Cathy Sperling
Chief Operating Officer

Cathy was the second person hired at the Partnership.  She started in 1997 after 10 years of coordinating Toledo Area Youth to Youth at Lucas County CARES, the ADAS Board and LCESC. She was a stay-at-home-mom until volunteering at a Youth to Youth conference with Matt (her then 8th grade son).  It was then that she was bit by the “prevention bug” and decided to go back to school to get a degree in Education and learn more about the prevention field. Matt’s now 34, so that was 20 years ago!

Cathy has been active in the field of Prevention, sitting on the boards of ADAPAO (Alcohol and Drug Prevention Association of Ohio), SPCA (Statewide Prevention Coalition Association), staffing many state Teen Institute conferences and training new preventionists in Toledo.

These days, you can find her hanging out in her office (often administering TLC to staff), visiting her daughter Robyn in New York City or playing on the playgrounds of Southern California with her grandsons, Noah and Sammy!

Twenty Questions w/ Cathy Sperling

Favorite part about working at The Community Partnership?
Jeans on Friday and the ice machine (and of course the people!)

What is your biggest accomplishment?
Raising (with Steve) two terrific kids who are two terrific adults who are amazing teachers!

Where did you attend high school?
Thomas A. DeVilbiss

Where did you attend college?
University of Cincinnati and University of Toledo

What did you want to be when you were a kid?
A social worker

What was your first job?
Working in the china department at LaSalles, does Candy Striper count? (that’s a L O N G  I ; one p )

Do you have any hobbies?
I love to cook, knit and felt and I every year I wish for a beautiful garden.

How many hours a week do you normally work?
I’m trying hard to stick to 40, but it’s not easy

How many hours a week do you spend on your hobby?
When I had 2 healthy hands, I spent lots of time knitting & felting!

What is your favorite food?
Sushi

What is your least favorite food?
Brussels’ Sprouts is about the only thing I can think of.

What is your favorite movie?
I loved An Affair to Remember and Sleepless in Seattle (what’s the connection?)

What is the last movie you watched?
“The Waitress” in the theater and “Road Hogs” on the plane yesterday.

What CD is in your car right now?
The new Paul Simon collection

What is your favorite book?
Do magazine’s count?  Cooking Light

What is the last book you read?
Just finished the Memory Keeper’s Daughter

Do you have any pets? Names?
Nope

What is something you can't wait for?
To play with Noah and Sam again.

What is something not everybody knows about you?
I am such an open book…everyone knows everything! 

What is your biggest pet peeve?
People who don’t mean what they say or don’t say what they mean—I can’t read minds yet.