2024 Jack O'Donnell Award - Ashley Hershberger

Ashley Hershberger

Recreation Manager,

The City of Wooster

Congratulations to Ashley Hershberger on being named the 2024 Jack O'Donnell Award recipient!

Ashley Hershberger, Wooster’s recreation manager, is the 2024 Wooster Area Chamber of Commerce Jack O’Donnell Award for Community Service honoree.

The award is presented annually in memory of former Chamber President, Jack O’Donnell, to recognize contributions to the community through volunteerism, enthusiasm, and love for Wooster.

“I am very honored that they considered me for this award,” Hershberger said. “I think Wooster is a very special place, that’s one of the things I recognized when I first started with the city.”

Hershberger has been volunteering with the Chamber since her early days of working with the city. She started as an intern in 2007 while she was working on a recreation degree at Ashland University.

She was part of the 2009 Leadership Wooster class, and now she is on the steering committee, helping to plan the annual class. Her focus is on Community Development Day; Health, Wellness, and Recreation Day; and City-County Government Day. Hershberger also serves on the Woosterfest committee.

The recognition is particularly special to Hershberger, “because I am not from here,” she said. She’s from Millersburg.

When Hershberger worked under then-Recreation Department Director Chuck Malta, she saw all of the connections he had in the city and decided she wanted to be like that.

“I knew I needed to get out and be involved, meet people, and build relationships,” Hershberger said, and she has. “A lot of friendships have come out of it.”

One of those lasting friendships has been with Chamber President Samira Zimmerly. The two have worked together with Leadership Wooster, Women in Business events, Woosterfest, and Young Professionals.

Hershberger, who was named a Chamber Bright Star in 2019, lives with her husband, Evan, and two sons, Clayden, 4, and Drake, 3.