Honoree: Greta Russell

WANDA DILLARD: Who I will be speaking about today is Greta Russell. Greta is the comptroller for the university. My name is Wanda Dillard, and I work at OSU Medical Center as the director for community development. The reason I'm talking about Greta is because I've known Greta probably all my life, and growing up we both went to the same church and we became very very good friends.

My first encounter in working on a project with Greta was when we worked with the YMCA, we were part of the Black Achievers. I had just returned to Columbus, I'd been in the military for years, and we had reacquainted ourselves with each other and she was such an inspiration in working on that project, because she has so much wisdom, so much understanding, and she's just one of those women that you feel like you're standing on the shoulders because she has parted the ways and opened many doors. And she became the comptroller here at Ohio State, so we both ended up at Ohio State, and she's become my mentor, my confidant, my shero, and she has so much wisdom. One of the things I've learned from her is patience, understanding, and for whatever you're looking at to look at the global perspective versus looking at the narrow impact of what you're doing.

One thing about Greta is that Greta always wears a hat and her hat is her trademark, and I look at Greta and realize the sophistication, the classiness that her hat brings to the table. She always has that hat on.

We've been through a lot: she lost her mother, I lost my mother, and I lost my father and Greta was one of the first persons to take and track me down to let me know that she had concern, wanted to make sure I was OK, and I did the same thing when her mother had passed.

Greta is one of those people that is on a lot of boards and on a lot of things in the community and she truly, truly believes in the community and what she can add to the value of that with her wisdom, her knowledge, and her understanding.

One of these days when I grow up, I want to be just like Greta Russell. I want to wear a hat, but I want to wear a hat and be just as sophisticated and classy as she is, because she has been somebody I can call anytime and say: "Do you know what's happening? So-and-so, so-and-so" and she allows me to talk it out, she doesn't give me suggestions, but she will lead you to the right answer, and that's what I enjoy about her. She doesn't set back and say "You need to do this or you need to do this," she just listens and asks questions and maybe says something else and then you set there and you say "I see where she's going." You learn a lot from people that do that, versus people who just come out and say "Here's my suggestion, here's what I need to do." That's why I say Greta has a lot of wisdom: she knows a lot and she quietly moves around but yet she is still that Sojourner Truth, "Ain't I a woman?"

Transcription by Transcribe OSU