April 2006. She began her career with the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction in February 1994 as a Parole Board Hearing Officer and was promoted to Chief Hearing Officer in August 2000. She was then appointed to the Parole Board in December 2001. She served as Acting Chair from October 2005 until April 2006. Previously, she worked as an Assistant State Public Defender for the Ohio Public Defender Commission representing inmates at Technical Parole Revocation Hearings. Ms. Mausser was admitted into the Ohio Bar in November 1991 and has a Bachelors and a Juris Doctorate Degree.

Kathleen Kovach

Member

Mrs. Kovach was appointed to the Parole Board in January 2003, as the Victim’s Representative. Mrs. Kovach comes to the Parole Board with 13 years of experience in crime victim services. She was employed for 11 years with the Victim Assistance Program in Summit County, serving three years as Assistant Director. In addition, Mrs. Kovach spent two years as the Director of Victim Services for the Summit County Prosecutor’s Office. She has a Bachelors and a Masters Degree.

Ellen Venters

Member

Ms. Venters was appointed to the Ohio Parole Board in August 2004. Ms. Venters began her employment with the Department Of Rehabilitation and Correction in August 2000 as the Superintendent of Special Services with the Division of Parole and Community Services. She was formerly Executive Director of an alcohol and drug treatment facility for 5 years and has an additional 18 years of work experience in community corrections. Ms. Venters has a Bachelors and a Juris Doctorate Degree.

R.F. Rauschenberg

Member

Mr. Rauschenberg was appointed to the Parole Board in January 2006. He was formerly a Budget Analyst for the Ohio Legislative Budget Office from 1986 to 1992 and the Research Coordinator for the Ohio Criminal Sentencing Commission from 1992 to 2002. Most recently, Mr. Rauschenberg served as the Program Administrator for the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services where he focused on linking the criminal justice and addiction services systems, particularly for prisoners returning to the community. Mr. Rauschenberg has a Bachelors and Masters Degree.

Bobby Bogan

Member

Bobby Bogan was appointed to the Parole Board in August 2008.  Mr. Bogan worked as a juvenile Parole Officer for eight  years before joining the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction in 1994 as a Warden's Assistant.  He has also served as a Deputy Warden at two institutions and was selected to serve as the Warden at the Montgomery Education and Pre-Release Center in 2004.  Mr. Bogan has a Bachelors Degree.

Trayce Thalheimer

Member

Ms. Thalheimer was appointed to the Parole Board in August 2009.  She began employment with the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction as a Parole Officer in 1988, transferring to the Parole Board as Parole Officer in 1996.  She was promoted to Parole Board Hearing Officer in 1998 and then to Chief Hearing Officer in 2002.  Most recently, Ms. Thalheimer served as the Regional Administrator in the Cincinnati Region of the Adult Parole Authority.  Ms. Thalheimer has over 20 years in public service including three years as a Police Officer prior to joining DRC.  Ms. Thalheimer has a bachelors degree.

Jose A. Torres

Member

Mr. Torres was appointed to the Parole Board in May 2010.  He was formerly a Law Clerk in the Cuyahoga County Prosecutors Office and in Puerto Rico from 1992 to 1994.  He then served as an Assistant Prosecutor in the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office from 1994 to 2004, where he was assigned to the Major Drug Offenders Division for four (4) of those years.  Mr. Torres was in private practice until 2007 at which time he was appointed to the position of Deputy Legal Counsel in the Governor’s office.  Mr. Torres has a Bachelors and a Juris Doctorate Degree.

Cathy Collins-Taylor

Member

Ms. Collins-Taylor was appointed to the board in May 2010.  She began her criminal justice career in 1978 as a police officer for the City of Columbus.  Upon her service retirement in 2004, Ms. Collins-Taylor joined the Ohio Department of Public Safety (ODPS) as a branch chief of State and Local Coordination and Domestic Security for Ohio Homeland Security.  In 2007, Collins-Taylor was appointed the Executive Director of the Ohio Investigative Unit, responsible for enforcement of liquor laws, food stamp fraud and underage tobacco sales.  In 2009, Governor Strickland appointed her the Director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety, overseeing the ODPS's eight divisions. Ms. Collins-Taylor also has extensive legislative and labor background. Ms. Collins-Taylor has a Bachelor's Degree.

 

Rich Cholar

Member

Rich Cholar was appointed to the Parole Board in March 2012.  Most recently, from 2005 through 2012, he was a Senior Assistant Attorney General in the Criminal Justice Section and served as the supervising attorney for the Corrections Litigation Unit.  Prior to his service with the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, he assisted in creating a juvenile parole board for the Ohio Department of Youth Services (DYS) and then served as a DYS parole board member from 1997 through 2005.  In addition, he served as Assistant Legal Counsel for DYS from 1995 through 1997.  Prior to his service with the state, he was in private practice.  Mr. Cholar was admitted into the Ohio Bar in 1992 and he is also admitted in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit as well as in the U.S. District Court for the Northern and Southern Districts of Ohio.  He has a Bachelors and Juris Doctorate Degree.