Pillar Awards | Miami Valley Urban League

Miami Valley Urban League Pillar Awards

Every year, the Miami Valley Urban League (MVUL) honors outstanding community leaders and minority-owned businesses with the prestigious Pillar Awards. These awards recognize individuals and organizations that have excelled in their respective fields and made significant contributions to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion within the Greater Dayton and Miami Valley regions. Their unwavering commitment and transformative efforts in the community underscore the Pillar Awards as a beacon of the region's highest accomplishments in service and leadership.

Meet The 2025 Pillar Award Honorees:

•Marsha Bonhart, Media Trailblazer

•Carl Kennebrew, IUE-CWA International President

•Stacey Lawson, Chief Human Resources Officer, Premier Health

The 2025 Rising Pillar Honoree:

•Fabrice Juin, Regional Equity Initiative Manager, Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission

The 2025 Pillar IMPACT Award for minority-owned businesses:

•Robinson’s Janitorial & Floor Care Service

“These outstanding individuals embody the commitment and leadership that leads to meaningful progress in our community,” said Nikol Miller, Executive Director of the Miami Valley Urban League. “It’s a privilege to celebrate their accomplishments and the impact they’ve made throughout the Greater Dayton area. We’re especially excited to add the honor of Rising Pillar this year to recognize up and coming leaders who are making a difference and inspire other young leaders to do the same.” The Pillar Awards will be presented at the 2025 Pillar Awards Reception on Tuesday June 3, 2025 at The Dayton Arcade, 35 W. 4th Street, Dayton, OH 45402.

2025 Pillar Award Honoree - Marsha Bonhart
2025 Pillar Award Honoree - Carl Kennebrew
2025 Pillar Award Honoree - Stacey Lawson
2025 Rising Pillar Honoree - Fabrice Juin
2025 Impact Honoree - Robinson’s Janitorial & Floor Care Service
2016-2019 Pillar Honorees
2020-2024 Pllar Honorees

Marsha Bonhart has had a remarkable and pioneering career in the media. She began in her hometown of Toledo, Ohio, working in radio and television news for two years before moving to Dayton in 1980 to join WKEF-TV as a reporter. She was promoted to weekend co-anchor and later became the primary anchor for the station’s weekday 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts—making history as Dayton’s first Black primary television news anchor. After a brief period as a news anchor in Los Angeles, Marsha returned to Dayton to lead public relations efforts at Good Samaritan Hospital. In 1988, she rejoined the local news scene at WDTN, Channel 2, where she spent the next 20 years as a news anchor and health reporter. Following her retirement from WDTN, Marsha transitioned to the nonprofit sector, serving as Development Director for the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company and later as Director of Public Relations and Media for Dayton Public Schools. Since her retirement in 2018, she has continued to lend her expertise to nonprofit organizations, supporting their media and public relations efforts.

Carl Kennebrew serves as the International President of IUE-CWA, the Communications Workers of America manufacturing division. He made history as the first African American to hold this position when elected on August 2, 2018. Mr. Kennebrew has been a dedicated member of IUE-CWA for over 25 years, beginning his union service as an elected delegate and Vice-President of Local 84755 in Dayton, Ohio, where he also served as an organizer, Legislative Political Action Team Member, and Executive Board Member for the Dayton Miami Valley AFL-CIO. In 2013, he became the first Minority President of Local 755, the founding local of IUE-CWA, and was re-elected without opposition in 2014 and 2017. He has championed initiatives to expand workforce opportunities, increase food access through Gem City Market, and create skilled trade pathways for students in Dayton-area schools. Mr. Kennebrew serves nationally on the boards for Jobs to Move America, the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council, and the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, and locally with the Montgomery County Workforce Board and Dayton Metro Library. He is also a certified life coach and an ordained minister.

Stacey Lawson is an innovative and transformational change leader with an extensive career in creating vision, developing strategy and translating goals into results. Stacey has been with Premier Health for 27 years serving in various human resources roles culminating in her current role of Chief Human Resources Officer where she has responsibility for developing and executing human resources strategy to support the strategic direction of the organization. Stacey is committed to giving back to the community and investing in others. She is the first African American Board Chair for the Dayton Art Institute, serves as Board Chair for Culture Works and is a member of the Equity Board and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

Fabrice Juin serves as the Regional Equity Initiative Program Manager for the Institute for Livable & Equitable Communities housed within the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission. In this role, he strives to advance equity across the Miami Valley by collaborating with the regional community to correct policies, reform institutions, and close gaps that undermine sustained quality of life improvements for underserved, under-resourced, and vulnerable populations. Fabrice brings a public health background to this regional planning work and leverages the idea that “a society should be able to promise all its members the most optimal health status available to them” as a guiding principle.

Robinson’s Janitorial & Floor Care Service was founded by Lewis Robinson in March 2017, with the primary focus of providing janitorial and floor cleaning services to the Dayton and surrounding areas. They currently provide commercial cleaning solutions for over 100 buildings and employ upwards of 125 individuals. Approximately 85% of Robinson’s employees are ex-offenders. Lewis initially started this venture as a side business prior to his retirement from Wright State University after a 20 year career in Environmental Services. Shortly after he was joined by his wife, Dr. Joeanna Hill-Robinson, who took on the role of business manager. She was able to establish key partnerships with the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce and Ohio Small Business Development Center leading to the creation of an impactful full-time business. According to Lewis, Robinson’s core mission is “my ministry is just really to get a lot of men and women that have had troubles from the past, just like I had, and get them off the block and get them on the clock.” They both believe that God provided opportunities that have allowed the business to grow and thrive as a positive asset to the community.