Fortkamp Named Chair of Edison State Board of Trustees

The Edison State Community College Board of Trustees has elected Douglas L. Fortkamp, of Shelby County, to serve as Chair of the board. Assuming responsibility as Vice Chair is Dr. Thomas P. Milligan, also of Shelby County. Both terms run through January 2027.

Fortkamp has served on the Edison State Board of Trustees since 2021 and held the role of Vice Chair from January 2024 until his election as Chair on January 28, 2026.

“It is an honor and a privilege to be elected as the Chair of the Board of Trustees for Edison State,” said Fortkamp. “For the past 50 years, Edison State has been an integral part of our community, and its graduates have been integral to the success of our region. Edison State is well positioned to continue to provide graduates with the evolving skills to lead this region to continued success.”

Fortkamp was born and raised in west-central Ohio and has spent most of his life as a resident of the area. After graduating from Minster High School in 1991, he went to the University of Dayton, where he received a Bachelor of Civil Engineering. In 2001, he received a Master of Business Administration from Wright State University.

He started working for Ferguson Construction Company in 1997 as a project manager and received multiple promotions before the company named him president in 2018. Through these positions, he’s worked with a large number of organizations throughout the Miami Valley and has connected with many people who share his passion for the region’s success.

Previously, Fortkamp served on boards for the Sidney-Shelby County YMCA, the University of Dayton, and Lehman Catholic High School, including a two-year period as board chair.

A member of the Edison State Board of Trustees since 1999 and Chair from 2006 to 2008 and 2017 to 2019, Milligan’s stewardship on the board includes testifying before the Ohio Senate Education Committee on the importance of public and private alliances and their role in enhancing the quality of community college education throughout Ohio. He played a significant role in the creation of partnerships during The Campaign for Edison State Community College, which funded most of the cost to build the 35,000-square-foot Emerson Center at the Piqua Campus.

Milligan is the founder and co-owner of Western Ohio Cut Stone in Sidney, as well as an equity partner in two other local businesses serving the construction and land development sectors. In 2009, he received the Excellence in Trusteeship Award sponsored by the Ohio Association of Community Colleges; in 2021, he received the OACC’s Trustee Leadership Award for the Central Region. Milligan also serves as the elected board president of the Reformed University (Corporacion Universitaria Reformada), a private Protestant institution of higher learning based in Barranquilla, Colombia, in South America.

For more information about the Board of Trustees, visit www.edisonohio.edu/BOT.